Band practice was the next day at five, and I arrived at Ryan’s a quarter ‘til. He said I could use Chase’s old drum set since it was still sitting in his garage. I got there pretty early, I realized, which I regretted. Well, okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it was just me and Ryan and we didn’t even know each other that well, so it was just weird. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.
Anyways, we ended up sitting around, and he showed me some of their old songs on his computer. They weren’t bad, but there was definitely room for improvement.
“What do you think of this?” he asked me, as he clicked and skipped around from track to track.
I couldn’t help but get so distracted, had Ryan always been this attractive looking? Had I been completely blind before?
“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” I fibbed.
“Come on, tell me the truth,” he gave me that look, the look that absolutely melted me. Okay, since when did I have such a big crush on Ryan? Talk about awkward.
“Well, it’s not bad, that’s for sure. But there are a few things you could change, like the guitar rhythm in the middle; it sounds a bit off at times.”
“You know, I was thinking the exact same thing,” he flashed me a smile and moved the computer mouse, adjusting the timing for the guitars.
He accidentally moved it really close to my hand, so his hand ended up right over mine.
Oh my god. I felt myself blushing so much, it wasn’t even funny.
He looked up at me, and it was almost like one of those scenes in the movies, where the people are just staring back at each other and then, well, you know.
I thought he would just laugh at me, but instead he leaned in for a kiss.
Oh, shit, I thought, don’t miss, Mandy.
His lips were warm against mine, and heated my entire body up.
After we pulled away, he smiled again and I could instantly tell what he thought, “That was nice.” It’s like he sent me those mental signals, it was strange yet amazing at the same time-if that makes any sense.
Blake and Brian finally arrived, but there was no Caleb in sight.
“Where’s Caleb?” I asked.
They both shrugged. “Who knows,” Brian said, clearly without a care in the world. I wasn’t sure how this whole ‘band’ thing was going to work at first, would it be a complete disaster?
We all gathered in the garage and we tried playing to a couple of songs together, but it just wasn’t working. I wasn’t sure if I was messing them up or what, it just didn’t sound right.
“Alright, stop,” I told everyone after the last chorus to the song. “It’s not working.”
“Agreed,” Blake set his microphone down.
Ryan ran his fingers through his hair, clearly exasperated. “Well, what now?” Brian asked.
I don’t know, I thought silently. Wait a second, da-ding! A light-bulb in my head went off.
YOU ARE READING
She's Got the Rhythm
Teen FictionMandy Hawthorne never wanted to play the drums. After being forced into playing by her dad and brother, she actually finds herself enjoying it. She hasn't told anyone that she's a drummer because she's afraid of what other people are going to think...
