36 days, Katerina Rose [red queen ebook txt] 📗

a tank. I had thrown my hair up in a bun and grabbed my guitar on the way out of the bus. I wasn’t sure what kind of scene I would walk into today. I wasn’t totally convinced Kat had been asleep during Daniel and I’s conversation just a thin wall over so I wasn’t sure what kind of girl drama she would inflict on me today but I had sound check and this band came first so she’d have to leave me alone for at least the next hour.

“Nice of you to join us “Alex welcomed me in sarcasm. “You look like you had a rough one”
“Well we can’t all get up at the crack of dawn to put our make up on” I looked over at kat. Done up to the nines, skinny jeans, heels, a tank that she no doubt bought at the baby gap. Clearly she was starting a fashion war with me to lour Daniel in. Funny that she’ll be the only one playing. Clearly I had lost when I got dressed this morning in last nights tank and jeans.

“Some of us care what we represent” She said

“Whore?” I let slip, “You got that covered sister” and smiled at her.

“What did you say to me?” she dropped the mic she had been adjusting and walked towards me. As if she wasn’t already tall, who needed taller heels if they were already tall? That seemed like a ridiculous waste of money.

“Whoa whoa Whoa!” Alex got between us as she got close enough to tower over me. As if Daniel would ever go for tall girls in heels, didn’t she know him at all!?

Alex looked at me “What the heck is going on here?”

I heard Daniel and Levi walk up just then.

“Girl fight?!” I heard Levi’s excitement. He was so 21.

I turned around to face them “No, Kat was just showing me how tall her heels were” I turned back around to her.

She fake smiled and walked back to her mic.

She knew she couldn’t tell anyone why we were fighting because she’d never win Daniel that way, and she knew if I had covered for her then I wasn’t going to spill it so we had an unspoken agreement to not speak of this. Thank God!

Alex looked puzzled for a moment and shook his head and walked down the stage steps calling out that he’d be in the sound booth over his shoulder as he walked down the isle of the auditorium and left the 4 of us on stage.

I looked over at Kat and she was angrily fidgeting with everything she could find to my left.

I pulled my guitar strap up and over my head and took my position in the front. Levi took a seat at the drums and clicked his sticks together behind me and to my right was Daniel with his electric, poised and ready to go.

I looked up to the sound booth and saw Alex give us the signal to start.

2 mins later we were cut. Kat was off, and Alex said I was flat.

We restarted.

We ran through 3 songs and he interrupted again.

The tempo was off and I was off on the chords.

We started again.

an hour later we all emerged from the worse sound check we’ve ever had and were met by Alex back stage.

“Well hi guys I’m alex I don’t think any of us have met before? Because it sure as hell sounds like none of you have played an instrument before now” He scolded. “ do any of you have anything to say for yourselves?”

Levi raised his hand “In my defense I can only follow a tempo of a guitar that doesn’t suck” he smiled

Alex sighed and shook his head. “Daniel, Levi your dismissed.”

Daniel stared to walk off looking at me, he realized levi wasn’t behind him and he turned around and grabbed him by the arm. I heard levi complain he couldn’t hear kat and I get yelled at as he was pulled down the hallway.

“Laides” he turned to us “Either of you want to explain what’s going on between you two?”
Kat didn’t look at him.

“Nothing Alex, we had a spat, but we are girls and we do that sometimes, we’ll get over it, I promise we’ll be fine by tonight I’m sorry” I said taking responsibility for something I didn’t start to begin with. As always I take the heat for everything.

He sighed “Look guys, this is your chance to shine, not mine. At the end of this tour they won’t know who I am but you guys will get to the top if you do this right and not let petty crap come between you. You two have been friends forever, now I think I know what’s going on here and the only thing I have to say is everyone on this band is replaceable so if you don’t get it together I can replace members so no one is fighting” he looked into my eyes.

A chill ran through me, I knew he knew and I felt like a moron.

Alex was a huge part of my life, he was like the older brother I never had. He was always looking out for me the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint him. He took time out of his life to come on this tour; I knew this needed to stop here.

I shook my head to tell him I understood and he walked off down the hallway.
Kat started to walk away and I grabbed her arm.

“Let go” she turned around and looked at me

“Kat seriously, we need to let this go”

“Let what go? I’m perfectly fine” she spat.

“Look, I don’t have a claim on Daniel, I’m with Jason, I’m not fighting you for him, he’s all yours” I let go of her and put my hands up “I’m done with this”

She walked off down the hallway. Her arms crossed.

I didn’t know if she believed me or not but at the very least maybe she’d stop being a bitch to me long enough to get through tonight.

God just let me make it through tonight…
Chapter 3

The lights out, no light but the one over the stage and even it was dimmed. I was seated on the edge of the stage, my guitar down to my side, and Daniel was playing his acoustic next to me. We were writing another song together, something Alex insisted on which was a surprise because of everything going on, but Daniel of course agreed before I got a chance to say no.

The rest of the band was back in the bus, we were told to take advantage of the empty auditorium that night. Alex gave us a few hours to ourselves; he said the band needed a new song to ensure the value of another album and a second tour.
Daniel strummed; I watched each stroke of his hand. I could see the veins and they looked just as soft as they felt.

We had only written a few lines so far and he started singing them. His voice was raspy and sent me into a trance like it always used to, back before this band even started. I remembered back to the garage sessions him and I would have. Just us and our guitars; our voices mixed well I always thought so, I missed those days. Back when things weren’t complicated, and I was in denial of his feelings for me. But then again maybe I didn’t want to not know what he was thinking. Honestly all I wanted to do now was repeat the moment between us 3 weeks ago back in Tennessee.

“What do you think of that?” he stopped strumming and looked at me.

I realized I hadn’t been paying attention; I had just been lost in a trance of him.
“Oh, Um, it’s good” I said looking at the stuff he had scribbled out on the paper oh his lap.

“Did you even hear it?” he smiled at me. “Looked like you were somewhere else”

I sighed. “Kind of”

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Just miss old times” I half smiled at him

He returned the smile. “Senior year when we started this whole band”

I nodded.

“Yeah I miss it too” – “I think I miss the times like this the most, we had more of a connection when we were writing music, I don’t think I ever had more fun than when we were writing music”

“Me too” I smiled “It seemed to come a lot easier to me back then” I said picking up the notebook from his lap and looking at the few lines we had written.

“I think we are putting too much thought into this, when we used to do this it came naturally” he said “I think we should just play and see what comes out?” he said motioned for me to pick up my guitar.

I started playing the chords he had already been playing, he joined in and we played the same few chords over and over.

Daniel started singing the lines we had written and I picked up where he dropped off with a few more lines that he jotted down as I sang. I lost myself in the moment and kept finding the right words.

The chorus came to me quickly; the same line kept hitting me in the face “Take me back” I kept playing and mumbling that line.

Daniel started singing, the lines fell off his lips like honey and it pieced together like it used to, so quickly, it felt so right.

I looked up as he continued playing, and piecing things together, and I let my memory take me back to the days when his friendship was all I needed.

We had been friends since middle school, he had been the only boy to stick up for me, and protect me when we were younger, as we got older and high school came, I fell back to him with every heart ache of a relationship gone wrong. He was my constant, and my best friend. I confided everything in him. He sadly knew more about me than I had even let Jason know.

When we dated for those two weeks he was right, I ran from him. The fear of losing his friendship over came me and I