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9:17 p.m.
To be fair with Jay, the plan had already thoroughly gone to shit when he suggested they just let it go. Matt's low voice rang tinny in the cluttered storage room as he went on the about the time spent making the doll, or the money renting the suits, to which Jay responded by just dropping his side of "Johnny", the promising new promoter in the Toronto scene they intended to "Weekend at Bernie's" through the house as his bodyguards, after a crazy night out partying with Nirvanna the Band.
"No one is buying the afterparty stuff Matt, it's 9 p.m.!"
"Maybe our party was early. You know, afternoon party, that's cool. Like cool, but responsible."
"But he smells!" Jay whined, "What if people think we're actually carrying a body around," he lowered his voice to an almost whisper, "and then we go to jail or something."
"Dude, he just got a little rained on, he doesn't smell like a body. What are we going to jail for, carrying a doll?"
"Yeah, okay, I'm not doing this."
Jay started to push his way out among the brooms before Matt stopped him.
"Wait, Jay," he grabbed his shoulder, "We're already here, anyway, let's just stay at the party."
"Dressed as body guards?"
"There's Johnny's clothes..."
"But they're yours, what about me, then?"
"Dude," Matt stopped for a half second and looked him up and down, the pulled off his fake plasticky sunglasses, "you can totally rock a suit look."
Jay looked down. "...You think so?"
"Yeah, just like... take off the tie and unbutton the shirt a bit and it's totally like European."
"Like Jarvis Cocker..." Jay smiles absentmindedly.
"Jarv- Sure man, like Jarvis Cocker."
4:33 a.m.
Matt couldn't help but see the irony in dragging Jay into the house and all the way up the stairs and letting go of him in the couch, especially considering it would be way easier had he been a doll or even a dead body. The party had been filled with mostly losers who certainly couldn't get them into the Rivoli, barely even seemed like the crowd to populate it most days, and Jay had made a point to be so annoying about it, how crashing a house party that just so happened to be in the general vicinity of the place was stupid to begin with. But what he didn't get was that infiltrating a scene was 99% being seen anyway. Then you could spend some 1% of that time actually doing stuff, that's what all the rockstars did.
At least there was wine, unfortunately even more fuel to whatever got into Jay after that stupid European comment, which Matt had regretted almost immediately. It started small with just some posturing and general attempt at swagger, but had quickly spiraled into full-blown character. All throughout Matt had tried to keep them at least a little bit in track, to not so great success. A few comments here and there about this buzzy new act that had been sweeping the basement shows, but Jay kept changing the subject to whatever "Johnny" nonsense he had thought up at the time. Things got really bad when a girl approached them and seemed to inexplicably fall for the bit, which led Jay to take it up a notch and do an accent, at which point Matt practically dragged him out of the place. Matt wasn't exactly sober either, so he spent the rest of the way home trying his best to fight with barely coherent Jay. Rest of the way that encompassed, of course, the route to the couch.
"I just don't get why you're so mad!"
"You could have blown our disguise, Bird!"
"But that wasn't a plan anymore..." Jay shoved his face in the cushion, his voice now muffled "we were just having fun."
Matt dropped into the other couch, defeated. "Ok, but we were still in the Rivoli area. What if someone went there. What," he pointed at Jay, who still had his back to him, "if that girl you were acting out your little scene decided to come back here and she worked at the Rivoli? Our cover. Woosh. Gone."
"She wasn't coming home." Jay turned to the ceiling. "It's not like I ever bring anyone home anymore."
Matt wasn't looking at him either. "Whatever, man." He shuffled around, feeling a strange urge to get a beer from the fridge and keep drinking, one up Jay, actually pass out in the couch. It's not like he was bringing in any girls either, so they both had no right to complain. Thinking back now, he couldn't even remember the last time he actually tried to pick up a girl, all of his attention was always put towards the plans, because he actually cared about being in a big important band. It was just like those rockstar movies.
"Matt..." Jay had turned towards him now "don't be mad at me."
"I'm... I'm not mad man, I just-" Matt hadn't fully snapped out from his thoughts, he actually thought that Jay had already dozed off, so the call startled him. He hadn't had time to decide on how to finish that phrase before Jay got out of the couch and plopped down next to him, leaning against his side like a cat.
"You are" Jay kept pushing against his ribs until he had slipped to fully laying on his lap. "I don't want you to be."
He was too befuddled to react in any way besides keeping his elbows raised in a slightly uncomfortable position and letting Jay just lie there. He rolled around to look up at Matt, who slowly lowered his arms until his hand was resting on the safest spot he could manage of Jay's torso. Jay stared up for a few seconds before grabbing his shirt near the collar and slowly propping himself up with his elbows. Matt almost unconsciously dropped his head, until their faces were close enough that he could notice the subtle wine stains in the corners of Jay's mouth. He dragged his hand from the shirt to the back of Matt's neck and kissed him.
Matt let out a soft, almost inaudible grunt as Jay finished sitting up and ever so slightly pushed him against the arm of the couch. His hands quickly shot from the innocuous side of Jay's body to a more firm grip up his back, as if he had suddenly lost balance. The kiss was intense, but slow, so deliberate that the acrid leftover taste of drunk or tacky feel of formerly sweaty skin was barely of note, usually the first thing that Matt noticed in the rare times they were out and manage to pick up a girl at a party or something. They slid down in the couch, Matt's hat getting knocked off as Jay raised the hand from the neck to the back of his head, cushioning it against the hard wooden frame. He tried his best not to gasp when Jay pulled back, laying down on top of him and digging his head on the nape of Matt's neck.
"Don't be mad at me" his voice was slurred and whiny again "I don't like when you're mad at me."
Matt fixed his gaze on the side of a poster that had begun to peel off the opposite wall. His hand tugging distractedly at the place where the collar of Jay's shirt rubbed up against his hair.
"I'm not, Bird."
11:21 a.m.
Jay woke up feeling like he had swallowed a whole carpet. His gums ached slightly, like they used to when he smoked too much after going out, even though he didn't recall having any cigarettes last night. The smell of what he supposed was his hair pointed to the contrary. He felt the slow up and down under his head and looked up to see Matt's sleeping face. Even though he was a little nauseous and with his full weight on top of Matt, Jay tried his best to get up from the couch without waking him up and tiptoe to the kitchen. It didn't work.
"Jaybird?"
He stopped midway through the living room and turned around to face Matt, sitting on the piano bench and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Hey. What happened at the party last night?"
Matt sat up and looked at him with a strange expression. "Oh, hum. We just drank a lot and walked home. Then we put on Innerspace, must've fallen asleep."
"Right." Jay could catch the sight of the Innerspace tape in a pile on the floor in the corner of his eye, sandwiched between Beverly Hills Cop and The Lost Boys. "Uh-huh."
It's not like they never woke up, even hungover, together on the couch before. But generally both bunched up uncomfortably or half falling off it. Jay couldn't recall the last time he had completely blacked out, but only brief flashes came back to him now. Walking, the cold, talking a little too loudly. He couldn't picture to whom. His elbow slipped from the side of the piano and hammered some keys, startling the both of them.
"Hey now that we're awake I think we could give a second go at the plan. I don't remember the address exactly but maybe we make another Johnny and-"
"No, Matt. Matt!" Jay got up and started to walk up to the door "I think we should give it a little break." He stopped and stared at the door for a few seconds. "We'll have time for the plan after, I, hum. I think I'm going to get lunch."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, okay, I heard there's this new Thai place that's supposed to be very good, it's like ten minutes from here if we get the bus-"
"No, I think I'll go by myself." Jay spun the doorhandle back and forth a few times. "I'll get you something on the way back, text me what you want."
Then he shut the door behind him.