Page 192 of Hot Mess
“For sure.” I grinned. The fact that he wanted music from me, in any form, was a thrill. “I just hope you don’t hate my taste in music…”
“Doubtful,” he said. “I try to keep an open mind when it comes to music. There’s very little music I hate. The only music I’ve ever heard and hated was a song without a soul.”
I mused on that for a moment. “A song without a soul… I like that. You’re very poetic.”
“I try.”
“Are you gonna make a playlist for me, too?”
“Oh. Yeah.” He pulled out his phone and swiped around. “There you go.”
“Huh?”
“I just sent it to you.” He tucked his phone away again.
“You already had your deathbed playlist locked and loaded?”
“Yup. Good thing, too. You don’t wanna check out without that in the time capsule.”
I shook my head, but grinned. “So…” I asked him, “how are things going with your new band?”
“Okay,” he said. “I mean, we haven’t released our first single or won any Grammys just yet, but we’re plugging along. Just trying to figure out the lineup, recruit the right people to join us.”
“You and Summer? That’s all you’ve got so far?”
“Yeah.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “You don’t sound too impressed.”
“Oh… No, I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean it like, ‘Is that all you’ve got, you loser?’” He snorted and I smiled. I liked making him laugh that snorty, chuckly laugh of his. “I just wanted to make sure I was up to speed on the latest.”
“That’s pretty much it. We’ve thrown out a feeler to a few musicians we’d love to work with, but so far nothing has come through.” He went silent for a moment. “Turns out putting together a band at thirty-one is different than doing it at twenty-one or seventeen. It’s kinda messy. I guess the good news is everyone’s more experienced, probably more skilled. We’ve all got more to offer. But it’s kind of like dating. Getting into a new relationship. It’s more complicated now. Everybody’s got baggage to bring into it. Breakups with other bands to go through, that kind of shit.”
“And… your breakup with Summer…” I wasn’t sure how to ask, exactly, but I wondered. “You don’t think it’ll cause any problems within the band?”
He shook his head. “Summer and I have a friendship that’s more important than any breakup we went through. I’m counting on that, and I know she counts on that, too. As long as we’re equally invested, shouldn’t be a problem.”
“And how do you know you’re equally invested with a bandmate?”
“You don’t,” he said. “You never do until things get rough, usually. When things are going well, everyone’s pumped to be there. When things go bad, when there’s disappointment or struggle… That’s when you find out who’s really in it with you.”
“So time will tell?”
“Pretty much.”
“But obviously… you trust her?”
“Yeah, I trust her,” he said.
Okay, I wasn’t gonna lie to myself. I felt a little uncomfortable hearing that, even though I knew I probably shouldn’t.
If he had a thing for her, he’d hardly be here with me, telling me about her right now, right?
“Then that’s good,” I said. “I’m sure if that’s the case, it’ll work out for you guys.”
“I hope so.”
“And how’s everything else?” I asked.
“Everything?”
