We Won't Back Down

Chapter Sixteen

Dahlia Elwell

It felt amazing getting back to my sisters and our store Rocket Science, listening to the people coming in and playing. All of the regulars were glad to have me back, telling me that I was greatly missed and it was so welcoming. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the touring experience but there was only so much of the behind the scenes bullshit you could take, watching Jacky and Ryan hit on other girls after breaking both my sisters hearts. Ronnie was more than pissed about it as well, wanting nothing more than to apologize to my sisters, but not wanting them to get any more than they were. He did allow me to punch them both square in the eye, though with Jacky I was aiming for his nose but he ducked sadly.
This is what I loved and hated about this town, news spread faster than a wild fire in the Amazon rainforest during a drought. Almost as soon as the store had opened up for the day, the guys came flooding in and tackle hugged me to no tomorrow, other than Max who was trying to hide the best he could. And a crippled…Craig Mabbitt? Da fuck happened while I was away?
“What happened to you Mabbitt?” I asked, horrified to see him in on crutches.
“Got hit by a car.”
“Why? What the fuck happened?!” I exclaimed, becoming frantic, he may be an ass at times but he was still one of my friends. All he did was pointed to Athena and I looked at her shocked. She may hate him at times, but would she actually…no she couldn’t…she wouldn’t…would she? “You…hit him in your car?”
“No! Dear God, no…he protected me from an oncoming drunk driver while I was walking down the road with my headphones in.” she explained the situation, that wasn’t much better. I had told them both a thousand and five times that walking down the street with headphones is a sure way to get them killed.
“Seriously Athena? Why the hell would you be such a dumb ass?” I scolded her, though I was sure she had been scolded by several people in my place while I was gone. Well it didn’t matter, she was going to hear it from me sevenfold!
“I know, I know Dahlia I’ve heard it all before.” She sighed and pursed her lips as she cast her eyes to the ground, as if the tile pattern were the most interesting thing in the world. How could she be so reckless?
“You could have gotten killed. Craig could be six feet under right now.” The words came spilling out of my mouth before I could contain them. Her gaze snapped up to meet my eyes and I realized the harshness of what I had said. Her hazel eyes glossed over she stole a glance at Craig, and then Sheila. Quickly, without a word she paced over to office, her eyes cast down at the floor the entire way, leaving everyone gathered at the front desk in a silent tension. Why the hell couldn’t I just leave it be for now. I had just made a real ass of myself and I was positive my sister was balled up in the rolling chair, hugging her knees to her chest, silently trying to hold back tears.
“She has been working with me almost every day and night after and before school to get me back in shape. She apologizes to me almost every time as well, but I’m gonna have to go tell her that myself.” Craig sighed, limping towards the office and disappearing behind the door. Damn it, why was I such a damn fuck up?!
“Believe me, I said worse.” Max said, finally piping up when he read the look on my face. “Give her a few, Craig will explain that you didn’t mean for it to come out that harsh and she will forgive you before you know it.”
“It is great to have you back though Dahlia,” Monte smiled at me, “so tell us about your adventures on tour?”
“Well, it was pretty fun at first, till watching it all became so repetitive that I thought I was caught in a loophole that would never end. Having to deal and be a bitch to girls trying to come onto Ronnie all the time and then watching those assholes who hurt my sisters flirt…gah makes me want to punch them again!” I exclaimed and Sheila looked at me in pure shock.
“You…you punched them for us?” she seemed like it was the craziest thing she had heard since, well, ever.
“Well of course, no mother fucker gets away with hurting my sisters without a shiner or two.” I grin and hug her to my side. “That goes for you too, Maxwell Scott Green!” I watched as both of their faces turned beat red and he looked at her.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you…think we could hang out soon?” he was like a kid, acting all shy like this was his first time asking her this question. Her face turned at least five shades darker than the previous red and she squeaked out a yes. He grinned like the Cheshire cat and almost skipped as he went past her. “I’m so glad we are hanging out again.” He said putting a hand on her face and gazing into her eyes, before starting off towards the basses.
“Yeah, then maybe you guys can finish off that smooch of yours!” I teased and they both turned and looked at me, if there was an award for the people that blush the most, these two would win hands down. All of the guys that were left looked at Max shocked and evil grins crossed their face. Ohh, he was gonna get some major shit for that one for sure!
We hung out for a bit more when this girl came in, she looked like she just stepped out of a rocker magazine and into our store. Covered in tattoos and she had some piercing and this epic layered black hair. Someone we could definitely befriend if that were a possibility and she looked like she was a little lost to what she was looking for.
“Excuse me miss, do you need help?” I asked, walking up to her and standing very professional to show that I actually worked there. We really had to get uniforms or something or no one would actually think there were owners to the place.
“Yes, can you direct me towards the percussion instruments?” she asked, she definitely was from out of state and kind of nervous to be in a new place like this.
“Well yeah actually, percussion is the room to your left in the back.” I said, pointing towards the area. “It’s really hard to miss, one of my sister’s loves going in that room and playing the hell out of them.”
“Thank you kindly!” she exclaimed, almost darting to that room like a kid in a candy store. With that, I began wondering just who she was and if she actually played the drums. I motioned for Sheila skip her happy ass over to spy on her a little. It was a little out of line, but I was curious enough. Sheila stuck her hands her grey hoodie and made way over, a confused expression on her face.
I brought my finger up to my lips to quiet her before she even asked. I grabbed her by the wrist and silently dragged her to the back where we kept the percussion instruments. Positioning us against the outside wall near the doorway, I peeked out to spot the girl sitting down at a deep purple, tipple bass drum set. I nodded in her direction at Sheila and she peeked around the doorframe as well, watching and listening intently.
The rocker chick positioned herself in a professional way the drum set after pulling out fair of black and white tipped drumsticks. She started off with bass, the she added a sexy snare beat and a rocking symbol effect, dinging the bell every now and again. She quickened the tempo and her range was phenomenal. We had not seen talent like this in the shop since we had opened it. The girl’s drumming drew Athena out of the office and she came over to us, adopting an expression of awe.
“Holy shit, who is that drumming?” She questioned the two of us and we motioned to the girl in the percussion section, who was currently tearing up the drums in the other room.
“Damn, that’s a sexy beat!” Monte came over, almost yelling at us because it was getting hard to hear over the masterful drumming. I looked over at Rob, noticing that he wandered over to see who the prodigy was that was creating such a wicked beat. I was curious about how the other boys were reacting, so I turned around to sneak a peek only to find Craig with one of his crutches raised in the sky, his hair flying in his face while he set off on a head banging expedition of his own.
“You and you, to the office right now!” Sheila yelled over the drums and pointed to both Athena and I, what did this crazy kid have going through her mind? The world may never know.
We followed her to her office and closed it to all but a crack as she sat down behind one of the three desks that were in that room. She went into business mode, which in other words, was lead singer mode.
“Ladies, we may have a possible recruit for the drummer position we have so desperately been looking for.” We all had been thinking the same exact thing, which for an all-girl band, that was almost complicated to come by. We were always looking and hoping for someone to walk through our door and low and behold, we had a phenomenal female drummer in our shop.
“I was thinking that same thing!” both Athena and I exclaimed, over joyed by the very idea of having a complete band.
“Well, let us go and snag this girl before she up and leaves!” Athena said and started off like she was on a mission from God himself. We followed after her and arrived in the back room just as she was finishing up her set. Everyone that had been watching, starting applauding like no tomorrow, shit even Rob looked blown away by what had just transpired.
“Hey, that was a pretty wicked beat you put down.” I said, walking up to her and smiling. “My name is Dahlia Elwell and these are my sisters, Athena and Sheila.”
“Nice to meet ya, I’m Lex Zerlinda and thanks, I’ve been practicing for quite a while now.” She says, shaking all of our hands.
“How long is a while?” Sheila asked, curiosity was always her major strong point and she was always a talkative one.
“About five to six years now, been traveling on my own, playing when and where I could.” She explained and got up from behind the kit.
“We would like to talk to you privately if we could.” Athena said, watching her face twist into a confused look and we just smiled. “Believe me, this is worth it, just follow us to our office.” She nodded and followed us and we closed the door.
“You have seen the flyers for the band contest?” I asked, setting behind the desk next to my sisters and she nodded, waiting to see what we were getting at. “Well we are the secret band that is listed at the bottom and well, we have been thinking about dropping out for a while now.”
“Why is that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and I could see the disappointment that was in her eyes.
“We don’t have a drummer; we have been searching and could not find someone that meets our qualifications and you…God you are beyond phenomenal. Look I know this is sudden and you would probably need to hear us beforehand, but we would love to have you be our drummer.” Sheila proposed the offer and there was a spark that lit up in her eyes. Something that we had not seen in someone in a long time and it gave us a whole new energy to keep going.
“I would fucking love that opportunity!” she exclaims, “When do you think I can hear you guys play?”
“We could set things up right now if you would like?” I said excitedly.
“One problem, we need to close the door, secret band for a reason.” Athena points out and we all agreed, walking out and I cleared my throat.
“Ladies and gentleman, we are sorry to inform you but we are closing for the day, but we will be opening bright and early tomorrow.” I announced, hearing a bunch of sad protest and groans as people started to leave. I saw a little boy looking at a ukulele, plucking the strings sadly and it about broke my heart.
“Donnie, what are you doing with that? Put that down before you break it and come on.” She pulled the boy away, watching as tears formed in his eyes and she didn’t even care. I hated parents like that…parents that were so much like ours and didn’t care what their children has a love for.
The last person left as well as the guys and we began setting up, watching as Lex sat up on the counter in front of us. We went through all six of our songs and she seemed to be very impressed and everything was flowing amazingly. We finished up with our grand finale and she jumped off the counter and applauded.
“Fuck yeah I want to join this band! When do I start?” she asked excitedly and we all looked at each other.
“Well, we were also wondering if you would like a job opportunity here. It could keep you on your feet so you wouldn’t have to leave.” Athena said as she covered her mouth.
“Are you serious?” she asked, watching our faces for a sign of this all being a joke. “Holy shit, I got a job and an awesome band all in the same day. You guys are fantastic!” she was beaming like a kid at Christmas time and we had caused it.
“Well, we are glad to help and we are gonna clean up here and if you need, we can take you home?” I said, putting away my bass in the office and she followed me.
“That would be fantastic; I live in the apartment complex on Jefferson’s street…why are you giving me that look?”
“That is the same complex that we live in.” I state and she laughs.
“God this is way to uncanny, it is a small world for sure.” She exclaims and we start heading out of the office when I hear Sheila’s cellphone start going off and I pick it up. I didn’t normally do something like this, but I clicked read message and almost dropped the phone to what I read.

To Sheila.
From Max.
You sounded great during your practice, glad to see you are making something out of that beautiful voice of yours.