Uproar

Chapter 42

Mike

I scribbled down some notes as Don spoke.

"You guys want to make sure the song will hit you again and again. Like this little example. You think about a little boy listening to the radio, your song comes up and he listens and it hits him. You don't want that only the first time you hear the song, you want it to hit the listener again and again."

Brad said something but I couldn't hear him clearly, my mind too tired to pay any attention to anyone else.

"That's good Brad. So we'll wrap this up with a few vocals--where's Chester."

"Bathroom," Dave piped in. 

Don sighed. "Again?"

"He's sick again," Rob said, biting his nail. I groaned, frustrated. I stood up and walked out of the room, going down the hall to the restrooms. I flung the door open and found Chester washing his face off and rinsing his mouth off.

"How long are you gonna keep ruining things?" I shrieked, my fists clenching at my sides. The lack of sleep was pushing me, I was so angry. He stared at wide eyed, his face pale and his hands trembling. He did look sick but this was enough.

"Answer me!"

He didn't say anything, he stood frozen in place, as if thinking about something, but scared to act too. I huffed and walked towards him, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the restrooms.

As soon as I walked out, the entire band, minus Don, was already outside of the door.

"What?"

Rob was the first to speak up. "We came over here 'cause we really thought you'd beat his ass again!"

Dave took Chester's hand and pulled him away from me. "You need to calm down Mike. He's gonna get sick and there's nothing much we can do about it!"

Brad and Joe stayed silent but they were still giving me a glare. "He's holding up production! We can never record because of him! We're behind on vocals!"

"Lower your voice. I know we are, but we can work on them later Mike."

"Fuck you Phi, you know how long that takes," I spat. Dave pressed his lips together and brought Chester closer to him. 

"Mike, just listen--"

"No! I'm sick of you guys defending him! I'm sick of being yelled at! I'm not doing anything!" I got into Chester's face. "I fucking hate you," I snarled. He cowered back against Dave, gripping his hand. Chester began sobbing, pushing away from everyone. Rob and Brad followed him, then Joe soon after.

"He hasn't done anything to you and you treat him like shit," Dave said quietly. "I don't know what your problem is. For these past six years, he's done nothing to deserve this."

He turned away and went back down the hall.

***

I was certain Don left once everything went chaotic. He didn't want to be around when drama started. I walked into the studio and sure enough it was empty. I sighed and collected my stuff. I guess there's no recording again today.

I felt too angry to stay anyways. Everything was becoming to overwhelming and I felt so tired, physically and mentally.

Chester

I couldn't stop crying, everything repeated in my head over and over. Every single hurtful word Mike has said along with what Anna told me earlier this week. I couldn't do this. Not anymore. I couldn't wait for Mike to come around. And I wasn't going to. I had pushed myself back into my bubble, looking for Rob, but I didn't need to continue edging him on. I went to Dave instead.