VALERIE WOKE UP the next morning, not in her hotel room. That was the first thing she noticed. The next thing she noticed were the clothes strewn all over the room. She sat up abruptly, the covers falling off of her as she searched around the room for any sight of familiar clothing.

     When she spotted the shirt she had been wearing the night before, she panicked. Her heart rate spiked when the bathroom door opened, and she immediately covered herself with the blanket after taking a millisecond to realize she didn't have any clothes on.

      "Roger, I - did we?" Valerie asked him after spotting him from the bathroom, her head suddenly aching from a mix of hangover, sitting up too quickly, and the fact that she had sex with her friend.

     Roger stared at her for a moment, not once letting his gaze drift away from her eyes, before nodding. "Yes... we did." He replied simply, and Valerie went a shade of pink Roger didn't even know existed.

        "Oh.... oh, no, no. I was drunk," Valerie blurted, clutching the blanket tightly to her chest as she took in deep breaths.

       "I know, I know." Roger said, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at her. "Very drunk, I might add," he said, and she threw a pillow at his head.

      "Ow! I'm sorry, I'm taking this lightly. Look, I know you were drunk, and you did something you regret, and that I feel bad for even dragging you into. It was a one night hook up -"

     "Like every hook up you have."

    "Shut up!" Roger exclaimed, a bit annoyed, and Valerie blushed from embarrassment.
    
    "Sorry. Please, continue." Valerie told him, and Roger sighed.

     "Anyway, I was saying that it was a one night hook up,  and that we don't have to be awkward because.... I know we're good friends and all, but I don't want to have to deal with the knowledge that yeah, we had sex once and it's a super huge deal." Roger said, looking at Valerie, who furrowed her brows.

        "But everyone knows."

      "We weren't that loud," Roger said, and Valerie looked at him,  her eyes wide.

     "Okay, yes we were."

     "Roger! Shut it! They all saw me come to your room, so we can't even deny it." She said, embarrassed and mortified that her drunken self had taken attachment to one of her best friends.

She was also a bit surprised that she didn't go for someone else -

"We can come clean. Tell the band that we both made some choices that we regret, and that were only friends." Roger said, hopping off of the bed.

"You tell them. I'm going to get dressed." Valerie said, watching him. He simply stared back at her, as if waiting for her to move. She threw another pillow at him.

"Go now!" She exclaimed, and he jumped, slightly scared of her, as he made his way out of the room quickly.
******

      "Roger, that is not what you do with a friend! Meaningless sex? That's what you do with a different girl every night. How dare you even do so with Valerie." Brian spat at Roger, who had gone into Freddie's room where everyone had congregated.

John had sat back, wrapped up in a sweater he had stolen from Freddie the night before, watching a fight break out between Roger and Brian. Freddie was leaning against a chair in the room, sipping his tea as he sighed and listened to Brian and Roger go back and forth. He was so used to them fighting he didn't even bother to flinch.

"She was drunk, Brian! And I already made it a point to tell you that I regret even taking advantage of that!" Roger yelled at Brian, throwing a slightly wilted flower at him.

"Even so! You apologized for doing it, but the thought should never have crossed your mind in the first place." Brian said venomously.

"And she's the one sharing a room with you. Who's to say you wouldn't have taken advantage of the situation either." Roger said. The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted it. The room was deadly quiet; even John feared for his own life.

There was a silent anger radiating off of Brian, and he shook his head. "How dare you ever assume I would do anything with Valerie. She's like a sister to me. And I'm engaged and very much in love with Payton -" Brian said, and he kicked the couch in anger, an action no one had ever seen him do.

"You know, I think it's time you stop hopping from woman to woman and find someone you truly love. Instead of having sex with a drunk girl, find somebody to love for more than one night." He said, and he pushed past Roger out of of the room.

      "Brian, please-"

     "No, Roger, I'm done listening to you." Brian said, walking out of Freddie's room and slamming the door.

John was silent, biting his nails anxiously. He hated the fights, but this one made him really paranoid and anxious. He was just surprised Roger didn't throw the television at Brian.

John has heard the whole explanation Roger gave, but who's to say that he and Valerie wouldn't start dating? Roger would do that: his seemingly one night hook ups would turn into about a two week long relationship.

He didn't want that to happen to Valerie, not at all. She and Roger may be super close, but in the moment he wanted to strangle Roger for being so. And the violent part of John even scared himself a bit.

John sighed and lay back on the couch, jumping slightly when Roger slammed the door of Freddie's room, marching back to the room where John hoped Valerie had already left.
*****
"Oh, that's much worse than I thought it would be." Periwinkle said. She and Valerie were sitting on the couch in Peri's living room, telling about what had happened on the tour. The two had grown closer after talking more and more often on the phone.

      "Brian has become so much more protective over me,  Roger still talks to me, but it isn't the same. Oh, Freddie and Mary keep inviting me over for dinner to get me out of Roger's constant fights with Brian. And John isn't talking to me anymore." Valerie said, sighing deeply.

       "Well, that's problematic. What are Brian and Roger even fighting about?"

     "The fact that Roger took advantage of the situation. It's kind of the same argument over and over again, but it makes me feel horrible!" Valerie exclaimed, messing with a loose strand on a sweater she had taken from Brian's closet.

    "Why do you feel horrible? From what I hear, you were just drunk," Periwinkle reasoned. Valerie nodded and sighed.

       "I was, but I feel like it's my fault all of this happened, I mean, I did go along with it."

       "Because you weren't comprehensive enough to understand. You don't drink a lot as it is, so that probably was a shock to your system, making you more obnoxious and submissive. You probably didn't even realize what you were doing." Periwinkle said, standing up and walking to the kitchen to get cookies.

       Valerie was still tugging on the thread, feeling worse than ever. It had only been a few days since the incident,  by the tension between the band was driving Valerie insane.

       And now John wasn't talking to her at all. He normally called her every night to say goodnight or to tell her how everything was going. But now he didn't do much as spare a glance at her when he saw it, and it made her feel as if she did something wrong.

       Was he revolted by her actions? Did he -?

      "As for John, he's a real cunt for not talking to you. Maybe he's jealous." Periwinkle said as she returned with the pastries.

     "I highly doubt that."  She said, and Periwinkle laughed.

     " Please! There is some serious sexual tension radiating off the two of you all the time. He always tries to get near you, and he makes attempts to flirt. He isn't that great at it but whatever."  Periwinkle said as she ate a cookies.

       "Shut it, Peri."  Valerie said,  her cheeks going red. Had John been trying to flirt? It didn't seem that way to Valerie, but who was she to doubt Periwinkle?

     "I've only known him for nearly five years. He can't possibly-"

        "It's possible. Now, will you make some lunch? I don't think I can gossip on an empty stomach."