Alternative

October 9, 2008 at 10:16PM

The show went really well. Alex suggested burgers and fries afterwards at this retro diner and so we all went.

He orders two chocolate milkshakes for himself. I get French fries. We're all still buzzing from the performance. The crowd loved us. Even Mr. Vincenzo said he thought we sounded "stellar."

Alex is in a good mood, cracking jokes and flirting with the waitress. "You are doing a splendid job," he says. "These chocolate milkshakes are mind-blowing. Earth shattering. A reason to live again."

"Again?" I ask, dipping a couple French fries around in the ketchup and mayo swirl on my plate.

The waitress absorbs what he's saying and responds flatly, "Glad you're enjoying your two chocolate milkshakes..." She returns to the front counter and pulls out her phone, probably desperate to put her mind elsewhere.

Alex raises his hands for another round of high fives: "Guys, here's to a fucking awesome first performance. Nailed it!"

Beth bites into a huge chunk of her bacon cheeseburger and speaks up before she finishes chewing.

"I was a little late on some vocal cues, but overall I think the songs sounded good. And the acoustics were actually pretty good in there, too. They also had the monitors set up properly, which was really good."

"Yeah, it was gooooood," says Alex.

Word of the night apparently. 

"Proper monitor setup is punk rock," he says. Beth catches his sarcasm but seems to let it slide.

Bryce is texting on his phone, and the only one who seems less than enthused about the performance. I'm curious so I get his attention.

"Hey man, how'd you feel about the show?"

He looks up with a dazed expression on his face. "Oh yeah, it was pretty rad. We should play some real venues, you know."

Beth nods and chimes in:

"Definitely. I have a list of music bookers in the city to contact. We'll probably need to record a few tracks first though so we can show them what we do."

"Totally," Alex says. "My cousin's buddy owns a studio. He could probably get us a discount on recording."

Outside, a car pulls up into the parking lot and honks twice. Bryce gets up from the booth.

"My girlfriend's here to pick me up. I'll catch you guys later."

"Later," I say.

"Peace, brother," Alex says.

"Bye," Beth mumbles through another bite of her burger.

"So," Alex says, as Bryce leaves. "We still don't have a name."

Beth sighs, looking disappointed by that reminder.

"I don't know what we should call ourselves. I guess we can't stay nameless if we're going to start playing shows and recording and stuff."

I have a thought. "What if we just leave it as it is."

Alex looks confused. "What do you mean, bro?"

"What if we just call ourselves Nameless?"

He squints and looks up, like he's letting the idea wash over him.

Beth starts smiling. "I think that's good."

Alex nods, vaguely jealous that she so readily agreed with my idea. I can see him dispense with that momentary feeling of jealousy as he raises his glass.

"To Nameless..."

Beth and I raise our respective glasses of Ginger ale and Coke and we clink them together as a band.

"To Nameless."