Someone Like You

I was late. I was so late, not even perpetually tardy Max would understand. The guys were going to have my head for this one, that much I was sure of.

I tried to speed, but even speeding got me no where. There was early morning traffic, and unless I invented a hovercraft out of the garbage littering the floor of my vehicle, then I was out of luck. The guys were going to just have to start without me.

I sighed and put the windows down to let some fresh air into my car; I knew one thing was for sure. The guys were going to blame Charlotte, first and foremost. They knew about the dress fitting (that I was bailing on, in my own defense) but I was positive they were going to think I had bailed on them instead since I was so late.

Traffic eventually cleared though, and I got to our practice space with only about twenty minutes wasted. It could have been worse, I kept reminding myself. It could have been worse.

After finding a parking space, I hurried towards the studio. I burst through the door and hurried towards the room I heard the guitar and drum sounds coming from, happy the guys started without me. I should have known they would. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time I had been late or had missed a practice altogether.

“Well look who decided to show up, mates,” Max remarked smugly as I slunk into the room, trying to go unnoticed.

I sighed and slipped my jacket off, balling it up and throwing it into a nearby chair. “I’m sorry guys, there was traffic. Not much I could do about that yeah?”

The guys rolled their eyes, obviously choosing not to hear or believe me. Unbelievable. That’s what it came down too? I mentally scoffed. “I’m here aren’t I? I skipped out on the dress fitting to be here. I wouldn’t miss a practice for--”

“A stupid cake tasting? Or how about a tux fitting? Or maybe to go see the hall?” Max snapped at me, rolling his eyes again before turning his back on me to tune his guitar.

My jaw dropped and I looked tot he others to see their reactions. Dan shrugged from behind his set, while Matt and Chris faced each other to play with their guitars. It was like I wasn’t even there.

“Look, guys, I’m sorry alright? Char’s gone a bit mental with all of this planning. But you’re making it sound like I’m not in the band anymore. I’m still one hundred percent into this, I just have a lot of shit on my plate. Alright?”

“Let’s just practice some stuff, yeah?” Dan suggested, trying to ease the tension that was almost visible in the room.

I gave a short nod before heading over to the mic stand set up in the middle of the room.

As soon as Dan kicked in the drums for Take Your Breath Away and once the guys all started playing and once I started singing, we gave it our all as we always did. The dress fitting didn’t matter, and the tension in the room dissipated and soon we were all about the music, as we always were.

We jumped around a lot, playing new then old then really old then a cover or two before jumping back to a brand new song that we had only messed around with once or twice. It ended up being a really, really good session which is what we wanted, what we needed.

When we took a break about halfway through, it seemed Max had calmed down a considerable amount. He was back to his jokey, mental self, which was good. I don’t know what he was on about earlier, but he was back to normal and all was good again.

Somehow we got on the topic of the dress fitting and who I had to send in replacement of myself. Everyone figured I’d sent my mum, which resulted in me having to tell them who was back in town. Aside from Max, who just sat to the side with a cheeky grin on his face. The cheeky bastard.

“Uh, Riley’s back actually,” I mentioned awkwardly as I took a drink of water. I tried to avoid their flat expressions, but it was hard.

“Riley’s back?” Matt asked. “Why, exactly, is she back mate?”

I shrugged, looking at the water bottle in my hand and rubbing designs in the droplets accumulating on the outside of it. “She’s, y’know... in town. For uh... the wedding. I guess.”

“You invited her to the wedding?” Dan practically shrieked, his voice taking on the characteristics of his sister Sarah’s when she was really, really mad.

“Well yeah.” I shrugged again. “I mean, she was our friend at one point. I figured she’d want to be invited. Or at least, I figured she’d want to know.”

The guys were silent; or rather, most of them were. Max was laughing like a mental case in the corner. “Problem, Max?” I remarked, my voice flat.

“This is just going to end so well!” he laughed hysterically. “I mean, really mate? Did you really think inviting Riley was a good idea? Let alone ask her to go to your fiancee’s dress fitting? You’re mental!”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “She’s my friend, Max. I asked her to do a favour for me and she agreed. For a price, but she agreed. It’ll be fine. She promised to play nice.”

This time, Matt was the one scoffing. I looked at him with curiosity in my eyes, non-verbally asking for an explanation. “It’s Riley, mate,” he informed me. “When has she ever played nice?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out so I snapped it shut.

“Can we just get back to practicing please?” I pleaded, heading back over to the mic stand so we could start again. The guys just shrugged and returned to their respectful places before launching into Kiss and Tell.

They clearly thought they were being funny; as I started singing, “You’re so good, you’re so bad, that everyone wants to be your man,” I turned around to face all of them with a flat expression on my face.

Cheeky bastards. They just laughed and laughed. These were my mates, until they end. With a smirk, I turned back around to finish the song.