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Wallace owned a mailbox, which was just filled with bills given that there weren’t all that many people sending him snail mail. Still, everytime Wallace was expecting a letter, he’d have to walk over to his mailbox to get it. So seeing a crisp clean white envelope on his doormat was a bit odd to say the least. Not wanting a stain on his punctual reputation, Wallace didn’t stop to open it. Whatever it was Stacey would probably want to know anyway.
He and Stacey hadn’t hung out in a while. Sure, there was a phone call here and there, but Wallace couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually seen her face. Scott had whisked her away on the dumb world tour that he and his band were doing.
The cafe door chimed on his way in.
Stacey was already sitting there, munching on a coffee cake. As soon as her eyes caught on him she smiled. “Wallace? Oh my God. Crazy seeing you here, huh?”
Hearing her voice and seeing her smile, reminded Wallace that, hey, he actually likes this person. “Oh, no. I should leave while I can.” Despite his words, he still sat down in the seat right across from her.
“I didn’t know what to get you so I just got you the same as me.” Stacey smirked. “I have great taste anyways.”
Wallace laughed, “Yeah, okay. I’ll be the judge of that.” Before reaching toward his own coffee cake, he left the envelope off to the side.
Immediately, Stacey snatched it up and gasped. “Wow, I didn’t expect him to actually send it!”
“Who? Why do you know what that is?” Wallace waved his fork at her, crumbs falling off and onto the table.
Stacey raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t even opened it?”
“No.” Wallace snatched the envelope right back. “I just picked it up on my way here.” He really wasn’t liking the smug look on Stacey’s face as she watched him turn the envelope over in his hands. There was very rarely something that she knew and he didn’t. Even for people he’d never met himself, if they’d talked to Stacey, Wallace already knew half of their life story.
There really didn’t seem anything all that special about the envelope. Besides the handwritten “For Wallace Wells” written on the back, there was no evidence that it wasn’t empty or unused. Wallace ripped open the top seam and sitting inside was a single concert ticket and a larger plastic card, both reading “Kid Chameleon.”
“You’re shitting me.” Wallace murmured.
Stacey’s smug grin grew even more smug. “You didn’t think they’d hold a concert in Toronto without inviting you did they?”
Honestly, he kind of did. Scott was the only one of their band that he was actually friends with. Sure, he and Stacey were fans, but Wallace was pretty sure that she was only traveling with them as Scott’s sister, not as part of the crew. Kind of stung a little bit when he thought about it.
Wallace gave a nonchalant shrug though. “I don’t know how many free tickets they give out and I wasn’t going to buy a ticket. No offense, Stace”
“Pfff. No, I totally get it.” Stacey took a bite and pointed at the large card. Only then did Wallace notice that it was a Backstage Pass. Through the cake in her mouth she said, “They don’t even sell those, you know? So don’t lose that shit.”
“You don’t have one?”
Stacey scoffed and fluffed her hair over her shoulder. “Please, they all know my face. I don’t need a pass to be allowed backstage.”
“Yeah. I guess you’ve been doing the whole tour with Scott…” Wallace began to trail off.
“Well… Wallace, I’m sure he wanted to bring you along but–”
“Oh, gross! I was just trying to point out that you’re basically a groupie for your brother .”
The shove Wallace got for that comment nearly threw him out of his seat.
It wasn’t just the price that stopped Wallace from watching Scott’s band. As much as Wallace exudes it, he isn’t infallible. Watching the people who used to hang out in the same cruddy diners suddenly shoot into fame and fortune was a bit of a kick to the nuts. It was just kind of odd to see the guy who was failing an introductory college course plastered across a poster. Besides, Kid Chameleon wasn’t even a genre he liked, and it wasn’t like Scott had been asking him to go anyways. Scott actually hadn’t been talking to him much at all.
Maybe that was the real kick to the nuts.
Technically, Scott was never really the type to call people up in the first place. Still, once it gets to the three month mark, most people would assume the relationship has become null. Wallace had somewhat made his peace with their distance when suddenly Scott decided to send him, not just a free ticket, but a backstage pass as well. All of it left him feeling pretty off kilter.
Given that Wallace wasn’t a die hard Kid Chameleon fan, he didn’t feel all that motivated to fight other people for a closer spot to the stage.
Their opener was some artist that Wallace didn’t recognise in the slightest. They were fine. Wallace had no complaints. It was just that he was not at all here at this concert for the music.
A few minutes after the opener had walked off, the whole stage went black, sending the crowd into wild screams. A chord was ripped and then everything was washed in a blood red. Standing front and center was Natalie, who was apparently going by Envy now as well. She was distinctly less meek than Wallace remembered.
Then there was Scott. He stood off to the left of Envy, bass in hand and wearing a great big grin
It was odd to see him up there. Scott really didn’t look all that different from when they’d last seen each other. His wardrobe was definitely amped up and his hair was cut shorter, but besides that, it still looked like plain old dumb Scott. He didn’t play like the seasoned rock band. He played like he was still in an old carpeted basement.
Seeing Scott up there looking every bit familiar caused the worst feeling to bubble up in Wallace. Maybe Scott wasn’t too famous to be close with Wallace again.
A flash of his backstage pass and Wallace was being led through cement hallways so long he had no idea where he was. Eventually the security he was with dropped him off in front of a green door, gesturing for him to go inside.
In a gruff voice, security told him to wait there for the band.
Oh God. Do I have to meet the whole band? Wallace thought as he sunk into a bougie cow print chair. Sitting in that room alone was nerve wracking. The cement walls surrounding the room made every sound within the room a million times louder. Both the clock and his heart beat shook his bones. His cool demeanor was going to break if he kept having to sit here any longer.
As if right on cue, the door opened and there in the doorway was Scott.
“Wallace! You’re here!” The room wasn’t huge, but the speed in which Scott cleared it was still impressive. “I was nervous at first you wouldn’t be able to make it.”
Wallace’s tongue felt heavy. “Calling me would be a great way to find that out.”
“I was going to, but Stacey told me that you’d go so…” Scott still wore that awkward smile.
“You could still call anyway.” A bite was creeping into Wallace’s tone. “That is what friends are supposed to do.”
“Yeah, but Stacey always tells me what you’re doing so what would I have left to ask you?”
For his sanity, Wallace had to take a pause before responding to that. “You could just call to talk? Like the average person?”
Scott sucked a breath in, his toe digging into the gaudy rug. “Phone calls make me nervous and I never had good conversation starters.”
Wallace pressed the heels of his hands into his face because just maybe the pressure against his eyes would dull the growing pressure of his headache. “Oh my God , Scott. Do you know how it comes off when you don’t call someone for nearly five months?”
“But you’re my friend–”
“And you got very famous very quickly. For all I know, the fame seeped into what little brain you had and now you’re too uppity to hang out with the common people.”
“No! I don’t feel that way! I just…” Scott looked exasperated for a second, before taking a step back and sitting down on the coffee table facing Wallace. “I just wanted to come back and for you to see me as cool…or whatever.”
“Scott, you look exactly the same.” Wallace’s deadpan slowly bled into a conceding smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone dumber than you.”
With a groan, Scott threw his hands in the air. “You see! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m always ‘Dumb Scott’ to you so I was trying to get, like, a new air.”
“Why does it matter if you’re ‘Dumb Scott?’ You wear it so well.”
“Because I know you’re not into that!”
Wallace’s brain screeched to a halt.
“You’re always going out with these cool genius guys. And I–”
“Scott.”
“–already tried to get the smart part, but that clearly wasn’t happening–”
“Scott!”
“–so might as well try for at least half, but then now you’re saying that–”
“Scott! Stop it!” He must’ve taken Wallace way too literally because Scott’s hands froze mid-air. Wallace grabbed them and tugged him in close. “You like me like that?”
Wallace swore he could hear the instant blush that grew on Scott’s face. He seemed to steel himself before responding through clenched teeth, “Yeah. What about it?”
“God, you’re so dumb.” And before Scott could protest, Wallace pulled him in for the stupidest kiss of his whole life.