Chapter 9
July is already over. It’s the first day of August, and today marks three weeks now since Toshiko has been staying with the Dusty Brooms at their farmhouse, much to Ray’s dismay.
She’s been hanging onto Gene constantly each and every day like a nettle that can’t seem to let go, but Ray’s been trying to ignore it.
It’s difficult, living under the same roof as them, but at least he has Carol to distract himself.
Toshiko first came over to their house when Ray and Carol went to Cedar Point, so at least he didn’t need to witness their happy reunion.
But while Ray expected to have a fun time at the amusement park riding roller coasters and eating cotton candy, instead he just got sick riding so high up on the gondolas, got spooked by the skeletons in the old western ghost town, and—worst of all—got bombarded by fans asking for his autograph.
It was the opposite of his relaxing trip to St. Ignace where nobody knew him.
No, as soon as one fan pointed him out, more started flocking.
At first it was fun, but the more fans there were, and with how his stomach was feeling upset, the only respite he had was fleeing to the bathroom.
But even then, there were plenty of male fans in there, too!
Thankfully at least, when out and about in the park, Carol did a fairly good job shooing others away.
‘He’s my boyfriend, now back off!’ she’d said.
Plenty of people still got his photo, though, regardless if they got close to him.
Back home, Ray has been doing his best avoiding Toshiko when he can.
He wonders if the first time he saw her she was wearing a blonde wig or if she had simply dyed it, because now her hair is black, cut in a short mod bob.
She is incredibly gorgeous, though; he gives Gene credit for his taste in women.
But such a thought stirs that same nagging jealousy in Ray’s mind.
Gene called me gorgeous, too.
While he may be avoiding Toshiko, Ray has still been trying to be friendly with Gene.
Granted, it’s definitely not the same as it was before.
Ray can see the hesitation in Gene’s hazel eyes whenever they speak—and Ray does his best to reassure him that, despite everything, they’re still best friends.
Maybe he fucked up that day, showing his jealousy too strongly when he overheard Gene inviting Toshiko over on the phone, but he’s been trying to do better.
He can’t lose their friendship. Gene means too much to him for that to happen.
But even so, Ray wishes things could be different.
He misses Gene’s touch, the feeling of his lips, the warmth of his arms. It pains him so, and as a result—combined with Toshiko’s presence—they haven’t spent any time alone to write new songs together these entire three weeks.
Though even if they haven’t written anything new, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been playing music at all.
The Dusty Brooms might be taking a break from recording and performing shows, but they’ve all still been jamming together.
Their garage isn’t used for storing cars but instead is their rehearsal space.
Being surrounded by cornfields has its perks, such as no neighbors to worry about.
They can be as loud as they want with their electric instruments, and Ray has been having fun with Gene teaching the rest of the band the songs they came up with during their Fourth of July trip.
Also jamming with the Dusty Brooms has been their touring pianist, Nicky Emerson.
Ray remembers him most vividly as a cokehead, getting Gene into snorting the stuff, too.
But Nicky doesn’t seem like a bad person—he’s honestly really friendly with everyone, and he’s a master at the keys.
Nicky is originally from Ohio, but Gene invited him to stay with them all at their farmhouse for however long he wanted, and he’s been here since last week.
Why? Ray has no idea; could be because Nicky’s trying to avoid getting arrested for drug charges in his home state (with how much of it he seems to always have on hand).
But most likely it’s just the fact Nicky and Gene have been becoming closer friends.
Nicky has been crashing on the couch, but Ray wonders how long it’ll be before Gene decides to buy him a mattress if he’s not going back home.
Just another person to get jealous of.
Ray knows he shouldn’t be jealous. It’s not even the same as Toshiko, where Gene and her have been fucking whenever they’re in the bedroom alone. Nicky and Gene are merely friendly with each other. Ray’s not even that jealous when Gene spends time with Santiago, so what gives? Why Nicky?
Ray would rather not think about it. Life goes on, Gene is still his best friend, and Carol is still his girlfriend.
Sometime this month, Ray is going to mix the Dusty Brooms’ second album with Dennis in the studio, and they’ll hopefully release it in September.
And when that releases, the band will go on another tour to promote it.
So, in the end, everything is… fine.
Today, Ray feels like getting out of the house.
They need groceries anyway, so he heads into town with Santiago to their local Kroger to get some.
To avoid being recognized, they both don hats, with Santi putting on some sunglasses as an extra precaution.
After grabbing what they need, they stand in line with their cart, waiting to be checked out.
Ray takes a gander at the magazine rack.
Wait. He does a double take. No, he was right the first time.
“Hey, Santi, look at this!” Ray says, pulling a magazine from the rack.
“What’s that?” Santi asks.
“Look, that’s me!” Ray holds out the magazine, pointing at his picture with Carol.
It doesn’t take up the entire cover—as there are a few photos of other musicians on it as well—but it does take up a decent few inches.
“I recognize this too, this is a photo of me and Carol when we went to Cedar Point.”
“Oh shit, really?” Santi lifts the brim of his hat and looks over his sunglasses to see. “I guess so. Put it in the cart; let’s buy it, man. But, uh… maybe we should wait to talk more about it until we’re in the car.”
“Oh. Uh… yeah.” Ray zips his lips. He looks around toward the other aisles, hoping no one was paying attention to their conversation.
Thankfully, nobody’s eyes are on him, and he lets out a sigh of relief.
He’s still not quite used to being this famous yet; he needs to work on being more discreet, as evidenced by how careless he was at Cedar Point.
Because, apparently, that trip to Cedar Point made its way into this magazine.
After checking out, Ray and Santiago head back to the car and put their groceries in the trunk. Ray, though, takes the magazine up with him into the passenger seat. Santi plops down in the driver seat, not starting the ignition yet, and he peers over Ray’s shoulder.
“‘Rockstars and the ladies that love them’, huh,” Ray says the headline out loud.
On the cover are four photos—one of him and Carol, and the rest of other various rockstars and their girlfriends, though Ray would consider himself the least famous out of all of them.
But the fact his picture is on this cover with the likes of George Harrison takes him aback. Stardom sure is creeping up on me, eh?
“So you said they got this photo from when you went to Cedar Point?” Santi asks.
“Yeah. People took a lot of candid photos of me. I didn’t realize they’d sell them out to a magazine like this but… I guess it could happen.”
“I wonder what the article says.” Santi rubs his bushy mustache in thought. “From the sound of it, it seems like they didn’t interview you to get your opinion on anything.”
“No, definitely not. That’s just how these rags are sometimes, I guess. They’ll write whatever they want, regardless if it’s actually true.” Ray shrugs. “Alright, let’s see here…”
He opens up the magazine, flipping through the pages until he reaches the featured article.
There are plenty of pictures of other musicians and their romantic partners—George Harrison with Olivia Arias, Marc Bolan with Gloria Jones, and Rod Stewart with Britt Ekland—along with Ray and Carol.
He skims through the words to see what they’ve written about himself.
There—he finds a paragraph, and he reads it aloud.
“‘The newest hot couple on our list is another one with a Roderick, but not the Stewart you all know and love.’ Oh, because they also featured Rod Stewart. Okay, anyway. ‘Raymond Roderick of the Dusty Brooms was seen recently having a fun time at Cedar Point with his model girlfriend, Carol Knight. Even rockstars want to enjoy themselves at amusement parks every now and then, and Ray is no exception. Wonder if he was singing the Beach Boys’ Amusement Parks USA to himself?’”
“Well, now that you mention it, it’s playing in my head,” Santiago comments, and Ray laughs at that.
“Okay, that is a catchy tune. But yeah… ‘Ray and Carol allegedly haven’t even been dating for a whole year, but they’re already a rock solid couple.
They both look so stunning, with Ray’s cool sense of summer fashion and Carol’s slender figure that looks good in just about anything.
These two turn heads wherever they go by their beauty alone.
Even if they weren’t already famous, you can bet that they’d still catch your eye. ’”
“Hey, at least they’re talking positively instead of making fun of you,” Santi says.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Ray shrugs. He continues, “‘When cruising around the park grounds, Carol clung to her man and made it known that they’re meant for each other. Talk about a good pair! We hope to see them more often, dazzling their fans with their gorgeous looks.’”
“To be fair, that is a really good picture of you.” Santi points to the magazine.