Social Norms (Synacky)

Chapter Fourteen

“Hello?”

“Hey, Brian, you don’t need to come to practice today.”

Brian frowned, stirring his spoon around in his oatmeal. “Why not? I don’t mind, and Zacky could still use some work…”

“We’re going to be practicing in Matt’s basement for a bit. He’s got better acoustics in there, so that’s where we’re recording our demo. We won’t be practicing back at my house until next week.”

“But shouldn’t you wait until you’re done with the album before you record a demo?” Brian asked, taking a bite of his breakfast. “If you record the demo and send it in, the label might respond before you have the album down…”

“We’re not recording the demo yet.” Jimmy replied, “We’re just practicing down there instead of in my garage.”

“So don’t you need me to teach Zacky there?”

“Hey, you can come if you want.” Jimmy laughed, “I just thought I’d be doing you a favor by telling you that you didn’t have to teach Zacky today. I know how much you don’t like him.”

“Well, I don’t necessarily not like him anymore…” Brian trailed off before taking another bite of his food. “He’s actually pretty cool.”

He could hear the smile on Jimmy’s face as he said, “Yeah, I thought I noticed you both getting along. He seems to really like you.”

Brian blushed, thankful he was on the phone and not talking to Jimmy in person. “Uh, yeah, but the point is, I don’t mind coming over there to continue teaching him if you’re just moving over to Matt’s.”

“Well, we don’t need you to teach him this week, because we’ll all be playing together the whole time. But you can still come if you want. We’ve got five songs that I want for sure on the album nearly complete, and once we finish them up I’ll start working on the song you can solo in.”

Brian’s heart fluttered with excitement at the mention of soloing, and he said, “Yeah, okay, cool. Look, I’ll still go over there, I wanna hear you all play together. It’s not like I have anything better to do anyways.”

“Okay, cool.” Jimmy replied, and hung up. Brian smiled softly to himself and began thinking about shredding as he finished his oatmeal.

~*~

Matt had a really nice voice.

Brian had never actually taken the time to listen to the vocalist for Jimmy and Zacky’s band. But since he didn’t have anything else to do at Matt’s house, he listened to him scream into a cheap mic as the rest of the guys played. He had to admit, when he wasn’t screaming he was awfully nasally, but it wasn’t too unbearable. They probably did have a shot at their band.

 He and Zacky made a lot of eye contact, vibrant jasper meeting soft mocha. Brian would wink at him when the rest of the guys weren’t looking, causing him to blush and fumble about as he switched chords.

“Are you and Brian fucking or something, Zacky?” Jimmy asked, and Zacky blushed deeply, looking down at his guitar.

“What the hell? No, of course not!”

“What the fuck even brought that on?” Brian asked, and Jimmy shrugged, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“You both have been giving each other these ‘I wanna bend you over these amps’ looks all day.”

“What? Y-You’re misinterpreting things.”  Zacky stammered.

“Yeah, I’m not fucking gay, and you know it.” Brian spat, frowning down at his hands.

“Okay, it just looks sorta suspicious…”

Zacky bit his lip. “We’re not fucking, Jimmy.” He mumbled, fingers pressing along the frets. “He fucking hates me.”

The practice fell into awkward silence, until Justin suggested they play another song.

After practice, Jimmy stopped Brian before he got into his car. “Hey, Brian, what’s going on between you and Zacky?” he asked. “You can’t tell me nothing’s up…”

Brian sighed, “We’ve just been hanging out some, okay? He wanted to learn more, so I’ve been teaching him a little more here and there. That’s all.”

“Okay…” Jimmy stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’ve uh, I’ve started working on the song I want you to solo on.”

Even if he was sorta pissy about what Jimmy had said about Brian and Zacky, he couldn’t stay mad after that. “Really?” he asked, “How much do you have? When will it be done?”

“I’ve just started working on it…” he said, “I’ve got all the lyrics written out.” He opened the notebook he had brought with him, tearing out a page and handing it to him. “Here. Take this home and see what you think. I’ll work with Matt on the music part as soon as we get through with Forgotten Faces. Okay?”

“Yeah, alright.” Brian took the page and folded it carefully, slipping it in his pocket. “Thanks.”

“Well, I gotta repay you somehow for teaching Baker…”

Baker?

Oh, yes, Zacky’s last name. The last time he’d heard it was at the superlatives at school. So much had changed since that day. He had been dating Michelle then, and had done his best to stay clear of the kid that, in his mind, was only a strange queer. He was incredibly relieved he wasn’t like that anymore, that he knew Zacky for who he really was. Or consumed by an odd sort of lust for the boy, either one. Brian thought about Zachary Baker, and suddenly began to wonder what his middle name was…

“Okay?” Jimmy was asking, and Brian shook his head.

“Wait, what?” he asked.

“Tomorrow Matt and I are just getting together to work on lyrics. So Zacky won’t need you.”

“Oh, okay, yeah that’s fine.” Brian said, ducking into his car. “I’ll see you around, Jimmy.”

When he got home, Brian took the paper out of his pocket, eager to read the lyrics for the song he’d be featuring on. He opened the page with bated breath, eyes scanning over Jimmy’s handwriting scrawled haphazardly on the page.

To End the Rapture

The wind of life and air from above smells of death. Angels sing of the end. There's nothing you say and nothing you try can change time. Human race prepares to die.

That was it?