Falling Down(35)

"Uh-oh. I sense something bad is going to happen."
"Not bad, just super embarrassing."
"What happened?"
I pluck at an imaginary piece of lint on my pants. "Well, we got out there and Crashed started playing. Sera and I did our ass wiggling as we were supposed to but when they got into it, so did we. We were dancing around singing the lyrics at the tops of our lungs," I laugh out loud at myself. "It was just horrifying to do that in front of all these professional people."
"How hard of a time did they give you?"
"That's the thing. They didn't."
"No?"
I shake my head. "They knew we were being weirdoes but they didn't stop playing. They let us get our goofy dancing and singing out of the way, they laughed a bit, and told us we were a lot of fun. Cage--he just sat there in his chair, leaning to one side, elbow bent upward so his chin was resting on his hand--you know what I mean."
He nods.
"So quiet and stoic, I thought we were fired for sure. Then he gets up from his chair and walks over to us, just me and Sera, and pulls us both into a hug and starts laughing, telling us what a breath of fresh air we are, that everyone is always so serious. Well, that set the tone for that shoot and our relationship with Cage. We started hanging out with him a bit, I took his advice on movies and things--he's good friends with Irene, by the way."
"Of course he is."
"I know, right? Anyway, so we just became friends and whenever we can, I should say whenever my schedule allows for it, we work on videos with him. I'm not sure how many we've been in. Five? Seven? All I know is that Cage is one of our best friends and there's something between him and Sera that they are in such denial of and I'm afraid they'll never act on."
"I've seen them together. There's no way they'll be able to hold out much longer."
I shrug. "Maybe. I hope so. They'd be happy together but Sera's… different."
"There's a story there."
"There is but one very personal and private."
Jesse nods. "I can respect that."
We're both quiet for a couple minutes, a comfortable silence before Jesse breaks it.
"What did you think when they told you, you were going to be doing a video with us?"
"Ha! They didn't!"
"What do you mean?" he asks with a confused grin.
"Sneaky f*ckers, all of them. Cage, Irene, Spenser, all the assistants… none of them told us who it was, just that it was some big-name band and we'd be happy. It was a 'surprise'."
"So you didn't know until you saw us?"
"Not a clue. Not until Ben strummed his guitar and you sang with me. Talk about a heart-stopping minute."
"We heard you when we walked in the building. You were singing some P!nk song and when we got halfway to you, you started in on Red. We all just kinda stopped where we were and listened. None of us said a word. Your voice," he shakes his head. "It was an incredible thing to hear and then we started toward the sound and when I turned the corner and saw you, I couldn't believe it."
I grin shyly. "Yeah, well. I thought for sure we were going to get bitched out for touching the guitars and Sera on the drums."
"There was no way, after what we'd heard. No way. And then seeing it was you, well, who can yell at you?"
"Oh you'd be surprised," I say with a laugh.
"Bastards, every one of them," he quips. "Seriously though, I knew you were going to be there but I thought it was part of the crew f*cking around." He shakes his head. "To turn the corner and see you and Sera caught up in the music like we do…"