Everything in Between

Chapter 18

Mike

I woke up feeling a little too cozy. I saw Chester cuddled up against my chest. I almost jumped back, but I stayed put. I rubbed his back softly, "Get up sunshine."

Chester yawned, "Please don't call me that." I chucked and sat up. He followed and stretched. He came over and kissed me. "How did you sleep Mikey?"

"I slept well." He smiled. It faltered a bit as he relaxed back into the mattress. 

"Are you okay Chazzy? You seemed...upset yesterday."

"Yeah...it just kinda...freaked me out that my old band mates are gonna be here in town."

"Grey Daze was your old band?"

He nodded,"Yeah...Chris is their bassist."

"Oh..." I pursed my lips, "It'll be okay baby. If he gets near you, I'll beat him."

He giggled. Oh my gosh, I swear.

"Chazzy why are you so cute?" I tackled him down and started tickling him, hoping to lighten the mood. 

"Mike! Mikey....stop...it tickles!" I stopped and planted a kiss on his nose.

"You were being too cute, I had to punish you."

He laughed and kissed me. "Should we go ahead and head to Joe's house?" 

I nodded."We should go and get some breakfast first."

We went to McDonald's and bought ourselves and the guys breakfast. While Chaz and I walked home, we ran into Anna. How convenient. 

"Hi Mikey! How's your morning going?"

I squeezed Chester's hand and looked at him, "Its going great." He smiled back at me. I kissed his forehead.

"Ew." I heard Anna say under her breath. I resisted the urge to glare at her.

"We're in a hurry Anna. It was nice talking to you," Chester said, some was persistent.

She completely ignored him and continued to talk. "I heard your band is playing tomorrow night at that really big club. I hope my parents let me go!"

"Anna, we have to go." I walked off with Chester. I had no business talking to her if she was gonna treat Chaz that way. I heard her harrumph behind us. 

"What's her problem," Chester asked as we kept walking.

"She's just jealous. Please don't let it get to you. She tries too hard to bring people down." 

We arrived at Joe's house. "Alright you bitches. We brought food."

"FOOOOD!" Joe yelled and literally attacked the bag. Brad rolled his eyes and grabbed his breakfast. After eating, we started on practice.

"I can't believe it's tomorrow night," Rob mumbled.

"Don't worry Rob, you'll do good." I patted his back. He shrugged.

"Guys, we should practice Esaul, since Chester kinda left and we haven't exactly heard his vocals on that song," Brad said. I nodded,"Yea, we'll practice that." Everyone nodded and got ready.

Rob counted us off and Brad started to play. Rob and Joe, then Dave came in time with my vocals.

"Ridin' with a head full of buckets of red and when I said is still stuck in my head. I'm full of red, thoroughly bled," I smiled. This part was so fast for me, but I was able o nail it. I can see the smiles on everyone else's faces too as I continued.

There was quite a mouthful of lyrics I had written here, but I got through it all perfectly. I neared the end of my part, Chester rose the microphone up to his mouth.

"I wanna live in another place where no one can say that I live for them," he sang out. Brad and I exchanged looks, both of us grinning madly. 

"You'll see it's not meant to be for me," I rapped around the note Chester held. 

"I wanna be with the energy, not with the enemy, a place for my head."

We continued and then we got to the bridge, I don't think I've heard Chester scream before. I could tell everybody else was anticipating the moment.

"Yesterday will heat my room. Heal my wounds, soon," Chester whispered harshly into the microphone. He repeated that part a few times.

"Heal my wounds! Soon, yesterday with heat my room, heal my wounds!" Chester screamed, he made the transition to the chorus and we finished it up.

"Damn Chester!" Brad said. Chester laughed, "What was Mark thinking when he wrote that?"

"I have no idea," I laughed, "You can rewrite the bridge if you want."

He grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled on it.

'You try to take the best of me, go away'

"I like it, better than what Mark wrote." 

He smiled. "We'll practice it that way."

We practiced it again with the new bridge. It sounded a lot better. I heard clapping from the top of the basement stairs. We looked to see Joe's mom there.

"Yaho! Neohuideul-eun keun soli!" She was clapping.

"She said we did great," Joe said, turning red and hugging his mom. She nodded and hugged him back.

"Dangsin-eun joh-eun naeil bam-e soli geos-ibnida." She gave him a pat on the back and went back upstairs.

Chester jumped up and down, "I'm so excited! I can't wait until tomorrow night!"

"I can't either," I smiled and kissed his head.

"Tomorrow, after the performance, we should go out and like maybe eat at Village Inn or something," Brad said.

"Yeah, pie sounds good after a performance," Dave replied, looking thoughtful, "Mmm, pie."

Chester snuggled to my neck, his expression somewhat upset. He didn't try to hide it very well. Something's up.