Page 86 of Hittin' the Right Note
LUKE—2015
Unsurprisingly, Luke ended up seeking out Bryce and Katrina. He was feeling happier than he’d ever been in his life and, while he still wanted to keep some of the best parts of this past week to himself, he also wanted to share some of it with his two best friends. They’d been with him through the tough times. The least he could do was share some joy with them, too.
They all agreed to meet up at–where else?–Bob’s lunch but, as he was headed there, he got a call.
Luke wasn’t expecting a phone call–no one ever called his cell phone, mostly because he was rarely anywhere where he had a signal–and so when his phone started buzzing, he wasn’t sure at first what he was actually hearing. When he looked down at it, though, he saw an unfamiliar number.
Hm…not gonna answer that,he thought.
He slid the bar to “ignore” and prepared to go on about his day, but the damn thing started buzzing again.
They can fuck right off,he thought, but then decided he was going to answer it and give them a piece of his mind.
“Who the fuck is this?” he demanded as he finally answered the phone.
The person on the other end seemed taken aback for a minute–they stammered out a few syllables–but then they seemed to get a firm hold on themselves.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but is this Luke Carter?”
“Yes?” he said slowly. “What can I do for you?”
“My name is Deirdre, the scheduler for the showMorning Fun with Gina LaBun.How are you doing today?”
He knew all too well who Gina LaBun was, and he didn’t think anyone calling from her show was good news.
“I’m doing okay,” he said, reluctant to say too much more. He’d learned the hard way it was always better to be circumspect when talking to people like this. They were always looking for the slightest excuse to drum up controversy and sow discord, and he wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction.
I’ve had enough of doing that,he thought.
“Great!” Deirdre chirped. “I’m calling today to see if you might like to record an interview with Gina to talk about the recent revelations about your being forced out of the closet.”
A stone seemed to take up residence in the pit of Luke’s stomach. He had no idea what she was talking about, and he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to know.
Still, something forced the next words out of his mouth.
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” he said slowly, trying to keep his breathing under control, trying to keep his mouth from running away from him. “Would you care to explain?”
“Well, it’s recently come to light that your former NACA colleague Mikey Smiles was the one responsible for leaking your secret to the press.” She hesitated again, clearly unsure what he would say next. “Do you, um, have anything you’d like to say in response?”
There were a hundred, a thousand, things he’d like to say, so many things they threatened to choke him. He wanted tostrangle Mikey, and he also wanted to strangle himself for ever being stupid enough to believe whatever had taken shape between Mikey and himself was anything other than a lie, anything other than just another of Mikey’s attempts to massage his image and make himself feel better about his own miserable existence.
All of these things crashed through his brain so quickly he couldn’t sort out from one the other.
Say something, idiot!
“Um…no comment,” he said finally. It was a painfully inadequate thing to say, and he knew it, and so, seemingly, did Deidre. She didn’t even bother to hide her huff of impatience.
“Surely you have something to say about the fact your former friend was the one responsible for your career imploding,” she said. The bluntness of what she said was the clearest indication yet she was under pressure–presumably from Gina LeBun herself–to get a story, no matter what she had to say or how much she had to offend her potential interview subject. “You’ve been in the middle of preparing for a concert. Surely this puts some sort of a damper on the preparation, doesn’t it?”
Shit.
Just the mention of the concert was enough to send him into a full-blown spiral. There was no way he was going to be able to go through with it, no way he was going to be able to look at Mikey again in the same way, if even a bit of what she said was true. He had to fight down the urge to just throw his phone into the nearest trashcan, get in his truck, and drive back to his cabin, where he would stay and never try to come out again.
“Like I said,” he repeated, more patiently than he thought he was capable of, “I have no comment at this time, and I don’t think that’s likely to change.”
“You know,” she said. “There are plenty of others who’re going to report on this. The sooner you get ahead of the story, the sooner you’ll be able to make sure people hear your side first.”
And that, in a nutshell, was why Luke had never really had any interest in being the kind of music star Mikey had always been. He hated having to pay attention to every single detail of his public persona, hated the way everyone scrutinized every little thing he did, hated thefakenessof it all. He wanted to spend his time making music, using the power of music to tell stories, and connecting with people on a human level. There was nothing really human about all of this. In fact, it was downright dehumanizing to see yourself as nothing more than a product for other people to consume.
