[h3] [/h3][h3][hr][color=SteelBlue]Anthony “Tony” Carter[/color][/h3][hr][sub][i]Main Street  ||  11:15 AM[/i][/sub][indent] [/indent]
Redcap was one of the local bars in Seneca Glen. Being one of the only bars that had both live music and dinner, it was decently popular with both tourists and locals. The problem was that Recap opened at four in the afternoon, and it was currently quarter past eleven in the morning. If Tony was lucky, today was a restock day, which meant Murphy would be in early to oversee inventory delivery. That meant the boss man was in at dawn, which was around when the earliest trucks arrived, and that he’d stay until the early hours of the night when the bar closed, catching a brief break in the afternoon. Tony, then, needed two things: for it to be a restock day, and for it to be a day when Murphy decided to snooze in his office instead of heading home to catch a nap.

[color=SteelBlue]“Hey, Murph?”[/color] Tony asked, pulling his bike over in front of the bar door and leaning it against the side of the building, his phone and grocery bag in the same hand as he walked over to the door to look in through the glass. [color=SteelBlue]“It’s Tony.”[/color]

“Tony! What can I do for you? Oh, and great show last night. Regulars loved it, as usual.”

Murphy’s voice was warm and jovial as always, but the lack of noise in the background of the call was pretty disheartening.

[color=SteelBlue]“Thanks Murph, and yeah, so, I’m pretty sure I left my guitar in the bar last night. Forgot to stick it into Jake’s car after the show. Any chance I can get into the bar and grab it right now?”[/color]

“Oh—oh man. Sorry Tony, I just left the place. On my way home now. Any chance you can get it tonight? I need to let Buster out for the night so he doesn’t piss my place.”

[color=SteelBlue]“I can drop by after dinner, probably around seven or eight. Danny’s coming back so I can’t miss it.”[/color]

“That’s fine, lemme know. And Danny’s coming back? Bring him around, would you? Been a while since I saw Dan-man.”

[color=SteelBlue]“Yeah, I’ll bring ‘im. See ya then, Murph.”[/color]

As soon as the call clicked, Tony dialed up Jake again, getting on his bike as he did so. Riding one-handed with a bag of groceries didn’t seem like the best idea, but he’d done worse. 

[color=SteelBlue]“Yo, Jake, hey. Murph wasn’t in, so I’m getting the guitar after dinner.”[/color]

“Yeah, okay, long as you get it. And keep it for the week—get some practice in. Your timing for [i]Nerve[/i] is shit, man.”

[color=SteelBlue]“But I’m still the best bassist.”[/color] 

Tony bit back a grin as he waited at a light, watching the cars pass one after another, not a single car breaking rank to turn. On the other side of the phone, he could hear Jake sigh and mutter something, and Tony wondered again whether he could just tell Jake the truth: that high school was years behind them, and so was Tony’s interest in being in some garage rock band. Originally, Tony had seen it as a good way to get his old friends back together, so yeah, he’d even pushed for the idea. Now, though, it felt unnecessary. The bros got together for Friday night football, for Tuesday's bar happy hour, for lots of things other than the band. They weren’t even all in the band—only five people were, and two missed shows all the time, though not together. For Tony, he’d simply grown tired. Playing the bass guitar was cool and all when he was in high school, and yeah it still hooked the odd girl or two after a show, but playing had become a chore. More often than not, their shows were on off days—days when only locals were in town, when only a few people could attend. They simply weren’t big enough to slot the good times, and as much as Tony appreciated the few people that came in, practicing and playing for the same group over and over had lost its edge for him. 

Problem was, Tony doubted the group’s friendship would survive it. More than a few friends were loyal to Jake, and Tony got that. Jake’s family was loaded and had started hooking him up with a fat allowance back in high school, which Jake had spent pretty freely back in the day. He was the one who’d pulled the group together, and he’d be one to disband it if anybody could. Trying to quit Jake’s band, which was one of his only passions these days, wouldn’t go over well with Jake. Best case, Jake would snub Tony for a few weeks; worst case, Jake would oust him from the group, and Tony was pretty comfortable with his current life. Whether staying in the band was worth the thankless hours of practice was debatable, but staying was worth keeping Tony’s current life in place. 



“Just practice, Tony. Call me when you’ve got the guitar.”

The phone clicked, and Tony slid it back into his pocket just as the light turned green. Now that he had two hands on the handles, Tony wondered whether he’d ever get around to trying a triathlon. Running wasn’t his favorite, but swimming and biking didn’t sound half bad. His current life, though, probably wouldn’t be able to handle the commitment. Between the band and some family obligations, he wasn’t sparing many vacation days or favors to coworkers, after all.

The rest of the bike ride home was pretty fast, and he after he dropped the groceries to his mom he joined his dad in front of the TV to watch football reruns. 

“Nice one,” Ben said as the midfielder made a tackle. A can of beer was on the coffee table before him, and Tony briefly wondered how much was left.

“You been keeping up with the season, Tony?” Ben asked, reaching for the can.

[color=SteelBlue]“Yeah, mostly. Missed a few games but looked up the score after. We’re doing pretty well this season.”[/color]

“Hmph. We’re doing great, you mean. Better than last year, and last last year.”

[color=SteelBlue]“Yeah, we’re doing great.”[/color]

Ben set the can back down with a light thunk, which said the can was still pretty full. Thank god.

[color=SteelBlue]“I watched this game with the boys on Friday, so I’ll go help Mom in the kitchen. She could probably use some help with the lamb.”[/color]

“Suit yourself.”

As Tony had suspected, Mary was more than delighted to have an extra set of hands in the kitchen. She had a habit of cooking too much for ‘important meals,’ but Tony appreciated her enthusiasm. At least one person was genuinely happy Danny was coming back to visit.

“Oop, don’t cut yourself!” Mary said, glancing over when Tony picked up the knife to clean the bones on the lamb chops. 

Tony laughed. [color=SteelBlue]“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’ve done this before.”[/color]