Drums, Bells, and Christmas Cheer

Griffin twirled a pair of drumsticks with one hand. Fidgeting. 

He had been invited to the ‘Annual Musical Party for Upcoming Musicians.’ Griffin was the drummer for the band ‘Last Dream’, and while the rest of his group couldn’t make it they had urged him to give it a try. Their plan was to get him out of his bubble and for him to spread their name with whoever he could talk to at the party. And they meant whoever — even the janitor if he got the chance. 

Griffin would have loved to, but social events were not his forte. His hands sweated at the sight of human interaction, his pupils shook whenever he smelled an upcoming conversation. The thought of this Christmas musician party was a nightmare in itself, and now he was going to attend it. 

All of this inner turmoil was happening right outside the front door of the party. He knew he only had several minutes before someone realized he was standing there. Griffin didn’t want to have to come up with an excuse for what he was doing, as he pushed his drumsticks into the pocket of his slacks and rang the doorbell. He didn’t have to bring his drumsticks, but he figured that maybe the sight of them would draw other drummers near. 

Griffin only waited half a second before the large doors opened and he was ushered inside by a helper at the party. He was in complete awe at what he saw inside, chandeliers hung down from the ceilings, only the finest draperies adorned the large windows, and there was table after table of appetizing food and beverages. Guests were mingling and having small talk, as they enjoyed the hor d'oeuvres and drank the beverages while adorned with expensive suits and luxurious dresses. Griffin had never felt more like an outcast than how he felt now, like some sort of mutt next to the finest dogs with pedigrees and diamond collars. 

He felt out of place from the unruly crop of brown hair at the top of his head, the drumsticks on his pocket with sharpie writing near the base, to even the tuxedo he was wearing which happened to be his prom outfit four years prior. Everything about him didn’t spell out ‘fancy’ and well maybe he wasn’t but he didn't want these important people thinking so.  

He slowly made his way inside, practically hiding from people’s gazes as he murmured a small “sorry” or “excuse me”, while he made his way to the table with the food. 

It took 2 bites of the daintiest sandwiches for him to snap to his senses. 

I am the freaking drummer of “Last Dream”! What am I doing? 

Taking deep breaths, Griffin forced himself to walk around, to look people in the eye and to not to glance down at his feet. Trying his best to appear like a confident drummer from a prospering band, though it was hard. Yet he knew he had to do it for his other group members that couldn’t be there. He knew Matthew, lead singer and bassist, would have quickly made friends with everyone at the party. He was such a friendly and likable person that people at parties would often form a circle around him. Griffin would have also liked to have Luke, lead bassist, by his side, while Luke was more quiet than Matthew he was incredibly handsome with great manners and a strong demeanor. People weren’t able to take their eyes off of him. On the other hand, Griffin knew he was an amazing drummer but he always had such a hard time communicating with people and he wasn’t doggone handsome either. 

He knew he couldn’t let down his band, as he forced himself to approach a woman who was heading to the appetizer table. She had on a red glittering dress, silver high heels, black curly hair and candy cane red lipstick applied to her lips.

“Um- excuse me”, Griffin murmured, placing himself in front of her line of sight. 

She noticeably took back a step and scanned him up and down with a look of distaste Griffin decided to ignore. 

“I’m Griffin” he said prompting a hand shake, as he murmured afterwards “drummist”. 

“I’m Patricia, pianist”, she said with a nod, as she accepted the hand shake but did not look happy about it. 

“Well I frankly just wanted to promote my band, ‘Last Dream’”, he said with a sheepish smile, as she seemed quite frankly unimpressed. 

“I’m sorry, … um Griffin. I’m more into a … higher frame of music”, she said with disregard as she stepped out of his way and headed to the beverage table. 

That was just plain rude! 

Griffin tried to hide his hurt. Christmas music started playing softly in the background as he dejectedly walked towards the far walls of the room. He would have hidden behind the velvet curtains if he could. 

He stayed there for minutes, feeling sorry for himself when he heard a voice snap him out of his trance.

“Hey” 

His head snapped up to find a blond-haired man staring at him with green sparkly eyes. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you”, he mentioned with a wave of his hand.

“No, it’s okay, I'm - I'm fine”, Griffin answered with a hint of confusion. 

The man had long blonde hair, a long cross earring and a black bandana wrapped around his forehead. 

He looked increasingly familiar, but before Griffin could pinpoint him the man spoke first. 

“I’m Percy Black, I’m the drummist in ‘Crushed Skulls’”, he said with a wide smile as he took Griffin’s hand in a firm handshake. 

“I’m from ‘Last Days’, glad to meet you. I love ‘Crushed Skulls’ you guys rock!” 

“Thanks, ‘Last Days’ is equally great. By the way, how are you faring? People here aren’t too warm”, Percy said changing the subject as he looked around. 

“I know, I just witnessed something that left me feeling quite icy”, Griffin said with a shake of his head, making his brown curls bounce. 

“Well don’t let them get to you, your band is amazing”, Percy exclaimed as Griffin couldn’t help but notice the glimmer coming from the large cross earring. 

“Can I have your number?" Griffin blurted out before he could stop himself, “Maybe we could do a collaboration? ‘Last Days’ and ‘Crushed Skulls’ would be the greatest crossover of the century”

“The ‘Last Days’ of the ‘Crushed Skulls’?” Percy prompted and Griffin laughed in agreement. 

“That’s a stroke of genius, man” 

Once he had found someone to talk to, the party didn’t seem so daunting anymore. 

Percy had left for the bathroom, and Griffin now stood again alone for the second time that evening as he reclined against the curtains. 

Percy had been a nice interruption to stop interaction with other people, but now that he was solitary again he felt like he had to go and make small talk. 

He squinted his eyes as he saw the front doors of the party swing open. 

His eyes shone as he saw who was entering the party at the last minute. It was the remaining members of ‘Last Dream’! 

They scanned the people, as they ran towards Griffin once they spotted him in his 4 year old Prom outfit. Griffin did the same, as he wrapped them in a hug. Not caring whether the people around them stared, his favorite boys were here to his rescue! 

“Merry Christmas!” Matthew mentioned amidst the hug. 

“Surprise!”, was Luke’s response. 

“I thought you guys couldn’t make it”, Griffin mentioned with a playful pout. 

“We tried our best and lied our way here”, Luke explained.

“Well why don’t you show us around?”, Matthew mentioned, his multiple face piercings already looking out of place in such a fancy party. 

“That would be great. Can you guys believe it? I found Percy from the ‘Crushed Skulls’ here!”, Griffin practically yelled above the ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ song playing in the background of the party. 

“What?”, they replied in unison, Matthew and Luke couldn't stop themselves from looking incredulous. 

“Exactly, I asked for his number” 

“You’re interested in him?” Matthew quickly asked. 

“Well it was for both of our bands to have a collaboration, but who isn’t interested in Percy Black, if we want to be honest?” 

“I can’t deny that”

The two friends were then led around the party by their drummist, Griffin Pierce. 

This was the Christmas where Griffin found himself attending a musician Christmas party. He didn’t quite fit in, however, who doesn’t want a collaboration with the ‘Crushed Skulls’? If attending the Christmas party was the price he had to pay to get such a chance, he would willingly attend more of these treacherous parties.