death's seen a double bed » joetrick

[5] Kiss Me, I'm Straight-Edge

[October 2000]

"I see that you've been inspired by our lord and saviour, Buzz Lightyear!" Andy smirked at me, sitting crosslegged on Patrick's couch. His room was a complete mess, full of all sorts of posters, records and instruments. He even had a fucking trumpet, goddamnit!

"Yeah. I kinda prefer cartoons over normal movies lately. My brother, Sam, is obsessed with Toy Story," I said, laying on the couch and staring at the big David Bowie poster on Patrick's wall.

"Nice," Patrick sighed, getting up and walking to his record player. "Heard about Elvis?"

"Of course I heard about Elvis Presley, what kind of question is that?"

"Not Presley, idiot. Costello. Declan Patrick MacManus. Dad named me after him."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Let's hear it."

Patrick reached out to the upper shelf full of records and got one out, entitled 'Blood and Chocolate'. He carefully pulled the solid white disc, placed it on the player, pushed the start button and we watched the arm of the turntable slowly move and land on the edge of the vinyl.

The song started off with a crisp sound, diving right into a little riff and loud vocals. I didn't really want to say this to Patrick, but the first song was pretty boring. Andy was quiet, staring at how Patrick was humming the melody and following the beat with his hands on his thighs.

"So... How did you two meet?" I asked Andy, trying to kill the awkward silence that settled upon us.

"Well, me and Patrick play drums and we both tried to get a spot in the same band a while ago, but apparently we weren't good enough to please their needs."

"We basically became friends by complaining," Patrick stated, bumping Andy in the shoulder. He lost his smile right after Patrick said "friends".

"Dude... We're more than just friends."

I looked at both of them, the color in Patrick's cheeks quickly fading out.

"We're bros!" he continued, patting his friend on the back.

Patrick was uncomfortable; it could be seen from miles away. "Uh, yeah- bros, uh- Joe? Do you play any instruments?"

"Actually yeah! I play bass and guitar."

"I have a guitar in the attic, I'll get it now," Patrick said, already opening the door. I looked at Andy, who seemed to be as weirded out as I was.

Patrick immediately came back running with that jet black guitar, old and probably way out of tune. "Come on, I need someone to play this song with!"

He handed me the guitar and showed me the chords in a flash, which weren't as easy as I thought they would be. To be truly honest, I haven't played the guitar nor the bass in ages. Andy sat at the drums and Patrick took his guitar from the corner of the room.

"Why me?"

"I need a second guitarist. And I've been trying to get this tune out of my head for days. It's driving me crazy."

He began humming a rhythm, showing Andy the drum riffs. Andy showed him that he knew it already, and I was sure that Patrick bugged him about it since he came up with the song.

"I'm good to go..." Patrick said with a little voice before getting the guitar pick he held with his mouth in his hand.

He struck the chords, probably forgetting that his amp was at max volume and unintentionally almost getting us deaf.