Baby Blue Eyes

Chapter Five

Dabbing one final bit of paint onto my canvas, I take a step back to scrutinise the effect, wondering if it needs a bit more.

No, I think that will do. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but for once, I actually think I might have done all I can. It’s rather satisfying.

Packing up my paintbrushes and paints, I move the canvas and easel into the corner, picking up my guitar. It’s band practice today, and I can’t help but feel nervous about what’s going to happen. I want so desperately for it to all go well, but I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that it will only reinforce our realisation that we do need Levi after all.

I’m determined to prove Matt wrong, but after my practising last night, I think he’ll be wearing that smug expression again when I try to play the things Levi did.

But still. I can’t wait to practice again with everyone. It was always so much fun at band practice; everyone used to be in great moods, so we’d be laughing and joking with each other in between songs, and working out new ways of how to play the songs to their best advantage.

Thinking back, we were a dream team. Jamie used to play his bass to perfection, standing to my left, plugged into an amp, while Eddie was at the back, getting into playing the drums, his little ear protectors in his ears to stop him from damaging his ears. Playing the drums always looked like a proper workout to me; the amount of energy Eddie seemed to use when playing the drums seemed unbelievable.

Matt stood to the right of Eddie, his keyboard propped up on a stand. Playing the chords perfectly, he was always the one who sorted us into some sort of semblance of organisation, being the practical one.

And then I stood in the middle, a microphone for me to sing into. For most songs, I played the chords, sometimes stopping to sing the trickier bits. If I wasn’t playing the guitar, sometimes I would play the xylophone, which always added a rather cool element to the sound, another element to the overall effect.

Levi stood to my right, holding his electric guitar. Playing it effortlessly, whilst singing back up into the microphone, he was the one who brought the creative ideas to the band. Whether it was the idea of how to fit a difficult riff into one of the songs, or coming up with a way for Matt to play a piano introduction that didn’t feel out of place, slowly building in all the other instruments, he was usually the one who often came up with the best ideas.

Though we all added to the band, it was Levi who was the one who was the best at knowing what would be perfect for the band. So when he left, the band just fell apart. Jamie and Eddie strongly disliked him anyway, having seen the state I was in, and as I wouldn’t look at him or speak to him, it was always going to be impossible to cooperate. Matt was left frantically attempting to get us to work together, and failing. So we ended the band. I have no idea if we can continue without him, but we’ll see. It could all go perfectly well, and we could do even better than we were doing ten months ago. Well, it could do.

So, heading off to the music room at lunch time, I go into the large music room we booked out to practice in, and start setting up, as I’m the first here. The drums are already in position, so I get two amps, one for the bass and my guitar, one for the keyboard. It would have had Levi in too, but that’s obviously not going to be the case anymore.

Jamie comes in, carrying his bass in its case, and gives me a hug. ’Doesn’t this all feel familiar?’ he says, setting his bass down and pulling out a lead.

I nod. ’It really does! We just need Eddie to stumble in a few minutes late, saying he forgot and it’ll be just like old times.’

I don’t mention that the missing lead guitarist will mean that it’s not like the old times, I decide to leave it unsaid, but from Jamie’s expression, he’s thinking exactly the same thing.