"BUNNY, WHERE DID you put my shoes?" Valerie called into the apartment to her best friend and roommate. She used the nickname Roger had come up with for Brian when he was drunk one night, coming up with names of animals that matched their personalities. He gave himself the name Peacock, and Valerie was Honey Badger.

"Erm, they should be by the front door." Brian said. He was always very meticulous and neat, moving her stuff around so that everything would be organized.

Tonight, Valerie was going to see Smile perform. She was their biggest fan, without a doubt, and never missed a show. Brian was the guitarist, which was always an interesting conversation topic if she ever had the chance to bring it up.

"Right, thanks." Valerie said as she grabbed a coat, walked to the front door to put on the blue suede shoes Roger had gotten her for Christmas as a poke at her love for Elvis.

"Ah, see you're wearing the coat I got you." Brian said with a grin, sitting on the couch to tune his guitar. Valerie was, indeed, wearing the coat he had gotten her for Christmas. It was a lush, dark green that had gold buttons with intricate designs. The coat was light, yet it sufficed when it was cold in the winter. And it brought out her hair spectacularly. It was made out of a soft material with embroidery at the hem.

Brian always claimed he got it at a vintage shop, and Valerie never felt like arguing with him, although she suspected he was lying.

"It matches my outfit today. Besides, it's probably the only decent coat I own." Valerie said, twirling around before plopping herself on the couch. Brian nodded at her with a laugh as he strummed a few chords, humming to himself.

Valerie sat cross legged and watched him strum, always admiring when other people played instruments. Brian had attempted to teach Valerie to play guitar, but it only ended in her making his nose bleed by hitting him with her elbow, and him giving up on trying to teach her even a simple E minor chord.

She was a lost cause at quite a few things, music being one of them. Her voice was average, she could only play a few chords on the piano, and she couldn't really do anything else. She was, however, amazing at art.

    Valerie always admired Brian for being able to play an instrument. The most she could do was singing in coffee shops with Brian so they could make extra money. But she never put forth any effort into learning any instrument other than a few notes on the piano.

     "Well, Badger, I think it's time to go. Tim will be up my ass if I'm late again," Brian said, stopping his strumming suddenly to pack up his guitar.

"You should sing with us one day, you know. I know you can sing . Tim likes you, so he would be-"

"Nope. You know I don't do that stuff." Valerie said as she grabbed the keys and jinkled them, the many key chains making lots of noise.

"Anyway, I don't even like my voice. And on top of that, I don't play an instrument." Valerie told him as she adjusted her coat, not even taking care to mention how she had one original up her sleeve.

"I'll drive." She proclaimed, not allowing any more talk of her originals as they walked out the door. Brian didn't protest, nodding as he walked out of the flat behind her, shutting the door behind him.

*****

"Hey, Tim!" Valerie greeted the lead singer - and her ex boyfriend - as they came up to Roger's car in the back. Tim set the case for his instrument down before opening his arms to give Valerie a hug. She hugged him and grinned, sighing slightly at the familiar scent of his cologne.

    They were setting up, still, and Valerie figured the last thing that needed to be set up were the instruments.

"Hey, Val." He greeted her quietly, almost shy as he smiled at her. Valerie pulled away from his hug and went over to Roger. She figured his drum set was already set up inside. He was twirling some drumsticks as she went over and kissed his cheek, ruffling his hair.

"Hello to you too, Rog." She said in response to his accidentally twacking her in the head with one of the sticks he threw in the air.

"Sorry, Val. I'll buy you a drink to make up for it." Roger said, feigning chivalry, reaching into his pocket and tossing a bit of money at her. Money was always tight somehow, and Roger and Brian often used each other's clothes. Tim always got by, somehow. But that didn't mean he had a lot of new clothes. He borrowed from his roommate all the time.

      "Thank you... Roger, is that my shirt?" Valerie joked , folding the money neatly and putting it into her coat pocket.

      "Yes. I took it from your closet last time I came over. Fits like a glove." Roger joked back, and Valerie rolled her eyes at him and laughed a bit.

      "Thanks for telling me," Valerie replied sarcastically. Roger reached over and tugged her sleeve. He was always hungry for some sort of attention, and that was his way of telling Valerie he wanted a hug.

Valerie allowed Roger to wrap his arms around her waist and she leaned into him,  smiling at the lingering scent of cigarette smoke on him.

     "You really shouldn't smoke, y'know," Valerie scolded him, taking one of her hands and ruffling his hair, her arm at an odd angle due to the fact that his head was on her shoulder.

     "I'll be okay. It adds to my masculinity," Roger teased, and Valerie rolled her eyes. She checked her watch and pulled away from Roger, though not very willingly.

"Oh, you wish."

      "Show's about to start. See you guys later. Thanks for the money, Rog." She said, making her way to where they were performing. It was already very crowded, and there were many people she had seen before there at a few more of Smile's shows. She also recognized a few of her friends from her and Brian's classes.

She sat at the bar and ordered a beer, taking her coat off and draping it safely across the back of her chair. The beer was delivered to her, and she drank it slowly, cheering when the band came on. Tim said a few words before they started to play 'Doing Alright'. It was, personally, one of Valerie's favourite song by the band. It had always sounded familiar to her, but she didn't know why.

      Towards the end of the song, a boy about her age with wavy brown hair, deep brown eyes. He was carrying a drink that was fairly full. Valerie craned her head slightly to see over her shoulder when, as fate would have it, she was drenched. The boy was apologizing to her, grabbing napkins and handing them to her so that she could clean off the spilled drink from her skirt and shirt.

       "It's no big deal. At least my shoes are okay," she told him, sneering at the two boys that were snickering. She figured they had perhaps tripped him. He gave her a half smile as she mopped up the mess from her skirt, sighing slightly. She checked her coat, and was relieved to see it wasn't damaged.

     "I'm just. . . clumsy. Sorry," the boy said shyly. Valerie shook her head.

      "I am, too. Don't sweat it," she said, holding out her hand to him, "I'm Valerie. You are?" She asked him as he shook her hand.

      "Freddie," He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as Smile started on another song.

     "I'm sorry again, really." Freddie apologized again to Valerie, and she shook her head.

     "I told you not to worry about it. It's not like that hasn't happened before." Valerie laughed, earning a laugh from Freddie.

     That's when she noticed his teeth. They were compacted together, and not straight whatsoever, but for some reason she found it added to how genuine he truly was.

    He seemed to have noticed her watching and covered his mouth a bit, his smiled becoming more tight lipped.

    "Seen the band before?" He asked her, and she nodded.

    "Oh yeah. I'm friends with all of them." Valerie told him, and his eyes widened.

    "That's odd. I work with Rog in Kensington, and I know the band. I wish I'd have met you, though. You're absolutely beautiful." Freddie said, making Valerie blush a bright pink.

"Quite the flatterer, you are. I wish I'd have met you sooner, too. You seem like you'd be fun." Valerie said with a smile as the two of them continued to chat quietly, turning to watch the show.
*****

    "Humpy Bong? Are you joking?!" Roger exclaimed at Tim. He was aghast.

"This band isn't going anywhere. I mean, college gigs? Pubs? That band.... it's going places." Tim said, hoisting his bag and bass over his shoulder.

"You could've at least talked with us about it, first." Brian told him, seething. Tim brushed him off, rolling his eyes nearly unnoticeably at Brian.

"Well, you know now. Sorry, again. Good luck." Tim said, giving a small salute. It was something Valerie did that he had picked up from her. With that, he walked off. Valerie was passing by Tim, and grinned and started to talk to him, but he only gave her a short response and walked off.

Valerie came up to where Brian and Roger were, sitting on the right corner of the band and looking up at Brian. "What's his problem?" She asked them. Brian huffed and handed her a beer, opening his own drink.

"He left the group. That's his problem." Roger said, bluntly, as he popped open his own beer can. Valerie choked on the beer she had taken a sip of, looking at Brian to see if Roger was lying or not.

Brian nodded at her, toasting Valerie with his beer. Valerie was stunned as she took a sip of her drink. "It's whatever he wants. I don't care." Roger said coldly, sitting on the left side of the van. Brian sat in between Roger and Valerie.

"We can talk about it with him later." Valerie said, turning and watching Tim until she couldn't see him anymore.

"Either way, I have better things to do on my Saturday nights," Roger said, pausing and smirking, "I can give you their names." He said. Brian looked over at him, a bit disgustedly.

      Roger smirked even more, winking at Brian as he sipped his beer. "Hey, great show, by the way." A slightly croaky, meek voice spoke. Valerie looked up and giggled.

   "Freddie!" Valerie exclaimed, grinning widely at him, to which he waved back shyly.

      "Thanks, Fred. Glad you enjoyed it." Roger said, giving Valerie a sideways glance. Freddie stood awkwardly before he spoke.

      "I've actually been following you for a while, y'know. Smile,  I mean. I study here, arts department. And, I know you, Roger...." Freddie said, and Brian gave a small nod, smiling a bit.

       "Roger, I hear you study dentistry. And Brian, astrophysics. Suppose that makes you the smart one." Freddie said to Brian, causing him to grin widely.

       "Yeah, I suppose it does." He said, grinning, and Roger mocked him. Valerie laughed slightly.

      "And you?" Freddie asked Valerie, reaching into his pocket.

      "Same as Brian. That's how we met." Valerie said with a shrug. Freddie gave her a knowing look, and Valerie immediately knew he got the wrong impression.

    "Just friends, though. Brian has his sights set on another girl." Valerie said with a nod.

      Freddie smiles slightly and pulled out a small notebook. "I write songs, too. I sing, and I make up lyrics." He said after a few moments of awkward silence. He offered the notebook to Roger, who took it and sighed. Valerie lightly snatched it from him and started to read.

      "Well, you're about five minutes too late. Our lead singer just quit." Roger said, his tone slightly frigid.

      "Oh, well- "

      "Do you have anyone in mind?" Brian asked Freddie, thinking he was offering a suggestion of a new singer.

     Freddie pauses an adjusted his stance, causing Valerie to grin a bit. "What about me?"  Freddie asked, grinning, finally, at the band and Valerie.

     And Valerie suddenly understood why he had only given her crooked half smiles. His four front, bottom, teeth were crowded in the front, giving him an over bite. Roger snorted slightly. "Not with those teeth, mate." He said jokingly. He didn't see how it really offended his friend.

      Freddie's self esteem seemed to drop, and he looked at the ground, shuffling his feet. Brian shot Roger a look, and Valerie's eyes furrowed in sympathy for Freddie. Freddie seemed like he was going to walk off, before he turned back around. He started to sing, and Valerie was stunned.

     He had a rather nice voice. She was also very pleasantly surprised when Roger and Brian joined in and harmonized. Roger was now smiling, and Freddie was grinning back at them, trying to cover his mouth a bit..

Brian looked at Roger and Valerie, grinning at Freddie. "That was amazing." Brian said, thinking out loud.

Freddie smiled. "I'll consider your offer," He said, a bit cheekily. He started to walk away from the van, and Brian called after him.

"Can you play bass?" He asked, and Freddie turned with a slight smile.

"Nope!" He called back. And with that, he was gone, leaving Brian and Roger a bit dumbfounded, and having to consider their new possible singer.