Nothing Else Matters

Chapter 3

As Kirk went back into the livingroom, I noticed someone by the door, like if somebody was spying at us. I was about to pick up my bass and start playing, but it just bothered me that it might be someone there, looking at me, so I got up from my bed. I pushed the door open and looked behind it. And I swear to God: my heart skipped a beat when James came jumping at my face. "James!?", I exclaimed, "What the fuck!? Were you spying at us!?" He quickly grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer to his face. "Damn right I was!", he yelled at me, then let go of my shirt, "You're not seriously gonna believe that fuckin' ridiculous story are you?" He was kind of spitting in my face, but I was scared me might hit me if I wiped it off. "Uh... uhm...", I stuttered, "No..?" He glared at me. "Good", he said, but he wasn't buying it. James slowly turned around, as if to walk away, but then he stopped. "Uhm, Jason?", he asked me. Now I was confused. Was he going to hit me after all? Please don't hit me. "Yeah?", I replied, slightly scared. He turned back to me. "I need to ask you something". I raised an eyebrow. "Sure", I said. "Uhm... What do you do if... uh...", he started, "What do you do if you have a crush on someone?" It was the stupidest question I had ever heard. Uh, it passes? You'll forget about it? It's just a freaking crush goddamnit. Why did he ask me anyway? What would I know about that? He didn't even like me. "You have a crush on someone?", I asked him, and got the stupidest look back. "No", he said, like it was obvious, "I, I'm asking for... uh, a friend! Lars!" I looked at him, and I could tell he was lying. "Lars is dating Kirk...", I said. James got more and more nervous. I bet he was regretting the whole thing. "Yeah", he said, looking at the floor, "Stupid gays..." He was mumbling, probably having the most awkward moment of his life. He deserved it anyways. "Fine", he exclaimed, looking back at me again, "It's me, if you have to know! Are you happy now?" I was happy. James had a crush. Cute. I hope it wasn't too obvious that I indeed was happy. I bet I was smiling like a little kid. "Yeah?" He was getting impatient. "So you gonna help me or not?" I rolled my eyes. "Uh, I dunno..." I shrugged. "Ask 'em out, I guess..." He just sighed, and threw his arms up. "You're not any help, I'm gonna ask Lars instead", he said, turned, and walked away.

I went back into my room. What the hell just happened? James had a crush? And he asked me for help? I wondered who it was, probably just some skank he saw at a concert or something. Just the typical romance: getting together backstage and waking up to a nightmare the next morning, because apparently you were blind last night, and just slept with the ugliest whore in the entire country. I didn't even feel bad for him. James was an asshole; he deserved to be treated like one. I wasn't even brave enough to stand up for myself, much less brave enough to tell James off. So I hoped to be lucky this time, that he ended up with the worst chick in the history of the world.

That night James woke me up ‪at two A.M.‬ The room was pitch dark, and I thought it was Kirk or something. I rubbed my eyes. "What do you want?", I mumbled. "You wanna go out?" That's when I heard that it was actually James speaking. "What?", I asked, "Right now? Why?" I could hear him sighing. "Does it matter? Just come out". I figured that if I didn't do what I was told, it would just get back at me later, so I got up. We were in the middle of July, but it was freezing outside, mostly because I stood there in only boxers. "What are we doing outside in the dark ‪at two A.M.‬?", I asked, "It's fucking cold". I could feel James' arms around me. OK, what was happening right now? I was too scared to tell him to back off, though. "What was your plan, James?", I asked, "We're out here for a reason, right?" He shrugged. "We're out", he simply replied. "What?", I said. We're out? What was that supposed to mean?