Tragic Magic {A Ronnie Radke Love Story}

First Rehersal

Ryan and I just finished up our late lunch, and were heading over to Ronnie's house for the band's first rehearsal. As we sat in silence in the car, I reached over and started twisting the dial on the radio until I found a good song. I was singing along quietly in my own little world until Ryan said, "so you excited about hearing the band?"

I shrugged, "yeah, I guess I am. I'm only doing this for you, you know."

He beamed brightly, "I know. That's why you're my best friend," he said, poking me in the side.

I laughed and shook my head.

Ronnie's House

About twenty minutes later, we arrived in front of a large, stone house. It was nice, but it almost looked too overdone. Ryan parked the car on the winding driveway and we both hopped out. He ran around to the trunk to grab his drumsticks, then we headed up the pathway to the front door. Ryan rang the bell, and a few seconds later, the door flew open to reveal a guy with blond hair, tattoos, and mysterious eyes. His hard face turned into a slight smile when he recognized who it was.

"Hey, Ryan." He said, giving him a bro hug.

"Hey Jacky." Ryan said with a smile.

The guy apparently named Jacky glanced at me, "who's this?"

"Oh, this is my best friend Juliet. She wanted to come check out the band, so I told her to come with me," he turned to me, "Julie, this is Jacky. He's the lead guitarist."

Jacky smiled at me, "it's nice to meet you."

"Like wise." I responded. I grinned at him.

"So where's Ronnie?" Ronnie asked as we stepped inside of the large doorway. "Oh, he's downstairs. He's kind of in a bad mood. He wanted to start at four, and you're about three minutes late." Jacky said. I could tell he thought it was stupid based on the tone in his voice.

"Three minutes and he's already flipping? What's wrong with this guy?" I asked as we were led to the basement, which was also doubled as a small studio and practice area.

Jacky shrugged, "beats me . . ." We neared the band's practice area, and I saw three other guys. They all looked similar, but one of them looked slightly more aggravated than the other two. I assumed that one was Ronnie.

Sure enough, Jacky called out his name, and that's the guy that turned around, "what Jacky?"

"Ryan's here."

"You're fucking late man," he said, glaring at Ryan. He glanced over at me, with a slightly disgusted look on his face. "And you are?"

"I'm--"

"This is Juliet," Ryan butted in, "she's the friend I was telling you about."

"Oh . . . Alright, well just go sit over there and try and stay quiet. We need to get a lot of work done tonight."

I rolled my eyes when he looked away from me, and went to sit on the long, black couch near the corner. I waited patiently as the guys discussed all of the different things that they needed to get done tonight. As I was waiting, I decided to get out my sketchbook and continue designing my next tattoo.

A little while later, the guys broke away from their small huddle, and began coming towards me. They each set up their various instruments; plugging them into amps, tuning, doing simple sound checks. I stopped sketching to watch them.

"Okay, so we're gonna start off with The Drug in Me is You. Don't forget, we're trying for a run through here. You guys remember what we talked about? Like the changes within the chorus and the second verse. And make sure to watch me for cut offs and cues. Especially you, Ryan, you're keeping the beat." Ronnie said. He looked like he had calmed down a bit. Ryan gave him a thumbs up and hit his snare drum a couple of times. He clicked his sticks four times to dictate the tempo, and the song began.

As I listened, I watched each person individually. Their parts were all very unique, but they fit together in a way I wasn't expecting. It sounded fairly good for the first rehearsal together.

As the song progressed, I found myself watching Ronnie more and more. Thankfully he didn't notice, because I couldn't stop staring at his face. I didn't remember it, but I still felt as if I knew him from some place. As I was trying to form an idea, I heard a loud groan, and the music dwindle down. Ronnie had his jaw clenched a bit as he turned around to face Ryan, "dude, I told you to watch me! You were off beat for like half the fuckin' chorus! What the hell is going on?"

"Sorry man, you started singing before my cue from Jacky, and it threw me off."

He stared at Ryan for a minute, "Just don't let it happen again. We have too much shit to do tonight, and this can't be happening every two seconds . . ."

"It won't be, don't worry." Ryan said.

Ronnie turned back around, he glanced at me momentarily and then looked at his mic, "alright, let's go from the second verse. Ready? One, two--" Within a few seconds the loud music was back on, and everyone was back to doing their own thing, including me. I was watching the band, but I continued to sketch as I listened. I was in the middle of finishing a bat when I heard that same groan again, only this time it was louder and more urgent.

"What the fuck man?" Ronnie yelled at Ryan. Even though Ronnie was turned around, I could see that his face was red, and his eyes were slightly popping.

"What? I was watching that time, and I came in at the right spot!"

"No you didn't! You came in way too fucking early, and when you did come in, it sounded like shit! Is it that hard for you to pay attention?!" Ronnie screamed. Ryan only shook his head. Ryan was never one to stand up to other people, but I definitely was.

"Hey!" I yelled at Ronnie. He turned around to face me, "what do you want?"

I stood up and walked over to him, "what I want is for you to stop yelling at Ryan. He did come in at the right place. It was you who was off." I said with my face set hard. I wasn't about to back down to him. He was just another person.

He sneered at me, "and how the hell would you know? Were you the one who wrote the song? I didn't think so! I doubt you even know what a cue is . . ." He said, shaking his head.

I stepped closer to him. Now we were chest to chest. "For your information, I minored in music in college. I probably know more than you ever will in your life." I said, smirking. I felt like I was on a roll, "and you really need to stop cursing. You sound a lot more uneducated than you think. If you even can think." I commented, laughing.

Ronnie bumped his chest against mine, making me slightly stumble back. "Okay, now I'm angry."

"I kept laughing. Aw, is that was you are? That's cute." I said, my smirk still plastered across my face. I briefly glanced back at Ryan and the others to see them in a bit of shock. It confused me.

I looked back at Ronnie when he took a step towards me again. He stare at me as he spoke to Ryan, "Ryan, I want you to get your little bitch out of here now. She's driving me crazy."

"I hope so! You need someone on a higher level then you to keep you in check."

"Ryan, take her out now before I do." His jaw was clenched hard and his fists were beginning to ball up. The sight of that frightened me a little bit, but I did not show it. He wouldn't hit me . . . would he?

Before I could find out the answer, Ryan was already jogging towards me. He easily grabbed me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder. It was humiliating, yes, but at this point, I didn't care. I wanted to be sure that Ronnie got the message.

Before Ronnie was out of view, I flipped him off, "fuck you, Radke!"

The last thing I heard before we ascended the stairs was the sound of a drum being bashed in.