It's Gonna Be My Year

We went to Rian’s about an hour after we woke up. We were super pumped. I even took my lyric book. No one in the band even knew I had one. Not even Jack. I didn’t think he’d be too mad though. Good thing Rian didn’t live too far way though because none of my family were home when we woke up this morning. Jack and I picked up our guitars and we started walking.

It only took us 10 minutes to walk to Rian’s and Jack and I used this time to talk about what we thought the bassist would be like. We got to Rian’s house and he texted us telling us to walk in and go downstairs. Most of our latest practises had been at Rian’s because he had a basement and a drum kit. I mean, we could always lug his drum kit around but somehow we all found it easier to leave it in one place.
When we got to the basement we saw the Rian and some guy I assumed to be the bassist talking to one another. They were across the other side of the room so I couldn’t hear anything but they stopped as soon as they noticed us come into the room. I had a feeling they were talking about us but I couldn’t be sure. Oh hell I hope this guy isn’t homophobic. I really don’t want to have to threaten our potential bassist. He looked like an ok guy.
He had really long curly hair, just past his shoulders. He was wearing a singlet and shorts and had an honest sort of face. He didn’t have any defined muscles but was still quite athletic looking. When he saw me looking at him he didn’t make eye contact and just glanced at the ground. Ok so he was afraid of confrontation. I was fine with that. That meant that even if he is a homophobe he wouldn’t say anything to Jack about it. And we had time to change his mind about the whole ‘no homo’ thing.
I walked up to him and he continued to look at the ground.
“Hi, I’m Alex, and this is my boyfriend, Jack.”
When I spoke he glanced up and met my eyes. Something in mine must have been daring him to say something about mine and Jack’s clasped hands because the corners of his mouth went up a little as he held out his hand and said:
“I’m Zack. It’s nice to meet you guys. Rian’s been talking my ear off for the past half an hour.”
And with that response Jack and I shook his hand and I knew we wouldn’t have any problems with homophobes in this band. This is gonna be fucking awesome.

A WEEK LATER
We had played a bunch of Blink and New Found Glory and apparently Zack really liked them too so we all had a fantastic taste in music. Jack had also warmed up to Zack and was jumping around with him on our “stage”, which is really just a 4 ft. squared bit of concrete, but Jack continued to call it a stage. Zack had humoured him though and jumped around with him, both of them constantly bashing into me. Idiots.
We had decided to get together again this Saturday as well and I decided I should probably show them my lyric book. I was really nervous because no one even knows my lyric book exists, let alone me actually showing it to someone.
I push aside my fear and walk to my guitar case.
“Ok, I have something to show you guys,” I said nervously. Even though I’ve only known Zack a week I can already tell he’s gonna stick with us and I trust him a little already. He doesn’t seem like the type to sell out your secrets.
Ok now I’m getting nervous but I have to show them now I’ve already told them about it. Jack was coming towards me, worry clear in his eyes. I just thrust the book at his chest and tried to concentrate on my breathing. Come on Alex. Why are you getting panicked about this? Oh fuck. What if they don’t like my lyrics? Or Jack thinks they are really stupid? What if they kick me out of the band? What if-
And before I could have anymore ‘what ifs’ Jack came over and rubbed my shoulder.
“Alex, baby, breathe. It’s ok. Come on. We aren’t judging you. We are your friends. You’re safe here,” Jack stated. And that’s what helped me calm down. Just the way he said it. Like it was a fact. I looked into his eyes and the sincerity I saw there astounded me.
“Thanks,” I said quietly. I see Jack’s still holding my book and flick my hand silently telling him to go ahead. He quickly reads the lyrics I’ve scribbled down and I see he soon gets to my full songs. I’ve only written two so far and they are both unnamed but I worked for hours making sure they were as perfect as I could get them, so I could show the band. And now we actually have band.
I was starting to panic again because it’s been like five minutes now when Jack looked up at me.
“Alex, these are amazing! Oh my god my boyfriend is totally an awesome fucking song writer!” Jack yelled. I felt myself starting to blush a bit. He hands the book to Zack and Rian peeks over his shoulder to read it as well.
“I wanted to show you guys just in case you wanted to start to work on our own music. I-I mean, not that we have to use my songs. It was, it was just an idea,” I stuttered out. Oh God. What if they didn’t want to use my music and now I’ve just gone and embarrassed myself?
“I think that’s a great idea Alex,” Zack said. “This song is really good.”
Rian made a sound of agreement.
“Ok then. How about we start working on it. Have you got an idea for the melody?” Jack asked.
It was easy from there. Well kinda. Writing songs was really fucking hard but they seemed to like my lyrics and I was getting really excited. We could do this!
I had a basic melody in mind and Jack came up with a riff. We came up with some chords for the verse but then we sorta gave up because this music stuff was hard. Apparently Rian’s lights were on a timer so we were suddenly plunged into darkness. Good thing Zack and Jack weren’t bouncing around anymore. That could have been damaging.
“Hit the lights!” Jack yelled out. I was suddenly stuck with inspiration.
“That’s it! Jack you’re a genius!” I exclaimed.
“Uh, I am?”
“Totally. I’ve got it now. That’s the name.”
“The name of what?”
“The song, silly.”
“Uh, what’s the name of the song?” Rian asked. Ok now everyone was getting confused.
“Hit the Lights. That’s the name of our song,” I said, sure in my decision. It just felt right.
“Speaking of names,” Zack started. “Now that we’ve started composing our own songs, what should our band name be?”
I couldn’t really think of any but apparently Rian had.
“Playground X!” He yelled.
“Rian, we are not naming our band after a map in a video game,” I said sternly.
In the middle of Rian’s rant of why it “would be a totally awesome name, Alex” Jack started to speak.
“What about… All Time Low?” He asked, uncertainty clear in his voice.
“Why that?” Zack asked curious. Rian had shut up now and Jack was starting to blush a bit because of all the attention we were giving him.
“Because of the lyrics. ‘Head On Collision’ is my favourite song of theirs and the lyrics just speak to me, y’know? ‘And it feels like I’m at an all-time low, slightly bruised and broken’. I just really know what that feels like and so does everyone at one point in their lives. If we were ever to make it big I think I’d like to know our band and music has helped some people when they are in that place, just like our favourite bands have done for us.”
“All Time Low, eh?” I asked. I honestly really liked the name and it had a meaning behind it. I just really hope Jack doesn’t feel like that anymore.
“Uh, yeah,” he says, still uncertain. “All Time Low.”
“Well I like it,” I say confidently. Jack beams at me.
“Me too,” Zack says.
“I still really like Playground X… But, I think I like the reasoning and sentimentality behind this one. So watch out world, here comes All Time Low.”