The Blue Door (Van McCann Fanfiction)

Van: And He Bailed

"That's the last time I'll ever let you touch my phone!" I yelled at Larry who was still laughing over the fact that he just sent Brynn a naked photo of myself. Larry thought it'd be funny. Well, I thought it'd be funny too, if Brynn cared to reply. Maybe she was not interested. Maybe she was over me. I had no clue.

I haven't heard from her for quite some time.

The photo was meant as my band's inside joke - a reporter from the NME magazine won't stop bothering my manager about our album and that they wanted to do a review about it first, before anybody else. I'd be made up about it but, they have been giving us negative press since day one, so giving them our album before anyone else would not do us any good. And we sent them my naked photo to review instead.

I just couldn't wait for everyone to get their hands on the album. It took us seven years to get there. And I was humbled by the fact that we finally made it.

My band was due to play a gig at a festival the next day when I received a phone call from my manager, Neil. Larry was still snoring next to me, so I reckoned it was still early in the morning.

"Hey ya, Neil. You called in quite early today, mate," I muffled on my phone.

"Yeah. I have news," he swallowed.

"Well, you alright?"

"I am excellent, mate. But, I am not sure if you will be after I tell you this.... It's Billy. He won't be playing today. We gotta pull out from the gig."

I brought myself up from my bed and rubbed my face. I was just too sleepy to listen to my manager telling me about a bandmate that's calling in sick for the day. "We can't pull out of this one. It's the biggest one yet."

"You can't play without a guitarist. He... He left the band. Billy won't be playing for Catfish anymore," Neil exhaled deeply.

"You're playing with me? Billy was just here last night. He looks fine," I yawned.

"Van, you clearly are not taking this seriously. I am serious. Billy just quit the band. You're guitarist just left you."

"Is this some kind of an April's fools joke?"

"It's July, Van. And no. I am bloody serious," Neil said with a straight tone.

"Can he do that? Can he really leave the band? Don't we have a contract or something?" My throat was dry, my palms began to sweat. My mate couldn't be doing this to me. It was not making any sense.

"Technically, the contract only binds the band with the management. You are still a band, even when your guitarist decided to leave. You are not bind individually, unfortunately..."

"That's fucking messed up. This is just fucked up!" I yelled into the phone, although I knew, Neil did not deserve the yelling.

"Listen, Van. I need you to come down to the office ASAP and we'll discuss further."

I tried calling Billy and our tour manager, who was his brother, Stephen, but they both didn't pick up my calls. I was confused. I wish I knew what I did that made them leave.

Benji and Bob were already seated at Neil's office when I arrived with Larry that morning. They were looking as confused as I was.

"Is this really happening?" Benji asked me.

I shook my head and sat myself down on the lumpy couch. Sighing, I glanced over at both of the remaining band members. "I think this means we are over. We nearly made it, mate. I can't believe this is happening."

"I heard the management had found us a new guitarist," Bob casually said. "He was previously from a band called Detroit Social Scene."

"So, did he leave his old band the way fucking Billy did?" I hissed. I was so pissed off that I could feel my head heating up.

The door was swung open and I immediately saw Neil walking into his office, with both Billy and Stephen trailing behind him.

"What the fuck!" I yelled, getting up from the couch as my arms tried to yank at both of the brothers. But, Larry and Benji immediately stopped me by pulling my body as far away as possible from Billy and Stephen. Bob then stood up and pulled a very defensive Billy away from approaching me.

"Calm down, Van," Neil said, standing between all of us.

"Calm down? Calm down?! That fucker just left the band! How am I supposed to calm down!"

I eventually did calm down.

Billy and Stephen left Neil's room after they explained themselves to my band. I honestly was not listening. I just could not believe that my best mates would betray me like that. I was not having any of their bullshit.

Neil then continued by explaining what's next for the band. He was aced at being our manager that he had managed to find a new tour manager and guitarist for us. He told us that we would be meeting them in New York, to settle a few things with our label.

It felt like I was in a video game and I had to restart a new game from zero because the previously saved file was corrupted. That was exactly how I felt.