A Day in the Life

Aedin awoke with a mother of a hangover, not uncommon, though this morning the honor bar in his room was devoid of his normal liquid relief.

Grabbing the phone in the room, he stabbed the ‘0’ with his index finger, nail painted gloss black.

“Front desk,” said a cheery female voice on the other end of the line.

“Can I get an orange juice up here?” he asked, pulling himself up in bed and leaning forward to massage the back of his neck with his free hand.

“Certainly sir, I’ll see that it’s delivered shortly,” replied the polite voice.

“Make sure instead of pulp, there’s a big healthy splash of vodka in it,” he instructed.

“I’m sorry sir, there is no alcohol available at this time,” replied the overly pleasant voice.

“Why don’t you send one of your little maids into a room that has a stocked honor bar and get her to grab me a half dozen or so,” he said, tone slightly irate.

“Sorry sir, we have been given specific instructions by your manager,” said the voice apologetically, but still so fucking sweet.

“Here some specific instructions for you, get fucking bent,” he said sharply.

“The orange juice will be right up, “advised the voice, impossibly friendly.

“Fuck it,” he said, slamming the phone back down.

Grabbing the remote, he pushed the power button and the TV sprang to life.

“Sitting in the gulf gathering strength, I repeat, tropical storm Gertrude has been upgraded to a category 3 hurricane and is currently sitting in the gulf gathering strength,” said a woman’s voice over the satellite shot of the swirling mass of truculent air hovering in the Gulf of Mexico.

Channel up.

“Expecting landfall in the next seventy two hours, meteorologists say Gertrude could-“

Channel up.

“The strongest hurricane to possibly hit the region since Katrina-“

Aedin clicked the power button again, turning the TV off. Getting up off the bed, he wandered into the bathroom and took a leak. There was a gentle knocking at the door. Finishing, he shook off and walked to the door, peeking through the spyhole. Karli was standing there, tablet in her hands. 

He let out a sigh and opened the door. She smiled up at him.

“Good morning,” she said, cheerfully.

“The happy little cunt from the front desk let you know I was awake?” he asked.

She nodded and held out her closed right hand.

He frowned, extending his hand under hers. She opened her hand and two extra strength Tylenol dropped into his palm.

He frowned, a glum expression on his face. He popped the pills into his mouth and swallowed them.

“We’ll be leaving soon and I need you down to the bus in,” she looked at her watch, “Thirty seven minutes.”

He chuckled and saluted her military style.

Thirty minutes later, belly full of Florida OJ, dressed in white t-shirt, black leather pants and white Adidas runners, dark Wayfarer sunglasses shielding his eyes, Aedin was downstairs behind the hotel near the band’s tour bus. Forty five feet long, the black bus with tinted out windows was a state of the art rolling palace. Equipped with six sleeper berths, a dining area as well as two big screen TV’s, Blu-ray set up, and video game systems.

Karli was waiting just outside the hotel when he stepped out. She smiled at him. “Ready?”

He snorted. “Google delirium tremens and asked me in an hour,” he grumbled moving toward the bus.

As they climbed aboard, Aedin first, followed by Karli, Eddie Vogel stepped down into the stairwell and barred them from entering. “No women on the bus, that’s the band’s rule,” he said, holding his hands out like he was powerless to overturn the unwritten commandment. At six feet tall, he was built like a scarecrow, reed thin and as annoying as hell, but when it came to playing guitar, he was an absolute magician, hence, the Wizard. Able to pull unearthly and haunting sounds out his 1968 Stratocaster, identical to the one Jimi Hendrix used at Woodstock, he was a musical genius.

She smiled up at him. “As an assistant manager, it pre-empts the fact that instead of a dick I have a vagina between my thighs,” she countered pleasantly.

“Pussy is pussy,” Eddie said, licking his lips suggestively and looking down to her crotch.

“Please,” she said mockingly.

“Lighten the fuck up Eddie, she’s just trying to do her job,” Aedin said, dark glasses over his bloodshot eyes, stepping up and pushing Eddie back deeper into the bus.

“Meaning you,” Eddie said, frowning. “You’re her job.”

“Yep, she’s my responsibility,” Aedin said.

“That mean I get to bring little girls onto the bus, eh?” he asked. “Like that little blue haired nymph I fucked the shit out of last night, that girl was born to suck cock.” He sniggered.

Climbing the stairs, Karli followed Aedin into the bus but stopped in front of Eddie, scowl marring her pretty face. “What was her name?” she asked the lead guitarist.

“Who?” Eddie asked.

“Your blue haired paramour last night,” she supplied.

Eddie snorted. “I don’t know, Blue? Who the fuck cares?” he scoffed.

Karli frowned, “So you used her for your pleasure and then discarded her, some nameless little girl.”

Eddie screwed up his face. “Whatever, she got a load,” he said, grabbing his crotch.

Aedin stopped, turned to look at Karli over his shoulder, half smile on his stubbly face, “You sure you want to be here?” he asked.

She frowned, “Honestly, I don’t really want to be here,” she said, emphasis on the want, “But Brian wants me to make sure you don’t drink yourself into oblivion and that this day goes off without a hitch.”

Aedin laughed. “Brian’s worried about my drinking? Nothing about Eddie’s coke habit? Pete’s ‘pain’ pills for his back?” he asked, using air quotes around the word pain.

“Fuck you,” said Pete.

Karli leaned in close to Aedin, close enough for him to pick up her floral scented body spray, “Those guys are great at what they do, but you’re the soul of this band, the reason all the little girls get wet,” she whispered, half smile on her face as she moved back a step.

Aedin held her eyes a moment, about to ask her how he affected her when Pete, sitting on one of the couches in back, lifted his leg and let loose a thunderous explosion of flatulence.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Aedin said, turning, face scowling as he took several steps backward toward the front of the bus. Karli frowned and followed him.

“Jesus! What the fuck did you eat?” challenged Charlie, waving his hand in front of his face.

Pete laughed, “I don’t know, but they been raunchy all morning,” he said, stupid grin on his face.

Eddie scowled and pull his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth. “You shit yourself?” he said.

“Ripper,” Pete replied, using an Australian accent.

“Fuck, you might want to get a doctor to check that out,” Eddie said through his shirt.

“That being said, today is the day we welcome the ‘Spend a day with Injustice Contest’ winners,” Karli said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Pete demanded.

Karli shook her head. “As part of the promotional side of the tour, there was a contest across the US for people to get a chance to come and spend a day with Injustice. There were three winners from different regions,” she said, enunciating slowly

“That’s a load of shit!” Eddie complained.

Karli smiled. “There’s more. Because one of these winners is not of legal drinking age, all of the alcohol has been removed from the bus.”

“What?” Aedin said, frowning.

“I’m not done,” she said, fixing a steely eye first on Eddie then Pete, “There will be no drug use, at all!”

Pete scowled. “Can we fire her ass?” he asked, looking at the others in the band.

“What do you mean no booze?” Aedin asked.

She ignored the question. “They will be joining us in,” she looked down at her watch again, “About ten minutes. We’ll do a meet and greet here on the bus and then they’ll will ride down with us to New Orleans. They will also get an all access pass to tomorrow night’s show.”

“This is the first I’m hearing any of this shit,” Eddie said.

Charlie laughed. “It was in the email she sent last week and then again yesterday and it was all over our website for like the last month,” he said, still chuckling.

“You knew about this?” Eddie asked, turning to stare at Charlie.

Charlie nodded. “Yep.”

“But wait, there’s more,” Karli started, “Because Anna Rydell is only eighteen, she’ll be escorted on this little voyage of bliss by her mother Amanda.”

“This just gets better and better,” scoffed Pete. “Who were the other two winners?”

“Daphne Alcott and Celeste Beaudry,” she said.

“They’re all chicks?” Eddie asked, cocking his head and raising an eyebrow, smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, Eddie, they are all female,” she answered.

“Hot?” he asked.

“There are all very nice young ladies who have not had the privilege of seeing you for the lecherous hound that you truly are,” she responded.

“They’re not hot,” Pete said with a frown, shaking his head. Turning to Eddie, “You know when she says it like that, they’re not hot.”

Eddie frowned and nodded. “True story,” he said.

Karli shook her head, ponytail swaying from side to side.

Aedin also shook his head and frowned, dropping down into the couch opposite Pete.