On Tour

The day after my concert, I got a call from my agent. I was such a hit that they wanted me to start touring. I was booked gigs all over from Sunset Valley to Bridgeport. I even had three set up overseas if everything went well in Bridgeport.

“You leave tomorrow for Sunset Valley. Start packing champ, this is only the beginning!” My agent hung up.

I was excited to see my childhood dreams begin to unfold. I felt bad about how weak I had been the night before with Claire. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let any more women distract me. Connie was my true love and I had to stay faithful to her.

I packed my suitcase of clothes and put my guitar into its black case. “From now on, I’m not longer Joshua Greymane, I’m Crow.” I thought to myself as I snapped the case closed.

Morning arrived and I boarded the tour bus. We drove for ten hours before arriving at Sunset Valley. I was rented a small town house for the weekend. It was quiet when I arrived, but it didn’t take long for people to hear about me and begin to flock to my location.

Since it was so late, I only did a short autograph session before retiring to my bed. I had trouble sleeping since it was a new place and I was excited for the concert tomorrow. Eventually I did manage to doze off.

When I woke up, I got ready and pretty soon it was time for the show to begin. We were having it on the beach in honor of Sunset Valley’s amazing beaches.

I went through the same song line up as the concert I had done in Riverview. I just added in a little speech to thrill the fans.

After the concert, I met up with my enthusiasts, talked with local news reporters and journalists, signed a bunch of autographs, and met a group of giggling teens. On my way home, I met a stunning red-head named Nikki.

Before I knew what had come over me, I found myself laying in bed with her wearing nothing but my boxers.

We had our fun and afterwards, she promptly dressed and ran out the door calling behind her, “Thanks, Crow!” It took me back to the other night with Claire, she had run off in the same, uncaring manner. I had to face it, I just wasn’t good at saying, “no” to women when they practically threw themselves at me.

The following morning, I found myself back on the tour bus for a two-day drive to a town called Twinbrook. It was a small hick town but I heard they partied hard and paid well. Hey, if they wanted me to stop by for a night, then that was fine with me. It was on the way to Bridgeport anyways.

When I arrived there, I got a cheap hotel room. I was only there for the one night, so it didn’t really matter to me. I played my concert in the center of town during the day. I was surprised, when they said this town partied hard, they didn’t lie. I was surrounded by hundreds of hard-core rockers. Women flashed their breasts at me while riding on their boyfriend’s shoulders, and the paparazzi stood around me taking pictures as I jammed out on my guitar.

After the show, we all headed to the theater for an autograph session. Fans stood around waiting to get a free moment with me. That’s when Hazel caught my eye.

To say the least, she showed me how tiny hick towns spend their moonlit nights.

The next morning, I left Twinbrook with a twisted smile on my face. The town was full of surprises, I made a mental note to go back there someday.

I pulled out my cell phone and lit up its screen. No new messages, no missed calls. It bummed me out. Before I had went on tour, I wrote Connie a letter. I told her all of my concert dates and times. I told her that I didn’t expect her to call, that Ashley had told me what she said about the ticket. I wanted her to know that I missed her and would love to hear her voice while out on the road for so long.

I had written her name on the envelope and placed it in the mailbox. I had been hoping all week that she would call me. Maybe she had heard about my one night stand with Claire, and Nikki, and Hazel. Then again, maybe Ashley was right and she just didn’t care about me at all anymore.

It was another two days drive to get to Bridgeport. During my ride there, I worked on a new song. I planned to debut it during one of my two concerts in Bridgeport. Since it was such a big city and there were so many recording artists, we were booked two shows at two different venues a week apart for each other. I had been rented an apartment for my two-week stay there.

After arriving, my agent took me aside to talk. He looked at me sternly, “Crow, you need to get your head in the game. This is about the music, not the groupies you have or the friends you made. We are in Bridgeport now, this is going to be the more decisive part of your career. Here it’s either make it or break it. If you can’t snag at least one record deal here, I’m going to send you back to that little piece of shit farm town you call home. Do you understand?”

I was taken aback by his sudden outburst. He had always been such a nice guy.

“Yes, sir.” I stammered.

My mind flashed back to Connie again, but I didn’t have time to think about her. My stand-in drummer had arrived and called out for me to come over.

He introduced himself as “Rent” and ordered the sheet music for my songs be given to him right away. We only had five hours before the concert started and he had never even heard any of my songs. He set up his drums in the blink of an eye and quickly got to work learning the songs. I played along with him, but he never looked at me or even talked to me. He just sat on his stool, turning my sketchy drum beats into record gold.

After we completed my whole line up, we took a minute to drink some water and eat before getting ready to go.

When we were in the elevator headed up to the stage I turned to Rent, “What do you think?”

He didn’t look up. “Think about what?”

“I don’t know, everything I guess.” I had really only meant my lyrics, but I’d take any advise he had for me.

This time his dark eyes met mine, “Your music is alright for you just starting out. I’ve seen better, but that’s not really what concerns me.”

“So then what is it?” How could he just cut off like that?

“Let’s just say I’ve seen a lot of good bands end because of something stupid. While you’re smart to go solo, you’re also stupid. Right now, you may only see fame and good times. However, there will come a time when your loneliness catches up to you, and then who do you have to rely on?” He leaned closer to me, “Do you really think you have what it takes to say no?”

I once again thought of my love for Connie, how I had been so weak already and I was just getting started. I shook my head, this was no time to think about my love life. “I don’t have anything else in my life but music. I have nothing to left but this dream.”

The crowd for this concert was immense. I bet there was nearly a thousand people smashed together in that building.

Rent and I played remarkably well together. The screaming fans were going wild and when the show was over, the started to chant my name. “Crow, Crow, Crow!” They wanted more. I looked at Rent, he nodded at me.

I stepped up to the mic once more. ”

“This song is one that I have been working on for a couple of days. You wonderful fans will be the first, possibly the only, to hear it. I call it, Brick in my Wall.

I began a quiet strumming and Rent slowly rolled into the song. With perfect timing, he slammed down on the cymbals right when I started the chorus.

I always thought you were special.

Like you meant something to me.

Yet you threw all that away.

And now you’ve become nothing more,

Nothing more than another brick I’ve laid.

Just another Brick In My WALL

My fans went ballistic for that song. Indeed, it was a catchy tune, but I didn’t expect them to like it that much. Rent had been fantastic improvising on the drums. I even gave him a solo that he gladly soaked up.

That whole night went perfect. I even met an aspiring young actress whom I took home with me.

Things heated up and we made sweet love.

I expected her to say thanks and run away like the other girls had, but this girl looked me in the eyes and told me that she loved me.

I laughed a little; then I told her to leave. It felt a ping of guilt when she ran off crying.

Rent came into my bedroom. I scurried to cover myself up.

He didn’t look at me, “Ya know, I usually keep to myself. I say, don’t get involved Rent, stay out of their lives.” He turned to me. “But common dude. You can’t be doing that to these poor women. I know they are throwing themselves at you, but do you really think it’s because they care? Do you even care?”

My feeling of guilt sunk even lower. I couldn’t look at him anymore.

“Just think about who you’re really hurting, Crow.” He left my room, the door slamming behind him.

I got dressed and went out onto the balcony that overlooked the city. “Is this really what you want?” I asked myself.

Chapter Five: A Friend