Five Finger Death Punch

Chapter Thirty-Five: Scandalous

Jason was too impatient to wait until Zoltan scheduled practice, so he decided to call either the bassist or the singer, but he couldn’t choose. He finally settled on Chris with the thought that on the off-chance one of them was in a bad mood, Chris would be easier to deal with.

The phone rang and then clicked.

“Hey, what’s up man?” The bassist answered. There was noise in the background.

“Hey, where you at?”

“Hard Rock Café, hanging with some friends.”

“Friends? Who are you with?” Jason asked, wondering if Ivan could be amongst them. If he was, he’d know without asking that they were better again.

“Ah, just some guys I met paintballing. Ivan was gonna come too, but he got caught up with something,” Chris answered.

Jason mouthed “yes” and silently fist bumped. If Chris had invited him, that must mean they were cool with each other.

“So, what do you need man?” he asked.

“Oh, ah, I was just wondering – because, you know, it’s been a while – if, uh, you and Ivan wanted to join Zoltan, Jeremy, and I for another poker night? I—I know it didn’t go very well the last time,” he added hastily, “but I promise that it won’t be like that again. I just wanted us all to get together again. Nothing weird.” Jason’s heart was pounding in his chest and he clenched his t-shirt’s collar in his fist.

“Ahh…” Chris sounded unwilling, “I—I guess? Like, when you having it?”

“Saturday night? Is that good?”

“I—I’ll ask Ivan, man. Did you tell everyone else?”

“Y—yeah,” the guitarist lied, “They all said it’d work for them.”

Chris sighed. “Okay, yeah, then I guess I’ll be there. I’ll ask Ivan later, though, when I see him.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“I’ll talk to you later, man,” Chris said.

“Yeah, see ya.”

When the phone call was over, Jason released the breath he had been holding.

On Friday, Zoltan called Jason.

“Hey man,” he said, “I just got done talking to everyone. I scheduled band practice for Saturday afternoon.”

Jason’s heart stopped. “S-Saturday?”

“Yeah. Is that a problem? Everyone else said it was fine. I was originally going to do Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t work for Jeremy and I didn’t really want to wait until next week.”

Jason thought fast. “Well, uh, Saturday afternoon won’t work for me.”

“Whelp,” Zoltan said in a bored and slightly vexed tone, “Too bad. You’re usually always free so I just kind of figured it wouldn’t matter if I confirmed with you last. What do you got going on anyways?”

“Ahh… Y—you know what, I—I’ll cancel my plans – it’s – psh, yeah it’s fine. Saturday afternoon’s fine.” Jason cursed in his mind and clenched his fists. Damnit.

“Okay…” Zoltan held out the word. “So noon is good?”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

They got off the phone and Jason started drowning in his anxiety. If Chris or Ivan said a word to anyone about his party that night he was boned.

Jason showed up to practice shaking in his studded, leather boots. He got his guitar out and managed to start playing without mention of the poker night. His confidence grew as their session ended and he still hadn’t been asked, but right as he was about to leave with a smile on his face, he heard Chris wrapping up his conversation with Jeremy.

“Hah-ha, yeah man, I’ll see you tonight,” he said, swinging his bass onto his shoulder.

The drummer cocked his head questioningly and asked, “What are we doing tonight?”

Jason was frozen where he was and he cursed under his breath. “Fuck.”

Chris pointed a thumb at him. “Going to Jason’s place for cards? Remember?”

“Ah, no…” he replied, holding out the word, “I wasn’t invited to that.”

Jason turned around and watched his scandalous lie fall apart around him.

Chris and Ivan both looked at him. “I thought you invited everyone,” the bassist said, holding out an open palm.

“I was invited either,” Zoltan said.

All eyes were on him. Jason was frozen.

Zoltan put his hands on his hips, dropped them, and then approached him, standing so close in front him that there was little space between them. He murmured so softly to him that no one else could hear, “What are you doing, Jason?” He couldn’t answer; he was mortified. “Inviting Chris and Ivan to your house with the promise of a game night with the band? What were you gonna do when they showed up and no one else came?” The older guitarist’s lip quivered. “Seduce them? Were you hoping they’d agreed to a three-way or something?”

“I’m sorry,” Ivan cut in, “Did I just hear ‘three-way’? Because I thought I did.”

Right as it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest like an alien, he turned on his heels and left the room.

That was it. He could never face them again.