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"Hello.”
“Dave’s still recording his part.”
“Umm, okay, well I’ll just sit here with you then.”
“He might be…”
“If you don’t mind that is?”
“…a while.”
“…”
“No I don’t mind”
"Thanks. Is that a crossword you’re doing?”
"Yes.”
“Cool.”
"…”
“So how’s things?”
“David.”
“Yes.”
“I’m trying to concentrate here.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Hey kid, put away the Bambi eyes, it’s okay.”
“Gosh I’m not like Bambi!!”
“…”
“I’m not! I’m, well for starters I’m not a deer. And my eyes aren’t that big.”
“They’re pretty big.”
“In a good way?”
“…”
“I meant, if you liked eyes, which you probably do because heck, who doesn’t like eyes, they do good things, like see. But if you were looking for eyes that you thought were good eyes would you place mine in the good list or the bad list or maybe in the you’ve never actually thought about it before list?”
“…”
“Not that you’ve been listing eyes because you’re not a psycho or anything and that would be…”
“Archie!! My man. You’re early.”
“Oh hey Cook.”
“So you ready to go?”
“Umm, sure.”
“Neal, dude, I’ll see you tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Now get your ass in there and show them why you’re the lead guitarist and I’m merely your support.”
“Bye Neal. And sorry about the eye thing”
“Bye David.”
“What eye thing?”
~~~~~~~
“Uh, hey.”
"Dave’s at the bar.”
“Oh. Mind if I stand with you?”
“Whatever man.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
“Congrats on the award man.”
“Thanks. It was, it was cool you know, to get one for the song rather than for best smile or something because, well, the music is what it’s about. You know?”
“I know.”
“Is that a new tattoo on your arm?”
“It is.”
“It looks really good. I mean, on you, it would look silly on me. I thought about getting a tattoo but I’m not too sure it would suit me.”
“Probably not.”
“But on you they look really great. They suit your, well, your style and everything and the whole look you’ve got going for you. That whole sort of pierced, guitar playing, cool guy who’s looks a little scary.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Not that you’re scary because you’re not, unless, you know, you want to be scary in which case you could pull off scary I’m not saying that you couldn’t be scary if you tried just that because I know you, well sort of know you, that you’re not scary, to me that is.”
“…”
“Archie!! My man. Dude, sweet acceptance speech. You only laughed at yourself twice. Definitely getting better at the public speaking.”
“Thanks Cook.”
“Neal. Here’s your drink. Sorry but I’ve got to steal Arch away I just saw Dakota Fanning and it turns out she’s a bit of an Archie fan so I said I’d bring him over.”
“Really? She said that? Are you sure she wasn’t just being polite? Oh my heck that would be embarrassing.”
“Really I’m sure. So Neal you can go mingle and be nice for a while right?”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that, no you can’t just stand against the wall all night. Go be interesting. And try not to scare anyone. Why are you both grinning?”
~~~~~~~
“Hello.”
“Dave’s still taking his makeup off.”
“Well then I’ll just wait with you.”
“…”
“You were really good tonight.”
“Thank you.”
“I mean it. You’re a really good guitarist.”
“Thank you.”
“I keep thinking I should learn the guitar but then I get busy and then months have passed and I still haven’t learned and maybe it’s a good thing that I can’t play because I’m not exactly a rock star, not like you I mean.”
“Okay.”
“But I mean, if I had someone teaching me maybe it would be different.”
“It might be.”
“Maybe if you’re not too busy you could…”
“Archie!! My man. What did you think of the gig?”
“Gosh it was great. You were really good. You were both really great.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t get noticed.”
“I saw him, standing under that baseball cap.”
“You did? I, I thought it was a better disguise than that.”
"I knew you were going to be here.”
“Neal hunted you out in the crowd my man.”
“Oh, I’m sure he didn’t. Not that it would be bad if he did, because it would be weird for it to be bad and there’s no weirdness here. But, I’m sure Neal had other things he was watching for in the crowd and he just happened to see me.”
“Archie, breath. Don’t you role your eyes at me young man.”
“Cook!”
“Fine, you’re no fun anymore. Anyway, we should get going if we're going to eat before my stomach implodes. You’re welcome to join us if you want Neal?”
“Nah I’ll let you two catch up. Wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Oh I wouldn’t mind.”
“See, Arch wouldn’t mind.”
“Unless you have other things you need or want to do, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of stuff you already had planned.”
“He has nothing planned do you Neal? See, nothing planned. Right. To the car Robin and, well Robin. You know Batman should have had two sidekicks.”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that, you’ve known him longer. And you followed him half way across the country, he’s more your fault than mine. Come on, before he leaves us behind.”
“Umm, David, can I have my hand back?”
“Oh, um, sorry. It just. Sorry.”
~~~~~~~
“I need to pee. Order me a burger with everything if the waitress comes while I’m gone.”
“Okay.”
“So you were really good tonight.”
“You already said that.”
“Oops, sorry.”
“That’s okay.”
“Are you still enjoying the concerts?”
“Yeah, more so now that we’ve not been on tour for a year. It was good to have the break. And this was just a little gig to test out the new stuff. We’re not really touring with it for another two months or so.”
“So you’re around for two more months.”
“Yep.”
“Have you finished recording?”
“I’ve done all my bits.”
“That’s cool. Although I never really know what to do with myself when I’m not recording or touring. I mean, in Utah I have all my family and there’s usually someone to see but when I’m in LA I never really know what to do with my time. It feels wrong just to lie around doing nothing you know.”
“Not really.”
“Well I’m watching a film or something and I think ‘if I were on tour I’d be doing this’ or ‘maybe I should be working on some songs’ or ‘there must be someone I haven’t seen in a while’.”
“I suppose so.”
“Because there’s no one in LA that I would automatically go and see when I’m back here.”
“Okay.”
“But I’m here for a while at the moment and you guys are here for a while so I was thinking that we could hang out more.”
“I’m sure Dave would like there.”
“Oh I didn’t mean Cook. I was thinking that maybe…”
“I’m back! Did you order yet?”
“Nope.”
“Oww! Archie man, you just kicked me.”
“Oops, sorry, my foot slipped.”
~~~~~~
“Hello.”
“Dave’s still at the studio.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I’m here to see you.”
“You’re here to see me?”
“Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“No.”
“Good, because that would get really old really quickly.”
“…”
“Are you going to invite me in?”
“Sure, sorry, come in.”
“Thank you. Nice hallway.”
“You’ve seen it before.”
“I know but it’s still a nice hallway. It was a nice hallway then and it’s a nice hallway now.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, I really only came round to give you this.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s my number.”
“Okay.”
“Well last night you said you were around and I’m around. And you said you wouldn’t mind hanging out, well you didn’t say you would so I took that to mean you wouldn’t but anyway, that’s my number and you can call it when you want to hang out.”
“Okay.”
“Right, so I’d better be off.”
“Bye David.”
“Bye Neal.”
~~~~~~~
“You didn’t call.”
"Dave’s not…”
“You didn’t call me.”
“…in.”
“I gave you my number, I practically threw myself at you and you didn’t call.”
“The idea of just us hanging out felt strange so, whoa whoa whoa. Stop. What do you mean practically threw yourself at me?”
“What did you think I was doing?”
“When?”
“At the studio, at the awards ceremony, after your concert.”
“Talking. David you were talking.”
“I was saying you looked nice, and that you played well, which you do, and that I liked your tattoos.”
“…”
“I asked you to teach me the guitar!!!”
“When?”
“After your concert!! I said I wanted to learn and would you teach me!”
“That’s what you were talking about?”
“Of course that’s what I was talking about. What did you think I was talking about?”
“I thought you were just rambling away.”
“I HELD YOUR HAND!!!”
“…”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I just, urgh, I’m so bad at this.”
“I’m not going to disagree there.”
“It’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
“I like you.”
“Oh David!”
“Don’t ‘Oh David’ me. ‘Oh David’ does not sound positive.”
“David I can’t date you.”
“Why not?”
“For one Dave would kill me. For second I’m FAR too old for you. And for three…”
“For three?”
“Look, we just can’t okay.”
“No, not okay.”
“David.”
"No, those are stupid reasons.”
“David.”
“I’ll prove they are.”
“How are you going to…”
“…”
“…You kissed me.”
“I kissed you.”
“David you can’t just go around kissing people.”
“Why not?”
“Because you…”
“…”
“…Seriously, kissing is not a valid argument! And it didn’t prove anything.”
“It proved you want me as much as I want you.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Because you kissed me back.”
“You took me by surprise!”
“And your pants are quite tight. They don’t hide much.”
“Fuck!”
“Language.”
“See, you don’t like swearing. We can’t date.”
“I can put up with it.”
“You don’t drink.”
“I don’t mind if you do.”
“David, Dave will…”
“Cook will deal with it. He’s a grown man.”
“He’s my best friend and your friend and he’s very protective of you.”
“And of you.”
“No he’s not.”
“He is. When I asked him if it was alright for us to date he told me not to hurt you.”
“You did what? He did what?”
“After he finished laughing, which was not very encouraging I might add, he told me to go for it but not to hurt you.”
“You asked Dave for permission?”
“I didn’t want it to mess up the band.”
“How would it…why would it?”
"Um…”
“Oh god no. Now I really can’t date you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t date your best friend’s ex.”
“But he said it was okay! He’s fine with it. He’s happy for us.”
“There is no us!”
“Actually, me having dated Cook proves that all your points are wrong.”
“What?”
“Well, he’s older than me and it was fine. He drinks, he swears. And he’s cool with this. See, all your points are stupid.”
“…”
“Oh come on Neal. One date. It’s not going to kill you.”
“It might.”
“…”
“Okay, maybe not actually kill me.”
“So tomorrow evening then?”
“I haven’t said yes.”
“But you’re going to.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re wondering if I can kiss like this…”
“…”
“…then how good I am at other things.”
“…”
“Pick me up at 7:30.”
“…”
“Neal?”
“Okay. Alright. One date.”
“Yes! You won’t regret it. I promise.”
“You’re going to be a handful aren’t you?”
“Maybe. You’d have to ask Cook.”
“So not going to happen.”
“Well, then you’re just going to have to find out for yourself.”
“God you’re a tease.”
“I am not!”
“You really are. Now out.”
"So I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Out.”
“But…”
“Now.”
“Bye Neal.”
“Bye David.”
“7:30.”
“I won’t forget.”
“…”
“Oh now he gets shy. I promise I’ll be at your house at 7:30 tomorrow.”
“You’d better be.”
“I will be.”
“Good.”
“And David.”
“Yes.”
“Just think on this…”
“…”
“…and if I can do that. How skilled do you think I am in other areas?”
“Oh gosh!!”
“Bye David.”