Tell Your Friends!

April 1995

"Reggie can you just shut up for five minutes," Bobby glared at the bass player. The band was prepping for their latest show, everyone was tense and very sleep deprived. If this show went well then they would finally get to play The Orpheum, so a lot was riding on this show.

Lara bites back, "Leave him alone Bobby. He's trying to be helpful, unlike someone." She was leaning against Reggie's legs on the floor. Her guitar was next to her and she could barely feel her fingers. They had been practicing for hours, it was already 3 in the morning.

"Guys come on, we only have a week to get ready so we need to focus." Luke sighed and grabbed his notebook, "Alex are you on the right page?"

"Of course I'm on the right page. Are you sure Bobby and Reggie are? Lara doesn't even have a paper in front of her!" He pointed towards the girl.

Lara crossed her arms, "Ya, cause I don't need one. I know our songs."

"Is that you suggesting that I don't know our songs?" Alex looked at her in disbelief. Lara rolled her eyes.

Reggie sighed and leaned forward, "Guys can we not fight? I think we need to-"

"Shut up!" Bobby and Alex shouted. Reggie was taken aback.

"Guys I just don't want us to fight right now. Why are you guys yelling at me?"

"God you're so stupid Reggie," Bobby groaned.

Lara stood up, "Leave him alone. He has done nothing wrong. He at least shows up to practice on time, and he works on the songs like he's supposed to. Can you say the same, Bobby? No, you can't."

Bobby stood up as well and got in Lara's face.

"Ok, ok. Lara, I think you need a breather," Luke stands and grabs his sister's arm, prepping to pull her back if she starts to swing.

Lara doesn't break eye contact with Bobby, "No no. I want to hear what our rhythm guitarist has to say."

"Ok sweetheart. Want to know what I think? I think you think that you're so much better than us. You think that you are just Miss Perfect. Well, your pitch was flat in that last song and you were way off-key." Bobby takes a step closer to her, "And actually now that I think about it, you are always off-key. But can we tell you that? No, we can't because you're the only girl. You're Luke's sister. And we can't tell little Miss Perfect that she's not so perfect after all." Reggie stood behind Lara and was a few words away from punching Bobby. Alex saw this and grabbed his arm. "Because we all know how weak you actually are. How you flirt with dozens of guys but still haven't landed a single date. No one wants you, Lara. Maybe the band would be better without you."

Luke grabs onto Lara with both hands, preventing her from lunging. Whereas Alex has to use all of his strength holding onto Reggie. 

"Is that really what you think Bobby? Cause if you've got more go right ahead I can take it." Lara glared at him, and when Bobby hesitated she started, "Cause I actually have some thoughts of my own. I think that you think that we don't notice how insecure you are. That you think you're womanizer macho ego isn't just a cover-up? Cause I think that when you are in your 40s you will regret the choices you made because of that ego. I think you will try and make redemption for yourself but it will ultimately fail because you are so self-centered that you would fall back into your old habits. I think that when you wake up in the morning you shift all the blame for everything bad that's ever happened to you onto someone else. I think that you feel like you don't belong to this band. I think that you feel like you could be so much more successful on your own than with us. I bet any song you write will never be as good as the songs Luke writes. And I bet you could never slam on the drums as Alex does. I bet you could never play the bass as well as Reggie does. And I bet you could never stay on pitch and on key in every song every time as I do. Sure am I perfect? No, and I don't view myself as perfect. So maybe that mentality is you just being jealous of me." Lara's body relaxed, so Luke let her go but hesitantly, "But you what else Bobby? We're a family, and we all need each other. We are Sunset Curve for a reason. You like to forget that." Lara took a step closer to Bobby, "Also I am so sick and tired of you making fun of Reggie. He does nothing to deserve it. Sure he can be a bit oblivious sometimes, but he is so smart and so helpful that it doesn't matter. You don't realize how much Reggie actually does for this band, do you? You don't realize how much time he puts into promoting our band. All those T-shirts? Ya, he made them. All those demos? He put them together and makes sure we have plenty to pass out at our shows." Bobby's face loosened and looked to Reggie, who was looking down but still seething in anger. "I know he hates it when you call him names and ignore his brilliant ideas. But he is too much of a sweetheart to actually say something. You are so lucky to have him as a friend, stop taking advantage of him, because the next time you do Luke won't be around to stop me from punching you." Lara stormed out of the room, needing some air. She knew Luke was right and he would have forced her to go outside if she didn't go on her own. Lara didn't hear what the boys talked about when she left.