Freak
Chapter 5
By: Makena
One of Jeremy's unusual joys in life (besides talking to her posters) were surprise pictures. For example, Jeremy would duck behind one of the over grown plants that sat back stage and randomly take pictures of whoever came back - Paul was usually the victim, but Billy, Benji and even Pierre and Sebastian from Simple Plan got their pictures taken. Joel, however, was smart enough to stay away from anywhere Jeremy could hide and pop up from, and never got a surprise picture taken.
"Spoil sport," Jeremy said after he quickly walked past the plant.
Joel grinned and passed Paul, who was walking the opposite direction, lighting up a cigarette. Jeremy watched Paul until he looked over at her and laughed slightly, pocketing his lighter.
"You're still hiding behind the plant?" he asked, although the question was some what rhetorical.
Jeremy nodded and finally stood up, pocketing her camera.
"Get any more good shots?"
Jeremy shrugged. "Pierre did a pretty pose for me," she laughed. "Doubt he meant to, but it was still pretty."
Paul laughed. Jeremy sighed and watched him take a drag from his cigarette. "You know, smoking is bad for you," she told him.
"Thank you," Paul said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't aware of that."
Jeremy shrugged and snapped a picture of Pierre as he walked past. "Wha... what the fuck?"
Jeremy grinned and finally got Joel into one of her surprise pictures while Pierre stood, rubbing his eyes. "Gah!! Jeremy - knock it off!"
"Her name is Jeremy?" Pierre asked.
"Yep," Jeremy replied, sticking her hand out. "Call me Hank."
Pierre frowned but shook her hand anyway. He looked at Paul, and then at Joel. "Why is she here?" he asked.
Joel shrugged. "I forgot."
"I'm fulfilling a life long dream," Jeremy replied, batting her eyelashes.
She turned back to Paul and took his cigarette away from him, dropping it to the ground and stepping on it. Joel struggled not to laugh and Pierre tried to keep his "that girl is insane" look.
"Smoking is bad for you," she explained to Paul for the second time. "You should really try to stop."
Paul frowned.
"You'll thank me when you're not dying of lung cancer."
Paul shrugged and Jeremy took a surprise picture of him. Before he could react, Jeremy ran out towards the stage door and collided with Benji, falling to the floor.
"Go figure," she said with a laugh and a sigh. "But it was a good set-up for the beginning of a fan fiction."
Benji laughed slightly and looked up at Joel, Pierre and Paul. "I get the feeling she talks to herself most of the time," he said, standing up.
"Actually," Jeremy said, letting Benji's outstretched arm help her up. "I was talking to you, but since people tend to not listen to me I guess I do talk to myself a lot."
Benji laughed again and brushed himself off a little. "The doors open soon," he announced. "Did you figure out what you were gonna do yet?"
Jeremy nodded. "I don't know if it'll do anything special, but I think I know what I'm gonna do."
Paul and Pierre looked at each other, and then between the three with confused looks on their faces. "Mind explaining?" Paul asked.
"Not really," Jeremy replied with a laugh. She sighed and checked her watch - it was almost 6:30 and the doors opened then.
"I'm gonna go try to find Bruce," she announced, looking up at Benji with a smile.
Benji sighed and took his pass off from around his neck before handing it to Jeremy. "Try not to get thrown out."
Jeremy laughed and nodded. "I can't promise anything, but I can try."
She scampered off towards the back stage exit, Benji watching her leave.
"Dude... you like her," Paul said once she was gone.
Benji looked up at Paul and shrugged. "... and?"
Paul shrugged and dug out another cigarette, knowing it was now safe to smoke. "Just saying."
-----
It took a while, but Jeremy finally found Bruce, who wandered into the mosh pit area with two black M's drawn over his hands.
"Ooohh," Jeremy said, examining his M's. "Minor. No drinking now, you hear?"
Bruce rolled his eyes and took his hands back, stumbling slightly from the people that pushed their way into the concert hall. "Yeah, yeah," he said. "How long have you been here?"
"Since school let up," Jeremy replied. "Why?"
Bruce shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I was just wondering," he began, kicking at the ground. "Cause I called your house and your brother said you wouldn't be home for a while, so..."
Jeremy grinned. "You called me?" she asked.
She could feel her heart beating excitedly in her chest as Bruce lifted his head and nodded shyly, his clear blue eyes locking onto her own. She loved his eyes - they were usually the first thing she noticed on a guy. What had she noticed about Benji first?
'Probably that pink spot in that black and white photo,' Jeremy said with a laugh as a roadie jumped on stage and tapped the microphone a couple of times. 'Only spec of color - how do you not notice that? I probably noticed... no! Wait... Bruce. That's who I'm thinking about, not Benji. Jeez my mind wanders. I wonder if Bruce has ESP? That would suck to have some one always reading your thoughts...'
Jeremy slapped her forehead slightly as the lights went dim and she noticed Simple Plan walk onto the stage. People cheered, a couple people screamed because they hadn't realized that Simple Plan was the opening band.
"You okay?" Bruce asked her.
Jeremy looked up at him and blushed slightly. "Er... yeah. Um, so... why did you call me?" she asked, having to shout a little above the music.
"I, um..." Bruce began. He paused to think about why he had called Jeremy before changing the subject. "Where's your boyfriend?"
"My what? ... oh! Benji! He's backstage."
'I can't believe I almost blew our cover,' Jeremy thought. 'I hope Bruce doesn't have ESP.'
"Oh."
Neither of them said anything before Bruce moved forward and planted his lips on Jeremy's. They stood in the middle of the mosh pit, kissing to an up-beat Simple Plan as on-lookers either ignored them or laughed, pointing them out to their friends. Finally, it was Jeremy who pulled away. She slowly opened her eyes and frowned slightly.
"Huh," she said, slightly amused.
"What?" Bruce asked.
"Nothing, I..." Jeremy paused and let out a tiny laugh. "I didn't feel anything."
"No... nothing?" Bruce asked, obviously disappointed.
"Nothing."
Bruce sighed sadly and shrugged. It had all been worked out in his mind as a simple plan - he was going to find Jeremy at the concert and kiss her and try to drag her away from her rock star boyfriend. At least, that's what the plan had been and everything had been pretty simple - except the last part. Jeremy sighed and looked at Bruce. He was still so - hot, so irresistible. But she felt nothing towards him more than a "damn your fine."
"Tell me the truth," Jeremy said finally, dragging Bruce to a more quite, decollate corner of the concert hall. "Would you have kissed me if Benji and I weren't dating?"
Bruce frowned. "What? Why would I..."
"Come on, Bruce. Before you noticed me and Benj, you didn't even notice ME except when you got bored in english. Be honest - would you still be into me if I didn't have a rock star boyfriend."
Bruce sighed and shrugged. Now that he really had a chance to think about it, it made sense. "I donno," he said finally, adding a shrug. "I guess maybe that's true. But... you never know. I might have eventually fallen for you anyway."
Jeremy sighed as Simple Plan played on, their set nearly finished.
"Well," she said. "I guess I'll see you around... I need to go backstage now."
"Jeremy..."
Jeremy left before Bruce could follow. She had gotten what she had wanted, but it didn't seem right. She had to talk it out with somebody. She had to find Benji.
Jeremy didn't have to fight with security to get backstage - the guard checked her pass and let her through, although he did ask himself why she of all people had a pass to get backstage.
Backstage was more hectic than before - the members of Good Charlotte were putting the finishing touches on whatever they needed for "wardrobe" and Autopilot Off was getting ready for their set, because Simple Plan had just finished by the time Jeremy had gotten back. They rushed off, took a five minute break, and left to mingle and sit at the merch booth.
"Nice set," Jeremy had time to tell Pierre before he rushed off again. "You guys rock."
"Thanks," Pierre said with a grin.
Jeremy smiled and found Benji easily. "He kissed me," she told him bluntly.
Benji stopped what he was doing - which wasn't much to begin with - and looked up at her. "What?" he asked.
"He kissed me," she said. "Bruce kissed me."
"Really?"
Jeremy nodded and watched as he propped a shoe up on the couch and begin to tie it. She beat him to it by sitting down and tying it for him.
"It's really weird," she continued while tying his shoe's up. "Because it's what I've wanted since I was a sophomore, but... you know what?" She paused and looked up at Benji. "I felt nothing."
Benji, slightly curious, sat down on the couch next to her. "Nothing?" he repeated. "Like, you were numb from shock and therefore felt... nothing?"
"Nothing, as in... nothing," Jeremy said.
Neither of them said anything for a moment while Benji carefully thought about bringing up his next question and Jeremy chewed on the sides of her mouth. Finally, Benji broke the silence.
"What about at the mall?" he asked. "Why did you kiss me then?"
Jeremy sighed. She had hoped he wouldn't have brought it up. "Do you want the truth?"
"If you don't mind."
"Okay," Jeremy said with a sigh, sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing Benji. "The reason I kissed you at the mall was because I saw Bruce and I wanted our "relationship" to look real and him to get jealous... at first. But I noticed him leave and I couldn't pull away."
Benji tried not to smile. "Why not?" he asked.
Jeremy shrugged and let out a little laugh. "You know what? I have no idea." She paused and laughed again. "God, this is such a love cliché."
Benji frowned slightly, but soon smiled again. They sat in silence for a moment. Jeremy looked at Benji and suddenly leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Without warning or giving any sign that she would have done so, she kissed him, intending the kiss to last longer than a couple of measly seconds. And it did last longer. Benji kissed her in return and they sat in heavenly bliss until...
"Benji? Jesus... why do I keep walking in on this?" Joel was standing in front of the couch, watching Benji and Jeremy. They parted and tried to slide to opposite ends of the couch.
"No, no," he said. "I already saw it. Why do you think I won't notice if you two just slide to opposite ends every time?"
"Joel!" Benji said finally. "You're ruining the magic."
"What?" Pause. "Oh. OH! Okay... sorry." There was another pause as he looked between the two. "So... kiss the girl already!" Pause. "Oh, right. Sorry, I... um... hey, look... is that a penny...?"
Jeremy laughed as they met half way on the couch and began to kiss again.