p"I talked to an old friend of mine today," Donny told him one day when he got home from school./p
p"Yeah?" Pickles asked, dropping his backpack and grabbing for his guitar, even before pouring himself a drink./p
p"Yeah, it was a kid I went to middle school with."/p
p"Back when you lived in Ohio?" Pickles sat down on the couch and started to play without plugging in./p
p"Mhm. He's out in LA now, too. He's a drummer. Said he'd look around to see if he can help find us a place out there."/p
pPickles paused for a moment. That was fuckin' awesome! He hadn't really thought about a lot of that kind of stuff, like moving or finding a new place or anything... It seemed like a pain in the ass, but he figured it would be an adventure. /p
p"That's cool. You should tell him to be our drummer." They'd be just about set, then. Pickles had decided that he wanted to sing as well as play guitar. Well, more like Donny had encouraged him to. And he had Donny for rhythm guitar. If this friend of his drummed for them, they'd just need a bassist./p
pAnd a ikick ass/i band name./p
p"Well, I guess he's in a band right now, but who knows?" Donny glanced over at the clock. "Shit, I gotta get going. Gotta meet a dude."/p
pHe kissed Pickles on the cheek, and got up./p
p"Later, man," Pickles told him. "Oh yeah, wouldja bring me back some rum?" /p
p"Sure thing, kiddo. See ya."/p
pPickles flipped open his song notebook. Now that their plans were starting to come together, Pickles was feeling really fucking inspired. He had no experience, sure, but he figured that if he had enough songs ready by time they left for LA, they'd impress enough people that it would be easy to get members for their band./p
p /p
pPickles was still sober hours later. He'd been waiting on that rum, but Donny hadn't come back yet. Which seemed strange. Pickles thought maybe he went to chill at a house party or something, but it was kind of early for a party to be starting, and he hadn't mentioned it./p
pHe didn't think too much of it, though. He took a couple shots of tequila, and then took a hot shower. It was April, so the weather was starting to get warmer, finally, but it was still cool enough that a scalding shower felt nice./p
pIt was a couple hours after that when the phone call came./p
p"Pickles, it's me."/p
p"Donny? What's goin' on?"/p
p"I was arrested, Pickles." The words crashed into him like a freight train. "Was caught carrying E. A lot of it."/p
p"Wh-what?! But..."/p
p"Listen. It doesn't look good right now. There's money in a box under the bed. It's yours. Use it for rent and shit, whatever. They're trying to get a warrant to search our place. If they find anything there, you're gonna be in trouble, too."/p
p"Can't I, like, bail you out or something?!"/p
p"Even if you could, I'll still have a trial. The shit was in my pocket... there's no way I'm not gonna be found guilty, Pickles. I'm gonna have to do time."/p
p"Fuck this!" Pickles said, his urge to fight kicking up inside him. "This is bullshit! You're not fucking going to jail, we are going to fuckin' LA! We're fuckin' gonna... make a band..."/p
p"Yeah, you are," Donny agreed quietly. Pickles was maybe imagining it, but his voice sounded shaky or something. "You... gotta go without me, kid. That money's yours, I'm serious. Sell whatever stuff of mine you need to sell."/p
p"No way!" Pickles said, "You'll need it when you get out."/p
pDonny sighed. "I gotta go for now, Pickles. I'll be in touch when I can, okay? Don't... do anything fucking stupid, kiddo. Not while I'm not there to look after you."/p