This part is dedicated to leigh_. Go check out her story, 'Friendship for Dummies'. I'm hooked on it :)
The door to the flat is barely shut before I bound up out of my seat and over to the newly cleaned kitchen. I fill a glass with water and down the lot before turning back to face Ollie and Vince. The flat is silent but I can hear my heart beating in my ears.
"Are they having a bloody laugh?"
Ollie knows better than to say anything, but when Vince opens his mouth I know he's about to get me back for making him clean.
"Having a girl in Sketch might not be that bad."
I narrow my eyes at him. "Am I the only one against having a girl in the band?" I ask, my gaze flitting between Ollie and Vince as they continue to sit in silence. "Guys!"
Vince smiles. "This band could do with some more eye candy."
Ollie gives Vince a bemused look. "Did you just refer to yourself as eye candy?"
"So you agree that I'm the hot one?"
Ollie snorts. "Careful or your ego will get too big for this flat. Comments like that are why I can only take you in small doses."
Even though I'm angry I can feel myself smiling at the sight of Ollie winding Vince up.
"That's why we stuck you on drums."
Vince raises an eyebrow in confusion.
"So we can hide you at the back," Ollie finishes, watching as Vince frowns when he understands the insult.
"Ha-ha," he answers dryly. "Then why is Sam at the front? His ugly mug scares everyone off." He sits up straighter and clicks his fingers like he's just had a eureka moment. "That's why we have no fans!"
I can feel Vince looking at my brown hair and brown eyes. Ordinary is the word to describe how I look. If it wasn't for my ability to write songs and play the guitar, there's no way I'd stand out.
"Don't pick on him," Ollie says, his tone snapping.
Vince rolls his hazel eyes. "Oh shut up, Ollie. Sam's big enough to stand up for himself."
I feel drawn back into the conversation, even though Vince and Ollie are arguing about me now.
"You want a fight?" I say, giving Vince a cocky grin. Last time we'd had a fight I'd given him a cut lip and he knows it.
His arrogance falters ever so slightly but he's not one to lose his dignity that easily, even if it means going for round two. "Go on then." He sounds confident, but his moves are sluggish as he gets up.
I wait until he's up and facing me before I wave a hand at him. "Nah. I'll just hurt you."
Vince laughs. "I'll fight Ollie then."
Ollie rolls his eyes with a sigh. He'd been reading some of the paperwork that Tanya had left behind but at the mention of his name he looks up. "And why exactly are you fighting me?"
"You insulted my beauty," Vince replies, raising his hand to his heart in mock hurt.
"You're such a girl," Ollie says, setting the paperwork back on the coffee table and standing up.
Ollie and Vince are the same height, around 5"7, but Vince is naturally bigger built, leaving Ollie looking lanky in comparison.
"You wanna test that theory of yours?" Vince says, shrugging off his hoody to reveal a black wife-beater underneath. His only tattoo – which is a star on the back of his elbow – is purposely visible.
"You actually want to go there?" Ollie asks, sounding a little sceptical. "You want to fight me to prove that you aren't a girl?"
Vince raises his fists, flexing his muscles, and for a split second I understand why he's the one all the girls love. I watch in amusement as they approach each other half-heartedly until my brain suddenly reminds me what I should be focusing on.
"Stop!" I say, slamming my hands down onto the breakfast bar.
Vince rolls his eyes at me and drops his fists. "Why do you always stick up for him?" His gaze moves to Ollie, who actually looks pretty pleased that I've called a halt to their stupid fight.
"Because he's my brother," I answer simply. "I stick up for him most of the time."
"So is this a most of the time moment?"
I nod at Vince but he doesn't seem to take it as an answer.
"Well which is it?"
"Neither," I reply, feeling agitated that I've let them both distract me from the real argument at hand. "We should be talking about the stupid decision to let a girl in the band."
Ollie sits back down and, being the most diplomatic out of the three of us, he raises both hands. "Pros and cons."
Vince catches on immediately. "They take ages to get ready."
"Fill the house with shoes," Ollie adds.
"Stink of perfume," I say.
Ollie laughs. "So far it sounds just like living with Vince."
Vince shoots Ollie an annoyed look. "And you think I won't take you down when your big bro's not looking."
"Really?" Ollie counters.
They start to stare off again and I clap my hands together to break the building tension. "Guys!"
"Pros," Vince says, turning to look at me with a sulky expression. "I need someone to love. There's too much brotherly love here. I feel outnumbered."
"What about Holly and Jasmine?" Ollie says pointedly.
Vince smirks. "Well."
"Con," I interrupt, coming around to sit beside Ollie. "She'll expect everyone to like her. She'll have no sense of humour. She'll be the worst thing to ever happen to this band."
"Pro," Ollie says. "She could possibly make something happen to this band."
"Possibly," I repeat.
"She'll be the only thing that happens to this band," Vince says. "All we have at the moment is the same van of girls following us to every gig." He runs a hand through his hair. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything."
Ollie shrugs. "He's right," he says, not sounding too happy to admit it. "Our fans are great, but there's only around ten of them. How many times can ten people buy our album?"
"Con," I say, feeling outnumbered as Ollie and Vince stack up their list of pros. "Girls hate girls."
"What's that got to do with anything?" Vince asks.
"You've watched too many chick flick movies," Ollie says. "Not all girls are like Michelle."
I feel bile rise in my throat at the mention of Ollie's girlfriend's sister.
"Pros?" I say to distract myself from the sick feeling.
"She'll clean," Vince offers.
Ollie and I give him matching looks.
"And cook," he adds.
"That's sexist," I say.
"Guys will like her. That could mean more fans. A different market. More chance of a top ten single."
"More of a chance of us staying on Walter's label," Vince says, backing Ollie up.
I sigh, frustrated. "Whatever. I'm not up for discussing this anymore. Neither of you are listening to what I'm saying."
Ollie punches me lightly on the shoulder before standing up again. "I was just getting into this debate. Let down."
I shrug, almost to dissipate the weighted feeling that had settled on my shoulders when our management had announced their decision to meddle with our line-up.
"Yeah, way to kill the flow."
I sigh again and Ollie offers me a noncommittal shrug. "Is it really the end of the world?"
I slap a hand to my forehead and close my eyes. "Please tell me you didn't just say that."
"Oh he said that alright," Vince says and I open my eyes to see an annoying smirk on his face.
"This affects you too, you know," I say.
Vince nods. "I know."
My anger rises at how calm he's being. It's usually Ollie being all calm and level-headed. Vince is normally up in arms with me. I can't decide whether he's emulating Ollie to piss me off or if he genuinely doesn't care if our management thinks it's a good idea to add a female singer to the band. I'm thinking it's the latter, but he's enjoying irritating me too.
The sound of music reaches my ears and I turn to see Ollie fiddling with the controls on the radio. He spots me watching him.
"Look," he says, wearing his familiar placid expression; his blue eyes calm and his mouth in a slight smile. "We don't even know if it's happening yet. Why don't we just chill until we know what's going on, yeah?"
I glance at Vince, who looks like he's not bothered whether he carries on irking me or not, before I slump in defeat. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when Tanya arrives with a girl and forces her on us."
Vince smiles. "Tanya can force a girl on me anytime."
Ollie tuts and I turn away, heading to the fridge. I feel like making an omelette. Anything to keep my mind off of Tanya's brilliant idea and Vince's pervy comments.