J&Z

Chapter 1

Z:

The curtains were closed, but we were still all on stage getting ready for another show. Alec was messing around with his drum set, Ryan was fixing the sound system, keyboard, guitar, and other miscellaneous instruments he played throughout the show, and Mark was tuning his bass. I plugged my guitar in and finished tuning it, we were about to start any minute. Sandy, the restaurant owner, walked over to us, "Ready to start Zeke?"

"We're all set, thank you."

"I'll open up the curtain," Sandy walked away and a few seconds later the curtains were open. There was a mass of cheers , even though we were only a local band in San Francisco we had a pretty strong fan base set already and planned to enter a local competition a few months from now , hopefully to win a record deal, but we'll see.

"Thank you everyone for coming", I smiled at the response of cheers. Scanning the crowd my eyes met the eyes of a girl who I had seen before, she came to almost every show of ours, knew every song and was always bothered by a mass of other guys throughout the show. Her friend was usually with her, but I wouldn't know that for sure because I usually find myself just looking for her.

"If you've seen us before I think you know what song we're going to start with," more cheering. We payed half of our set as usually before our break and I could barely keep my eyes off of her and I swear she caught me looking at her multiple times. I don't date anymore and haven't for years, so it's not usual for me to be attracted to someone. You don't see someone as free spirited as her very often and you can just tell from the way she dances and sings along... she loves music... and I love that.

(Listen to songs from the album "Wiped Out" by The Neighbourhood)

"Thank you everyone, we're just gonna take a 15 minute break." I turned around to find Alec, "Hey Alec, I need to show you something." He walked over to me, still turned around I asked, "Okay see that girl behind me."

"There are a lot of girls here Zeke..."

"Right, well the blondish one, with the black jeans, gray t-shirt, blue eyes," he was still scanning the audience, "C'mon man she's at almost every show."

"How am I supposed to automatically know who you are talking about , I'm on the drum set in the back, I can't see the whole audience and I'm pretty focused back here," his eyes stopped scanning and he smiled a bit, "Does she have a friend with the bright green t-shirt on?"

"Yes."

"Are you into her or something?" he asked chuckling.

"I'm going to marry her someday."

"Really?" he said incredulously while I was smiling back at him, but fully serious, "Yes, I am."

"Those are some big plans for a 23 year old." I laughed and responded with, "But I'm going to do it."

"I don't doubt you, we better finish the rest of the show," he was still smiling at me as he walked away. The rest of the show was great as usual, "Thank you, we are The Wilderness and we hope to see you all soon, thank you."

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J:

Alec was amazing as usual and I couldn't wait to tell him after the show. His band really should be more famous by now; I mean Alec is a stellar drummer and all round musician, their bassist is pretty good and their keyboard player can literally play anything, but their lead guitarist and vocalist is absolutely incredible. I've been playing the guitar since I can remember and I've just found it easy to pick up other instruments and sounds. I don't know what I would do without music, I need it. You don't see someone as into their music and passionate about their lyrics very often... he loves music... I love that...