Swallow

Chapter 1.61:

"You're late." Aiden mouthed into the microphone while giving me an evil side-eyed stare as I walked onto the stage.

"I overslept," I grumbled and rushed to get my guitar unpacked so I could join in.

"Well, maybe if your ass didn't get stupid drunk last night, you might have been able to wake up on time." Aiden's annoyed voice bounced off the almost empty room. The only other people inside the building were a bouncer and Levi, who both looked up at us and shook their heads. Aiden was making it his personal mission to publicly shame me for some reason.

If this was his way of forcing me to apologize for running late, it wasn't going to work.

"I'm here now. Get over it." I huffed and whipped my guitar strap over my head.

I plugged my wireless in and grabbed a pick from my bag. I stuck it in my mouth and rolled it around my tongue as I closed my eyes to concentrate on tuning my guitar. I began plucking the strings one by one with my fingers to check to see if any of them had slipped while in transit. Luckily, only two of the strings were off and needed to be tweaked slightly. I fiddled with the pegs and made a few slight adjustments. Once I was finished, I dove straight into the first few bars of the opening song.

We would have time for maybe a full two or three song run-through if we didn't have to adjust much on tempo, blend, or snarky attitudes.

Mark and JD joined in and started playing at the spot where the first verse started. It took them a few measures to fall in sync with me. I could hear them loosening up and evening the sound out by the time we hit the first change-up to the chorus.

Aiden stood behind the microphone with his mouth in a tight line, refusing to sing anything. Every few seconds, he would look over at me and loudly huff into the microphone just to get under my skin.

JD and Mark shrugged it off and ignored him like he wasn't even there. But, that was not something I could do. If we were still planning on playing the show tonight, Aiden needed to keep his vocals warm or he would end up sounding like a squished frog halfway through the set.

Soundchecks weren't only for the instruments and Aiden needed the prep.

"Are you planning on singing tonight or are you just stand there, pouting like a baby?" I asked as I played the next transition into the second round of the chorus.

"I'm not going to sing the song when you are rushing it. Play it right." Aiden lashed out at me.

I let up off the neck of the guitar with a loud squeal from the strings. I held my hands to stop and mute them, leaving Mark and JD on their own to hold it down for a few seconds.

"I'm not off beat. My pacing was perfect." I wasn't going to stand there quietly and take the criticism from an inferior musician. Aiden might be able to sing better than most people, but he hadn't studied and spent the hours I did perfecting my music.

I was a fucking human metronome with perfect pitch. I had a better natural rhythm than even Mark. Aiden was wrong.

"It doesn't even sound like the same song," Aiden argued back.

"Come on, you two, we are running out of time. Let's just finish up. You guys can compare dick sizes after the show." JD scolded both of us.

Aiden snarled, turned back to the microphone, and began belting out the complex bridge. His vocal cords were cold and rigid. He sounded a bit strained, like he was struggling for some of the higher notes. I placed my hands on the neck of my guitar and counted myself back in. Everything was going well until we hit the beginning of the last chorus. Aiden forgot where he was in the song and went slightly off-key on the next line of lyrics.