FicWad

The sun poured from the closed, broken window onto the half empty bed. Half only because half of the blankets still covered the bed, the other half drooped around a scrawny figure. He was in his teens, guessed around in college, and obviously knocked out. Partying? No. Drinking? No. Studying? Hell no. This figure was writing his ass off, not for any essay, but for music. Words scribbled onto paper quickly, smudged here and there, crossed out, torn, or circled. A loud alarm began to ring, trying to wake him up, screaming in his ear. But that wasn't the only thing screaming for attention, a huge fist rapped against the door.
"Ryan! Ryan, get the fuck up!" The voice screeched, now kicking against the door. "Ryan, seriously! It's time, genius!"
Ryan's eyes fluttered open, watching the slow dust poor into the broken window. "Oh shit," Ryan groaned pushing himself off the floor and sauntering towards the door. He slowly opened it and rubbed his eyes cautiously with his free hand.
"Sorry Spence," Ryan nodded his head to Spencer and bit his lip. Spencer was always trying to wake up Ryan, especially when he crashed over at Spencer's house. Spencer shook his head and sighed.
"I can't believe that my alarm didn't wake you up already," Spencer burst in and picked up the torn up book. "Any new songs?"
Ryan snatched the book and shook his head. "No not really, only ideas and some lyrics. No notes, music, or any other shit like that."
"We can change that," Ryan raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, let's go to Brent and Brendon."
Ryan squirmed and thought for a moment. "Uh let me get dressed first."
Spencer nodded his head and closed the door quietly, making his way down to his basement to see Brendon and Brent. Brendon was sitting cross legged on the couch, staring at the TV standing in front of him intently, while Brent sat with his bass laying in his arms. Lately, Brent had been on the phone with his girlfriend talking about how he felt about getting signed on the record label and all and it seemed he was doubting the whole band thing (this of course after the band literally made one of their first music videos). Spencer shook his head and sat himself next to Brendon, not really caring about what was on TV. Everyone's heads turned as they heard the most memorable looming foot steps. Brendon quickly shut off the TV and turned, placing his cheek on the couch pillow to stare up the stairs. Ryan quietly slipped into the basement, a smile seemed to be painted onto his face. He waved the torn up book in the air and grinned.
"New lyrics?" Brendon piped up as he quickly jumped out of his seat to run by Ryan's side and snatch the book.
Ryan blushed as Brendon flipped through it a bit. "These are great!" Brendon smiled and ran over Spencer's side, showing him the words and "poems".
Ryan thought for a bit, noticing that most of the lyrics were written about his girlfriend, or his ex at least. He cleared that thought out of his head and watched the two converse over a few of the lyrics. Brent was in his own world, flipping his phone open and closed, mulling some thoughts over. Brent bit his lip and stuck his tongue between his teeth and began to throw his head back.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, turning his head towards Brent general direction. Brent widened his eyes and flipped his phone open. "Just tell it to my face."
Brent looked away for a bit. "I-I'm quitting the band." Brent ducked his head as if Ryan was going to strike a blow. Instead, Ryan clenched his fists and started to grind his teeth to let out his frustration.
"Okay," Ryan released his tension and looked at Spencer. Spencer shrugged quickly, but Ryan already knew there was someone to fill Brent's shoes. Well at least if this person had pretty big feet. Ryan laughed quietly at his own joke and watched as Brent fidgeted in his seat.
"So uh, should I go now?" Brent asked as he widened his eyes.
"The fuck do you think?" Brendon practically shouted. The corner of Spencer's mouth twitched into a smile but flashed back to neutral. Brent quickly picked up his bass and shoved his phone further down his pocket, sprinting out of the basement and into the outside air.
Spencer let out an uneasy laugh and flipped his phone open, punching the numbers into his phone.
"Is this guy good?" Brendon asked quietly, his eyes focused on Spencer's phone as it began to ring. Spencer nodded and pressed speaker phone. The phone began ringing, once, twice, until a gruff but welcoming voice shouted out.
"Spence! What's up?" the voice asked full of curiosity.
"Hey, remember what I said before?" Spencer paused as the voice replied with an "mhm". "Well it kind of just happened. Need you over here Jon."
Jon, the name shot down Ryan's spine and crawled back into his mind. He remembered Jon, they had once spoken about music, before Brent was in the band. Ryan remembered how accepting Jon was, and how friendly he was, kind of like a pet. But that wasn't where his thoughts should be getting. Ryan's legs curled up beneath him as the phone conversation ended and Brendon closed the lyric booklet.
"These songs are great Ryan," Brendon continued as he fingered the side of the book. "All we need is music and we've got some hits."
Spencer laughed. "I don't think it's that easy Brendon but we'll go with that for now." Brendon smiled widely and stretched out his arms, his eyes traveling and meeting Ryan's before soon flickering away. Ryan smiled towards Spencer and jumped to his side.
"Food!" Ryan groaned and laid his head on Spencer's shoulders. Spencer laughed and shook his head.
"You're a hungry bitch, aren't cha?" Spencer asked, staring at Ryan's puppy face.
"I could use some food," Brendon piped up. "I'll grab something if you don't want to, Spence. Kay?"
Spencer squirmed helplessly and shook his head. "No you guys are the guests, I'll go get something." He shoved Ryan off quickly and dashed up his stairs, into his kitchen.
"So Brendon," Ryan smiled, pushing himself upright onto the couch. "You like the lyrics?"
"Yeah," Brendon grinned and flipped open the books. "I mean their kind of hidden behind different words and all, like a masquerade I guess."
Masks. The thought brought chills down Ryan's spine. Ryan nodded his head as if he was still paying attention to Brendon's compliments.
"You are an amazing lyricist by the way," Brendon complimented a bit louder, as if repeating himself. A slight blush started to grow on Ryan's cheeks as the stairs seemed to creek again. Spencer was back.
"Ryan!" a voice shouted. Ryan turned, his hands open, ready to catch whatever Spencer would throw him. Spencer chucked a can of coke his way and called for Brendon. Ryan opened the can of coke, fizz overflowing into his hands. He stuck out his tongue and put it on the wood floor, ignoring Spencer's "Are you fucking serious" looks.
"Nice one Ryan!" Brendon teased, a kiddy grin painting his face.
"Thank you I try," Ryan bowed clumsily and fell off the couch on purpose, a moan escaping from his mouth that changed into a manic laugh.
Brendon and Spencer started to laugh in hysterics as well, watching Ryan roll around. A knock on the door brought them all to their senses.
"That must be Jon," Spencer nodded and ran to the basement door, flinging it open. A fairly tall, gruff man appeared in the door. Well not man exactly but he looked older then the rest of them. He looked like some kind of lumberjack to Ryan which almost sent Ryan into a giggle fit. Ryan bit his lip, holding the giggling back and watch Brendon turn red in the face. Must be harder for Brendon to hold back his laughs then. Ryan stood up and nodded his head in a "respectful" manner, not knowing what really to do. Was Jon going to be there bassist? Who the hell cared, it was still sometime in the morning, too early for Ryan to function properly. Jon smiled and waved to Brendon who seemed to turn to Ryan for help. Ryan shrugged and made a monkey face before turning back to Jon.
"So, got your bass?" Ryan asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. Jon nodded in return pointing to the car in the driveway.
"You can drive?"
"Who can't?"
A laugh broke out among them and Ryan nodded his head in agreement. Jon sat down on the couch and nodded towards the booklet in Brendon's hands.
"Pass it to me," Jon commanded, the booklet flying his way. Jon flipped through the book and smiled up at Ryan. "We've got work to do."
Everyone was at their ready, ready to do anything Jon asked them to do or to just set up and practice. Everyone had a gut feeling that this was going to be special. But Ryan's gut said something else, it felt something else to. It felt butterflies fluttering about.