The New Member

Tony and I were driving to the practice space. Tour was starting soon and we still had to figure out the whole set up. We couldn’t use previous set ups because they now had an extra person to fit in. Today was going to be tiring. We drove through the parking lot and parked the closest we could to the building. It was a plain old warehouse that was one story high.
“You ready?” Tony asked while taking his keys out of the ignition.
“Yes… It will be weird to not be playing with my own personal guitars…”
“Well, you could play with them, we can take them along.”
“I know,” I sighed, “I just don’t think I should. I trust the guitar techs, but I’d rather leave them at home.”
“Maybe you’ll find your new favourite guitar.” Tony smiled.
“Yeah right, nothing’s going to replace my grandfather’s guitar.”
“Hmm, it is a great guitar.”

Tony stepped out of the car and I followed behind him. We entered the building through a heavy dark green door. The others were already surrounded by techs and were playing around with their instruments. I placed my bag on a small table that was placed in the left corner and walked back to Tony.
“There’s my favourite couple!” Vic called out.
Tony looked at me with a panicked expression. Shit, how are we going to get out of this? We really didn’t think our plan through. Improvisation mode: activated.
“umm.” I murmured.
“What?” Vic asked.
“We aren’t together, Vic.” I explained.
“What about that kiss then?”
“An accident.” I simply stated.
“And the cute stuff afterwards?”
“Didn’t happen.” Tony made clear.
“But-”
“Can we just stop talking about this! Please!” I shouted. Everyone turned to look at me. 10 different pairs of eyes were staring at me.
“Umm, yea, sorry.” Vic uttered.

That went well. They won’t bother Tony and I anymore. I stomped off towards the guitar that was laid out for me. I had to make people think I was annoyed. I turned to look at Tony and gave him a wink, he returned a thumbs up. Improvisation mode: deactivated.

----
“So, Mike you stay at your drums, same spot as always. Tony, you stand to the left of me and Jaime and Noortje you stand to the right. Make sense?” Vic demonstrated.
We all nodded and took our places and went through the first song. All went well and only some of the amp setting had to be changed. We went through a few more songs from A Flair For The Dramatic, Selfish Machines, and Collide With The Sky.
“Ok guys, let’s go through the songs from the new album.” Vic shouted out.
When playing these songs there were many more mistakes. Sometimes somebody started playing the wrong verse, or they completely forgot a whole part of the song. But the mistakes were fixed in a matter of minutes. That was, until we got to a song where I had a solo part. We went over it 10 times and I still couldn’t get it right.
I was starting to get frustrated, “Fucking- Why can’t I get it right!”
“We can switch parts if you want, Noortje.” Tony suggested.
“No, I am determined to get this right. Why don’t you guys take a break and I will try to get it right.”
“Are you sure?” Jaime asked.
“Yes.”
The guys didn’t complain and put down their instruments. They walked over to the table and sat down. I stayed on the small stage was built and sat on one of the make-shit raisers. I went through the solo and messed up again. Maybe I should start slower and slowly go faster until I get to the right speed? Yes, that will probably work. I went through the part snail paced and still messed up. I let out a frustrated groan and rested my head in my hands. I sat there for a while calming myself down when my hands were pulled away from my face.
“Play it again, slowly, and I’ll help you.” Tony sat kneeled in front of me.
I started playing again and got to the part that I always fucked up.
“Ah, here. This where you go wrong. If you use your middle finger instead of your ring finger, you’ll be able to make the stretch with your pinky a lot easier.” He picked up my fingers and carefully placed them each on a fret.
I played through the part which I always messed up and actually did it without failing.
“You see! Now play the whole thing.”
I did as I was told and after playing it a few times through, remembering to place the right finger on the right fret, I finally perfected it. I smiled up at Tony and gave him a hug.

Vic’s POV
I was startled to find out that Tony and Noortje weren’t together, as in relationship together. I seriously thought that after the kiss they shared at my house, they would be all over eachother. But my assumptions were wrong. Noortje even got mad when I was asking about it. Something happened between them, but I don’t know what.
My thoughts were stopped by a sigh that came from besides me. Tony stood up and walked over to Noortje. So they were still on good terms, but what happened? Tony kneeled in front of Noortje and removed her hands from her face. She looked up at him and immediately smiled. It was so cute how they interacted with each other. He took her hand and placed it on the guitar in a different position to what she had it in before. Noortje played the song again and beamed when she finally played it without faults.

“Hey guys.” I said the Jaime and Mike.
“Hmm?” They said with their mouths full of food.
“Look.” I motioned towards Noortje and Tony.
“What’s going on between them?” Mike asked.
“Apparently nothing. Noortje blew up on my earlier when I asked them about it. But they still seem like best friends.” I told them.
“Maybe they just thought it was better to stay best friends?” Jaime suggested.
“Possible.” Mike nodded.
“I just think they need to be together. Just look at them.”
“They are cute.” Jaime agreed.
“Well, what you going to do about it?” Mike inquired.
“Tour…”
I had a plan and it better work.

Notes