Hey Youngblood

Chapter 1- The Record Store

THREE WEEKS LATER

Joe's POV

Ever since Pete left, things have been crazy. The three of us kept it a secret for as long as we could, but finally decided as a band to let our fans know. Their reactions ranged from "We'll miss you, Pete." to questions if the band is going to go back on hiatus.

We were currently in New York for a few days to do some interviews, and possibly look for a bassist. A lot of them revolved around Pete's departure from the band, which I could see made Patrick uncomfortable to talk about.

After our last interview, we had some time to explore the city. The bustling noises of Times Square filled my ears as we stepped out into the streets. I looked through the mass of people and stores until I laid my eyes on a record store. It was fairly small to be in New York, but the inside looked pretty nice. I pointed it out to the guys, who agreed to go check it out.

The inside of the store smelled of coffee and vinyl. A few people were browsing through the rows of CDs and others leafing through stacked bins of vinyl. "Hi." A guy with a Blink-182 tee shirt, a lip piercing, and sandy blonde hair walked up to us. "Welcome to Wayward Music. My name's Danny, can I help you guys?"

"We're just browsing, thanks." Andy replied, leafing through one of the bins. Patrick was looking through one of the shelves marked "R&B". I walked around the store, pausing at times to look through a bin or two, until I laid my eyes on a Gibson acoustic guitar hidden behind the checkout counter.

"You play?" I asked Danny, who was restocking the shelf behind me.

"Oh, not really." He shook his head. "Ryan and Jasey do though." He pointed to the guy behind the counter, who I guessed was Ryan, and to a girl with bright red hair and a Green Day tee stacking CDs on the other side of the store. "That's Ryan's guitar and Jasey plays bass. She's amazing."

The word 'bass' caught my attention. "How good is she?"

"Scary good. Any band to get her is really lucky. I've never heard someone play with as much passion as Jasey." Danny explained. "Why? You looking for a bassist?"

"Actually I am." I told him.

"Then go ask her, I think she'd love to play."

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to her. "Hi."

She turned around, "Oh, hi. Can I help you?"

"Are you Jasey?" I asked.

"Yes I am." She nodded.

"I heard you're a bassist and my band is looking for a new bass player." I explained. "I was wondering if you'd like to play?"

She stared at me, her hazel eyes wide with shock. "You're serious?"

I nodded. "If we swap numbers, we can figure out a time you can come over and play."

Jasey's face lit up as a smile grew across her face. "Yes!" She exclaimed, "That's completely fine with me." She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down her number and handed it to me. "Here you go. Before I forget, what's your name?" She asked, handing me her notepad.

"Joe." I answered, scribbling down my number.

"Well it was very nice to meet you, Joe." She shook my hand.

"It was nice to meet you too Jasey." I turned back to find the guys at the door, motioning for me to come with. "I'll call you later."

"Alright, thank you so much." she said before turning back to her work.

"Who was that?" Patrick asked.

"I think I just found us a new bassist." I told them as we headed back out to explore the city.