*Daniel's memory from mid 1995*

It was a sunny day, shortly after Tomorrow reached the top 5 songs on australian radio. We were in Benny's garage, where we still had our secret rehearsal lair. The place was kinda a mess, although Mrs. Gillies had told us a trillion times to clean up the place before going down to the beach every day for the past week.

The carpet on the floor was fully covered by chips crumbs and empty candy packages, looking like a snack cemetery. Both white walls on each side were covered with band posters like Helmet, Korn, The Offspring. The wall at the far end of the garage, painted in chilli red, had only one frame hanging just in the middle, behind Ben's drum set. It was a fine '94 photo of us three after winning YouthRock.

That morning we decided to practice a little bit before going to the beach for a walk. It was a time when we were deeply in love with Frogstomp, and our number one prority was to play our songs as much as we could. We even referred to the album as "our masterpiece". Yeah, we were proud of it. And yeah, times change.

We were getting ready to play Leave Me Out when the garage door opened and Mrs. Gillies poked her head round it.

"Boys, John just called. He said to get ready for a photoshoot in about half an hour, he's coming to pick the three of you up."

"Oh, fu...okay. Thanks, mum!" Ben shouted, scratching his head with one of the drumsticks.

We all looked at each other in confusion, and suddenly we all let go of our instruments at the same time.

"Fuck this" I said placing my guitar against the wall.

"I better run to the dunny, I've been holding it since we started playing Israel's Son." Chris ran to the door and opened it abruptly, disappearing up the stairs.

"Pfff, what a butt-head" said Ben, giggling. "We love him, anyways. Aye, I look like shit, mate. I don't even have time to fix my hair".

He ran his fingers through her messy but silky locks. I looked at him with a smile on my face.

"No wackas, mate. I can help ya". I wouldn't miss the chance of touching Benny's hair for anything else in the world.

I rummaged through a wooden floating shelf, which was already pretty messed up, and found a black hair brush we always had there lying around for Ben, in case his hair tangled too much while playing the drums.

"Come here" I said waving a hand, looking at him. We both sat down on the dirty carpet, Ben backwards so I could comb his long brown hair. Being as delicate as I could, I brushed his hair until it felt light as a feather and smooth as silk. From time to time, I touched the back of his neck with the tip of fingers. I enjoyed like a motherfucker to have an excuse for touching him.

"Thanks, Dan" he said with a lovely smile on his young face. "Mate, I'm gonna go tell mum to make some peanut butter sandwiches for us before we go. Wanna go look for Chris? Maybe he fell down the toilet" Ben said as we stood up, laughing a bit.

"I don't think his big head would fit the toilet to fall down the pipe" I replied, holding the guffaw. We both laughed out loud, Benny holding his stomach and I covering my mouth with one hand.

"Okay, enough. Damn, Dan, you're such a jerk. I love it" Ben was wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes. He exited the garage and went straight to the kitchen.

While I recovered my breath, I went up the stairs to check on Chris. I was reaching for the doorknob of the bathroom when the door bursted open. Chris was so distracted that he stumbled against me and we both fell on the floor together.

"Fuck me dead, Chris! You're blind mate, you need those glasses of yours back!" I said half laughing, half complaining. He fell on top of me, crushing me against the cold floor.

"Oops, sorry mate" he said, and looked at me straight in the eyes. His medium lenght slightly wavy hair, brown as aged mahogany, tickled on my face. His whole body seemed attached to mine. I could feel his heart strangely loud and desperate, like a caged hummingbird inside his warm chest.

After a couple of seconds looking deeply at each other, Chris rolled to one side so I could stood up. I offered my hand to lift him up, and he gripped it gently but firmly. His palm was sweaty.

We both returned silently at the garage, where Ben was shuffling through a pile of clean t-shirts to get changed before John picked us up.

I felt strange and confused. Chris had told me something very important through his eyes when we where on the floor, but I didn't know what it actually was.

"Now, who's ready to break the camera, girlies?" Ben said as we were walking out of the garage door, under the angrily hot sun of Newcastle.

*Daniel's POV on the next morning, Atlanta*

I woke up felling a little lightheaded. Morning sun was threatening to swamp the room with it's glowing light through the half-closed curtains. I looked up at the big crimson sofa on the corner of the room to check on my sister, but she was still sleeping.

I yawned and covered my face with both hands. I was tired as fuck, probably having a little hangover from the party. I forced myself to get up and get into the shower. Hot water running through my body was the only thing that could woke me up fast and positive.

I chose a light blue shirt along with a black cargo short and black and grey Vans to wear. Just as I was finishing putting on the Vans, my sister woke up and stretched.

"Hey, g'day dear bromosexual" she said to my with a sleepy voice.

I let out a giggle. "G'day, bratty little monster. Get dressed, we need to catch your plane in two hours and we still need to have our brekkie. Imagine how mum would kill me if I let you go without eating something."

"Yeah, you're so right on the spot, bro." She yawned again and got out of the sofa moving like a zombie arising from the grave. She seemed to be battling hangover so much more than me.

After what it seemed like hours, she finally got dressed with her make up on and everything. We left the hotel after our brekkie, and the second I stepped out of the door I spotted Katie and Ben on the street, apparently waiting for us. I remembered Katie was the main reason for my sister to leave so soon.

They looked distant from each other, and I recognized the signs of a recent argue between the not so happy couple. I looked at Ben, his eyes were puffy and baggy. Probably Katie stormed him just after the party and started yelling about how Ben always hung around pretty girls and stuff.

Katie greeted me with a quick and uninterested "Hi" before turning to my sister, grabbing her by the arm and starting talking fast and low so Ben and I couldn't hear.

We started walking to the airport, and as we were leaving hotel premises, I saw a big shiny black tour bus parked on the parking space. I figured John would be rushing us to leave in only a couple of hours. Luckily we still had time to escort my sis and Katie to the airport.

"I'm dead tired, mate. Hardly slept last night." Ben explained his current state with a lost look on his tired eyes.

"Yeah, you look like Michael Jackson on Thriller, mate. What happened?"

"Katie, mate. We had a fight after the party. She wouldn't leave me alone, she's too posessive. Funny, cause she was the one who cheated on me the last time." Ben's voice sounded bitter and not like him at all. He looked physically and mentally tired. "And then, Chris came up to my room. He was drunk as a skunk, mate. Long time since I saw him so fucking wasted. He was babbling something about some bloke he couldn't find and how he left him alone. I dunno, the whole thing seemed gay."

Ben laughed at his own words, but my brain cells had suddenly stopped their synapse. Was he fucking talking about me? Well, at least he didn't gave any names.

We arrived at the airport just in time. Ben and Katie briefly hugged and kissed. I needed to tell my sister what Ben had just told me about Chris, but I had no chance for a private conversation with her at that moment. We said our goodbyes, arranged with my sister to join us again in two weeks or so and watched both of them getting on the plane.

The sweet warmth I've been feeling since last night was dissolving like acid on my chest. Anxiety was filling every particle of my body again.