Ryder nodded a bit. "Alright, if you're sure… and yeah, that would be nice." He smiled softly as he watched her. "No problem! And thank you. You're probably right, anyway. I doubt anyone would believe a story like this. I'll just… um… I'll head out now, but I'll see you later, yeah?" He stepped backwards a bit, heading towards the door.
"Alright see ya Ryder. Don't get yourself into too much trouble." She winked and watched him walk out the door, before she hurriedly finished getting ready. She then put on her gunny sack guitar case, and took off on her bike to her friends house where they practiced. After an hour or so of practice, they headed off for lunch, and then the bar to play their set.
Ryder arrived at the bar soon before Evelyn and the rest of her group. He had on a black face mask and snapback cap with his hood pulled up on top, clearly trying his best to not get recognized. He'd been lucky so far, but he just had to hope that his blue hair wasn't too much of a giveaway. He hadn't brought anything with him and was sitting alone at the bar. Without a drink, of course, considering he was underage.
Evelyn and her band were setting up as a few early birds sat there, milling around mostly. There was no alcohol allowed during this time as they played, since they were minors as well. After she set up she headed over to the bar and sat right next to Ryder. "A Shirley Temple please!" She then looked at Ryder out of the corner of her eye, and spoke out of the side of her mouth. "Geeze are you shit at hiding. Go blend in more with the crowd, and try to look less like you're hiding, and more like you're just another cool punk kid enjoying the show. You sitting here. Alone. At the bar. Covering yourself up. Is the most OBVIOUS sign you don't wanna be seen, dumbass." The Shirley Temple was slid down to her. "Thank you!" She handed over a few dollar bills, accepted the change, and went back to the stage with a pep in her step. Some of her band members teased her about her not buying them drinks.
Ryder huffed a bit and flushed, glad that the pink tint was hidden by his mask. He hesitated before joining the crowd to watch, tapping one foot nervously on the ground. He was used to being recognized, but he really didn't want to be noticed right now. He didn't want to take any attention away from Evelyn's show.
The band then sat with the crowd, chatting away casually with some of the regulars at their shows, giving out autographs, stuff like that, until it thickened and they all got back up on stage and began their show. They were good. Really good. Well planned out, and Evelyn's vocals went really well with the sound. Suddenly she started in on a love song called Electric Blue, and the whole time she sang, her eyes were mostly trained on Ryder. Then as the next song changed she went back to scanning the crowd. Once the show ended and people started clearing out, after more meet and greeting was done, one could clearly hear her twin brother Evan, the keyboardist, go. "Quit flirting with the fans! It's how you end up with guys like Rick. Besides he looks sorta like a stalker, with all that cover up." "Shut up Evan, maybe my new type is creepy and murderous." "Okay that's a new low even for you." This conversation continued as they packed up. Still every once in a while her head would pop up, looking around to see if Ryder was still in the bar.
Ryder headed up to them after the show, smiling even though he knew they couldn't see it through his face mask. "You guys did great! I think you can definitely do well in the music industry." He slipped his hood off, but left on the hat and mask for now. "You said you had three more gigs today, right Evelyn?" He asked, turning his gaze over to her.
She nodded as the band looked over him. "Yo Ev? Who the hell is this?" "Yeah. We don't need any creepy super fans around here." "Hey ya never know, he could be nice?" "Lookin' like that? Puhlease." She hopped off the stage, letting the band judge Ryder. "Yes yes I do. You don't gotta go to every single one, I bet you've got a busy day. And shut UP guys! He's ah…someone you all know or have heard of but he doesn't wanna be seen. Now back off or else I'll break all of your fucking noses!" The band shut up after that and watched Ryder silently, two of them beginning to wrap up chords mindlessly while looking down on Evelyn and Ryder from the stage.
Ryder hesitated before taking off his face mask and sticking it in his pocket for now, making him pretty easily recognizable. "It's kinda hard to breathe with this thing on… especially since it smells so strongly of alcohol in here." He looked around with a soft sigh. "And I'm not doing anything today. You can just text me the addresses of the other places and I'll try my best to make an appearance." He smiled softly now that she could see him.
The bands faces fell as they all looked at him. "YOU'RE CLOSE FRIENDS WITH RYDER? WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING TELL US!" And other similar cries came from her friends. She glared at them, and punched the leg of the person closest to the stage. "I SAID SHUT UP! He appeared at my house yesterday…" She then told the story of what happened last night to her band, and then said, "SO! If ANY of you start telling people you know him or leak his shit online, you are IMMEDIATELY booted from the band and I'll never speak to you again. He deals with enough shit as it is, we don't want to make extra trouble. Now then, are you guys cool with him coming to our shows?" There was a collective yes, and Evelyn nodded, grabbed a bag, and handed him a hand painted 'Hicks Fan Club pass'. "I give it to all my friends so they can get into my shows and what not free, so you don't gotta spend 20 bucks on shows today. Why do you want to come to all of em anyways?"
Ryder jumped a bit when Evelyn's friends started yelling, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked away. "Thank you…" He said softly, accepting the pass and sticking it into his back pocket with his phone. "Um… well, I haven't got anything else going on today, and you have a really nice voice, so I figured I might as well, you know? And I can't exactly just disappear after last night, can I?" He laughed a bit.
Evan suddenly hopped off the stage, and crossed his arms. "Did you leave out a detail and bang Ryder?" "Fuck no. He appeared at like 4 am, I was too fucking tired after running around like that. He slept on the couch anyways." She then turned back to Ryder. "And you could, totally could. I'm not stopping you. You're a celebrity, you've got a busy life I assume. Wouldn't bother me none at all."
Ryder flushed red at Evan's comment, tipping down the brim of his head in a meager attempt to hide it. He was pretty taken aback, clearly. He wasn't at all the the type to sleep around. He'd never slept with anyone in his life. "R-Right, um… no offense to you or anything, since you're lovely, but I'm gonna have to pass on that one."
"Alriiiiight. And Evan quit being so crude." She slapped his stomach and sighed. "Alright guys, let's head off to The Lady's Martini. I hate doing that bar but at least we get free food and drinks. Clara is the best like that. Cmon let's load up the van. I'll see ya there Ryder." Her and her band walked off to the back to go drive off to the next show.
"See you." Ryder waved with a soft sigh, hesitating before putting his face mask back on and heading out, slipping on a pair of sunglasses as he stepped out the door. The other bar wasn't unbelievably far and he liked to get some exercise, so he started walking off instead of getting a cab or something.
The band drove off to the Lady's Martini. Evelyn's best friend Clara ran the biker bar. Now see, this is where people who got out of prison, and bikers, and people of general muscly scum came to get drunk and get into fights, and hit on the one waitress, who was also Clara. Clara, was a two times WWE womans wrestling belt winner, who lost mid third season. Instead of using her riches and wasting them, she gave almost all the funds to her mother, using just enough so that she can live comfortably. She works at the bar as more of a hobby than anything. Evelyn walks in, already to Clara threatening to chuck a man 3 times her size out the window. They all just walk in and start setting up, ignoring the cat calls and whistles.
Ryder arrived about twenty minutes after the band since he was walking instead of driving. He adjusted his hat to make sure he wasn't recognizable and sat down amongst the crowd, clearly uneasy with all the big, drunk men surrounding him. He hadn't ever been into this particular bar before, although he used to do gigs like this when he was younger.
Suddenly, someone decides to grab Evelyn's ass as she's turned around. Big mistake. In an instant, as Evelyn whips around and punches him in the nose, Clara picks up this man by the throat and drags him to the door. She then proceeds to throw him out of said door and into the street, and then she heads outside. There's some cussing, sounds of struggling, a few painful cries, and Clara comes back in with bloodied knuckles. "Fucking keep yer HANDS OFFA THE GUESTS!" She says in a booming tone, looking around at everyone. "Ya hear me? Or you'll end up like him." She then headed over to Evelyn and gave her a hug. "How ya doin' Sunny? Did he hurt you?" Evelyn shook her head as she finished plugging in some cords. "Good. I'm glad 'bout that. Drinks and food are free as always. Also the blue haired dude over there. If he's with you, his food and drink is free as well. No alcohol missy." Evelyn pouted at that, and went over to help her second guiarist and base player set up. Soon, a new more rocky less feminist set began to play. She knew her crowd. They didn't like strong woman all too much. Soon enough dollars and coins landed in her open guitar case on the stage.
Ryder jumped at the commotion, trying to further bury himself in the crowd to hide from it. He felt incredibly out of place here, but he was here for Evelyn, and he could handle this. He was far more used to rowdy teenage girls than violent drunk men who could probably snap him in half. He shook his head a bit and turned his eyes back to the stage, trying to just ignore everything around him.
They played their regular set, finished, packed up, ate drank goofed around and then went off to the next bar. It was pretty much the same place as the first bar. Different name, same atmosphere. Ryder was getting looks and whispers as time went on. Points and stares, wondering who he is. Some even tried to say that it was well Ryder, but those that did were called insane. Evelyn could care less, she was making good cash and doing what she loved. That's what she cared about. And then it was the breast cancer awareness charity event. Every band member forked over about 20 bucks, and went to go look around. Evelyn stayed by the entrance to wait for Ryder, a smile on her face. (I'm skipping ahead coz I got bored of writing the same scene over and over)
Ryder didn't have a ton of cash on him, but he donated about a hundred dollars to the charity event and found Evelyn after a bit. "Hey! You guys are doing really well. It's definitely reminding me of the old days… and how much I dislike bar atmospheres." He laughed softly, looking around to make sure no one was paying much attention to him.
There was a bunch of woman with teenage daughters here, and a lot of those teenage girls were watching Ryder like a hawk. "Auuugh…see. I'd kiss you, and make them think you were my boyfriend. Because then they'd back off thinking you are well…you. But. I don't wanna force myself like that on you…maybe I have some wigs in the van. Get you a normal looking disguise. Before they realize it IS you."
Ryder sighed softly. "Yeah… the blue hair is kind of a giveaway sometimes. I'll figure out something that works eventually, but it seems like they already suspect me." He tried to tuck more of his hair into the beanie that Evelyn had lent him, but there was only so much he could do. "I'm just hoping I don't get bombarded by teenage girls today, to be honest."
She groaned. "Cmon. I'm a cosplayer, I know what I'm doing." She grabbed his hand and stormed off back to the van. It was one of those really old Volkswagen hippie vans. Orange and cream white colored, with tyedye curtains and hell even a beaded curtain to seperate the sitting and eating area from the sleeping quarters. "I live in like 6 centuries at once I swear. It doesn't make much sense now, but it will once ya get to know me more. Anyways." She pushed him onto the couch, and headed to the back, pulling a tote out from a secret apartment. "Ah here we go. A blonde styled blonde wig and a wig cap. And a bit of makeup. Nothing much, just some foundation and blush, to hide any noticeable blemishes. Like if you have a certain mole on your face that super fans know about, and could identify you by it. Trust me I've seen it before." She then walked over, stuck the wig cap on him, put the wig on, and began to comb it out. "Now then, I don't wanna glue the wig down at the edges or anything since it's just for an event, just don't go running around toooo much, trip and fall, or do any flips or anything."
"Ah, alright… thank you." Ryder smiled softly. "I think I'll just keep on the face mask. If anyone asks, I have a cold." He slipped his black mask back on behind his ears and put the beanie back on, but left his hood off now. "Let's go on and head back in, then. Wouldn't want to make you late." He got to his feet and left the van.