Band short story

The story

Dublin. A warm day. Clusters of school children blocking the pavement. Ivy crept up the walls of every other house. The road they were on, led to the pier, surrounded by murky blue water, the occasional boat was docked there, or came floating past. Old men sat over the edge with the paper in one hand and a fishing rod in the other. Young lads sat on benches with their friends with a beer or two in hand. There was always the usual gang of misfit teens who stood at the very end, mixing alcohol and drugs and getting through endless packs of cigarettes. That was the town Laurie and Christopher had grown up in. They had never been outside of it and didn't know any different.

"What're you working on Chris?" Laurie shoved Christopher out of his chair and took his place. He rummaged through the sheets of lyrics and music and muttered to himself as he did so.
"Nothing, its just-" Christopher groaned as he scrambled about in an attempt to collect all of the sheets before Laurie could read them all, "Recently, I've had the urge to express my music further than just my bedroom," he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Mhm," Laurie was fiddling with a rubber band he had now found. Christopher swore he had the attention span of a fruit fly, but suspected his older brother didn't even have a clue what that was. "What are you try'na say little bro?"
"I wanna start a band," Christopher blurted out before looking for an expression on Laurie's face. There was a mask of confusion.
"A band? Like singin' and stuff?"
"Well yeah, I was thinking you could join?"
"Now why would I want to do that?" Laurie shrugged his shoulders before continuing to stretch his rubber band.
"I just thought it would be cool, I guess," Laurie's face twisted to one of thought, as he watched his brother's face grow in disappointment at his abruptness.
"Well, uh, if you can get together a group of other people to join, I'll be more inclined too." And with that, he patted his back and went out the front door. Christopher watched Laurie through the window. He was smoking on the front steps. As he watched the smoke swirl and join with the air, getting carried away with the wind, he thought about what he had said. And had an idea.

The next day at school, before going to class, Christopher pinned up a notice he had spent most of his previous free time creating. It read ' Bass player, pianist and drummer needed to join a band, any genre. If you take an interest, please meet Christopher C outside the school gates at 3:30pm today.' And he had added some funky artwork. He figured if Laurie joined, he'd play electric guitar, and he would sing.
At three thirty, Christopher anxiously waited at the entrance of the school with his notebook. He was there for almost twenty minutes, impatiently tapping his foot on the concrete until two boys showed up. They were identical. The Harries twins. His heart leapt in excitement as he watched them approach him.
"We heard you were getting a band together," Josh stated. He knew it was Josh because he was the one of the twins who had dyed his hair a vibrant, almost toxic red colour, and it stuck up in odd angles.
"I play keyboard, Josh plays drums," Ronnie continued.
"Awesome! So you want to join?"
"For sure, that's why we came," Josh nudged him.
"Great! Lets go back and start rehearsal."

"Hey Laurie!" Christopher yelled to the boy who sat outside with a packet of cigarettes in hand.
"Yeah?" Chris gestured to the boys behind him.
"You actually found people?" His face showed one of disbelief.
"Yeah, actually, Josh plays drums and Ronnie plays keyboard." Laurie's eyebrows were raised.
"Well I'll call Daniel." His best friend Daniel. Daniel played bass guitar. He lazily dragged himself indoors, and after a short conversation, came out of the kitchen.
"He's in," Laurie said, almost somewhat excitedly.
It wasn't long before Daniel entered their house. Without knocking. His fluffy brow hair was styled slightly up, and due to his height, the top strands of it almost were flattened in the frame of the door. "So? Where do we start?" Chris liked him already.

Over the next few weeks, they had met up every day to compose and create. Using situations in their life to fuel and influence the few songs they had written, eventually they were almost finished with the chorus of their second song. However, the entire time, all that ran through Christopher's head was whether all this would go to waste, no matter how much they all acted like the closest of friends, he still had no idea about how reliable they really were. He mainly composed with Laurie into late at night, so that they would complete more good quality songs in a short amount of time. It decreased his nerves that everyone seemed to catch onto learning their part reasonably fast.
Soon enough, they had three songs completed and Christopher decided it was the right time to suggest trying to get a gig at the school dance. Laurie was all for the idea, Josh seemed more so. It was only Ronnie and Daniel who were a little hesitant at first. Regardless of that however, the next day, Christopher approached the head of studies and asked to play at the school dance. He popped the tapes into her stereo and stood back a little as she took in the music. After almost ten minutes, she finally stopped the recording.
"I like it."
It was the night of the performance. Laurie was nervously strumming a few practise notes on his electric guitar without the amplifier on to warm up. Christopher was constantly checking his watch, whilst peering over at the entrance every two minutes. Meanwhile, Daniel sat in a corner on a crate with his legs crossed attempting to solve a Rubik's Cube-chewing on a cocktail stick. Neither Josh, nor Ronnie had shown up yet, which worried the remaining members. A drummer and pianist were imperative for the songs they had written and rehearsed. A kid in Buddy Holly glasses popped their head through the curtains and told them it was five minutes until their performance. Daniel then leaped up from his spot and began pacing.
"Guys, I cant do this, it'll be humiliating, they're not going to show up," his breathing grew in pace. Christopher watched him in silence and sadness as he realised Daniel spoke the truth. His gaze seemed to slow down as Laurie went over to calm Daniel down. His thoughts all swam in his head. The concert. They would never be able to perform with half the band missing, and a member practically freaking out.
Eventually, Daniel grabbed his bass, and ran out from behind the curtain and out the great hall. Laurie gave Chris a sympathetic look as he grabbed his guitar and ran after Daniel. He had to make sure his best friend was okay. He didn't blame him. It was only him now. He sighed as he noticed how empty backstage was with no people using the instruments and began to feel increasingly lonely. Whipping the embarrassing tears emerging from his eyes, he walked as quickly and discreetly from the hall as possible. With every step away from the stage he took, another piece if his shattered heart he left behind. He had a chance. But he lost that chance.