Drum's heartbeat

Father above all

Once I arrive at my house I give the cab driver a big tip for his patience and unload my luggage and sling my guitar over my shoulder.

I walk up to the house and I’m about to knock but then I hear people laughing and talking loudly from the back yard. Oh yeah, mom’s famous barbecue nights, how could I forget?

Instead of knocking I open the side gate and walk to the back yard where a lot of my family eats messy wings that smell amazing, and once my mom sees me she yells in surprise. I hadn’t told her I was coming over and she cries loudly as she runs up to me and nearly tackles me to the ground.

“My baby!” She says hug me and I hug her tightly as I let the healing hug of a loving mother fill me. I shouldn’t have waited this long to see her.

“Hey, mom. I missed you.” I tell her as we pull away then I hear my dad’s booming voice behind me.

“Gavin? I’ll be damned, is that really you son?” I turn to face my dad and hug him tightly as well.

“Hey, dad.”

He pulls away and shakes his head as if he can’t believe I’m really there.

“We’ve all missed you, Gavin. Texting every once in a blue moon isn’t enough for us. However, I must admit that I’m so proud of you and the band.”

God, I feel so guilty. I’m my parent’s only child and I’ve been so distant.

“I’m sorry for not communicating often. And thank you.”

Soon more family members run up to me and hug me. Were definitely the hugging type of people.

“Come eat Gavin. We’ve got burgers, wings, hotdogs...” mom says as she gets me a paper plate and a napkin.

“Thanks, mom. I’m starving. Dippin dots don’t nearly have enough protein.” I tell her and she giggles.

“I remember you being obsessed with that ice cream as a kid. How is Grayson, steel, and Jax doing?”

“They’re better than ever.”

“And that new girl. The cute drummer?” She asks with a smirk and I sigh.

“What do you know mom?” I ask her and she gives me a knowing look.

“All I know is that you seem pretty friendly with her in pictures taken by paparazzi, and in interviews. Is there something going on there?” She asks as I prepare a burger.

“I like her okay? Since she joined the band she’s been a really good friend, but more than that I just feel drawn to her.”

I leave out the fact that we’ve been at it like horny teenagers, and keep it PG.

“Oh, I just knew it! I knew my son was in love!”

“In love? Mom, what are you talking about?”

She laughs and shakes her head.

“Don’t argue with your mother, you know I’m always right.” She says as she makes herself a hotdog, and she has a point. Very rarely is my mother ever wrong.

“Is she in Nevada?”

I nod.

“Then invite her over! We have plenty of food and drinks, nonalcoholic drinks of course but I did make plenty of my famous lemonade.”

“She may be busy, but I’ll let her know mom,” I say as I take a bite from my burger. As I sit at the picnic table and eat I notice my dad has swooped my mother into his arms and danced with her to a Frank Sinatra song. I’m convinced those two have never fallen out of love and that’s just beautiful. Images of Milos’s handsome face and sweet smile invaded my mind. I have experienced that love before, and now, I fear it might be happing again.

***

Zoe POV:

“Dad?” I ask looking for him at Mom’s house.

“He’s in the basement sweetheart,” Mom says as she passes me with a trashcan from the kitchen.

“Thanks.” I walk towards the basement and I hear something I haven’t heard in so long. I walk into the basement to see my dad play his drums, which he hasn’t in so long. He plays an old song from his band and loses himself in it.

“Hey, dad.” He looks up to me and stops playing.

“Hey, Zoe. Do you remember when I first taught you this song? You were about 5 and I knew you had my gift then.”

I nod with a smile. That was a good memory.

“I’m glad to see you play. What inspired you.”

He looks at me thoughtfully.

“You did. The passion you have for music triggered mine.”

“So, you and mom? Are you two back together?” I ask him and he shrugs.

“Your mother and I are never 100 percent apart from each other, there is still a part of us that find each other in the end.”

I smile warmly and he chuckles.

“Do you know how your mother and I met?”

“Um, something about you playing her a song. I don’t know all the details.”

“Come sit.” He says as he scoots over to give me space on his bench behind the drums.

“When I met your mother she was about 10 years old and I was 13. As I kid I always had a pair of drumsticks with me and one day while walking around Walmart with my dad, I saw a crying girl who was away from her parents so I decided maybe I could show her a cool trick with my drumsticks to entertain her and she stopped crying as I spun my sticks and played a cool beat using things around Walmart.”

“Cute! What happened afterward?”

“Well, she just watched me hypnotized until I stopped and asked her her name. She told me her name was Lee and that she thought I was cute. A year later I found out she started going to my school and we became best friends. As we got older we started dating and we were just so happy together.”

He says in a sad way that makes me wonder where they went wrong.

“Sounds like a sweet story.”

Dad looks at me curiously then changes the subject.

“What’s your deal with you and that Storm guy?”

“Nothing dad, we’re just...”

“Don’t lie to me, Zoe. I saw the way he protects you. He’s in love with you.”

I gasp and laugh.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about dad. You’re reading into things again. But I am attracted to him. Can you blame me?”

He sighs and shakes his head.

“I can’t, just please be careful.”

“Dad... you can trust Storm.”

“Maybe, but you’re still my baby girl and I’m just making sure you do better than I did in life. I do like the way he protected you, though, I know you don’t need it.”

“I know dad. I love you.”

“I love you too. Wanna play?” He asks spinning the sticks and I nod happily.

I feel bad for assuming my father was going to hate me for being in the band. But he is surprisingly coming to terms with it. Even crazier than that, he might approve of Storm.