Flash Photography

Two Years Later...

I forced myself to slip the third cigarette back into the box. I’d already smoked through two and I needed to be able to sing for when Jared’s replacement came to, like, audition or whatever. I was pretty stressed out to be hitting Europe without Jared. Jared was my best friend. Jared was my brother. And despite what he thought about the guitarist he was bringing over today, I was convinced I wouldn’t approve of anyone, no matter what.

“Is it a girl or guy?” I heard Kennedy ask Garrett as they both peered out the window. Jared was here, and he was walking towards the building, a slight, blond headed figure behind him.

“I can’t tell from up here, but I’m pretty sure it’s a guy, thank god,” Garrett sighed, making for his bass.

Clearing my throat, I sat down at the keyboard again. “What do you guys wanna practice when that guy Jared brought gets up here? I think we should do ‘Waiting for my Sun to Shine.’”

“John, that’s, like, the hardest song out of all of them, at least on the guitar,” Kennedy pointed out. “Jared said he got this guy on really short notice, and the guy only knows whatever Jared’s taught him, like, today.”

“So, I guess we’re playing ‘Waiting for my Sun to Shine,’” I said firmly, getting up and grabbing my notebook of lyrics. If that guitarist person couldn’t pull this off, I’d call off the fucking tour. We were not a band without all our original members.

Garrett and Kennedy exchanged a furtive glance before shrugging and making for their respective instruments just as Jared opened the door. “Hey guys…this is Chace Jagstadt,” he introduced the midget of a guy behind him. Chace shyly waved at all of us. He was so scrawny and he looked like a girl. Or at least like he belonged in a boy band. Wow, he hadn’t even said anything and I was already mildly irritated with him.

“Hey, Chace, I’m Pat,” Pat piped up from behind his drum set.

“Kennedy,” Kennedy said simply, hooking his guitar up to an amp.

“Name’s Garrett,” Garrett said with a cheerful smile from his seat on the couch.

“And I’m John,” I finally said after a few minutes. I didn’t realize they were all waiting on me to introduce myself. I just wanted to get this over with. “You ready to play a song with us, Chace?”

Chace meekly nodded and followed Jared to his spot. Jared handed Chace his guitar. It made Chace look so small. This was going to be weird. “We’re playing ‘Waiting for my Sun to Shine.’ Have you learned that one at all?” Kennedy asked kindly.

“Just today,” Chace said softly. He spoke so quietly, too. It was weird already, and he hadn’t even started playing. “I start it, right? With the riff that goes…” Chace trailed off before playing Jared’s intro riff…perfectly.

“…I thought you just learned that today,” Kennedy asked incredulously.

“Does it sound ok?” Chace asked nervously.

“Let’s play the whole thing through, since you know it so well,” I said, cutting Kennedy off and taking a sip of my Corona. Jared frowned at me, but Chace had already started playing. I hated to admit it, but blondie had talent. That, or he was just one of those Savants or something.

When we finished the song, Garrett, Pat, and Kennedy started clapping and Jared patted Chace’s head, but Chace’s blue gray eyes were on me. “How many of the songs did Jared teach you?” I asked, picking up my Corona again.

“Um, just the ones off your newest album, Pioneer…which is great, by the way, really awesome stuff, and-“

“So, we’ll still need to rehearse the rest of the songs we’ll be playing,” I cut Chace off, stretching and rubbing the back of my neck. They liked Chace already. Looks like we’re touring without Jared.

“John, can I talk to you for a second?” Jared asked loudly as Chace sat down on the ground, playing the guitar some more. I sighed but followed Jared out of our practice room. “Bro, why are you being such an asshole to Chace?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, rubbing my temples. “I just… It doesn’t feel right, going on tour without you. I’m happy for you and Tess, sure, but…this is just really fucking weird and it’s messing with my zen so hard, bro.”

“You’ll get over it,” Jared promised with a laugh. We shared a short man hug before he patted my back and pushed me back towards to room. “Chace is the one you should be apologizing to. You guys need to start practicing. I’ve gotta get packing for the flight tomorrow and stuff.”

“Oh, yeah, alright…” We walked back in the room to Chace jamming out Tighten Up by The Black Keys with the guys. They were super into it, too, and Chace had a blinding grin on his face. We let them finish the song first before speaking up. “How long have you been playing guitar?” I asked, walking over to him.

That wiped the grin right off his face, and he had that “oh shit” look on his face that a little kid would have if he got caught doing something bad. “About a year now. I-I’ve been playing a lot of other instruments, though. That’s what made it so easy to learn guitar.”

I held out my hand to Chace, and he was rather reluctant to take it. He shook hands pretty firmly, though. “Thanks for filling in for Jared on such short notice. I hope you’ll have fun on this tour with us.”

Chace’s face absolutely lit up at that. “No, thank you.”

We said our goodbyes to Jared and began to practice our set.

…Chace was alright, but he still had a long way to go if he wanted to get along with me.