Straight from the Heart (4 page)

“Welcome to the band, chica.” Raptor patted
me on the back hard and smiled, showing off a gold tooth in the
front of his mouth. His hair was gelled into a blue Mohawk in
spikes on his head, and an enormous amount of eye liner coated his
eyes. “It’s good to see you.”

“Thanks. You guys like practicing in the
middle of nowhere?”

I heard a lough laugh coming from the back
door and Cale came walking in with a backpack slung over his
shoulder. His hair was wet and he wore a white muscle shirt and
black jeans that fit snug on his waist. He nodded at me as he set
his backpack down and hand slapped the guys.

“To answer your question, it’s the only
place nearby where no one can hear us from the outside unless
they’re standing right in front of the building.” Cale said
clapping his hands for our attention. “And now we should get to
practice. This is B’s first practice with us, we go on tour in just
a few short days, and we want her to feel comfortable with us,
right?”

“I’m comfortable with her; she’s like the
little sister I’ve never had!” Luke winked at me and I smiled. He
was cute in his own way if you liked the short skinny type. He was
about an inch shorter than me, with dark red hair, green eyes and
thick black glasses. Outside of here he would’ve been one of the
guys I would hang out with at school.

“Good to know.” Cale rolled his eyes,
starting to set up the mic stands. “Just to get you up to speed, B,
we play a lot of covers, but since we’re trying to get signed to a
bigger record label with doing this tour, we’ve been writing a lot
more originals. The guys and I will play through a couple that will
be on the set list and I’ll help you out if you need it.” His amber
eyes never left mine as he explained. I loved his nickname for me.
Even if it was one letter. It was the way the syllable rolled off
of his tongue, and…dang I couldn’t keep thinking about him like
this!

So I sat on the cool cement floor and
watched the guys play through a couple of originals Cale wanted to
perform on tour. I immediately fell in love with each one of the
songs. Most of them had a heavy melody and drum rhythm, while one
was a slower ballad about losing someone you loved. I didn’t tell
him, but that was my favorite song so far. It somewhat reminded me
of losing my parents in a way. I knew some day things may be okay
between us, but I still felt like I lost them.

“You ready to try them Bryn?” Cale asked,
and I nodded, as he helped me up and handed me an electric guitar,
which I assumed was his.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied
playfully, throwing the strap over my shoulder and grabbing a pick
from Cale. I strummed a couple of chords to warm up and tune the
strings. I was ready to play.

We practiced the ballad a couple of times
through, which were self-explanatory. I think I surprised Cale that
I caught on so quickly. After playing one of the covers we were
planning on doing, “Afterlife,” by Avenged Sevenfold, Raptor’s
phone started to ring.  

“I’m sorry dudes, I have to take it.” He
said to us, mainly Cale, as he snatched it up and ran outside. Cale
told us to take a quick break and he sat down, drinking some
water.

“Since I’m a part of the group, can I just
make a suggestion?” I asked him, sitting down mere inches from
him.

“Of course, B, what is it?” He asked me, and
handed me the bottle of water.

“I think for ‘Time,’ since it’s a love
ballad and everything, maybe I should sing along with you, to make
it feel more real you know?”

He looked at me as if I made the best
suggestion ever. “That’s actually pretty fucking brilliant. I
haven’t told you since the audition, but you had an amazing singing
voice. Let’s run through it when the rest of the guys leave and
tweak it.” Wow, he thought I sang well? I always thought I sang at
okay, I mean for the few people that heard me sing when I played
the guitar. But hearing it from him gave those opinions
credibility. “We could be like that one group…isn’t it Skillet?
Lead singer and the drummer?”

“But instead lead singer and lead
guitarist,” I corrected him, and he winked at me.

“Why don’t you just sing back up on all of
our stuff Bryn? People dig the two, three part harmonies when it
comes to hard rock,” Cale suggested, and my eyes lit up like the
Fourth of July. We looked over and Raptor was coming back in,
looking completely pissed off. “Don’t mind him. He’s just in a
really messed up relationship with this girl who’s a slutty
groupie.” My eyes opened wide, and I wasn’t going to ask any more
about it..

“Sorry, that girl is messed up in the head.
Trying to convince me she wants to follow our tour the whole way
through and stay with us.” Raptor ran a hand over his Mohawk and
the guys started cracking up.

“You say that now, man, but come first show
and she’s up in the front row showing off her tits you’ll be all
over that shit!” Vince teased him and Raptor gave him the finger.
“If you don’t do her, I will.”

“Shut up Vince, let’s get back to practice.”
Raptor pushed Vince and Vince went back to tuning up his guitar for
the next song. 

Cale readjusted my mic-stand for me as he
told everyone what song we needed to work on. We transitioned into
“Away from You,” which was one of the heavier songs I heard them
practice. Cale told me about the small solo I had in the middle of
the song, and I was a little nervous, especially handling an
electric guitar when I was used to playing my acoustic. But my
fingers hit the notes like expected, and when he landed his high
note leading into the guitar solo I was more than ready to prove I
belonged in this band. I loosened up, my body swaying from side to
side, running over in my mind what chords and notes to hit. I
didn’t know if I did it right, but I made it my own. When I went
back into the simple chorus chords again, I was at ease.

We went through some of the other songs we
were going to do perform during our set, but had to narrow it down
since most nights we’d only have an hour, maybe hour fifteen
minutes at the most, according to Cale.

A couple of hours later, everyone was
dripping sweat and Cale called it a night. Victor, Luke and Raptor
packed up their equipment and said goodbye to Cale and I.
 There we were, alone. My shirt was clinging to my body from
the heat, and I had the strange urge to go jump into the river to
cool off. Or maybe it was the fact I was in this big empty
warehouse with a gorgeous guy I’d only known for a little over a
week, and had a feeling that he was going to kiss me, or vice
versa.

“So do you always end up this sweaty after a
show?” I asked him curiously.

“Most of the time. That’s why sometimes we
park the bus and stay at a hotel. Nicer showers than the small one
on the bus. Plus you have 5 people fighting over one bathroom, gets
kind of fucked up and bloody…I’m kidding about the bloody part,” he
joked, and stayed silent for a minute. “But let’s work on the
harmonies, shall we?”

He borrowed my acoustic and sat it on his
lap as he played the opener to ‘Time.’ “Just sing a single octave
higher than me that should sound okay.” He instructed and I nodded
as he started singing soft and light. I took a deep breath and
opened my mouth. ”All we need is time, and I can show you how
amazing we’d be together. Just tell me you will give us another
try, and it’ll be different this time.” My voice fit perfectly with
his, in tune and in perfect harmony. He had an incredible singing
voice; it was no wonder Everlasting was so popular.

It sounds completely silly, but when we sang
together, it was like electricity. We fit like a glove. Peanut
butter and jelly, so to speak.

“That was…wow,” he said, out of breath. I
smoothed my shorts down so they would show less leg, and Cale
must’ve caught me doing that, because then he was staring at me,
all the way from my toes to my dark green eyes.

“You’ve never sang with another girl
before?” I questioned him, and he helped me up, so we were standing
just centimeters from each other now. He smelled good. Way too good
for me to even be thinking things like that.

His fingers brushed my leg slightly as he
set the guitar against his amp he had to pack up. “Nope. Well I
guess if you count my mom when we sang Christmas music every year.”
His hand reached for a piece of my loose hair and tucked it behind
my ear. “I can’t even begin to describe you. That voice, I mean I
think I’m losing my mind. Your smoking hot, young, talented, the
whole package. I shouldn’t say it, but I’ve never been one to hold
back.”

This was it. I knew he was going to make a
move. Did I want him to? Was it going to make things awkward for us
on tour? I was about to find out. I studied his every move as he
lowered his face and met mine, lips not together, but close enough
to where he could kiss me. Then he did. It was soft and slow at
first, but in a matter of seconds, it was like we were hungry for
each other. His hands were at the curve of my butt and my arms
linked around his neck, longing for more. This was perfect. But so
wrong. Cale’s tongue slipped into my mouth and I took it, lightly
sucking. A light bulb went off in my head though, and my gut was
telling me I shouldn’t be doing that.

I pulled away. The “what the hell” look on
his face said enough, as I thought of a way to explain my
abruptness.

“That was a mistake.” I lied. “We shouldn’t
have done that.”

Cale cocked his head to the side and his
eyes bore through me, almost knowing I was lying. “What? Band mates
can’t kiss each other?” He asked, as if what just happened wasn’t a
big deal.

I took a couple of steps backward and put my
hands on my hips. “You know what I mean Cale. This…” I gestured
between him and I, “Can’t happen. If it does, the whole tour will
be awkward.”

He smirked and shook his head in disbelief.
“You’re right. Let’s shake on it.” Cale suggested. “No more kissing
between the hot young lead guitarist and the dapper lead singer.”
Now he was just being sarcastic. And he was sure good at it.

“Oh, shut up.” I slapped him hard on the
shoulder. “Are you always this sure of yourself?”

“All the time. You don’t know me enough yet,
hun. I get what I want, when I want it.” The way he took slow
pauses in between each word, he was insinuating that he was like a
sex god. I giggled in my head. But if that was how he was going to
be, then two could play that game. I quickly changed the subject,
because I was tired and wanted to take a cold shower at home.

“I could so take that to another level. But
instead I’ll just ask you for a ride back to my loft?” I gave him
the puppy dog eyes and pouted my lip and he gently touched my
arm.

“Yeah no problem. Let’s get the rest of our
stuff packed up.” He replied, and we stuffed all the leftover
equipment into his SUV.

The drive back to the loft was us battling
over which song to play on his iPod, which was hooked up to his car
stereo. “How could you not like old school Metallica?” I demanded,
as Cale skipped over the first song to “Ride the Lightning”.
“That’s classic shit Pelton!”

He turned it to Pierce the Veil’s “King for
a Day”, and began to tap his fingers against the steering wheel to
the beat of the drums pounding. “This okay?”

“I love it, actually,” and sang along to the
words when Kellin Quinn’s voice soared out of the speakers. “Didn’t
pin me down for that type?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to
figure out.” He said truthfully, pulling up outside of the loft. He
turned off the ignition and leaned back into his seat. “I’ll admit
it Bryn. I really like you. The guys love you; they can’t stop
talking about you. As much as I would love to kiss you, and then
some, I won’t. It was like you said…we’re bandmates, soon to be
best friends, and I want to keep it that way.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself Cale, it
was a kiss. You don’t need to read into it,” I told him as he
opened my door for me.

“I’ll see you Thursday bright and early,” He
spoke softly as he gave me a friendly hug. “Need any help with your
stuff?”

I shook my head no. “It’s alright. Thanks,
Cale.” I smiled and walked away, ready to come home to the smell of
fresh lilies still blooming on the table.

“
I want to buy one of those someday.” I
whispered into Ethan’s ear as we danced along to the band in front
of us. We were at the high school talent show, and I couldn’t peel
my eyes off of the lead singer with the beautiful guitar. That was
the only word that could describe it. I had always loved music, and
wanted to have a career in music, whether I was in a band, or
teaching music, and being here tonight only fueled my
desire.

“
Your parents would really let you?” He
kissed me just below my ear. “Babe that’s kind of crazy…”

I loosened myself from his arms and started
to leave the auditorium. “What? Am I supposed to follow in their
footsteps and live in a big lonely house the rest of my life?
That’s not me, Ethan, and you know that…”

He wrapped his arms around me again as his
fingers played with the hem of my top. “I’m sorry, Bryn. If that’s
what your dream is, then you go after it, and I’ll always be right
there no matter what.” I loved this man. It was hard to believe my
parents were the ones that had set us up, because Ethan’s parents
are one of the richest families in town. He was the complete
opposite of rich and stuck up like everyone believed. He had his
own dreams like me, and had taught me to be myself and let
loose.

“
So when I’m in a band, playing lead
guitar, you’ll come see me?” I blinked my eyelashes at him and
puckered up my lips. His lips met mine for a long kiss, not really
caring if our classmates saw us, or if we got in trouble.