Chapter 7
SEVEN
Andy Compton scared the piss out of Trey.
He stood in the apartment living room, at least six foot three and crazy ripped.
He had muscles on top of muscles and ink splattered all over them.
Septum piercing. Earrings in both ears. Shaved head.
He looked like the kind of guy who went to secret meetings to plan how to drop burning crosses on people’s lawns.
Trey stayed on the other side of the room and silently wondered if Bobby had lost his fucking mind.
Danielle, naturally, was staring at the guy like he was a Popsicle she wanted to lick.
“Andy, that’s Trey Cooper, but everyone calls him Coop,” Bobby said, pointing. “Vocals and bass guitar. Occasional keyboard, depending on the song.”
“Nice to meet you,” Andy said.
His voice totally broke the spell. He sounded like someone had stuffed Jon Stewart into The Rock and fed him helium. Totally nonthreatening. Trey felt like an ass for judging the guy so quickly, but damn he was still pretty huge. “Likewise.”
Trey expected a bone-crushing handshake, but got a gentle one instead. Maybe the guy knew how strong he was and tried hard not to break people.
“So what’s your background?” Danielle asked.
“Started off playing sax in middle school,” Andy replied. “Got into drums in high school. Did snare for the marching band, bass for orchestra. Met some guys who were into jazz and played the full set with them for a year and a half before switching to rock.”
“And you’re in college?”
“Online courses. Gives me a lot of free time.”
“That’s good,” Bobby said, “because whoever we bring on needs to learn our entire set in three weeks.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s what you said on the phone.”
“Great. Then let’s hear you.”
Bobby had arranged the band’s drum set in the living room.
Andy spun his drumsticks in the air while he walked over.
He settled on the stool and tested out each piece of equipment.
Snares, bass, floor toms, cymbals. Then he went through a pretty impressive practice routine, using various combinations of the instruments.
Tyson sometimes overdid it with the high-hat cymbals, but Andy got a good sound from them.
By the end, Tara from the second floor had wandered down.
“Not bad,” Bobby said. He handed over some sheet music. “This is one of Trey’s original songs. Read over it while we get ready.”
Andy glanced at the top sheet, then put the pages on the ground. “I’m good.”
Trey balked. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. After I booked this audition, I downloaded both of your albums on iTunes and listened to ’em four times in a row.”
“You memorized all of my original songs?”
“Not saying I won’t make a mistake or two the first time around, but yeah. Try me.”
Trey liked a challenge. He picked up his bass while Bobby strapped on his own guitar. “Fine. ‘Fading Daze.’”
It was the first song Trey ever finished that hadn’t been destroyed by his father, because Allison started letting him write and hide the notes at her house.
The song was about confusion and teenage angst, and about needing something to believe in.
They’d put it on their second album, despite Trey’s uncertainty.
It was more ballady than most of their stuff, but the fans loved it, and it had become their most popular encore song.
Trey had tuned earlier, so he was ready.
Bobby and Danielle both gave him the thumbs-up, so he started them off with a short riff.
Andy cut in exactly when he should have.
Trey had lead vocals on this one, with Danielle coming in on the chorus.
Andy missed one cue, but he played the song like he’d done it before.
The huge smiles on Bobby’s and Danielle’s faces gave Trey hope that maybe they’d lucked into a new drummer on the first go-around. “Okay, how about ‘My Work Here Is Done’?” Trey had chosen that one because it had a more complicated drum line, and it was one of their most requested numbers.
Andy nailed it.
Tara had been joined by her live-in boyfriend, Neil, and they seemed to be enjoying the show, so they played three more songs.
Trey was having so much fun he was actually disappointed when he had to leave for work. “It was great to meet you, man, thanks,” he said, shaking Andy’s hand a second time.
He changed into his work uniform and headed out, stupidly excited by the idea of adding Andy to the group.
Andy seemed cool, and he was sure Danielle and Bobby would keep him around awhile to talk, really judge his personality.
If he knew Danielle, she’d fish around for his relationship status, and to make sure he was cool with queers.
Van was behind the bar alone, which kind of worried him. Without backup from Sasha or Jessie, who only worked a few nights a week, Van would become an insufferable asshole. To Trey, not to the customers. Barking orders and making demands.
And he did, but Trey was too excited about Andy and his upcoming date with Dominic to let it bother him.
“You’re in a good mood, considering what happened last night,” Beatrice said after her third check behind the bar. It was pushing one o’clock, and Trey couldn’t wait for last call.
“We might have found a replacement for Tyson,” Trey replied. “Onward and upward, right?”
“Right. Glad to hear it, Coop.” Beatrice clapped him on the shoulder before melting into the crowd.
The entertainment had been great, which helped pass the time.
At eight, she’d scheduled a pretty decent stand-up comedian, who’d be better if he sharpened his jokes a little bit.
Ten was an all-girl group who did hilarious punk rock remixes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera songs.
The midnight group was winding down, another regular cover band Trey was friendly with.
He chatted with them for a while when the set was over, accepting congrats on getting into Unbound. They left, and Trey got to work cleaning up the bar so he could go home. He practically ran the six blocks down to his street. The house was dark.
Trey bolted for his room, not even tired, and booted up his laptop. He couldn’t play the Casio without waking up his roommates, but he’d downloaded an alternative. He attached his headphones and mike, then signed into FaceTime. Early but whatever. He could wait.
At two twenty Dominic called him.
Seeing a sleepy-eyed, smiling Dominic fill his computer screen made all kinds of funny butterflies explode in Trey’s stomach. Even though he’d been furious at Dominic twelve hours ago, now he didn’t want to be talking to anyone else.
“Morning,” Trey said. The walls weren’t super thin, but he whispered anyway.
“Hey.” Dominic frowned. “Shit, I didn’t think about your roommates. How are you gonna play?”
“Technology is a wonderful thing. I have a program on my computer that creates a virtual piano keyboard. I can play”—he made air quotes—“using my laptop’s keyboard.”
“Really? That’s killer.”
“Yeah, and with the headphones in, no one in the house will hear it.”
“Awesome.”
“It’s a little tricky remembering which buttons are which keys, but it’ll work for now.”
“Until you get the technology that allows for a three-way between a keyboard, headphones, and messenger.”
Trey laughed. “Exactly. So you said you’re in your parents’ basement?”
“Yeah.” Dominic moved his phone in a three-sixty, showing off gray foam walls that looked like the recording booths they’d used laying down Fading Daze’s two albums. A music stand, an empty keyboard stand, and a bookshelf full of what Trey guessed was sheet music.
“I spent so much time down here as a kid I started to look white.”
Trey slapped a hand over his mouth so his laughter didn’t wake his roommates.
Dominic turned the phone back around and propped it up on something. “Anybody good at Off Beat tonight?”
“The usual acts. Decent, but nobody I’d go out of my way to see again. Van was a bitch tonight, but I was looking forward to this too much to care.”
“Van?”
“One of the bartenders. He’s always an asshole to me, but Beatrice likes him, so whatever. I deal.”
“Maybe he’s an asshole because he likes you.”
Trey grunted. “Well, too bad for him, because I don’t like assholes.”
This time Dominic cracked up.
“You know what I mean,” Trey said, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. God, talking to Dominic was fun. “Shut up.”
“Dude, you said that with such a straight face.” He got control of himself with a few deep breaths. “So you were looking forward to this, huh?”
“Definitely. Weren’t you?”
“Absolutely. Fell asleep at ten, because my sisters wore me out, so I’m glad I set my phone alarm.”
Trey swallowed a bit of jealousy over Dominic’s perfect relationship with his sisters.
His had only ever treated him like he was a pain in the ass, someone to be tolerated rather than treated with a shred of love or kindness.
When he was six, his oldest sister’s boyfriend at the time—now husband—used to punch him in the back for kicks, and she’d laugh about it.
Yeah, there wouldn’t be any Cooper family reunions in his future.
Ever.
“What did you guys do today?” Trey could live vicariously through Dominic for a while, pretend he had a functional family that didn’t treat each other like dirt.
“Played Monopoly for almost four hours. That’s what I was doing when you called. Starr made everyone wait until I got back, because it was still my turn and no skips allowed.”
“Hah. I’ve never actually played that game to the end. Whoever I play with, we either get bored or too drunk to keep going.”
“Starr won’t let you quit on a game. If you try, it’s not pretty, so we only break out Monopoly when there’s nothing else to do for a while. Then Mom made braised short ribs for dinner, which is one of my favorite things.”
“I’ve never had that.” Trey didn’t like the “never”s. Did he and Dominic have anything in common besides a passion for music?