Page 1 of Not the Punk

Chapter one

Joe moves to Miami

After a lot of debate, fifty million calls to a realtor, and three flights to Miami to check out properties, I finally settled on a house to rent. I’d mostly lived in apartments over the years in various locations, with the latest being a halfway decent place in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles. Prior to joining my band, Bramble Punk, I had no shot of getting any closer to the city. It was too damned expensive and required multiple roommates just to get by. I’d been pushing it in Lancaster as it was. Ultimately, the rest of the band and the management company were in Miami, so across the country I went. The house was more private than an apartment, with no attached neighbors. I even had a little fenced-in yard.

To be honest, if I hadn’t gotten so close with my bandmate, Kay, I doubt I would have made the move, even with the band’s success.

The moving company was unloading my boxes; granted, it wasn’t all that much, but I was dying to see Kay and Don, so I texted him.

I laughed loudly even though no one was around to hear me, but that text sounded exactly like him. I’d come to appreciate him in a lot of different ways. First and foremost, as my bandmate, but also as a fellow guitarist. We could talk about our art form and music all day long and into the night; secondly, as a quirky fellow who was simply fun to be around. Most importantly, he had become a good friend I trusted and respected. And I loved his quirks. As a Little, he and Don had a fun innocence about them that rubbed off on me quite easily. Not sure if that said more about him or me, but it didn’t really matter. I wanted to see my friends.

He texted me his address, but I already had it anyway. I washed my face and hands and put on a fresh T-shirt, then headed over.

Kay’s house was lovely. I’d been there before, but only as a quick trip. It was kind of set up like a shotgun-style house with the living room in the front, followed by the dining and kitchen, and a sliding glass door out to the back. You could see straight through when you walked in the front door. The bedrooms were to the side. My place was very similar, with the living room and kitchen in the middle, but you couldn’t see out to the back since the slider to the back wasn’t in the line of sight. The primary was on one side and the other two rooms and guest bathroom on the other.

When I got there, both Kay and his Little boyfriend, Don, ran out the front door and hugged me. Don was also the lawyer for MH Management, which was actually our management company run by the former band, Midnight Hunt. I’d idolized the band and the guitarist, Jinx, forever. Jinx had gotten me into Bramble Punk. But when they weren’t working, Don was just a sweet Little who loved Kay and their firefighter Daddy, Saxon.

They both dragged me inside, with one grabbing each of my hands. “We were in the playroom. You gotta come wiff us.” Don tugged on my arm.

“Okay, okay. Jeez. Relax, Max.”

Kay stuck his tongue out at me, but I ignored him and let them lead me to the playroom. They were in the middle of a game called Exploding Kittens. I watched them play for a bit and was really surprised that I wanted to play too. It was kind of like Uno, but with funny cards. I guess I shouldn’t have been taken aback by wanting to be involved, since that was something I already knew about myself. I tended to be a joiner, and I did like games. I wasn’t overly competitive, but a good lively contest was enjoyable as long as no one took it too seriously. I was also a bit lonely and didn’t want to hang out with the other guys in the band. They tended to be too serious, and then there was Pierce.

Pierce Lawrence was our lead singer, and honestly, he could be a bit of a prick. Lately it seemed like he was bringing the others with him. Randy Steele was our drummer, and he was super laid back, but he also tended to back Pierce. I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d skyrocketed in our success since he joined the band, or if Pierce was just that kind of unstoppable force, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t a frontman for nothing.

Dave Beck was the bassist, and like a true rhythm section, he followed Randy. A lot of the time, it seemed like he didn’t have any opinions of his own, but whatever Randy thought, Dave agreed. Too often, Randy agreed with Pierce.

Then there was Matty Allen. He played rhythm guitar. Between him, Kay, and me, we were a six-string force to be reckoned with. An unusual lineup but it was working for us. Matty was probably the quietest one of the bunch, and I didn’t feel like I knew him at all.

And none of them paid a lot of attention to Kay and Donny and their interesting relationship. It was almost like they ignored it. But I’d enjoyed hanging out with them. We would play card games, or color from Don’s never-ending bag of coloring books. Hanging out with them was relaxing—no pressure. Maybe I needed that.

Plus, their firefighter Daddy was hot as fuck, and he had an even hotter friend. I picked up a toy car off the floor and turned it over in my hands. “Um…Kay?”

“Yeah?”

“When do you think your Daddy’s firefighter friend will visit? Before the tour? Maybe?”

“Good question. You mean Colten, right?” Kay raised one eyebrow.

“Um, yeah, I guess…” I tried to play it off, but he knew I wasn’t asking for nothing.

Don laughed. “We should get him out here for sure, right?” He stretched out his leg and pushed his toes against Kay’s.

“Oh. Yeah. We should.” Kay gave me a sly wink.

“Whatever. You two are about as subtle as a…two-ton elephant.”

“That’s not very subtle, huh?” Kay asked.

“Nope.” Don shook his head.

“That’s my point.”

They played the game for a few more minutes, then Don declared himself the winner, which had something to do with the exploding cat card, and they started packing it up.

Kay leaned into my side. “You know…I’ve always wondered what got you started playing guitar. Like we all have a story, but I really don’t know yours. I just know that Jinx brought you on.”

“He did. But my story goes back a lot further than that.” I pursed my lips together, wondering how much I wanted to share, which honestly wasn’t a lot. The story wasn’t pretty or happy or anything like that. “Well, after some hard times, I met someone who taught me to play. His name was Telly Newman. He wasn’t like super famous or anything, but he got around. Played on some really cool albums. You know?”