All or Nothing

Eliza sat on the couch nearly bored to tears. Brian was holding her right hand, sitting to her right, and Jimmy was sitting to her left with Jocelyn sitting in a chair to Jimmy’s left. Johnny was straddling a chair staring at the bassist in front of all them. To her far right, Hunter was pouting in a chair, watching. Eliza knew he was pissed off because Brian was there. Hunter hated Brian, mostly because he was engaged to Eliza, but she didn’t care. He needed to learn that Eliza wasn’t going to be with him at all; she loved Brian and that was that.

Currently, they were holding auditions for Eliza’s new band. She’d invited Jimmy and Johnny to come because that’s all she needed: a drummer and a bassist. Brian, of course, came because this was the last time he was going to see her for a long time. Since they were about to go back on tour he wanted to come before he had to leave. They’d been through about twenty people who wanted to be the bassist, and while some were good, none lived up to Johnny’s standards.

It was barely ten in the morning, and Eliza was already exhausted. The bassist was currently finishing up his last song and Eliza couldn’t be more ecstatic. They only had two left before they could take a break and then the drummers would start. She knew she was going to need to go ahead and take some headache medicine now before they even started.

The blonde guy in front of them finished, and they thanked him. Johnny turned toward them and rolled his eyes, and Eliza knew he wasn’t the bassist. She leaned her head back against the coach and sighed. Johnny hadn’t liked a single one of the guys who’d come in to audition. Just as the door opened, Eliza lifted her head off the couch. A guy with really curly brown hair, a chinstrap of hair under his chin, and piercing hazel-brown eyes walked into the room. He shook everyone’s hand and introduced himself as “Dominic”. Eliza leaned forward, because he was the only one to not seem to recognize or get nervous because Avenged Sevenfold was in the same room.

He put his head down and immediately launched into a song. His fingers moved with precision over the strings and finally Eliza was able to tell what song he was playing. None of the other bassists had been able to start off immediately and have the song be recognizable. She smiled the whole time and when he finished, she clapped loudly. He looked up from underneath his hair and smiled lazily.

“Tell us about yourself, Dominic,” Eliza said looking at him.

“You can call me Dom. I’m twenty-five and I’m engaged to an amazing girl. I currently work in a coffee shop, but my passion is bass. I’ve played it since I was old enough to pick up a guitar.”

“Where else have you played?” Johnny asked.

“I’ve played in a couple of bands, but they ended up falling apart."

“Do you know who he is?” Eliza asked, pointing to Johnny.

Dominic nodded. “I know who all of them are. No offense, but I’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to not know.”

“You just acted like they didn’t exist when you walked in. You’re the first person who didn’t react to them,” Eliza said, smiling.

“They’re people, too,” Dominic said, shrugging. “Honestly, inside I’m freaking out, if that makes you feel better.”

They all chuckled and Johnny asked him to play something else. Behind Jimmy and Brian’s head, Eliza’s eyes connected with Jocelyn and they smiled. Eliza, not caring about the last person to audition, wanted Dominic in her band. He was levelheaded and he could play the hell out of his bass.

Once he was finished, Jocelyn took him to her office. Eliza stood up with them, kissed Brian, and said she’d be right back. They walked into Jocelyn’s office and sat down. Eliza hopped onto the desk, much to Jocelyn’s dismay and faced Dominic.

“I want you in my band,” Eliza said with a large smile on her face as she leaned forward.
“You’re serious?” Dominic asked, leaning closer to her.

“As a heart attack,” Eliza said and smiled bigger as Dominic laughed.

He stood up and hugged her before she could stop him, and she laughed along with him.
“Oh, my God, I’ve got to call Nisa,” he said in an excited flurry.

“Go, call, celebrate, do whatever you need to do,” Eliza said and made a ‘shooing’ motion with her hands. “Jocelyn will be in touch with you for the final details and stuff. I’ll call you soon and let you know the rest.”

“Thank you so, so much,” Dominic said and shook both of their hands.

He was gone in a flurry and Eliza smiled at Jocelyn.

“Get off my desk,” Jocelyn said as she exited the room.

Eliza stuck her tongue out even though Jocelyn was gone, wiggled her butt on the desk and then hopped off to join Brian and the guys in the other room.

“Don’t I have a say in this?” Hunter asked from his chair.

“No, actually, you don’t,” Eliza said with a sickly sweet smile.

“Why not?”

Eliza looked to make sure Jocelyn was gone, and she turned back to Hunter. “Because you’re only my guitarist because Jocelyn is your sister, that’s why. This is my band, and I have say here.”

Brian, Jimmy, and Johnny all smiled a proud smile and tried to hide it from Hunter. Brian squeezed her hand and leaned in to kiss her temple. Jimmy and Johnny started talking as Jocelyn brought in another guy. They all watched as Jimmy got up and helped the guy set up the drum kit. In reality, it was Jimmy who set up the drum kit and the other kid stood there in awe. Eliza and Brian laughed a few times as Jimmy had to instruct him on the most simple of things.

Eventually, Jimmy sat back down, mumbling something about “kids these days” and they all laughed; even Hunter had to join in. When Jocelyn cleared her throat, their laughter died down and they sat to listen to the kid play.

It only took four drummers for Eliza to make eye contact with Jocelyn. Before she did, she made sure she could see approval from Jimmy. He had one leg crossed over the other and his chin resting against his hand. His left hand was tapping on his leg and his head was nodding. As the song got more intense, she watched as he moved around, his hands going through the motions of the song as if he was playing, too. That’s when she knew she’d found the right one, when Jimmy joined in as if he was the one playing. Jocelyn nodded back to Eliza and they stopped.

His hair was in his face and dripping with sweat. His mouth hung open, but it quickly formed a smile. He already knew he was being chosen, and his cockiness seemed to grow. Eliza should’ve turned away, but something about him drew her in.

He stood up and walked over to reintroduce himself.

“Alex Drummond,” he said sticking his hand out to all of them.

“You play with a bigger kit,” Jimmy said. It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.

“Yeah, I do,” Alex said and tossed his head to the side, removing the hair from his face. “It’s almost the size of yours, but not quite.”

“Picked yourself a good one here, Cheese,” Jimmy said with a smile.

“Cheese?” Alex asked.

“That sounds fucking ridiculous,” Hunter said and stood up. “When you guys are done being lame, come find me. Dude, you wanna go grab a drink?”

He looked at Alex who nodded. They stood up and left the room.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Johnny said and stood up to stretch.

“I guess, let’s go get something to eat,” Jimmy said as the rest of them stood up.

Jocelyn waved them off and they grabbed their things to leave. They joked around a bit as they walked to the elevator. Just before the doors closed, Eliza saw Hunter and Alex shaking hands as they walked back toward Jocelyn’s office. At the last second, he turned, smiled at her and winked his eye. Eliza shuddered, but thankfully no one saw it.