Disclaimer: You guys know that I don't own a frickin' thing but Christian and other original stuff. Then of course you also know that all the events I made up (i.e. the anti-pop music thing I make, you'll see!) are totally made up (thank Dio!). Good, then let's get rockin'!
Chapter 7: Enter "James"
"C'mon kid, pick up…" Eddy muttered as the line continued to ring.
"Is ol' Jimbo there, Eddy?" Ed whispered loudly to his lifelong chum.
"Mullet, shut up!" the drummer hissed, giving Ed a light kick in the shin.
The phone rang a few more times before the voicemail message picked up.
"Hey, this is James, sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll try to get back to you, bye!"
After a light "beep" sounded, the drummer rolled his eyes and left a message.
"You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me… hey James it's Eddy, been awhile, huh? Uh… in case you haven't heard, me n' the boys are making a new album, and we want our photo-jockey/t-shirt dude back. So uh… we'll try to get ya some tickets out to California. Call me back, little dude!"
"Not there, huh?" Eddward asked.
Eddy shook his head and began talking in a mock-snooty tone. "Nope, not yet anyway. Fret not, gents, I'm sure James had a good reason not to pick up, perchance he just didn't hear his cell ringing!"
"The hell're you talking about, Eddy?" Christian guffawed.
"Looks like our little dude's all grown up," Eddy laughed, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye, "'cause he ain't Jimmy anymore, now he'd rather be known as James!"
"Ha ha ha, really?" Ed chortled.
"Ah man, our little dude's going by James…" Christian smirked, "There's something I never saw coming! It's right up there with Ashlee Simpson and Ryan Cabrera getting remarried and making that god-awful sex tape!...not that I watched it or anything…"
Eddy slugged Christian on the arm before looking over to his timid friend. "Feel free to jump in at any time, Double D, this stuff's primo joke fodder!"
The guitarist shrugged, a smile creeping across his face.
"I just think it's kinda funny that we still call Jimmy 'little dude'," The short-haired guitar player noted, "I mean, he's what, 19 now?"
"Yeah… so?" Eddy retorted.
"So the last time we saw him was at the party you threw the night before we left to record 'Mental Cases, and he was just starting high school then. That means he's in like, college now…"
-----------------------------------------------------
"Jimmy, you came!"
The artist formerly known as Jimmy put on a polite smile as he gave his long lost childhood friend a hug.
"Uh… yeah, of course I did, Sarah, you bought my ticket and ate up most of my cell minutes reminding me to come." Jimmy stated, pulling away from the hug.
"Oh, don't be silly," Ed's little sister giggled, "Well anyway, did you like the show?"
Jimmy nodded, bracing himself for the rushing tide of babbling that he had undoubtedly unleashed by simply moving his head.
As Sarah prattled off something about how long she had to practice her lines, Jimmy ran his hands through his now much longer dirty-blonde hair and pretended to listen.
The metal-headed Monet had just completed his freshman year at Peach Creek Institute of the Arts, where he took a bunch of drawing courses. He managed to pay off his part of the tuition with the relatively small amount of money he was given for taking pictures and designing t-shirts for Edtallica. Since he hadn't had anything to do with Edtallica in the past four years, Jimmy kept himself busy by sketching posters for his high school and college drama clubs along with taking portraits down at a photo studio at the local mall.
Even though he was doing what he enjoyed, Jimmy (or James as he now liked to be called) would still find himself being incredibly bored with the various projects he was assigned. Sure, taking pictures of families and sketching designs and writing styles for drama shows was nice, but that didn't compare with taking photos of the Eds and Christian and designing different drawings of Winslow that the world could see.
"…so I got over my nerves and did pretty good, don't you think, Jimmy?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, you were cool." James muttered, even though he could swear on Bon Scott's grave that the bubbly redhead missed at least three of her lines.
"Uh… so how's Ed doing?" James asked, even though he'd probably face his friend's wrath for putting the verbal spotlight on her brother instead of her.
"Oh! Ed's fine, I was just at his wedding a few weeks ago. 'Bout freaking time if you ask me! I mean, Ed did propose to poor Eileen after he knocked her up four years ago while he was touring with his stupid band!" The sinister sister sniped.
"Ahem!" James shot back, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh come on Jimmy!" Sarah groaned, "Why do you always defend them? The Eds and Chris-or whatever his name is- are just a bunch of head banging drunks that threw together a CD!"
"What, so you'd like 'em better if they grew tits and banged Ryan Cabrera?" Jimmy snapped, clenching a fist slowly.
James's eyebrows furrowed. Normally he had a pretty long fuse, but Sarah had just put a proverbial flamethrower to it. He wouldn't have a problem if she just said she didn't like Edtallica's music, but going out of her way to insult the Eds and Christian based on their past just went too far.
"What? No, Jimmy, I'm just saying that you're too normal to associate yourself with those freaks!" The lousy actress squealed, "I mean, Double D and that Canadian are alcoholics for God's sake. They had to go to rehab! And did you hear what that stupid Eddy did with Double D's e-"
"Stow it, Sarah!" James commanded, "That all happened four fucking years ago, they're over that now!"
Sarah opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off.
"It's been nice chatting with you, but if you'll excuse me, I promised Cindy I'd meet up with her after the show, which ended half an hour ago." James concluded.
He walked out of the auditorium towards his trusty old '05 Cadillac coupe that Edtallica bought him as a personal "thanks" for his efforts.
"Aw man, Cindy's gonna kill me…" James muttered as he caught sight of the clock.
He quickly revved the engine and sped off towards the restaurant where he was supposed to go to half an hour before.
------------------------------------------------------
"Ok guys, I think that's enough work for today," Jason said from behind his glass screen, "Let's pack it in, shall we?"
A brief flutter of various sighs of relief went through the air as the band packed up their guitars for the day.
"Nice job today there, boys!" Christian exclaimed.
"Yeah, I think we're starting to get our groove back!" Eddy exclaimed, twirling his drumsticks excitedly.
"Me too!" Ed agreed, checking his watch, "Well I've got to go meet up with Eileen and the little guy for dinner, see ya tomorrow, guys!"
As Ed went out the door of the studio, he added:
"Oh, tell me if ol' Jimbo ever calls ya back, Eddy!"
"Alright Mullet," Eddy nodded, heading for the exit himself, "Later dudes!"
The drummer whipped out his cell phone and checked his voicemail. After the monotone voice reminded him that he had zero messages, he hung up quickly.
"Geez! What the green hell is James doing?"
--------------------------------
"…so then Sarah starts going out of her way to insult Edtallica!" Jimmy seethed, stabbing his steak murderously (pretending it was in Sarah's back), "She called 'em 'head banging drunks' and 'freaks' and stuff."
"Whoa, seriously?" Cindy sneered, "What a bitch…I still don't get why you hang out with her, James."
"Neither do I," James confessed, "She was cool 'til I started hanging out with the Eds and Christian a lot, grew my hair and started dating you back in high school."
Cindy snickered.
"Aw… she probably likes you, Jimmy!" She cooed jokingly.
"What?"
"I mean, think about it," the metal chick explained, "She was apparently nice to you until you started hanging out with the guys all the time, meaning you weren't with her. Then she started getting bitchy after we started dating, meaning she didn't have a chance with you anymore!"
"Well actually, she was kinda bitchy a couple years before that, but other than that, you've got a point there!" The artist figured, stroking his chin.
The couple continued to taunt Ed's sister for a few more hours until the restaurant staff threatened to kick them out. After kissing his girlfriend goodnight, James returned to his Cadillac to drive back to his apartment in a huge complex called "Motherly Arms Apartments". He unlocked the door to apartment 66 and entered his home.
It wasn't much, just a living room/kitchen, tiny bathroom, and a fair-sized bedroom, but he always found himself scrambling to pay the rent at the end of the month. The plain, white walls were adorned with various paintings he made as well as a signed tour shirt Edtallica had signed and shipped to him (while intoxicated). This was evident in the phrases they scribbled with a silver sharpie all over the garment; the most noticeable was, of course, Christian's:
"To Litel Dood- See ya on tour, eh? How many pounds dos this camera add?
He had the shirt framed along with the cover of Revolver magazine that they ended up on, with the headline which read: Edtallica, Eh? - A new crew from North of the Border brings "real metal" back to the mainstream…"
James slumped down in his uncomfortable couch (courtesy of Christian from his old apartment) and chuckled as he remembered the interview where the guys made fun of nearly every band from Coldplay to Yellow Card relentlessly. He switched on his cell, noticing the "new message" screen pop up instantaneously.
"You have one new message from Wednesday, June 20th, 3:15 PM…"
The youth rolled his eyes. It was probably his parents calling the check on him for the millionth time that month…
"Oh, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me… hey James it's Eddy, been a while, huh? Uh… in case you haven't heard, me n' the boys are making a new album, and we want our photo-jockey/t-shirt dude back. So uh… we'll try to get you some tickets out to California. Call me back, little dude!"
James' eyes grew wide as the message ended.
"It's about fucking time!" Jimmy belted, pushing the callback button aggressively.
He listened to the other line ring, drumming his fingers impatiently.
"C'mon Eddy, pick up…"
"Yeah?"
"'Sup Eddy, it's me!" Jimmy greeted.
"Oh, hey James! So what do ya say, you up for another session?"
"You bet I am! I've been waiting for this for four years, dude!" the artist replied.
"Awesome Jim, we'll try to overnight you a few tickets out here as soon as we can, ok?"
"Alright, I'll see you guys then, see ya!"
"Later!"
After finishing the call, Jimmy quickly called his girlfriend.
"Cindy, get ready to pack your bags, I'm going to San Francisco and I'm taking you with me."
Ah, that felt good. Once again, I apologize for my lateness. I've had lots of rehearsals for the fall show for my school drama club (Yeah, I got a part, woo-hoo!) and I threw my back out washing cars at a drama club carwash to raise up money. Well, at least they can't say I'm not suffering for my art… Well anyway, sorry if it was boring, but wait'll you see what I've got planned for the next installment...laughs maniacally