I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'til my fingers bled
Was the summer of '69

I lie there next to Amber, on Frank's bed, flipping through his massive CD collection, smiling like an idiot. He has everything. From Misfits, to Smashing Pumpkins, to the Strokes, to the Cure....shit, Frank is like my musical twin. I might still be bothered every time he kisses Amber on the cheek or blushes when she talks to him, but I can’t hold his music taste against him.

As I start to go through another case that Amber hauled onto the bed, Frank’s little black dog jumps up on the bed, attacking my face with her pink tongue. I laugh, moving my head back and forth so I’m still able to breath. Eventually, Frank picks the dog up off the bed, bringing her onto the floor with him.

Amber flips through a few of the CDs I’d picked out as I move onto the floor, sitting down next to Frank who is talking to his dog. He’s looking at the small dog with big eyes, a smile set on his face.

“Who's a good girl, Sweet Pea, meeting new friends. Yeah, that's Mikey! He's a cool guy, a little too serious, but all around an awesome kid!"

"She's so cute..." I say, as Sweet Pea comes to sit down on my lap, looking up at me with her big puppy eyes. I smile, scratching her head. It looks like she’s smiling. Sweet Pea eventually lies down, her head resting on my knees.

"D’aw!" Gerard smiles, "I wish we had a dog..."

I nodded, smiling at Sweet Pea. Mom really doesn’t like animals so we’ve never had one. It also probably has something to do with the fact that Gee and I are lazy fuckers so it’d probably never get taken care of. Any animal we would’ve gotten would have become mom’s responsibility after a week or so and she just doesn’t have time for that. The closest thing we’ve ever had to an actual pet was a frog Gerard caught in the backyard when he was around ten. It died shortly after we brought it inside because neither of us remembered to feed the thing.

"She likes you, Mikey," Frank says, scratching his dogs back. His eyes follow Amber as she gets up and takes a guitar out of a case in the corner. My girlfriend then sits back down on Frank’s mattress, fingers working over the strings.

Sweet Pea barks, her claws digging into my thigh. Grimacing I try and move the dog’s paw without distrubing her comfort. It obviously doesn’t work because she jumps off my lap, running over to sit infront of Amber, barking the whole time.

Frank frowns, getting up to shoo Sweet Pea out of his bedroom and into the hall. Once she’s disappeard down the stairs Frank shuts the door, “She only does that when Amber plays.”

“It’s because she sucks,” Ray sayas from the corner, still looking through the music books that are staked against the wall.

Amber looks over at Ray, her nose sruntch up, fingers never missing a cord in whatever song she’s playing, “Shut the fuck up Ray. If I remember correctly I was the one who taught you. So if I suck so do you.”

I can’t help but laugh as Amber sticks her tongue out at Ray. The two smile at each other, obviously knowing that they’re both joking around. “What’re you looking at anyway Ray?”

"Oh, it's nothing...just some classics I'm touching up on." He responds, coming to sit at the end of the matress that acts as Frank’s bed.

I lean back against the wall, picking up a book with a green cover on it. While Frank and Ray talk, I flip through the pages, eventually stopping on one when I recognize the song title. The page is covered in notes, measures, bridges, and penciled in comments that make no sense to me.

"If only I could read it..." I frown.

"Well, I can teach you, Mikes," Frank offers.

I look over at him, smiling "Really?!"

He nodded, then turned to Gerard, "You too, Gerard. You sing, right?"

Gerard nods, his cheeks dusted in pink from his embarrassment, “From time to time.”

I know this is an understatement. He belts out show tunes all the time in the shower. He doesn’t sound bad either. He has a few problems with higher pitches that he can’t hit cause he’s a guy, but with some training he’d sound awesome.

"Awesome, bro," Frank nods. "Mikey – " he turned back towards me.” – Are there any instruments you wanna to know how to play? Guitar, bass, drums...?"

I think about it for a minute. Since Gerard sings, Ray and Frank played guitar, and I’m most definitely not coordinated enough for drums, I guess there is only one option left..."Bass sounds cool," I reply, petting Sweet Pea.

“Awesome, bro! Bass is definitely one amazing instrument." Frank says with a smile.

Ray nods, "I play bass too, Mikey, and would love to teach you how."

I’m completely baffled by my friendships with these people. Every single one of them is so willing to help out. "Ray that would be so great," I answer. "But I'd really just need tips...I want to teach myself how to play..."

Ray nods, a smile spreading across his face, "That's understandable." he says, getting up and putting the songbook back on the shelf. "Let me go get mine for you...I rarely play it, so you can have it."

I’m shocked; someone needs to pinch me so I can be sure this isn’t just a good dream. I look over at Gerard. He looks genuinely excited for me. He’s smiling, all his teeth showing. Frank is grinning pretty wide as well; even Amber is wearing a smile when I look over at her.

"Have?" I question, "As in, own, by myself?"

"Yeah."

"Like, I don't have to pay or anything?"

"Uh, no, Mikes."

I cautiously pick up Sweet Pea. She lets out a sound that’s a mixture of a growl, groan, and squeak of annoyance. Ignoring it, I pass her off the Frank before going and hugging Ray.

"Thank you so much, dude!" I say happily. "You have no idea how much this means to
me."

He smiles, patting me on the back, "No problem, bro! I'll be back in a little bit, okay guys?"

We all nod as Amber hands Ray the keys to her car, warning him to be careful with her child. Ray rolls his eyes at the redhead before waving to the rest of us and leaving the room. I smile over at Gee, Frank and Amber, probably looking like an idiot.

"Holy! Shit!" I exclaim, bouncing up and down on Frank’s bed.

"Dude, that's like, amazing!" Gerard says as he braids a few strands of Amber’s hair together. Once he’s got a few small ones, he begins to twists the smaller braids around into an even bigger one. Although Amber doesn’t necessarily look pleased, she’s made no move to stop my older brother. I swear that girl puts up with too much shit for her own good.

My face hurts due to the fact I’m smiling so much, but I just can’t stop. This is extremely exciting. Never in my entire life have I had people who are so willing to help me out. No one I’ve known before would have just given me an instrument. I don’t know how I got so lucky.


"He's a read nice guy, Ray," Amber says, petting the top of Sweet Pea’s head as Gerard tires to remove her hair tie from around her wrist. Amber swats his hand away a few times before he catches her wrist. Gerard mumbles something to my girlfriend, grabbing her arm and inspecting it but I don’t really pay too much attention. I’m still over flowing with joy.

I’ve always wanted to work in the music industry, but never thought I would ever have the chance to do something about it. Now, Ray fucking Toro, is helping me out. I have to find a way to thank him.

Gerard’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, “Shit, bro, it’s like seven. We gotta go home.”

Frank stands, walking us to the front door, “Guys, again, thank you so much for helping me today.”

I shrug giving Amber a hug, “Will you be over later tonight?”

“I think so. I have a few things to get done at the dance stuido, but afterwards I should be over,” she replies kissing my cheek.

"See you guys tomorrow, then?" Frank questions, once we’re all out the door.

Gerard nods, “For sure dude.”

We wave at Frank and Amber as we leave his house. Gerard throws up his hood as we walk down the sidewalk.

“Wait!" I hear Ray yell from behind us.

I whip around to see him running down the street, hair flying behind him, bass case in one hand and a bag full of other equipment in the other. He catches up to use, panting before putting everything on the sidewalk.

"Glad I got to you before you left...." he pants, holding up a finger." You're gonna...want to....hold on..."

We wait patiently for him to get his breath, well I wait patiently; Gerard is never patient. He’s got his hands resting on his hips, converse glad foot tapping against the concrete. Every once in a while he blows his hair out of his face, making a huffing noise.

"You all right there, Toro?” Amber questions, coming out of Frank’s house. She must have watched all this play out from a window or something. She’s still wearing that ridiculously skimpy cheer leading outfit. Instead of Gerard’s leather jacket Amber’s now wrapped up in one of Frank’s many skeleton zip ups, my beanie sitting on top of her flaming red hair.

"Yeah, lemme just...that was a long run, and that shit's heavy..." he replies.

Amber rolls her eyes, looking at the distance from her car to where Ray is standing now. It really isn’t very far but I don’t say anything. The guy is giving me a bass.

"You sure you're okay, man?" I question, picking up the canvas bass case and strapping it across my chest. Automatically, I feel a million times cooler. I pick up the bag of cables and the small amp, and realize that Ray wasn’t joking. This shit is at least thirty pounds.

Finally, Ray stands up straight, motioning for Amber to come over, a hug smile plastered on his face.

“You’re keys your highness,” Ray says with a smile as Amber pulls out a cigarette, offering one to Gerard. “Not a scratch on her.”

For a minute both Gerard and Amber stand there,jackets pulled tightly around their bodies, smoke coming out of the mouths and noses. They both look like fucking dragons.

"Anyway," Ray says, "You're gonna want to tune it first, before anything else. I haven't played it in a while, and it's just been collecting dust. If you need help Amber knows how to tune the bass and I’m just a phone call away."

I nod, accepting a peppermint from the tin that Ray is passing around., "Expect calls from me then, Toro."

Everyone in the group chuckles a little. As Gerard and I go to leave Frank’s front door flies open, the dark haired boy running towards us with a large CD case held in his arms. Once again Amber rolls her eyes as he drops her cigarette butt onto the ground and putting it out under the toe of her shoe.


"Oh fuck, thank you so much," I say, as Frank hands over the black case. I’m running out of space to carry shit, so I hold out the CDs for Gerard to take. My older brother shakes his head, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Mmm, no, Mikes," he says. "All that’s yours, I'm not carrying shit."

I groan, wondering just how sore I’m going to be tomorrow morning. Amber gives Gerard a disappointed look which he ignores.

"Well, guys, we had better get back home," Gerard says after a few seconds of silence. Ray and Frank nod.

"Yeah I'd better be going home too," Ray says, waving. "Mikey, call if you have any questions, okay?"

I nod. He waves again before following Amber over to her car. Those two seem pretty close. If I didn’t know she was adopted I would have guessed Ray was her brother.

I turn to Frank, who is smiling at me, holding Sweet Pea, "Enjoy the CDs, bro."

"Dude, seriously, thank you," I reply with a smile that still hasn’t left my face. "You're awesome for letting me raid your music collection."

Frank laughs, "Anytime bro."

I look at Gerard. He has just finished his cigarette, and is stomping it out, his hands in his pockets, "Ready to go," he asks me, and I nod.

"Alrighty, then."

He turns to Frank and waves, his pinky rogue from the rest of his hand as he does so, "See you tomorrow, buddy!"

Frank waves back best he can without putting Sweet Pea down, before walking back into his house

"Ready to go?" Gerard asks.

"Yep," I answer, picking up the bag as we begin walking down the sidewalk, me carrying literally everything while Gerard complains about it being too cold for autumn.

Notes

Song: Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams