Lust & Lyrics

Chapter 6: Moody Gits

NASH'S POV:

The crowd is going crazy. I don't understand why we've never played it that way before.

Rigby is clearly p*ssed. He doesn't like it when we deviate from the plan. He puts down his guitar in its stand and then storms off stage.

The rest of us follow after him before the lights go up.

Back in the dressing room, the atmosphere is tense. Creed looks unsettled as he takes a seat. He pulls out a phone that I don't recognise. The cover is wrong. Instead of the cobalt blue one that he insists matches his eyes, it's a rose gold colour. He raises the phone to his ear, completely oblivious to the daggers he's receiving from Rigs.

"How is he?" he says into the handset. His voice is slightly hoarse, higher than usual.

He's quiet as he listens to the person on the other end of the call. Jett is watching him closely. After a moment's pause, he's jumping out of his seat.

"Is he awake?" Creed asks.

His face drops. I guess he didn't get the answer he wanted. "Bring the car around," he demands. "I want to see him."

"F*ck sake," he says gruffly, running a hand through his hair as he bites down on his bottom lip. "Tell her to f*ck herself."

"I don't think I can get away with telling your mother that," Jasper replies as he enters the room, lowering the phone that is held to his ear at the same time.

Creed sighs as he gathers his stuff together.

"I want to see him."

"Your mother..." Jasper begins before sideways glancing around the room. "Not tonight." Jasper leaves the room without waiting for a reply.

"Creed," Jett begins, "I can take you."

But Creed shakes his head.

"No. Thanks. There's no point. I'll go first thing tomorrow."

Jett looks ready to argue but anything he plans on saying gets cut across by Rigby.

"What the hell was that in there?"

Creed looks up at Rigby. It's funny. I never realised how short Creed is. Right now, he's a full head shorter than Rigby.

"What?" Creed sighs.

"You changed the order of the songs and then completely f*cked around with 'I'm Sorry That I Love You.'"

Creed nods his head, not disagreeing.

"Technically, management changed the set list. As for Sorry, actually I just played it according to the sheet music."

"We've never played it like that before!" Rigby argues.

"That's because we weren't allowed." Jett steps forward.

"Says who?" Ziggy asks, his interest peeked.

"The composer," Creed replies.

"Then why were we allowed to this time?" I ask.

Creed shrugs his shoulders and I'm not sure if he can't answer the question or if he doesn't want to answer it.

"I thought your sister wrote Sorry..." Ziggy remarks.

Creed nods his head once.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for changing it without practicing it first with you all... but you played it well so... no harm no foul."

Rig's eyes look like they're about to pop from their sockets.

"No harm no foul? You've got to be f*cking joshing."

I try to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.

"Are you alright, Creed? We heard about the crash."

Creed looks stricken for a second before he says, "I'm all good."

He sounds nonchalant enough but it's clear from the way he's holding himself, much of his arrogance gone, that he's far from okay.

Rigby opens his mouth, but I pat him on the back.

"Come on man. Let's just drop it now."

"Yeah," Ziggy agrees, "I really liked the way Sorry sounded tonight and the fans definitely liked it."

Jett pushes us all towards the door.

"Should we order in tonight? I'm dying for a slice of pizza," he says.

Rigby still doesn't look impressed but at least he's holding in whatever it is he wants to say to Creed. He's watching him closely as if he's just biding his time.

"I'm not really in the mood for pizza," he says as we make our way through the corridors that will take us to the carpark, where our car is waiting.

As we enter the carpark, we pass Nona and Crimson. Creed stops for a second and I think he's going to speak to Nona, but he doesn't. Instead, he turns to Crimson.

"Thanks for your help today, Crimson."

"You're welcome, Creed," she replies.

I've never known Creed and Crimson to get along. He's called her every name under the sun, but I've never seen him thank her. She could save his mother's life and he'd probably still not say thank you. After that, he's quiet as he makes his way towards the car. He seems oblivious to the chaos he's stirring around him with his odd behaviour, but all the guys have noticed it.

Rigby has an eyebrow raised and Ziggy look like he's just eaten something that didn't quite taste the way he expected it to. The only person who looks unphased is Jett.