Disaster (Lip, Sam)

[Cera Lamprey]

"Sam!" Cera lit up at her boyfriend's arrival. She reached a hand over her shoulder to pat him on the head. "Sam! This is Philip! He went to Hammel, too! He might've been in some of your classes!" 

Since both Philip and Sam were older than her it wasn't impossible. Of course, the super popular guy and the stoner known best for being friends with the stupidest guy in school probably wouldn't have gotten along very well, but since Philip seemed so nice now that she decided not to mention the fact that he  had been a self-proclaimed jerk. 

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam was thrilled with Cera's reaction. He'd wondered if she would be too busy being a big rock star to pay him attention, but he was happy to be wrong in that regard. Grinning at the patting, he relaxed against her touch and allowed his arms to pull her tighter against his chest in a warm hug before letting her go again.

As she made introductions, he peeked at the other guy sitting with his girlfriend. He was usually reasonably laid back, but some creep coming onto his girlfriend was enough to get his back up just a little. Cera was his pink haired rock goddess, thank you very much.

He didn't recognize him, but that didn't mean they hadn't had classes together. Sam had spent an unreasonable amount of time either being high or messing around with Vincent Verax during his time at Hammel, and when he hadn't been doing either, his attention had been hard to keep. Really, he couldn't name five people in his classes total, even if he tried. Eyeing him, he allowed one arm to snake back across Cera's shoulders as he stood beside her. "What's up?" He'd play nice for now.

[Philip Romano]

“It’s just Lip.” He corrected, reaching out to shake this boy’s hand. That was a common mistake when he was being introduced. He hated being called Philip. It was definitely too formal for him.

Lip recognized his name once Cera introduced them. They were in the same grade, but definitely did not run with the same crowd. He wasn’t sure if the two were in any of the same classes; they probably were. But Lip definitely remembered making fun of him with his friends throughout most of high school, though not to his face. But even if he had, Lip doubted Sam would have even noticed. He decided to keep quiet about that little tidbit though, since Sam didn’t seem recognize him at all.

Lip also noticed the possessive body language Sam was giving off as soon as he realized Lip was there. He’d received and given that look numerous times since he was in high school, though when Lip did it he tended to act more arrogant than aggressive. He rarely worried about other guys sneaking in on his girlfriends.

Smirking, Lip took another sip of his drink. He couldn’t help, but find the situation a little amusing, especially since Cera seemed a little oblivious to the whole thing. “I was just keeping Cera company since she was over here all alone” He said, drumming his fingers on the bar innocently. “She was just telling me about her band.”

[Cera Lamprey]

For her part, Cera remained completely clueless to the territorial instincts of her boyfriend. He wasn't smashing Lip's face in, and was making small talk, and thus she read his behavior as polite. 

She leaned back into Sam's embrace and reached behind and over her head in order to pat his hair. 

"Sorry, yes, Lip. Lip here was just giving me some advice. He's so nice," She stressed this lest Sam remember Lip's reputation from school; whatever memories Sam might have of him were surely not sugar-coated by how attractive he had been. "I've never met anyone who was so good at giving advice to someone they just met," She added.

[Samuel Rixon]

"Lip," Sam repeated, reaching to shake the other boy's hand. As a pyrokinetic his skin was naturally warmer than most people's. Some people found it weird. The jealous part of him wanted Lip to be one of those people.

Once he had his hand back, he brought it back up so that both were resting around Cera's shoulders. "I was on my way," he muttered, giving Lip a look that he hoped said 'back off'. "And her band is awesome." Well. Most of them. Their guitarist drove her up the wall, and he knew that. "Cera's gonna be a star." And then she was going to be a kick ass teacher.

Looking down at Cera, he pressed a kiss to her hair. "What kind of advice, babe?" Not that he wanted to sound overly possessive. He just wanted to know what he'd said to her.

[Philip Romano]

Lip did notice that Sam’s hands were unnaturally warm, but it wasn’t he weirdest thing he’d ever experienced. They’d all gone to Hammel, so those types of abnormalities were pretty common.

Cera was basically oblivious to her boyfriend’s possessive attitude, and Lip had to actively suppress a smirk. Lip obviously wasn’t here to break up a relationship, and he could tell that Cera was really into Sam from the minute she noticed he’d come over. But still, Lip found the whole situation amusing. Maybe it was the leftover attitude he had from high school that still liked to mess with people, but he just couldn’t resist.

“Her band is good.” He agreed, and it was, for a dive bar like this. He didn’t think it was amazing, but Lip didn’t really know a lot about music or that type of industry, not that a lack of knowledge ever really stopped him from giving his opinion. Maybe they would be if they canned that shit guitarist.

“She was telling me that her guitarist leaves all the time, and I told her she give her band an ultimatum. Her or him.” Lip did think that was a good idea, since ultimatums were one of the best ways to get what you wanted. And based off of their performance tonight, Lip really doubted that her band would choose the guitarist over her.

“But I’m sure your boyfriend’s already told you to do something like that too.”

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera bit her lower lip in embarrassment at Lip's question. 

"Well....we haven't really talked about it that much...." She admitted. Perhaps that was the sort of thing she ought to have discussed with Sam, but she tried not to drag him into band politics. Somehow it seemed different talking to someone in the moment, when she was already upset about it because it was happening right then, rather than bringing it up to her boyfriend when she got home from practice. Sometimes she would tell him that a gig or practice had ended in disaster, but rather than engaging her about the details he always did something funny or romantic to distract her. 

Oh, gosh, did that make her a bad girlfriend, that she hadn't opened up to him about this? 

It totally did, didn't it?

[Samuel Rixon]

"Her band's amazing," Sam corrected in a stubborn fashion. Because if Cera was involved, anything was amazing. "She's the best singer ever." True or not, he was going to stick by it, because he adored his girlfriend.

The idea of an ultimatum gave him pause, though. Cera had told him about the disasters when it came to shows and rehearsals, but not much more than that. Okay, yes, he often tried to cheer her up rather than look for more details, but that was his job, right?

Well, he knew now. Carefully shifting more heat to his hands, he rubbed his thumbs casually against Cera's shoulders in a small, but warm, massage to help relax her. "They'd be crazy to keep him over her." Though if they had loyalties, maybe it was a bad idea. What if they did pick him over her? This was why he didn't get involved with band politics. It was easier to help Cera feel better than try to stick his nose into her business. Maybe that made him the bad one in the relationship, but if that was the case, he'd deal with it.

[Philip Romano]

Lip barely contained his scoff, but managed to cover it with a very convincing cough. He was a man of brutal honesty and, in his humble opinion, he did not think her band was amazing. He would admit that they were pretty good, but he definitely wouldn’t pay to listen to them or go out of his way either. And he certainly didn’t think Cera was the best singer ever. Let’s not get ahead of themselves.

“Huh…that’s surprising.” Not everyone stuck their head in everyone else’s business like Lip did, but he did find it surprising that the two had never talked about it. Cera seemed pretty upset a few minutes ago, so he would have thought that she’d brought it up to her boyfriend.

Sam was clearly very wrapped up in his girlfriend, even more so than just the mild jealousy he was showing as she talked to Lip. He made a mental note to never get that whipped when he decided to date someone new.

“Right.” He agreed. They would be crazy to pick him over her if it was as bad as she said it was. “So you should do it then.” If they were looking at from a logical business perspective, obviously someone who constantly bailed on things and wasn’t reliable would be the first to go. Then again, she said that they’d all been friends at Hammel, which tended to cloud some people’s judgements.

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera looked between Sam and Lip. They both seemed to be in agreement, and she trusted both of their judgment. She might not know Lip very well, but he just seemed so reasonable and intelligent and concerned! And, well, Sam was her boyfriend and if she couldn't trust his advice then who could she trust? 

"Great! If you both think so then I'll talk to them!" She agreed, feeling somewhat better about this situation now that she had two people backing her up. "I guess I'll go tell them we need to pack it in for tonight, though. Thank you both!" 

She hugged Sam quickly, then opened her arms towards Lip, fully intending to hug him, too. 

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam couldn't help the near-smug smile that appeared when Cera hugged him. He was all too happy to hold her tight, pressing a kiss to her hair as he did so. "When you're done, you wanna come over and we'll get pizza and play MarioKart?" He was sure that his older brother wouldn't mind them making a bunch of noise. That was what doors and earplugs were for, right? Right.

As Cera slipped from his arms he expected her to go and round up the rest of the band. Instead, he watched her go to hug Lip instead. He adopted a small scowl, but said nothing about it. Cera was naturally a very loving person. He knew that. A hug wasn't the end of the world now was it?

[Philip Romano]

Lip was mildly surprised by the hug, but accepted it anyway. It obviously wasn’t the first time a girl had hugged him, but usually he didn’t receive them just for tossing out his two cents. Cera seemed like she was pretty affectionate though...one of those super sweet girls. Definitely not like the girls Lip typically went for. Especially since she had a boyfriend.

Still, he wasn’t going to reject a simple hug on that account, grateful and somewhat smug that she’d been so appreciative of his half-thought-out advice. He honestly didn’t know how that was going to turn out. It made sense that they would choose her, and her boyfriend (who he would assume also knew her bandmates) seemed to agree. But he didn’t know anyone in her band or what they thought of the guitarist.

Although at this point, it wasn’t really his problem. He gave his advice, and what she did with it was up to her. He doubted he’d see her again after tonight, aside from other random bar encounters.

Lip raised his glass slightly. “Good luck.” He said, shooting her a wink. It seemed like the two of them were getting ready to head out anyway. To play MarioKart and eat pizza apparently. Lip thought it was still pretty early, and he definitely had different plans on his mind for the end of the night. Like maybe getting laid.