Page 199 of Five Summers

“What’s up?” Ace comes over and sits beside me on the couch.

“I want out.”

“What the fuck?” Nate says.

“Not the band, dumbass. I wanna quit the label. Let’s go out on our own. You guys only stuck around to help me get my songs back, but I'm fine with letting them go.”

“You sure about that?” Ace asks.

“Yeah. Just think about it.” I lean forward in the seat. “The label claims they’re meeting our requests, but they’re not really. We don't want Ronnie, but we have to deal with her because Lionel owes someone a favor. He’s not giving us what we want. What if we need to make another change down the line for something else? Will he be on board with that or is it gonna be like the Ronnie thing where we don’t get a say?”

"There's no guarantee he'll listen to us," Nate points out.

“Exactly. That's why we go out on our own. Make a few albums. Get someone we trust to be our band manager and we have the final say in everything.”

I stop when I hear raised voices coming from the doorway, where I put Neil. Ronnie's loud voice clearly shows she's pissed about not being able to enter the room.

"So, what does everyone think?" I ask, bringing my focus back to the group.

Ace nods in agreement. “I’m on board with that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Theo says.

I turn to Nate.

“As I’ve mentioned before, I’m fully behind whatever decision you guys make. Broken Oasis wouldn’t be the same without any of us, so count me in.”

“Alright, it’s settled. We're going out on our own,” I say, getting up. I head towards the table at the back, swiftly grabbing a bottle of water while still listening to the commotion coming from the other side of the door.

“When should I inform the label?” Ace inquires.

“Let them sweat it out,” says Nate. “They don’t give a fuck about what we want, so let’s make them wait a few weeks.”

Lowering the bottle after consuming half of its contents, I catch Ace’s glance and nod in agreement with Nate’s statement.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door, and it swings open. My attention shifts to see Kit walking into the room, with Neil still standing guard at the door, stopping Ronnie from entering.

“You guys are on in five,” Kit informs us.

“Thanks, Kit,” Nate replies.

Afterward, as she makes her way back to the hall, I see the smirk on Kit’s face before she closes the door behind her.

“Alright, guys, let’s go out there and give it everything we’ve got. Let’s make this the best performance of our lives. And then we can all go home,” I say, huddling with my brothers.

Grins light up their faces as we exchange hearty slaps on the back, fueling our adrenaline for the ultimate performance.

Advancing towards the door, we follow Nate, who takes the lead. With the door opened, we step out, guided by Neil as we make our way towards the stage. Despite Ronnie not being directly in my line of sight, given her persistent stalking qualities over these past days, I’m certain she’s nearby, even if she remains unseen.

After giving it our all, we’re left exhausted and sweaty as the show comes to an end. I'm cracking up as I see the crowd lose their shit when Nate throws his drumsticks - they adore those fucking little things.

Before I go into the green room, I quickly change my shirt and do my usual routine for this time of the night. I grab the phone and call home.

Alex’s cute face appears on the screen.

“Dad,” he says with a grin, sounding just as excited as he does every night when we talk.

“Hey buddy,” I reply. “How’s it going?”

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