Rhythm: Chapter 10

Rhodes POV:

I woke up the next morning, extremely groggy. My arms were wrapped around Zane’s torso, his body facing away from me. I felt his chest rise and fall with every breath he took.  I sighed softly, tightening my arms around him.

The previous night, I i confessed my love to Zane. I was sure that I was going to be rejected, but he accepted my feelings, and even returned them.  I was surprised that he actually accepted me, although he did hesitate slightly. Then after a short talk, Zane asked if he could spend the night. Nothing too serious happened, we watched a movie together, and the younger man never left my side. He would occasionally turn to me, a small, shy smile on his face. After our movie was over, I decided to go to bed, and we slept next to each other, the younger man never leaving my arm as I left small kiss marks on his almost transparent skin.

I returned from my thoughts, smiling down at my sleeping lover. A soft moan escaped his lips, his body adjusting to face mine. His face snuggling into me slightly as I started to pet his soft, black hair. Realizing that I was awake, Zane opened his eyes, the soft morning light seeped through the window onto his face. He smiled at me and I felt my chest tighten slightly at the sight.

“Good Morning.” I smiled at him, my hand reaching up to caress the side of his face. His hand came to rest on top of mine.

“Morning.” Zane whispered, his voice cracking slightly due to sleeping. I sat up in the bed, and grabbed my phone to check the time. It was already noon.  I flipped open the small phone to see that I had missed 3 text messages and 2 calls, all from Strike.


    ‘Hey Rhodes, There’s only a week til the comp, so get your ass to the studio ASAP.’

Oh shit. I felt fear fill me as I read the text message. It had been sent almost two hours ago, and I felt my chest tighten at the thought of Strike being angry. He had the worst temper of any person I had ever known.  I opened up the next message that was sent an hour ago.


    ‘Dude, seriously. We have to practice our set. Don’t make me drag you and Zane here!’

Shit, he was getting angry.  I opened the last message, which was only ten minutes old.

    ‘GET YOU FUCKING ASS OVER HERE.  NOW!!’

I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, and a picture of Strike appeared on my phone, the words ‘New Text Message’ taunting me from the small device.

    ‘That’s it. I’m breaking into you house.’

Soon after I finished reading the message, a loud pounding could be heard at my front door. The pounding was so loud, it felt as if the whole room was shaking.  Zane shot up at the sound, shock in his eyes.

“Shit!” I scrambled out of bed and ran for the door. I opened the door, a very angry Strike stood before me.  His usually perfect Mohawk was messy, strands of hair falling over his chestnut-colored eyes.

“Dude, I’m so sorry. I just turned my pho-” Strike held up his hand as if to stop my words, then ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

“No excuses.” Strike sighed at me, trying to regain his composure. I saw his gaze shift behind me. I followed his gaze to see Zane walking towards us, his chest bare and small hickeys stood visible on his neck.

“But you’re going to tell me about this later.” Strike said, pushing past me into my apartment.

“Fine.” I said, rubbing my temples with a sigh. “But I’ll tell you after practice, right now I’m going to get changed.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up.” Strike grumbled, landing on the couch with a soft thud.

After Zane and I had both changed, we headed off to the studio.  The building was as empty as always, and we continued our trek up the worn, familiar stairs. Strike opened the heavy wooden door and entered the room, the sound of Luna playing the guitar echoing throughout the room. When she saw us, she stopped playing and looked over to Zane and me.

“Rhodes! Next time you decide to sleep in, turn your phone on!” Luna said, walking over to me, her lips pouted. I chuckled, scratching the back of my head.

“Sorry about that Luna.”  I said, patting her head.  She smiled at me before walking back to her amp and setting her guitar down.

“It’s fine, just as long as you’re ready to play now. You should have seen the look on Strikes face when you weren’t here after an hour. He got so angry that he messed up his always perfect hair!” The short girl giggled, her cousin glaring at her.

Zane chuckled softly behind me, my attention returning to the my lover, his bass now strung over his shoulder and his case on the floor.  I set down my own guitar case and pulled out my black Gibson les Paul.  Various stickers and battle wounds covered the old guitar, but nothing played quite like it. I strung the plain red strap over my shoulder and plugged my guitar in, the soft sound of static emanating from the amp.

“Lets start from the top guys,” I said, getting everyone’s attention “Remember the song order. We have to play up to a half hour of music, which shouldn’t be a problem, but we have a lot of fixing to do.”  I looked over to Strike.

“Ready?”  The man nodded at me in return. He raised his drumstick above his head, four solid click playing before the rest of the band came in.

3 hours of practice went by in a flash. And before we were even aware, it was practically night. We all left to go our separate way, but we were stopped in the lobby when we saw an unfamiliar band walking in. The group was led by a young man. He was humming softly to himself, his hand was being held by a very stubborn looking girl. A small blush colored the girls cheeks. Behind them was a boy with a black guitar case strapped to his back, his gaze never leaving the ground, even when the young man next to him tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

“Hey.”  I approached the group, a smile on my face.The boy who was at the head of the group turned towards me after hearing my voice. “I don’t think I’ve seen you guys around here before. First time here?”

“Yeah,” He said, “ thought it was about time that we went to a professional studio.” He laughed
“my name is Kacey.” The boy extended his free hand, and I took it firmly in mine, shaking his hand. The black-clad girl behind glared at me, almost as if she was angry that I had shook hands with Kacey. Noticing my gaze shift over to the girl, he pulled her hand softly. She stepped forward and looked at me, an annoyed pout on her face.

“This is Becca.” The girl looked annoyed at the boy before she stuck her hand out to me, I shook it softly.

“The shaggy haired one is Noah, and the antisocial one over there is Caleb.” Kacey motioned to the two behind him. Noah, the most mature looking one in the group, nodded to us. The one named Caleb looked to be lost in thought. Kasey looked worried about the distracted boy. The boy finally looked up, he looked like he was troubled, but he still greeted us normally.

“Hello, my name is Caleb.” The boy had brown hair and wore dark clothing. They almost all wore dark clothing, aside from Kaceys red leather jacket. Kasey started talking again, distracting me.

“Our band is called Disappearing Secret.” He said. “And we are going to be competing in the local battle of the bands.”

“Its nice to meet you guys,” I heard Strike talking from behind me, “we are the band Liquid Rage. And I’m Strike.”  I could practically feel Strikes confidence oozing out of him as he talked to members of Disappearing Secret.
“I’m Zane.” I looked to my side to see Zane. His answer was so abrupt, I have never seen him act so out of character.

“And I’m Luna,” she paused, “were you talking about the battle of the bands thats gonna be at The Loft next week?” Luna asked, I turned my attention back to Kacey, anxious to hear his answer.

“Yeah, why?” The teen questioned, his eyes full of question.

“We were planning on competing too, so maybe we will see you guys there.”

“No way,” The teen looked excited, “Thats so cool! I look forward to the competition.”  Kacey smiled, excitement visible in his eyes.

“Well, we have to go practice now, can’t have you guys beating us!” Kacey said, waving goodbye. The rest of the group followed him up the stairs to where the studios were. We all turned our attention back to our own little group, but the silence was short lived.

“Lets go eat!” Strike said, excitedly, walking ahead of the group. Luna sighed behind me.

“Thats all that boy ever thinks about....” She mumbled, following after her older cousin.  I tried to conceal my laughter as I watched the two walk off. I turned around to face Zane, his mind preoccupied.

“Are you okay?” I tried to get his attention, a knot growing in my stomach. Was something bothering him? Zane looked up to me, his eyes still somewhat distracted.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I felt my heart clench in my chest, concern overtaking me. He was acting different today than usual. I quickly wrapped my arms around him tightly, his face burrowing into my shoulder.

“You can talk to me if anything ever starts bothering you.” I loosened my grip on him, until I felt a pair of arms grip my back. Zane was hugging me back.

“Thanks.” he murmured, resting his head on my shoulder and looking up at me. A small smile decorated his face. Zane grip loosened, and we both then continued to follow after the pair of cousins as they made their way out the door and into the busy streets.

***

By the time i had gotten home, it was close to 9 o'clock at night. The whole band had decided to come back to my house for drinks, and before I knew it, Zane was passed out on the couch and Luna had her head rested on his lap, leaving Strike and myself to continue our conversation from earlier that day. I tried to explain the whole situation to him. His face changing expressions from time to time. Then a silence followed.

“So?” I said, looking to Strike, not wanting him to resent me. He has been my best friend since high school, and this was the first time i had ever shown this kind of interest in another guy. I could see his brows furrow as he tried to come up with an response.

“I don’t mind.” He said, “After all, I saw all of this coming.” Strike chuckled softly. I felt surprise and happiness at his statement. I could feel the smile growing on my face.

“Thanks, bro.” I hesitated, “but what do you mean you saw it coming?”

“I don't know.” Strike chuckled, “Just the way you looked at each other when neither of you were looking.” This took me by surprise. I tried to think of any of the times I had looked at Zane behind his back, and laughed at myself when I realized that there were almost too many to count.

“So how about you?” I looked back over to my best friend. “Anyone you are interested in?” My question seemed to take Strike off guard.

“Not really...” Strike said, scratching the back of his head and avoiding my gaze. I wonder what that meant?

“Is something wrong?” I asked, Strike looking back at me.

“Well, I think I might be bisexual.” Strike said, his face reflecting nothing but seriousness. I will admit, I was very surprised. Back in high school, Strike had been a ladies man, I would even say that he was a womanizer. This sudden change of heart was definitely unexpected. I smiled at Strike.

“Dude, you’re my best friend. Did you really think something like this would bother me?”  Strike chuckled.

“I guess not.”