Ask Me Anything

Chapter 8 - The New Song

I'm laid out on the couch, staring at the clock on my phone again. This has to be one of the longest days ever. I had woken up this morning to a torrential downpour outside and an inbox full of assignments at work which took up a big chunk of time. For once, I'm anxious to get to practice for reasons other than to just play. I need to talk to Jack to see what he thinks about the conversation with Lena.

I had scrolled through Instagram earlier in the day and saw a few photos that she had posted during her dinner out last night. She was with a group of friends, all holding up ridiculously sized margaritas at a Mexican restaurant. I also noticed that my number of followers continue to grow despite the fact I've only posted one photo. I desperately want to text her again, but I was nervous about crossing the line and ending up in stalker territory.

I can't take it anymore. I pack up my acoustic and electric guitars in their cases, shoving a few picks in my pocket. Opening the front door, I walk out and stand on the covered porch, watching the rain continue to stream down. I pull up the hood of my sweatshirt in a probably useless effort to keep my hair from looking any worse than it already does. Waiting for a lull in the rain that may never come, I become mesmerized watching the rivulets of water rushing down the sidewalks and street, forming huge puddles at each driveway. Giving up, I make a mad dash for my car, juggling my keys and trying to get two cases into the back seat.

Once I'm out of the rain and in the car, I try to use the bottom of my t-shirt to dry off my glasses, but it is just as soaked as the rest of me. I start the car, but the windows instantly fog. It takes me a minute, but I finally find the right combination of defroster, air, and windshield wipers so I can see well enough to drive. I carefully back out of the driveway and towards Broadway. Since it's the last practice before the show, we always meet at the venue instead of Greg's parent's place. We like to make sure everything is set up the way we wanted it and that the sound and lights are decent.

The normally short drive takes twice as long due to the driving rain. I pull up as close to the awning over the back door as I can get, trying to leave space for Greg who has to haul in a drum kit through this mess. Taking a deep breath, I brace myself for the rain, hop out of the seat and fumble with the back door, trying to grab the guitar cases as quick as humanly possible. I slam the car door and hustle underneath the awning. Before I can even knock, Mike, the manager, shoves open the heavy door and waves me in.

Once out of the weather, he nods at me and throws me a towel.

"You're early," he comments.

"Yup. Just restless because of the rain, I guess. I also wanted to try out a few things and see how they sound."

"Changing some things up?" he asks as he leans into the bar area and opens a beer, handing it over to me. I'm not much of a drinker, but for some reason a beer actually sounds perfect right now.

"Thanks," I answer, taking the bottle from him. "Maybe. I'm not sure yet." Once my cases are dried off, I drape the towel over a chair and make my way with the guitars onto the stage.

All of the sound equipment is already there, so I start pulling a few things around and turning them on until I'm satisfied with the layout. After putting a tall stool by the mic, I open one of the cases and take out the acoustic guitar, strumming to make sure it is still in tune. I had stayed up well past midnight last night trying to narrow down some songs that would translate well into acoustic. Jack said there was no rush, but I took the idea as a challenge.

After a few swallows from the bottle, I get comfortable on the stool and start playing the cords to Robbers, reminding myself of the song's progression. I don't have each note fine-tuned yet so I can't just completely drift off into the song, so instead I concentrate on trying to replicate the feelings behind the lyrics the best as I can. The irony of a guy who can barely talk to women singing a song about all consuming and dangerous love isn't lost on me. I go straight through it twice, but towards the end of my second effort I'm interrupted by Jack's voice.