to the kitchen away from Spencer and Dan who were trying to out insult each other at this point, tired of punching each other.
The manager gave Jon a fresh white towel to hold on the back of his head, warning him that he should probably go to the emergency room because he'll most likely need stitches. Spencer came back to the kitchen to find us and announced that Dan was no longer with the band and how is Jon doing?
"What do you mean Dan is no longer with the band? Can you take me to the hospital? I'm pretty sure I need stitches."
"Oh shit. Tom, can we leave our stuff here for now and I'll come pack it up tomorrow?"
"Yeah, yeah, just get out of here. I should have known this wasn't going to work out, too many drunken assholes every weekend..." he muttered to himself.
Spencer, George, Kate, Ling, Jon and I piled into the van and he drove us to the hospital. We all headed off to the emergency room and the attending nurse gave us a dirty look. I thought emergency rooms were supposed to be full of people suffering from weird ailments but this one was empty. Jon got right in to see a doctor but no one else was allowed back with him.
"Should we call his mom?" I asked aloud while waiting.
"Already did," Kate said.
"Think it's serious?" Ling asked.
"He'll be fine," Spencer muttered, rubbing his face which had already started turning black and blue.
"You won't be fine when I'm done with you Spencer, what did you get my son into now?" Jon's mom stormed into the waiting room glaring at Spencer.
"I didn't do anything!"
"He was defending me Aunt Marie. It's my fault. These guys were hitting on me and they wouldn't leave me alone. Spencer jumped in to rescue me when I poured a drink over this guy's head. I guess it wasn't a brilliant move on my part."
"Oh for crying out loud." She stormed over to the nurse's station and demanded to see her son. The attendant showed her to the back somewhere. We waited anxiously for what felt like forever. Finally Jon re-emerged with his mom strewing a constant onslaught of verbal disappointment, relief and anger at him. She stopped to deal with the bill and Jon turned to us. His head was wrapped in a bandage, hair sticking out in all kinds of crazy angles.
"9 Stitches!" he exclaimed like it was some kind of achievement.
"Awesome. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, they gave me drugs to numb the pain, I'm fine. Everything is fine. They had to shave my head a little; we'll have to see how that looks. Listen Spencer, my mom is really pissed and she's taking me right home, are you all right taking Lucy and Ling home?"
"Sure, sure, no problem."
"Okay, catch you later then. Good seeing you again Ling."
"Yeah right, you too."
Jon's mom finished and told us we had better all get home before we get into any more trouble and stormed off with Jon following meekly behind.
"Let's go," Spencer sighed.
"What are we gonna do about Dan?" George asked on the way out.
"I don't know, why don't you be lead signer?" Spencer suggested.
"No way. Besides, Jon's mom was pissed, and she may not even let him play anymore. There might not be a band anymore."
"There will always be a band, George, there will always be a band. Everything's going to be just fine."
I wondered if anyone else was thinking about the wedding reception next week but I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. What are we going to do without Dan? I'm not really even in the band and to me it was a devastating blow.
Spencer dropped Ling off first, then me. After I crawled out of the van, I leaned my head in through the front window. "Do you really think everything is going to be okay Spencer?"
"Absolutely," he said with a wink through a black eye. "You can't stop rock and roll something something."
I shrugged and said goodnight to everyone and headed on home. Mom and dad were both still up watching a movie, which was rare, so I told a half-truth, and said we had a great time and they played really well. They lost interest in the conversation after a minute, too engrossed in their movie, so I went back upstairs.
"So, have a good night?" Ryan asked from the bed, in the same position as when I left him.
"God, it was good for about