Keeping It Together • Sebastian Bach

Chapter 2: Rachel's Request

   As he hung up the phone after his conversation with Savannah, Rachel stood up and stretched. He pocketed his phone and opened the door to his room, ready to face the Skids. He was fairly confident that they'd say yes to his request, since they were the definition of that "any friend of his is a friend of mine" saying. Besides, Savannah was a likable person, too, so he couldn't picture her giving any of the Skids a reason to dislike her.

   A little voice in his head cautioned him about what happened with Deadly Complacency, but he quickly dismissed the thought; he was confident her bandmates were sensitive little pricks that couldn't take jokes, had serious superiority complexes, or both.

   Rachel walked out of his room and into the living room. Nobody but Scotti was there. "Hey, man," Rachel said, sitting on the couch that his guitarist was on.

   "Hey, Rach," Scotti responded.

   "Question: would you be on board with a band meeting right now? There's something I kinda wanna talk to you guys about."

   Scotti raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What's up? Did we do something?"

   "Dude, why is your first instinct that you did something?" Rachel asked, smiling. "No. I have a request for you guys."

   "Oh, no."

   "Hey! You act like my requests are outrageous or something."

   "Did you or did you not request that we let Sebastian win at Mario Party? We had to purposely fall off ledges, man! It wasn't fun!"

   Rachel chuckled. "He kept losing! I felt bad. Nobody should have that many losses under their belt. Besides, he was starting to get pissed. And you know what happens when Sebastian gets pissed."

   "But he's a grown man!"

   "And you're a bitch. So, can I have the meeting or not?"

   "Yeah, knock yourself out."

   "All right. BAZ, SNAKE, ROB, GET THE FUCK IN HERE!" Rachel shouted.

   Sebastian poked his head into the living room first. "What's up?"

   "Sit down. We're having a band meeting."

   "Oh, no. What did we do?"

   "That's what I said!" Scotti chimed in, laughing.

   "You guys didn't do anything! Just—just sit down," Rachel instructed, shaking his head in motherly disappointment.

   Sebastian slowly walked into the room, seeming scared for whatever was in store. "You're being very ominous, Bolan." He sat down. "You're sure this isn't about the booze thing?"

   Rachel looked at Scotti questioningly, who was sitting with his eyes wide and an incriminating look on his face. "What booze thing?" Rachel asked.

   "Sebastian!" Scotti scolded. "That was supposed to be between us!"

   "Oh, shit, really?!" Sebastian shouted. "In that case, nothing happened!" he backpedaled, smiling innocently. "I thought you knew about it, honestly."

   "I am not dropping this. What the hell happened?" Rachel demanded.

   Rob and Snake came into the room then. "Guys, do you know what they're talking about when they say 'the booze thing?' Baz thinks that I'm pissed about whatever it is," Rachel asked them.

   "No, don't ask them that!" Sebastian shouted.

   Scotti looked at his singer slowly. "You did not tell them."