A show, a mistake, a bloody nose

"When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature." -Ernest Hemingway

My Graveyard Sense of Humor

One Shot

A show, a mistake, a bloody nose

Draft 1

 

“Whose idea was this?” Gwen asked, standing beside Quill as they both stood off to the side of the doorway. The building would have been huge, except it was packed full of people throwing themselves around the room as the wave of music tried to kick in the walls. The music was loud, the people louder, and Oliver was somewhere in the mess of sweat and arms.

                “I want to blame you,” Quill said, “but I don’t think I can.”

                “That's good,” Gwen said, pushing closer to Quill and hissing at little the group of teenagers, but they didn’t care. “Because this was not my idea.”

                “I know,” Quill nodding in agreement, “neither one of us said no, now did we?”

                “Nope, I guess not,” Gwen said. “Man, we are dumb.”

                Either one of them wanted to go to the show in Charlotte because either one of them liked rock shows. It wasn’t the music, well maybe for Gwen. It wasn’t her kind of thing, but she was starting to learn how to joy it thanks to Oliver like she was learning how to enjoy horror movies. Quill didn’t mind the music as much but hated shows with a burning passion. There were too many people close together, and getting out would be hard if something went wrong.

                He hated it, not to add that it was also hard to carry weapons.

                And yet, somehow, Oliver had talked them into going to this show.

                They couldn’t say no, and they didn’t, and now they were standing as close to the wall as possible, away from the people trying to stay calm. Too many people. Too many things could go wrong.

                “You see her?” Gwen asked.

                “Not at all,” Quill said. “I don’t see Scott or Art either.”

                Gwen rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe Art came. She hates big groups of people.”

                When they got into the place, Oliver blasted into the crowd with a lot of screaming and laughing. Scott ran after her, not wanting to lose her, while Art faded out of sight, which wasn’t hard to do. She was covered head to toe in tattoos, but many people at the show were covered in ink.

                They had come down to see a band called the Queen’s Barts. Some punk band based out of the Queen City was quickly getting noticed by the music world, most of all Oliver. They were her new thing, but that would change in a couple of months when she found another band to fall in love with.

                The Queen’s Barts haven’t come on stage yet. They were headlining this very small show.

                “Should we at least try to go find her?” Gwen asked.

                “Nah, I think we are good,” Quill said. “I’m sure they will co -“

                About this time, Scott was pushing a few people out of his way while Oliver was trailing behind him holding her nose and lifting her head. Blood was pouring down her nose as she fought back some tears from the agony.

                Quill and Gwen were next to them in a heartbeat.

                “What happened?” Gwen asked.

                “Some dude in the pit punched in her face,” Scott said.

                “Very uncool,” Oliver said. “You don’t punch in a pit.”

                “Let me see,” Quill said calmly, and Oliver let go of her nose. He pulled free a bandage in his pocket, giving it to her to stop the bleeding.

                “Do you know what he looks like?” Gwen asked Scott.

                “Yeah.”

                “Show me,” Gwen said, pushing him back into the sea of faces.

                “Gwen …?” Quill asked, looking back for her, but she was gone. “Crap.”

                “Oh no,” Oliver said, “that dude is going to regret his night.”

                “Come on, let’s go find her,” Quill said, taking Oliver’s arm. “I don’t feel like going to jail tonight.”

                “Gwen is mad,” Oliver said, smiling, “this is going to be great.”

                It had taken them three songs to find Gwen, Scott, and the guy who hit Oliver bursting her nose open. They found them in the back with Gwen yelling at the guy, putting a finger into his face, which was the man’s limit. He snapped, pushing Gwen out of the way, but it didn’t work. So, the fool went to hit her, which was also a bad idea as he ended up on the floor holding his throat. He was coughing as Gwen kicked him across the face.

                Oliver laughed while Scott shook his head.

                Quill rushed up, pulling Gwen back.

                “Oh, I’m going to beat you like your mommy never did,” she shouted at the man. “She should’ve.”

                “Hey, hey,” Quill said, making Gwen face him. “Chill.”

                Gwen huffed, spinning around on her heel and rushing to Oliver.

                Quill shook his head, standing the guy back up against the wall. “Well, what did we learn?” He asked.

                “Screw you,” the man hissed.

                “Not any manner, I see,” Quill said, padding him on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you to be.”

                “Remind me not to piss off Gwen,” Scott said to Quill.

                “Noted.”

                “Also, I can get her to go all mommy bear on someone,” Scott said.

                “Yup.”

                “How is your nose?” Gwen asked Oliver.

                “It hurts,” Oliver said, frowning. “I think a beer would help those.”

                “Yeah, no,” Gwen said.

                “Fine, but does the blood at least look cool?” Oliver asked.

                “Yeah, I guess,” Gwen said.

                “Cool.”

                “I’m not sure I want to know,” Art said from behind them, eyeing the man sitting against the wall in a lot of pain. She glanced over at Oliver.

                “I got hit,” Oliver said, pointing to her nose and then over to the guy, “by that jerk.”

                “I can see that,” Art said, smiling big. “How about I make this night a thousand times better.”

                “Okay?” Scott asked.

                “I got us backstage passes,” she said, “we are going to chill with the Barts.”

Author's Note

Another little moment with some of my characters.