Chapter 24 #3
“Hey Gene! Good to see ya,” Nicky says, raising a glass.
“Hey man.” Gene nods. “Who’s this here with you?” He looks up, across from Nicky, catching eye contact with the beautiful woman who pulled him here. If he didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn her cheeks flushed a little darker red.
“Ah, this guy right here is Yasuhiro Nakajima.” Nicky gestures to the man, who raises a hand in a friendly wave.
He appears only a little bit older than Gene himself, with short black hair slicked and styled exquisitely, and squarish black-rimmed glasses over his eyes.
“He’s a famous music producer over in Japan, and he works with Miss Toshiko Tanaka here.
I think he’s also her manager, am I right? ”
“Yes, you are correct,” Yasuhiro says with a slight accent, giving a smile. “Business partners.”
“What brings you guys to America?” Gene asks, looking between both Yasuhiro and Toshiko. If he only introduces her as a ‘business partner’, then they’re not… romantic partners, surely?
“We have been looking to break into the American market with Toshiko’s music, and have been recording here in LA for her next album,” Yasuhiro says.
“We are attempting to do two versions: one in English and another in Japanese. Her English is better than mine—when she sings, there is almost no accent. I think she could do well here.”
“Ah, thank you,” Toshiko says with an absolutely adorable giggle. “I have been studying English since I was little. It’s always been a dream of mine to come here. I listen to a lot more Western music than Japanese music, to be honest.”
“Really, now?” Gene raises his brows in amazement. Not only is she gorgeous, she’s a fellow musician, too. “Which bands do you like, then?”
“The Dusty Brooms, for one,” she says with a smile, stunning him even further. “I bought your album when we first arrived here in California about a month ago, and then Yasuhiro and I went to see you perform earlier today.”
“Y-you did?” Gene’s jaw hangs open.
“Yes, we did,” Yasuhiro chuckles. “She was… insistent.”
“I didn’t even realize you were staying here at the same hotel as us,” Toshiko says. “I recognized your keyboard player from the show, and then we all decided to talk.”
“Ah, yeah, well this is our first night here,” Nicky says. “So you wouldn’t have seen us until tonight.”
“I’m so glad I did see you, though,” Toshiko says, eyeing Gene specifically. His heart hammers in his chest. “Your name is… Gene, right?”
“Y-yeah, Gene Hillard. But just Gene is fine.”
“You can call me Toshiko.” She holds out her hand for a shake, and Gene steps forward, clasping hers in his. “Hajimemashite.”
“Ha-jee… what? Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Gene holds back a nervous laugh.
“I’m just teasing you. I knew you wouldn’t understand.” Toshiko smiles. “It means ‘nice to meet you’.”
“Ah, yeah. Nice to meet you, too.”
They let go of their hands, Gene letting his fall back down to his side.
Unfortunately there aren’t any extra chairs for Gene to sit on, but he doesn’t mind standing at Toshiko’s side.
While he certainly likes her already, he’s still too nervous to put the make on her.
He’s never been that type of guy with women.
He’d rather her make the first move, if he can help it.
He looks across the pool and sees Santiago looking towards him, giving a thumbs up as they make eye contact.
Gene gives him one back, noticing Dennis has returned to his old seat, too.
Nicky sets his drink down next to his chair and pulls a joint out of his pocket, lights it, and blows the smoke away from their circle. “You want some, Gene?”
“Sure, yeah. Thanks.” He gladly accepts the offer, taking a hit for himself. “Do either of you smoke?”
“Occasionally, yes,” Yasuhiro says.
“Would you like a hit as well?” Even if the joint is Nicky’s, it’s only customary to share weed with the people you’re hanging with.
“Sure, thank you.” Yasuhiro accepts the joint from Gene, then sucks in a hit.
He then hands it to Toshiko when he’s done, and as she takes a hit from it, Gene can’t help but stare.
The way her eyes flutter, the shape of her mouth and cheeks, how the smoke exits her lips is so alluring.
How easily she breathes it in and out makes her all the more attractive, in Gene’s eyes.
She reaches across their circle and hands it back to Nicky when she’s done.
“So, I know what your music sounds like, Gene,” Toshiko says, smiling up at him from her seat. “But you don’t know what mine sounds like. Would you like to listen?”
Gene blinks, looking around them all. “Uh… how?”
“We could go to my room, and listen there. I have a portable record player, and copies of my first album and singles. I could even give you one, if you enjoy it.”
“Y-your room?” Gene stammers. Here he was, worrying he needed to put the make on her, when it seems like she’s doing all the work for him. That’s a fucking relief.
“You’re adorable,” she giggles, swatting a hand at him. “Yes, my room. Or, are you not interested…?”
“Oh no, I’m interested,” Gene quickly states. “But, I mean, are you asking all of us, or… just me?” He points a finger to his own chest, then eyes Yasuhiro, as if asking for approval. But Yasuhiro surprises him with a light-hearted chuckle, shaking his head.
“You are wondering about the two of us,” Yasuhiro says to Gene. “We are only good friends. No romance.”
“Really now?” Nicky interjects. “I’d almost thought…”
“Can’t a man and a woman simply be friends?” Yasuhiro offers, holding one of his palms up. “We even have separate rooms here at this hotel, if you need some sort of proof.”
“Okay, okay, you’re right,” Nicky corrects himself, sighing. “Sorry, didn’t mean to assume.”
“It’s alright,” Toshiko says, then she looks at Gene again.
“But yes, I did mean you alone, Gene. I adore your rock music with your band, and it delights me how now I get to meet you here in person. I almost can’t believe it!
I’m so excited to see you here. I loved the photos of you all on your album’s sleeve artwork, and you…
I’ve always thought you were the handsomest out of all of them. ”
This all feels so sudden to him, her admitting this, but supposedly Toshiko had already been listening to the Dusty Brooms on record for a whole month now.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that he has fans—especially with how famous the Brooms are becoming—and that one of those fans wants a chance to be alone with him.
“Thank you, Toshiko.” He feels his cheeks heating up.
“Well, then, sure. We can head to your room, if you’d like. ”
It feels like a dream, being enchanted by this beautiful woman, enough to make him come over here and talk to her—only for her to also want him back. What are the chances of that? He almost never approaches anyone, being as shy as he is. Well, there was one other I approached: Ray.
But he can’t let his lingering feelings for Ray bring him down.
He needs to move on from that. Get ahold of himself.
He and Ray can’t be lovers. Besides, there’s a gorgeous lady in front of him who could possibly become his lover instead.
He’s already incredibly intrigued by her, despite barely knowing her at all—with her posh mod fashion, elegant mannerisms, beautiful face, and the fact she’s a musician as well is the cherry on top.
It’s perfect; Gene knows if he were to have a partner, he’d need someone with music ingrained into their soul as much as it is within his own.
“Then let’s go, shall we?” Toshiko says.
Ray walks onto the roof of the Hyatt House with Carol in tow.
They had a splendid time alone together, but he figures they shouldn’t be spending the entire night cooped up in the room when there’s so much excitement happening elsewhere.
We’re in California, baby! With their first show in the state completed, they still have two more in the upcoming week before they finish their tour off in Las Vegas later.
The first people he spots are Santiago and Dennis, relaxing on a couple plastic beach chairs. He walks over to them, Carol following, and stops once he’s standing at Santi’s side. “Hey guys,” he greets.
“Oh, hey Ray!” Santiago sits up straighter, a smile on his face. “About time you showed up.”
“Why, did I miss something?” He looks over to the pool, then back. “Where’s Gene?”
“Over in the corner with Nicky.” Santi points his thumb to the area in question. “Seems like he finally found a chick he wants to talk to.”
“A chick?”
Ray’s eyes follow the direction of Santi’s thumb and—he spots Gene, standing next to a sitting Nicky and another man he doesn’t know, and…
A beautiful blonde woman is standing next to Gene, wrapping her hands around his elbow.
Not only that, the way Gene looks at her—it’s filled with adoration, satisfaction, and possibly more than Ray can even fathom.
“Who’s she?” Ray asks abruptly.
“I don’t actually know,” Santi says with a shrug. “Do you?” he asks Dennis.
“No clue.” Dennis shakes his head.
“Well, despite that, I think it’s neat that Gene finally got the courage to talk to a chick, eh?” Santi chuckles. “Seems like they’re already getting along. I’m happy for him.”
Being happy for him is the last thing on Ray’s mind.
It’s quite the opposite of what he feels.
As Gene and the mystery woman walk around the pool, behind the chairs of other hotel guests and along the fencing, Ray’s heart hammers in his chest like mad.
What the hell is he doing? Gene hasn’t been interested in a chick since…
I don’t even think Carol counts. Do any of them count if they were just one-night-stands?
Fuck. Is that all this is? Or does he want her to be something more?
His scrambled thoughts make his head hurt as if he were drunk, yet he hasn’t had a drop. He ignores Carol, he ignores Santiago and Dennis and steps hastily around the pool, around the other side to meet Gene in the middle before he makes it to the door of the stairwell.
“Gene!” Ray says, panting out breaths, stopping Gene and the woman in their tracks.
“Ray,” Gene says, eyes widening. “Uh… hey.”
“Who’s this with you?” he tries to ask innocently, holding back from sounding upset.
“This is Toshiko.” Gene puts on a smile. “She’s a Japanese musician staying here in America for a while, and she was gonna show me some of her records.”
“Oh… okay.” He looks at Toshiko, and forces a smile on his own face. “I’m Ray, lead singer of the Dusty Brooms and Gene’s best friend.”
“I already know who you are,” Toshiko giggles, talking in a subtle accent. “I saw you perform earlier today.”
“You did?” Ray’s jaw drops. “Ah, well, thank you. But anyways, Gene, is… is listening to records all you plan to do?”
“Why would you ask that?” Gene’s smile fades, his brows creasing a little. “I don’t know what else we’re gonna do. We’ll just go with the flow, y’know?”
“Ah, yeah…” Maybe that was a little out of line for me to ask.
“It’s not like you own me, so you don’t get a say in who I want to spend time with,” Gene states flatly, looking Ray directly in the eyes.
Such a stare is the opposite of what he remembers seeing in Gene’s eyes merely a few days prior.
What were once eyes that looked at Ray so tenderly, filled with so much warmth, are now sharp and cold.
He can’t ever remember a time Gene looked at him like this. It stabs a dagger through his heart.
“No, no, you’re right. I’m sorry for saying anything.” Ray breaks eye contact.
Gene sighs. “It’s fine. I’ll see you around, though, okay?”
Ray looks up, his gaze landing somewhere between Gene and Toshiko. “Yeah. I’ll see you around later.”
Gene gives him a smile, but it’s not the same, heartwarming smile Ray is used to. Ray returns the smile as best he can, as Gene walks off toward the stairwell, Toshiko on his arm.
Watching the door to the stairwell open and shut as the two slip through, Ray’s head doesn’t stop spinning. Why should he even be upset? It’s just like Gene said: Ray doesn’t own him. It’s not like they’re lovers. No, in fact, wasn’t it Ray himself who rejected Gene?
Should I even have done that, if I knew it was going to lead to this?
Gene is well within his right to be with a woman if he wants to.
That’s nothing to get upset about. Hell, isn’t that exactly what I did, going back to Carol?
Ray did what he did because he thought it was for the best. But now he isn’t so sure, as that dagger piercing his heart tears up the opening a little bit more.
“Ray, what are you doing?” a feminine voice from behind him calls.
He turns around, and notices it’s Carol walking towards him.
“Oh, uh… I was just curious who Gene was with.”
She raises a brow, her make-up looking exquisite. “So curious that you didn’t even say anything to us and just ran over here?”
Sweat drips down the back of Ray’s neck, pooling in the collar of his shirt. “Y-yeah, I mean, did you see her? I’ve never met her before and, uh… wanted a first look at who Gene was flirting with.”
Goddammit, even I can tell already that sounds fucking stupid.
“Why, because you were interested in her, too?” She puts a hand on her hip.
“Wha—no! No!” He waves his hands in front of himself. “I was more curious about what Gene was doing, not her specifically.”
Carol purses her lips. “Gene, huh?”
“Y-yeah, that’s all.”
She shrugs, and shakes her head. “Whatever. I guess as long as you weren’t going to flirt with her, it’s fine. You can be a bit eccentric sometimes, especially about Gene, I’ll give you that.” She then laughs. “Let’s head back over then, if Gene’s gone off somewhere. Okay?”
Ray nods. “Yeah. Okay.”
Having Carol here pours a bucket of ice water over his mind.
He needs to get ahold of himself. His heart may be hurting, but he figures it’s only temporary—a sudden shock he’ll get over.
While he does harbor feelings for Gene—enough to make him cheat on his own girlfriend—he calms down by reminding himself that all will be okay if he doesn’t let it happen again.
If she never finds out. Perhaps he was right in his initial reaction to reject Gene romantically; their lives can’t truly be like that.
He needs to think rationally. Logically.
He can’t let his feelings consume him. He can’t let it ruin his and Gene’s friendship.
He can’t let it ruin the band.
He smiles sweetly at Carol, and then heads back over to where Santiago and Dennis are sitting.