left_behind | Open Post

left_behind

As On the Tin

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From:

totocaelo

Heard you need help breaking down after your set.

[Probably an unlisted number to her - Eddie, Eddie of Eddie and the Dead Girls, and Tommy doesn't try to think about that too hard as he reaches out. The ask was blanket-texted from their manager's aide, who Tommy is pretty sure doesn't know how technology works. He's filling time because Joel is too busy arguing with his ex-wife in the next small greenroom over to give a crap about anything else, especially helping with stage teardowns after what's been a shitty festival turn-out. Tommy blames the rain but Joel's always had a way of making his little brother's optimism feel like it should be a dirty little secret.]

From:

polemical

[ Once Eddie realizes what her manager's aide has done, she's going to be furious.

It's not like Eddie's some kind of diva, necessarily, but it's so stupid to just give out someone's phone number like that, even if it's just to a small group of people in the industry. There's all sorts of reasons why someone's phone could get intercepted, all sorts of ways for numbers to leak, and she's grown really used to this one and having to get used to a new number would suck.

But that's a concern for Future Eddie.

Present Eddie is currently trying to escape Stevie's attempts to tackle her and force her to wrap her hair up in a t-shirt instead of scrubbing it dry with one of the sweat towels she keeps lying around — something about how a t-shirt is better to combat frizz, Eddie tunes her out regularly when she gets on these personal-care rants of hers, and is just trying to avoid Miss Varsity over here from physically taking her down to the ground so she can force Eddie to listen to her before they go on stage — and using her phone pinging as a distraction. ]

if stevie manages to kill me for real this time we're going to need a lot more help than that.

From:

totocaelo

[Stevie. Drummer, he thinks. What Tommy just knows, though, is that Eddie has no idea who she's talking to, some total random pendejo who'd cold-text a stranger in the name of helping someone out. Tommy sighs. Considers not replying at all even as he's typing back:]

Used to be in construction. Could probably whip up a coff [Feeling cute might delete or whatever his niece would say - except that a hard slap against the other side of the thin wall makes Tommy jump, causing him to both swallow the idiot smile hovering on his face and jamb his thumb down on the SEND button.

Goddamnit.]

From:

polemical

[ He can relax, his response has Eddie grinning her signature split-your-face grin down at her phone, even as she dances out of Stevie's long reach. ]

no shit? that would be sick.

From:

totocaelo

[So... definitely unexpected. The self-flagellation holds itself at bay and Tommy exhales, pushing dark curls back off his forehead. Next door, Jessie's voice has risen; Joel's really pissed in her cornflakes this time. Better to focus on his phone.]

Would rather help you break down than bury you, if I'm being honest.

From:

polemical

sounds like the start of a song.

[ If she wasn't hamming it up to make Chrissy laugh at them and trying to come up with quippy insults that she knows are just convincing Stevie to tackle her for real, she might try to come up with a line or two, but she's a little busy right now. ]

also i'm pretty sure if you build me a coffin you're actually helping stevie and not

[ There's no end to that statement, because Stevie finally triumphed and knocked Eddie's phone out of her hand and then got her in a headlock. ]

From:

totocaelo

[Well that was why he'd said it, wasn't it?]

You, yeah.

[But his mind is already sinking, filling in lyrics to fit with "help you break down". Any time it happened I'd get over it, with a little help from all my friends, anybody else could see what's wrong with me, but they walk away and just... pretend? Tommy shakes his head. Later, maybe.]

So just need extra hands after the set? Heard some hands got food poisoning though honestly I think they had it coming. Who eats ceviche at a music fest?

From:

polemical

[ Her response is much more delayed this time than in times previous, but she does eventually respond. After Stevie manages to turban up her hair with a purloined merch shirt that obviously didn't sell because the stupid festival got mostly rained out.

Not that that stopped Eddie and her Dead Girls, though. They've dealt with worse. She's still trying to convince the festival coordinator that they can go on stage and it's fine, and by she she means Chrissy, who is good at talking to Real Adults and who people actually listen to.

Eddie's only good at talking to Real Adults when she wants to pick a fight with them. ]

yeah that'd be great. and we're just midwest hicks, man, you can't blame em for trying to live a little.

From:

totocaelo

[While Tommy's waiting (yeah, he's waiting), he pulls on a fresh t-shirt even though he showered and changed after their set earlier; the rain's made everything muggy in a way that bothers the skin. He's never been to Indiana before - Miller Brothers only got called in last minute to fill a hole in the schedule because their sound matched the local vibe.]

Take it from a native, chica. If the food truck signs aren't in Spanish then it's not worth the chance. Those boys'll be living on the toilet tonight.

[He just sent that shit to Eddie Munson. Dios mío.]

From:

polemical

[ "A native" could mean any number of things, but the fact that it's followed up with "chica" does narrow things down a little. Eddie's trying to figure out who the hell would have her number — that she doesn't already know — who's at this festival, who also speaks Spanish, and who used to work in construction.

Most of the people who'd have her number are guys on her crew, and while some of them took high school Spanish, she doubts they're comfortable enough with it to make sweeping judgements about the quality of food on offer.

They would absolutely make a joke about shitting your brains out, though, so that doesn't raise any eyebrows. ]

like i said. they're trying to live a little.

[ And then, because she, too, took high school Spanish, she tacks on: ]

papi.

From:

totocaelo

[Tommy chokes on his swig of beer as his screen lights up with that last and if he wasn't blessed with the complexion he's got, his blush would be a lot more noticeable. You feel comfortable throwing that at strangers, girl? He doesn't type it.]

Tell em to drink some tequila.

From:

polemical

[ It's like he doesn't know (about) her at all.

She adds his number under the contact card "Papi" and snickers to herself. ]

like hell i will. i'm keeping my tequila for people who will actually enjoy it. they can drink shitty beer like god intended.

From:

totocaelo

[Poor Tommy; speaking of shitting your pants - that's what he'll be doing if he ever has reason to see his number until that contact name in her phone. From the hall, a door slamming. Wonders if it's Jessie or Joel. Or was that thunder?]

Not gonna help their stomachs but your call. They actually gonna let you play in this?