Page 11 of Tangled Weeds

“We’ve met,” he said.

Lian was giving me the same look but reached out and shook my hand. He couldn’t be much older than me but damn it was obvious he was not some kid playing at being a rockstar.

“Why don’t you show them what you can do,” Glenn suggested. His drum kit was already setup, and he motioned for me togo ahead. I pulled my shirt off and sat on his stool, and after adjusting it I started pounding out the rhythm I knew they’d recognize. It was one of their bigger hits and even though I didn’t play it exactly like Uncle Glenn did, I did my best.

I finally got the courage to look up at them. Glenn grinned even though he looked like he was high as a kite and still in pain. Rory nodded along to the beat, and Liam focused intently on the sticks and exactly what I was doing. But Easy sat there with a scowl on his face that didn’t give me any indication of him being happy or even interested in giving me half a chance.

“That was amazing,” Rory said and walked over to give me a fist bump.

“You changed it up,” Easy said still with the same expression on his face.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t bad,” Liam said, and looked at Glenn. “He’s like you with a twist.” Glenn laughed at that while I continued to have a stare off with Easy who had yet to speak.

“You’ll do,” he said before Liam hip checked him.

“He’s better than that and you know it,” Liam said.

“Yeah, okay. We’ll give you a chance, but like I said, you need to prove that you’re in it one hundred percent or we’ll be cancelling until Glenn is ready to play again. Sorry but we’ve had too many issues with flaky people and we’re not going back to that,” Easy said.

“I get it, and I promise I won’t let you down,” I said and picked up my shirt before walking back over to Uncle Glenn.

“Make sure you don’t. Now, are you ready to practice? We’ve got a lot of work to do to have you ready to play on Thursday.” He slipped his guitar strap over his neck and plugged into his amp.

Rory and Liam rushed to do the same. Uncle Glenn took a seat on the couch that was against the wall and grimaced when he tried to get comfortable.

“Which song are you most comfortable with?” Liam asked.

I thought about it before I answered. I knew all of their songs, but some better than others. “How about Give Up the Love?” I asked and walked back to the drums. I chose this song because it opened with a drum lead in, and I wanted them to all know I wasn’t afraid of starting a song and I was more than capable of playing it.

Easy tipped his chin at me and I pounded on the double bass before ripping into the beat, then they all joined in and Easy sang while playing rhythm. He didn’t do this often on stage, but at practice I knew he enjoyed it. They sounded so fucking good it was hard for me to control my need to laugh at how surreal this all felt.

Sweat poured from me as I put everything I had into the song and added a bit more that I hoped they didn’t mind. Liam listened to every slap of the sticks while Easy still gave me that critical look as he watched my every move. Rory was in his ownworld slapping out the bass rhythm and making us all sound even better. When the song ended, I was so amped up I had to force myself not to jump up and yell, but one look at Easy calmed me right the fuck down.

“You’re right, Glenn, he’s as good as you,” Rory said making them all laugh.

“Almost as good,” Uncle Glenn said and winked at me. “But he’ll be able to keep up with you all on the tour.”

“Looks like you’re going on tour,” Easy said, and finally didn’t look at me like he wanted to hurt me.

“Looks like,” I said and tried to sound way cooler than I felt.

Ten

Johnny Brown

Istill couldn’t believe we’d be warming up for Blinding Light. We’d been playing together about a year and so far, our manager had been able to get us some gigs that had led to even better gigs. Anchor Grey was being hyped as the next up and coming band. Now if we could hold our shit together until after this weekend, we might have a chance of making it.

“Johnny! Come on, man, let’s get this over with. I’ve got plans,” Mateo the drummer said as he slammed his sticks onto his drum kit louder than he was talking.

“You realize we’re warming up for Blinding Light in a few days?” I asked, and adjusted my mic stand.

“At a strip club,” Mateo said from where he knelt next to his amp with his bass swung around to his back.

“What’s your point? We’ve been playing at shitty bars for over a year. This could turn into something bigger,” I said, and tried to keep my temper and frustration in check.

“Yeah, yeah. Where’re Josh and Ray?” he asked as he stood and picked at the strings making sure it was all plugged in and working.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t heard from either of them,” I said and checked my phone for any messages. Josh and Ray were cousins and had recently turned twenty-one. They’d also decided they needed to visit every bar in the Sacramento area. The door opened and the two of them stumbled in, wearing sunglasses, smelling like last night’s beer, and obviously still drunk.

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