Flame and Leah

Leah spent the weeks leading up to her birthday finishing her college applications. This wasn’t a bad thing, since Flame was keeping himself busy getting used to the life of being a full-time musician. The band seemed to be in the studio that the record label was renting for them twelve hours or more almost every day. The Friday night prior to her birthday, Leah arrived at the band’s house around nine to complete silence.

“Hey, baby,” she said to Flame as she let herself in. “Quiet in here tonight, huh?”

Sitting on the couch with a notebook and pen in his hands, Flame looked up and gave her a small smile. “Hey, Leah,” he said affectionately, but he looked tired. “Is it nine already?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” Walking over towards him, Leah put her bag on a chair and sat next to him on the couch. “Where is everyone?”

Putting the notebook and pen down on the coffee table, Flame leaned over to kiss Leah lightly before answering. “Um, Chuck’s out at a show. I don’t know if he’s with Callie; they’ve been fighting a lot lately. And Devon’s passed out upstairs. Anthony and Phil – I have no idea… I think they’re here, but they might have gone out.”

“Poor thing,” Leah said, leaning her head on Flame’s shoulder. “Everyone’s so tired, huh?”

Wrapping his arm around Leah, Flame closed his eyes. “Yeah, we were in the studio ‘til two or three last night, and again for, like, eight hours today. But it’s coming together. The band’s written some great stuff. Now I was just working on some lyrics.”

“Well, I can let you be. I mean, I can go in your room and watch TV or something while you work…”

Flame cut her off. “No, don’t do that. Friday nights are the only time I get to see you anymore.” He pulled Leah closer to him and kissed her forehead. “Listen, have you eaten?”

“No, actually,” Leah realized. “I was working on an essay until right before I left the house.”

“Well, let’s grab something,” Flame decided. “My treat. It’ll give us a chance to talk. I miss talking to you.”

Leaning up to give Flame a deep kiss first, Leah then stood up. “That sounds great. I’ve missed talking to you, too.”

-----

“So the weekend after your birthday, I was thinking of going up to Virginia to visit my mom. Anthony’s going to be out of town anyway for some wedding, so I thought it’d be good timing.”

“I think that’s great,” Leah told him from across the table in the diner where they sat eating. “You haven’t seen her in a long time. I’ll miss you that weekend, though.”

“Well,” Flame continued. “I was hoping you could come. I know you’re planning on having your applications done by then…” His voice sounded sweet and hopeful.

“I’d love to,” Leah said with surprise. “Would it be okay with your mom?”

Flame blushed a little. “Well, I told you she’s kind of religious, so she probably won’t let us stay in the same room. But I’m sure she’ll love you.” He chuckled for a moment. “Hell, she has to like you better than Jodi. She HATED Jodi.”

Feeling a little lurch in her stomach, Leah forced herself to smile at Flame. She couldn’t help feeling a little bit jealous whenever Flame mentioned his ex-girlfriend. After all, her name was tattooed on his body. “Well, then, that sounds great. When would be leave?”

“I thought I could pick you up from school on that Friday. It takes about five hours to get there, so we could be there around nine, visit with my mom and Rick, and go out for a while, just in the area. I do want to take you into DC on Saturday night, though.”

“That sounds great,” Leah smiled and reached for his hand across the table. “It’ll be great,” she repeated.

-----

Leah had told Flame she didn’t want to do anything special for her birthday, since he’d been working so hard recently. He had agreed, but when she arrived at his house on the following Friday night, she was greeted by a chorus of “Happy Birthdays” from the dozens of people wandering the house.

“This is like old times, huh?” Flame greeted her with a kiss. “It’s funny, we partied way more BEFORE we had a record contract.”

Leah gave Flame a hug and felt something under his shirt, around his stomach. “What’s that?” she asked quizzically.

“Nothing,” Flame said quickly, pulling away a little. “Skating thing. I fell, had to put some bandages on it. Stupid.”

“Are you okay?” Leah asked with concern, but Flame was already pulling her by the hand into the kitchen.

“Happy birthday, Leah,” a voice greeted her. Looking over, Leah saw Dylan standing with a cute redheaded girl next to him.

“Dylan, hey, thanks” she said, leaving Flame talking to Devon and walking over to Dylan to hug him. “I saw you at school today. You didn’t tell me you were coming over.”

“Flame told me not to tell. He was afraid you’d get mad if you knew he’d called, since you told him not to do anything for your birthday,” Dylan explained. Leah noticed that the girl next to him looked nervous, as did Dylan. “Oh, sorry,” Dylan said, turning pink. “Leah, this is Kathy.”

“Hi,” Leah said warmly. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

A relieved smile broke across Kathy’s face at Leah’s greeting. “It’s really nice to meet you, too. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks,” Leah replied. “Um, I’m going to say hi to a few people, but I’ll catch up with you guys in a few minutes.” She gave Dylan a smirk and a quick eyebrow-raise before going to the other side of the kitchen where Callie was standing, already drunk and flirting with a guy Leah only somewhat recognized.

“Hey, Leah,” Callie yelled, running to Leah and throwing her arms around her. “Happy birthday!”

“Thanks, Cal,” Leah said. “Listen, let’s grab a smoke, okay?” She gave Flame a look over her shoulder, and he nodded understandingly.

“So, what do you think of that guy?” Callie asked in a slurred voice when Leah got her into the back yard.

“The one you were talking to? He’s all right. He’s not Chuck, though…”

“Fuck Chuck,” Callie said angrily, and then giggled drunkenly at her rhyme. “We’re done.”

“How are you done? I talk to you every day. I know you guys have been fighting a lot lately, but everyone’s been under a lot of pressure…”

“This has nothing to do with pressure,” Callie said, sitting down at the picnic table and pulling out a cigarette. “We’re done. It’s over.”

“But why?” Leah asked pleadingly, seating herself beside Callie and pulling out her own cigarette. Callie was so intoxicated, she was having a hard time lighting her cigarette, and Leah leaned over, gently taking her lighter and lighting Callie’s cigarette and her own.

Callie’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Because it’s not going to work, that’s why.” She flinched as Leah tried to touch her shoulder, so Leah pulled back. “He and me… we’re not like you and Flame. We’re not going to make it. I don’t know how we lasted this fucking long, honestly.” Tears were now spilling over Callie’s cheeks.

“You lasted because you’re good together. You lasted because you care about each other.” Leah really didn’t understand what had happened. She had barely seen Chuck in the last few weeks, and Callie hadn’t mentioned much to her until now except to say that she and Chuck were fighting, but that was normal for them, as far as Leah knew.

“Listen,” Callie said with alcohol-fueled anger in her voice. “You CANNOT understand. Everything is going so fucking perfect for you. Everyone loves you. Flame loves you. It doesn’t work that way for me. Especially now, with the band actually going somewhere. You really think Chuck wouldn’t cheat on me when they’re on tour? Please.”

Leah wasn’t used to seeing Callie so upset and vulnerable. “Callie, I don’t think he would cheat on you. I think he cares about you. Listen, where did this all come from? Did he say something to you?”

Callie shook her head sadly. “No. Well, I mean, he did… he did say he loved me.”

Letting out a surprised giggle, Leah immediately stopped smiling when she got a nasty glare from Callie. “Well, why is that a bad thing?” she asked gently.

“Because,” Callie replied with annoyance. “Because the first time he said it when we were fucking. So, of course he, like, HAD to say it the next day. Something about, oh Callie, you know I meant it last night, blah, blah, blah. Dickhead.”

Leah just shook her head and looked at Callie with awe. “I don’t know what to say to you,” she finally told Callie honestly. “I think you are out of your mind.” Callie, who wasn’t used to Leah being so openly critical of her, looked at Leah for an explanation, so Leah continued. “Callie, you and Chuck have such a good thing going. Just because he said ‘I love you’ when you guys were… were having sex, it doesn’t mean he didn’t mean it. Listen, do you love him?”

“What’s to love?” Callie replied bitterly, but she wouldn’t raise her eyes to meet Leah’s. “He’s a drummer. He’s loud and rude and sarcastic. For God’s sake, he has a snake tattooed on his neck. I wasn’t ever expecting anything to last.” But then she broke down. Leah put her arm around Callie’s shoulder as she sobbed.

“So you do love him?” Leah asked again gently.

Looking up with a tearstained face and red eyes, Callie nodded. “But I don’t think he meant it, Leah. I think he just said it… because… I don’t know, because he felt like he had to.”

“I don’t think so,” Leah said firmly. “Chuck doesn’t do ANYTHING because he feels like he has to. You know that.”

“I know,” Callie choked back a small smile.

“So, listen, let’s go clean you up in the bathroom, and then we’ll find Chuck and you guys can talk. But Cal, you have to talk. Not yell.”

Nodding resignedly, Callie stood up as Leah did. “Thanks, Leah. I guess… I guess I know less about relationships than I thought.” She paused to hug Leah again. “You’re a very good friend. Happy birthday.”

Leah was touched by the action and Callie’s words. She led her into the house, where they slipped into the bathroom and washed Callie’s face. Then they looked around the house for Chuck, finding him alone on in his room, lying on his bed with headphones on and his eyes closed.

Callie just stood in the doorway, looking at him until Leah finally knocked on the door hard, getting Chuck’s attention. He sat up, removing the headphones and giving the girls a small smile. “Hey,” he said. He looked tired and sad. “Happy birthday, Leah.”

“Thanks, Chuck,” she replied, shoving Callie into the room a little bit. “I’m going to go downstairs now, unless anyone-”

“I love you, Chuck,” Callie interrupted Leah, and Leah saw Chuck look at Callie with wide eyes.

“I love you, too, dummy. That’s what I was trying to tell you,” he replied, standing to meet Callie with a smile on his face. Leah grinned as she closed the door, giving the couple privacy.

-----

“You are amazing,” Flame said, putting his hands on Leah’s waist when they got a minute alone outside a few hours later. He kissed her forehead and looked her in the eye. “It’s your birthday, but you managed to get Dylan’s girlfriend out of her shell. You got Devon to the bathroom before he puked all over the place. AND you got Callie and Chuck back together – and on behalf of the whole band, thank you for that. Chuck has been miserable the past few weeks, and when he’s miserable, there’s hell to pay.”

Leah smiled at Flame’s praise. “Nothing to it,” she said. “And thanks for the party. Really.” She reached her arms around his neck to pull him close for a kiss, and he jerked as their stomachs touched. “Sorry, I forgot about your stomach. Let me see it,” she said insistently.

Blushing, Flame pulled back and lifted the shirt. There was a bandage taped onto his stomach, with a little blood coming through. Leah gasped. “Oh, God, Flame, it’s bad,” she said.

“No, no, it’s not,” Flame began. “I didn’t fall. I, um… well, look.” He pulled off the bandage, flinching as the tape caught on some hairs. Leah’s eyes filled with tears as she saw what he had done. The banner on his stomach had been filled in with a checkerboard pattern, covering up the name “Jodi” that had been there.

“You didn’t do that for me, did you?” Leah asked, her throat tight.

“Not really,” Flame smiled. “I did it for me. Why on earth would I have someone else’s name tattooed on me when you are the only person I want to be with?”

Leaning up to kiss Flame, Leah sighed contentedly. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t do it for me. But I also don’t hate that you did it.”

A wide grin crossed Flame’s face. “Good. Now, let’s go inside and see everyone. Have you even had a drink yet, birthday girl?”