"Man, where the hell is this guy?" Axel grunted from behind his drum set, having just finished a quick jam with the band.

"Relax, sunshine," Johnny said, "I'm sure he'll be here soon. Then we can actually start practice!"

"Dude, forget practice! I just want a damn beer!"

"…and you wonder where you got that gut-ski, Axel!"

"Piss off, Princess!"

It was at that time that Tommy limped in, his guitar case in one hand and a 24 pack of beer in the other. He set the beer down on a table that was in the jam room before looking up at the group.

"Sorry I'm a little bit late," Tommy said in his gravelly voice, "traffic was a bitch. Anybody mind helping me grab my amp?"

"Axel, can you…"

"BEER!"

"AXEL!" Casey shouted out "You can have a beer after you help Tommy with his gear!"

"Fine, fine!" Axel grunted before walking outside to help Tommy bring his stuff in. He had a killer Marshall half stack with a Dimebag head to go with it, and a back pack which he assumed (and he assumed right) contained his pedals. Tommy set up, then turned to Casey.

"So, what are we playing?"

"Well," Casey started, "we figured that we'd start off with a couple of cover tunes before we did any original stuff, see how well you mesh with us. You've listened to the Winstons before, right?"

"Listened to em?" Tommy chuckled "The Winstons are probably the closest thing I have to Religion!"

"Well then, just try to keep up, and you'll do fine. You wanna cover vocals, too?"

"I could do that."

"Hang on just a second, you guys!" Axel said. He grabbed a beer and chugged it as if he had spent the past week in a desert. "Okay, let's get started!"

xoxoxoxoxo

I know a thing or two about her
I know she'll only make you cry
She'll let you walk the street beside her
But when she wants, she'll pass you by

Everybody says she's lookin' good
And the lady knows it's understood
Strutter
Strutter
Strutter

The group finished up the song, and each grabbed a beer afterward. They'd been jamming old Winston songs for well over an hour by this point, and they needed a well-deserved rest.

"Tommy, your playing is simply Ace, mate!" Johnny said, a wide smile painted across his face.

"Thanks." Tommy said, taking a drink of his beer afterward.

"Yeah, man, that was fucking killer!" Axel barked out. The two looked over to Casey who simply shrugged and said "Yeah, he's okay."

"So, let's not beat around the bush anymore, am I in or not."

Johnny and Axel looked over to Casey with a hopeful look in their eye. Casey thought it over for a second before looking up at the Guitar-Hopeful.

"Yeah, you're in!"

"YES!" Axel barked out before smashing the rest of his beer.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Song used was "Strutter" by Kiss. Kind of a weak chapter, I guess, but I just wanted to get Tommy officially in the band before we really started getting down and dirty with the story.