{19} - A Gig

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"Well this is nice." Juliet said, wrapping her hands around her mug and looking out the window at the rain.
"Mm. Yeah. Kinda sucky weather." Bethany agreed. "But it's nice to chat with you. There's way too much testosterone around her." They both giggled.
"So . . . tell me. Any guys you're interested in?" Bethany thought about it for a few seconds and was confused when the first guy that came to mind was Sebastian.
"Not really."
"Liar."
"I'm not."
"Uh-huh." Juliet raised her eyebrows and took a drink of her coffee.
"Stop it! There's no one!" Before Juliet could respond the door to the bus flew open and a sipping wet Kris stumbled in.
"Finally! Benny, Simon's drummer just packed up and left! They were hoping you'd help them out!"
"What?"
"They know it's short notice so they don't expect it to be perfect they just want you to fill in and try your hardest. They don't play till later so if you agree they want you to meet with them now for practice." She rushed out.
"Jeez, Kris. I dunno. I've never played a real gig before and I don't any of their stuff."
"Please!"
"Fine. But I'm probably gonna suck. Just sayin'. And, uh, could Juliet come with?"
"Sure. Sure. C'mon!" She ran off the bus and Bethany and Juliet followed close behind.
"Oh! Kris this is my sister in law, Juliet. Juls, this is Kris." They waved at each other and kept walking. Kris led them to Back Before Morning's van.
"Benny! Thank god!" Simon said when the three of them reached the van.
"This is really last minute Simon!"
"I know. Sorry. Devin just up and left and I have no idea why."
"Well I can't promise great. Or even good. But I'm here."
"That's all we need. Um . . . who's . . .?"
"Oh! Right. Juls this is Simon, Kris's brother. Simon this is my sister in law, Juliet."
"Hi."
"Hey. Alright let me introduce you to everyone else." He threw open the van door to reveal three guys. One had been sleeping in the back and sat up suddenly, one had earbuds in and didn't even notice the door was open and the other was sitting with his feet against the back of the seat and his head hanging off the seat reading a book. Simon pulled their earbuds out of the ones ears and the other two looked over at the group standing in the rain. The one reading moved so he was crosslegged facing the back of the seat and closed his book. He adjusted his glasses and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Guys this is Benny. Benny this is Hal, Oscar and Emmett." Hal pushed his glasses up and grinned showing off orange braces. He didn't look more than fifteen or sixteen. Emmett, the one who'd been asleep, waved them off and laid back down. He tossed his arm over his eyes. And Oscar offered Bethany his hand for a handshake.
"Nice to meet you."
"You too."
"Are you guys ready for practice?" Simon asked.
"Emmett's asleep." Hal said, nodding at Emmett and then opening his book again. Simon learned into the van and put his face near Emmett's.
"Wake up!" He said loudly. Emmett smacked him with the arm that had been laying over his face.
"Fuck you." He mumbled.
"Get up!" Simon snapped and grabbed his arm to haul him off the seat. "We have practice!"
"No."
"I tried." Simon said before pulling Emmett off the seat.
"Uegh! Do you know how gross this floor is?" Emmett asked as he pushed himself up off the floor.
"Do you know how much I don't care?"
"Emmett, get your ass up and Simon shit the fuck up." Emmett sat up and yawned.
"Fine. But I'm putting in minimal effort."
"I expect nothing more." Simon said. "Now, I am wet, I am tired and I could really use a cheeseburger, but before any of that can be dealt with we need to practice. Everybody out of the van. Now!" Oscar rolled his eyes, but got out.
"One more page." Hal said. Emmett grabbed Hal's book and chucked it into the trunk. "Fuck you." Hal hauled off and slugged him in the arm. Emmett ignored him.

———

"Not great." Simon said when rehearsal was over. "But I guess it'll do." Bethany nodded.
"Uh, I actually had a quick thought about that last song." Juliet said.
"What about it?" Emmett asked, leaning against the wall.
"It's missing something." All four members of Back Before Morning stared at her with raised eyebrows.
"Like what?" Hal asked and pushed up his glasses. Bethany made eye contact with Juliet and grinned.
"Let's play it again and I'll show you." Bethany said.
"Ok."
"One, two, three." Bethany counted them down.
"It's hard to believe you care when you're just not there." Emmett started singing. When it reached the chorus and Oscar and Hal joined him, Bethany started singing too, higher and just a little behind them. They four guys shared a wide look and smiled as they kept playing. Bethany stopped singing until the chorus came again. When they finished the song the guys clapped and cheered.
"That was fantastic!" Simon said. "You've got some pipes, Ben!" Bethany flushed.
"Thank you."
"Why didn't you tell me you could sing like that? I mean Andy said you weren't bad, but that was-wow!" Juliet said.
"You don't trust your own husband? I'm telling Andy." Bethany grinned and laughed. Juliet rolled her eyes.
"Alright. Let's play through the set list one last time and then we'll rake a break before the show." Hal sat his water bottle down and grabbed the neck of his guitar.
"Fine. As soon as we're done I'm going back to sleep and if anyone wakes me up for ten to I will make you hurt." Emmett said, grabbing his mic. It wasn't plugged in, but he liked to hold it while he sang.
"Dude." Simon said, "You're literally a foot shorter than Oscar and I. We could kick your ass."
"Shut up. Benny, count us down." They finished a second play through and Bethany went back to BVB's bus to change and freshen up. She fixed her hair and touched up her make up then changed her sweats out for jeans. Then she met the guys by the stage. Juliet went to find Andy and bring him to watch his sister's first real gig.
Only about a dozen people came to see Back Before Morning's set, but the longer they played the more people wandered over.
"We Are Back Before Morning. Thank you all so much for coming to see us even though you probably have no idea who we are! Good night!" Emmett said and blew a kiss to the small crowd.
"Panda!" Bethany said when she saw Andy.
"Hey, Peanut. Great job."
"Thank you." She bowed dramatically before laughing.
"Hi! I'm Hal! Big fan!" Hal stuck his hand out for a handshake and Andy obliged.
"Nice to meet you. You guys are good."
"Thanks, man. That means a lot." Oscar said. He was sweaty, but grinning. "I'm Oscar Pyle."
"Emmett." Emmett said as he poured a bottle of water down his back.
"I'm Simon." Simon rested his hand on Bethany's back to get her attention, "We need to start getting packed up, but thanks so much. Would you be up for playing with us again? Since we don't have a drummer anymore."
"Fuck you, Devin!" Emmett yelled. Simon rolled his eyes.
"I'd love too." Bethany told Simon.
"Awesome. See ya." He turned and grabbed his bass. "Yo! Krissy, let's mosey!" Bethany, Andy and Juliet headed back toward their bus.
"All things considered that was really good." Juliet said.
"Yeah. I got lost a couple times, but I kept a pretty steady beat so. . ." She shrugged and bounced as she walked. She got ahead of them a few paces then turned and walked backwards.
"It's nice that it's not raining anymore, but I still feel like I'm standing in the bathroom while someone's getting showered."
"Yeah. Texas is not my favorite." Juliet agreed. Bethany's phone started ringing and pulled it out of her pocket. She grinned and answered.
"Daddy! I miss you guys too! It's amazing! Hot and tiring, but so amazing! How are you guys?" Her dad said something and she laughed.
"I just played my first real gig." She paused, "well, it's kinda funny actually." And she started telling her dad the story. She stopped walking backwards and slowed down a little.
"Well she seems to be doing better." Juliet noted.
"Yeah. She doesn't look as tired anymore either." Andy said. Bethany's laugh bubbles up behind them. "She's better." He said more to himself than to Juliet. He nodded and grabbed his wife's hand.
"You hungry?" Juliet asked.
"I could eat." They kept walking, clasped hands swinging, smiling, talking. Bethany found a place to stand, out of the way and talked with her parents. She told them about her breakdown a few weeks earlier and her gig and her friends and all the things she'd gotten up to.
"Benny!" She looked up and saw Dom. He jogged up to her and waited while she finished her phone call.
"Yeah. I'll try to call more often." She laughed, "Right. Love you too. Tell Daddy I love him too." She nodded, "Mkay. Bye, Mom." She ended the call and put her phone away. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to get a cup of coffee or something."
"Like a date?"
"Something like that, yeah." He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. Part of her wanted to say yes, but the other part was incessantly chanting the word Luke. Sure she had no proof that Dom was like Luke, but she didn't know him. She'd seen him around, had a few short conversations with him, but she didn't think she would like to date him. She sighed.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think so." She sighed again when she saw how sad that made him, but she couldn't string him along.
"Oh. Alright then. Um, I guess I'll go. See ya around, Benny." And he was gone.
"I'm sorry." She called after him. She kept reminding herself that she was under no obligation to say yes, but she still felt like a bitch. "Why are feelings so stupid?" She muttered.

———

bennyharris

❤️liked by remingtonleith, andyblack, simondoesntsay and 422 othersbennyharris I LIKE YOUI MISS YOUI WISH THAT I COULDKISS YOUBUT I WON'T ADMITTO ITBECAUSE I KNOW YOU DON'T FEEL THE SAMEOH WOWEMOTIONS ARE LAME

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❤️liked by remingtonleith, andyblack, simondoesntsay and 422 others
bennyharris I LIKE YOU
I MISS YOU
I WISH THAT I COULD
KISS YOU
BUT I WON'T ADMIT
TO IT
BECAUSE I
KNOW YOU DON'T
FEEL THE SAME
OH WOW
EMOTIONS
ARE LAME.
A poem by Me.

Load more comments
user1 I wonder who that's about???
user2 I feel that tbh
thejulietsimms I knew you were lying 🤥
user3 emotions are lame, but so vitally important
user4 😐😐😐
user5 that is the question user1
bennyharris I WASNT AT THE TIME thejulietsimms
user6 you're so pretty omg 🤩🤩

FYI this isn't edited like at all so please excuse that. Sorry. Also just for fun,

How diverse is your music taste?

Mine ranges from Palaye Royale to The Beatles to Norah Jones to Harry Styles to Mozart with many things in between. Mozart is great for studying by the way.

Avery L.

In My Life(BVB, Palaye Royale)Where stories live. Discover now