Forty-Six
FORTY-SIX
CONTRACT HIGH
Harper from Deegan Records is coming out to our Louisville show to meet with us. It feels surreal, having a label person pursue us so pointedly. A couple of the other labels we invited to the Nashville show reached out to Cass saying to let them know when we have demos ready, but Harper’s gone all in. Kick and I are a bundle of nerves for her and Cass to arrive.
“She’s coming here,” he says, dazed. “Harper Deegan is coming here to talk to us.”
“Because she wants to sign us,” I say. “To her label.”
Mateo plays air guitar and jumps around the room. “We’re gonna be rockstars.”
“We still need a band name,” Miguel says. “I’m voting for Genre Explosion.”
I push him off the couch. “Let it go, man. Genre Explosion is never going to happen.”
Miguel laughs. “I’ll wear you down eventually.”
Cass and Harper drive up from Nashville together, the two of them instant friends. Cass has been texting me the whole morning.
Cass: She loves y’al l
Cass: She wants y’all
Cass: They will promote the shit out of you
Cass: This is going to be amazing
Harper and Cass show up by lunchtime and ask us to meet them at a bar and grill in downtown Louisville. When we get there, Harper and Cass are sitting at a big booth by the window and wave to us from the front door.
“Right on time. How’s the tour going?”
Kick and I exchange a knowing look. “Chilly.”
Since the Nashville show, things with Emily and Cheddar have been prickly. Polly’s Instagram post predictably blew up but fans have been mostly supportive. Cass has fielded a million interview requests for me, most of them forwarded from Emily with a terse “for you,” but the social chatter died down after a few days. Emily’s been more than vocal about her irritation. I can’t tell if she’s mad about Kick not wanting to sign with them or that Polly’s Instagram attack didn’t crash and burn me.
“Thank you for coming all this way to see us,” Kick says as we slide into the booth for six. Miguel and Mateo each take an end.
“If we work together,” Harper says, “when we work together, I’ll be traveling the world for you.”
“As long as you don’t force us to go on tour with LOVEJOY,” I joke.
Everyone laughs and it’s nice, being able to talk about my sister and know the people at this table are still here with me. No one’s plotting to leave, angling to get to Polly, using me as a stepping stone. We’re a bonded group, here for each other. It makes my heart ache with happiness.
“I know this might sound like a line coming from a label person trying to woo you,” Harper says, “but we’d never force you to do anything you didn’t want to do. We’re partners with our artists. We like to make decisions together.”
Lunch goes on like that, Harper saying the exact right things, things that feel like my life just got made. Judging by the way Kick’s squeezing my thigh under the table and the way Miguel and Mateo keep smiling at me, they all agree.
“One thing we haven’t talked about yet,” Cass says, “I’m sure you’ve worked out that Kick and Mari are together. Is that something…is that an issue at all?”
Cass warned me she was going to talk to Harper about this on the drive up, but I’m glad she’s bringing it up with the group.
Harper folds her hands together on the table. “I’ll be honest with you, we did discuss it internally. It’s a risk, but to put it plainly, we want you bad enough to accept the risk. I’m not supposed to say that. I’m supposed to play a little hard to get, but we’re all friends here, right?”
“Right,” Mateo says and raises his hand for a high five. Harper laughs and slaps his hand with hers.
“The hard truth is,” she says, “once you sign the contract, you are committed to the terms of that contract. If something happens between you two, you can’t just walk away. We can negotiate terms once we get to that stage, but personally, I don’t think it’s something to be afraid of. Do you?”
“I’m not worried about it,” Kick says, cool and not at all terrified. “We’re ready for this.”
“We’re,” I pause, trying to find the right words, “what Kick and I have is more than a flirty summer thing. I know you can’t ever know the future, but I believe in us.”
“I’m not worried,” Miguel says. “These two burn hotter than any couple I know. They keep the whole bus up half the night trying to get it on in Mari’s bunk.”
Harper laughs and I feign shock. “That was one time, Miguel.”
“So far,” he says.
“We’ll add a clause in the contract,” Harper says, writing a pretend note on a napkin, “no nefarious activities on the bus if those activities keep other band members awake against their will. ”
Miguel and Mateo are laughing as Kick asks, “But what if we’re quiet?”
“I sleep above Mari,” Miguel says. “There’s no way you two could ever be quiet.”
After lunch, Harper excuses herself to make some calls and Cass leaves to find Mo. We have some time before soundcheck and I have an idea. As incredible as the night at Kick’s was, and the next morning and the next afternoon, I need more of him. The more I get, the more I want.
“I wonder,” I say, “if we could find somewhere we could be alone? We could practice being quiet.”
Kick’s eyes light up. “Come with me.”
We practically run out to the bus and the thankfully empty back lounge. As soon as he closes the door I press into him, my hands on his neck, his thigh between my legs.
“You’re so gorgeous when you’re negotiating a record deal,” he whispers, his lips against mine, his hands quickly unbuttoning my jeans. He kisses me hot and urgent and says, “I love watching you take charge.”
“When you tell people you’re not afraid of what comes next,” I say, unzipping his pants, “it makes me want to do bad things to you.”
He flips us around so my back is against the door. I let out a quiet cry of pleasure as he works me over, his mouth on my neck, his fingers taking me apart.
“What kind of bad things?” he asks.
I reach into his pants and show him what I mean .
He chuckles against my neck. “That’s a very, very good thing, Goldie.”
After, when we’re collapsed on the couch, I consider suggesting round two. I can’t get enough of the way he touches me, the way he kisses me, like I’m the only woman in the world. I can’t get enough of his fearless love for me, his unwavering belief in us.
“I meant what I said at lunch, you know,” he says, reading my mind. “I’m not afraid of what comes next.”
“Once we sign that contract, it’s official. Now’s your only chance to run.”
“I’m not running,” he says. “I want to do this with you forever.”
“You mean get each other off in the back lounge of the bus?”
He laughs loud and bright. “Yes. And the front lounge. And in my bunk. And in my dressing room.” I shut him up with a kiss. “But everything else, too. I want all of it—the hard parts and the sad parts and the highs and the lows and everything in the boring middle. I want all of it with you.”