-ROCKSTARS NEVER DIE-

Live Wire

Rowan woke once again to a kick in the ribs with a groan.

"You know I'd be a lot happier if you stopped kicking me every morning." Rowan grumbled into the same grimey, sweat stained pillow they had a week ago.

"Still not morning. And you have to go to that audition thing that one guy invited you to."

"His name's Mick." They mumbled, moving to look over at their beloved guitar, a shitty worn down Stratorcastor modified to play their signature tone, only to find it missing. "Where the fuck is my guitar?"

"I had to take it last night when you came home at 4 am and started playing Iron Maiden songs as loud as you could turn your amp to."

"Fuckin' love Iron Maiden, man.."

"Yeah, I know. Do you know where this is and do I have to drive you? Cause Dotty asked if I could come in and if you want a ride we have to leave in like five minutes." Holly rambled, her words getting faster as she tossed her light brown waves over her shoulder. Rowan took a minute to process what Holly had said.

"Uh...its..just up the road. I'll just walk, Hols it's fine." They finally spoke looking up to the girl towering over her from their place on the mattress.

"Are you sure? I don't mind driving you." Holly was always concerned about Rowan, which was fair enough with all of the dumb shit they seemed to do.

"Really it's fine, I could use a walk. And a smoke."

"Alright, well, I'm heading out then. Call the diner if you need anything, ok?"

"I will. See you, Hol!"

"See you, Ro!" She yelled before slamming the apartment door shut. Rowan struggled to get up from the mattress with a groan and a few sighs before finally getting ready for the day.

A harsh knock sounded on the apartment door, bringing the attention of the small group inside. A faint shout could be heard through the poorly built walls before the door knob began to twist. The door almost seemed to wobble as it was opened, a gust of wind giving off from the quickness of the skinny man on the other side.

"What can I do you for, dude?" Maybe man wasn't such a good word. He was more of a young boy with a shining smile and mop of hair, the same complexity of Hollys, to match. A pair of drumsticks were sticking out of his belt.

"Um, Mick gave me your guys' address." They picked their guitar case up from off the ash-covered, cement ground. "I'm the guitarist- rhythm guitarist, I guess."

"Oh, right on, man! Come on in, Mick just got here too. I'm Tommy and Nikki is taking a piss but he's the bassist." Rowan threw Mick a small wave from his place on the couch before the bathroom door opened to reveal who Rowan guessed was Nikki, still fixing his studded belt back on. He looked up after closing the bathroom door behind him before clumsily pointing over at Rowan.

"Who's this?" The question came out through a sigh as his eyes shifted over to Tommy's.

"I'm Rowan. Mick thought my sound would be cool with yours, so.." They finished with a shrug, trying to find the eyes of the tall man standing feet from them but the pitch black hair teased inches above his head seemed to hide them. He responded before they could continue searching.

"Cool. We have an extra amp if you need it." He started walking over to his bass while he talked, pulling the strap over his head and strumming the strings of the unplugged instrument while he continued talking.

"Uh, yeah thanks. Sorry, I couldn't carry it over, but I've got the cords and my pedals if that helps." Rowan finally set their guitar case down and opened it, shoving the cords over to Nikki so he could plug it in.

"Yeah that helps. A lot actually. Tune this however you want, and we don't have any sheet music or anything so I guess just play whatever feels good." Rowan tuned the amp- which was smaller than the others, but not by much- as he continued talking.

"That's fine. Can't stand that fancy ass sheet music shit anyways." They mumbled in response. Nikki glanced over at Tommy's drum set to find Tommy with the same amused look, mouthing "Mick 2.0" at him. Nikki chuckled at the younger boy before moving his eyes over to Rowan who had finally finished and plugged their guitar in.

"I'm ready when you are." They spoke, flicking their pedals on with what was left of the rubber sole of their worn down sneakers. 

The wooden sticks in Tommy's hand clung together four times before Mick started strumming his guitar, the pounding drums and bass joining in. And then Rowan joined. The music fleshed together, turning into one. It was perfect.

"So....what's with the eye?" Apparently Tommy had a thing for asking rude questions to guitarists after admitting them into the band. Nikki sent him a frustrated whisper of his name, receiving a clueless look in return.

"What?" Sometimes Rowan forgot their left eye wasn't normal, or functioning. "Oh! Uh," Their hand moved to play with the dent left from the scar in their left eyebrow above the once brown, but now a cloudy white eye. "Just- somethin' that happened when I was a kid." After Rowan's avoidance of the question, the group of four went back into silence, the sound of Mick's beer bottle clanging against the patio table set in the living room as one meant for dining

"Anyways.." Nikki looked over to Tommy while he spoke, still angry with him. "We really need a fuckin' singer. And I'm not about to settle for some regular looking, normal sounding asshole. We need a dude that looks like David Lee Roth with a vibe like fuckin' Bowie."

"So..we're lookin' got a skinny, blond fucker." Mick stated.

"A skinny, blond fucker with moves." Rowan corrected him, finishing off the rest of their beer, the same clashing that happened seconds earlier reoccurring before Tommy got the chance to respond.

"Wait-wait, I think I know our guy dudes."