OK so just so you all know this is my first time posting a story so any criticism is greatly welcomed!
Oh and I do not own anyone or anything except for Alex!
Enjoy!
It was 2 O'clock in the afternoon on July the fourth and a group was gathered around the outside of the tour bus. Everyone was oddly quiet and everyone's attention was on the cell phone in Joe's hands. "Why haven't we heard anything yet." said Nick.
"Just give it time." said Kevin.
Suddenly the phone went off everyone jumped a bit and looked at Joe as he answered the phone.
"Hello?" he said. The group watched quietly as the conversation continued with very little being said on their end. "Okay man. Take care of yourself. Bye." Joe said and then lowered the phone from his ear and turned it off.
"Well?!" said Ryan, anxious to hear what had been said.
"Well, it's broken. Flawless will be out of the tour for at least ten weeks." Joe sighed.
"What are we gonna do now?" Said John
"Well we don't have much of a choice we need to find another drummer." Said Kevin, "But I don't even know where to start looking. We don't have much time before the show tonight, looks like we'll have to cancel unless someone has a drummer up their sleeves."
"We can't cancel! The fans are already starting to line up outside." exclaimed Nick.
"This is my fault; it was my idea to go go-carting before the show." sighed Joe.
"It's nobody's fault Joe." Said Kevin, "Nobody knew that Jack would be such a bad go-cart driver, so does anyone have any ideas?"
"I might." Said Garbo thoughtfully, everyone turned their attention to his as he looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Yeah?" said Nick.
"I have a cousin that lives about an hour north of here that can play." He said.
"They any good?" asked John.
"Yeah Alex is the one of the best, could even give Flawless a run for his money I bet." said Garbo.
"Well lets not waste any time let's go check this Alex out!" said Kevin.
The group all loaded the bus and made their way onto the road. They hadn't been on the road for more that forty-five minutes when the bus pulled off the highway and into a small town. They pulled up in front of a small music store on what appeared to be the main street of the town. As they got out of the bus they looked around finally someone spoke up. "Where are we?" asked Joe.
"This, my friends, is my uncles Music store. I guarantee that Alex is inside." said Garbo. The group headed though the door and into the small store. As they entered they looked around and took in the sights. Everywhere they looked was instruments, guitars, drum kits, violins, trumpets and more, basically if it could be played it was there. At the store counter there was a guy in his mid twenty's who looked up from his magazine at the sound of the group entering. Garbo approached him and asked. "Alex here?"
"In back getting something. Be right up." He mumbled as he went back to the magazine.
Suddenly a door near the counter opened and a person carrying a large box entered, all that could be seen was their jeans and converse. "Alex is that you?" asked Garbo.
"Greg?" A voice responded. The box was quickly placed on the floor and a grinning girl could be seen. The guys took in what they saw, behind that box had been a girl, probably closer to twenty years old wearing jeans, converse, a black t-shirt and a black and pink zippered hoodie. She was around five and a half feet tall with dark hair tied up in a pony tail. She ran over to Garbo and jumped on him wrapping her legs around him and hugging him tightly. "I didn't expect to be seeing you anytime soon! How are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be on tour! I missed you sooo much!" She exclaimed.
"Hey Alex!" Garbo said as he hugged her back, "I'd like to introduce you to some friends of mine. These are the guys I've told you about. This is Kevin, Joe, Nick, John and Ryan."
"Hey." said Alex as she looked at the guys. They all looked at her skeptically. "So Greg what's going on? Don't you have a show tonight or something?" she asked.
"Well that's what I'm here to talk to you about. See, our drummer busted up his arm go-carting earlier today and we're kinda in a jam." said Greg.
"What can I do for ya?" Alex asked.
"Well I kind of suggested that maybe you could fill in." Garbo mumbled.
"What?!" said Alex. "Well you must be dreaming." She said as she turned back to the box she had been carrying. She quickly picked it up and carried it across the store.
Garbo chased after her and placed a hand on her arm. "Come on, for me." He pleaded.
"No I can't." she replied as she shook her arm away from his and continued to walk away.
Suddenly Joe spoke. "Hey man, if she can't do it, she can't do it. Besides she's a girl." The rest of the group looked at him with surprise, especially Garbo.
"Oh so pretty boy here doesn't think I can play." said Alex. Joe looked at her, slightly insulted. She put the box down again and walked over to the nearest set of drums and sat down. She pulled some drumsticks out of her back pocket and began to play. As the guys listened their jaws couldn't help but drop except for Garbo's which broke into a big grin.
Finally Alex stopped playing. Nick was the first to break the silence, "Wow, you were right, she is good." He said.
"But does she know any of our songs?" asked Joe.
"I doubt it, teeny bopper pop crap isn't it? Do you have any recordings with you?" Alex asked. Garbo handed her a copy of the brother's latest album, and said "Number 4" Alex took and walked to the back of the store. Once she had gone through the door the boys started talking.
"Where is she going?" asked Kevin looking at Garbo in confusion.
"I gave her a copy of the album, she's gonna listen to 'That's just the way we roll' and then be right back." stated Garbo.
"There's no way she can learn the song just by listening to it once." scoffed Joe.
The group continued debating over Alex's talent when she walked back through the door. They all turned silent as she approached the drums. Before she took a seat she looked at Greg and said. "Go grab some instruments; I'm sick of playing alone." He did as she said and motioned for the rest of the band to do the same. Once they had all found something they were comfortable with, Joe just stood off to the side watching what was going on, they looked stood looking at her waiting to see what she would do next.
"Nick, want to count us in?" asked Garbo.
"One, Two, Three, Four!" shouted Nick.
The band began to play and Joe watched Alex carefully as the band played the guitar intro. "There's just no way she can do this." he thought to himself as he watched her listen for her cue to play with a look of concentration on her face. Then she began to play. There were other words to describe her playing but amazing. 'She's almost as good as flawless!' Joe thought to himself. When the song ended everyone looked at Alex with a new found respect.
"That was amazing!" exclaimed Kevin.
"That rocked!" said Nick. The rest of the band murmured in agreement.
"So will you help us out cuz?" asked Garbo doing his best puppy dog face.
"I don't know man. I have lessons later that I'll have to cancel and besides pretty boy over there doesn't seem so sure." she said gesturing towards a yet again offending looking Joe.
"It could work;" He said "besides the show is tonight we don't have many options left we don't find someone now we'll have to cancel."
"Come on Alex." Garbo pleaded.
"Fine, you know I could never resist that puppy dog face of yours." Alex said with a reluctant grin. The rest of the band cheered. "Let me just make a few phone calls and then we can head out."
The guys headed out to the bus to wait for Alex while she made her calls. "What is your problem Joe?" Nick asked. "She was great what's all this it could work crap."
"I don't know there's just something about her. Don't ask me to explain it. I konw she's your cousin Garbo but she's not what I was expecting. Why didn't you tell us Alex was a chick?" Joe said
"Well I didn't realize that Alex being a girl would affect the way you thought of her. Besides since when do you have a problem with girls?" Garbo asked.
"I don't have a problem with it in general, it's….. I don't know, whatever what's done is done and we do need someone I'm going on the bus." said Joe and with that he got onto the bus while the rest of the group watched him with confused looks on their faces.
Alex emerged from the store and made her way towards the group. "Ok let's get going." she said and with that the group loaded onto the bus. As the bus made its way back to the highway, Alex and Garbo chatted excitedly at the front of bus while the rest of the band chatted quietly near the back.
"Where's Joe?" asked Nick.
"I think he's sulking in the back room." said Kevin. "I wonder what his problem is?" he asked.
"I think he didn't like being called pretty boy." said John with a chuckle.
"Or maybe he just used to girls falling all over him." said Ryan. "Alex is the first chick I've seen around him lately that wasn't asking for an autograph or picture."
"He'll get over it." said Garbo, as he joined the rest of the band. "Alex has always had an ability to make people dislike her. The way she puts it she is who she is take it or leave it."
"What is she doing now?" asked Nick.
"Oh she's up front. I gave her a copy of the set list and recordings of all the tracks." She'll be good to go by tonight.
The band passed the rest of the trip chatting near the back of the bus while Alex sat upfront alone preparing for the show. Finally they arrived at the venue and everyone got off the bus, excluding Alex who was still working away at learning the songs, and made their way backstage. They had just finished their sound check when Alex joined them. "Hey guys." she said then she noticed the stage and her jaw dropped. "Wow this is awesome! I'd never thought I'd be up on this stage! I mean I've been in the crowd here but I never thought I'd be on stage here." She rambled excitedly. When she realized how silly she sounded she quickly regained her composure. "So, what's next guys?" she asked.
"Well I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starved!" said Joe. There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the group as they made their way to the brothers' dressing room.
The group had ordered pizza earlier and were happy to see that had been delivered while they were sound checking. Everyone grabbed a slice and found some where to sit down.
Nick found his way over to Alex who had seated herself on a couch in the corner of the room away from the rest of the group. "Hey Alex." He said.
"Hey, it's Nick right." she asked him as she smiled at him.
"Yeah, so I just had to ask you, can you seriously just listen to a song once and just know how to play it? I've never seen anyone do that before, well I've seen it done but only after they listen to it a bunch of times." He asked.
"Yeah, I can play almost anything by ear." She answered between bites. "I heard from Greg that you play too. When we're done here you should show me what you got curly." She said as she tousled his hair and got up to get another slice. She made her way over to the table. When she got to the table
she grabbed herself another slice and a bottle of water. She looked across the table to see Joe gleefully stuffing his face. "Be careful Pretty boy, you might swallow your hand eating like that." she said to a chorus of laughter from the guys. "Hey curly!" she shouted over the laughter, "Did you want another slice?"
"Yeah, thanks." Nick answered. Alex grabbed another slice from the box and made her way back to the couch, ignoring the sour look on Joe's face. "Thanks Alex." Nick said as she handed him his slice as she took her seat next to him. "So is Alex short for Alexandria?" he asked as he took a bite of his pizza.
"No, Alexis, but everyone calls me Alex." Alex answered.
"I like it, Alexis, much cooler than Alexandria." He said as he took another bite. When they had finished their slices they both got up and headed out of the room.
"Where are they going?" asked Joe gesturing to Nick and Alex who were now through the door.
"I think they are just going to fool around on the drums for a bit." answered Garbo.
"Oh" said Joe.
"I think I'm gonna have to tag along." said Kevin as he headed out of the room. He walked into the hallway and made his way towards the practice room. As he approached the door he could hear the two talking.
"Try it like this" he could hear Alex saying followed by the sound of drumming. As he entered the room he could see Alex seated at the drums pounding away. When she had finished she got up and motioned for Nick to take a seat. He did and proceeded to do what she had just shown him.
After he had finished he looked up at Alex and said "Wow that was easier."
"I know it's all in the wrist." She replied
"Hey guys" said Kevin. "Hope I'm not interrupting."
"Nah, I'm just teaching Curly here some tricks I know." said Alex as she started to pace the room.
"Alex, you wouldn't by any chance be nervous." asked Nick as he watched her pace back and forth on the floor.
"What would make you think that?" she asked as she continued her pacing.
"Well maybe the fact that if you keep that up you'll wear a hole in the floor." Kevin pointed out.
"Honestly you guys, yeah I am. I mean I play a lot and I mean a lot I probably play more than I do anything else but never on a stage that big before." she confessed. "I don't know how you guys do it."
Suddenly Ryan poked his head in the door. "10 minutes guys." He said and then continued on his way.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Alex said as she turned a slight shade of green and bolted out of the room towards the nearest bathroom.
"Nick I'll go check on her you go make sure that Joe is ready to go ok." said Kevin as the two made their way out of the practice room.
Nick made his way down towards the dressing room. "Hey Joe, you in here?" He asked as he poked his head in the room, he looked around and saw Joe in front of the mirror finishing his hair.
"Yup just finishing up." Joe answered as he turned around. The two brothers made their way out of the room and down the hall, as they rounded a corner to head towards the stage he noticed Kevin standing outside the girls' washroom. "What are you doing out here?" asked Joe but before Kevin could answer a slightly pale looking Alex opened the door.
"You ok?" asked Nick. Joe got a confused look on his face.
"Yeah I'm fine." answered Alex as she smiled weakly at Nick. Her face a still slightly pale and there was a hint of sweat on her forehead.
"Hey guys get the lead out, we only have a few minutes." shouted Garbo from down the hall.
The group made their way down the hall and through the door that Garbo had disappeared through. Alex found herself standing just off the side of the massive stage, the murmuring crowd could be heard around the corner. Alex began to turn green again. "So you ready?" said Grabo as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. When she didn't answer right away he looked at her closely and noticed how pale she looked. "You going to be ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, just a little bit of nerves." She answered with a weak smile on her face. "I'll be fine."
Garbo gave her an encouraging smile and grabbed her hand as the announcer began to announce the band. "Here we go!" he said as the band rushed onto the stage. Alex took her seat behind the drums and the band began to play.