Chapter 11
It’s the next day, and Gene is with Toshiko in his bedroom, sitting on the floor against the bed.
They’re listening to an early copy of her new album on Gene’s portable record player; she’s still in contact with Yasuhiro, calling him on the phone now and then for updates (and hearing her speak Japanese is always a fascinating experience), and he’d sent over the record in the mail.
Toshiko told Gene that Yasuhiro sounded annoyed that she didn’t want to come back to California yet, pushing her stay in Michigan longer than he expected, but all in all it was fine as long as she’d be there by release day.
“When is your release day by the way? I don’t remember,” Gene says after the record finishes, holding a cigarette in his hand.
Toshiko stands up, taking the record off the platter and carefully putting it back in its sleeve.
“Really soon, August fourteenth. I’ve been delaying returning to California since I love spending time with you here.
” She giggles, setting the record onto the floor standing upright, leaning against the dresser.
“That’s this Saturday,” Gene says, ignoring everything else Toshiko said. “Ray’s birthday is Thursday, on the twelfth.”
She sits back down, on the floor next to Gene.
Her skirt rides up a little as she crosses her legs, and her pink tights brush against his jean-clad knee.
“Oh, really? I didn’t know. I was planning on scheduling my flight that day.
I know the twelfth is two days before, but I’m worried if a flight gets cancelled or delayed.
If that happens, I won’t be able to make it to California in time. ”
“That’s true.” He takes a drag from his cigarette. “Well… I guess you’ll just be going then?”
“Yes. Ano, actually…” Toshiko fidgets with her skirt. “I wanted to ask if you would come with me. To California.”
“Come with you?” Gene raises his brows. “I can’t, not that day. I just said it’s Ray’s birthday.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry. I suppose you wouldn’t want to miss your best friend’s birthday. But, how about afterwards? It’s not like we need to take the same plane.”
Gene thinks for a moment, huffing in another breath of his cigarette.
He’s been basically doing nothing this entire month, and taking a trip to California could be fun.
However… “If I did go, I wouldn’t be able to stay for a long time.
I have the Dusty Brooms. I can’t just… abandon them,” he chuckles.
“We have a new album coming out too, y’know. ”
“Of course. I don’t mean for you to move everything. I only mean for you to visit, like how I’m visiting you here.”
“That’s fair.” He did ask her to fly all the way out here for him. It’s only fair that he’d do the same for her. “I guess I could go, then. For a little bit.”
“Ah, subarashii!” She leans over, throwing her arms around Gene in a tight embrace. “That means wonderful. We won’t have to part ways for long, then.”
Toshiko has been teaching him little bits of Japanese here and there, and subarashii is another word he adds to his mental vocabulary.
“For sure.” He reaches up with his free hand, threading his fingers through her short bobbed black hair.
He holds his cigarette out with his other, trying not to let it get close.
“I need to tell you something else, though. It’s important.
” She pulls back, making eye contact, hands still on his arms. “So, this release is only for the English version. The Japanese version releases two weeks later. Hiro has already flown back and forth between the countries to settle things with the record company and give them the masters, but I still need to visit Japan for its release, and to renew my work visa.”
“Oh, uh… oh. Okay.” Visiting California is one thing, but Japan? That’s a much bigger deal. Toshiko is from a whole ’nother country, and Gene knew that eventually she’d have to return. But… “So, I’m assuming you’d only go back to Japan temporarily, if you’re renewing your visa?”
“Yes, for that, the release, and to visit my family.” She nods, pulling her hands off Gene and back onto her own lap.
“I’m not asking you to come to Japan with me if you don’t want to.
I’m just letting you know. But I should only be in Japan for about a week, I hope.
I don’t really wish to stay there for now.
I’ve been liking America a lot, and if this release goes well, I could stay here for longer. ”
“I get that.” Gene nods, taking another puff from his cigarette and flicking the end on an ashtray on the floor. “Well, we’ll see. I can’t promise you I’ll visit Japan, but I’ll think about it. I’ve never been out of the country before.”
“You’d really do that for me?” Toshiko’s cheeks flush red.
Would I? Gene’s never been the one to attach himself to a chick before, especially not to the point where he’d travel to the other side of the world to see her.
But he has been somewhat attached to Toshiko this entire last month, hasn’t he?
He wouldn’t say he’s in love with her, but more like he enjoys her presence and appreciates her company.
Maybe that’s more like the definition of a ‘friend’, but it’s hard to consider her ‘just a friend’ when they have been sleeping in the same bed every night, having sex occasionally.
He likes the partnership they’ve formed, and, unlike Ray, she’s a woman. If Gene wants to continue seeing her…
Why not make it official?
“Yeah, why not?” Gene smiles. “If that’s the case… will you go steady with me?”
“Go steady?” Toshiko tilts her head. “I’ve heard that phrase before. Remind me what it means.”
“Oh, right,” Gene chuckles. “It means, will you be my girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?” She covers her mouth with one hand. “Saa, I haven’t been in a relationship in over a year. But I like the sound of that… being your girlfriend.”
“If I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”
She lowers her hand to her lap. “Really? And you’re so handsome!”
“I mean, I’m not a virgin, even before I met you.” He chuckles again. “I just have never been in a committed relationship.”
“That makes sense. I’ve heard of how rockstars like you meet girls all the time.
But are you sure about this? We might have to go periods of time without seeing each other for a while, with you touring and my own career.
Even so, if we are in a relationship, you would want to be…
How do I say this? Not seeing other people?
Even while we’re away? I don’t want to be in a relationship otherwise.
But I do like you a lot, Gene. So if you want to, I’d want to as well. ”
With the thought of ‘seeing other people’, of course his mind jumps straight to Ray.
While he wants to hold out hope that they could be intimate again, he also can’t count on it.
Ray is in a relationship with Carol. Gene doesn’t want to turn Toshiko down on the off chance he might have sex with Ray again, because it might not even happen.
Besides, it was his idea anyway to ask her out. He should stick to it.
“Yeah, we can work it out. I wasn’t seeing anyone other than you, anyway.” Unless you count Ray. “So it’d be just continuing what we have going on here, being together. And y’know, I don’t really get around with girls to begin with. I’m not like Ray, who’s a total womanizer.”
“Womanizer…?” Toshiko raises her brows. “Oh, are you telling me that Ray has cheated on his girlfriend, Carol?”
Yes. He has, with me. “N-no, not Carol. But he did cheat on his last girlfriend, Harriet.”
“Oh dear. Well, at least it seems like he’s been better with Carol. She’s a lovely girl.”
Gene chuckles at that. “I suppose so. But yeah, we’re really doing this? You wanna make us official?”
Toshiko nods, setting her hand on Gene’s knee. “Yes. I’d love to be your girlfriend.”
It’s later in the day, and Gene is sitting with Toshiko on the couch in the living room, relaxing and watching the television.
It’s official now: he and Toshiko are in a relationship.
Not just a friendly-and-sometimes-we-have-sex relationship, but a real, true, boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
It sends his mind in a whirl every time he thinks about it, and he wishes he brought his pipe downstairs so he could continue toking on it.
When he’d asked her, he wasn’t thinking of how having a girlfriend would affect him.
But now, after a few hours have passed, it’s really starting to hit him like a ton of bricks.
I actually have a girlfriend now.
After declaring each other official, Gene and Toshiko didn’t ravish each other or immediately start tearing their clothes off.
No, he went straight for his pipe. And then they came downstairs.
Maybe that’s an odd way to start a relationship, but what does he know?
He’s never had a girlfriend before. Toshiko didn’t really seem bothered, either.
They’ll probably have sex later before they go to bed, so he shouldn’t let such a thought worry him.
But even so, he’s been paranoid. Maybe the weed is making that feeling worse, but weed also calms him, so it can’t be that. No, his thoughts keep circling around Ray. What will Ray think when he finds out?
Well, maybe I shouldn’t dwell on it too much. He has a girlfriend, too. So all in all it should be fine. It’s not like I’m leaving the band.
It’s not like we’d stop being friends.
And speak of the devil—Ray himself enters the living room from the hall, appearing to have just finished up in the bathroom. Gene turns his head toward him, and instead of Ray going back upstairs to do whatever he was doing, he walks up to the side of the couch and approaches Gene.
“Oh, hey Ray,” Gene says. “What’s up?”
“Um… You busy with anything?” Ray puts his hands behind his back.
“No, other than watching TV. But I can just stop, if you need me to.”
“Alright. So, um… did you want to… jam with me? We haven’t written anything new in a while.”