by Tori Brooks
Jess looked at Flynn for direction. Teri looked too, but Flynn just shook his head and shrugged so Jess turned back to Dev during a short break in the chorus and gave him a withering glare. Dev smiled.
Jess held up his mic and resumed singing, stepping out of the path of the tiny robots. They all stopped, reoriented themselves, and started trudging toward him again. Jess walked over to Dev and smacked the back of his head in irritation. Dev just shook his head to make his hair lie flat again and resumed watching his friend’s plight with obvious pleasure.
After being chased by the truck, Jess understood the new robots would behave the same way, getting closer each time. The sheer number of them and the way they were spread out meant they’d soon cover the area Jess had to move around in.
The song ended and Jess rounded on Dev.
“What the hell are —”
“Last song Jess,” Kenny called.
“What?”
“Go.” Kenny started playing, shaking slightly with laughter.
“Sadist,” Jess growled at him, eyes returning to the tiny robots that had almost caught him by Dev. He started singing and retreated to Kenny’s side of the stage.
Brenda was almost doubled over laughing beside her, and Teri had to admit, Jess’s reaction was comical. Flynn’s plan seemed to be working. She didn’t know how Dev did it, but watching Jess was keeping him distracted enough that he wasn’t nervous. Of course Jess was going to be a wreck after this. She’d make him his favorite for dinner tonight, Teri decided.
Jess was starting to crowd Kenny and Kenny nudged him away, back toward the onslaught of tiny robots. Because he was losing walking space and would soon be stepping on them anyway, Jess apparently decided he might as well just do it now. He stared at Dev, giving him a defiant look.
Dev looked back at him calmly and shook his head — no.
Raising a foot dramatically, he brought it slowly down on a little walking robot with a crunch and a sizzle. Jess jumped and hit a higher note than Teri thought he intended. He recovered and shot Dev a surprised look. Dev shrugged as best he could while still playing.
Frowning, Jess tried to brush the little robots aside while he sang. When there was another break in the song, one of Bryan’s dreaded drum solos, Jess gingerly stepped on another robot, and apparently received another shock. Teri couldn’t figure out how Dev did it. Jess looked — not furious really, more amazed — but in a way that implied he would be getting revenge later.
Teri stifled her laughter as, resigned, Jess stood still to finish the song, tiny robots swarming over his shoes. Beside her, Brenda shook with silent laughter. Quiet giggles echoed from the stairwell where Cassie and Tiffany sat and, when Teri looked at Flynn, she saw he wore a broad smile. She couldn’t see Zane’s face, but it didn’t matter. If he couldn’t appreciate it, to hell with him.
The song finally ended, and Jess stayed still as he looked to Dev.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Call them off.”
“Take off your shoes,” Dev said casually, taking off his guitar and setting it in its stand.
“What?”
“Take. Off. Your. Shoes.” He annunciated each word carefully, as if Jess were hard of hearing. Jess glared at him.
“So what exactly happened?” Bryan walked around his drums. “I saw Jess dancing around staring at his feet, but I couldn’t see what he . . . oh.” He looked at the little robots still scrambling over Jess’s shoes.
“Tell you about it later, Bry. Don’t bait him, Dev. You won this round,” Kenny called. “How’d you do it by the way?”
“Like I’m telling you,” Dev scoffed. “I didn’t even have to go to plan B. I get to save that in reserve.”
“Plan B? I can hardly wait.” Jess handed Kenny his mic and bent over to brush away the little robots and try to untie his shoes. They were tangled in the laces. “Screw this.” He stepped on the heel of one shoe with the toe of another, crushing one and shocking himself before he was able to slip his foot out. Doing the same with the other shoe proved tricky without stepping on the sharp metal and plastic edges of the robots. Teri stood and gave him a hand. She stepped on the heel of his shoe for him, accidentally crushing another robot in the process. It didn’t shock her.
“Dev? It didn’t shock me.”
“Nope, only Jess.”
“Right. That was entertaining,” Flynn called. Teri looked to see he and Zane were standing now, Zane appeared to be laughing. Good.
“I think that’s our cue it’s band time.” Brenda said, taking Teri’s hand and leading her to the stairs. Teri looked to Flynn, he nodded and she allowed herself to be pulled away. He knew his job, and he was right about handling Dev. She could trust him.
Chapter Ten
It was harder than Teri thought to force Flynn into a deep, thoughtful conversation so she could photograph his serious side. She should have kept a camera on him in the week leading up to Zane’s arrival but, at the time, she thought adding the additional stress would be mean. In retrospect it would have been just easier.
Flynn tried not to joke, but she could tell he had to make an effort. She kept saying something or other that made him smile, most the time she didn’t know what. Finally she started simply asking him questions instead of talking herself, but that didn’t help because half the time he shrugged and started reminiscing about something. He even repeatedly avoided telling her what Zane said, proving again his mastery of non-answers and distractions. From the boys’ mixed reactions, she couldn’t tell and was leery of asking them.
Working dinners proved problematic. Teri barely ate and Flynn was always taking a bite or a drink and disrupting her shot.
“Give me the camera.”
“What?” Teri looked up, letting her focus drop and looked at Flynn in alarm.
“This is the third dinner and the fourth sigh of exasperation. You’re not getting any usable shots, and you’re not eating again. Give me the camera.” He held out his hand.
“Tell me what Zane said.” Teri held her camera farther away so he couldn’t reach across the table and take it from her. He lifted an eyebrow in amusement at her demand. She stared him down. Finally Flynn smiled.
“Fine. I’ll tell you what Zane had to say, you put up the camera and eat.”
Teri nodded and turned off her camera. She reached for the lens cap and realized Flynn wasn’t talking. She looked back to him. “Start talking.”
“When you start eating.”
She quickly stowed her camera and took a bite of her sautéed scallops and fettuccini. It was cold. She vowed to eat it anyway and motioned for Flynn to start.
“In short —”
Teri had a bite in her mouth but she frowned at Flynn.
“There’s no point giving you the detailed version I gave the boys, you wouldn’t understand half of it. He was amused by Dev’s little prank, but concerned by it as well. I imagine that was on your mind.”
Teri nodded and reached for her Dr. Pepper.
“You know, normally they don’t serve that in a wine glass.”
“I know,” Teri said, not really wanting to mention Paul took her to this restaurant regularly and he always ordered her Dr. Pepper in a wine glass. It was an inside joke, but it was their inside joke. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to share that with Flynn. He was a friend, he’d probably appreciate the story behind it.
“And of course it goes without saying that dish is typically served with white wine, but I’m not going to chastise you for not drinking.”
“Makes it easier for you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now enough distractions. Zane,” Teri prompted.
“Eat.”
“I was, you started it.” Teri took another bite.
Flynn gave her a light chuckle that almost made her reach for her camera again. “All right, Zane. Dev’s prank was amusing, but it was still distracting. I’ll concede that point on this instance. Not even this pa
rticular prank, just that Jess didn’t know what to expect, and isn’t really used to it yet. Once they establish a sort of friendly war where both sides understand each other better, it won’t be as disruptive.”
“Won’t that defeat the purpose?”
“No, it still allows Dev to concentrate on something besides the audience, at least in part. Of course Jess’s attention is divided then too, but he can handle it a little better. Also, it’s still entertaining for the audience so Jess’s interaction isn’t as needed at that particular time. The real question is how long it really needs to continue.”
“Do you mean like the whole show or the rest of his life?” Teri frowned.
“Both. I’m not worried so much in terms of years. They’ll start and, even if Dev doesn’t need it in a couple of years, there’s a good chance they’ll continue if it’s popular. What we saw was three songs. Dev was prepared for more. But could he have played ten with just the ongoing good feeling of the win against Jess from the one little prank? Also, could he make that little prank maybe not last as long as three songs? That was a bit excessive. Or maybe spread it out. Once every few songs. We’ll have to play with that and see.”
“So you’re going to bring Zane back and make them play ten songs?”
“Maybe later, not anytime soon. Want to know how he did it?”
“He told you?”
Flynn smiled. “It always feels good to brag to someone and I’m not a member of the band. You can’t tell the others though.”
“I promise not to breathe a word to anyone.”
“He’s smart, Teri. I knew that, but I underestimated him. He reprogrammed the truck to follow a transmitter, and built all those little crawling robots himself to do the same.”
“He built them?”
“Every last one. There were ninety three. He had parts for a hundred but a few broke in testing and a few he couldn’t get working. Anyway, he hid transmitters in Jess’s shoes. I never noticed before, but he really only wears two pairs of shoes, so Dev put transmitters in both and hid or sabotaged the rest of his shoes, just in case.”
“Sabotaged? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“I decided the same. Eat. So that’s how the truck and crawling robots chased him without Dev having to control them. Then he put shocker plates in Jess’s shoes, figuring he’d eventually start stepping on the robots. He explained how he made that work, but I didn’t catch it.”
“That’s my boy,” Teri nodded. “I recognized the truck. I couldn’t believe he still had that thing. It was from when he was eight.”
“He mentioned that. Plan B had a dozen little remote control cars programmed to race around in a pattern around Jess’s feet. He’d get zapped if he stepped on them too.”
“Poor Jess.”
“Don’t worry about Jess, he’s plotting revenge.”
“I’m sure. If they put another hole in my wall, they’d better fix it this time.”
Flynn smiled. “I’ll see to it.”
“So what else did Zane say?”
His smile vanished. “He noticed Kenny’s natural talent. I waffled a little how to tell Kenny that, I don’t want him getting smug. Me saying it is one thing, Zane is another. Zane didn’t notice any of his personality traits in Kenny, for which I am grateful. Of course, to Zane, that’s a bad thing. He picked up easily that Kenny is the driving force and thinks he needs to get things under control. We, ah, debated that point for a bit.”
“How’d that go?”
“As usual, we agreed to disagree. Which is to say Zane thinks I’m wrong. I knew he would though and Drew said he’d have a go chatting with Zane about it.”
“Drew hasn’t seen the boys, only Bryan.”
“He knows enough.” Flynn returned his attention to his chicken. “What else? Otherwise they did okay.”
“Dev?”
“His stage fright’s a big red flag. I didn’t tell Zane, but he already knew it.”
“Dev’s nerves were kind of obvious.”
“Yes they were. He wasn’t really impressed with that.”
“Dev’s young.”
Flynn nodded, but Teri sensed he didn’t completely agree.
“Well he is.”
“He is young. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of it, or we can ease him out of it. I’d feel better if he’d see a psychologist.”
“He won’t.”
“I know. I chatted with him about it the other night.”
“What?” Teri had no idea and she wasn’t sure how she felt.
“You may think that’s overstepping, but it’s important. They all know it, and I’m hesitant to continue this shotgun approach of trying things to see what helps. A psychologist is simply more likely to help. Dev disagrees. Adamantly. And, on the bright side, you’ll be interested to know that he does know how to swear.”
“What? Dev doesn’t —”
“Around you, or girls. Apparently Allen told him he’s not allowed to swear around women or children. Otherwise, he continues with his record of excelling at everything he does.”
“Well tell him he’s not allowed to —”
“Swear around the media, fans, or crowds. I already added that to the list,” Flynn said. “Moving on. Since dinners don’t work for your little project, and I’m positive your pasta is cold by now if it wasn’t before, I propose meals be excluded from here on out. Are you finished?”
Teri debated whether the issue of Dev’s swearing should really be dropped that easily. Of course, she didn’t realize he did until now, so clearly he understood the idea of restraint. And that there was a proper time and place.
Flynn was watching her, a twinkle in his blue eyes and the edge of his lips turned up in what she almost thought of as a smirk. “Finally decided Dev’s responsible enough to be permitted to swear?”
Teri ignored him and stood up, grabbing her camera bag.
“It’s not like you could stop him,” Flynn laughed. “I was just glad to hear something about him was normal for a teenage boy. Those little bits of normal behavior are becoming priceless.”
“I’m sure you don’t mean to imply Dev’s odd.”
“I do actually, but in a way most mothers only dream about. He’s polite, tidy, fastidious about his appearance, gets excellent grades, and actually obeys the house rules as far as I can tell. He’s talented in multiple areas, driven to succeed, and at sixteen he already has a plan for the next several years all mapped out. Teenage boys like that only exist in dreams.”
“Bryan.”
“Close on several points, but not as much as you might think. Now, how about a walk on the waterfront?”
“How about we sit on the waterfront and I take your picture?”
Flynn nodded. “Or we could do that.”
Teri doubted much of what she got would turn out at all, let alone be what she was looking for. Flynn didn’t seem concerned and promised endless patience with her project. It wasn’t as if he seemed to appreciate her effort to find him someone to fill the void she perceived in his life so much as he was humoring her. It irritated Teri and she confronted him about his lack of confidence in her idea. Somehow he managed to slip out of an answer.
For someone who said once he didn’t care much for secrets, he was extremely good at not answering questions. Flynn tried to be helpful though. When Teri expressed frustration with his lack of deep expressions when he was talking, he started asking her questions instead and listened intently. Of course he still smiled and reacted to her stories, but she managed a few good pictures that way.
They talked about Cassie and Bryan’s upcoming graduation. What it meant for Bryan and Brenda to graduate versus Cassie and Tiffany. What the girls’ last summer home was going to be like, and how much Teri was going to miss them when they headed to college in the fall. She got a little misty eyed, but it was worth it to get a decent picture of Flynn’s genuine concern.
Flynn asked her about when the kids were little. That Dev was a handful didn’
t seem to come as a revelation, but he didn’t pursue it like she expected him to. As Dev’s mentor, shouldn’t he be more interested in Dev’s misadventures? About his first violin lessons or his relationship with his father? Instead, Flynn turned the conversation to Teri’s childhood.
Flynn was surprised to learn that Teri was born and raised in Germany. Her parents were German, but her mother remarried a U.S. soldier when she was eight and he relocated back to the states when she was ten. She told him about her stepfather going to work for the FBI, and later being killed in the line of duty, leaving only her and her brother.
He looked thoughtful as she described moving away from her childhood home, giving her several good shots. Teri remembered Flynn moved from Australia to England at a young age also. At least he didn’t have to give up his native language. Teri barely spoke German anymore.
Then there was a different look he gave her sometimes. Something deeper, a look in his eye more intense and a slight softening of his lips. Like he had something to say, something serious. Whenever she asked him what he was thinking during these times, he just shook his head and the moment passed.
A few weeks later, Flynn took her home after what he called a hard night of not smiling.
“You know, it’s hard not to kid you sometimes. I hope you appreciate my restraint.”
“Like when?” Teri looked up to him, feigning innocence.
“Now for starters, don’t give me that innocent look. You know very well I wanted to comment on your college dating stories and I couldn’t because you had a camera on me.”
“You could have commented.”
“Not without laughing,” Flynn chuckled. “It’s like some exotic torture.”
“Then give me a tortured expression,” Teri pulled out her camera.
“Another time. I think I deserve a real night out with the freedom to laugh and smile and respond to your little stories and jokes as temptation strikes.”
“A reward for good behavior. Very well, I suppose you’ve earned it.”
“Good, I’m glad we agree. Tomorrow night: you, me, a nice restaurant, and the camera stays home,” Flynn said firmly.