Valeria stayed over that night. Danny slept on our couch. Danny, Bishop, Zane, and I stayed up until after midnight, waiting to see if she would leave. I had $5 on her staying, Danny had $5 on her leaving. Every hour that passed, we would quietly cheer that she was still here. I made sure to get my money from Danny, when we all finally considered the deal done.

"It's about damn time he sealed that deal." Zane said. "I would have had her the weekend she moved in."

"She moved in before us," Bishop reminded him.

Zane nodded and smirked. "Exactly."

"Ew, Zane, shut up," I said, throwing a pillow at his head and rolling my eyes.

"Just saying."

"When Finn said he'd never done the relationship thing before, was he for real? He's never had a girlfriend? Not even in high school?" I asked, suddenly remember what he had said outside.

"Never," Bishop shook his head.

"He's had one night stands though, I've made sure of that," Zane said, laughing. He laid back on the couch, arms crossed behind his head, before a thought dawned on him, and he snapped back up. "Vi, have you ever had a one night stand?"

I scrunched my nose up, knowing my answer would rile him up. "Noooo." I prepared myself for the onslaught of insults.

"Never? Not even one?" Zane asked. Bishop looked like he was trying to seem less interested than he actually was in my answer.

"Not even once."

"But, like, you've had sex right?" Zane asked, growing concerned.

"Yes, Zane, but remember my two years at college weren't anything like yours. I had a boyfriend for most of it, and my parents were basically trying to arrange a marriage between us. They were pissed when we broke up last year." I glanced at Bishop, wondering if he would answer Zane's question.

"Yeah, I've tried to get Bishop to indulge in our ways, but he's no good at it," Zane said, scowling at Bishop like it was a cardinal sin.

I caught Bishop looking at me, but when I caught his eye, he looked away. I slowly let my breath out. Maybe him caring extra about my answer was all in my head. "Well, now that you're done embarrassing me, I'm gonna go to bed. Goodnight," I said, before heading back to my room.

"Dude," Zane hissed. "Do something!" I halted outside my door, my ears perking up.

"Shut up, Zane," Bishop said. I bit my lip under a smile.

"What? I made you look good and everything! I was very well behaved." I let out a quiet giggle at that. I stayed for a couple of seconds longer, but they turned the Xbox on, so I knew their conversation was over.

I worked a lot the next few days, so I didn't see much of my friends, until Thursday, when we decided that an appropriate amount of time had passed and that we could try to have a rehearsal. I thought making music would be therapeutic for Finn. I was wrong.

He showed up drunk and angry, again. We tried to rehearse anyways, but it didn't last long. "So, this is definitely a bad time to tell you this, but I got you guys a gig for Saturday night," Danny said, after we had all abandoned our instruments.

"Finn?" Bishop asked, looking over at him. "You gonna feel up to it?"

"I'll be there," he muttered.

"Are you sure? We don't have to. No one would blame you," I said.

     "Yeah, it's not too late for me to cancel it," Danny said.

"I said I'll be there." This time it was more of a growl.

Against my better judgment, I tried again. "Hey, um, Finn? I know you're going through a lot, so I figured, maybe, I could possibly help you write a song about it? If you think it'll help?" My voice became squeaky at the end, and I hated that.

He looked at me with glassy eyes, but the longer he stared, the more convinced I was that he was actually looking through me or beyond me. Finally, he looked down again. "No," was all he said, before he retreated to his room and slammed the door.

"Well, I figured I'd try," I said, trying to hide my dejected face. I knew it was a long shot, but I really thought it would help him. It always helped me.

"Are we sure this show is a good idea?" Danny asked. "I thought for sure he would shut it down."

"What? You have met Finn, right? In what world would he ever admit that he couldn't do something?" Bishop asked his younger brother.

Danny raised a finger like he was going to protest, before he made a face and put it back down. He nodded grimly. "That's my bad. I should have known better."

We were able to get somewhat of a practice in on Friday night, but our energy levels and general group morale were down. I felt like we didn't sound as good as usual, and I would have thought that was in my head, if it weren't for Danny looking like he could shit his pants at any moment. He tried to put on brave face and gave us a thumbs up, but I wasn't buying it.

Nonetheless, Saturday night came quick. I put on a red corset top and leather pants, loans from Valeria, of course. If we really became rockstars one day, I would definitely need a new wardrobe. I put on some eyeliner and red lipstick to match my shirt. I slipped a pair of white ankle boots on and walked out to the living room.

"Ooo, caliente!" Valeria cheered, clapping her hands as I walked out.

"Not too much?" I asked, doing a twirl for her. She laughed, and I followed her eyes to the kitchen, where Zane was eating a bowl of cereal. Or should I say, Zane was letting a mouthful of cereal and milk slowly pour out of his mouth, as he stared at me.

"Just jaw-dropping enough, I'd say," Valeria said.

Bishop walked out of his room and into the kitchen. He looked confusedly at Zane and smacked his chest. "Yo, quit catching flies." Then, he followed Zane's gaze and caught mine. "Woah," he breathed.

I looked at Valeria, and we both broke out into laughter again. "So, where's Finn?" I asked her.

"He's not here?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"Honestly, I was hoping he'd be with you. He texted and said he'd meet us at the venue," Bishop said, worry creeping into his features.

"That does not seem good," Zane said, through a large bite of cereal.

"Don't drink too much milk before performing, Zane, I don't want you to pull a Justin Bieber on us," Danny said, from the couch. I jumped a little. I hadn't even noticed he was there, until he spoke.

"Nah, he was just hungover. That didn't have shit to with the milk, he was just underage," Zane argued, making a point to lift the bowl and take a big sip.

"That's unconfirmed!" I rebutted, eager to defend one of my biggest celebrity crushes.

"Either way, that's not the current issue! Where is Finn?" Valeria asked, starting to freak out.

Nobody had an answer to her question. Finally, Bishop said, "He said he'll be there, we just gotta trust him on that."

"Do you trust him on that?" I asked.

He picked up an instrument to load into the truck. "Somewhat," he shrugged, before carrying it out the door.

As Valeria and I walked down to the truck, she filled me in on the things she didn't want to say in front of the boys. "Honestly, I haven't heard from him since the other night," she said, sighing morosely.

"Aw, Val, that's awful! What a dick," I said, mad at Finn for her. "But don't worry, he's crazy about you, he'll come around. You know how hard it is for him to open up."

"Yeah, but I thought he had finally let him in. I guess it was wishful thinking, but I was hoping his walls would be broken down now. I thought we could finally be something. Now, I'm not so sure." She chewed her bottom lip and tucked hair behind her ears. I'd never seen her look so insecure. I gave her a side hug, as we walked.

"Is it worth battling to get him to open up every time he's feeling anything at all?" I asked, after a moment. "I don't even think he's good at expressing happy emotions."

"I sure hope so, because I'm gonna keep doing it," she said, cracking a self-deprecating smile.

I laughed. "Here's to hoping."

I paced behind the stage. Back and forth. Back and forth. We were on in five minutes. All of our stuff was set up. But Finn? Finn was nowhere to be found. No one had heard from him, though Danny had been calling him nonstop. He even tried calling a couple of Finn's favorite bars to see if he was there. No one had seen him.

     "He'll be here," Bishop said, watching me pace.

     "Either way, could you stop pacing? You're making me dizzy," Zane complained, from his seat on the floor. Usually, we spent this time hyping up or going over any last minute details. This time, it was reserved solely for freaking the fuck out. I could hear the crowd out there. It was a packed bar, with lots of college kids.

     We had about a minute to spare, when Finn finally wandered backstage. "I'm here," he said, calmly, looking at all of us like we were crazy for being stressed.

     "Where the hell where you?" I asked, advancing toward him angrily.

     "Doesn't matter. I made it." I was just glad he was sober, for once.

     "Fuck yeah, I knew you'd show man, never doubted you," Zane said, punching his shoulder.

     "Zane, about thirty seconds ago, you said you'd play his instrument for him," Danny reminded him.

     "Water under the bridge," Zane said, throwing his hands up. "Now, let's get out there!"

     We went on stage, and the crowd's energy was great. It felt awesome to be up there, like I was born to be there. Unfortunately, Finn was not exactly acting like he was born to be there. He kept playing either too slow or too fast, and a couple of times, he started playing the chords to the wrong song. At one point, he just stopped playing. The rest of us kind of died off when we noticed.

     "Uh, just one second," Bishop said in the microphone.

     I whirled behind me. "Are you good?" I whispered, my eyes wide with panic.

     He nodded slowly, but then looked up at each of us, and walked briskly off stage. I whisper-screamed his name after him, but he didn't turn. Zane looked at me with eyes that begged me to do something. We definitely had not planned for this, especially because he had a huge part in the next song on our set list.

     We all stared at each other for a moment or two. The crowd was murmuring and didn't seem to be on our side any longer. I saw Valeria trying to comfort Finn on the outskirts of the crowd. He looked dead to the world around him. I raked my eyes through the crowd and saw a lot of unhappy and confused faces. I thought we were about to get booed or laughed off of the stage. I didn't know what to do, and I was seriously considering following Finn's lead and ditching, when Bishop started singing, "Her name is Noelle. I have a dream about her." He started playing guitar softly along with it.

     We had never practiced this song, but one time Bishop played it when he was on aux, and I told him it was one of my favorites. That was a while ago though, and I couldn't believe he remembered I said that or that he had learned how to play it. My eyes snapped to his, and he was staring at me while he sang, "She doesn't know who I am, and she doesn't give a damn about me." His voice was quiet, but confident.

     The crowd seemed to be enthralled now, looking between the two of us like they were watching a tennis match. Nobody was dancing or singing along. They were just mesmerized. When the chorus came, I joined in, and Zane started drumming along too.

     At the girl's part near the end, I took my microphone off of its stand. I walked closer and closer to him, and he walked closer and closer to me. "I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby, come with me Friday, don't say maybe. I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby, like you," I sang softly. When I ended, we were mere inches apart. There was still more to the song, but neither of us sang it. My eyes were locked on his. The crowd was silent. Zane stopped drumming. It felt like we were the only two people in the room, no matter how cliche that sounds. Then, he put his hand on my back and closed the distance between us. His lips met mine, and the crowd went wild. I pulled at his shirt to get him closer, I couldn't get enough of him. I felt like I could kiss him all day, until Zane threw a drumstick at us. It hit me in the shoulder, and I broke away from Bishop to glare at our drummer.

     "Where's mine?" He asked, smirking at me. About a dozen girls in the audience volunteered themselves for the job. I laughed, my eyes meeting Bishop's again. The lights turned off on the stage and club music started playing from the speakers. I wanted to say something to Bishop, to ask him what the hell we were doing, but Danny came over and told us to start packing up. I sighed, but broke away from him, heading over to drag Zane off stage, who had started to play eenie meeny miny moe with the girls in the crowd. What was I going to do with these boys?