That Thing You Do! (Multiband Fan Fic)

Chapter 5 - Business

Katie's P.O.V

It was morning. I woke up seeing Dylan sat on the coffee table, facing me, but playing my guitar, Coyote. Coyote was red, with black and white swirly lines all over. I played her the most.
"What are you doin'?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, with a stretch.
"I heard you talking last night... Interesting. Tell me about yourself." He didn't really ask.

This dude had serious vibes on him. He was such a dickhead, but I wanted him around. He knew a lot and I could tell. He could be useful and a great friend, if we get that far.
"What do you want to know?" I sat up, turning to face him, Stevie's chess board duvet over my legs.
"Tell me about yourself. Anything. I'll tell you about myself, in return." He held my guitar looking at me.
How far would this go? It was a little freaky, but I'm intrigued.

"Growing up, my dad played all the best music. There was never a day a vinyl record wasn't played. Music is my whole life. It's made me who I am.
My school grades were bad, so I dropped out, when I was fifteen, focusing on music. I joined bands, and played some gigs, but nothing felt right. When I told Joe about this, he reminded me about the chemistry. I shouldn't be afraid to get picky, when it comes to band members. Everything had to be perfect and I'm determined to do it.
I'm looking to start a band, with Stevie. Hard rock. The good shit. No bull. Equal pay, like Queen. All songs written by the band, not an individual." I told him.
"And Stevie?" He nodded over at Stevie, who was sleeping on the armchair, by the window.

The window was still open from last night, so the curtains blew lightly with the morning breeze.

"He's a good man, but we didn't really know each other, until recently. His mums father, was the brother of my dads father. His mums name is Vivian, and his dads name is Gabriel. Vivian is strict about staying in touch with my family, as we 'Monroe's' have a 'curse' over us." I laughed. "Stevie likes to call my dad his uncle, but that's not the case. He's lonely and has been outcasted, but he loves-"
"What curse?" Dylan cut me off.
"Huh?" I asked him.
"You said your family is cursed." He smiled at me. A genuine smile. "What's the curse?"
"Well... My dad died, his twin sister just vanished, his youngest brother fell into a life of crime - Though he is out and cleaning up his ways now, his oldest brother is always on the move, hard to trace, and his younger sister was, or is, in a bad marriage. I've no contact with her...
My dad was a good man and I wanted to be like him. I've been told, all my life, how much I look like my dad, and since he died, I've just wanted to be near him, so music was the path I was going to take, and I really want Stevie to be in on this." I told him, laying it all out. I never talked about this, but something was telling me I could really trust Dylan.

"I'm very sorry to hear that. Interesting curse, though..." He was being sincere. "You good?" He looked down at Coyote.
"Are you?" I asked him.
He looked at me, before he got up and grabbed a cable. He plugged one end into Coyote and the other into one of the amps he had lying around. He switched it on and turned up the volume.
"Try this." He glanced at me, before going into Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher'.

Stevie jumped out his skin and shot up, looking panicked, before seeing it was Dylan playing my guitar. He looked impressed, turning to me, sat on the sofa.
Dylan played the solo, even extending it, before going into 'Eruption'.
Once he was done, I stood up.

"I'm impressed, but time for your end of the deal. Tell me about yourself." I looked at him.
He smiled, handing back my guitar, trading places with me.
He sat down, where I was sat, and I stood by the amp, ready to play for him.

"Mom and dad wanted me to get a 'normal' job. I didn't want that. Two annoying ass brothers, I eventually left home. Cut all contact. Had to share a room with my brother, so the space is good. I don't share. Ever. I write songs, but no band has taken them seriously. If you want me, you take my songs too. No deal otherwise." Was all he went into.
Very private man, but nothing I can't deal with. So far, I'm in.
"Hard rock. You can be lead, if you wish." I told him, before I started to play Slash's intro to 'Anastacia', before going into Steve Clark's 'Switch 625', before ending with my own little piece, that I call 'Kitty'.

Dylan looked stunned. Like I just smashed his guitar to the ground.
"No!" He suddenly spoke up. "You play lead." He was staring at my hands. "How did you do that? What was that?" He asked me.
"I dunno... Some Slash, Def Leppard, then something I made up myself. I'm not really good at making shit up, but that was... something. I call it 'Kitty'." I shrugged.
"You're lead. I'm rhythm. Where are you guys heading?" Dylan asked the both of us.

"Boston!" Stevie spoke up, after a yawn.
"Far. Where you coming from?" Dylan asked us.
"West Chester, PA. We're taking a road trip, just going around." Stevie replied.
"Well..." Dylan chuckled. "Some trip, being this far from home... I'm gonna get kicked out of this place, in two weeks. You can both stay, until then. We can practice and talk here. Once we're out, we can take my van, go to Boston. What do you say?" Dylan asked us.
I looked at Stevie and he looked at me. "I'm in." I shrugged, not thinking about Joe.
"Yeah, sure." Stevie turned to Dylan. "I'm on drums."
"Show me." Dylan replied, looking at the pieces of the drumkit, lying around the room.
Stevie got up and, with Dylan's help, got the drums together, before he started to play a few of his favourite songs.

I told Dylan about not really knowing much about the guitar and how I couldn't write songs, but he didn't seem to take it too seriously. He kept telling me he'd help and I'm not to worry. I wasn't so sure it would all work out, but Dylan seemed to have a lot of faith in me. This was a gamble, but we had just recruited a guitarist... I was more impressed.