GuiTara

🎵~14

🎶But it's hard when you're young ~ The Chainsmokers

●Tara Afua Henrie●

When I made it back to the restaurant, it was a whole fifteen minutes past three.

Roberto sat under the patio, engaged in a conversation with someone I wasn't familiar with. I had just made it past the parking lot when he spotted me.

"Hey, Tara." Roberto stood up. "I was just about to call you."

"Hey." I joined him on the patio. "I see you've got company."

"Yeah, this is Carlos, the friend I was talking about earlier today. He's the one who's gonna hook us up with a band."

"Oh yeah, I remember." Quickly, I extended a hand. "Nice to meet you, Carlos."

"Same here." The dreadlocked guy gave a firm handshake in response. Standing in front of me right now, he looked slightly older than he was in the music video Roberto showed me. His dark skin gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. He was also quite hairy and had a small gap in his teeth when he smiled. It was sort of cute, actually.

"So! Umm...where are the rest of your bandmates?"

"Uhh, they're running a little late." Carlos nervously scratched the back of his head. "But don't worry. I texted them and they said they are on-"

Carlos didn't get to finish because, within those seconds, a charcoal-black Toyota Camry sped into the parking lot. Loud rock music blared out of the car as it came to a halt in front of the restaurant. The front door soon popped open and a goth stepped out, flinging her curls to the side. The driver's side also opened, but before whoever it was came out, he was kind enough to turn the loud music off.

A dark-haired figure pulled himself out of the driver's seat, and I immediately recognised who he was.

The rockstar lead singer from the video clip.

"You guys are late." Carlos blatantly stated as the duo approached the restaurant.

"Oh, take a chill pill, would ya." The goth rolled her eyes, pushing her sunglasses into her hair. "We're here, aren't we?"

Rockstar lead singer joined us on the patio, his thick boots thumping on the wood. "Can we please get this meeting done with? Some of us have a party to attend."

"Sure, where are the other two members?" I crossed my arms.

"What other two members?" Rockstar lead singer quipped. His face held an expression of surprise. "This is us, the Stars of the Future."

"Whoa, wait, hold up. I thought this was a five-member band." My head shifted in Roberto's direction, but he was even more astounded than I was.

"You didn't tell them?" Goth girl sniped. "Hah, some band manager you are."

Carlos shot her a nasty glare.

"You guys, can someone please tell us what happened?" Roberto asked.

"The other two members quit. Those bastards left us cuz they suck. Now this is what's left of the band." Rockstar lead singer dug a hand into his jacket and pulled out a metallic flask. "Take it or leave it." He brought the flask to his mouth, revealing a sleeve of tattoos I hadn't noticed earlier.

"How come you didn't mention any of this?" I directed the question to Carlos, and he heaved out a dejected sigh.

"I didn't because it's not important. We can still play without them. We've had our ups and downs, but we're still good. We can totally handle this gig, trust me."