Band Practice

Leonard was making Steven very upset.  Now, Leonard was not Steven’s best friend, that was Greg, whom he hated, but they still had a relationship.  It had been this way for years, ever since college.  They always met in Leonard’s garage on Sundays to rehearse.  Steven and Leonard were in a band.  Snake Serpent is what they called themselves and Steven like it.  It was one of the few consistent things in his life that did not make him miserable. 

            Steven did not know if they were any good, and that wasn’t really important.  What was important is what this time did for Steven.  For these few hours, he was a god.  He sat his drum set and channeled angels and demons through his drum sticks.  He was Keith Moon, Neil Peart, and John Bonham all wrapped into one package.  As Leonard played bass and wailed out the lyrics to old rock tunes, Steven lost himself in his music.  No solo was beyond his power to execute.  He was immortal with his high-hat and snare.  Leonard was the perfect partner.  He never required anything.  He did not waste Steven’s time with meaningless chitchat.  He just picked up his bass and started to play.

            Something had changed now, though.  Steven knew it.  It was her.  Leonard had brought his girlfriend to band practice.  Her name was Nicole.  And Steven did not like her at all.  It was not particularly her.  Though she did have some loathsome habits, like laughing at absolutely everything, regardless of whether it was funny, and her insistence on trying to sing along with every song, even ones that didn’t have words.  No, what Steven hated most was what she did to Leonard.  When she was around, he was incapable of making his own decisions, apparently.  She sat there, like a blonde Yoko Ono with a Prada bag and insisted that Leonard should get to play more, that Leonard was amazing, that we should play the song that Leonard wrote.  All the while, Leonard just sat there, looking at his feet like a child who had just gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar.  Steven could not believe that Leonard let her treat him like that, like he had no spine, no guts.  Steven was never like this with Susan, his girlfriend. 

            Nicole suggested that they work on a song that she had been writing, and Steven threw down his sticks in disgust.  He did not want to play another one of her annoying, vacuous pop ballads while she wailed lyrics like a cat being put through a dryer.  He wanted to jam with Leonard, and feel the power in their instruments.  Alas, the hollow shell that used to be Leonard lifted its bass and started to pound out a droll line, and Steven knew he was in hell.