Walk With Me

“Well, as you guys already know, we've lost a brother recently. We all thought we ain’t gonna make it. But you guys just made us grow even stronger.” Matthew spoke in between songs, right after they were done playing So Far Away. Erika wiped the sweat off her forehead and drank her bottle of water. She saw Brian was turning his way towards the amplifiers and stood still. She knew he was trying to hold back his tears, he did that in every of their practice.

Erika couldn't help but feel sad too as she reminisced about Emily, but the song was mainly written for Jimmy and Brian knew him more than her. She turned her gaze away at Matthew who was still speaking through his microphone.

So far Matthew hadn’t introduced her and she can see that the fans were all wondering who the hell she is.

“And for that thank you.” Matthew added and bowed to them. “Anyways, we’ve made an audition for our new drummer.” He continued.

The crowd yelled. Erika swore she can hear some of them said; You can’t be fucking serious! But she ignored it.

“So back here-” Matthew walked towards her. She emerged abruptly from behind her drumkits.
“- is one of the two amazing drummers that we’ve chosen, to prove themselves to us. Yes, we chose two because we’re so fucking stupid we can’t make up our minds.”

The crowds screamed and laughed.

“I’ll introduce you to the other one. Relax.” He spoke to a particular fan who apparently was eager to meet the other drummer. “But in the meantime, give it up for the amazing Miss Erika Wesley!”

Erika kicked in the pedal and made a drum solo for a bit, as an introduction for herself.

Most of the fans screamed in agreement and out of respect for the band but Erika can also caught the sound of some booing here and there. The male fans had no problem with her since she can play their songs amazingly well so far, but those fangirls…something about them being obsessed over the guys so much that they wouldn’t let any other girl to be close to the band. Erika was getting over that, because she too, was a fan girl of them.

Matthew and the guys clapped and cheered for her when she finally ended her solo.

“Wow, what a show off isn’t she?” Zacky spoke to his own microphone.

Erika replied with a few knock on her cymbals.

“Reminds me of someone though,” he added again, pointing his finger towards Brian. Brian laughed and gave off his middle finger to him.

“Yeah, Gates does like to show off doesn’t he?” Matthew went closer to Brian and swung his arm around his shoulder. Brian sneered at him and just shrugged. He glanced around at Erika and their gazes locked. Erika struggled to look away but Brian just smiled and winked at her. She blushed.

“He who makes the beast out of himself,” Matthew yelled in a deep voice into his microphone and Erika shifted in her seat, ready to play Bat Country as their next song.

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“They adore you!!” Michelle came running towards Erika after the first half of the concert ended and she was getting into the backstage again.

“No they’re not! They hate me.” Erika pouted her lips to her.

“What? Don’t be such a whiny ass. They fucking love you Erik.”

“Really?” She grinned widely at her, but then her eyes caught Arin who walked past her and smiled.

“Good luck,” she whispered to him and he winked. After that he went running to the stage. Matthew immediately announced about who he is and the crowd screamed louder than when she was on stage.

"Hold on,” She heard Michelle said and quickly turned her head to her.

“What’s up with you and Skinny?”

Erika raised her eyebrows, dumbfounded.

“What – what do you mean?”

“Aha, don’t play dumb with me, bitch. I saw.”

“Chelle, what are you talking about? We’re just friends.”

“Friends my ass.” Michelle snickered, slapping her shoulder. “I saw the way he smiled at you!”

“What! He smiles like that to everyone. Come on.”

“No he’s not. Not to me.”

Erika rolled her eyes. “That’s because you’re engaged, woman.”

Michelle arched one eyebrow and smirked. “Are you saying that he’s being like that because you’re single?”

Erika swallowed in her throat. She hoped not. She only saw him as a friend, and an ally in this competition. Simply shrugging, she turned her attention to the stage and mainly - on Arin. He started with his first number, A Little Piece of Heaven. They kept Jimmy’s vocals as a tribute to him and the crowd loved it. Erika loved it.

She felt a little tinged in her heart, predicting that she was highly unlikely to get this job than Arin. People loved him, while she was just…another fan girl.


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Brian sat on the edge of his bunk, with acoustic guitar on his lap. His left fingers hung on the fret board, pressing a D-minor bar chord, pick in his right hand but he didn’t strum. He watched as Erika and Arin were fooling around with their drumsticks at the lounge/dining area, probably having a battle among themselves using the dining table. Brian was actually staring at them. So far they have been to 3 cities in California and those two grew closer by day. The band even noticed about their ritual before getting on stage.

“You’re missing a beat there, Eri!”
“I know I screwed up! You’re too fast!”

The pick in Brian’s right hand buried deep into his palm as he clenched his hand into a fist without knowing. He only realized it after he felt a sharp pain as the pointy part of the pick nudged his palm.

This is fucked up, he thought. Michelle wasn’t around anymore, as they were now at Fresno and on their way to Santa Barbara for their next venue. Without his fiancée, he wouldn’t have any distraction to pull away his attention towards that girl.

What did they have in common anyway, Arin and her? Did Arin lost his best friend too? Did he understand the feeling of reaching out to someone but then realized that nobody was there? Brian shut his eyes and started strumming a song called Gunslinger.

“Yeah, you’ve been alone,
I’ve been gone for far too long,
But with all that we’ve been through,
After all this time I’m coming home to you.

Never let it show,
All the pain I’ve grown to know,
Cause with all these things we do,
It don’t matter when I’m coming home to you.”

Suddenly there were some knocking sounds - following his music in sync. He opened his eyes and found Erika was sitting in her bunk, knocking on the wall with her drumsticks. He can’t help but grinning. He continued to casually sing, his eyes searched for Arin. That skinny kid slumped his body down on the couch, drumsticks in his hands - looking a bit disappointed but nevertheless he was listening to them jamming in an unplugged raw session.

“I reach towards the sky, I’ve said my goodbyes, my heart’s always with you now.” Erika sang to herself while her drumsticks still thumping on the walls. Brian smirked. He didn’t have to do much to make this girl turned her attention towards him. Just a bit strumming and plucking on his guitar, she came running with her drumsticks on.

“I won’t question why, so many have died, my prayers have made it through yeah.” Out of nowhere, Matthew joined in from the game room. He walked towards their bunks and sang his heart out to this song. Johnny soon barged in, adding his own touch of screaming and everybody just laughed.

But nevertheless, they were all singing along to that song, except for Zacky because he was already asleep in his bunk. Occasionally he groaned because they were making noises and disturbed his deep slumber.

Arin watched from afar, with a smile on his face. At first he was bummed at the fact that Erika was a sucker for Brian’s guitar playing. She would always turn her focus towards him everytime he strummed those guitars away. But Arin can’t do anything about it. Brian really was the greatest, hands down. If he was a girl, he would probably do the same thing. Drooling over his genius finger licking chords and having a huge crush on him.

Then after Matthew and the guys joined in, he was so impressed that he started to sit up straight and forgot about how he envied Brian. Grateful, was one way to describe how he felt right then, because he would give anything to see these guys jammed in an unplugged session like this, just fooling around, bonding and laughing.

“Arin, catch!”

He jerked up, jolted back to reality as he sloppily caught a pair of drumsticks which was thrown by Erika. He glanced at Brian who tilted his head a bit, asking him to join in the fun in the bunk section. Arin grinned widely and joined them, as the night grew darker and the bus cruised into a route to Santa Barbara.

The birthplace of Fade Out May.

Notes