Things We Said Today

Chapter Four

"Why do I always have to sit in the middle?" I groaned, shifting in my seat a bit to try to get comfortable.

"You're the smallest, it just makes sense." Nora replied absently while she checked her lipstick in the compact mirror she kept in her purse.

"We all take up the same amount of space regardless of what order we sit in; this feels size discriminatory if I'm being honest." I huffed, crossing, and uncrossing my legs, still undecided as to which position was more comfortable.

"Stop bickering please, you're giving me a headache and we haven't even gotten to the venue yet." Evie muttered while dramatically rubbing her temple.

"Why do you come if you hate music, Evie?" I asked while fiddling with the hem of my dress.

"I don't hate music." She huffed, "I love Debussy and Chopin and Bach." She crooned dreamily. "I just have a distaste for modern... rock or whatever it is you want to call it."

I chuckled, "Okay Bella Swan."

"Actually, didn't Bella like Linkin Park?" Nora chimed in while clicking her compact mirror closed.

"I don't fucking know, it was a joke, Nor. Also... Linkin Park is objectively horrific."

"Something we can agree upon." Evie remarked, her eyes locked on the view of the city that was buzzing by the window.

"I hope Blake didn't bail again; Eli has had such terrible luck with drummers." Nora steered the conversation, as usual, back to her boyfriend.

"Maybe if he wasn't such a control freak, he would have better luck at keeping bandmates." I raised my eyebrows at her, but she simply shook her head in response.

"He's not a control freak... he has a vision for the band, and no one around here takes music as seriously as he does. I've been telling him for ages that we should move somewhere like Seattle. Their music scene is much more mature."

Eli went to college with all of us at San Francisco State. He had originally been a Business major at his father's request. He hated it though, failed a good portion of his classes and ended up on academic probation before he finally dropped out at the beginning of our Junior year. That's when he really started focusing on his band, Back Talk.

Though of course, he was the only recurring member. There was a revolving group of musicians he had worked with over the years... and an even larger group of musicians who now refused to work with him... one of those being Jude, who used to play lead guitar for Back Talk when we were in college. Eli had become something of a local legend over the past four years, but not for anything good. He was known as the overbearing totalitarian leader of a relatively mediocre alternative band who had no members beyond himself. If there was any reason for him to move to Seattle it was that.

We pulled up in front of Bottom of the Hill and scooted our way out of the back seat of the tiny Prius that had served as our Uber. There was no line outside, which wasn't surprising. The only thing that was surprising was that venues kept booking Back Talk at all considering Eli's reputation. Money is money, though... and Bottom of the Hill wasn't exactly a sought-after venue for artists who could actually draw a crowd.

We recited our names to the bouncer at the front, who let us in without the five-dollar cover charge, then scrambled over to the bar. Bottom of the Hill had terrible drinks, but they were strong. Two of their vodka sodas would knock most people out. We each ordered one, carefully sipping them as we walked through the scattered crowd to the front of the stage.