Choke on Your Misery

Alex

“Alex! Rian’s killing me!” I heard Jack screech, and turned around to see Rian pinning Jack down to the floor. We were at band practice in my basement, and weren’t really being very productive. Zack and I had made up a week ago, and we had practiced almost every day since then to make up for lost time. By now we were back to goofing off during practice again.

“He took my drumsticks!” Rian defended, sitting on Jack’s chest.

“Get off of me, fatass.”

“Give me my drumsticks back, and maybe I will!”

“Jeez, calm down. Rian, don’t kill Jack. Jack... man up,” I rolled my eyes.

“The drumsticks are in my pants,” Jack said with a smirk, and Rian jumped up off Jack.

“You’re sick, dude,” Rian shook his head.

“I’m kidding. They’re under me,” Jack pulled the drumsticks out from under his back as he got up, dashing up the basement stairs.

“JACK!” Rian yelled, chasing him up the stairs.

"I have wood! Literally!" Jack cheered, his voice fading a bit as he ran upstairs.

“Hey! Don’t hurt my mom or Baz!” I called after them. I looked over at Zack, who chuckled.

“Jack’s a handful,” he smiled.

“Definitely,” I agreed, walking over to him. He pecked me on the lips as I walked over. I tugged him back toward me as he began to pull away, kissing him again with a little more force. Just as I slipped my tongue past his lips, I heard a chuckle from behind me.

"I see you two have definitely made up." I pulled away from Zack quickly and turned around to see Matt Flyzik at the foot of the stairs.

"Flyzik! Who let you in?" I asked.

"Rian did, and promptly resumed his chase of Jack," Matt said, and I laughed.

"Jack stole his drumsticks. What's up?" I asked, taking Zack's hand in mine.

"Would you guys be interested in playing a gig?" Matt asked with a slight smile.

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you being serious right now?"

"Yeah, totally serious. My band is playing down at Recher Theatre next Saturday night, and one of the other local bands cancelled. I told the owner that I knew a band who might be interested in playing there, and he told me to have you contact him.” Matt shrugged. “So, are you in?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course we’re in!” I exclaimed, turning to Zack excitedly as I let go of his hand. “Are you?”

Zack looked hesitant, but he nodded, a smile spreading across his face, “Definitely.”

Jack and Rian came running down into the basement, skidding to a stop when they saw Matt talking to us. “Guys! Matt got us our first gig!” I said with a grin.

“What? Where?” Rian asked.

“The Recher Theatre on Saturday night,” Matt spoke up.

“MATT! I LOVE YOU!” Jack screamed, running to hug Matt.

“Are we even ready for our first gig?” Rian asked uncertainly.

I shrugged, “I think we’re ready. We’ll cover some Blink-182 and stuff like that; we’re pretty good. I think we’ll be fine.”

“I think we’ll blow the crowd away!” Jack said, bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Don’t get carried away, Jack,” Matt chuckled. “I’ll give you the number, and you can call the guys up at the theatre.”

“Alright. Thanks Matt, seriously,” I grinned. “We owe you one.”

"Nah, it's cool. I knew you guys are serious about the band so I thought I'd help you out a little," Matt shrugged. "Anyway, I have to get going; I just stopped by to pass on the news."

"Okay, we'll see you Saturday at the theatre," I said. The others thanked Matt and said goodbye to him as he left. I turned to the guys, stating, "This is going to be fucking sweet."

"No kidding! We'll have to perfect our cover songs," Rian said.

"Yeah, we need to make sure we're perfect. We'll make sure everyone remembers who we are!" Jack said excitedly, still bouncing up and down happily.

I laughed, "Yeah, that's the goal." Rian and Jack began to list songs that we should play, and I looked over at Zack. He had been rather quiet since Matt had come over. I put my arms around his waist from behind, kissing him behind the ear. "What's wrong, babe?"

Zack shrugged, relaxing into my touch slightly. "I'm surprised that we got our first gig; I wasn't really expecting it to come so soon."

"Me either," I admitted. "But it'll be good - it's just the local theater."

"I guess. I'm just a little nervous," Zack sighed.

"Well, don't worry about that, because we all are. We'll get through it together. It'll be fun!" I said with a grin.

••••••••••

“Jack! How long does it take to get fucking ready?” I yelled, pounding my fist against the bathroom door. It was Saturday afternoon – our first gig was in just a few hours. Jack had spent the night at my house, and now we were getting ready to go to the theatre to set up and all that. He was taking forever in the bathroom. “Jack!”

“Calm the fuck down, I’m almost done!” Jack opened the door after a minute, a toothbrush in his mouth.

I wrinkled my nose, “That is your toothbrush, right?”

“I think it is,” he said, his voice garbled by the toothbrush and toothpaste in his mouth.

“It better be,” I said, pushing past him to pick up the hairbrush and brush my hair.

Jack spit his toothpaste out into the sink, rinsing his mouth out. “What time do we have to leave?”

“We need to be out of here and get Zack by five,” I replied, putting some of my mom’s hairspray in my hair to make the stubborn parts stay.

“Um, Alex? It’s five-thirty,” Jack said, checking his phone.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, dropping the hairbrush.

Jack shook his head, “Dead serious.”

“Move! Come on, let’s go!” We scrambled out of the bathroom and downstairs, almost running into Zack as we ran out the front door.

“There you are; I was just coming over to make sure you guys hadn’t fallen asleep or something,” Zack said.

“Yeah, we didn’t realize what time it was,” I said, unlocking my car. Luckily, we had packed up our stuff this morning. Rian was driving himself to the show, because his drums took up quite a bit of room in the back seat. Jack, Zack, and I’s stuff had barely fit into my car, and Jack had to squeeze into the back seat. Zack slid into the passenger seat as I started the car, buckling up.

“Rian’s calling me,” Zack sighed as I pulled out of the driveway, answering his phone. “Hi, Rian... yes, we’re on our way.... no, we just left... hey, don’t yell at me! Alex and Jack were running late... yeah, we’ll be there in like ten minutes... bye.”

“Rian’s pissed off, I assume?” I questioned, glancing at Zack.

“He’s stressing out because we’re running late,” Zack sighed, rubbing his temples.

“We’ll be there in plenty of time,” I said, flicking the radio volume up so music was playing. I tapped my fingers against the wheel anxiously as I drove. This was going to be a stressful night.