The South Side

Chapter 5

Sue opened the door and walked right in, while Ryder quickly followed behind. However, instead of immediately walking into a bar like he had assumed, Ryder found himself at the top of a poorly lit stairway, but before he had time to observe the area, Sue was already halfway down the stairs. With that, Ryder quickly scrabbled after her, nearly tripping on a poorly done concete patch job in the process.

The lower he descended, the louder it got until finally he reached the bottom. Once he reached the bottom, he looked around in awe. The stairs led him right next to the beaten up, wood bartop at the back of the room, and the room itself was full and lively, nothing like he had expected. Everything in the room was worn and old, practically looking as though it could collapse at any moment, yet at a second glance, it further enhanced the character of the bar.

The back half of the bar had small, round high top tables with no chairs, while the half of the room further away from Ryder had no furniture at all. The bar was chaotic and swarming with people, but once he realized what was at the opposite side of the room, it was as though all of that disappeared.

On the opposite side of the room stood a stage. Now, most people would not have given that stage a second thought, but as a musican, Ryder was stopped dead in his tracks.

Ryder had performed on a countless number of stages, from small bars in his start up days to giant stadiums on his most recent tour. However, the stage felt different. No, it was different and Ryder was sure of it. Although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, he was determined to find out.

Yet after gazing at the stage for a while, Ryder was quite literally knocked out of his thoughts. One moment he had been staring at he stage and the next he found himself on the floor.

"I'm sorry about that! Bit in a rush!" a bold, confident voice shouted above the buzzing atmosphere of the bar, "I'd help you up, but my hands are full! Oh hey! Max! Help the guy up, will ya? Thanks!"

Once identifying the direction the voice came from, Ryder turned to find who had just knocked him over, yet he only found a beatup guitar case retreating into the crowd. After sitting there for a few moments confused, Ryder found a hand in front of him. It was callused and covered in various cuts that had long scabbed over and a few scattered bandages that looked to be new. Ryder reached out with his right hand and found himself quickly pulled to his feet.

"You okay there kid?" the man who had helped him up questioned. His voice was deep and raspy, while the man himself smelt a bit of beer and cigarettes.

"Yes, thanks... Max, right?" Ryder responded with uncertainty.

"Yup, and sorry about the fall. She's normally not like. Well... actually, nevermind," Max spoke while shaking his head with what appeared to be a nearly exasperated expression.

Ryder looked at Max with a bit of confusion. Why was he apologizing for the girl's actions? He thought.

"There's no need for you to apologise," Ryder stated, "You hadn't been the one to knock me over, and you helped me to my feet. If anything, she should be apologising."

Max looked at Ryder. He scanned him over from head to toe, and after a good minute of staring and a great deal of discomfort on Ryder's part, Max spoke up. "You're not from here, are you?" he stated confidently.

Ryder looked at him sheepishly. "Was it that obvious?" he asked awkwardly.

Max chuckled. "I'd say so. I don't know how I didn't think of it earlier. Well, I guess it doesn't happen enough for me to think about it. Anyways, I've never seen you around here before and your reaction to Jade was the most obvious give away."

"Jade?" Ryder questioned.

"Ah ya, the girl who knocked you over. Everyone around here knows her, so your reaction was a bit out of the ordinary."

"Oh... is she a regular here? I saw a guitar case on her, so she must have a weekly gig if she's pretty well known." Ryder was familar with how local bars work, so he quickly deduced this. To build a fanbase, musicians would attempt to get a regular gig and frequent the same places often. "She's looking to go pro, right?"

It was at Ryder's last sentance that Max started to laugh. "Go pro? Kid, that's not how things work around here. Plus, what attention would anyone be able to gain around here?"

Ryder just stared at Max for a bit and pondered upon what he had just been told. His attention got caught on a singular point, Why did Roy say things the way he did? It would be reasonable if not being able to gain attention wasn't the way things worked around here, but that was a different point entirely, he thought to himself, So if that's not the case, then how do things work around here?

Although Ryder was a musician, it does not mean he lacked smarts. In fact, his ability to think on his toes was the only reason he survived the twisted politics of the music industry, but it was also because of his ability that he was able to catch that Max's words had an underlying meaning.

Before Ryder had the chance to question Max, he heard a familiar voice. "There ya are suga'. I was wonderin' where ya went. I went off to find Rick, and ya gone and disapear."

"Sorry about that Sue," Ryder said, "I got a bit turned about."

"That's alright. I see ya've met Max," she smiles warmly.

Max snorted, "More like Jade knocked him on his ass and threw the responsibility on me again."

"Jade's back?" Sue said in delightful surprised, "For how long?"

"I'd say it's been about a month. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you, but you should probably help this poor kid here out first."

"Oh, ya right, I'll see ya in a bit," she said as she turned to Ryder, "Follow me, Jackson. I'll take ya to Rick."

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A/N: So... i just realized that the word count is off. The app and the website give me different numbers and I have no clue why. T-T HOWEVER, I'm just gonna ignore that and feel proud of myself anyways. 

Oh sidenote btw: I'm super sleep deprived so idk how this chapter just went, so sorry just in case lol. For the most part I just posted what I had  (^～^;)ゞ

Word count: 1034
Date chapter finished: 10/23/2022
Date chapter published: 10/23/2022