Chapter 5

"Your father will be here after 20 minutes so no need to worry"

She knew what I was thinking, no matter how hard I tried to change my attitude. She's the one who knows me best, I gave her a flying kiss before leaving the house. I drove off with my car when I realized that I left my stuff at their house. I rushed back to double check my things but to my surprise, everything was already placed on the door waiting to be picked up by me. I smiled and grabbed everything before speaking with a loud voice.

"I'll be leaving now, Mom!"

I knew she heard me, so I left the house and rode my car towards the event place. There were tons of cars and people in front of the place, it didn't give the despedida vibe but rather a party vibe. I walked in and found dozens of people looking at my outfit, not that they differed or anything. I just can't help but get irritated by their gazes like some critiques judging my appearance.

"YO! CALEB! Glad you could come dude!! I was worried that you'd ditch me cause like we really don't have a drummer!"

Casper was well-dressed and looked like the star of the evening, I wonder what this guy is planning. Is he really going back overseas or did he just do it so I would come? I can't think of an answer. But no matter what I do, this guy is as troublesome as ever.

"Why are there so many people?"

"Uhh... how should I put this, Tina and I coincidentally have the same date of flight so we decided to do this event for the two of us. If find someone unfamiliar it must be Tina's college friends, since I only invited our classmates in high school so no need to be awkward"

He spoke brightly as he pulled me towards an enclosed room where a sign was hung up. "Do Not Enter" was what it said, of course knowing this guy there's only one possible thing that would be inside the room.

"EYO!! Our drummer is back!"

Casper screamed as we entered the room, inside were the three other members who were waiting for me. They instantly dropped their instruments and immediately clung to me like a child being reunited with its parents.

"We Missed You!" they screamed in sync.

"Yes, Yes. I know!"

I replied, we had a few conversations about the reason why I stopped contacting them after graduation. I simply reasoned out that school was tough and most of the time I was busy with activities and thesis, even though those were lies. I don't know if my words fooled them or not, but what I do believe is that within the 5 people in this room there's one guy who can see behind my lies.

"Why don't we start by playing an old time favorite?"

The man who asked was the one who didn't rush to hug me, he always had this calm demeanor that surrounded him. Ever since high school he was always the observant type, the person who would watch you from afar while guessing what your plans are. But despite that he was a well-talented bassist, it was as if the bass was created from him to play, that's how talented he was, but as a bassist he would always allow others to over shine him. That was the kind of person Tyler was.

"If it's the old time favorite then I can play that without any hassle"

I spoke with a confident voice, all of them went back to their instruments and continued to tune it while I sat on the drum set reminiscing the days when we played on that stage.

"School works, huh?"

"Yeah... School works"

I mumbled with a little crack in my voice, because no matter how much I lie this guy would see through it no matter what. I gave off a sigh before trying out the drums, we took a quick music check, it felt nostalgic as we played the same song we played back then at the battle of the bands.

"Woah! That was fun!!" Jasper spoke, while he continued to catch his breath.

"Shall we go to the stage then?" Tyler asked.

The same as before, the two others were trembling in fear since they always had a problem dealing with crowds, but what they feared more was the man who stood to my right. We took off and went straight to the stage where a large crowd was in front of us cheering on our dear friend, Casper. The cheers hyped us up, even though it wasn't really meant for us. We played three more songs for them when Casper suddenly called me out.

"My voice seems to need some rest, so why don't we have our beloved drummer to play us a song that he wrote" Casper announced.

I felt an extreme shiver in my spine when the crowd turned their gaze at me, my heart pounded hard and fast that it felt like exploding out. An awkward smile enveloped my face as I slowly walked towards the chair in front of the microphone. I didn't know how or why they knew it but in my current situation backing down would make me look like a coward.

And so I went on to sing it for them, playing the song I wrote in the past and reliving the memories I had in the past. A swelling painful feeling emerged from my chest when I saw the memory of that girl from my dreams, tears gushed out of my eyes as I remembered the words she spoke to me back then. It was too painful, but I had to continue the song for the sake of my pride.

"That... was a wonderful song..." Casper spoke in awkwardness. The crowd gave no response and the whole event place was filled with silence that only the sound of crickets could be heard.

[Chapter End]