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"Okay, I think I've got it."

"Are you sure, DJ? You're still a little shaky on the scale for the second riff. If you want, I can record that part instead, so you can take your time with learning it."

"It's all good, Rory," I said, ruffling my undone hair, lying flat on its side instead of its usual well-kept mohawk. "I just gotta slide my pinky back a bit harder than I normally thought. Here, lemme show ya."

My silver fingers snaked across the metal strings of my guitar, flourishing into a glorious sweep pattern I could've NEVER thought of on my own. Rory was a genius on the guitar, and found ways to add melody that nobody else in the band could even imagine. But this riff was proving to be quite difficult to handle, flailing my hand as I finished the short section, my hand aching from doing such an awkward pattern.

I've been told this time and time again: Dragons shouldn't play guitar. Honestly, I've just always viewed it as a challenge, and I've grown to be rather talented at it, if I do say so myself. I'm nowhere NEAR Rory's level when it comes to writing, but dammit if I couldn't shred anyway!

"You okay, babe?" my better half nervously said to me through the computer. I felt a lot more relaxed when Jill was watching me play, and she was a great help when I was practicing these new parts, keeping me calm and distracting me from my own frustration at times.

"Yeah, Jill, I'm good. It's just a bit of carpal tunnel from this damn riff!" I chuckled back, smiling to hide my frustration. Sure she tried to distract me from the frustration, when she saw it, that is.

"Don't worry, DJ," Rory calmly spoke. "The great thing about the guitars is that we both can be in there to make sure we did our part right. I'll be right there with ya."

"It's all good, Rory." I replied. He was always so relaxed, I have no idea how he stays so calm, especially considering the approaching hours of work ahead of us.

"Aight, I'm off to take my pre-game bathroom break. I'll see you in there!"

"Sounds good," I replied, trying to mimic his calm. It wasn't convincing enough for everybody though, for as I turned back to Jill on my laptop, I could see worry all over her face. God, if there was one thing I hated to see on her beautiful person, it was worry. It only made me feel worse.

"Please don't look at me like that, hon. I'll be alright."

"Bullshit," she replied ever-so-quickly. "I can see your hands shaking. You're a nervous wreck!"

"I know, I know! I can't help it. I feel like my hair is standing on end even without the gel." I retorted.

"Listen, babe. It's all gonna be okay. I haven't stuck with you through all this just so you would get scared as you get to the starting gate!'

Her phrasing caught me off-guard. "What do you mean, stuck with me?"

Her voice started to shake a bit, and her face went from worry to defensive, hiding a bit of anger from the overall visage.

"I-I didn't mean it like that, hon. Honest. I just don't want you to screw up, okay?'

I sighed rather loudly, looking away from her. "Okay. I'll talk to ya later, babe."

"Bye..."

_ _

PING!

Skype's chime of the ending call rang in my ear, and I had to sit down, putting my head in my hands, while rubbing my temple. Okay, I'm done denying it. I'm fucking stressed out.

With another drawn out sigh, I moved up from my chair, unplugging my guitar from the practice amp Vincent let me borrow. It was nothing special, but it got the job done. Wrapping the guitar strap around me, I moved along the hallway from our bedroom to the first studio room, home to the major workings of Vincent's guitar recording. I had expected to see a line of amps, pedals, and things I had never seen before lining the walls.

I suppose he decided to take the minimalist approach. As I walked in, I saw another computer, a 4-speaker cab/head combo, a few effect pedal triggers, and a rack of guitars. I was, to be honest, disappointed by the rig, it really didn't live up to the hype my mind had me in store for. Hell, it even had room for a couch!

Vincent was sitting at the computer desk, a coffee cup resting on the left-hand side. Rory was already in there as well, jovially playing some basic scales at high speed on his guitar, the sweeping doing wonders for warming up hands.

I saw the wolf turn to me, a smile trying hard to hide what remained of a bad night. His eyes had ear dark circles around them, and his hair seemed a bit unkempt compared to the previous days we were here.

"Ah, there's our number 3! Time to get started!"

Vincent's voice seemed rather jovial compared to his physical appearance, and I just shrugged it off, taking my seat on the stool next to him.

Rhythm guitar always came first, as I had dreaded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was sweating bullets, and I wish I could be exaggerating when I say that.

Two songs in, an hour down, I sat back on the stool, my hands falling from the guitar almost limply as I looked at Vincent, who turned from the monitor after getting the last riff.

"Good job, DJ. That came out really clean. Let's take a 10 minute break, you look exhausted."

Thankful of his attention to my state, I muttered a "Sounds good," getting up from the stool to set down my guitar, then plopping myself down on the comfortable couch in the room.

I was in a state of comfort that could've lulled me to sleep, my eyes beginning to slowly close, a calm sigh escaping me.

"Good to see you're relaxing a bit."

I opened my eyes again to look at my blue jay band mate, still plucking away at his guitar. Rory had a serious look on his face, one I hadn't seen on him since we first met at audition day, and I was struck by a bit of worry, though I kept it back and let my smile linger on my face.

"Yeah, I think just getting started was all I needed. The more I play, the less I think, I suppose."

"That's good," he replied, but then looked at me again with that serious tone again. "When we get out of here, you need to apologize to Jill, though."

"Wait, what? What for?"

"You scared her. Your tenseness before pushed you to question her loyalty to you, and I could tell that it would bother her. It's written all over her face, as well as your own."

I looked down, pondering over what he'd said, and I accepted that he was right. It was wrong of me to put her on the spot like that, when she was taking time out of her day to try and comfort me.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Rory."

"It's not me you need to apologize to, but I'm glad you know now, before it comes back on you later."

At that moment, a thought struck my head.

"Hold on, how did you know about that conversation anyway? I thought you went to the bathroom before that even happened?"

At that, he turned away, but his serious face shifted slightly, calming down.

"If there's one thing I know how to do, its eavesdrop, my friend. Don't forget, I'm an only child with two parents who worked constantly. The only way I knew what was going on in my house was to sneak around and learn it all indirectly.

"I would learn to walk silently, as well as get my hearing better. That's what those in-ear monitors are really for when we play live, to keep my hearing sharp. Otherwise, I'd be even deafer than the old bats who still want the Rolling Stones touring!"

I turned myself towards the jay, chuckling as I got more enthralled, and I hadn't noticed that Vincent had walked back in the room, his coffee cup refilled. The wolf sat down at his desk chair and stayed quiet, happy to listen to the story.

"So, as I got older, my skills sharpened, also going along with my time learning karate, thanks to my father wanting me to take it for self-discipline. At this point, I almost felt like I was an American Ninja! I could defend myself, be silent, and gather intelligence like a covert spy. I didn't really have friends outside of school, so I did both karate and guitar for my out-of school time.

"Long tangent aside, I hadn't left until I heard you shut off Skype, so I heard everything. Don't worry, I won't say anything else, but just know I'm here for you."

"Okay" was all I could muster. I was touched by his little tangent; the bird really was more than met my eyes. My thoughts drifted away as I heard the wolf next to us clear his throat, meaning we had to get back to work. I smiled, handing my paw to Rory, who gladly shook it, smiling in his usual calm demeanor now.

"Thank you, man."

"Anytime, DJ."

"Okay, let's get back to work!" Vincent enthusiastically blurted.

I got up from the couch, only to grab my 7-string guitar from the rack, sitting back down on the wooden stool next to Vincent. Strangely enough, the guitar felt a lot lighter than before.

As he clicked record for the next song, I counted down on the click metronome for my entry bar, and as it came, I strummed away. To say I lost myself in the song was an understatement; I actually don't remember playing it at that point. I just let my mind go blank and played. My eyes were closed, and I just focused on my fingers moving from note to note, chord to chord, almost like machinery in motion. Before I even opened my eyes again, the first 4 minutes of the song had past, and the wolf clicked the recording off.

"Woah..."

I looked to Vincent, whose mouth wasn't open, but looked at me in equal shock as the person who spoke had. My head turned toward the couch, where I saw my bird friend, eyes wide.

"You played that section smoother than I could!" he exclaimed, before getting up off the couch and rushing over, hugging me. I suppose my own shock kept me from returning the hug for a couple seconds, before he let go, sat back down, and reveled in my apparent triumph.

Vincent said nothing as I looked back at him, only pointed at the speakers on the desk and pressed play.

There was no way, absolutely no way. What he was playing through the speakers definitely sounded like the song, but it wasn't like how I played it before. It sounded much cleaner, each note on the scales perfectly hit. The chords were smooth, even, and spot-on. I couldn't have done this. At least, that's what my mind kept trying to convince me of. Did I really just play it like that?

As if he read my mind, Vincent nodded, his mouth now forming a wide grin.

"DJ, I'm going to say this right now, but I don't want you to go into shock, since we still have the rest of the album to go through. That, in my decades of recording, has to be the single best take I've heard from a metal band here."

I swear, holding back tears when hearing something like that isn't easy, but damned if I was gonna cry in the middle of recording, let alone from that purpose! Taking a deep breath, I relaxed and said back to him, "Okay, let's finish this song up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's nothing like feeling that you've done your family proud. At least, that's what my dad always said. I suppose I can understand where he's coming from, now that I've finished up my part on the album. Thanks to Rory's encouragement, and some seriously good editing by Vincent, the rhythm guitar parts were finished, and the album is officially halfway done.

After I finished, Vincent brought the rest of the band into the small room to listen to the progress. My part, Garrett's bass, and Travis' drums graced the speakers, the rough mix pouring out. Next thing I knew, I was hugged by three big, beefy dudes who kept congratulating me in their multitudinous ways.

I suppose that feeling was what my father was talking about, because I had never been happier my whole damn life.

After hearing the mix, I went with Garrett, Thelen, and Max to pick up some food at the local Wendy's. The drive, though short, was full of raucous laughter, singing, and the infectious happiness of success. That was something I hadn't felt in quite some time, and it's a natural high I really didn't want to let go of.

As Garrett parked the car, Thelen's cell rang with a breakdown ringtone so generic it made us all laugh.

"I'll meet you guys in there, it's my dad," he said, the crew responding with the usual "okay" and "aight." As I bent down to tie my shoe before going in, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation taking place on the whale's phone. After hearing Rory's story of learning to eavesdrop, I couldn't help but stay at a distance and listen in as well as I could.

"Dad, I don't know what to do."

"..................."

I couldn't quite make out his father's responses, due to the noise of the cars passing by on the street. Though, from my friend's facial expressions, I could only assume they were talking about one of two things.

Max or Garrett.

"I know he SAID he's moved on, but I can't tell just how much he means it. He still acts close to me, like before. Does that mean he still loves me?"

".....don't worry.....okay......."

"Are you sure?"

"Defin.........Of..........You'll be alright."

I tried to get in closer, almost desperate to hear his father's side of the conversation. My shoes calming pressing down on the concrete behind a car near them. I kept my breath down, eagerly listening.

"Okay, Dad, I trust you on this."

"And listen, Thel. If he loves you, he'll let you go. Garrett's quite the smart guy, he's always been. If you keep feeling off about it, just talk to him. I'm sure he'll let you know how he's doing with it."

As Thelen sighed, my one foot slipped slightly on the concrete, causing me to shift my balance, making a little noise. I looked up from the car, unsure if he'd heard my quiet racket. Thankfully, his sigh had taken place away from me, vision-wise, and I went unnoticed.

"Okay. Thank you, Dad."

"No problem, big guy. Love you, and stay safe."

"Love you too, and no problem. Bye."

"Bye."

With a quick press of the touch screen, the whale put the phone back in his pocket and took another deep breath. I used this chance to appear out from behind the car, using my own phone as the excuse.

"There you are! Would've been in deep shit had I lost this," I chuckled, looking over at my now surprised friend. Though I assume he was in fact worried I heard his conversation, I decided to let that notion pass as I motioned him over with me, heading into the restaurant.

It's another topic for another day, I kept thinking to myself. Besides, they're best friends, they'll definitely be able to sort it out, no matter what.