Silently I Wait

The Tree

Mike and I had finished our last practice and sweat was dripping down every inch of my face. I had exerted all of my energy during that practice. Although, it was an A+ performance by far, I don't know if I have enough energy left for BOTB.

I walked into the kitchen, towards the refrigerator, and pulled out an ice cold water bottle from the side shelf. I stood back and started chugging water. In the middle of my re-hydration progress, Mike pushed me aside from behind and grabbed himself a bottle, beginning to chug it down. It almost turned into a match as to who could finish theirs the quickest.

I tapped out and sat my bottle on the kitchen counter as I let out a deep, heavy sigh.

Mike stopped drinking his water for a second, "What's up, kid?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I just used a lot of energy during our practice and I don't know if I can do that again in 30 minutes." I said.

Mike took one last chug of his water, and threw it into the trash can. He walked towards me, placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "It's all good, man. You got this."

I lowered my head so I was looking at the laminate flooring , and I just thought. Millions of thoughts flying around my head at once and I couldn't stop them.

Mike came back into to kitchen. (I didn't even notice him leave).  "You ready?"

I placed my hands on the counter, and stretched out, "More ready than I'll ever be."

"Alright, let me get my sticks and we can head out." Mike said as he rushed to the garage.

Just hit your notes and stay on beat.
Just hit your notes and stay on beat.
You can do this, Vic, I know you can.
You got this. Just believe in yourself for two seconds.

Mike returned from the garage with his drumsticks in hand. We both looked at each other and nodded.

------

We had arrived at the contest and there were so many different styled bands here. One dude I saw had a sick ass sleeve tattoo that featured a huge flower from his bicep to his elbow...which kind of reminded me of a dream I had a while back.

"I told you to not worry. You never listen though." Mike said, leading me through small crowds of people.

"What?" I asked.

"Dude, we're gonna win. No other band here spends precious time practicing like we do. I can promise you that."

"How do you know?"

"I know everyone here, Vic." He laughed.

"Oh...yeah." I said.

"Hey! There's the check-in table, come on." Mike said. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him like a child.

I noticed a boy sitting behind the check-in table.

Then, I noticed the arm tattoo again. He's not in a band?

Everything seemed to slow down for a moment as I stared at the tattoo. Remembering it from my dream. I looked up and saw his facial outline. It was good, perfect even. His jawline was a nice sharp line that cascaded down from the bottom of his ear to side of his chin. You could see the sharp line it created. Next I was focused on his hair. It looked so thick, yet smooth. I just wanted to run my fingers through it. It was jet black, with an obviously dyed blonde streak on the left side. I found myself noticing the incredibly embedded dimples on his cheeks. They showed more every time he smiled. And, lord, when he smiled, it lit a fire in my chest, and let free millions of butterflies that were trapped in my stomach.