Past, Present, Future

When Brian Haner Jr was in high school, his parents made him get a job. They did not need the money, but they thought it would teach the young man a little responsibility, especially since the teen was more concerned with his band than doing well in, or even attending, school. It wasn’t that they did not support his music, for they knew he was extremely talented and his father was a musician as well. It was just something their own parents made them do and they thought it would be good for their son.

He didn’t want to get a job, but knew he needed to do what his parents asked. He refused to work in food service or be a cashier somewhere, so he came up with his own little business and started teaching guitar lessons from his garage. It was slow business at first, but once word got out about how good of a player he was, more and more people wanted to learn from the “future rock star.” Everyone knew he was exceptional and that he was in a band, and many people saw his potential for success.

He started by posting flyers around town and at his school, causing him to get teased by his friends, but he just shrugged, ignoring their antics. It didn’t matter how lame they thought he was; it worked and he was making a lot of ore money doing it.

Some nights he’d have just one lesson, sometimes three or four. He made his own schedule and never worked on the weekends so that he could party with his friends and have band practice. It was really ideal and he honestly loved teaching, though he wouldn’t admit that to his friends. He even had an idea in mind that if their band didn’t work out, he would just teach guitar for his career.

His lessons were mostly kids from his high school, but sometimes people in the community as well. A lot of times people would show for three or four lessons and give up, not wanting to put in the effort it took to learn how to play guitar, but he had a few clients that worked with him consistently, working as hard as they could to become as good as he was. Though none of them ever did.

If you asked him now, he wouldn’t be able to tell you who most of his clients were, but a few stuck out in his mind. Mainly one girl actually, who would hold a permanent place in his memory and in his heart, even though he never admitted it to anyone else.

Her name was Joanna Williams and she was a total nerd, but there was something about her the Brian could never shake, not since their first lesson in his garage. She was shy and timid, but after the initial awkwardness and small talk was over, she was hard at work, hanging on all of his words so she could learn. She was eager and excited about what he was teaching her, and in between each lesson he could tell that she actually practiced (which was uncommon for most of his clients). She was no doubt his best student and he looked forward to jamming with her every Tuesday.

She caught on quickly and worked her ass off to learn. Soon enough they were playing songs together and she was learning more and more complicated pieces. He felt pride when she succeeded and joy when she was happy. She was beautiful when she played and he slowly became enamored by her.

He never told his friends. She was not necessarily the coolest girl in school, but not the dorkiest; she was just normal and kind of forgettable. She didn’t seem to have a lot of friends and kept to herself, spending most of her time in the music wing of the school practicing her singing and guitar, or reading quietly. They never spoke at school other than to say hello, but when they were together Tuesday nights, it was a different story.

Not only did he enjoy teaching her guitar, but he enjoyed just talking to her. They had so much in common from taste in music and movies, to their favorite colors and foods. They both wanted to be musicians for their careers and they discussed all of their aspirations. It was just so easy to be around her, to talk to her.

When summer came around, they met more often, taking advantage of being away from school. Eventually the lessons moved from his garage to his bedroom because it was just too hot to play in the summer heat. At first she sat at his desk chair while he was on the bed, but that too ended, and the pair would sit side by side on the bed, knees touching while they played the guitar.

Some days they wouldn’t even play, they would just hang out in his room and listen to music. He quit charging her weeks before, but she still came at her scheduled time and she stayed well past her hour, not that he cared. They would lay on his full sized bed, hands at their sides as they stared at the ceiling, discussing anything and everything. But eventually they quit staring at the ceiling and their hands weren’t at their sides. Eventually he was kissing her and his hands were under her shirt. Eventually they would touch in ways they hadn’t been touched before.

Looking back, Brian tried to sum it up to a summer love affair, something that he needed to forget and move on from. But every once in awhile he would think of her sitting on his bed, her long, wavy blonde hair bouncing as she laughed. He would think of the dimple that popped up on her left cheek but not the right and how she would clap her hands together when she really thought he was being too funny. He thought of her laying next to him, running her hands through his hair after the first time they were together. The memory made him smile, but it made him sad at the same time; the affair didn’t necessarily have the happiest of endings.

Never in a million years did he think he’d her her voice again, let alone her name again, seven years later on his friend’s computer.

They were all sitting at Matt’s house, celebrating the release of their newest album City of Evil. It was too hot to be outside and most of the party guests had already left. Half drunk, Matt got on his laptop to read his emails, thinking it was a great idea to send their manager Larry all of the awesome ideas they had come up with for their future tour. His girlfriend Val had protested, but he got online anyways. Instantly he became distracted by an email he received from a friend with a link to a video.

It was an interview with up and coming band called JoiRide. Four girls sat in a row across from the interviewer and their names popped up on the screen: Jo, Izzy, Riley, and Dee. The interview started with how they came up with their band name (it came from letters in their first names) and how they got their start.

“You grew up near Los Angeles, right?” the interviewer asked. Matt turned up the volume.

“What the fuck are you watching, Shads?” Johnny asked from across the room, half passed out on the couch.

“Matt Berry sent me this. I guess we were mentioned in this interview somewhere,” he replied after pausing the video. Zack moved to stand behind him, curious to see what he was watching.

“Holy shit, we know that girl,” he said, pointing to the blonde in the center of the group. Matt looked back at him, confused. “I can’t think of her name.”

“Let me see,” Jimmy said then, skipping over to the computer. “Jesus, that’s Joanna Williams!”

Hearing her name made Brian freeze in his spot where he was half perched on the chair about to get up to look at the computer. But now he couldn’t move.

“I don’t remember who that is,” Matt said, leaning closer to the screen, as if that would help him remember.

“She was really quiet,” Val piped in as she walked over to the group. “Nice but kept to herself.”

“Do you guys know these other girls?” Matt asked, pointing to the other three. No one knew them.

“Press play, asshole,” Johnny groaned, not moving from the couch.

“Near there, yes,” Joanna answered, tucking blonde hair behind her ear. “We all lived in communities around the area, but met at UCLA.”

“And that’s where JoiRide started?” he asked. The girls nodded.

“We were actually roommates in our dorm,” the one named Dee said, pointing between she and Joanna. “And we met Riley and Izzy through mutual friends at a party. We got along instantly, shared a love for music, and the rest is history.”

“Who would you girls say is your biggest musical influence?” the interviewer asked.

The girls laughed at that, and they all looked at Joanna, whose cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “They want me to say Avenged Sevenfold,” she said.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Well, when I was sixteen I actually took guitar lessons from Br- er, Synyster Gates. He taught me how to play. I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t; he was a fantastic teacher. And we love Avenged Sevenfold and have been fans of theirs since the beginning. But I’d also have to say Joan Jett and-”

Matt paused the video then, looking up to Brian, who was still perched on the chair, frozen.

“You didn’t say you knew her,” Val stated, giving him an odd look.

“I knew her,” he said in return, trying to remain cool.

“Was she one of the kids who paid you for lessons when we were in high school?” Matt asked. “Who knew something would’ve actually come of that!”

“Come look at this video, dummy! Come see your prodigy! She is way hotter than she was in high school,” Jimmy said, looking back at the screen before whistling.

“Yeah, I remember her being cute, but so quiet I never really thought anything of it. Who knew she’d being a fucking rock star,” Zack said, shaking his head. He grabbed the computer from Matt’s hands and walked it over to Brian, sitting himself on the arm of the chair before handing the laptop over to his friend.

Brian stared at the screen, falling back into his seat. He couldn’t even hit the play button. She was so beautiful, a grown up star with blonde waves, red lips, and leather pants. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding. But before he could decide what to do, Zack leaned over and hit play.

He watched the rest of the interview in awe, memories of her flooding into his mind as she laughed and joked with the interviewer and her friends, as she talked about playing the guitar, and as she absentmindedly twirled her hair in her fingers. He felt pride as she talked about their recent success in finishing their first album and he couldn’t help but smile when the interview called her one of the greatest female guitarists of the time. When it was over he wanted to watch it again, but with his friends in the room, he knew it would seem weird, so he handed the computer back to Zack.

“Look up their music,” Matt said. Zack did as he was told and found their music online and he played it full blast so everyone in the room could hear.

Her voice was powerful. He forgot how beautiful her voice really was; she only sang in front of him absentmindedly when she didn’t think he’d notice, or under her breath when she was doing something else. He had no clue just how good she was, though, and was taken aback by it.

“She’s good,” Matt said, nodding in approval as he listened to Joanna belt a powerful run.

The rest of the guys and Val nodded along, listening closely to their music, clearly enjoying what they were hearing. Jimmy was tapping to the beat on his legs, his head bobbing up and down.

“This is rad,” he said eventually. “And they’re all chicks.”

“Yeah, you don’t see that very often,” Zack said. “It’s always a girl with all guys in the band.”

Suddenly, Matt hopped out of his chair and grabbed his computer from Zack. Ignoring Zack’s ‘what the fuck,’ Matt said back in his own chair and opened his email up.

“What are you doing?” Val groaned, worried about her boyfriend’s drunken ideas.

He ignored her completely, intent on emailing his manager. He had a great idea.

Notes

New story! I know I said I might be working on a sequel to The Music We Make, but this idea came to me instead! Let me know what you think <3

xoxo JJ