Fly Away With Me (Alex Gaskarth Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

“This is gonna be fucking sick, dude.” Jack gushed from his chair, acoustic in hand and feet propped up on the soundboard until Rian swatted them away.

“Don’t get too excited, Aladdin,” I yawned into the mic, “There’s a large possibility that this is going to be one hell of a shit show.”

Zack peeked his head around Jack from his seat on the couch, bass on his lap. He would absentmindedly pluck out random songs, but this was the first time he had looked up at me all day. “We heard you sing at the bar,” he said, “That was anything but a shit show.”

I fiddled with the hem of my t-shirt, glancing over at Alex who was paying no mind to the conversation. He was far too busy adjusting levels and turning knobs, pressing buttons and other musical witchcraft. In that moment I realized that I thought I knew how to write music, but clearly I had no clue about really making music.

“Yeah, well,” I adjusted the headphones off of one ear, “don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Alex brushed off my comments, flipped a few more switches, and looked up with a smile on his face, “You wanna do something original or you want me to see what kind of backing track I can pull up?”

“Uh,” I peered out at Jack, “Aladdin give me that real quick, would ya?”

“This?” He held up the acoustic guitar before bringing it into the booth, plugging it in to the cable that ran into the soundboard, and slinging it over my shoulder, “Be careful with it, that ones my baby.”

“Too bad you can’t fucking play it.” Rian quipped.

I strummed the guitar a few times, my fingertips a little shaky from the audience staring me down through the glass. A few plucked notes and strummed chords brought me back to the last time I picked up my guitar and sang anything that wasn’t blaring out of an old karaoke machine. I hadn’t written any original material in a while, since Darren and I got out of control and business at the bar quadrupled.

“Mind if I just do a cover?” I asked, still focused on the guitar.

“Whenever you’re ready, man.” Alex shut the door to the booth and suddenly it was like I was completely alone. Their mouths were moving on the other side of the glass and I saw Jack swat a few times at Rian, but I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. Alex just sat there smiling, twisting a few more knobs and pressing a few more buttons.

“Okay,” I sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

The beat was steady and soulful, and once I could remember the chords I started to loosen up a bit into the rhythm of the song, my foot tapping along and body swaying into the music as it picked up.

(link!)

“Sittin' in the mornin' sun, I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes. Watchin' the ships roll in and then I'll watch 'em roll away again. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin' the tide roll away. Sit on the dock of the bay wastin' time.”

“I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco bay. 'Cause I've got nothing to live for and nothing's gonna come my way,” I sang, “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay watchin' the tide roll away. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay wastin' time.”

I picked up momentum into the bridge, “Looks like nothing's gonna change. Everything’s gonna stay the same. I can't do what ten people tell me to do. So, I guess I'm gonna stay the same.”

“I’m sittin' here restin' my bones, ‘cause this loneliness won't leave me alone. Two thousand miles I roam just to make this dock my home. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay watchin' the tide roll away. I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay wastin' time.”