New Perspective

Whenever I played my bass, I felt like I had my old confidence back. But this wasn’t the case when I played for Patrick.

It was the second day of our rehearsal and Patrick had yet to sing with us playing. He wanted to make sure that we had the music right.

“You’re behind, Victoria,” he was saying as we played. I picked up the beat a little more. “Too fast. You’ve almost got it.”

I slowed down ever so slightly and was surprised when Patrick stopped us.

“You’re a good bass player, Victoria, but you need to work on the tempo,” he said. “You’re either playing too slow or too fast. I think you’ve almost got it though. Let’s take a quick break and then we’ll try it again.”

I moved the strap of my bass off of my shoulders and set my bass in the holder that was nearby before picking up my water bottle and drinking it from him. I watched as Patrick left the room we were in and Henry came to stand next to me.

“Who knew Patrick Stump could be an asshole,” Henry said.

“He’s just trying to make sure the music is right,” I said.

“Yeah, well he doesn’t need to be so picky about it,” he said. “You were playing better than the rest of us. You could hardly tell that you were off.”

“I don’t blame him for wanting his music to be as close to perfect as we can get it,” I said. “He worked hard on this.”

“I still say he’s an asshole,” Henry said, smiling at me. I smiled back.

“We hardly know him,” I said.

“So?” he said, laughing. Patrick walked back into the room.

“Ready to try again?” he questioned. We all nodded and went back to our instruments.

---

When we were done with rehearsal I was putting my bass away when Patrick came up to me.

“I know you normally leave you bass here,” he said. “But I think you should bring it back to the hotel just to work on the songs that you were having some trouble with.”

I looked at him for a moment. I didn’t think I had done so horribly that I need to practice extra. But who was I to disagree with him.

“Yeah,” I said, quietly. “I can do that.”

“Good,” he said, smiling. “See you tomorrow.”

I looked over at Henry who had been near enough to hear this exchange. He was giving me a look that very obviously said ‘I told you so.’

“Shut up, Henry,” I said, picking up my bass’ case.

“What?” he said, following me. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to say anything,” I said. “I could tell what you were thinking just by the look on your face.”

“Then why’d you tell me to shut up?” he asked.

“Because I can,” I said. I looked back at him and smiled. Henry shook his head.

“Do you want to share a cab back to the hotel?” he asked when were our on the street.

“Sure,” I said. He flagged down a cab and opened the door to the backseat as the car pulled up in front of us. I got in first, and then Henry got in.

The ride to the hotel was silent and so was the elevator ride. When we got off on our floor, Henry finally spoke when I reached my room.

“Have fun practicing,” he said. I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever,” I said, unlocking and opening my door. “See you tomorrow.”

I shut the door of my hotel room behind me and let out a sigh. I moved into the room and set my bass’ case on the bed and opened it. I really did not want to practice anymore today, but I had to do what I had to do.