Wish You Were Here

The next couple weeks were busier than hell. Joe loved it, his business was making three times the revenue than usual. All thanks to the constant updates on the several underground rock blogs. Between the rumors of Cryptic Sin breaking up and Katastrophic Breakdown getting back together and the news of Suicidal Silence losing their lead singer Jayson Reno, which actually surprised me until I read later that Jarron and Jayson had started a band of their own, every blog was lighting up like Christmas trees. I figured it was only going to be a matter of time before Annabeth, Drake, Reese, and Scott walk through those glass doors in the front expecting me to come back to the band now that everyone is in the same place again.
In all honesty, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I missed them and I have plenty of new songs for us to record and even more ideas to bounce off of somebody else other than Joe. However I had no intention of just getting Katastrophic Breakdown back together to watch it crash and burn again. While thinking this the bell on the stores door rang. I looked up from the blog on the computer at the counter and watched as Dean and Sam from Cryptic Sin walked up to it. The look in their eyes told me they were nervous about something and weren’t completely confident in what they were about to ask.
I looked them over and realized that Dean had a guitar case in his hand. He smiles slightly at me and waves. “What’s up gentlemen? What can I do for you?” I ask, smiling politely. Sam opens his mouth and at the same time Dean holds up his case and blurts out their intention. “Reform Cryptic Sin with us!!” I look at Dean, and raise an eyebrow. “What?” I ask, not entirely sure if I heard them right. “Reform Cryptic Sin with us. Help us get it back together.” Sam said while gesturing to Dean to put the case on the counter. “Could you also fix this up? It was Annabeth’s before she left and well, James, he kind of-“ Sam faded off and I can only imagine what might’ve happened after Annabeth left the stage that night with James behind her.
I was told that night after Annabeth and I sang together she decided immediately that she was leaving Cryptic Sin and James became furious. What I didn’t know that night was James and Annabeth had been dating a year since I left. For two years those two had been together while I was in California becoming a better musician. James was the abusive type guy, someone who couldn’t let the other half of the relationship take control of it. Sam and Dean wouldn’t tell me if he had hit her over the course of their relationship but they didn’t deny it either. That pissed me off more than the night Jarron had been found cheating on her three years ago.
I looked down at the case and opened and shook my head. It looked like the instrument had been thrown in a garbage compacter, pulled out and then sent through a wood chipper. Pieces were all over the place inside the case and some pieces were even missing. I looked up at Dean and shook my head. “There’s no fixing this man, it’s destroyed.” I looked at the neck of the guitar and the bridges. “Some of it may be salvaged though. I’ll have Joe look at it and see what he thinks.” I closed the case back up and set it on the ground. “Now the getting Cryptic Sin reformed part, What were you thinking? You want me to get James, you’re old guitarist and Annabeth to reform Cryptic Sin? You do realize that Annabeth wants to reform Katastrophic Breakdown right? That’s why she left in the first place.” I purse my lips as I wait for their answer. They look at one another with confusion then Sam shakes his head. “No Drew, we don’t want Annabeth and James back. We want you to reform it with us two. You being the guitarist, Dean being the bassist instead of me, and I’m going to be the drummer. We decided we were more comfortable like that.”
I smile and laugh at this idea. “Why me? There are better singers and guitarists out there than me.” I ask still chuckling a bit and at this they smile and lean forward on the counter. “We never asked you to sing Drew. We only asked you to just play guitar.” I stop smiling and blink, surprised and think about this. Since there are three guitarists in Katastrophic Breakdown, I don’t have the chance to truly be known for my guitar skills. Becoming the guitarist for Sam and Dean might actually help in bettering my guitar skills too. I look at Dean and smile. “Give me time to think about it? I have a feeling Annabeth and the others will want a say in this to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the reunion of the five of us.” Dean smiles but Sam just chews the inside of his cheek. “All right” he says “we’ll wait but please call when you make up your mind. We’ll be back for that bass too.” I smile and wave as I turn around and walk away.
*TIME SKIP, NEXT DAY*
The next day Joe and I are looking for guitar refurbishers in the South Beach area that would take on a job like this bass. “Okay. Thanks anyway Jack.” Joe speaks into the phone then hangs it up and puts it on the counter. He sighs as I bring him another cup of coffee. “Jack won’t do it either eh?” Joe just shakes his head and sips his coffee. “Says he’s got too much on his plate right now and just adding a bass that’s been shattered like that would cost too much money and too much time. Even if he did fix it, he wasn’t sure if it would be the same as before.” Joe turns around from the counter and grabs the case that the bass is in. “The best thing for it now is to find the salvageable parts and put them together on a new bass.” I shake my head as I take a sip of my coffee and turn back to the front of the store. “I wonder how much longer it will be till the four of them come through that door.”
I jump at the sound of Jarron’s voice right next to me. He laughs as I wipe the little bit of coffee that flew out of my cup and on the counter. I glower at him and put my cup down. “Why are you here? I thought you were in the studio with Jayson?” He smiles and opens up the browser on the computer. “I was, but Jayson decided that we needed a full band instead of studio musicians to record our songs. So here I am, asking anyone who’s a drummer or a bass player if they want to be in a band with already successful musicians.” He gets on Facebook and starts looking through funny cat pictures and the like. I shake my head. “You’re going to drive away business if you do that.” I say as he ignores me and writes a status on his Facebook. I roll my eyes and start to turn away from him as the bell on the door rings. I turn to it and smile.
“Welcome to Joe’s Guitar sh-“ I stop and look at the faces that walked into Joe’s shop. I grin and laugh. “I was wondering when you guys were going to show up.” I say as Scott, Annabeth, Drake, and Reese walk into the store grinning just as big as me.