Obstruction

Welcome to the Jungle

"Okay... We need to test our originals. We've only done them once before out of the band room and the mix was a bit rough," Oddball grinned as he returned to the drumkit.

Looking at the three happy guys I shared a stage with, I felt lucky to be part of this amazing team. They each made my life so much better.

Once soundcheck was over I casually sat down next to Oddball.

"So. You got anybody in the audience?" I asked.

"Nope. Not tonight," he said.

"Not even ...classmates?" I asked with a playful nudge.

He laughed softly next to me.

"Subtle, Izzy... but no... too young," he said with a shrug.

"But you have mentioned the awsome band playing this amazing gig, right?" I asked.

He looked at me with a look of worry and amusement mixed.

"I did kinda mention it to the whole group in a break, but it's a case of being invisible," he muttered.

"Oddball? Invisible? I refuse to believe that," I giggled.

"It's not that easy... It's not like I look like a posterboy for pink and purple is it?" He grinned back.

"It's a sound course, right? Drop a music related hint. Ta-daaa... Cat. Bag. Gone," I said.

"No! I'm not gonna suddenly start listening to Celine Dion, am I?" He huffed.

"No, but you could wear your Judas Priest t-shirt and say something about the lyrics of 'Raw Deal'," I shrugged.

He laughed out loud.

"Sometimes you are a fucking genius!" He grinned.

"Thank you. At last someone appreciates my brain more than my ass!" I laughed.

"But you do have a fine ass," Oddball grinned.

"Why, thank you," I replied with an overly formal, polite nod.

"Just don't wiggle it too much or both our straight guys are gonna mess the gig up," he whispered.

"How about if I wiggle a little bit and listen for stumbles?" I whispered back, remembering Ellen's suggestion.

"I think that might be worth a try," Oddball laughed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"You could just talk to him you know," Oddball said and stood up to grab Simon for a last minute run through of something rhythm related.

Across the stage, on an ampbox, sat Ethan. Oblivious to my thundering heart. Oddball's suggestion was playing on my skin like fire.

Audience was trickling in as we were getting ready for our actual set. We had set up our gear when I saw a few familiar faces. Both of Ethan's brothers were there. And over in a dark corner I spotted my mum and Josh with Sarah and Mark. They were pretending to be casual rock fans but the compact camera in Sara's hand and Marks button down shirt did kinda make them stand out. At least Josh looked like he could fit in untill I saw he was wearing a Ramones t-shirt.
The ultimate badge of commercial sell-out. No true Ramones fan would be caught dead in a shirt like that.
Simon looked at them and shook his head in embarassment. I, at least had the common sense to wave, but regretted it the moment my mum waved back and Sarah gave a thumbs up.

The guy from the music shop was in front of the stage at the end where Ethan was crouched over a guitar case, holding the blue Ibanez in his hand.

"... she plays beautifully. I mean... there's no weight," Ethan was enthusing.