Chapter 80: April Fool's!

Jon and the guys were still laughing at Ang’s prank when David showed up at sound check, and showed them his new shirt. “Peace offering from the girls. Ang swears it was all her idea.”

“Yeah,” Richie agreed, “We’ve seen Hath’s paybacks and pranks, and it would be a bigger gesture than that.”

David said, “It can’t be any worse than parading around here in those outfits of hers.”

Steve heard that last. “Now that wasn’t bad at all, actually,” he said, grinning widely. “That absolutely didn’t bother me; though I thought Jon was gonna kill her.”

David shot him a glare. “It didn’t bother me, either,” he said angrily. “And forget Jon, I was gonna kill her.”

“And Chris sure did like her outfits, too,” Jon added, smirking. “He wanted to know if she was really with you or if that was something she said to fend people off.”

“Yeah,” Richie piped up. “Even Bobby noticed, and he never looks over my side of the stage.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re ugly,” Jon told him. He looked at David. “Does she dress up for you all the time? Or just on special occasions?” Jon asked, but snapped his jaws shut when David pointed at him.

“Enough,” David said, and walked away.

“Sorry, man,” Jon called after him.

“What the hell was that all about?” Richie asked.

“Aaah, I can’t tell you.” Richie was taken aback. Jon shrugged. “Sorry, bro, it’s not my secret to tell.”

“Aw, c’mon,” Richie wheedled.

Jon just shook his head. “Ask David,” he said.

Richie went to find David. The keyboardist was sitting at his hair station, just staring at something in his hands. “Hey man,” Richie said, and David straightened, and put his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry, were you talking to Hath?”

“No, just, never mind,” he said, and got up.

“Hey, is everything alright?”

David blew out a breath. “Yeah, Jon just rubbed me the wrong way, that’s all. It’s nothing. He just forgot he was supposed to keep his big mouth shut.”

“About what?” Richie grinned.

“None of your business. Besides,” he said, smiling a little, “Hath’d kill me if she ever found out.”

“I’ll never tell a soul,” Richie said seriously. “I swear it.”
David considered his friend, then tossed Richie his phone. “Scroll down to Hath,” he said, and turned away. He smiled when he heard Richie’s intake of breath. Hath’s icon was one of the bare-back shots from his birthday.

“How’d Jon find out about this?” Richie asked. As far as he could tell, David was never without his phone. David told him about the gift he had made for Hath and how she had outed herself inadvertently with Jon in Chicago. Richie laughed when David told him about her obvious embarrassment.

“Why the hell would she be embarrassed?” Richie asked. “I mean look at her. I can see why you don’t want Steve or Chris ogling her. You want to keep her all to yourself.” He laughed. “You do know that she does all that completely for your benefit, right? I mean, she doesn’t even look at the others. It’s you she’s dressing all…” He whistled, and David just gave him a look, then snatched the phone from Richie’s hand.

“Don’t go there, man,” he said, “or I’ll tell Lucy.”

Richie just shook his head. “Nope you won’t. ‘Cause Lucy will tell Hath, and Hath will kill you. Then me. Uh-uh. You’re not gonna do that.” He got serious. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. I can’t believe she has this siren inside her, though.” He grinned. “I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Way to go, D.” He winked at David. “But mine’s hotter.”

“Fuck you,” David said.

They got through sound check fine, and Jon apologized to David, who just shrugged him off. He was just missing his girl. Soon enough he’d see her, and soon after that he’d be married to her. He couldn’t wait. He showered and changed, admiring the cut of his new shirt in the mirror. He couldn’t quite figure out what the pattern on the back was, but it was subtle, and when the lights hit it, it looked cool. He grinned. He’d have to see what kind of ugly stuff he could come up with so he could get the girls to shop for him more. He thought it was sweet.

The guys (all but David) had sent Ang a backstage pass and front row ticket for tonight’s show, in thanks for the laugh her prank gave them this morning. They had also talked Nathan into coming, though one mention of Ang, and he was agreeing before the question was even out of Jon’s mouth. Ang was in Richie’s pit for the first few songs. Then, she'd be taken up to the side of the stage, where Nathan was wating. She didn't know that yet. She had no idea he was here.

The band launched into Bad Name, and the crowd went crazy. “Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame…you give love…” Jon waited, and was rewarded with thirty thousand people singing, “A BAD NAME.” Jon gave his customary, “Here we go!” and Richie’s riff got the crowd screaming louder than before.

The house and other stage lights, including the black light, were flashing on all of them, and while they were singing the chorus just with Teek, it happened. The lights hit David just right, and Jon saw the writing on his back. He meant to sing “I play my part and you play your game,” but what came out was “I play my pa- ha ha ha.” He had to pull the mic away from his mouth; he was laughing too hard. He strutted over to David and whispered, “The girls strike again,” and David nearly missed a note trying to see what was on his back. He caught Ang’s eye and pouted at her. After the song, he hid his hand and flipped her off. He was gonna kill her. Hath too.

Ang was finally taken up to the side of the stage where Nathan was there to surprise her. David smiled as they wrapped themselves around each other, and both Richie and Jon went over to tell them to cut the shit. Ang and Nathan were having a great time, and she must have taken a thousand pictures, when she wasn’t mauling Nathan.

When the guys finished the set, and went to change shirts before the encore, Jon slugged David. “Nice shirt,” he said.

“I told you the girls bought it for me,” David said. “Why didn’t you warn me? What the hell does it say?”

“FLASH BANG!” David yelled to Hath later, who was laughing hysterically at the photos Ang had just emailed her. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“I can’t believe you fell for the peace offering trick,” Hath said, tears streaming down her face. They were on Skype, and David could see the joy in her face at pulling off a prank on him. “Look,” she said, holding up a picture. David squinted. He had to give them credit; unless you knew what it said, you couldn’t tell.

“How the hell did you do it?” David asked.

Hath just shook her head. “Nope, a Goddess has to have some secrets from you mere mortals. So tell me,” Hath started laughing again. “Did Jon really start laughing in the middle of a song?”

“Toward the end, actually, but yeah,” David said.

Hath sobered. “Is he very pissed?” She knew that Jon didn’t like anyone messing with his businesses.

“No, the rat bastard,” David said, “he thought it was great.”

Over the next couple of days, David tried to think of a good payback for Hath. Something that would trump what she did to him. She did a public-but-not-too prank on him, and he wanted to respond in kind.

Monday night he hit on something, and checked with Lucy on the boards. Once they determined she wouldn’t kill him, he set the wheels in motion. This was gonna be good.