The Boy Next Door

1

Jayson

I cracked open a bottle of water and drained half of it while Mark talked about the next song on our setlist. Great guy and great singer, but every once in a while, I just wished he’d just start the damned song already. The adrenaline rushing through my veins made me impatient, and my hands twitched restlessly, itching to pick out the beat that would lead us into our next song.

It was hot in there that night, and the AC wasn’t working hard enough to combat it. Someone had opened the doors to let a little fresh air in, and I knew as we finally launched into the next riff that our music must be echoing out into the night. Occasionally, people would pause to peer inside. Usually, they would then drift in, heads already bobbing to the beat.

That only stoked my excitement further. We hadn’t made it, not yet, but our fan base was growing every day, and they were starting to sing along with our more popular songs.

What a rush to know that we could affect people like that.

We finished the set with a bang, and the applause was deafening. I was grinning ear to ear as I put my sticks lovingly into their bag and stood up. Luke, the bassist, nodded at me, an equally large smile on his face. He clearly felt just as exhilarated as I did.

Mark didn’t look at either of us; he only had eyes for the group of ladies who had stayed near the front, dancing through the whole show. A couple of them had come out to our shows before; others were new. Mark barely had to try to charm them. In the next second, he had his arm around one and was winking at another, while a third pressed a drink into his hand. I shook my head.

Luke came over to me, clearly ignoring Mark’s antics as he always did. “Man, we were on fire tonight!” he said.

I laughed and bumped my fist against his. “Yeah, that solo you pulled was awesome!”

Luke looked critically around. The best part was, even though we had finished our set, people were sticking around. That meant that the venue would be pleased with us. We had brought people in, and we had got them buying drinks.

And a happy venue meant more gigs to come.

Not only that, but we had a pretty big crowd there that night. We were nearly at capacity, by the looks of it.

Which meant that soon, we would be able to start booking larger venues, bringing in an even bigger crowd. I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but it was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time before we started getting the right kind of notice.

Before we made it.

It was an incredible feeling. I’d spent the past few years pouring everything I had into this band. Blood, sweat, tears, and then some. I had poured my heart out into the lyrics; I had practiced drum solos until my hands were raw and my callouses had callouses. Any money that I had, I spent on things for the band, knowing that eventually, if I gave it my all, it would pay off.

We had a shot at making it big. I was surer of it than ever before. Our big break was right around the corner.

My face fell as I saw Carter, our guitarist, over at the bar. He was well on his way toward shitfaced, and as I watched, he took another shot alongside a giggling girl while another girl egged them on. Between him and Mark, I didn’t know who was worse.

I shook my head. While Luke and I seemed to be on the same page about pushing the band forward to that next level, it sometimes felt that Mark and Carter were doing whatever they could to hold us back and make sure that we were stuck playing in garages and dive bars for the rest of our lives.

I couldn’t imagine the band without them. At the same time, I didn’t know how things were going to work out going forward. I knew there was a particular lifestyle that came along with being a rock star, but at the end of the day, it was still a job. It was a serious business. You weren’t going to get very far without putting in the work.

That was what Carter and Mark didn’t seem to understand. We could party later, once we were on top. Once we’d released a hit album, once we’d really broken through. What they were doing now would only damage our reputation. If Mark got himself thrown out of another bar or Carter got in another fistfight for sleeping with the wrong girl, I was going to lose it.

Nights like these never ended at the bar, either. It wasn’t just that after a show, they went out and had some fun, enjoying the perks of our rising stardom. They seemed to think that it was okay to be late to practices the next day, or to show up still drunk, reeking of booze and sex.