Page 75 of Hittin' the Right Note
Now it was Luke’s turn to smile.
“Yeah, I guess we are. Are you ready for that?”
He hadn’t meant for the question to come out sounding so much like a plea. His heart missed a beat as Mikey opened his mouth, and it only started beating normally when he heard what he had to say.
“Yes, I’m ready to be your boyfriend,” he said and, to his own surprise, Luke actually believed him.
“I…I’m glad you feel that way,” he said at last. “Are you really sure you want all of this?” He gestured at himself, and rather than responding with a sarcastic remark of his own, Mikey just gave him a very level and very serious look.
“Believe me, Luke Carter. I would like nothing more.”
He got up and, before Luke could say or do anything, he gripped him in the tightest hug he’d ever had. He immediately hugged him back, the two of them finding a strength in oneanother they’d never found on their own. He breathed in the smell of Mikey’s hair and felt at peace.
Finally, though, he had to admit they had some work to do. The whole reason they were here–or, at least, the ostensible reason they were here–was so they could put together a concert. And, while they’d certainly managed to put some songs halfway together, they were still a very long way from a set list. He didn’t think Brenda was going to be very happy with the two of them if they managed to spend so much time together and didn’t do the thing they were supposed to be doing.
“So,” he said. “We should probably do some actual songwriting and concert planning, yeah?” He hated to break up what they were sharing, but someone had to do it.
Fortunately, Mikey just nodded.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said, and then swung right into concert-planning mode. “Let’s say we do three of our own songs–including “A Guy to Build a Life With, obviously”–and then some combination of our greatest hits and covers, about like…twenty one of those? If our own songs end up being like…four minutes or so, it should put us in the right range for a typical concert, don’t you think?”
Luke looked at Mikey admiringly.
Mikey blushed a little.
“What? I do know a few things about how concerts work, you know? If you hadn’t been so pissy at Bob’s Lunch, you’d know that already.”
“I guess I do need to give you some more credit when it comes to music,” Luke said. He shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. I’m just used to seeing you in a particular way, and it’s taking a while to get the idea of you out of my head.”
Mikey didn’t take offense at this, thankfully.
“I get it,” he said. “You’re probably right to be skeptical. For too long I’ve been coasting, resting on my laurels. You, though,you’ve inspired me to get back to some of the good stuff, the kind of music I want to make.”
“So,” Luke said, genuinely curious. “What kind of covers were you thinkin’ about doing?”
“Hmm…,” Mikey said. “Well, I was thinking about doing some stuff by Queen. You know, like in the old days?”
Luke did, indeed, know what Mikey was doing with his song choice, and so it wasn’t surprising when he named some of the other songs he was thinking about doing.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Luke asked. “You’re trying to recapture what we did when we were teens.”
“Guilty,” Mikey said, but he didn’t look guilty. If anything, he looked satisfied.
“Hey,” Mikey said, clearly sensing Luke’s skepticism, “why shouldn’t I do those numbers? They show off my voice, and they’re practically guaranteed to please a crowd. And besides, I think they’d be fun to do a duet on.”
He got a contemplative look in his eyes. “Truly, this is the kind of music I’ve been wanting to return to for a while. I mean, the boy band stuff was fun, and I tried to make it as personal as I could, but you know how the pop music business is. It’s all about the product, not about the art. I couldn’t even do what I wanted as a solo artist. I don’t know how to put it, except to say I’m really itching to make some music that really matters, to sing songs that really mean something, to me and to the audience.”
Luke did, in fact, know what that was like. Country might sometimes be a bit more friendly to vocalists, but it had its fair share of notes you had to hit if you wanted to be a genuine success.
Before Luke could press him for more information about what kind of music he wanted to make, Mikey turned the question around on him.
“And just what numbers areyouthinking about doing?”
That’s a good question.
“Well, since we’re doing the whole recapturing our youth thing,” Luke responded. “I guess I’ll do a number or two from Don Williams, maybe a bit of Daryle Singletary. Give the whole thing a nice blend. If our own songs are gonna be about history and heritage, it seems only right we’d do right by the country stars who came before us.”
He barked a short laugh. “I don’t know how we’re gonna these things to match up, but I guess we’ll figure it out.”
