When One Door Closes -- Closed thread

[The_gladiator]

When one door closes

Jake sat on one of the many barstools lined up in front of the polished wood and grannet bar. He was idly tapping the toe of his boot to the beat of the music. When Jake had walked in, a couple hours ago, slinging a long leg over the closest stool and promptly ordering a beer and a shot of whisky, he had thought this band was terrible. Then again, he was probably biased as he himself sang and played guitar for one of the more popular local bands. His group had even done a couple of national tours supporting a number of famous acts. However they had never quite exploded into the mainstream, and at the moment Jake was ok with that. It allowed him to sit alone in this bar and not be recognized or so he thought.

Jake was now several beers and shots into the night and frankly he was starting to like the bandthey played his kind of hard rock, the kind of music that allowed one to lose themself in the driving riffs and complicated rhythms. Music that allowed him to not think at least for a few moments. Oh hell who was he kidding? He wasn't able to stop thinking at all, but between the music and the alcohol he was starting to not care so much that he couldn't take his mind off of her and what had happened.

Melissa, even the thought of her name made him angry and hurt all at the same time. "4 years down the toilet," he growled to himself. "Need another drink," he told himself, sure that just one more would make the difference and get her off his mind.

This went on for another hour or so, until the band took another break and the singer came to the bar to get a drink. That was when Jakes anonimity was stripped from him. The singer, Dan, as he introduced himself was so surprised to see someone like Jake, a local legend in the music community at the bar, listening to his gig. He begged Jake to come on stage to perform with them. Jake politely declined, and when the band went back on stage, he figured that was the end of it.

Oh, how he was wrong. As soon as he was on stage again, Dan informed the crowd they had a celebrity in their midst and promptly pointed Jake out at the bar. "Don't you all think that Jaake, the nightwing himself, founder of nightwing and the skyfliers should come sing a song for us?" the crowd cheered even louder and Jake could only give a small very forced smile and shake his head. This caused the crowd to begin to chant his stage name over and over.

There was one thing about Jake that never changed he was incredibly loyal to his fans. He would stay late after shows just to sign posters or cds for the fans, let kids take pictures with him. So, even depressed out of his ever loving mind, and more than half drunk off his ass Jake couldn't let his fans down. He stood up and made his way to the stage. The click of his cowboy boot heals lost in the happy cheer of the crowd.

He made it to the stage and climbed up where he took the mic from Dan. "Good evening everyone," he said in the roling deep voice he was known for. "I'd love to play a song for you all, but I didn't bring my guitar." The crowd made an awwww noise of disappointment and Jake smiled.Without looking from the crowd Jake extended a hand and one of the band members layed a guitar in his hand. He let the crowd see his smile, "Well now, I have a guitar now." he said. "So, what is it you all want to hear?"

This was all somewhat of a sharade for Jake knew exactly what song he had to play, what everyone would demand to hear. Closer than Skin, the Skyflier's biggest hit, and unfortunately also the last song Jake wanted to play. He had written it for Melissa when they were deeply in love and now the thought of playing it made his stomach turn just a little. The crowd started to yell out titles and Jake was somewhat surprised to hear a lot of different titles, with closer than Skin and Agony by design, the song they closed all their shows with being the most common. He wondered if he could get away witn playing agony however soon the demands for the balad Closer than Skin overwhelmed all other request. And The crowd was even beginning to pull a bit away from the edge of the stage making room.

Jake nodded to the crowd and the band, hoping they knew the song well enough to back him up. He got thumbs ups from the others in the band, indicating they were ready.

Jake moved forward to sit on the edge of the stage as he always had performing this song. As he sat down he extended the Microphone in invitation. The first time he did this song live he had sat in front of Melissa, allowing her to hold the mic for him while he played and sang. Everyone had loved it so much he soon had started doing it at every sow. At any show Mel had been at she had inevidibly moved to the front of the crowd to be the one he sang it to. However when she hadn't been there women had usually struggled to be the one who got to hold the mic. Because then it was like he was singing to them, eyes never leaving theirs as he sang.

This time was no different as he sat and a group of women were funneled to the front of the crowd, some even crowd surfed to get there. Not all even probably wanted to or understood why they were being hurded to the front, but they were. Jake let his eyes sweep the crowd, half afraind to see Mel there waiting to take the mic. Fortunately, or was it unfortunately she was not there. Finally he nodded to a beautiful curvacious redhead and offered her the Mic. "Will you hold this while I play?" he asked. He explained what he needed for she hadn't been one of the women that had been clamoring for the mic. He wasn't in the mood for one of those tonight. Most of them got handsy. Some took their daring to heights of putting the mic in their cleavage so he almost had to bury his face in their breasts to sing the song. Tonight he just wanted someone he figured would just hold the mic while he got this over with.

He let his fingers trail over the strings of the guitar beginning the song. He could feel the woman's hand on his thigh as the crowd pressed her close and she used that hand to keep her balace as she extended the mic up with the other hand for him. And as he began to sing Jake reopened his eyes, having closed them as he had started to play, wanting to avoid the gaze of the beautiful woman before him. However he almost felt compelled to meet her gaze, to sing the song as he always had. his long black hair fell back down away from his face as he shook it out of his face with an expert shake so his sapphire orbs could meet hers. as his eyes flicked over her face and were captured again by her eyes he was struck by how beautiful she was and both the intelligence and the passion he saw in her eyes. Not the passion of lust, or so he was pretty sure not, but just the passion for life. This was someone who enjoyed her life, he was sure of it and just seeing her happiness made him smile. He already felt drawn to her. He wasn't drawn to her because her full lips promised to be heavenly to kiss or well good at other things, but because she looked like someone who would listen, he could tell her anything and she wouldn't judge him. So he sang to her, his eyes meeting hers, wondering what she could read in his eyes.

 

[lakegirlxvi]

Pretty much every time the Armadillos played, Megan was there. It wasn't that they were necessarily the greatest band in the world, but they were reliably fun, and that counted for a lot with her. She knew pretty much every bouncer and bartender in town, and somehow they always seemed to forget to card her. It was an unspoken arrangement that she seemed to have fallen into. She never got wasted. In fact, she hardly drank at all. She came to the bars because she loved live music and she loved to dance. When guys bought her drinks, and a lot of them did, she usually took a sip and left the drink on the bar when she made her way back to the dance floor.

The bouncers liked her because she was a cute girl who never started any shit, and the bartenders because she was a cute girl who instantly gave the cold shoulder to any guy who didn't overtip. Most of them knew she wasn't quite 21, but most of them would have been shocked to discover she was barely 18. She had just graduated High School last week, and was getting ready to spend another summer interning at her Dad's realty.

Tonight, she was wearing cowgirl boots that she could dance in, jeans that hugged her big, round ass and a tanktop that clung to her big, round breasts like a coat of paint. There was a nice, deep valley of cleavage on display, but unless she wore a turtleneck, that was unavoidable. She looked sexy, but not slutty. Her tits and ass usually drew more than enough attention, so she didn't dress to put out a big come-fuck-me vibe.

She'd never really had a boyfriend. There were loads of guys who were friends, and there was Finn. Finn was her best friend. He looked like a model and danced like a pro. He was also completely laid back. He had helped her get rid of her virginity, and they'd had sex a few times since, but he had a girlfriend now, so it had been a few months. Megan liked to dance, and had ground against more than a few guys on the dance floor. Sex with Finn was about the same as dancing with him, but naked and laying down. It was completely fun and not at all personal.

To the disappointment of countless guys who had thought the voluptuous redhead rubbing against them on the dancefloor was going to be an easy lay, she'd never had sex with anyone else. She'd never even kissed anyone else. She liked sex, but with Finn, it was completely uncomplicated. Every other guy she'd ever gotten to that point with had been looking for a girlfriend. She wanted a boyfriend, but she just hadn't met the right guy yet. Her friends told her she was too picky. She figured she'd know when she met him. She was wrong.

The Armadillos set was interrupted when Dan tried to get some drunk guy at the bar to do a song with them. Megan had hit the scene hard, but only in the last few months. The Skyfliers played bigger places than she liked to go. Still, she'd heard a few of their songs, so when the drunk clambered up on the stage and people started calling out songs, she realized who he was. She gave him a second look and for a moment, she thought he was about to start crying. Then he got a guitar in his hand and it seemed to steady him.

She was wondering what the deal with him was when Finn pushed her towards the stage. She looked over her shoulder at him, but he just nodded, as though that explained anything. Then he gave her another push and she was standing right in front of the stage, closer than she liked, where it was too thick for her to really dance much. She looked up at the Skyflier, and the next thing she knew he was handing her the mic. She looked at the mic stand that was right beside him, but he clearly had no intention of using it.

She sighed as he started to play, and for just a second, she thought he was pretty damned good. Then half the girls in the bar pushed against her, as if she wasn't already pinned against the stage. She had to brace herself against his thigh to keep upright, and she strained to hold the mic where he could kind of sing into it.

The song was a ballad, but it was actually good. If she hadn't been in such an awkward position, she would have enjoyed it. Instead, this drunk guy was staring into her eyes and singing this song as if he felt something for her. It would have been flattering, except as he was singing this sweet, romantic tune to her, he had that look on his face like someone had just run over his dog or something.

 

[The_gladiator]

playing steadied Jake. It always had. Music would always be his refuge, the calm port in his storm. It was doubly helped when he began to sing and his eyes opened. He began to get into the music and this role he always played. He had performed this song countless times, fallen into the seductive role as many times and he leaned closer to sing into themic, to sing to her.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but her hand felt much better than it should on his leg and at first he was drawn to the fact that she seemed as awkward in this moment as he did. However by the time he got to the first chorus he was smiling at her, unsure why. There was just something about her that drew him in. By the time he got to the guitar solo his smile was broader, less an act and much more genuine.

As his fingers danced over the strings during the guitar solo he leaned in as if he were whispering seductive words in her ear. His lips almost brushed her soft skin, feeling the cloud of her long hair tickle his nose and cheek. "Thanks for playing along," he whispered. Sure from her uncertainty and look of slight discomfort that she had had no idea what was going on. "Bare with me," he added.

He straightened up and sang some more rapping up the song. As the last notes drifted away, he reached out, handing his pick to the guy behind the woman. Who grinned widely to receive the gift. Right hand free, now, Jake cupped her left cheek in his large hand. Fingers stroking in a tender caress. And he leaned in, hoping his comment earlier might have warned her what he intended, and he leaned down his lips finding hers in a kiss. It was gentle, yet deeper than he had intended. He had intended it to be a soft brush of lips, however it was significantly longer than that as he counted at least 5 or 6 of his heartbeats before he pulled back. He didn't kiss every woman he sang the song too, always had kissed Mel, but with other women it depended on the woman and his mood. Most believed that the ones he kissed, he was singling out and inviting to share his room that night. Oh how wrong they were, but Jake did nothing to stop those rumors. If the women knew that he had been forced to be celebate even with his own girlfriend for months, they might not be so interested, it was all part of the show, that idea that they could have him.

"A hand for the lovely lady," he said into the Mic his hand covering hers for a brief moment before he took it from her.

 

[lakegirlxvi]

Playing along was one thing. Having a bar full of people watch you making out with a guy you don't know is something else. Unfortunately, he didn't leave her much choice. She was pretty well pinned against the stage, and even if she did turn away, there was nowhere for her to go, so she just endured his whiskey breath and prayed he didn't try slipping her his tongue.

At last he let her go, telling people to give her a hand, and finally the pressure from behind her eased enough that she could get the hell out of there. The Armadillos seemed to have stalled for the moment as the guy stood there, presumably feeling awesome. She practically ran to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror until her heart stopped pounding. Then she fixed her lipstick, trying not to notice the glares other girls were giving her. Not my idea, she wanted to tell them. You can have him.

"So?" Finn said when she came out.

"So what?" she said.

"He pretty much just asked you backstage," Finn smirked. "So are you going?"

"What for?" she said. "I'm not a groupie. He doesn't know my fucking name and even if he had bothered to ask, he wouldn't fucking remember tomorrow. It was like kissing a bottle of Wild Turkey."

"Yeah?" Finn smirked at her. "You could've turned your head away if it was that bad. Besides, if you want no-strings-attached sex, I know a hot guy who doesn't know your name that was looking at you the way he used to look at someone else."

Megan stared at him. OK, true, she could have turned away, but there were like two hundred people watching. And the guy was hot. He also probably fucked a different chick every night, and he probably didn't remember half of their names.

"Finn," she said. "If you like him so much, you fuck him. He gave the pick to you. I'm going to go dance." The Armadillos had stumbled into another song, and finally got it together. She headed back to the dance floor, and only scanned the room for a moment. Finn was making his way back to the bar, completely unruffled by her outburst. No, she thought, the only one ruffled here is me.

 

[The_gladiator]

what had he been thinking? Jake was asking himself over and over againas he walked off the stage.What had possessed him to kiss her like that? in front of all of those people. He didn't care that he'd done it a hundred times but still he shouldn't have.

Sighing Jake made his way back to the bar where he took a seat and ordered another beer. Deciding he would have his "just one more," he had intended to have earlier. However drinking alone wasn't as fun this time. Singing the song had brought up too many memories, and then there was her. The mystery woman he didn't know the name of. What was it about her? His eyes kept trying to find her inthe crowd but he had seen her enter the bathroom and then he'd lost her. He could see her friend at the bar, the guy that had been behind her, probably her boyfriend, but he didn't see her. "Why do you care anyway dumb ass, you obviously upset her and that was it. Jake felt the need to apologize. He could have picked a woman that would have gladly offered herself to him. He had wanted one who wouldn't. But wasn't that an insult, I kissed you because you wouldn't take it to mean I wanted to go to bed with you. He snortd at his own stupidity. He resolved that if he saw her again he would find a way to apologize to he. And he kept scanning.

He eventually spotted her, walking back to the dance floor the armadillos were playing an almost country western themed song and a lot of people were dancing. He knew that would be a good way to approach her would be to go dance with her, but Jake figured that sober he could muddle his way through a dance but mostly intoxicated as he was, he didn't dare try. So, for the meantime he just watched hr, a part of him wishing she'd come talk to him.

 

[lakegirlxvi]

A few songs later, Megan slipped out of the crowd on the dance floor. The band had settled back into one of their slower tunes, and staying on the dance floor would lead to some cowboy casanova trying to maul her and call it slow dancing. She looked for Finn, but when she spotted him, his new girlfriend was in his lap. Finn seemed to be trying to swallow her tongue, and probably didn't want to talk to Megan.

In the split second that she was standing there trying to figure out what to do, a tall but scrawny guy with a Texas-sized adam's apple on a Delaware neck draped a friendly hand over her shoulder and pointed. "He's over there."

She looked to see what the guy was talking about, and saw the singer, sitting by himself, staring intently at a half empty pint of beer. Dancing had burned off most of her annoyance, and she stood staring at him for a few moments. There was just something so off about him. That was what had bugged her the most, she realized. It wasn't that he had kissed her. That part was actually kind of nice. It was that the kiss had been part of his act. He was drunk and wrapped too deep in something inside to actually mean any of it.

She didn't quite realize she was walking towards him until she slipped onto the barstool beside him.

"So who was she?" Megan said. She was just guessing that he had some kind of woman problem. It seemed like a pretty safe bet when a guy was sitting and staring into his beer.

 

[The_gladiator]

Jake had stopped watching her after a few moments distracted by his thoughts and so when the curvy woman st beside him, he was studying the depths of his glass, as if it held all of the answers to life's misteries.

He did look up at her when she spoke taken aback by her question, how had she known. He took a deep breath and blew out a large sigh; who was he kidding, it was probably pretty obvious. He opened his mouth to give her a smart answer probably along the lines of who said anything was wrong? but what came out was, "girlfriend f 5 years. Is it that obvious?" he asked then sounding curious and somewhat surprised she actually cared. Funny enough, none of his "fans" had even bothered to ask him if he was ok, and this woman who he had made uncomfortable hadactually come over to him and asked, so maybe he wasn't crazy whn he had felt something with her like she would listen, like she was different.

 

[lakegirlxvi]

The bartender set a tonic with lime in front of Megan, knowing she wasn't much of a drinker, and she sipped it and smiled her thanks. Then she looked back at the drunk. Five years. No wonder he was drinking. She couldn't even imagine dating someone for five years. Then, she had never really dated anyone at all. She had slept with Finn though, and even though they weren't romantic, they were closer because of it. She imagined you'd get really close to someone in five years of sleeping with them.

"There's usually a reason when someone checks out of the world to look at their beer," she said, with a sympathetic smile.

 

[The_gladiator]

he nodded slowly, "Fair enough, I must look pretty pothetic, huh?" he snorted a laugh at himself.. "Funny thing is, you're the first one to ask about it, the others either know and think I don't want to talk about it, so don't ask, and the others didn't even bother to notice anything was wrong." he snorted another laugh, "You know after all, there's nothing srange about a musician getting drunk, right? they probably think I get hammered and fuck a different woman every night, so this is business as usual, right?" The alcohol was making his normally sarcastic personality seven more extreme, and the break up made it all come across as more than a tad bitter.

"None of them want to hear how playing that song made me die a little inside, I think you were the only thing that made it bareable, there was just something about you, that was...." he trailed off trying to find words, "soothing, it gave me something other than the memories to focus on." he tried to explain, "I'm sorry you got pushed into that position."

 

[lakegirlxvi]

She nodded her head, but didn't say anything at first. The truth was, she didn't know what to think. She could see he was pretty broken up about his girlfriend, but she didn't know what he was expecting people to do. There was nothing unusual about a guy getting drunk at a bar, but seemed to think people should pay more attention. When he told her how misunderstood he was, she couldn't help chortling.

"Reality check," she grinned. "People are going to think you're a slut when part of your act involves grabbing random girls and kissing them. You get zero sympathy on that." She said it playfully. She wanted to call him out a little, but she actually understood a little better than she let on. Plenty of guys saw her dancing and flirting night after night and thought she was a slut. It was annoying, but it came with the territory.

When he apologized, though, she stopped laughing. She shook her head. "It's cool. I just don't usually go around kissing random guys. But while we're on the subject, do you have a name, or do you not share that with girls you make out with on stage?"

 

[The_gladiator]

He actually laughed as she called him out. "Fair enough m'lady, and you're right that's exactly what they're supposed to think, it doesn't make it any less annoying at times." he turned a little to face her more completely as her conversation drew him out of his alcohol induced intraspection.

He actually chuckled at her question of his name. "Dan actually did mention it, its Jake," he explained, "Most around here call me nightbird, but you can call me Jake." he smiled. "And while we're on the subject of that kiss, would I get slapped if I told you you were a good kisser?"

 

[lakegirlxvi]

"You're going to have to sell poor and misunderstood somewhere else," she said, but she was smiling. "You intentionally sell this image of yourself, so you really don't get to whine that people believe you. I get that you're upset about whatever-her-name-was, but your biggest problem seems to be that people believe your bullshit, and there's a really easy fix for that."

She rolled her eyes at his comment on her kissing, but she couldn't help smiling a little, too. "I'd say the same, but it was just part of your act. You can't tell what kind of kisser a person is unless they mean it. And no, that's not an invitation."

Then she frowned as a thought struck her. "So what about this girlfriend? Is she part of the act, too?"

 

[The_gladiator]

he wanted to glare at her for her comments about his existing in a world of bull shit, that everyone bought. He finally snorted a laugh, "you sound like my therapist, she strips away my bullshit as you call it as well." he shrugged,"but do you think people would like my music as much if I did not fit their image of what I should be?" he asked thoughtfully. Taking another swig of his beer,but set it aside as she spoke about his kissing. "Who said the kiss was an act? I mean, it is in the act but who's to say I didn't truly kiss you?" he countered.

He chuckled, "Damn how did you know I was going to offer to kiss you "properly?"" he asked smiling He looked a tad puzzled as she asked if his girlfriend, no ex girlfriend was part of his act. "What do you mean? Are you asking whether its an act that I'm drinking my night away to forget her mouth on my former best friend's cock?" he looked physically ill as he said that. "look sister, I sure wish that was an act as you call it, but I'm afraid that image is perminantly burned into my retinas." he stabbed his finger into his leg accenting his point, "And you know what makes it worse? I think she's done that to me a whole grand 5 times in 5 years, yes, you guessed it, my birthday. And even then, she sure didn't appear to enjoy it like she was with him." he shuttered a little. taking another drink to keep from continuing on, feelig a little guilty for just dumping all over her, but she'd asked., hadn't she?

 

[lakegirlxvi]

"You said the kiss was part of your act," she reminded him, no longer amused by his drunk attempts at flirtation. "And you're the one complaining that people can't tell the real you from the act. So I certainly can't say if you truly kissed me or not. I know that I didn't truly kiss you."

Then he started telling her about his ex. If he wasn't just making the whole thing up, it sounded like she was a real bitch. Naturally, the thing he was mostly concerned about was his dick, and he probably thought he was going to get a pity blowjob out of it. She looked him up and down and gave a wry smile. "You're cute and it seems like you have plenty of fans here. I'm sure you won't have too hard a time finding someone to suck your dick. It's just not going to be me."

She stood up. She wasn't in the mood to dance anymore, and Finn was long gone. She looked at Jake. She should have known better than to try to talk to him. He was exactly as drunk and self-absorbed as he'd seemed on stage.

"I hope things get better for you, Jake," she said. "I really do. If by some chance you should happen to remember any of this, I want you to know that yes, I do have a name. Take it easy." She walked away, fishing her keys out of her bag.

 

[Nzerxx]

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