Lead Me Into the Rhythm

"Brian, wake up! We're here!" I heard Jimmy shout and playfully slap my cheek. I groaned slightly and my eyes fluttered open. The sun was shining against my eyes, causing me to squint. I noticed Jimmy next to me, grinning like an idiot. That earned him an eyeroll from me and I went to move, but I couldn't.

I turned my head to the side to see Zack leaning up against me, sound asleep. I turned back to Jimmy, who shrugged innocently, continuing to smile. Dameon, Matt, and Val were already out of the van, unloading everything.

"What do I do?" I mouthed to Jimmy, I really didn't want Zack to wake up and start bitching.

Jimmy pursed his lips, "Fuck, I don't know. Just fucking wake him up, I gotta piss!" He exclaimed while shifting uncomfortably.

A sigh escaped my lips and I turned back to Zack, who looked so peaceful sleeping. His mouth was slightly open and a light snore was coming from it. It wasn't loud or annoying, it was comforting. It was actually nice to see him like this. He wasn't so angry or stressed.

"C'mon, dude!" Jimmy pulled me out of my thoughts and I groaned, knowing Zack was going to have a fucking shit fit. I nudged his shoulder gently, "Zack.." I whispered. Nothing.

I nudged his shoulder again, this time a little more rougher, "Zack! Wake up, we're here!" His green eyes became visible and he raised his head. He looked at me, now realizing he was sleeping on me. His cheeks turned a shade of red and shockingly, he didn't say anything. He just opened the van door and got out of it. Once Jimmy got out of the van, he made a run for the rest room.

Matt walked out of the building and headed over to us. He was smirking at Zack, "Mornin' sleeping beauty." Zack rolled his eyes and gave him the finger. Matt chuckled and looked at me, "We got soundcheck in 15 minutes. We get to play 4 songs and there's about 30 people."

Zack snorted, "Wow, ya definitely know how to get us shows, huh?"

"At least it's something and we get paid for it, dude, so shut your mouth." Matt snapped at him. I, then realized Matt and Zack had a love/hate relationship. It was almost as if Matt was an older brother to Zack.

Matt looked back at me, "Anyways, we got all our shit on stage already, so I'll see ya in there." He turned around to head back into the building, but he stopped, "Oh and Baker? If your ass isn't on stage, I'll ground your pass into the blacktop."

"Like that's possible." Zack scoffed and I just shook my head, not understanding why he was being like this.

I watched Matt's shoulders tense up, "Don't tempt me, Zack." He walked back into the building leaving Zack and I, alone. I decided to have a ciggeratte before I went in, so I pulled out my pack. Zack did the same and it made me nervous for some reason. I just didn't want to deal with his shit right now, that's probably it.

Zack lit up his cigarette and I couldn't find my lighter. Before I could even ask Zack for a lighter, he handed it to me. Once my cigarette was lit, I handed it back to him. Our fingers touched for a second and Zack pulled away, shoving the lighter back into his pocket. We stood there not saying anything and I couldn't take it any longer.

"Will you ever get over it?" I asked, almost cautiously.

He inhaled his smoke and exhaled, "There's nothing to get over. I don't like you. End of story."

This started to make me angry, "You don't even know me."

Zack flicked the ash off his cigarette, "I don't need to. You fucking took my spot in the band! What do you expect me to do?! Love you? I'm not going to fake being happy about this! I worked hard to get in the band and you got yours handed to you, so no, I'll never get over it." I watched his cigarette hit the ground and he stepped on it.

I sighed, "Well, I'm not a bad person, Zack. I guess in time, you'll realize that." I put my cigarette out and headed into the building. A person stopped me and I had to tell them I was for the band. They let me through and I got on the stage just in time for sound check.

Matt looked at me, "Where's Zack?"

"Outside. He should be coming in right now." I explained, while putting my gutiar strap around my shoulder. They were doing the drums and I fittled around with my guitar, until it was turn. We adjusted to sound for my gutiar and then they did the microphones.

The guy doing soundcheck announced, "Alright, gutiar number 2 play something for me."

We all looked around and Zack wasn't here. Matt tightens his grip on the microphone and looked at me, "I guess it's just you." He said and I could tell he was pissed about this.

Matt picked up the microphone, "He's-" He stopped talking, because Zack walked in. He grabbed his guitar and got on stage. He did his sound check and Matt was sending him glares the whole time. We finished sound check all together and we have 5 minutes before we could start. Matt pulled Zack aside and Jimmy looked at me, laughing and I just shrugged. I kind of felt bad for him, I mean Matt doesn't realize how upset Zack is about all of this.



We finished our set and Matt was talking to the owner, while we packed up. Val was selling a few CD's to the kids that were there. The show was actually pretty decent for being our first show, well my first show. The guys played a few hometown gigs, before I joined.

I hauled my stuff out of the building and over to the van. I tossed it into the back of the van and everyone slowly came out of the building, lugging their stuff. Once the van was loaded, Matt and
Val came over to us.

Matt hudled us up, "Alright, we didn't get paid much, but it's enough to sleep in a motel for the night or we spend it on food and keep driving. What do you want to do?" I shrugged, cause I didn't really care what we did. The other guys voted on the motel, cause they were tired.

"Okay, well we only have enough for 2 rooms, so there's going to be some bed sharing. Val and I will have a bed. Dameon and Jimmy can room with us, too. Zack and Brian can share a room." Matt smirked into Zack's face.

I scoffed, not really liking the idea of Matt practically shoving me down Zack's throat every time he gets the chance. Matt turned to me and frowned, "What's your deal?"

"Matt, you he fucking hates me, but you just keep on tortuing him." I defended Zack, even though I have no clue why.

This made Matt roll his eyes, "He's just being a fricken baby. I'm doing this, so he'll grow up."

Zack butted in, "Will you just fucking leave me alone?!"

"Whatever. Let's go." Matt headed to the front of the van and the others followed. Zack just stood there with hurt written across his face. I started to feel bad, "You okay, man?"

He nodded, "I'm fine, let's go!" Zack snapped at me and I got into the van. All the way to the Motel, Zack and Matt kept exchanging glares. I had no clue what was going on with them, but before this tour ends, I'm going to find out.