Twelve Days of Christmas

12 Drummers Drumming

Ben

Luca Diego. It was only Luca fucking Diego!

I had an urge to pinch myself to check I wasn't dreaming. Forget that, I needed someone to take my drum and slam it into my face to wake me up from the deep trance just a long-distance glance at the god like man had put me in.

He was even better looking in real life, if that was possible. And I was going to get to actually meet him!

I gripped the edge of my drum tighter in an attempt to still the jitters that were currently doing laps up and down my arms. For about the 1000th time since I first got the call, I mentally thanked my mum for forcing me to attend military cadets when I was 12. I didn't have many friends, and forcing me to join cadets was my mum's answer to the problem. 

 Of course it was ridiculous because I was never a rowdy boy, preferring to have my nose firmly in a book, or later, glued to the screen of my laptop. I absolutely loathed cadets, right until we were asked if anyone wanted to join the military band. From that day I'd been hooked. And I finally made some friends who I could relate to, who preferred being civilised than playing pranks or giving out wedgies.

I was never one for popular culture or celebrity but even I couldn't help but notice Luca Diego. After all, he was a gay man's wet dream, with his perfectly proportioned body, thick shiny sun kissed hair, and strong chiselled facial features. And damn, those eyes! They were so bright blue, it was like they actually had fucking lights in them! And as if he hadn't already been gifted enough, his creator then decided to give him a voice that could melt snow, calm a storm and ignite a fire in every living breathing creature.

I looked around me at the warehouse we were filming in. There wasn't really much to see. In my head I'd imagined elaborate film sets and props everywhere, but in reality, most of the video was being designed on a computer and we were just having to perform in front of a big green screen, with minimal props for us to interact with.

Luca was busy talking to Malcolm, the producer, who I'd been introduced to earlier, but the rest of his band mates were currently having a snowball fight with some of the fake pompom sized snowballs that were neatly piled in a box until they got their hands on them.

I wasn't too sure of the rest of the band's names. Like with a lot of bands, it was Luca, the front man, who seemed to get all the attention. The band Zaphire was currently riding high in the charts, with at least 3 singles in the top 40. That was probably why they'd been asked on this collaboration.

Twelve artists and bands had been asked to produce a Christmas track each for an album to raise money for the recent earthquake that had left thousands of people homeless. Zaphire had been asked to perform a remake of the classic, 12 Days of Christmas. A rather unusual choice for a band that edged more towards rock than pop, but I was interested to see what they'd done with the song. The only bit I'd been privy to was my snare drum solo, which to be honest, they'd mostly left up to me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Malcolm leading Luka in my direction. I had to fight my instinct to run away and glued my feet firmly to the floor, telling myself not to be such a pussy.

"Luca, this is Benjamin, one of the 12 drummers, and our star soloist," Malcolm said, beaming at me.

"Hi," I manged to say without too much hesitation, and I held my hand out for him to shake.

He looked at me with slight amusement in his eyes, then slapped his hand against mine, and gave a quick half a shake before letting go. I retracted my hand quickly, feeling stupid for some reason.