Drum's heartbeat

Storm

Storm POV:

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* I bang on the door hard since none of these losers actually have good hearing.

“Hey! open the f**k up, before I s**t on the hood of the bus!” I yell at the door of the tour bus that finally opens.

“Thank fuck.” I say as I stride past a groupie wearing nothing but pasties of the band’s logo, and Dasie dukes and head towards the small bathroom in the bus.

As I’m sitting on the toilet I hear our keyboardist call out to me.

“Hey Storm, try to show our poor toilet some mercy! And spray some febreze will you? The Hawaiian aloha scented one. That’s my favorite.”

“f**k you, Jax!” I yell at him and he laughs.

Today has been a stressful day but having arguments with my bandmates who are also my best friends always seems to relax me oddly.

The show was sold out and was very successful but behind the scenes, our band manager, Pete, was pushing us to write more songs and release more albums, but I hate working rushed. The songs end up s**t when we do.

As I’m sitting on the toilet I get a text from our drummer keal. Keal and I have never really seen eye to eye but he has been the best drummer we’ve ever had. Too bad he’s a dip s**t. Grayson our background singer is his brother and not too long ago he just had a big argument with keal.

Keal: [Hey Storm, do you have some time? I need to talk to you right quick.]

I sigh and type back my reply.

Storm: [Yeah, give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you outside of the bus.]

Keal: [Good.]

I’m surprised to see keal not cussing me out. Usually, when he’s mad at someone he is mad at everyone who breaths his air.

As I’m leaving the bus I see keal drinking from a bottle of jack and he points it at me clearly drunk out of his mind.

“Want some?”

I shake my head. “Nah, I’m good.”

Then he takes the bottle and smashes it against the wall outside of the venue. Glass falls everywhere some shards hitting me.

“Thank f**k you are done with that bottle, you are already a ticking time bomb as is, and now you are a drunk ticking time bomb,” I tell him upset.

“I didn’t call you over to lecture me Storm, I get enough of that s**t from my brother.”

“Then why the hell did you call me over Keal? To have a witness to your bottle smashing show?”

Keal approaches me and pushes me back with anger written all over his face.

“Because I quit! I don’t wanna f*****g be in this lame-ass band anymore!”

Well, this is not surprising.

“Lame ass band Keal? We have sold out every single one of our shows thus far. I’m sure we’re doing pretty great.”

He laughs bitterly.

“Well have fun trying to find a new drummer before your next show. One that’s half as good as I am.”

I push him back as he leans into me, and I want so badly to punch him in his very punchable face.

“What the f**k did your brother tell you to get you this pissed?... You know what, on second thought... I don’t give a f**k. If you wanna leave, then leave we’ll be better off anyway.” I tell him and he looks around suspiciously before punching me square in the jaw.

I quickly grab his drunk ass and punch him hard in the stomach. He doubles over with a groan and vomits everywhere. I wipe away at the cut on my jaw and he finally looks up at me as if he regretted punching me.

“I’ll call you a cab, then I want you to get in that cab and never talk to us ever again. Understand?”

He gets up slowly and mumbles, “what the f**k ever.” That was the last thing he said before walking away.

“I’ll get my own cab, s**t head!” He says while flicking me off and leaving.

Well, this has to be one of the worst days in my career why? Because not only do we have manager problems but now we’re about to have a lot more once he finds out we lost our drummer, with our next show just a few months away.

“s**t!” I swear before kicking what’s left of the bottle that keal threw. The door of the bus opens and shuts and Steel walks out looking concerned.

“What the f**k happened out here? What happened to your jaw?” Steel, our bassist asks.

I groan frustrated.

“Where is Grayson?”

He shrugs.

“I think he is hanging out with some girls backstage, why?”

“We just lost our drummer.”

“What?! The hell are you talking about Storm? Where did he go?” He asks livid and I shrug.

“Beats me. I’m going to take a nap.” I tell him but he stops me.

“No your not. Our manager hired us an assistant, why? I don’t f*****g know why. He hasn’t told me yet, but she will be here in a few minutes, and she will be traveling with us. At least take the time to say Hello to her.” He says with a sigh as he walks away.

I’m not in the mood to meet anyone today. Whoever meets me today will be meeting the dark side of me, and that’s not good for first impressions.

I might as well at least try to look good. I look like s**t after the shows. Sweaty, hair a mess, and weird stains on my shirt that I’m not sure what is from.

I quickly make my way into the bus and into the small shower. I undress and wait for the water to get hot before stepping in and washing away all the negative things that happened today.

I hear the boys laughing and fooling around as I take a shower but then I hear a beautiful, shy voice of a young woman. It’s soft and angel-like. I can’t quite pick up on what she is saying. I wonder if that’s our new assistant and if she looks as angelic as she sounds.

I step out of the shower and dry off. Then it hits me. s**t! I forgot to bring a change of clothes! f**k it. I tie the towel around my hips tightly, making sure it won’t fall off, then I slowly step out of the shower not wanting to give myself too much attention but unfortunately everyone in the bus turns to face me and I see her.

Wow. She does have a face of an angel but she looks as punk as the rest of us with her ripped jeans and a band t-shirt with our logo on it. She has long brown curls that look like a beautiful lion’s main around her gorgeous face and coffee-colored eyes. But what takes me off guard the most is the way she is looking at me. She looks at my half-naked body in a desired way before blushing and looking back at the rest of the guys.

“Hey storm, will it kill you to wear some pants?” Jax asks me and I flick him off.

“I was just about to do that, but first...” I say as I walk up to this beautiful woman and I shake her hand. Her dark brown eyes never leaving mine.

“Storm.”

“Zoe,” she says softly with a smile.

“So you are our new assistant?”

She nods proudly.

“Sure am. It was a little last minute. I mean literally. Your manager just called me yesterday and told me to help you find a new drummer.”

I look at her confused, with a head tilt.

“How would our manager know that Keal was going to quit today?”

She shrugs.

“He didn’t really tell me any details, just that I would be able to help you all find a new drummer fast.”

I mean as the manager he should be the one helping us find a new drummer, what the hell is he up to? Is he the reason Keal quit?

“Okay then. Are you from here?”

She nods, and her curls bounce a bit.

“I grew up in North Carolina but I was born here in Reno Nevada.”

“Sweet. Well, it’s nice meeting you Zoe, but if you don’t mind I’m going to step out and have a smoke.” I tell her as I walk past her and I hear her chuckle.

“You’re going to step out in nothing but a towel?” She asks and I look down remembering I’m still half-naked. The guys laugh, probably remembering when I stepped out of the bus wearing a banana speedo as a dare one time. I’m just glad they didn’t bring it up.

“s**t. Thanks for reminding me.” I say with an embarrassed smile and walk to my top bunk bed and grab clothes off it before heading to the bathroom to change.