Border To Heaven - JATP Luke

Prologue : Jul. 22, 1995

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Prologue : Jul. 22, 1995

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life."

~~~~~~~~~~

"It's now or never!"

Hitting the final chord of the song, I allow my eyes to travel across the stage.

Reggie Peters - the human version of a golden retriever if you ask me. He was one of my first friends in school. We met in math class, where we came to the conclusion that we're both idiots. He's stood to my right, a red bass guitar in his hands. I swear the only thing he loves more than that guitar is pizza.

Bobby Shaw. I'm not as close with him as I am with the others, but him and Luke have been best friends since they were born. He's got this huge garage at his place that his parents let us use for practice. He's the rhythm guitarist in the band. But that's not all he's good at – when I say this boy can cook, I mean he can cook. I genuinely think we all would have died of starvation by now if it hadn't been for Bobby's godly food creations.

Alex Mercer, my Irish twin. We're eleven months apart – he was born in January and I was an early Christmas present. I know what you're thinking, and I agree with you. Our parents did not wait very long to get it on again. Respectfully, he's one of the nicest assholes you could ever hope to meet. He's also quite possibly the gayest person I know, much to our parents' disappointment. I watch as he spins his drumsticks around his fingers seemingly effortlessly. I've been begging him to teach me how to do it for years.

And Luke Patterson. Have you ever seen someone just talk or move or laugh and you're just like how is everything you do hot? Well, that someone is Luke. But it's not like there's anything between us. He's like a brother to me. Kinda. Okay, we kissed once but it's not like that moment was life-altering for me or anything.

I watch Luke's grip on the neck of his guitar tighten as he sets it down on a stand offstage. The few people who were stuck working through soundcheck clap and cheer as I ditch my guitar on the stage. Throwing an arm around Reggie, we head over to where the boys are talking.

"Too bad we wasted the tightest we've ever played on soundcheck." Bobby says as him and Luke fist bump.

"Wait until tonight man, when this place is packed with record execs." Luke says, hyping the group up. Reg looks over to my brother. "Alex, you were smoking."

Alex turns around at the sound of his name. "Oh no," he says, shaking his head. "I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire."

I swear, this boy couldn't be more annoyingly humble. "Could you just own your awesomeness for once?" Nothing. We stand there, waiting for him to crack. "Alright, I was killing it," he gave in.

A voice sounds from behind us. "Okay, well I'm thinking we fuel up before the show," Luke suggests. "I'm thinking street dogs."

Alex and Reg nod, agreeing with Luke, while I stand there genuinely think there's something wrong with them.

"Hot dogs out of a car?" I say sarcastically, pulling away from Reggie. "I'd rather eat the shit they serve at school."

"Even knowing what they put-"

"Even knowing what they put in it." I cut Reg off.

"You're missing out." Luke says, making a pouty face next to me, as if silently begging me to join them.

"I don't really care," I say, pushing him away. "It's gross."

I look around the room for Bobby, spotting him over by the bar attempting to flirt with a waitress. I grab onto Alex's arm, pulling him along behind me as I make my way over.

"Vegetarian. I could never hurt an animal."

Bullshit. "Dude, you literally-" Bobby puts a hand over my mouth to shut me up.

"You guys are really good," the girl says, her thick accent coming out. "I see a lot of bands. Been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it."

"That's what we do this for. I'm Luke by the way." Luke says, pushing forward and throwing an arm across my shoulders.

"Hi, I'm Reggie."

"Alex."

"Bobby."

"I'm Ari."

The girl looks us over, smirking slightly at Luke's arm around me. "Nice meeting you guys. I'm Rose."

Using his free hand, Luke gives Bobby a wet willy. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to stifle a laugh. Reggie starts digging around in his bag before pulling out our demo album and handing it to Rose.

"Here's our demo. And a t-shirt, size beautiful." He winks and gives her a white shirt with our logo printed on the front.

I can't with these boys. I hear Alex groan beside me. I look up at him as he's shaking his head.

Rose looks at the shirt in her hands before putting it over her shoulder. "Thanks. I'll make sure not to wipe the tables with this one."

"Oh, good call. Whenever they get wet, they just kinda fall apart in your hands." Alex uses his hands to show what he meant as the rest of us give him blank stares.

"Don't you guys have to go get hot dogs?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah," Luke takes his arm from around me and leans in towards Rose. "He had a hamburger for lunch." He says to her, before dragging Alex and Reggie behind him.

"That stuff's gonna kill you eventually!" I call as they leave through the side door, earning the finger from Alex. I sigh as the door swings shut behind them. So, what to do now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been half an hour since the guys left to go eat, and Bobby's still out talking to Rose. I've pretty much just been laying across one of the couches in our dressing room, jotting down little melodies and lyrics that come to mind.

Although, that has been pretty difficult for the past five minutes, considering there's been sirens going off outside nonstop. It's gotten to the point that I might actually have to be submitted to some sort of psych ward - it's driving me mad. But hey, we're in the city of angels. Shit happens all the time.

The dressing room door opens, and I look up to see one of the Orpheum managers. "Is something up?"

"Are you Ariana Mercer?" The man asks.

"Yeah, why? Is there something wrong with the show?" My mind races through all the reasons why we might have to postpone. Did Rose finally get sick of Bobby and kick him where the sun doesn't shine?

The man motions for me to sit up, a serious expression written on his face. "This will be difficult, but it's something you need to hear sooner rather than later. Your bandmates got food poisoning. We think it was these 'street dogs'."

Idiots. "Well, are they gonna be okay?" I ask.

"I'm sorry miss, but none of them made it."