It was always you

Chapter 4

-1997-

I called Nate and Pat and told them to meet me at my place. I wanted to tell them both at the same time that I had found a new drummer. I didn't want to have to go through it twice. I was nervous as it is. I know I should've talked to them before finding a new drummer. But it kinda.... just happen. They were due any minute now and I was starting to feel nervous. William had been Nate's friend before the Foo Fighters, they had been in bands together before and I hadn't handled things as well as I should have. I knew I wasn't on Nates good side when it came to this. And now I was about to tell him about his friends replacement, and I did not look forward to that!

And Pat. Yeah, then there was Pat. Pat had seen me with Taylor and already had his suspicions about my feelings for him. This was not going to help me persuade him otherwise. He always seemed to be able to read me like a book and he'd see all those things I was trying to hide even from myself.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and I jumped up. I took a deep breath, this was it. I strode out into the hallway and opened the door.

"Nate! Come in man." I said. He looked at me a strangely, I'd probably tried a bit too hard to sound cheerful.

"Hey Dave, you OK?" he asked as he took a step inside.

"Yeah sure" I replied but now even I could hear the nerves in my voice. "Come in let me get you a beer." I said turning away from him and heading to the kitchen.

I went to the fridge, grabbed two bottles and opened them. I held one out to Nate and as he took it I gulped at mine, drinking at least half of it in one go. Nate just stared at me. Shit this was going badly and I hadn't even got to the point of telling them the news yet.

An uncomfortable silence settled between us as we went into the living room and suddenly all I wanted was for Pat to arrive so I could get this over with. A minute or two later the doorbell rang once more. I rushed away from Nate. I opened the door to Pat and I drained the rest of my beer.

"Is the news that bad?" Pat asked.

"What?!" I followed Pat's gaze as he looked to the bottle in my hand. "Oh right. No...I was just ....thirsty." I stuttered.

Pat settled a knowing look on me. "OK" he said but he obviously didn't believe me.

He followed me to the kitchen. "Beer?" I asked as I reached the fridge.

Pat nodded "Thanks."

"You ready for another Nate?" I called.

"What?! No" he said "I've only just started this one."

Again I grabbed two beers from the fridge. This time I handed one to Pat before taking a swig of mine and then walking through into the living room where Nate was waiting. Pat sat down in the chair next to Nate's and I sat opposite them on the couch.

"Is everything OK Dave?" Nate asked looking worried.

"Yeah....sure...." I replied.

"Really?" Nate went on "I don't think I've ever seen you quite this nervous before."

"Yeah normally if you have something to say you just say it." Pat added.

"No I'm fine I....." I took a deep breath wondering how to tell them. In the end I just blurted it out. "So I found us a new drummer."

"Wow that was fast." Nate said with a surprised expression on his face. "I didn't even know you'd got anyone in mind." He sounded a little on edge all of a sudden.

"I hadn't. It just kinda happened..."

"How can something like that just kinda happen?" Pat asked.