Heavy Wears The Crown

Twenty Nine

 "I'm seeing the pain, seeing the pleasure nobody but you, 'body but me, 'body but us bodies together. I'd love to hold you close, tonight and always, I'd love to wake up next to you."

---------- Pillow Talk - Zayn ----------

                "What are you going to tell the others?" I asked Nolan as I handed him his tea. Rather than take a drink of it he gave it a whiff and then set it down beside mine.

"Do I have to tell them anything?"

"Well...I mean I suppose not. I just thought maybe it would help-"

"We don't tell each other things."

"Or maybe they just don't tell you things. Were you guys ever close? I mean at some point was this band like a family away from home? Did you ever get along?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions. Looking to have a full story when you leave?"

I shrugged.

"Yes. We were close. Holden and I had known each other since essentially birth, Finn graduated from the same high school a few years earlier and we sort of enlisted him. He was already in a band we'd seen him play some local scenes but I guess we won him over. Derek we actually found on youtube." At this he smirked a little. "And Derek flat out refused us but for some reason Holden felt like Derek was the perfect fit for the band so we kept pursuing him. Eventually we noticed Gunner in a number of his videos. I'm sure you've obviously noticed Gunner doesn't play anything but he's hell of a tech guy. A little sweet talking to Gunner and we won him over and he convinced Derek to join up. They've known each other for a long time too. Can you guess where they met?"

I shrugged again.

"The song Foster wasn't something I wrote. Actually, it was something Gunner and Derek had composed before they'd ever me us."

"Foster care?"

"You got it. They're foster brothers I guess. Yeah I guess we liked each other at one point. When we were still local. We all relocated, it seemed only fair it would either be Gunner or Derek relocate of Holden Finn and I relocate. Rather than choose, we decided we would all relocate to somewhere where we'd have more musical opportunity."

This part I knew. The band had officially formed in Nashville and when signed had relocated to LA.

"We weren't above anything, performing on the street, performing in bars, hotels, coffee shops, we'd do it for pay, we'd do it for free, we'd pay to do it." He chuckled. "We got this great big kick out of doing it. Like we were already somebody. It was exciting and we shared the excitement together. We were pretty close. Olivia was our manager. We got signed by Ace who kept Oliva on our staff. Holden and Olivia hooked up and then, well, we weren't so close."

"You shut everyone out because of Holden."

He shrugged. "I didn't see the point in being friends with everyone. When I got mad as hell I wrote pretty damn well and we took off."

"So when did the drugs start?"

"Try this tea." Nolan offered abruptly and I shook my head.