Broken

Bobs point of view

I felt nervous knot work itself into my stomach. I willed it go away but it was no use.

I had just arrived on the set of the video shoot for "I'm not okay, I promise," my first ever video shoot as well as my first one with the band. They had agreed to keep my role to a minimum, but I was very interested to see what they would have in store for themselves to do as their parts.

We were in LA, filming in a high school. The trip out here had been exciting. The record label paid for us to fly out here, and I had gotten to meet the other two members of the band, Ray and Mikey, who both seemed very cool. We had been staying in LA for the past 3 days, and just trying to bond as a band and get some practice in when we could.

I was picking up the songs quickly, and the others seemed impressed. I was hoping to stick with this band, I had a good feeling about it.

***

The day was a blur, and it had been really good fun. Though I had only had a very small part, it had still been great to be behind the scenes and see how everything worked. Frank diving out of a locker 30 times to get the perfect take had particularly amused me.

After the last take he had stormed off for a cigarette. I was just heading out for one myself.

"Stupid piece of shit!" I heard him curse, throwing his lighter to the ground.

I approached him.

"Need a light?" I asked, he turned to face me, his unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

"You, my friend, are a lifesaver," he said, gratefully accepting. I looked him right in the eyes as I lit his cigarette, and I felt the same coldness coming off him as ever.

He sat on the bench. I lit up my own cigarette and sat at the other end of the bench, inhaling deeply.

I glanced at him. He looked miserable. His hazel eyes were fixed on the floor, staring blankly but not really seeing, his cigarette dangling from his lips, occasionally being removed from his mouth to have the ash tapped off the end.

"So whats your story Bob?" he asked out of the blue.

"Well," I said, taking another drag of my cigarette, "I'm from Chicago, I've lived there all my life, trying to make it in bands but it's never really happened."

"I've never really been to Chicago, played one show there, but didn't stay long," he said, still not looking at me.

I wondered why he wouldn't look at me.

We made smalltalk whilst we finished our cigarettes and then returned to the school building to shoot the final scene.

Gerard was getting fidgety and anxious, almost like he was waiting for something.

The final scene with the four guys walking down the corridor with their croquet mallets was shot quickly, and we were soon free to go, our first real music video shoot behind us.

I said goodbye to Ray and Mikey, and went to leave to head back to the hotel to get some sleep.

I noticed Frank sat on the bench where we had our cigarette earlier and walked over.

"Oh, hey Bob," he said, looking up from his cellphone. He hastily crammed his phone back into his pocket and forced a smile.

"Hey whats up, you guys heading back to get some sleep now?" I asked.

"Uh.. I think Gee wanted to hit up the bars... if you want to come with us? Just have a drink or two to celebrate?"

I thought for a moment. I need to make a good impression if they're going to keep me in the band.

"Yeah sure, let me go change first."

"Sweet, I'll give you a text later," he said.

"Alright, cool, see you later."

I walked to my car and got in, driving back to the hotel quickly.

I took a quick shower and dried my hair, ruffling it up so it didn't look too bad. I pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a black dress shirt. That's smart casual right?

My phone beeped as if right on cue.

"Corner of 42nd and Main, bring money x"

I sighed and shook my head... partially because Gee had put a 'kiss' on the end of his text and because obviously this wasn't going to be the 'one or two drinks' they had promised.