Rum and Coke

“Urgh! How can five grown men be twenty minutes late?! This is ridiculous. If they keep this up, then we’ll never finish the demo in time,” Ellie grumbled from her spot on the couch. Her legs were slung over an arm and her head was resting comfortably in Bailey’s lap. Bailey’s long fingers were running lightly through the singer’s hair. Mark and Ryan disappeared some time ago in search of food.

“Calm down, Ellie, it just gives us longer to figure out what songs we’re going to put on it.”

“We’re allowed six, right?”

“Yea, just until we get back from tour and then we can record all of them.”

“Then I say we each choose one and then we’ll decide on the last two together.”

“That sounds good. I really want to do Oh, Little Sister…you know, because of Sean?” Sean was her older brother. The war in the Middle East killed him two years ago. It was only fitting that she would want it on there.

Ellie nodded her head and settled back into the comfortable position she was in before. Mark and Ryan came in a few minutes later, their arms laden with plastic bags. Upon seeing the girls, the two boys immediately dropped the bags and piled on top of them. Ellie’s breath was knocked out of her as soon as Ryan sat on her abdomen. In the entanglement that was the knot of bodies, Mark elbowed Ellie in the face.

“DOG PILE!” a muffled voice shouted out. There was a thundering sound, and all of a sudden, more limbs were added to the knot. Several other people joined in, crushing Ellie further. When it seemed like she could take no more, she moved her arm the little that she could and repeatedly hit the nearest person.

“Ow, who the fuck keeps punching my ass?!” Jimmy screamed.

“Whoa, who all is on here?” Zacky questioned.

Mustering all of her strength, Ellie pushed her pelvis up and twisted it to the side, making everyone topple off and fall onto the floor. She lay still for the longest minute of her life, trying to catch her breath and slow down her erratic heartbeat.

“Oh hi, Ellie, didn’t know you were down there. Sorry,” Jimmy apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Ellie flipped him off and rolled to my feet. “Okay, real quick: Ryan, Mark pick a song. Not Sister or Rioters.”

“Pigs,” Ryan said off-handidly, shoving his drum sticks in his back pocket and moving his kit into the sound booth with the help of Jimmy.

“Guilty,”Mark said, taking out his bass and doing his usual checks. “I also think that we should do Rainbow and Censor. Does everyone agree?”

“Yea.”

“Sounds good. Ryan!”

“What?!”

“What do you think about doing Rainbow and Censor for the other songs?”

“That’s fine. I don’t care,” he said, waving his hand around before picking up his cymbals and moving them.

“Ok then, now that that’s settled, who’s going first?” Brian asked.

Ellie narrowed her eyes. “We discussed this yesterday. We’re doing single takes of all the songs. You know? One Shot, One chance? The name of our album?”

Brian shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

“We need to warm up again because you guys took so long!” Ellie shouted after the retreating man’s back. He had only been there for less than five minutes and already, Ellie wanted to kill him.

“Ellie, you’ve kept your vocal chords warm. Just sing a song and we’ll go ahead in there,” Bailey said with a warm smile.

“What song are we recording first?” Mark asked as he tuned his bass.

“Rainbow Alert?” Bailey suggested. “It’s the easiest.”

“Sounds fine.” Ellie closed her eyes and focused on a song that was close to the one that she was going to be recording.

“It's the last midnight.
It's the last wish.
It's the last midnight,
Soon it will be boom--
Squish!
Told a little lie, stole a little gold, broke a little vow,
Did you?
Had to get your Prince, had to get your cow,
Have to get your wish, doesn't matter how..
Anyway, it doesn't matter now.
It's the last midnight,
It's the boom--
Splat!
Nothing but a vast midnight,
Everybody smashed flat!
Nothing we can do...
Not exactly true:
We can always give her the boy...
No?
No, of course, what really matters is the blame.
Somebody to blame.
Fine, if that's the thing you enjoy, placing the blame,
If that's the aim, give me the blame.
Just give me the boy.
No?
You're so nice.
You're not good, you're not bad,
You're just nice.
I'm not good, I'm not nice,
I'm just right.
I'm the witch.
You're the world.
I'm the hitch, I'm what no one believes.
I'm the witch.
You're all liars and thieves,
Like his father!
Like his son will be too!
Oh, why bother?
You'll just do what you do!
It's the last midnight,
So goodbye, all.”

“Ok, I’m ready now,” Ellie beamed, refreshed. “Let’s do this shit!” she exclaimed before running into the sound booth.

“She’s slightly bi-polar,” Mark addressed the confused adults.

“Slightly?” Jimmy asked.

“What he means to say is that it’s a moderate case.”

“Oh, ok, then. Let’s get this song recorded.”