Rock and Roll Chose Me

Chapter 1It was a hole in the wall sort of place. The kind with sticky floors and wobbly tables and plastic cups. Even with a jukebox and a pool table and a stage, it was still a hole in the wall. All in all, this wasn’t the worst bar Colin Hunt had been to, but it did come in the top five, at least. He’d later claim that he was dragged there which was only partially true. Shaun did interrupt him working on a project and didn’t give him much time to get ready; which was why Colin’s hands and jeans and shirt were splattered with paint. But in all honesty, Colin didn’t mind being in places like this. They had character—history in the walls, secrets in the corners, leftover whispers from countless years of bodies pressed against them. “So, is this band any good?” Colin’s eyes trailed over the instruments on the stage again. Patiently waiting to be used, sat a guitar, a bass—both on stands and covered in various stickers—and a microphone stand sans microphone. The sheet pinned up on the wall behind it gently flapped in the friendly breezes of the ceiling fans and boasted the name of the bar. “Dunno.” Shaun ran his index finger around the rim of his cup. “Chick from my four o’clock class told me about them. She’s the drummer, I think.” They were, supposedly, there to check out the band playing tonight. Shaun had told them about the show—Colin and their friend, Liz, still at the bar buying herself a drink. He’d not mentioned anything about a drummer, though. “Thought it’d be cool to check ‘em out.” Shaun, a bit of sweat gleaming off his tawny, brown skin, stopped fidgeting with his cup and finally took a drink. His warm, earthy brown eyes lifted to meet Colin’s. “And, y’know, not stay cooped up on a Friday night.” Colin scoffed. “You act like I want to be cooped up. Not my fault this semester’s been brutal.” Nothing but the truth. Colin’s first semester trying to earn his Masters of Fine Arts had started off brutal and continued on the same downward trajectory. School combined with the added attempts at working a few nights a week in the campus’ coffee shop gave Colin very little downtime. Enter Shaun Thomas: best friend and subtle reminder-er that Colin needed to take some time to relax. They’d met when Colin went to his first campus party and drank way too much. He could barely even get himself back to his building, but somehow, a mystery he still hadn’t solved, he’d managed. What he hadn’t managed was getting into the right room and when Shaun came in the next morning, he found a half-naked, very hungover white boy in his bed. After being chased out and spending a day with his head in a toilet, Colin tracked Shaun down and apologized profusely, completely mortified by the mistake. They’d been friends ever since. “Yeah, yeah.” Shaun waved him off. “We all know you’d ditch us all to hole up in some studio with your paints so you can make out with them.” “Who’s Colin making out with now?” Liz asked as she joined them, drink in hand and lips pursed in a grin. “Anyone I know?” “Hey!” Colin exclaimed. “I haven’t made out with someone in, like, what’s today?” Liz blew a raspberry and shook her head, her long, blonde ponytail swaying back and forth. Her cheeks, as always, had a rosy tinge under her ivory skin, almost as if she’d just run a mile. “Still don’t get how a skinny little shrimp like you gets so much booty.” Shaun shook his head as though actually slighted by this. “What’s your secret, man?” With a chuckle, Colin shrugged, adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses, and took a sip of his drink. Just barely reaching above five feet tall and weighing a little over a hundred pounds, Colin was used to his friends’ teasing. People usually took one look at him—more so when he was younger—and saw the obvious. The short. The skinny. The scrawny. He’d learned a long time ago that what he lacked in size he needed to make up for in personality. Colin liked to believe he’d mastered that art, which was why the friends he made were friends he kept. Maybe he enjoyed a good hook-up over a committed relationship, but he never lied about that. As far as Colin knew there’d never been bad blood between him and any of his former lovers. “It’s the eyes,” Liz said. “Totally endearing. Innocent.” “What?” he asked. “Whose eyes?” “Yours,” she said. She took hold of Colin’s chin. Gave it a squeeze and a shake. “Those baby blues are why you’re so irresistible. And it’s all a big fat lie because there is nothing innocent about you.” Colin laughed. They’d dated a long time ago. High-school-long-time-ago. If that even counted anymore, considering that was back during freshman year. Ninth grade hardly seemed to count, even if they did make out a lot. One drunken rendezvous their first year in college didn’t count either. “Aw, shucks, Lizzie,” Colin cooed. “S’not my fault people never take that expression seriously.” “And what expression would that be?” Shaun asked. “Y’know, that one about the quiet ones?” “Ha!” Shaun exclaimed and slammed a hand down on the table. “We were roommates for two years, man. Hate to burst your bubble, but there’s nothing quiet about you.” “Oh, f**k you.” “You kiss your mama with that mouth?” Colin jabbed Shaun in the arm. A mistake, as usual, though Colin would never admit that. Shaun liked to claim he was made of pure muscle and it did, in fact, hurt Colin’s knuckles enough to pull back with a hiss. Chuckling, Shaun first flexed and then retaliated by grabbing the brim of Colin’s knitted beanie cap and yanking it off his head. “Hey! No!” Colin whined. “Shaun! Not the hat!” Shaun held it far away from him, all the way behind his own back. A playful, slightly gap-toothed grin lit up his face. “What do ya say?” Holding his laced fingers under his chin, Colin pushed out his bottom lip. “Please, Shauny? Gimme my hat back?” “Ah, damn, you’re too much, kid.” He flung the hat back to him. “You’re right, Liz. It is those eyes. Good luck to whoever gets stuck with him.” “Dunno what you’re talking about,” Colin responded as he carefully reapplied the cap over his head, covering messy locks of golden-brown hair. “I’m a f*****g angel.” “Yeah, yeah.” Liz laughed. “We know. I mean really, Colin.” Her face suddenly got quite serious. “Anyone would be lucky as gold to get you.” “Thanks, Liz!” He stuck his tongue out at Shaun, who rolled his eyes and gave him a very pointed, one-fingered gesture. “See? At least someone knows how awesome I am.” “Hey, no foolin’, man. I know how awesome you are. Doesn’t mean I could put up with you. But here’s the secret: it’s just cause I couldn’t resist that little face of yours.” A blush filled Colin’s cheeks. “Aw, you guys are too dang much tonight.” He shook his head. “You know, I don’t really know what I’m looking for right now. Between school and trying to make some money and taking care of Ma…I can’t handle anything serious. Some freaking s*x would be nice, though. Dry spell and all.” Liz rolled her eyes. “What’s dry spell for you?” “Uh, three…weeks?” “For f**k’s sakes, Colin!” Shaun laughed. Shaun opened his mouth again but closed it before anything came out. Eyes going wide and lips stretching into a smile, he pointed toward the stage where the band was now setting up. Three people—two young women and a young man. The girl setting up her drums had her dark hair in a pixie cut, a streak of blue cutting through the front right side. She wiped something off her brow with the back of her arm—both of them lean and well-toned—then continued working. She fiddled with her tongue, playing with the metal piercing as she fixed her seat to where she wanted it. Once finished, she sat and cracked her knuckles, picking up a set of drumsticks like she meant to practice. Before she could do anything, her eyes lit up and a dazzling smile revealed the bronze glow at her cheeks. Next to him, Colin could see Shaun’s hand rise in greeting. “That’s her,” he leaned over and said. “That’s the girl, I mean. From my class.” Colin looked at Shaun watching the drummer as she practiced. A silly little smile twitched on his friend’s lips, a telltale sign that Colin would know anywhere, and he just couldn’t resist. “Well shit.” Colin chuckled. “You have a crush on her, don’t you?” “What?” Shaun looked at him as though slapped on the back of the head. “A crush? What’re we? Twelve?” Colin, chin in his palm, smirked. “You do, don’t you?” “No, I…” His mouth flapped once. Twice. “I mean, I…” Shaun sighed with a shake of his head. “Why you gotta notice everything?” Liz laughed as Colin wiggled his eyebrows and laced his fingers behind his head, haughty and arrogant. “Isn’t it super fun having Colin around?” Liz asked. “Glad you asked him out, huh?” “Eh.” Shaun reached over to pinch Colin’s cheek. “I guess I missed having the little smartass around.” Colin gave them both a big, cheesy grin, shimmying in his seat a bit. He missed this. Missed going out with them on the weekends and during vacations and random days during the week. Drinks and parties, bars and dancing. It’d been so long. Okay, two months wasn’t all that long, but when those two months were nothing but work, work, work, it felt more like years. Colin would’ve said more, but someone in front of the stage caught his attention. He stared for a moment, just to make sure. Colin couldn’t see his face quite clearly but could see that he had his pitch black hair cut short at the sides and the front softly spiked up. It was the tattoo that stood out the most—one with a flaming arrow across the golden skin on his left shoulder. There couldn’t be too many people running around with that exact tattoo. “No way,” Colin murmured to himself. “Hang on, guys,” he said to his friends. “I’ll be right back.” Colin slipped off his seat and made his way over there, where the guy was talking to the other girl up on stage. This one had her hair dyed crayon-red and piled in a messy ponytail high on her head with lots of tendrils falling down around her face. Her pale complexion made the cute trail of freckles that ran right across her nose stand out more. The bass player was the smallest one on stage—still a good two inches taller than Colin, though, and, like the drummer, she had an athletic build. She fussed with the guitar, tuning it so far as Colin could tell, but then, Colin didn’t know all that much about instruments. When Colin got there, he gave the guy a light kick in the ass, interrupting whatever he was saying. He grabbed his behind and spun around, face scandalized and maybe getting ready for a fight. But when he saw Colin’s smiling face, he lit up with recognition, jaw dropping and dark brown eyes going wide. Good thing, too. Not only was he two heads taller than Colin, he’d put on quite a bit of muscle since they last saw each other. A punch from him would likely send Colin flying across the bar. “Get the hell outta here!” he exclaimed. “Colin Hunt!” “Daisuke Yamato!” Colin grinned. “How the f**k are you, Suke?” “I’m great! How long’s it been?” Colin shrugged. “Other than the internet? My senior year, maybe? Summer after?” “You’re still here in Brooklyn, right?” “Yeah. Just started my Master’s program.” “Cool beans, dude,” Daisuke said, then grabbed the brim of Colin’s hat like Shaun had, only instead of taking off, he pulled it down so that it covered Colin’s eyes. “Still see you’re permanently attached to this rag.” “Hey, hey! Hands off the merch! This is my lucky f*****g hat!” Daisuke let go. “Still curse like a sailor, too, huh?” “f**k yeah.” Colin laughed. “Why change what’s worked?” “Hello! Earth to Dexter!” Both Colin and Daisuke turned toward the sound of the shrill, annoyed voice coming from the stage. It was the redhead who yelled, at the guy up on stage presumably, since he was now fumbling about with the microphone stand and trying, unsuccessfully, to pretend not to be staring at Colin. Colin cracked a grin at him, flicked his eyebrows up too, and the guy just stood there, frozen. “Dexter, what the f**k are you doing?” “Jesus, Maddie,” he mumbled, thawed by her voice it would seem. “I’m…” “Stop ogling the pretty guy, finish what you’re doing, and ask Suke for his number later, ‘kay?” She popped a bubble with her pink gum. “This way we can get this show on the road.” “Oh my God.” Dexter buried his face in his hands and spun around. Colin thought he might’ve heard him say that he hated her. She might’ve said he actually loved her. Colin definitely heard Daisuke laugh. It was a shame that Dexter now had his back to all of them, since that quick glimpse of him got Colin’s breath stirring but the back view wasn’t all that bad either, especially in that black leather jacket and those tight blue jeans. Not like the skinny jeans Colin had on, but they were tight enough that Colin could appreciate his nice ass when he bent down to move a few wires around his guitar. Ringlets of fawn-brown hair swung in front of his face, hanging loose to about his jawline. The redhead flipped Dexter off after he said something else and even with his back turned, Colin could tell he laughed at the gesture. “Come on, buddy,” Daisuke said, arm tossed around Colin’s shoulders. “Lemme buy you a drink. We’ll catch up.” “Yeah, cool,” Colin agreed and let Daisuke steer them toward the bar. “So, you know the band?” he asked once they had their drinks. Two ice cold beers. Daisuke smiled and nodded. Started pointing them out, one by one. “Yeah, the guy, that’s Dexter. He’s my roommate. Cool guy. Talent coming out the ass. The drummer, she’s Maya. She’s studying criminal justice.” “Yeah, I know,” Colin said. “My buddy Shaun has a class with her. Think he’s got a thing for her, too.” “No kidding? Maya’s f*****g awesome. Real hardass. Shaun better not try any s**t if he’s gonna make a move. She won’t take any crap.” “Eh.” Colin shrugged and took a sip of his beer, not worried about such matters. “Shaun’s not the game playing type.” Daisuke laughed. “Good to know. The redhead’s Madeline. Maddie, my girlfriend.” He flicked the earring in his right ear, an absent gesture like the piece of jewelry meant something between the two of them. “Know what she does when she’s not doing the band thing?” “No, what?” “She’s a dance instructor.” “No s**t?” “For real! She teaches little kids at a studio. Wants to open her own one day.” They continued to talk for a little while longer, catching up on lost years like not a day had gone by that hadn’t included an interaction between them. Turned out Daisuke was still taking in every stray he came across, even with a roommate, until he found a forever home for them. Made sense that he was now a veterinarian’s assistant. Daisuke, Colin knew, had been born two months premature and with seventy percent hearing loss. He’d gone through a series of hearing aids and the newest editions only needed one battery per year. A huge money saver, according to Daisuke. Colin, having been born unable to hear with his left ear, could relate to the condition. They even ended up in the same speech therapy class in middle school. Despite being three years older and two grades above Colin, Daisuke held the same crowd as him so the conversation naturally flowed to those they’d kept in touch with. Who worked where. Who dated who. Who was engaged. Who was still studying what. They reminisced about old times together—classes they happened to share, teachers they liked, didn’t like, cutting gym, the prom. Daisuke asked if Colin was still, as he put it, majorly into anime and manga and graphic novels. Answers: Yes, yes, and yes. Colin studied various forms of animation and graphic design, including comic art and storyboarding. He figured he’d eventually end up teaching. The idea of actually making it as a storyboard artist wasn’t even worth talking about. Which was why he rarely did. No point, even if he did love it more than anything. So wrapped up in talking with Daisuke, Colin gasped a little when the lights suddenly got dimmer and shadows splashed across the wall. He’d completely forgotten that a band was set to perform. And that he initially came to see them with Shaun and Liz. Who were still at the table somewhere; Colin could no longer see them since the place had gotten ridiculously packed sometime during his conversation with Daisuke. They were gonna be annoyed with him, but forgiveness would be gained after some shameless groveling. “Hello, everybody,” Dexter said into the microphone, lips right up against it as though they were lovers. “We’re The Graveyard Shift.” People started cheering. Loud. Very loud. So loud that it startled Colin. Daisuke laughed at his reaction. “Wow!” Colin shouted over the cheering. “Do they have fans?” “Hell yeah! They’re good! I mean, they mostly do covers right now, you know? Classic Rock covers. But they’re good! Girls go gaga for Dexter. Hell, guys do, too!” Music started up. A quick, upbeat, and familiar tempo. Colin immediately recognized the song, and also saw why anyone would go gaga for Dexter as soon as he started singing. His voice was honey, thick and sweet, slowly spreading over everything it touched. He owned that stage. Colin could sense it already. Knew that no matter what life might throw at that guy, there up on the stage, in front of a microphone, with that guitar in his hands, his fingers plucking the strings with perfect expertise, that’s where he belonged. Strange that Colin hadn’t noticed earlier how beautiful Dexter was. He wasn’t sure how he missed that. Those big gray eyes. Sinfully red lips making love to the mic. Rippled with lean, smooth muscles over long arms and legs. That leather jacket was the only thing he had over his upper body, so Colin could see all the tattoos on his chest. They ran all the way up to his neck, bright against his soft, olive-toned complexion. He had piercings, too. Spacers in both ears and a black ring in the left nostril. A barbell went through his left eyebrow, moving slightly as he sang. And all that expression in his face. Every emotion poured into each song. A pure work of art up on that stage even without the music. Daisuke was right. They were good, so it shouldn’t’ve been surprising that they had fans. Colin laughed when Dexter threw kisses and people started to scream. Maybe he’d be a big rockstar one day—have fans flinging themselves at him. He wondered if he ever wrote his own stuff. He wanted to ask, but between the music and Daisuke’s and his own hearing condition, he couldn’t really get the answer. By the time their first set was done, there were six empty beer bottles in front of Colin, twelve if he counted Daisuke’s, and the room began to spin. The loud ringing in his ear didn’t really help matters. “Whoa…” He got out a giggle and started laughing. Hard. “s**t, I shouldn’t have had so much.” “Sorry, buddy.” Daisuke laughed and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “I kept buying. Oh, man, I remember drunk Colin. Man, you really haven’t changed. You want me to find your friends?” “Uh…” Colin looked out into the crowd. He had zero idea where Shaun and Liz were anymore. “Damn.” “Here.” Daisuke held his hand out. “Gimme your phone. You said Shaun, right?” Nodding, Colin fished it out of his back pocket and handed it over to him. Daisuke went through it, found what he needed, and then held it up to his ear. He pressed one hand against his free ear and then spoke loudly into the mouthpiece. “Not Colin, Colin’s phone! He’s by the bar!” Daisuke shot his arm up in the air, started waving it back and forth. Within a few moments, Colin spotted Shaun and Liz making their way up to the bar and he started waving along with Daisuke. “Hey!” Colin shouted. “There you are!” “Here we are?” Shaun said. “You’re the one who disappeared on us!” “Mmm…” He groaned. Leaned forward and rested his head on Shaun’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I got caught up with Suke.” “Who?” “Daisuke. Me. Hi.” Daisuke held out a hand. “Sorry. It’s my fault.” Shaun shook his hand. “Hey, how ya doin’? You guys know each other?” “They do!” Liz exclaimed. “Daisuke Yamato! Colin, you d**k! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you ran into Suke!” “Hey! Lizzie Carter! How the hell are you? You didn’t tell me you were with Liz, Colin!” Colin moaned again, turning his head, still on Shaun’s shoulder, to face them. “Stop yelling at me. Everyone’s yelling at me.” Lizzie rolled her eyes at him. “Are you really that drunk?” “No.” He closed his eyes. “I’m just faking so you’ll go easy on me. Is it working?” Liz scoffed. “No. Come on. Let’s get you home.” He pouted a little and slid off the stool, holding his arms out so that they’d show him a little mercy and hold onto him, just how he knew they would. One thing he knew about his friends was that they’d dote upon him when he hammed it up. Both of them put arms around him, making sure to hold him up as if he was going to fall over. He wasn’t, but he still allowed them to do it anyway. “Hey, you got my number in your phone, Colin,” Daisuke told him before they left. “And I took yours, ‘kay? I’m calling you during the week. We’ll make plans. Catch up for real.” “f**k yeah.” Colin gave him a thumbs up. “Sounds like a plan.” Colin, between his two friends—both of them probably big enough to carry him—smiled as they all headed outside to hail a cab. It only took a few tries—two passed, one was off duty. When they climbed into the back, Colin made himself comfortable. Cheek cuddled up against Liz’s shoulder, legs draped over Shaun’s lap, punk rock covers of classic rock pumping through his head.