smackenzie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smackenzie) wrote2003-11-08 11:36 pm
smackenzie) wrote2003-11-08 11:36 pm
Entry tags:
part 11
The Blind Pig had had a brief life as a theater, and you could tell. The owners had ripped out the theater seats and refloored the dance floor, and the sloped balcony had been torn down and replaced with a smaller, flatter balcony, but there was still an air about the stage that made you think of local theater productions putting on Macbeth or Guys and Dolls or plays by local playwrights. Maybe it was the heavy red velvet curtains, now permanently pulled to the side and tied with red velvet rope.
There were chairs and little tables scattered around the main floor, and assorted seating up in the balcony, but the real action, when there was a live band, was on the dance floor or at the bar. People went up to the balcony to watch the crowd or if they wanted someplace out of the way to sit and talk and drink, although there were speakers up there and you really couldn't go anywhere in the club to escape the music. You could hear the band even in the bathrooms. At least the sound system was good, and the guy at the soundboard knew what he was doing.
Laurie couldn't remember when Book of Fish came on - probably nine - but when they got there another band was just getting off the stage. They didn't look familiar and Laurie wondered who they were. Well, there'd be someone selling their CDs if they had any - he could find out there. Right now he and Danny needed to find Lea, who'd said she'd meet them there, and they had to scope out the crowd.
Lea was leaning on the bar talking to someone Laurie recognized but whose name he couldn't immediately remember.
"Hey there," she said, when Laurie and Danny made their way to her. "Ivan was just telling me Marcella asked him to come back to the Divine. He told her to fuck off."
Aha. That's why he looked familiar. He used to play bass for St John the Divine, now called just the Divine because the lead singer had booted everyone out except herself (obviously) and the keyboardist/programmer, Vasily. She'd dissolved the band pretty unexpectedly, and understandably all the other band members had left in a huff and a very bad mood. The whole thing had left a bad taste in people's mouths, but Marcella had always been very arrogant and possessive of her band, and she'd always treated everyone else as just hired help, who she could hire and fire at will without warning. Laurie didn't like her personally, but he had to give her credit for her musicianship and her voice.
"Bitch," Ivan muttered. "Called me up and said she missed me, she'd love it if I could just come play one show, would I do her this favor, blah blah blah. I told her no fucking way, not for all the money in the world, and hung up on her." He nodded decisively. "She didn't even want to play music with bass or guitar, I don't know what she's thinking."
"Probably the moody ethereal stuff isn't selling as well as she thought it would," Laurie mused. "Some of that's really hard to do live." Ivan nodded and waved the bartender over. "Or people are so pissed about how she broke up St John that they're not going to see her...."
"They've only done one show," Lea said.
"Huh. I don't know. I don't know how girls think." Lea grinned. "Hey, Ivan, you don't know my half brother, do you? This is Danny. Danny, Ivan."
"Hi," Danny said.
"Hi," Ivan said. "Another Sam Adams?" he asked the bartender, who nodded and slid away. "You never saw St John, did you?" Laurie wasn't sure who the question was being directed to, him or Danny, and from Danny's expression he wasn't sure either. Neither of them said anything. Ivan sighed. "We were really fucking good. Didn't sound like anyone else around. And then she broke us up, for what? Kris disagreed with her on one song. ONE song, he didn't think the music fit the lyrics. So Marcella pitched us all out on our asses." Another sigh. The bartender reappeared with Ivan's Sam Adams. Ivan pulled out some bills and slapped them on the bar.
"Maybe she really does miss you," Laurie suggested. "Maybe she misses an actual band, instead of just her and a programmer."
"Some of that electronic shit is really cold and impersonal," Danny added.
"She's playing the cello," Ivan said. "It's got a great warm tone. It's beautiful." He swallowed a mouthful of beer. "Now I'm all depressed. Book of Fish should be on soon. I'm gonna go dance. Catch you later." And he took his beer and made his way onto the dance floor, where people had started gathering in anticipation.
"So hi," Lea said. "Did you know Marcella was trying to get St John back together?"
"No."
"You're my link to the scene! You're falling behind on the job, hon."
"Sorry. What're you drinking?" He pointed to her glass.
"Sprite." At Laurie's curious look she added "I get to wake up early tomorrow and take Marshall in to work. Is that stupid or what? I never get to sleep in."
"Why can't he take himself to work?" Marshall had his own car, although it was at least as much a rust bucket as Lea's.
"His car belched out the transmission. He had it towed to the garage so he can get it fixed at a discount, but now he's without car and he refuses to take the bus or get a cab." She rolled her eyes. "I'll probably come home and go back to bed. You want a drink or something?" she asked Danny.
"Beer," he said, as if that was the most normal question anyone could ask him.
"Laurie, get your brother a beer." She grinned. Laurie raised an eyebrow at her. "He's gonna need it."
"Yeah, little Daniel here asked me how to figure out if a boy was gay," Laurie said. "I think he's ready. What do you think?"
"Could be." Lea looked Danny up and down, and he raised his eyebrow at her too. It was a Vanderbeck thing, something they'd both gotten from their mom. "You look ready, kiddo. Tight undershirt, loose overshirt, hair not too combed...." She reached out and messed the front of Danny's hair. He pulled his head away. "Not too obvious, but definitely vibe that says 'Hey, come talk to me.' You don't look like you bite."
"Don't bite the guy on the first date."
"I'm not gonna bite anyone," Danny huffed. "Jeez."
"We're kidding, Danielito," Lea said. Laurie wasn't sure but he thought his half brother blushed at Lea's affectionate use of his name. "Go on and dance. Ignore us."
"How'm I gonna know - "
"Lemme look," Laurie said, knowing the rest of that question was going to be - who're the gay boys? He scanned the crowd, as well as he could now that the band had taken the stage and the dance floor had filled up. "I can't tell. Just go out there and mingle. Scope out the guys on your own. See who's looking at you." Laurie gave him a gentle push. "We'll be here, or up in the balcony. Ok?"
"Ok," Danny agreed. He didn't look so sure all of a sudden.
"Don't think about it. Well, think about Marcus, maybe that'll send out a signal or something."
"You're both overthinking this," Lea pointed out. She gave Danny a much less gentle push. "Go on out there and shake your cute little ass and smile at anyone you think is cute. And don't worry."
"Ok, ok," Danny said, "I'm going. Someone to kiss me. Right." He seemed to square his shoulders, which Laurie thought was kind of cute, and then he wove through the bar to the dance floor, where Laurie watched him for about a minute before losing sight of him.
"You still think this is a bad idea," Lea said softly. He shrugged.
"How else are we gonna know?"
"True. You wanna go upstairs?"
"Yeah, but let me get something to drink. I'm dying of thirst." He turned back to the bar and accidentally bumped into someone. Clearly the place had gotten more crowded when he wasn't paying attention. "Sorry," he said, when the person he'd bumped turned his head to probably bitch Laurie out. Laurie blinked. The guy blinked. It was the guy with the bow tie from Friday night, who'd had dinner at the restaurant with his grandmother. He still had the wire rims and the tousled sandy hair, but he'd ditched the bow tie in favor of a long-sleeve black shirt, like a t-shirt but made of nicer fabric.
"It's no problem," the guy said. Recognition sparked in his eyes. At least Laurie thought it was recognition. Maybe he just wished it was. Because this close up, the guy was very cute in a clean-cut old money casual kind of way, and his smile was genuine. "It was just water. Do I know you?"
"I was, uh, I think you came into my restaurant Friday night. Well, the restaurant where I work. Calla."
"Oh! Right! I knew you looked familiar." The guy stepped away from the bar, as much as he could with the growing press of people, and held out his hand. "I'm Parrish. Dinner was fantastic, by the way."
"Thanks," Laurie said, taking the hand and shaking it. Nice firm grip, dry palm. Parrish seemed to hold his hand a microsecond longer than Laurie would have expected. Cool. "Although I only serve the dinner, I don't cook it."
"He can't cook," Lea put in.
"This is my friend Lea." Laurie made a face at her. She grinned innocently. Parrish took her hand and shook it as well.
"Nice to meet you."
"I'm gonna go upstairs, ok?" Lea said. "Nice to meet you too," she told Parrish, and then she was gone. The two boys squished away from the bar and off to the side of the dance floor. Laurie craned his neck, trying to find Danny in the crowd of people dancing. He thought he saw his half brother's shirt - yeah, that was Danny - and hey, he was dancing with a boy. Excellent.
"Looking for someone?" Parrish asked.
"My half brother. I just wanted to see who he was dancing with."
"Did you find him?"
"Yeah. He's ok." He turned back to Parrish. "Do you wanna go up to the balcony?"
"Here is fine." Parrish was still smiling at him. He looked interested. Laurie realized that being able to read other people was partly an acquired skill, partly something you could learn and practice, and partly intuition. He couldn't have said how he knew Parrish was gay, and all he'd be able to tell you was "He looked like he thought I was attractive," which was utterly subjective and based on little clues Laurie was only half conscious of.
Sometimes you just knew.
He and Parrish stood there and talked about this, that, and the other thing, but mostly they sized each other up and flirted a littleand mentally felt each other out. Laurie was pretty sure Parrish wouldn't go home with him tonight, but maybe the next time they saw each other. Tonight would lead to kissing, at the very least, and maybe if he was lucky one of them would go home with the other. Laurie usually preferred to bring boys back to his place - that way he could kick them out if he had to and go right back to sleep - but he didn't mind going to someone else's place, if the someone else lived closer or was pushier or had a nicer, bigger house. Parrish wasn't pushy, but Laurie would bet he lived in a nice house.
They casually brushed each other's arms and dropped little hints and laughed and teased, until it was clear to both of them that yes, they were both on the same page, and yes, maybe they should find someplace a little more private to find out how far on the page they were, and yes, they wanted to see each other again, eventually get naked, and fuck.
Not that Laurie would ever have phrased it that way, but he knew how he felt, and he was pretty sure Parrish felt the same way. This time it was all in the eyes, even though they were hidden behind glasses and that sometimes distorted a person's expression.
Parrish put his hand on Laurie's arm and was about to say something when Lea reappeared and said "I hate to break up the party, but Laurie, you have to come watch your brother. He's the cutest thing ever."
Laurie made a mental note to interrupt her the next time she was in the middle of something important.
Parrish came with them up to the balcony, where Lea pointed down at the dance floor, to where Danny was dancing with another boy. Danny was not a good dancer, and neither was Laurie - Lea, who was a quarter Puerto Rican and a quarter Cuban and a half Anglo-American-European Mutt, said it was white boy dancing and there were probably exercises you could do to get over it. Danny had a sense of rhythm, as did Laurie, but they couldn't really translate it into their bodies. But Danny at least was enthusiastic, and that counted for a lot.
And from his vantage point, Laurie didn't think Danny's lack of dancing ability really mattered. The boy he was dancing with moved closer, put his hands on Danny's hips, leaned in and seemed to say something to him. Laurie wondered what it was. Danny nodded and the boy stepped back and off the dance floor. Maybe he was getting a drink, or taking a pee break, because Danny stayed where he was, moving more or less with the music, still seeming to be pretty happy. Laurie was pleased and relieved.
"That's him," he told Parrish, pointing. "Danny. My half brother." Parrish made a noncommittal noise. It sounded like "He's cute," which might not be entirely appropriate to say to someone you were coming on to.
"He's a cutie," Lea said. "He can't dance for shit, though. I've been watching them - I'm pretty sure he likes that boy."
"Cool." Danny hadn't run screaming. Either he really did think he was gay, or he was just keeping an open mind, and in either case Laurie was convinced this had been a good idea. And he didn't think that just because he'd gotten to meet Parrish, although that was a nice bonus.
words: 2458
total words: 18,967
note: there's an actual bar called the blind pig in ann arbor, michigan. it doesn't look anything like this one, tho.
There were chairs and little tables scattered around the main floor, and assorted seating up in the balcony, but the real action, when there was a live band, was on the dance floor or at the bar. People went up to the balcony to watch the crowd or if they wanted someplace out of the way to sit and talk and drink, although there were speakers up there and you really couldn't go anywhere in the club to escape the music. You could hear the band even in the bathrooms. At least the sound system was good, and the guy at the soundboard knew what he was doing.
Laurie couldn't remember when Book of Fish came on - probably nine - but when they got there another band was just getting off the stage. They didn't look familiar and Laurie wondered who they were. Well, there'd be someone selling their CDs if they had any - he could find out there. Right now he and Danny needed to find Lea, who'd said she'd meet them there, and they had to scope out the crowd.
Lea was leaning on the bar talking to someone Laurie recognized but whose name he couldn't immediately remember.
"Hey there," she said, when Laurie and Danny made their way to her. "Ivan was just telling me Marcella asked him to come back to the Divine. He told her to fuck off."
Aha. That's why he looked familiar. He used to play bass for St John the Divine, now called just the Divine because the lead singer had booted everyone out except herself (obviously) and the keyboardist/programmer, Vasily. She'd dissolved the band pretty unexpectedly, and understandably all the other band members had left in a huff and a very bad mood. The whole thing had left a bad taste in people's mouths, but Marcella had always been very arrogant and possessive of her band, and she'd always treated everyone else as just hired help, who she could hire and fire at will without warning. Laurie didn't like her personally, but he had to give her credit for her musicianship and her voice.
"Bitch," Ivan muttered. "Called me up and said she missed me, she'd love it if I could just come play one show, would I do her this favor, blah blah blah. I told her no fucking way, not for all the money in the world, and hung up on her." He nodded decisively. "She didn't even want to play music with bass or guitar, I don't know what she's thinking."
"Probably the moody ethereal stuff isn't selling as well as she thought it would," Laurie mused. "Some of that's really hard to do live." Ivan nodded and waved the bartender over. "Or people are so pissed about how she broke up St John that they're not going to see her...."
"They've only done one show," Lea said.
"Huh. I don't know. I don't know how girls think." Lea grinned. "Hey, Ivan, you don't know my half brother, do you? This is Danny. Danny, Ivan."
"Hi," Danny said.
"Hi," Ivan said. "Another Sam Adams?" he asked the bartender, who nodded and slid away. "You never saw St John, did you?" Laurie wasn't sure who the question was being directed to, him or Danny, and from Danny's expression he wasn't sure either. Neither of them said anything. Ivan sighed. "We were really fucking good. Didn't sound like anyone else around. And then she broke us up, for what? Kris disagreed with her on one song. ONE song, he didn't think the music fit the lyrics. So Marcella pitched us all out on our asses." Another sigh. The bartender reappeared with Ivan's Sam Adams. Ivan pulled out some bills and slapped them on the bar.
"Maybe she really does miss you," Laurie suggested. "Maybe she misses an actual band, instead of just her and a programmer."
"Some of that electronic shit is really cold and impersonal," Danny added.
"She's playing the cello," Ivan said. "It's got a great warm tone. It's beautiful." He swallowed a mouthful of beer. "Now I'm all depressed. Book of Fish should be on soon. I'm gonna go dance. Catch you later." And he took his beer and made his way onto the dance floor, where people had started gathering in anticipation.
"So hi," Lea said. "Did you know Marcella was trying to get St John back together?"
"No."
"You're my link to the scene! You're falling behind on the job, hon."
"Sorry. What're you drinking?" He pointed to her glass.
"Sprite." At Laurie's curious look she added "I get to wake up early tomorrow and take Marshall in to work. Is that stupid or what? I never get to sleep in."
"Why can't he take himself to work?" Marshall had his own car, although it was at least as much a rust bucket as Lea's.
"His car belched out the transmission. He had it towed to the garage so he can get it fixed at a discount, but now he's without car and he refuses to take the bus or get a cab." She rolled her eyes. "I'll probably come home and go back to bed. You want a drink or something?" she asked Danny.
"Beer," he said, as if that was the most normal question anyone could ask him.
"Laurie, get your brother a beer." She grinned. Laurie raised an eyebrow at her. "He's gonna need it."
"Yeah, little Daniel here asked me how to figure out if a boy was gay," Laurie said. "I think he's ready. What do you think?"
"Could be." Lea looked Danny up and down, and he raised his eyebrow at her too. It was a Vanderbeck thing, something they'd both gotten from their mom. "You look ready, kiddo. Tight undershirt, loose overshirt, hair not too combed...." She reached out and messed the front of Danny's hair. He pulled his head away. "Not too obvious, but definitely vibe that says 'Hey, come talk to me.' You don't look like you bite."
"Don't bite the guy on the first date."
"I'm not gonna bite anyone," Danny huffed. "Jeez."
"We're kidding, Danielito," Lea said. Laurie wasn't sure but he thought his half brother blushed at Lea's affectionate use of his name. "Go on and dance. Ignore us."
"How'm I gonna know - "
"Lemme look," Laurie said, knowing the rest of that question was going to be - who're the gay boys? He scanned the crowd, as well as he could now that the band had taken the stage and the dance floor had filled up. "I can't tell. Just go out there and mingle. Scope out the guys on your own. See who's looking at you." Laurie gave him a gentle push. "We'll be here, or up in the balcony. Ok?"
"Ok," Danny agreed. He didn't look so sure all of a sudden.
"Don't think about it. Well, think about Marcus, maybe that'll send out a signal or something."
"You're both overthinking this," Lea pointed out. She gave Danny a much less gentle push. "Go on out there and shake your cute little ass and smile at anyone you think is cute. And don't worry."
"Ok, ok," Danny said, "I'm going. Someone to kiss me. Right." He seemed to square his shoulders, which Laurie thought was kind of cute, and then he wove through the bar to the dance floor, where Laurie watched him for about a minute before losing sight of him.
"You still think this is a bad idea," Lea said softly. He shrugged.
"How else are we gonna know?"
"True. You wanna go upstairs?"
"Yeah, but let me get something to drink. I'm dying of thirst." He turned back to the bar and accidentally bumped into someone. Clearly the place had gotten more crowded when he wasn't paying attention. "Sorry," he said, when the person he'd bumped turned his head to probably bitch Laurie out. Laurie blinked. The guy blinked. It was the guy with the bow tie from Friday night, who'd had dinner at the restaurant with his grandmother. He still had the wire rims and the tousled sandy hair, but he'd ditched the bow tie in favor of a long-sleeve black shirt, like a t-shirt but made of nicer fabric.
"It's no problem," the guy said. Recognition sparked in his eyes. At least Laurie thought it was recognition. Maybe he just wished it was. Because this close up, the guy was very cute in a clean-cut old money casual kind of way, and his smile was genuine. "It was just water. Do I know you?"
"I was, uh, I think you came into my restaurant Friday night. Well, the restaurant where I work. Calla."
"Oh! Right! I knew you looked familiar." The guy stepped away from the bar, as much as he could with the growing press of people, and held out his hand. "I'm Parrish. Dinner was fantastic, by the way."
"Thanks," Laurie said, taking the hand and shaking it. Nice firm grip, dry palm. Parrish seemed to hold his hand a microsecond longer than Laurie would have expected. Cool. "Although I only serve the dinner, I don't cook it."
"He can't cook," Lea put in.
"This is my friend Lea." Laurie made a face at her. She grinned innocently. Parrish took her hand and shook it as well.
"Nice to meet you."
"I'm gonna go upstairs, ok?" Lea said. "Nice to meet you too," she told Parrish, and then she was gone. The two boys squished away from the bar and off to the side of the dance floor. Laurie craned his neck, trying to find Danny in the crowd of people dancing. He thought he saw his half brother's shirt - yeah, that was Danny - and hey, he was dancing with a boy. Excellent.
"Looking for someone?" Parrish asked.
"My half brother. I just wanted to see who he was dancing with."
"Did you find him?"
"Yeah. He's ok." He turned back to Parrish. "Do you wanna go up to the balcony?"
"Here is fine." Parrish was still smiling at him. He looked interested. Laurie realized that being able to read other people was partly an acquired skill, partly something you could learn and practice, and partly intuition. He couldn't have said how he knew Parrish was gay, and all he'd be able to tell you was "He looked like he thought I was attractive," which was utterly subjective and based on little clues Laurie was only half conscious of.
Sometimes you just knew.
He and Parrish stood there and talked about this, that, and the other thing, but mostly they sized each other up and flirted a littleand mentally felt each other out. Laurie was pretty sure Parrish wouldn't go home with him tonight, but maybe the next time they saw each other. Tonight would lead to kissing, at the very least, and maybe if he was lucky one of them would go home with the other. Laurie usually preferred to bring boys back to his place - that way he could kick them out if he had to and go right back to sleep - but he didn't mind going to someone else's place, if the someone else lived closer or was pushier or had a nicer, bigger house. Parrish wasn't pushy, but Laurie would bet he lived in a nice house.
They casually brushed each other's arms and dropped little hints and laughed and teased, until it was clear to both of them that yes, they were both on the same page, and yes, maybe they should find someplace a little more private to find out how far on the page they were, and yes, they wanted to see each other again, eventually get naked, and fuck.
Not that Laurie would ever have phrased it that way, but he knew how he felt, and he was pretty sure Parrish felt the same way. This time it was all in the eyes, even though they were hidden behind glasses and that sometimes distorted a person's expression.
Parrish put his hand on Laurie's arm and was about to say something when Lea reappeared and said "I hate to break up the party, but Laurie, you have to come watch your brother. He's the cutest thing ever."
Laurie made a mental note to interrupt her the next time she was in the middle of something important.
Parrish came with them up to the balcony, where Lea pointed down at the dance floor, to where Danny was dancing with another boy. Danny was not a good dancer, and neither was Laurie - Lea, who was a quarter Puerto Rican and a quarter Cuban and a half Anglo-American-European Mutt, said it was white boy dancing and there were probably exercises you could do to get over it. Danny had a sense of rhythm, as did Laurie, but they couldn't really translate it into their bodies. But Danny at least was enthusiastic, and that counted for a lot.
And from his vantage point, Laurie didn't think Danny's lack of dancing ability really mattered. The boy he was dancing with moved closer, put his hands on Danny's hips, leaned in and seemed to say something to him. Laurie wondered what it was. Danny nodded and the boy stepped back and off the dance floor. Maybe he was getting a drink, or taking a pee break, because Danny stayed where he was, moving more or less with the music, still seeming to be pretty happy. Laurie was pleased and relieved.
"That's him," he told Parrish, pointing. "Danny. My half brother." Parrish made a noncommittal noise. It sounded like "He's cute," which might not be entirely appropriate to say to someone you were coming on to.
"He's a cutie," Lea said. "He can't dance for shit, though. I've been watching them - I'm pretty sure he likes that boy."
"Cool." Danny hadn't run screaming. Either he really did think he was gay, or he was just keeping an open mind, and in either case Laurie was convinced this had been a good idea. And he didn't think that just because he'd gotten to meet Parrish, although that was a nice bonus.
words: 2458
total words: 18,967
note: there's an actual bar called the blind pig in ann arbor, michigan. it doesn't look anything like this one, tho.
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I need a "I love Danny" banner ;-)
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(he's acting all casual now.... you can't see the blush, tho. :> )
laurie sez: what about me? *pout*
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And cheers to Danny! Though now I'm wondering if he's bi, or just straight up gay.
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lea sez: of course we are.
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(Caught up, once again....)
I heart Danny. And Parrish--too cool. Lovely stuff, hon. Like the sparkage. :-)
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And I like the sparks between Laurie and Parrish.
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love danny--love lea telling them both to stop thinking so damn much.
and now i'm all caught up and waiting for the next bit. this is fantastic.
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