Chapter 2
Finally back home at the Lake Orion farmhouse, Ray sits with Gene on the shag carpet of Ray’s bedroom.
Gene has his acoustic guitar in his lap, strumming the chords to their song ‘Burn it Down’.
Ray sings the lead and Gene sings the harmony, their voices melting together with each note.
It’s always so pleasant like this—sitting alone with Gene, nothing else but them and their music.
They aren’t writing anything new at the moment, but that’s alright.
Sometimes it’s nice to just take it easy and play older songs, or even covers.
Ray would like to write more with Gene, though.
But lately, it’s never really felt like the right time to try.
They’ve been so busy with recording, finishing up their second album, and then the television appearance on the Mike Douglas Show.
And yet there’s still much they have to do with the album before it’s complete, namely compiling a final mix.
When Ray does end up finding alone time with Gene, usually it’s cut short.
Carol pulls his attention away one way or another, or it’s another one of the other Brooms doing so, since the entire band is living together.
Sure, they’re alone now, but for how much longer until Carol comes upstairs?
Ray thinks harder on that. Why should he be annoyed at Carol for simply wanting to spend time with him when she’s his fucking girlfriend?
Shouldn’t he be more welcoming? If anything, Ray has been looking forward to the days when Carol is at work with a modeling gig.
He knows she has another one coming up later this week, before the Fourth of July.
But he shouldn’t hold such animosity towards her—she never did anything wrong, always being so nice to him.
Well, aside from that time when she snapped at me about the Quaaludes.
He suspects that maybe she’s still taking them, but he also hasn’t been paying much attention. She seemed to not want him to anyway, so it all works out. ‘You’re not my keeper,’ she’d said.
But Ray knows, without a doubt, the root of all his confusion with Carol is caused by none other than Gene.
His mind is so preoccupied with thoughts of Gene that he looks forward to his time with his best friend more than anything.
He can’t stop thinking about the sensual things he and Gene have done: the kiss in the dressing room in New York, more secret kisses in Las Vegas, and even getting sexual in that bathroom in Phoenix…
They haven’t done anything romantic like that since, though. The closest they’ve gotten was holding hands a few times, and that can be excused as merely being friendly. But that’s all they can be, right? All they should be. Two men in a rock band that’s famous across the entire nation.
Friends.
But it feels like we have so much more…
“Hey Ray,” Gene says once he’s done strumming his guitar, finishing the song. “The Fourth of July is this weekend, ain’t it? Yeah, because it’s the end of June.”
“Yeah.” Ray nods.
“We weren’t planning on doing anything then, were we? I think we have a few more free weeks before we need to work on anything. Since Dennis wanted to give us a break after the tour and such.”
Ray adjusts his sitting position, leaning a little closer to Gene. “No, I don’t think any of us have anything planned. But I think it’s supposed to be the big Bicentennial, though, coming up. So if we wanted to plan something, we definitely should.”
“Yeah, the Bicentennial!” Gene smiles. He pulls his guitar off his lap and sets it down next to himself, leaning it against the bed. “All over the country, there’s probably going to be some crazy fireworks shows. We should find a place to watch them; I’d love that.”
“For sure.” Ray smiles back. “Now, where are the big fireworks shows gonna be…”
“I guess we don’t have to stick around Detroit if we don’t want to,” Gene offers. “Maybe we could take a road trip somewhere. We have time off; what if we just took a vacation?”
“A vacation?” Ray tilts his head. “You mean like, with the whole band, or…?”
“No, what if we went somewhere, just the two of us?”
Ray’s cheeks start to heat up. “Like a weekend trip, for the Fourth of July?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Well…” Ray looks down, and he fidgets with the edge of his pant leg.
“I—I actually don’t know if I can, now that I think about it.
Carol has a modeling gig on the third in New York, but I think she’d be back for the night of the Fourth.
She probably wouldn’t like it if I wasn’t around and left to go watch the fireworks somewhere else without her… ”
“Who cares what she thinks?” Gene pouts, then chuffs a breath out his lips. “Sorry. I know she’s your girlfriend and all. But you sounded like you really wanted to do something with me at first. And now you say you can’t because of her?”
“W-well, at first I wasn’t thinking of driving somewhere really far away,” Ray stammers.
This isn’t the first time Gene has confronted him about Carol.
But something starts to become clearer each and every time it happens.
It’s like wiping the fog away on a cold window, revealing itself to him—jealousy.
But can he really blame Gene? Ray has acted the same way toward him, when Gene had that fling with Toshiko during the tour.
“What if there are better shows elsewhere, though?” Gene says. “I bet there’s some great ones up north, by the lakes. Besides, we haven’t really been writing much together, lately. You know that. It could be the perfect excuse for us to just take some time alone and finally write stuff.”
It really would be the perfect excuse, wouldn’t it?
The more he thinks about it, the more he wants to take Gene up on this offer.
Sure, it’d probably make Carol mad, but when was the last time he and Gene truly did anything special for just the two of them?
Not hanging out in the bedroom, but actually going out and having fun by themselves?
Not with the Brooms, not with Carol, no, just them.
“I like the sound of that,” Ray says with a smile. “Yeah, I really would like to have some more time to write with you. I’ve been thinking about it. So, you’re right, it would be perfect.”
And, maybe not just writing songs, but what if Gene wanted to do more, if we were alone…?
He’s afraid to ask out loud, but a twinkle in Gene’s eyes and the smile he gives him lets Ray know that Gene must be thinking the exact same thing.
“Alright, awesome.” Gene smiles even wider, showing his teeth. “But then there’s still the question—where would we go?”
“Well, you’d mentioned up north. How about… wait, how about up by the Bridge? I bet the fireworks would look beautiful there.”
“That’s a great idea! Yeah, what if we went there?”
“If we did, we should go to the U.P. side, St. Ignace. My parents used to take me and Mick to the U.P. all the time as kids. Plus, if we go to St. Ignace, it gives us an excuse to drive over the Bridge.” Ray smirks. He leans closer to Gene, even daring to put his hand on Gene’s knee.
“For sure. Damn, this is making me so excited!” Gene rests his own hand on top of Ray’s.
A flutter runs through his chest at the touch.
“If we really wanna do this, we should call the motels around there to see if they have any vacancies. For such a busy weekend, we gotta do it soon before they all fill up.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Gene’s smile strikes a cupid’s arrow through Ray’s heart.
Oh, is he ever so handsome. Seeing Gene this excited fills his soul with so much joy.
Everything about the idea seems wonderful—a weekend full of fireworks, writing music, and precious time spent together.
What more could Ray ask for? Gene means the world to him—his best friend—the person always coming first in Ray’s mind.
He knows Gene feels the same about him, especially with the way Gene leans in closer, looking toward Ray’s lips, squeezing his hold on Ray’s hand just a little bit tighter…
The doorknob clicks as it turns.
Ray pulls his hand off of Gene’s as if it were on fire.
He looks toward the door. Carol walks in.
“Hey guys,” she says with a smile.
“Um, hey Carrie,” Ray says, faking a smile of his own and pretending that absolutely nothing was going to happen between him and Gene. “What’s up?”
She closes the bedroom door behind herself. “Just got done with my food and felt like relaxing up here. You guys been playing music?”
“Yeah,” Ray replies. This is her room, too.
I share it with her. She can come in if she wants.
But with how scrambled his thoughts have been, taking a vacation alone with Gene sounds like a really good idea right about now.
Maybe that makes him an asshole, but didn’t he already know that about himself?
Harriet sure told me, back then. He looks over to Gene, who gives him a nod.
“You gonna tell her what we were talking about?” Gene asks shyly.
“Oh, uh… yeah, I guess I should.”
“Talking about? What were you guys talking about?” Carol squints her brows together and crosses her arms, covering her flower-print halter top.
Ray stands up, and so does Gene, staying close by his side. “Me and Gene were thinking of going up north for the weekend.”
“Up north?” Carol pouts. “We can’t do that—I have my gig on the third! Did you forget?”
“N-no, I didn’t forget. I mean—Gene and I would be going by ourselves. You can still go to your gig. It’s not like I come with you to your gigs, anyway.”
“But the next day is the Fourth of July! I should be back home by then for that. I thought that maybe we could watch the fireworks together. We’re a couple—that’s the romantic thing to do, right?
Watching the fireworks? And you’re telling me you don’t want to spend time with me that day? You’d rather hang out with Gene?”
“Um, uh…”
Carol is absolutely correct. If he can’t let her down easy, he can cushion the impact.
“Well, Gene and I are best friends, and we have been ever since before I met you, y’know. We haven’t done anything fun together like that in a while…”
“But still.” Carol frowns, pulling her arms apart and waving her hands in front of herself. “You’re saying you would rather spend a romantic weekend watching fireworks with one of your friends than your actual fucking girlfriend?”
“Gene is not just ‘one of my friends’,” he says, and he realizes then, how saying it that way could imply something else. Oh, shit. His cheeks burn at the thought. He lets out a shaky breath.
“We wanted to take the time to write more songs, too,” Gene adds. “Ray is right—we’re not just friends, we’re songwriting partners. We haven’t had a lot of alone time to write songs for the band lately, so I figured maybe we could go on a retreat to do that. It was my idea.”
Oh, thank you Gene.
“Can’t you do that some other weekend, though?” Carol asks, glaring at Gene. “Not the fucking Fourth of July?”
“Look, Carrie,” Ray says, reaching to put his hand on Carol’s shoulder.
“It’s okay. You wouldn’t be able to go on a trip with us this weekend anyway with your modeling gig, and I really want to do this with Gene.
I’m—I’m sorry we wouldn’t get to see the fireworks together.
But I’ll make it up to you later, somehow. I promise.”
He turns his head toward Gene, who’s giving him a curious, questioning look. When he gazes back at Carol, she sighs. She shakes her head, and she rubs her forehead with her fingertips.
“Fine. Fine! It seems like I can’t change your mind about this.
” She grimaces, and shakes Ray’s hand off her shoulder.
“You better fucking make it up to me. This is ridiculous. I can’t believe you guys.
I know you two are close, but this is… Whatever.
” She waves her hand in a shooing motion, and she turns toward the door. “I’m gonna hang with Pat for a bit.”
“Alright,” Ray says. “I really, truly promise I’ll make it up to you. We’ll do something fun!”
“Yeah. Whatever,” is all she says as she opens the door and exits, shutting it again with a loud thud once she’s in the hallway.
Silence stretches the space as both he and Gene stare at the closed door. That silence is finally broken when Gene lets out a sigh.
“You’ll make it up to her?” Gene asks, facing Ray.
Ray shrugs. “I… I had to say something to calm her down.” He reaches up and itches his collar bone, his shirt feeling sticky. “Don’t get me wrong, I really want to make this trip with you special. Hence why I let her down. But she’s still my girlfriend, y’know…”
Gene shakes his head. “It’s fine. I get it. Well, whatever. I’m… I’m glad we’re actually gonna do this.” Ray can see the tension leave Gene’s shoulders, and he gives Ray such a sweet smile. “Thank you.”
Ray’s heart flutters. “Yeah, no problem. It’s gonna be fun.”
He should feel worse about letting Carol down, but Gene’s handsome grin pushes all of that away. What is it about Gene that Ray can’t help but be attracted to? He shouldn’t feel this way, and yet, here he is. He holds out his hand, and Gene takes it.
Before Carol had walked in, it really felt like he and Gene were about to kiss.
And he almost wants to now, too, but the air in the room feels different somehow.
Carol’s presence made itself known. It toys with Ray’s mind.
He likes Carol—but he truly does ache for a time when he can be absolutely alone with Gene.
Gene seems to be feeling the same, with how he hesitates, but he still takes action—he lifts Ray’s hand up to his face, and kisses his knuckles.
An explosive warmth rushes through Ray’s whole body.
“I can’t wait for the weekend,” Gene says sweetly, lowering Ray’s hand. “I’m gonna go downstairs and try calling some places. I’ll call Dennis first and see if he can get me some numbers.”
“Alright. That sounds good.”
“I’ll see you downstairs?” Gene asks, releasing Ray’s hand.
“For sure. I’ll be there.”
“Alright, cool.” Gene gives Ray one last smile before he opens the door, then shuts it behind himself—gently, unlike how Carol had done moments ago.
Alone with his own thoughts, Ray’s mind is in a whirl. A certain notion hits him like a truck.
It’s just like Carol said—I chose to spend a romantic weekend with Gene instead of her.