Chapter 10
Austin
My ears rang as I closed the front door behind me, kicked off my shoes, and with a loving pat, put the bass guitar in its stand. Robbie’s parents were awfully nice to let us use their huge farmhouse basement for rehearsals; it spared us the cost of rent. But it also made me feel fourteen again, playing in my first band because my neighbor, Darryl, had told me it was the best way to get girls. So, we’d found a couple friends who were on board with the whole “more girls” idea and started playing, even though none of us knew how.
We’d practiced in Darryl’s basement every week, and his mom had been incredibly patient and rarely yelled down the stairs to “quit that racket right this second.” After those outbursts, she’d always fed us homemade chocolate chip cookies and prai
