The crowd shouted and waved their hands as Hyrdofoil slammed out their best song, "Backstreet Avenues". Jeremy launched into a wicked set of riffs as Charlie sang the lyrics. The new drummer was keeping the beat, and the whole stage was thrumming with the sound. This was their greatest concert in Ireland yet!
There were people cheering, moshing and waving their hands at the stage, shouting for more music. The band had no problem, and they ended up playing an hour past their scheduled ending time. They still packed up to cheering fans, though - as Kyle, the new drummer, told them, it's better to quit while you're ahead and leave the fans hanging.
Outside the joint, though, there were still crowds of people, and the band was held up some more. It was very, very early in the morning when they got back.
Charlie immediately collapsed on the bed.
"Dude," Jeremy said to him, "You gotta take you're clothes off, man."
"Not true." replied Charlie.
"You're gonna stink for tomorrow's gig, man."
"Uuuurrgghh . . ." Charlie tottered upright, then lurched to the bathroom and slammed the door.
Kyle was laughing over in his corner of the room, and Jeremy had to smile. Charlie sure was a good vocalist, but sleep had something of a hold on him. If Charlie wasn't moving, chances are he was already half-asleep. The way he saw it, the problem was just that people kept waking him up.
"I'm gonna hit the sack too," said Kyle, pulling off his shirt.
"Yeah, okay." Jeremy wasn't really talking to Kyle; he was thinking. He had been thinking a lot at night through this tour. Most of it was about Terry.
How did a guy spend the time to get enough money to travel to Ireland, rehearse songs for months, and then skip out without playing one gig? It was just stupid! What's more, it made Jeremy feel like he, and the band itself, had gotten cheated. Their gigs were going fabulous, true - actually, he didn't know the reason for that particularly; they hadn't been that great of a band in the States; maybe it was Kyle, or maybe the Irish had 'better' taste - Jeremy's train of thought got lost.
He frowned. He hated it when that happened. What was he . . . oh, yeah - Terry.
Sure, things were going well, but they had made plans with Terry for stuff to do outside of gigs, and Kyle couldn't fit into everything (though, being a native, Kyle did know a lot of cool places) Plus, he was a great drummer; why would he take that away from the band?
It all came down, as it did every time Jeremy thought about it, to the big question: What the hell had happened to make Terry go off like that?
He thought about it until Charlie came out of the bathroom dressed in gym shorts, and he dreamed about it later. But, of course, he didn't know.
He also dreamed about what he and Charlie would tell Terry's parents if Terry didn't come home with them.