The Long Road

'Hey, is Billie home at all?' Mike asked, giving me a kind but a tiny bit suspicious glance up and down.

'Yeah, he's in the kitchen.' I said, trying not to let my voice shake. I let them show themselves in while I ran into the kitchen.

'Hey, Mike and Tre are here.' I said wringing my hands nervously.

'Cool!' Billie patted me on the arm and gave me a comforting smile. 'They don't bite either.' he added as he passed me.

I smiled as he left me in the kitchen. I felt more glad than ever that Billie acted like a brother to everyone and made them feel comfortable about themselves, especially for me. I was about to go get the band until they came up themselves. They all said hello to me, and were easily distracted by Billie, along with Mike and Tre as they came into the room.

'By the way, this is the band I told you about, the good one.' Billie said to Mike and Tre as they walked over to us.

'Hey, I was wondering who you were !' Mike said, kindly shaking my hand. I couldn't help but laugh while everyone else was introduced.

'So, how good can you guys play?' Tre asked me, giving me a questioning gaze.

'We can play brilliantly, thank you very much!' Justin said in a goofy voice. Harry hit him in head and shook his head.

'Well, hopefully you can prove it!' Mike challenged, picking up his bass.

We all grinned and followed Billie into his own personal recording room at the back of the house. All over the room were probably over a hundred Fender and Gibson guitars, from Stratocasters to Squier basses. Plus, there was a bright red wall piano and a set of black drums. Seeing all those guitars set out was like being in heaven.

'You guys can play a song for us, see what Billie's been blathering to us about.' Tre said, pulling up a chair and looking at with his goofy grin. 'You better be good!'

'Oh don't worry, we will!' I said confidently. Tre pretended to look scared and we both laughed at each other. I suddenly realised something.

'Shouldn't I go get my guitar?' I asked as Billie and Mike sat next to Tre and looked up at us expectantly.

'Nope. Don't bother, just get one of mine !' Billie said, motioning over to the walls of guitars. I felt a tingle of excitement as I scanned the walls for a guitar. Harry instantly snatched a black and white bass off the wall, while Hamish grabbed a dark blue Fender Telecaster and Katie sat down at the red piano. I kept scanning the wall, but nothing was leaping out at me.

'Hurry up Leslie! How come you're taking so long?' Justin moaned as he jumped behind the drums.

'Yeah, yeah, hang on a second!' I said, hoping I could find a guitar before I looked like a complete idiot. Suddenly, I noticed a light blue Fender Stratocaster that was covered in scratches and old pictures. I realised then it was Blue, Billie's most famous guitar. I leaped at it and picked it up carefully, feeling as though it would break under my fingers if I gripped it too hard. It felt amazing to be holding the guitar I had been dreaming of having ever since I was ten years old.

'Good choice!' Billie said enthusiastically. 'I had a feeling you would pick that. Plug it in and get going!'

Once we had plugged everything in, we started playing the first song off our album. We were all pretty nervous, especially me since I was playing in front of my three heroes and playing one of their guitars. But we started being our wild crazy selves, jumping around like complete idiots. I forgot where I was and played my heart out, my fingers flying around the fret-board at a speed I didn't think possible.

When we finished, I felt like collapsing onto the floor. But I managed to stay standing as the three guys clapped. Tre whistled loudly as we did a bow.

'See? What did I tell you? These guys are brilliant!' Billie said, looking at us like a proud father.

'Okay we believe you now! They are fantastic.' Mike said in a laughing voice.

I handed the guitar over to Billie and sat down in the seat. 'Alright, we have to see you guys play now!' I said.

The guys picked up their instruments, and without warning, they launched into Fashion Victim from off their Warning album. I had always believed they sounded great on their albums, but they were a million times better than that when they were playing right in front of you. Everything sounded so real, the beat coming from the drums pounding in your head, the bass swirling around in awesome riffs and the lead guitar just pounding away and emitting an awesome tune. That was the near magic of good live bands.

When they finished, we all gave them a good applause, with Tre pretending to cry and blowing kisses. Harry was immediately talking to Mike, asking him about his percussion bass and riffs and stuff like that, Billie and Katie were both sitting at the piano, with Hamish and Justin watching over them. I sat next to Tre at the drums, wanting to make conversation.

'You guys are great, really epic!' I gushed as Tre looked over at me.

'Well thank you kindly mam.' Tre replied, suddenly beating out a slow rhythmic beat on the drums.

'I used to want to play drums really badly! I got lesssons and all, but I never got the hang of it. You make it look really easy ' I sighed as I tapped my finger on one of the symbols.

'Well, some people are cut out for it and some aren't' Tre said kindly to me. 'For me it's like a nervous tick y'know? Like breathing. I'd probably be a drunk on the streets back in Oakland if I hadn't taken it up.'

'How did you start out, y'know as a drummer?' I questioned.

'It's pretty simple really. I started out playing with the Lookouts when I was twelve, and then Billie and Mike found me at Gilman Street. I dropped out of school, I mean, it's not worth being imprisoned for twelve years of your life when you know what you're gonna do in life. And, well here I am!'

Tre gave me a grin which lit up his whole face. He jerked his head towards the drum-kit in front of him. 'You wanna have a go?' he questioned.

I shook my head. 'No way Tre! I told you, I'm crap at playing drums!'

'Oh come on! You're probably great and don't know it yet. Here I'll show you something to get going.' He stood up and sat me in front of the drum-kit. I grabbed the drumsticks while Tre looked over my shoulder.

'Just get a slow 1 2 beat on the bass drum and trying doing the same on the snare drum.' he said calmly. Feeling completely embarrassed, I did what he said.

I started out weak, remembering all those wasted drum lessons back in Australia, with my teacher watching me under his sharp eyes and my confidence fading under every minute. But I suddenly started hitting the drums harder, my confidence building as Tre watched me. I was suddenly remembering everything I had learned in the lessons and suddenly I was bashing away at the drums as though I had done that sort of thing all my life. I ended on a huge riff and looked up at Tre, who looked surprised and happy at the same time. Everyone else in the room was looking at me in surprise as well.

'Why the fuck did you say you couldn't play? You can fucking play!' Tre said, play punching me in the arm. I laughed and looked down at the drumsticks in my hands, secretly feeling really proud of myself.

'I guess I got it from my dad!' I said, looking up at everyone modestly.

'Well he must have been a good teacher right?' Mike said to me. I looked down at my feet, feeling tears stupidly coming to my eyes. I wasn't going to cry in front of everyone and look like a great big sook.

'I - uh - had lessons from a teacher. I never knew my dad, he-he left when I was born. I knew he was a drummer cause my mum told me.' I could feel the tears building up in my eyes, stronger and stronger. I looked away and let two tears fall down my face. I felt angry at myself for breaking down.

'Oh, I'm really sorry.' Mike said, looking really guilty.

'It's okay, you didn't mean it. I'm fine.' I said, trying to smile, but it suddenly hurt to smile. I decided to leave the room before I burst into a show of waterworks. I mumbled that I had to go to the bathroom, and sped from the room. But I didn't run to the bathroom. I found myself running into the backyard and running into the small room beside the pool which had a small couch and fireplace in it. I calmly sat down and, not being able to contain my sadness, I burst into tears.

All the usual questions I had been asking all my life rushed through my head. Why did my dad leave? Was he a loser in the streets now? Did he have a family? Was he even alive? All my questions just made me feel even more alone than I ever had in my life.