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Pierce and the last member of the band joined us. “Hey, hey, hey, if it isn’t the Hunt? I was wondering when you assholeswould show up.” He clapped hands with Ziggy and pulled him into a hug, glaring at me the whole time. “Coleman.”
“Hi, Pierce. Yes, still with Ziggy.” I felt like I better stake my claim and quick, between the way Pierce shot eye-daggers at me and Tad wouldn’t let go of my man.
The last guy rolled his eyes and stuck his hand out for Jinx, who was closest, to shake. “I’m Scotty. You might not remember me.”
“I got you, dude.” Jinx smiled. I think we all liked Scotty better than the rest of the band, and I wondered what the fuck he was still doing with them.
Of course, that’s when they all started fighting, and Pierce was going to be a total dick. “So fuck these clowns. Am I playing the song with you or what?” He held his hands out wide. “Saturday night, right? I was expecting to see a top billing this year, but you haven’t made it yet, huh?”
“Well, considering the Mastersons are running this thing now.” Miami was never one to take being put down. “They needed plenty of time on Saturday night for their bands. You know? ETF, Social Sinners. Maiden Voyage. Heard of them, asshole?”
“Whatever.” Pierce looked back at Ziggy. “Hanging out with us before the show, huh?”
Tad finally let go of Ziggy and looked at me. “Hey, can we talk a second?”
“Sure.” I did not know what Tad had to say, but I hoped it wasn’t something I was going to have to kick his ass over.
We stepped away from the others, who continued to bicker. “I just wanted to say about me and Zig. That was like a long time ago, and it was nothing. We’re only friends now. And nothing is going to change that.”
“Thanks. But you didn’t have to say that.” I knew my man was loyal.
“I know, but I’ve been…” He made a face. “Reevaluating my life choices. And I haven’t always been so nice about things. So if I gave you any other impression, I apologize.”
“You’re fine.”
“Okay.” Miami clapped his hands. “We want to check outotherbands. I think Warrior Black is about to take the big stage. And F-Holes play later.” They’d been at the Richmond festival, and I definitely wanted to check them out again. I thought Legendary from the other fest was also going to be here, but I didn’t know when they would be on. “So go eat and get coffee and we’ll catch up later.” We said our goodbyes and walked away. As soon as we were a few steps away, Miami scoffed. “Social Sinners are better to hang with than these losers.”
Jinx bumped into him. “Knock it off. We need to play nice with Pierce.”
Wolf added, “Scotty is cool. Someone needs to tell him to find a better gig, though.”
But I worried that this was all a bit too much for Ziggy, who was now uncharacteristically quiet.
sixteen
Rocktoberfest Saturday
Iwas barely high. Barely. Did I stress barely?
I would have liked to have had more pot. I scored some from Brock, but it was little more than a pinch. It made two joints. Two.
Of course, I was trying not to partake. I knew I had to get off of it, but I hadn’t even begun to explore meditation, and this festival was a lot. It was fun and we saw a lot of kick-ass bands. And we hung out with Social Sinners a little bit. I swear if Miami fan-boyed over them a little harder, he’d be wearing their shirton stage. That would be a hypocritical riot, and Jinx might kill him over it.
Coleman was incredibly cool. Way too cool, if you asked me. Even when we were hanging out with Surf Sons. At one point, Tad took him to the side and, according to Coleman, confessed that he did not have a thing for me at all. Yay. Well, we fucked around a little back in the day, but it was never anything. And I couldn’t even remember most of it. I had totally been high all the time. As opposed to fucking now.Huh.
Miami banged on the side of the bus. “Come on, princess. Time to go.”
We had done our soundcheck and double-checked our set-ups earlier in the day. We were now headed to the actual show. I was ready for it. I needed to let this pounding energy out the best way I knew how.
As a homeless teenager living at the local lgbtq shelter when I was a kid, I’d been reacquainted with the power of the drums. I had started playing before I’d been kicked out of the house, but it was only banging around. At the shelter a guy volunteered to teach us once a week, and I practiced a lot. Eventually, he said I was better than him, and he gave me a guy’s name who was putting together a new band. I was grateful for the shelter. Things could have been a lot worse, but when I joined Cloven Dogs, I left the shelter to live out of the band van as we toured all over the southeast coast from Daytona to Myrtle Beach, playing any shit hole bar that would take us. Those were the fucking days. I was young and dumb, but I learned fast. And my outlet for my frustrations quickly became my livelihood.
Until one day when we were playing in a little beach bar outside of Fort Lauderdale. Everyone complained about going so far away for a gig, but the lead singer, Joe, swore it would be the best thing ever for us. That a lot of bands were discovered there, and he’d heard a record exec was going to be there. Well,there was no record exec in attendance, but there were three new musicians on the scene who were looking for a drummer. They’d all been at some music school, so I felt they might outclass me or not play the type of hard metal I thrived on.
But when they talked to me after the show, Midnight Hunt was born. I left Cloven Dogs and never looked back.
All these years later, the drums were still my outlet and my livelihood, and I was incredibly grateful for another round with my Midnight Hunt brothers. But I was also about to explode out of my fucking head with all my personal bullshit. And I didn’t even know what it all was. I had a plan for my back. Coleman and I were in a solid place. The first solid relationship I had ever had. And Midnight Hunt was dominating again.
But something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
