red hot | grayson dolan

ten

GRAYSON

I place my finished cigarette butt into the white ashtray on the table. Ethan and Austin are throwing their heads back in laughter, while Landon takes a sip from his Bud Light. There's an endless smile on all of our faces.

We just completed three incredible performances at the Whisky A Go Go, and moved the party over to the diner down the street. There's nothing like a burger and a beer at two o'clock in the morning.

"So, Austin, tells us about this song you had an idea for." Landon shifts the topic over to our lead singer.

"Well, I started coming up with lyrics, but I need more help. You know I'm not the best song writer." He laughs and pops a french fry into his mouth.

"That's what we're here for." Ethan nods in agreement.

"It's about heartbreak, I had my old high school girlfriend in mind when writing it."

"Would it be a ballad?" Landon raises an eyebrow up.

"Fuck no, Red Hot doesn't do all that sappy shit." Austin ruins his statement, and I laugh at the thought of it.

"What are the lyrics?" I ask.

"So far I have a few bars." He clears his throat and pulls a piece of paper out of the pocket of his black leather pants. He places it down on the table and the three of us lean into the booth to get a closer look at it.

"I don't care enough to miss you, after all the shit we've been through. My heart is numb to you, numb to you." Landon reads the lyrics out loud.

"I was thinking of a hard rock sound for the drums and bass." Austin looks between Ethan and I.

"I don't like the words numb to you." Landon shakes his head.

"What do you mean?"

"They sound awkward." He shrugs.

"Well, that's the theme of the song. We're talking about being numb to our past love because they hurt us really bad." He explains.

"Comatose." I clear my throat and look down at the paper.

"Huh?" Ethan furrows his eyebrows.

"My heart's comatose." I mutter and glance back at Austin.

"Comatose? What does that mean?" He scoffs.

"It means being in a state of deep unconsciousness for a prolonged or indefinite period." Landon backs me up.

"Yeah, especially as a result of severe injury or illness. In our case, it's heartbreak." I take a sip from my beer.

"You think that would work?" Ethan asks.

"Try it out." I nod toward the paper.

Austin clears his throat and nods his head. "I don't care enough to miss you, after all the shit we've been through. My heart's comatose, comatose." He belts out the words.

"I already have an idea for the melody." I automatically state.

"I say we have a hit on our hands." Landon smirks.

"Man, I hope so." Ethan runs a hand through his hair.

As I take another sip from my beer, I notice a man walking over to us. He has long brown hair, and is wearing an ugly green and navy shirt.

He stands in front of our table and clears his throat. We all stop what we're doing to look at him.

"Red Hot, just the men I wanted to see." He grins.