Page 19 of Tangled Weeds

“Yeah, I heard you’re a pretty big deal in the studio musician crowd,” I said making her laugh.

“Yeah, I guess. So, how’s it been playing with these guys?” she asked, and Rory and Kai moved over to the side where they were having a quiet conversation between themselves.

“It’s great. I got lucky that I knew their music,” I said and sipped the water I’d pulled out of a bucket of ice.

“Oh yeah, I heard your uncle is their usual drummer,” she said and eyed me like she was looking for the answers to the universe.

“Yes, he’s one of the founding members,” I said, not sure why.

“Cool, is he okay?”

“As okay as you can be after you have your arm snapped in half.”

She cringed at my words and took a sip of the energy drink she had in her hand. “That bad?”

“Oh yeah, he stepped on a Lego then fell on his kids’ little table hard enough to flatten it and his arm landed somewhere it wasn’t meant to be,” I said as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

“That’s what happened to the other drummer?” the hot guy asked, and for a moment I couldn’t stop myself from staring at his brown eyes.

“He broke his arm,” I said.

“Unfortunate Lego accident,” their drummer said, making us all laugh.

“You’re not wrong. I’m Devon Grimes,” I said and held my hand out to him.

“Johnny Brown,” he said as he shook my hand. “Are you nervous?”

“Oh yeah, but hopefully everything goes as planned and we kick some ass, otherwise Easy might be kickingmyass.”

Johnny glanced over his shoulder in Easy’s direction. “That guy is intense,” he whispered.

“Oh, he’s being nice to you guys. He’s normally much worse,” I said and hoped he didn’t hear me.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that,” Johnny said. “But he’s also hot as fuck on stage so it’s easy to forgive a little attitude.”

My eyes widened making Jayne laugh. “He really is,” she said.

“Sorry to hear you had to change your band around so close to the gig,” I said. “I’ve been there myself a few times, and sometimes even been the cause of it. It’s a huge pain in the ass.”

“We knew it was just a matter of time. They’ve been partying hard for a few months. No one can keep that up for long,” Johnny said just as his other two band members walked over along with someone who was probably their manager.

“This is Devon Grimes, he’s the new drummer for Blinding Light,” Johnny said, and they all introduced themselves. Strangely enough I felt more comfortable with them than I did with the guys in my band. It wasn’t that they had gone out of their way to make me feel uncomfortable, it was more that these guys were in the same place of their careers that I was, and it was more than a little comforting.

“How long will you be playing with Blinding Light?” the guy that was obviously a manager asked.

“I’m not sure, it depends how soon my uncle is able to get back to it,” I said as he held out a business card.

“If you ever need any help finding a band to play with, give me a call.” I read it and thanked him just as Vance walked into the room from wherever he’d been.

“Listen up, Anchor Grey, be ready to go onstage in twenty minutes. Blinding Light, you’ll be playing around forty-five minutes later. I know I’ve already told you this, but I don’t want to get a million questions. Now everyone, get your shit together and be ready to go.” He turned around and walked back out of the door and everyone was instantly in motion. All four of them looked at me with deer in headlights looks that I felt down deep and made my stomach once again roll.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to be great,” Rory said while clapping me on the back. For a second, I was okay then I was running to the nearest trash can because there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d make it to the bathroom.

Eighteen

Johnny

As we were leaving the room I saw Devon rush to a trashcan and throw up. I felt bad that we weren’t there to help him and hoped someone would. I knew that feeling so well. When I first started playing live shows I wanted to throw up each and every time, but now I worried someone in the band would fuckup in one way or another, and that fear kept my stomach from going into full reverse.

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