Someone to gain

PART ONE: Someone To Gain

It was one of the better hotels they’d been in for the same price they’d usually pay. They weren’t expecting the five star treatment or four star décor but this place sure wasn’t a shabby unrated dump. They’d bagged two rooms with an adjoining bathroom, two single beds in each and plenty of storage for their instruments. The rooms were sort of box size, the beds squashed together but a man could easily walk between them and the doors for the wardrobe could open to its fullest without knocking anyone out. The toilet was elongated to fit the length of the rooms either side of it which made it quite thin width wise yet one person could be having a shower while someone else brushed their teeth and another on the toilet (if you really wanted to) and it still wouldn’t be so crowded.

So far, the place was a win.

The four men had already split into their preferred sleeping arrangement, Mike and Davy to the left, Micky and Peter to the right, and were preparing to practice for their gig the next day when a knock came on the left door. Seen as they had all grouped in the other side, Davy darted through the bathroom to answer the gentle disturbance.

“Um, Hi. I’m the hotel o…owner’s daughter and he sent me up to see if you… needed… anything, like food… or…” Standing before the short English band-member was a fair skinned girl with long, plated, caramel coloured hair running down one of her hunched shoulder and glancing shyly up at him with dark emerald eyes. She was around the same height as he was, quite a bit younger and reasonably scrawny but how she was dressed hid her tiny size. Davy was mesmerized by her, standing there without the ability to reply. Seeing Davy frozen with one hand on the door knob, the other hung in mid-air like a puppet, Mike was instantly alerted to the female presence. He dashed to his side and clicked several times in front of his face.

“I’m sorry about my friend here. Um… he’s really shy.” He lied, still trying to bring Davy back from the trance like state that had him, unblinking and unaware of anything but the girl.

“Oh,” The girl laughed nervously, “I just asked him if you guys needed something to eat or… if there’s anything I could get you?” Mike only really heard her say eat. He was so engulfed with helping his friends, making sure everything went smoothly that he hadn’t eaten anything. Ignoring Davy for a moment, he turned to her fully.

“Will it cost much?”

“I can see to it that it won’t cost you a thing. Consider it as part of the deal.” She replied, suddenly more confident. Before she left, she nodded gently and gave a determined look towards the shorter man. Mike watched the girl leave catching her a couple of times, peering over her shoulder to look at Davy whose eyes were still gazing her way. When finally out of sight, the English man stepped forward, seeming out of the spell, and turned to his taller friend.

“I think I’m in love.”

“In love?” Mike cried, startling the other Monkees who were playing their instruments softly in the background. They both came bundling into the left room to see what was going on. They found Davy smiling like a man in a dream and Mike standing over him with an unimpressed look in his narrowed eyes.

“What’s going on?” Micky inquired, jokingly as Mike glanced down at him.

“He’s fallen in love again.”

“Right before our gig? Not cool man.”

PART TWO: Something To Change

Band practice felt useless. Davy was so distracted, he might as well had not been there to shake his tambourine out of time or sing the wrong verse, even the entirely wrong song without noticing. Mike, by the third song, had to end it and suggested it was time for bed. His voice was harsh and he was the first to leave, blatantly not happy but the reason was not as obvious. He half unchanged before it was too frustrating to undo each separate button on his shirt and he collapsed into his bed. He didn’t even bother getting under the pearl white duvet.

Davy had watched all this from the bathroom doorway, wondering what had gotten under his skin. He knew that Mike had sounded annoyed when he’d fallen for that pretty hotel owner’s daughter and he’d been slightly distracted in practice, especially when she came back up to give them dinner.

But he never acted like this before. Mike used to just pass the whole love thing by. He was never so bothered about Davy and his random girls that he occasionally brought home. Why now was he tossing and turning in bed, his voice severe and instead of calmly suggesting they go to bed, he ordered they do? He also wasn’t usually this obvious with his feelings. Mike was cool. He always kept his guard up, always had that cool exterior on, even if he acted a little timid once in a while. That was because, no matter what he hid, he really was shy. So why was he so noticeably angry?

Davy cautiously crept round to his own bed, still eyeing his friend. He changed out of his orange, puffy sleeved shirt, dark trousers and black dress shoes into his light blue night gown and pulled his covers back so he could get in. He was suddenly engulfed in warmth and comfort but he just knew that, next to him lay a very annoyed Monkee. Finally, Davy turned around to face Mike and rested his head on his hand.

“Hey, Mike. What’s wrong?” Davy asked, his voice sincere, barely above a whisper as his friend’s back faced him.

“Nothing.” Mike replied muffled by the fluffy pillow against his head. He refused to look at Davy; he kept lying on his side all hunched up but now he was not shuffling. Davy knew something was up, it played on his mind, stopped him from sleeping. His gaze would not shift from the back of Mike’s head… oh, he was still wearing his hat.

“Mikey?” Davy whispered again, glad he had something to speak to him about, “You’ve got your hat on.” At first, his friend sat there, still unmoving, probably debating in his mind whether he should take it off or act cool like he meant to keep it on all this time. Eventually, Mike smacked the top of his head with his hand, grasped the bobble of his hat and ripped it off. Davy had to hold back laughter.

“Meant to wear it in bed.” Mike muttered only, now, Davy knew he was only joking. He let out one short giggle and watched his friend turn around. On his face, a rare smile lit Mike’s eyes. They both laughed it off, the anger, the annoyance, the frustration, suddenly washed away. Once they stopped giggling like school kids, Davy caught Mike’s gaze.

“Sure you’re alright, man?” He said as Mike looked away.

“I’ll be alright.”

Three words that followed Davy into his sleep.

PART THREE: Someone To Change

Peter and Micky were up the next morning and, in seeing that the other two were still fast asleep, in each other’s arms, they decided to have a shower.

Yes, they showered together, make of that what you will but, they loved each other. Best friends and, yes, that was all really. Peter liked being wrapped up in Micky’s arms when he slept. Micky liked joking around with Peter when he was bored. They rarely got to shower together in case Mike and Davy saw but it happened more often than you might expect. And they felt glad to be able to that morning.

Only thing was, Mike woke up. He heard water splashing in the bathtub and took no notice. He got dressed and sat on his bed with his guitar, picking at the strings quietly. Every so often, his wandering gaze would fall back on Davy, his sleeping friend. He’d beam to himself, think of last night, chuckle about the stupid moment they shared.

Then, he heard two voices coming from the bathroom.

“Babe, pass me the shampoo.” That was Micky, for definite. His bouncy, joking voice, even talking seriously, was discernible.

“I like these little bottles, they’re so cute. D’you think we could take some home when we go.” Peter rambling on in his little voice. But it then occurred to Mike that they were in the bathroom, Micky in the shower, Peter doing god knows what. His heart leapt with the implications and curiosity to know what was going on. He knew it was wrong as he drew himself up and stepped slowly to the bathroom door and opened the door ajar. He stopped for a second to make sure they hadn’t heard him before peeking around and there, two bodies, covered in lathered shower gel and warm water shared the small shower. In his mind, the words, ‘what the hell?’ swam past as he watched wet blond hair flick around to stick on the back of Peter’s slender neck. Micky stood behind him, a smile on his face and Mike was gobsmacked. He should not have felt the way he did about this. He watched with keen eyes and enjoyed it. The two bodies of his best friends, arms around each other.

Mike held his breath.

And then a touch on his arm made him gasp, jump against the wall with not so much of a noise as he thought he did. He turned around and Davy grinned up at him, confused. Mike, before he could say anything, put a finger to his lips and stepped out of the way of the door so Davy could see. When he next saw the shorter man’s face, wide eyes were placed in his eye sockets but there was still a smile on his face.

“It’s kinda cute, Mike. Why you looking so worried?” Davy asked. Mike couldn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say to such a natural