8. Recruiting Members

                                    

                                          
"Guys, what do you think of this riff?" Luke began plucking a set of chords on his electric blue guitar. He was sitting on a bar stool while I sitting was criss-crossed on the floor.
                          
Reggie bopped his head along the rhythm. "Sweet. I'm feeling that. And then I come in with a little, uh..." after waiting for the next eighth, he shredded his bass.
                          
"Then Julie and I come in with her killer lyrics," I assured, also banging a little my tambourine.
                          
"And Sunset Curve is reborn." Yes! That was exactly what I needed: a full rehearsal with the band, but now with me actually singing.
                          
"Guys," we stopped when Julie entered the studio. She sounded exhausted slash upset. "You aren't supposed to be out here playing alone."
                          
"But we're not alone, 'cause we always have each other." Luke swung his arm around Reg's shoulder. I was too lazy to stand up, so I just moved my upper body to get closer to them and threw a peace sign.
                          
Tired of our cheesiness, the girl unplugged the bass connected to the amp. What happened for her to get frustrated again? "But... but we had the volume level on one," the guitarist complained, laying aside the instrument dangling on him.
                          
"But we rocked it on volume ten. You want us to play it again?" She proceeded to angrily disconnect the electric guitar. I hugged my tambourine, scared that since she couldn't turn it off, she would throw it out the window. 
                          
"I really don't think she does," Luke whispered, then regained his posture. "We've actually been waiting for you to get home. Okay, so we have some pretty major news to tell you. We had a band meeting earlier, and..." He pointed at us, meaning Reggie slapped his thighs for the drumroll and I shaked my instrument's cymbals. "We wanna invite you to join Sunset Curve. And no, you're not dreaming."
                          
"Oh..."she let out after an uncomfortable pause. Our estatic faces disappeared.
                          
I finally stood up, confused by her answer. I knew she wasn't going to jump all over the place, but I expected at least a brighter reaction. "Oh... uh. She said 'oh', guys."
                          
Luke nervously breathed. "Uh, that's what you say when you get socks on your birthday, not when you're invited to join the most epic band ever."
                          
"Sorry, I'm honored, but I can't think about anything but Flynn right now. She's still mad at me for lying. She hasn't even texted me back." She rested her hand on her hip.
                          
"Yeah, you're in a tough spot..." 
                          
"Totally."
                          
"Yup," Peters continued.
                          
Luke licked his lips. "So you wanna join the band?"
                          
"Read the room, dude." Julie walked away, probably resisting the urge to roll her eyes or kick us out again.
                          
"Where's Alex when you need him?" I muttered to myself. Might as well tell her we raided her room and went through her stuff, am I right? Who would be insane enough to do that?
                          
The sleeveless guy was not going to bulge. "Oh, come on! We need you, and you need us because you need music. We found this poem that you wrote, and Reggie, Liz, and I, we added this really cool melody to it. It sounds awesome."
                          
"Oh no." I screeched aloud. I knew I talked to myself too soon.
                          
"Where'd you find that?"
                          
Luke rapidly shoved Reggie's body as a barrier between him and Julie. "Uh, definitely not your dream box."
                          
I could feel the energy in the room becoming more and more hostile. "You went through my stuff?"
                          
"I- I know that..." he stammered.