I Found A Way

Chapter 15- Band Session Saturday, July 19, 2014

Now I'm going to spend half of my life putting this little baby to sleep.

But I know I will be okay,

Because somehow things are going my way.

Even if I'm only sixteen."

The crowd cheered at the new song as Melly nodded her head. "Thank you." She said.

She has been working really hard to make this song sound right about her four months pregnancy. I heard her working on the piano in my parents' garage, making sure that the notes doesn't sound off. And from the audience's reaction, it's surely her new hit single. You know, if she pursued a career in music, if she wanted to.

Three songs later, the crowd was wild. They loved our performances. We waved at our neighbors as the garage door closed us from the outside. I turned to hug Melly tight in my arms. I kissed her.

"You did a great job, sweetheart." I said, "Junior seems to think so, as well."

Just because we don't know the gender of the baby, doesn't mean we can't call it by the name we're giving him or her.

"For the last time, Derek, her name is Lucy." Melly said, "And in case it's a boy, his name is Nathan."

"Nathan?" I cringed. I am not letting her name our son Nathan. I mean, what has he done to deserve such a bland name? No, no, no. He, if we're having a he, doesn't have to be named after me, but I'll convince Melly to not name him that.

"Yes, Nathan. It means "he gave". I'm naming him after the prophet." Melly said, rubbing her stomach.

"That's nice, but I just don't agree with the name." I said as I took her free hand.

"Well, we have five more months to go, so we'll think of something along the way." Melly said, smiling. I couldn't resist to kiss her.

"Hey, mommy and daddy!" Mike said, ruining the nice moment between us. "Come here, we have a band meeting. And no PDA."

Melly and I exchanged a look as she sat on my lap. Her slender arms are around my neck as my left is firmly planted on her butt. She smirked at me. She loves it when I do that. She's

kind of heavy(in a good way, of course.), but I can tolerate her weight as long as she's in my arms. I kissed her cheek, making her face as red as a tomato. I smiled as I looked at Mike, for him to proceed whatever he needs to say.

"So I got some news!" Mike said, rubbing his hands together. "I got us a gig!"

"What?" The entire band asked, surprised.

We're not popular or anything. We just perform for the neighbors and that's it. So why do we suddenly have a gig? And where?

"I was talking to my managers at Bean Me Up about how we should have a live band or something, to entertain our customers while they're here, getting coffee or just hanging out with their friends. To make the coffee shop more groovy and make everyone feel right at home. They took that into consideration and came up with this thing called, Lively Hour. They said that maybe the Black Pliers could introduce the hours to the public. I retreated at first, not wanting them to think my band had to play, but once they begged and said that we would get paid, of course I didn't hesitate to say yes." Mike said, earning a wave of comments of approval for us.

Bean Me Up is a small coffee shop in Downtown Sacramento. We call it Bean or BMU for short. It's not Starbucks, but it is one of the most well known coffee shops in the city. Their customers are mostly aimed towards teenagers and young adults, but almost everyone of any age would come in to order a cup of coffee from Bean. Mike has been working since freshman year and he's one of their finest employees yet. Don't blame them though, Mike's an awesome person.

Although the band is fine with being your average neighborhood garage band, of course we wouldn't mind a little more publicity. So when Mike announced that we will have a gig over there, of course we're more than thrilled to be able to perform in one of the city's famous cafes.

"So when's the gig?" Jack asked.

"February 2015." Mike said.

"2015?" We asked in exchange. That's a long time from now. Who knows what could happen then? The Black Pliers could break up for all we know.

"Yeah.Well, we need time to build a stage and give Bean the maintenance that it needs for Lively Hour to successful." Mike said, "I know seven months is a long time, but we can use this time wisely to prepare for the concert, make our outfits, and other cool stuff like that. Plus, Melly is having her baby in December. If the concert is in February, that will give her enough time to recover from birth, right?" Mike said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Melly said.

"So, there you have it. What can go wrong?" Mike said, "Unless something happens, I understand, but.."

"I want to do it." I said, getting the other band mates to agree with me.

"Sure? Why not?" Melly said, "Sounds fun."

"Great! So it's official. The Black Pliers is going perform live at the BMU!" Mike said, sitting down on the couch as we began to discuss our performance.

Sure, a gig at a random coffee shop may not seem much, but it does mean a lot to us, since it could give the band the good lighting that it needs. You may think that I just put a lot more on my plate of things to worry about, but I don't. Besides, I have plenty of time to get my stuff together for the baby and work on the music with my friends. It won't be so hard, right?