Chapter 6
(Song)
“How’d the auditions go?”
His older brother’s voice startled him, and Song jerked, milk dripping off the end of his hair as he raised his head to look at Suede. Shit. He’d fallen asleep in his cereal again.
“We have a new singer,” Song said as he reached for the napkins Suede held out and carefully blotted the milk from his hair.
“That fast? You sure you guys aren’t jumping into a worse situation by rushing to replace Carson?”
“Yeah, actually I think things are about to get a lot better for us,” Song explained. “Ajay’s delivery is phenomenal, and he’s already got an established following. Doesn’t drink either and doesn’t like to party.”
Suede pulled the chair out across from him and sat, unwrapping a sandwich that looked like it had come from the gas station down the street.
He looked as exhausted as Song felt and way older than his thirty-three years.
Worry lines were etched into his forehead.
Song couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his brother without them.
“That’s a hell of an improvement right there,” Suede replied.
“He’s a little too,” Song explained. “I met him at the club the night I met Zachy. Zachy was the one who suggested he audition and even helped me get it set up after I told him we only had six people respond on the message board after we announced we were having auditions.”
“You’ve mentioned him and his daddies a lot lately,” Suede said. “Is there something else going on with them that you haven’t shared yet?”
“No,” Song replied. “I just really like hanging out with them. Zachy’s Daddy Gage used to be the sound engineer for Shriveled Rose. He was around the industry a long time and said I can pick his brain anytime I needed to.”
“Are you hoping for more than just friendship with them?”
That was Suede, always direct and to the point.
“Maybe, I dunno, I want to get to know them better before I let my thoughts stray too far in that direction.”
“Good idea. You don’t want to invest too much emotion into something that might fizzle out in a week or two.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I know you do,” Suede said. “But I had to say it. Sometimes it’s hard to get used to you being all grown up.”
“Thought you’d be celebrating that instead of continuing to worry about me.”
“You came home with a shiner the other night; that alone is reason enough for me to keep on worrying,” Suede declared. “I hope you told Decon what would happen if you ever came home bruised up like that again.”
“I did.”
“Good. He’d better remember that too.”
“He will; he was super upset about it and apologized as soon as he saw what he’d done,” Song replied. “It was my fault too, you know; I was the one trying to grab his arm while he was swinging.”
“And I’ve warned you a hundred times about doing that shit,” Suede remarked. “I’m too tired tonight to say it again.”
“What are you doing up this late, anyway?”
“Unclogging the tub,” Suede said. “For whatever reason, water started backing up when I was taking my shower. I tried the plastic snake, and that didn’t do shit but piss me off, so I had to go out and grab some Drano, which didn’t work either, so I went back out and got some industrial shit, plunged the hell out of it, tried snaking it again, then poured in the stronger stuff, which finally got the water to drain.
I don’t know what the hell got stuck down there, but I picked up one of those plastic sink drain strainers and stuck it in the hole to stop it from happening again. ”
“Hair, probably,” Song replied. “Since we’ve all got a lot of it.”
“Tell me about it,” Suede said as he shoved the end of his braid over his shoulder and took another bite from his sandwich. “Been thinking about cutting mine, actually. I don’t see the point in keeping it long when I have to keep it braided anyway.”
“It still looks good, even in a braid.”
Suede nodded at that and kept on chewing.
“What’s this, a family meeting no one remembered to invite me to?” Solo asked, stepping into the room in the black pants and red blouse that made up her bartending uniform.
“Naa,” Song said. “I fell asleep in my cereal, and Suede is finally getting around to having supper after unclogging the tub.”
Her cheeks reddened before she scrubbed a hand over her face.
“That might be my fault. I tried this new hair detox gel that involved chia and flax seeds, and things got a bit slimy and a whole lot messier than any of the treatments I’ve tried before.
I loved how my hair felt afterwards, and it’s been a lot easier to maintain. ”
Suede groaned and shook his head. “The drain wasn’t a fan of those seeds.”
“Sorry about that.”
“I put a drain strainer in there, so it should be fine the next time you try it again; just make sure it’s firmly in place before you rinse slimy seeds out of your hair. I hate to have to take apart the pipes.”
“Yeah, and I hate to be the one who has to help you,” she replied. “One adventure in plumbing is more than enough for me.”
“You can thank Song and his plastic turtle for that one.”
“Hey, who knew it wouldn’t float?” Song protested. “I didn’t think flushing would be powerful enough to suck it down the pipe; I just wanted to watch the turtle spin.”
“And I bet he spun too and squeaked all the way down to the drain trap.”
“Naa, there was no squeaking, just a lot of bubbles and disappointment when he didn’t pop back up.”
“Well, since we’re all here, I might as well share how my night went,” Solo said as she grabbed meatballs from the freezer, dumped them in a bowl, topped them with tomato soup, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder, and two slices of cheese before popping the bowl in the microwave.
“Have at it,” Suede said before taking another bite out of his sandwich.
“Brock promoted me to bar manager,” Solo declared.
“It means more hours but a bump in pay too, like, a sweet one. He wants to focus more on brewing and promoting the new line of craft beers he’s been developing now that he’s finally gotten all the permits in place.
He’s thinking of adding patio seating out back now that the construction crew has finished the deck, and he’s got a list of ideas that range from tastings to game nights to bring more people in. ”
“Good for him,” Suede said. “He’s really turned that place around.”
“Yeah, it’s not a dive anymore, and I, for one, am happy for the change in clientele. The new patrons leave better tips and a lot less blood on the floor.”
“Don’t forget that you’ve been the cause of some of that bloodshed over the years,” Suede pointed out.
“Not my fault folks don’t know how to behave.”
Song snickered at that, recalling the rowdiness of the place the few times he’d been in there. “Congratulations on the promotion. Now you can get someone else to clean up any blood and broken teeth that wind up decorating the floor.”
“How about we just pass on all that and worry about the beer and pretzels bits and wing bones that wind up covering it at the end of the night?” Solo replied. “I swear some of these people are absolute slobs. I pity whoever has to clean up after them at home.”
“Probably their mamas if they’re still living in their parents’ basements,” Suede declared. “Otherwise, I can see how they’ve got significant others. Bet you their vehicles look just as bad.”
“Ugh,” Song groaned, “there is nothing worse than getting in the car with someone and sitting in mustard and day-old onion bits from their last cheeseburger.”
“Told you to stop getting rides from Mark.”
“Wasn’t him this time,” Song explained. “He’s actually getting better about picking up the trash in his truck, after me and Decon covered it in biohazard stickers and caution tape.”
Soda shot out Suede’s nose when he snorted and doubled over, laughing as he fumbled to reach the napkin dispenser. Song took pity on him the same way he’d come to Song’s rescue earlier and passed him a couple so he could wipe his face and the tabletop in front of him.
“Why have I not seen pictures of that yet?” Solo asked, so Song pulled out his phone, scrolled through until he found them, and passed the phone over.
“Oh, holy shit,” Solo said, laughing as she thumbed through the selfies of Solo and Decon in the process of covering Mark’s truck. “Please tell me you got one of the look on his face when he saw it.”
“Keep looking; it’s there.”
“Kiddo, you never fail to make my night,” Suede said as he stood and disposed of the napkins and his sandwich wrapper. “Shit, sorry, I need to stop calling you that.”
“No, you don’t. I still like it, and you never do that in public, so it’s all good.”
Suede nodded and accepted the phone when Solo passed it to him.
“Just wait until you see his expression; that is a priceless moment right there.”
“Now I know what a bull looks like right before he goes on a rampage,” Suede said after he’d looked at them all. “I can’t believe you guys made a biohazard sign big enough to cover his hood.”
“It took effort and taping two poster boards together, but Decon and I were laughing our asses off the whole time we worked on it.”
“I bet.”
“Oh hey, you weren’t here for the announcement earlier,” Song said, turning in his chair to face Solo, who was chowing down on the meatball sub she’d thrown together. “We hired Ajay to be our new singer.”
“Sweet!” Solo replied. “He’ll bring a whole new dynamic to the band. Just remember that his Daddy Walker is very protective, so you guys had better make sure Ajay doesn’t go home looking the way you did the other night.”
“I don’t think that will be an issue. We started vibing right off the bat.
We sent him home with copies of all the lyrics as well as the recordings we’d done so he can start to work on memorizing them.
Decon told him to bring his guitar next time too.
Said there was no reason we couldn’t have three guitarists and a bass player in the band.
Mark agreed with him, since Ajay wouldn’t be playing guitar on every song. ”
“I’m glad the auditions went well.”
“Some pretty good guys showed up, but Ajay was by far the best fit, not only with the vocals but also with how laid-back and chill he is. We set up a practice session for tomorrow afternoon, and Zachy invited me back over on Sunday for another playdate, so all in all it was an awesome day and far less stressful without having to deal with Carson’s drunk ass. ”
“Good, you guys need to be able to focus on the music, not whatever bullshit issues he’s got going on,” Solo said.
“If Decon can take anger management classes to start dialing down his temper, then Carson could have taken the steps to find an AA meeting or something to start getting his life in order too. I’m glad you guys fired him before he could really mess things up for you. ”
“Me too,” Song replied. “Gage’s friend Max was there at the club scouting bands that night; he saw everything that happened and commented on how impressed he’d been by the band as a whole, despite Carson’s drunken caterwauling.
When I told him we’d fired him, he said that was the best thing we could do and gave me his card.
He said he’d come check us out again once we’d found a replacement and had the chance to gel with him. ”
“Good. I’m glad he didn’t hold Carson’s behavior against the rest of you, and I owe Gage yet another thank you for making sure you got ice and looking out for you for the rest of the night.”
“He’s awesome,” Song said. “I don’t know if I’d have had the guts to demand the band fire Carson if he hadn’t been standing there beside me.
Something about his presence, I don’t know; it was like I’d popped a confidence builder.
Maybe it was the way he brought all the chaos backstage to a halt with how loudly he whistled, but I got the feeling that he wasn’t going to let me brush it off and accept another of Carson’s apologies. ”
“Because he wouldn’t have,” Solo replied. “A real Daddy doesn’t allow his little to put themselves in situations that can get them hurt, emotionally or physically.”
“He’s not my Daddy.”
“Not yet,” Solo said. “Just give it time, and I’m sure you guys will get there.”
“Do you really think that?”
“I do, especially with the way you and Zachy have already grown attached to one another. They’ve already got a poly situation going on with Cooper, so I don’t see where there would be an issue if you guys decide you’d like to start a relationship together.”
“Thanks, sis. I’m not getting my hopes up yet, but spending time with them is totally different from hanging out with anyone else I’ve known.
Getting to play and not worry about anything was awesome, but the best parts were when the four of us were together in the kitchen making pizza or sprawling on cushions in the living room watching movies.
Daddy Gage and Papa Cooper treated me the same way they treated Zachy and made me feel at home the whole time I was there. ”
“That’s the way it should be,” Solo said.
“If you’re happy there and comfortable with them, that’s all I need to know,” Suede said. “Dating is hard enough without having to deal with a bunch of drama and people who want you to jump through hoops just to prove you care about them.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Solo grumbled. “Anyone up for a round of Uno before we crash for the night?”
“I’ll get the cards,” Song[TM2] offered.
“And I’ll dish up some ice cream,” Suede replied. “If you two are going to gang up on me the way you usually do, then I’m going to need some chunky chocolate goodness to console me.”
“In that case you’d better give yourself two scoops,” Solo said as Song rushed from the room, Suede’s grumbled curses mingling with Solo’s laughter echoed down the hall as he hurried to get the cards.
Opportunities to play games with his siblings didn’t happen often with their crazy work schedules, so he was going to enjoy the night and the laughter that would inevitably come when he and Solo started piling the draw twos and draw fours on Suede.
Laid-back nights made the hard days so much easier, especially when he got to spend them with people who loved him.