The little drummer boy

“Just go, we’re all going.” Josh nudged at Roland, “It’ll be fun, mate.” 

“No thank you, I bloody hate parties, with a passion.” Last party Roland attended was in his younger years when the band visited Germany for a gig. He got way too drunk and made a complete arse of himself, and he was not going to do that again.

“Mandy is going to be there.” Peter rang in, the bassist of said band. “We need our drummer, or there’s really no point in going.”

Roland shook his head, “Get Parker to fill in, he was with you guys before I was anyways.” Josh mosied over to the sofa in their flat they all shared. He began picking at his fingers, already giving up on Roland. Parker headed to his room to get away from his bandmates, but Gregory grabbed his arm.

“You just wait a minute, you’re not goin’ anywhere.” Roland rolled his eyes. “The party is tomorrow night, you’ll survive, I’ll even babysit you around the booze if you need me to.

“I don’t need a damn babysitter, I just need to not go.”

“You drink with us just fine, why wouldn’t you be able to handle….wait a bloody minute. You’re nervous because Mandy will be there, that’s exactly what it is.” Josh stood up so quickly, blood rushed to his head. “It has nothing to do with you drinking, or are you afraid she’ll see you pissed out of your mind?” 

“Look, I just don’t want to go, it has nothing to do with the drinking and it definitely has nothing to do with Mandy, I just hate parties, alright?”

Roland sighed, and mosied his way into his room, after the other three berated him. He plopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Maybe he was nervous about Mandy, the moment he set eyes on her, he was in love. Plus it was Christmas, he hated Christmas, so why on Earth would he attend a Christmas party of all things. He sighed and grabbed his cell phone, scrolling through his social media page. The invite to the party was just staring at him. The band would be fine with Parker as the drummer, he was sure of it.

The other three sat in the living room, chatting. They were a bit worried about Roland. He used to love Christmas, but lately he’s been a total scrooge. They couldn’t figure out why. Josh looked at the other two.

“I say we just call Parker, there’s no use in getting Roland.”

“But Roland’s a better drummer, Parker’s a little rusty now.”

“But he absolutely loves Christmas, and I think he’d do just fine.” 

Gregory chimed in, “But I worry about Roland, I don’t want him left out, and he’s the foundation that holds us together.” The other two agreed. “We have to convince him.”  

Peter folded his arms across his chest, “I don’t think we should force someone to do something they don’t want to do.”

Josh grinned, “That’s why we make it something he wants to do, obviously mate.”

Roland continued to scroll through his social media page and landed on an update on Mandy. 

 “Can’t wait til tomorrow’s party!! It’s going to be a blast!” 

Roland sighed, he wanted to see her, suddenly a text notification blocked what he was looking at. He clicked on it, and it was a message from Mandy.

“I hear you’re not going to the party. How come?”

Roland clinched his teeth. “Damnit Josh…”

He then replied to her message. “I don’t like parties all that much.”

“But it's a Christmas party!”

“I also don’t like Christmas.”

Then silence, no more texts, did he say something wrong. Shite, Maybe he shouldn’t have said he didn’t like Christmas. He placed his pillow on his head and screamed. He then sat up and thought to himself, “Maybe I Should go, but why go if I won’t enjoy myself. His phone vibrated again, it was her again, relief washed over him. 

“Christmas is my favorite, and you’re my favorite drummer.” He didn’t reply quite yet, because he wanted to send a quick text to Josh because he didn’t feel like going to fuss at him.

“Oi mate, why’d you have to bring Mandy into this.”

Josh replied, “Because we all want you to come.”

Roland then replied to Mandy, “I’ll think about it.” and that text was followed with a smiley emoji. 

Roland got up and stretched, and left his room. The other three were nowhere to be found, good! He headed down to the basement and grabbed his drumsticks, he sat down and his drum kit and smiled. He was where he belonged. Tapping lightly on snare drum, then working on the base drum. He hit the symbol hard, and just began playing. It wasn’t any particular song, at least not yet. He bobbed his head around as he played this new beat, and smiled. Before he knew it, the other three were downstairs with him. Peter grabbed his bass, Josh and Gregory grabbed their guitars. They jammed for a while, Peter looked at Josh, and you could see the gears turning, they were already thinking of lyrics to go with this song. They would sit down later and get to work on the song. Once they stopped, they began playing one of their first ever songs they wrote, it was very nostalgic, but enjoyable. The four of them were having so much fun. Roland thought to himself, “Maybe the party won't be so bad after all.” They played several more songs then headed back up stairs. All four of them grabbed a beer once they were done and mingled in the living room. Finally Peter spoke up.

“Have you reconsidered?” 

Josh arched an eyebrow as he stared as his drummer.

“I’m thinking about it, but I still don’t know.”

“Aye, it’ll be fun, I promise.” Gregory gave a reassuring smile to his best friend. 

“Maybe we can even play our new song, Peter, how about we get started on lyrics, think we can get it finished before tomorrow and even better?”

“I’m certain we can and we can make it a Christmas song!.”

Roland got lost in thought, a new song? Certainly Parker wouldn’t know it, maybe he should go, make sure it's right.

“Fine lads, I’ll go, but under one condition.”

“What's that mate?”

“Don’t let me make an arse of meself.” 

Rolad was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, but with a suit jacket on. Gregory was dressed in a black t-shirt with a colorful jacket, Peter was in a suit, and Josh was dressed casually in a green t-shirt and jeans. 

They arrived at the party, and everyone greeted them, and a few people even squealed because they recognized them from a recent show in town. Roland scanned the room, looking for one person in particular. Josh grinned a giant, silly grin. 

“Looking for your lady love there, mate? She’ll be here, no worries. But we need to get ready to perform, I’m sure she’ll find us after we do.” 

The four boys made their way to the tiny stage where all of their equipment was already set up. Parker still showed up just in case, and wished the boys good luck. Roland got behind his drums and looked out at the crowd. Everyone took their places. They played a few of their older songs, and at the very end, they sang their new Christmas song, and the Christmas tree was lit shortly after. After the performance, Mandy ran up to all of them and congratulated them and was holding a gift, she shyly handed it to Roland. 

“This is for you, I hope it’s okay.” She gave a sweet smile. He opened the gift to find two brand new drumsticks. He smiled big.

“Thank you so much!”

“I remember you saying your drumsticks are on the verge of breaking.” She lightly bit her lip and blushed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything, love.”

“It’s okay, you showed up, and that's all I really wanted.” She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Suddenly the crow was demanding more music, they all grinned, and made their way to the stage, before Roland left, Mandy grabbed his arm, he turned quickly and suddenly her lips were on his. Her lips tasted like chocolate and cherries, he felt like fireworks exploded in side of him. It was the most magical kiss he’d ever received, and it was from Mandy. 

From the stage, Peter, Josh, and Gregory were all smiling.

Josh leaned into his microphone, “Oi! Ro, you gonna come play, or snog your girl all night!” 

Roland and Mandy giggled, and he made his way to the stage. The rest of the night, they played Christmas tunes, and Roland even got to dance with Mandy. He was certainly glad he came to the party.