You're the Closest to Heaven That I'll Ever Be

by Molly Shanahan

  Ch. 8

  “Next.” Lily called out as the nerdy kid with his horn rimmed glasses; tucked in, plaid button up shirt; and harmonica sulked out of the room and up the stairs.

  “Lily, this is impossible.” Hayden sighed. “We've already had fifteen people come in and they all sucked.”

  “Well, maybe we'll get lucky. We still have a few more hours left.” Lily, ever the optimist in the situation.

  The next guy walked in with a black and white bass guitar and had long black hair with a thin swipe of black liner under his eyes.

  “The name's Tate.” He said as he sat down in the chair provided in front of the table that Hayden and Lily sat behind.

  "Okay, Tate. Show us what you got." Lily said as she wrote his name down on a piece of paper.

  Tate started strumming his bass and gradually escalated to an intricate bass solo that left Lily and Hayden's mouths hanging wide open by the end of the short composition.

  "Oh my god." Lily said.

  "You're in!" Hayden exclaimed. "Holy shit!"

  "Thanks, bro." Tate stood up and walked over to shake Hayden's hand.

  "We'll have rehearsals starting next week. Just give Lily your phone number and we can call you when we have a specific date."

  After taking his number down, Lily called for the next person to come in. He was tall and lanky with long black hair tied back with a black bandanna around his head and drum sticks in hand. “I hope you guys have drums because I didn't bring mine. There was no way I was dragging all that shit all the way here.”

  “Yeah, over there.” Lily pointed to the drum set on the left side of the room. “Oh, before you start, what's your name?”

  “Just call me Wes.” He said as he sat behind the drum set and started to bang out a beat.

  “He's the best drummer we've had all day.” Hayden said to Lily as Wes finished his rhythms.

  “Congrats, Wes. You're in the band!” Lily congratulated him.

  “Really?!” Wes jumped up and down like a hyper five year old.

  Lily took down his number and said they would call as soon as they had rehearsal times. The next guy came in with a violin.

  “Oh great...” Hayden complained. “What does he think this is, an orchestra audition?”

  “Hayden.” Lily scolded. “Give him a chance.”

  "Hi, my name is Jeremy.” He greeted Hayden and Lily.

  He started to play a little on his violin but then Hayden stopped him. “That's great and all dude, but do you play anything else? I don't know if we'll need a violinist.”

  "Hayden!" Lily scolded again.

  Jeremy laughed a breathy laugh. “No, it's okay. But yeah, I play guitar, too. Do you wanna hear a little?” Jeremy offered.

  “No, I'm gonna trust that you can play.” Hayden said. “Welcome to the band, bro.”

  Lily took down his number before he left. “Well, looks like we have a band!” Lily cheered.

  “Excuse me?” There was a knock on the door and a shy looking guy with teased black hair and a guitar in hand was standing in the doorway. “Is it too late to audition for the band?”

  Hayden looked at Lily who just shrugged. “It's your band.” She said. “It's your decision.”

  Hayden looked back at the guy standing in the doorway. “I'm sorry to say I think we already have all the people we need but you can try and change my mind. I'll give you a chance. Show me what you got.”

  The guy shuffled in and sat down in the chair with his guitar. He started off with a few chords and then went into full out shredding mode.

  “Wow,” Andy said when he had finished. “I'll tell you what. Give Lily your name and number and you can come to our first rehearsal and we'll see if I can use two guitarists.”

  “Thank you so much!” The guy shook Hayden's hand and told Lily his name was Ricky and his number then happily skipped out of the room.

  “You got a name for this band, Sir Hayden?” Lily questioned.

  Hayden smiled. “I thought you'd never ask. I can see it now.”

  “What?”

  “Thriller Equinox.”

  Ch. 9

  After much deliberation, the two had finally found a date that everyone could make it to rehearsal. Lily spent the whole day setting up her basement with all the instruments in place and a desk for her to sit at and work through papers and make phone calls.

  Hayden was the first to arrive, followed by Wes, Jeremy and Ricky shortly after.

  Hayden looked around at everyone. “Where's Tate?” He asked and everyone just shrugged.

  “He's not answering his phone, either.” Lily informed as she hung up the phone.

  Hayden groaned in disbelief. “Well, let's get started without him anyway. Lily, you can fill in, right?”

  Lily nodded and walked over to grab her dad's bass guitar. He had taught her when she was younger and she kept up with it ever since. About a half hour into the rehearsal, Tate finally decided to show up.

  “Where have you been?” Hayden shouted. “Rehearsal started a half hour ago!”

  Tate swung the strap of his bass over his head and let it rest on his shoulders. “I had to straighten my hair.” He simply stated like it was no big deal.

  “It doesn't matter what you look like! I don't care if you show up looking like shit. Show up naked for all I care! I just want you to be here on time.” Hayden scolded.

  “Please... Don't show up naked...” Lily grimaced. “I would rather have you show up late than naked.”

  Tate shrugged. “Well, sorry, I-“

  “Just... Forget it. Let's get started. We have a lot to do.” Hayden turned back to his notes and went back to giving instructions.

  When things seemed to calm down, Lily excused herself from the room and headed upstairs to get a pen. She was rummaging through the big box of crayons, pencils, pens, markers, and anything else you could write with—that her parents kept on the shelf in the kitchen—when she heard shouting coming from downstairs in the basement.

  “What's the problem now?” She groaned to herself and grabbed a random pen before heading downstairs to find Hayden and Tate arguing... again.

  “These lyrics suck.” Tate said.

  “Oh, and you think you could do better?” Hayden challenged.

  “Yeah, actually, I do.” Tate shot back.

  “Not only were you late, but now you're insulting my lyrics? Remind me again why I chose you as my bass player.” Hayden folded his arms over his chest.

  “Because I'm the best, that's why.” Tate retorted.

  “Everyone's replaceable.” Hayden warned. “And I bet I can find a better bassist out there somewhere.”

  “Good luck with that.” Tate scoffed.

  “Everyone just shut up.” Lily stepped in between the two of them. “Why don't you put your ideas together and write a song together? This is a five person band after all.”

  “Well, I guess that could work...” Hayden grumbled.

  “Good. Now let's all sit in a circle of friendship and write a song.” Lily sat down on the floor and everyone else followed.

  She put her notebook in her lap and grabbed her pen. She put the pen against the paper only to find out that it was out of ink.

  “Nobody go anywhere.” She ordered as she stood up. “Don't talk, don't move, don't blink, don't even breathe until I get back.”

  She trudged up the stairs to find a new pen. This time, there was no shouting coming from downstairs. She had these boys in the palm of her hand.

  Ch. 10

  “Don't deny it. You like her.” Tate gave Hayden's arm a little nudge. A few weeks had gone by and the boys were all starting to get along now.

  “...No...” Hayden denied.

  “Hayden, we can all see it. It's written, clear as day, all over your face.” Ricky said.

  A sighed. “Is it really that obvious?”

  All the boys looked around each other and then back at Hayden. “Yes.” They all said in unison.

  Hayden
groaned. “Then how come she hasn't picked up on it yet? Huh?”

  “Because girls are in denial. Even if they think you like them, they'll tell themselves that you don't because they don't want it to hurt as much if you reject them. That's also why girls never make the first move.” Tate explained. “Which means you have to make the first move. When she comes back downstairs, walk right up to her and ask her out on a date. Deal?”

  Hayden ran his hands through his hair, trying to process all the information Tate had just thrown at him. “Okay, deal.” He said.

  A few seconds later, there was the sound of light footsteps on the stairs and Lily's voice calling down to them. “Boys! I have amazing news!” She skipped down the last few steps and ran over to them.

  “What? What is it?” Hayden pressed.

  “Okay, two things. One: I got you guys a gig!” She exclaimed and the boys cheered.

  “No way! Where?” Wes high-fived her.

  “At that new place that just opened down the street.” Lily said.

  “Okay, what's the second thing?” Hayden asked.

  “Oh, yeah! Almost forgot. Well... I'm going out on a date!” Lily squealed.

  Hayden's heart sunk in his chest and his whole world collapsed in front of his eyes. The gig didn't even matter anymore. If Lily couldn't be his, nothing mattered anymore. He tried to mask his disappointment and act happy for her.

  “With who?” He forced a small smile.

  “Tyler Montana from school. You know Tyler, right Hayden?” Lily smiled.

  “Oh yeah... Tyler...” Hayden said. That guy who is way more attractive than me with his plugs and his hipster glasses that he pulls off so well... And his skinny jeans and his Vans and his overall nice style... I could never compete with him... Hayden thought to himself.

  “Hayden?” Lily's voice broke his thoughts. “Are you okay?”

  Hayden looked up to see everyone staring at him. “Yeah... Just tired... Let's call it for today. I'll see you all here tomorrow to practice before the gig.”

  The boys packed up their instruments and headed up the stairs one by one. Hayden grabbed his backpack and swung it over one shoulder before going to follow Tate up the stairs.

  “Hayden, wait.” Lily called him back.

  Hayden stopped on the stairs where he was and looked back at her.

  “Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.

  “Yeah.” Hayden stated. “I'll see you tomorrow, Lily.” He turned and trudged up the stairs, out of sight.