46 Ginger
46
Ginger
When I finally got the radio station’s webpage to load, I put on my headphones. Right away, I heard the presenter. The interview had already started. I tried to rewind it, but I couldn’t, so I just listened.
“So you didn’t see this success coming?”
“Not at all,” Rhys said.
“But…” Alexa added.
“Were things different for you, Alexa?”
“Why lie? It did occur to me. Rhys’s song is amazing. The lyrics are deep; the chorus is catchy. Why wouldn’t it be a success?”
“Well, before, nobody even knew who you were.”
“True, true,” she giggled. “But a girl can dream.”
“Exactly. Of course she can. So, Rhys, tell us, when did you first want to become a professional DJ? Was it a hard road?”
“Honestly, no. It was almost by chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I never even considered it. Can I be totally honest?” He sighed, and I could almost see him smiling from thousands of miles away. “My boss, who’s now my producer, brought it up one night at the club. I thought he was crazy. I was going to say no, but after five drinks, I forgot to.”
You could hear Alexa and the presenter laugh.
“You weren’t so uncertain, right, Alexa?”
“Not at all. I knew when I heard the material, I had something big. Rhys is modest, but he obviously has talent, and this is just the beginning. There’s much more to come.”
“How do you guys get along?”
“Great, great.” Alexa’s enthusiasm kept striking me as excessive. Everything for her seemed to be fascinating, amazing, incredible, and she always drew her words out to give them more emphasis. “Working with him is so easy. And we had a connection right away, didn’t we, Rhys? Now we’re basically inseparable.”
“She’s kidnapped me,” Rhys joked, and she laughed.
“You’re clearly very close. What are your future plans?”
“Right now, we’re just focused on promotion. Next Saturday, we have a show at Club Havana. After that…” Alexa lowered her voice to sound more interesting. “Let’s just say it’s a secret, right, Rhys?” Another stupid giggle. “But most likely we’ll soon be confirming our dates at a very well-known festival. That’s all I can say for now.”
“You’re clearly keeping busy!”
“We sure are,” Alexa replied.
“One last thing. Before we say goodbye with “Edges and Scars” one more time, I’d like to ask you both one question: What is success for you?”
“Success is fulfilling your dreams, reaching your goals.”
“What about for you, Rhys?”
“Success…” I could hear the uncertainty in his voice. “I guess it comes when you learn who you are and you can be faithful to that.”
There was a brief silence before the presenter spoke again, overdoing it with the enthusiasm, telling his listeners goodbye and putting on the track. I listened to the first chords, but then I turned it off. I was thinking about what Rhys had said. In his words were secrets, pain, longing. No matter how relaxed he seemed, I knew he’d had to drag those words up from the depths.