Chapter 18: 18

Lee's basement felt comfortable. Once we were down there, Scarlet took the hood off but she kept the sweatshirt on. I didn't mind. It hid how grotesquely thin she was, though I had noticed she looked better since the first time I'd seen her. 

Still, everybody stared at us, which only made Scarlet practically hug my side for safety. And that only made them stare more.

"Dude," Elias said. "Are you two hooking up?"

I shook my head vigorously. "Absolutely not." I patted Scarlet's head reassuringly. "We're just friends is all."

Even though I said it. My face was hot again. I focused intently on a particular point of the floor until I felt the embarrassment go away.

They had gone back to setting up equipment.

A thick extension cord slithered across the floor as Sierra was setting up an amp and pulling it toward her.

I sat down on one of the large Halloween decorations’ totes.

Scarlet followed suit and sat next to me, having to press close.

When Sierra had finished with the sound system, Lee got excited and went from taking selfies with a mic to being all over the equipment.

"Okay, guys," she announced, “let's do this." She gave me a dramatic point. "You're gonna take pics of this historical moment, right?" she asked.

I held up the camera, and made a point of flicking the power on. 

She nodded. They got into their positions. Lee twisted around to count down Sierra. I started snapping photos.

And then the cacophony hit me.

Elias was hitting the bass notes hard. Christian was trying to keep up with the guitar but his fingers were slipping on and off the right frets so he was cutting in and out and Sierra’s beat kept booming oblivious to all of them. And then Lee started to sing. I think that was the worst part. Her voice cracked every time she attempted to emphasize a note and her key was already off.

I kept a straight face but Lee only went for a minute before waving Sierra off. She stopped the beat, and the quiet fell.

She was disappointed. 

I bit my lip.

Scarlet shifted next to me and blinked in bewilderment at the nonsense that just happened.

"Okay," Lee said. She stared into the distance. "Let's try that again." 

I took a deep breath and snapped a candid shot of the frustration on everyone's face. 

If there was something I wanted the world to know about this band, it's that we tried. And we tried hard.

The second attempt went better but still they needed a lot of practice together.

Frustrated, Lee whipped the microphone cord across the floor, watching the wave shoot to where it plugged in.

"Has anyone here actually played in a band before?" I asked.

I had never pondered if any of them had joined the marching band.

Lee shook her head. "I swear to God," she said. "I'm a lot better at violin...in fact," she set the mic down and charged up the basement stairs. Scarlet grabbed my bicep and I looked down at her.

She blinked at me with wide eyes.

"What's up?" I asked.

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again and pressed her face to my shoulder.

I patted her head again.

"Just another hour or so okay?" I asked. "Then we can go home."

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She nodded against my shoulder.

Lee returned, still running but more carefully this time.

She had her violin half tucked under her chin, which looked painful as she hurried to stand in front of her sheet music and looked over the notes briefly.

"Can I have the beat, Si?" She asked our beat magician behind her.

Sierra leaned forward and clicked something on her computer.

The beat by itself was neat and tidy. The rhythm flowed with a one-two-three-four and Lee jumped into the music.

She wasn't lying. My ears weren't trained to hear everything that was wrong but the beats of her violin met the beats of the drums. And she swayed with it as well, so different from her posture before. When she finished three minutes later, she just looked sad. I felt it too.

"We need a vocalist," Elias said quietly.

Frustrated, Lee set her violin down against the amp.

"Not to mention, violin isn't exactly common in a rock band," Lee miserated.

"Why don't you all practice to Sierra's beat while you're at home?" I asked. "It seems like Lee, you can keep the beat fine so you should practice using your voice. Then when we get back together next week, you guys will probably be able to pull it off."

Lee glowered. Elias looked unsure and Christian was trying to count rhythmically in his head. It was apparent keeping focused on the task was a bit difficult for him. But even in the past twenty minutes or so he had made improvement.

"Actually," Lee looked up at Sierra again. "Can you slow that down? Like, maybe half speed? Then we can at least get some use out of this session."

I frowned. I guess she didn't see finding the issues as progress. But to me, it seemed like a pretty important step to become a unified band.

Sierra slowed the beat way down and I saw the value in this too and decided to snap a couple photos of their determination. 

They were going to pull this off. I felt it in my gut, they had every ounce of willpower they needed.

I daydreamed a little bit, seeing them focus on their art tools. Elias and Christian already had thick calluses even though they'd only been playing for a few months. And now that Christian had warmed up a bit, he was getting his chords out cleanly. Elias had backed off how hard he hit the notes and as a result the balance of sound was better, though he still overpowered at times.

Lee struggled. She was frustrated, even if she was putting her all into it.

Scarlet and I watched the group perform. Scarlet's eyes followed them dedicatedly, observing their quirks as they went about their instruments.

When the band had exhausted themselves and Christian's fingers started to bleed from a few fumbles, they stopped and we lounged. It had been a while since we just hung out. I liked catching the breather. I especially liked seeing them feel more united after the disaster of jumping into playing together.

Even Scarlet relaxed. Though she still clung to my arm.

And then they turned to us and the questions were asked 

"Where did you guys meet?" Lee asked.

"Uhm…?" I looked down at Scarlet who simply looked back up at me with frightened eyes. "Is that really important?" I asked. "It's a bit embarrassing."

"What did you think of our song?" Lee asked next.

Scarlet stared at her and hung onto me tighter.

Lee frowned, seeing she was making the little vampire uncomfortable.

"Well," she said. "Anyway… let's meet up like this again next week. Meeting adjourned," she announced.

I let out a breath of relief. I didn't want to make up a story. I hadn't thought this far ahead, after all. I guessed once the police finished their investigation, Scarlet could go back to hiding in the old asylum and our lives would return to normal. 

I hoped.

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