Bryce's Apartment, October 3, 2014, 8:15 AM
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?"
Bryce yanked another drumstick from the kit and hurled it at the heavyset young man in front of him. The man quickly dodged the projectile, which bounced off the door-frame and landed softly on the floor. The other band members kept their distance and watched the showdown with wide eyes.
"Dude, there comes a time when you have to just be done with it. Look, Bryce, you roped me into this band thing seven years ago--"
"SEVEN FUCKING YEARS, LES! Doesn't that mean something to you?"
Les sighed and looked to the ground.
"I mean, I'm not saying it hasn't been fun, okay? I've had more fun than I ever though I would doing this with you--"
"If it's so fun, why are you bailing on us now?"
"Dammit, Bryce, will you let me get a word in edgewise?"
Bryce clenched his jaw and curled his hands into tight fists. He nodded slowly.
"Look, man, you know as well as anyone that I want to do something with my life. And five years ago, I naively thought that we could go places, you know, as a band. Dude, I missed college for this, you know I love you guys."
Bryce grunted, keeping his eyes trained firmly on the doorframe.
"I have to be honest with you, Bryce. I don't think we're going anywhere. We're stuck I'm this no name town in the middle of nowhere."
"Don't you remember why we came here, Les?" Bryce burst out, "We're expanding our goddamn reach, Les!"
The anger hiding behind Les' calm exterior finally came through and he began yelling just as loud as his friend.
"We've been stuck here for three years! How can you possibly believe that we're expanding our reach by settling into some middle of nowhere town? You're fooling yourself! All of you people are stuck here, but not me! I'm done settling!"
Bryce's face turned redder and redder as he listened to Les' words. His fingers dug deeper and deeper into the palms of his hands, drawing a bit of blood on the left side. All at once, though, the tension was gone. Bryce's stance straightened out, his face regaining its normal color, and he lifted one of his hands to give Les a good view of his middle finger.
"Fuck you, Leslie!"
Les raised his hands exasperatedly to show that he was done. He nonchalantly turned around and put his hand on the doorknob.
"You better not open that door," Bryce warned.
Les opened the door without looking back.
"YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE THIS ROOM!" Bryce yelled.
Les strode out into the hallway and left Bryce's life forever, shutting the door behind him. Bryce glared at the closed door for a good two minutes before turning and ramming his fist into the wall, which did not break like he had hoped. He doubled over, grasping his injured hand.
"Shit, I think I broke my hand."
None of the young men cowering in the corner made a move to help him. It was a good idea to make as little physical contact as possible with Bryce when he was this angry. Suddenly, without warning, their lead singer whipped around and glared at them with a manic smile on his face.
"Well, we gonna practice or what?"
***
The Coves, 1:20 PM
"He did us all wrong, dude, let's just leave it be."
Bryce shook his head at the curly-haired man sharing the table with him.
"Jack, I don't think you understand. I can't just leave it be, Les was our guitarist. You can't have a band without a guitarist."
Jack sipped his root beer and chuckled.
"What, do you think guitarists are hard to come by? Every kid who wants to look deep learns how to play guitar."
"Sure, they can play pussy guitar, but we aren't little manchildren who want to impress our high school girlfriends. We play metal."
"I'm telling you, a replacement won't be hard to find. Juat put out an ad on Craigslist or something."
"You don't get it, though. Les has been in the band from the very beginning. You and Roy came in later, but Les has always been, you know, a staple. Hey, yeah, excuse me.."
Bryce broke off to tap a passing waiter on the shoulder and hand him his empty glass.
"Could I get a refill on my tea? Thanks."
Jack snickered.
"I still can't believe you drink iced tea now."
"I'm trying to eat healthy, okay? But you're getting me off topic now. We can hire another guitarist, but we can't hire another Les. It's like he uprooted the whole damn thing with that stunt. God, I've got to calm down before I punch somebody.
Jack smiled and shook his head. He pulled out a laptop from his satchel.
"I'm going to post an ad on Craigslist. We can audition guitarists later in the week."
Bryce snorted and checked his watch, wondering what was taking that waiter so long.
"Whatever."
***
Bryce's Apartment, 9:15 PM
Bryce relaxed on his bead and took another hit from his bong. He flipped to Comedy Central, figuring he could watch some Tosh or Drunk History while he waited for sleep to come to him.
You know what, Bryce thought to himself, screw Les. He thinks he's so much better than all the rest of us because he disses on Driftmore. Who cares that we've spent three years here. I could easily spend three more. They love us at the Snake's Pit; we can score easy money there for years. We've got like a hundred free coupons to Merelli's so we'll never run out of pizza, and Roy's got that job at the theater. We're ptetty much set here. I'm even thinking about getting us a gig in the park. All I have to to is talk to Mark--
Bryce suddenly lost his train of thought, coming to a shocking realization.
"Oh shit," he said aloud, "I've become a local."