by Tori Brooks
“Deal,” Teri agreed.
“Mom?” Teri and Tim both looked up to see Dev standing over his mother.
“What is it, baby?”
“Mom,” Dev groaned, reminding her he hated the affectionate term she used without thinking.
“Sorry, let’s try that again. What is it, sweetheart?”
“I thought it over and I’ll do the job for Oskar.”
Tim sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God.”
“Why do you care?” Dev asked, seemingly irritated by Tim having an opinion on the matter.
“Oskar has my number, he called twice last night and once this morning to see if you decided yet.”
“Okay. That’s just weird,” Dev’s brows pulled together with his frown.
“Dev, are you sure?” Teri asked.
“Yeah. Mom, Kenny’s not pushing me into anything. I can say no to him you know, I’ve done it before.” Color filled Dev’s face.
“I remember. You never did plaster the holes in the downstairs hall from the last time.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ll fix that. Anyway, I told him what Paul said. I can still skateboard, I just won’t compete as much. Maybe just exhibitions.”
Paul returned and Tim stood to give him back his seat.
“Dev was just explaining why he’s taking Oskar’s offer,” Tim filled Paul in. Paul sat, directing his attention to Dev.
“Well, on the band, you know how I was going to be drums then Kenny moved me to bass when more girls started showing up?”
Teri nodded.
“He got rid of them because they were a distraction, but Kenny’s never hidden the fact that part of the reason I’m in the band is because of the girls. It’s annoying because they’re silly. I know when I’m older and date I won’t think so, but right now they really are - all caught up in their hair and nails and stuff. Anyway, since that’s part of my job, working with a fashion designer and being the kid showing the line isn’t a bad idea. It kinda all fits together. Someday when the band starts getting attention, it’ll increase our fan base a lot really fast.”
Teri didn’t know what to say. She looked at Paul, then Tim. Both were smiling.
Paul picked up his water and gestured a toast to Dev. “Dev, you put a lot of thought into this. Kenny’s lucky to have you on board.”
“Um, thanks,” Dev flushed. “Anyway, just thought you should know.” He gave Teri one last glance and quickly returned to his seat.
“Paul? What just happened?” Teri asked weakly.
“Honey, your little boy’s going to be a rock star someday.” Paul kissed her forehead and she leaned against him.
“I’m not ready.”
“We’ll get him through it.”
“I’m clearing your schedule for today, with the exception of Jackson Palo,” Tim said. “Oh, and I’ll call Oskar, if you don’t mind. Otherwise he’ll just keep calling me.”
“Set it up, Tim,” Paul agreed.
Chapter Seventeen
“Teri said you wanted to see me.” Kenny walked up to Paul as he barbecued in Teri’s backyard a couple of weeks after they returned from New York.
“I want to talk to you if you have some time.” Paul finished putting the steaks on and closed the lid.
“Fancy.” Kenny eyed the new barbecue.
“I enjoy outdoor cooking and I insist on all the latest toys. Teri doesn’t understand, but she tolerates the space it takes up on her deck.”
“She puts up with a lot.” Kenny thought about Paul’s wife and sat down in the nearest chair.
“Yes, she does. The reason I wanted to talk to you was the band.”
“Dev thinks you’re trying to buy us off.”
“He indicated as much to me as well. Teri won’t take money from me. She insists on working and paying her own bills. She will let me do things for her and for you kids when I pitch it right. I can afford the shopping sprees, and that way it’s an expenditure she doesn’t have to worry about. With that in mind, I’ll continue giving you kids gifts because it makes it easier for her. But there’s only so much I can get away with.
“You know I have an office and apartment here in Seattle.”
“I know.”
“Since Jess can’t hold down a job, I’m putting him on my payroll. It’ll be easier.”
“Why tell me? Tell Jess.”
“I did, I’m just letting you know. I want to extend a slightly different offer to you. I realize how determined you are to make this band work. Dev seems to be applying himself and making decisions to that end. I can’t offer a lot of advice on the music industry. You know it’ll be hard. Putting you on the office payroll frees up a little time that I suspect you could put to better use. Specifically, I’d like you to take some classes.”
Kenny sighed. Here we go again with the backup plans, he thought and sagged against the back of his chair.
“Hear me out, please. I’m not quite so concerned about what you’ll do if you don’t make it; I’m more concerned with giving you the best possible chance to succeed. Jess’s job is to take care of the yard. I’m also paying for private lessons on voice and diction. If you can think of anything else let me know, we’ll throw it in there. He’s the singer, and from what I can tell that’s all he does.”
“And brings in the girls.”
“Fine. I think Tim took you to one of the better salons in New York for hair styles? Perhaps a dermatologist too to help keep you all looking young and fresh a little bit longer. Tim tells me image sells a band as much as their music.
“Back to you. Your classes aren’t decided yet, but I think psychology might be a good idea.”
Kenny glared at Paul.
“Bryan and Dev are still in school anyway. I’ll pay you to take a couple classes. I’m not suggesting a degree, and if you have a compelling reason why it’s such a bad idea let’s talk about it. I have a reason why I think you should.”
“Fine, why?”
“Because you’re going to have to handle Jess and Dev. Jess is a nightmare and you know it. The girls love him and he loves them. How long until he gets one pregnant? Let’s say you sign a deal, go on tour, and he’s faced with underage groupies? Or seduces a girl with a jealous boyfriend? How about if you’re getting ready to close a deal and the producer happens to have a teenage daughter? The fact that he can’t keep a job doesn’t concern me so much as the reason why. You have to get him under control, Kenny.
“I know something about controlling people; big business is partially about mind games. Obviously I’m no good with teenagers; you guys are just out of my league.” Paul smiled.
Kenny nodded in agreement. “So you think I can play mind games with Jess?”
“Dev already does, the difference is he does it to bait him. Learn to use his techniques, maybe add some new ones to keep Jess in line. The general consensus is that Jess has a brain, he just doesn’t use it. If that’s the case, he can be taught and therefore reined in.”
“And if he really is stupid?”
“Replace him. If you want this, I don’t see any other choice. He’s lost three jobs that I know of because he couldn’t stop himself from sleeping with a pretty girl. He doesn’t think about the consequences.”
Feeling like a traitor, Kenny nodded. Paul was right; he just didn’t want to admit it.
“As I said, Dev already manipulates Jess. He can be your ally. Bring Bryan in on it too if you need to. Now, Dev is a different problem.”
“How is Dev a problem?” Kenny couldn’t believe Paul would say anything about Teri’s son.
“He’s a good kid, but he does have problems. Some serious ones for your purposes. He had his first photo shoot last week, did he tell you about it?”
Kenny shrugged. Dev didn’t really say anything to him.
“He reacted pretty much like the first time. The photographer was thrilled at the overwhelmed look on his face when he was surrounded by six pretty girls. It’ll be a successful ad campaign. What teenage boy wouldn’
t want to be in his place? The problem is, that was very stressful for him. When Teri and I told him we’d back his decision whichever way he wanted to play this, we didn’t realize just how much girls upset him. Cassie and Tiffany are familiar, as are the girls at school, but Dev can’t really cope with girls he doesn’t know personally. He’s shy, Kenny. That’s going to be a problem if you want him there to attract girls.”
“But there are girls at the skateboard competitions.”
“Does he talk to them?”
“Well, no. Dev thinks girls are silly.”
“Maybe. Or maybe they just scare him. Teri and I talked about having Dev see a psychologist in New York. When she mentioned it to him, he . . . well, he declined. I’m no expert, but I suspect part of Dev’s stage fright might be related to the girls. If you’re taking a few psych classes to learn to handle Jess, you just might pick up on something to help out Dev.”
Paul’s observation stunned Kenny. He never realized Dev might actually be afraid of girls. Sure he ran from them, but when they’re bothering him all the time, who wouldn’t? Dev had a few friends that were girls, but now that Kenny thought about it, Dev grew up with them. He was in kindergarten with most of the girls he talked to regularly. Paul was right; Kenny had two big problems that he didn’t even know about.
“So, psych classes, huh?”
“That’s my suggestion.”
“Listen, Paul, I’m not really good at the whole school thing.”
“Tim can find a graduate student to tutor you, you’ll be fine. Also, off the record, I’m consulting with a psychologist in New York about Dev. She’s not happy with the second hand observations, but I’m paying her to think of it as long-distance therapy. I’ll let you know what she comes up with.”
“Like what, skateboarding competitions again or something?”
“I told her about that. She doubts that’s really having much impact anymore aside from stress reduction from exercise. We’re going to see if we can arrange some carefully controlled situations to ease Dev into being able to recognize what’s causing him stress and then deal with it. I suspect a lot of it will be in New York, but that’s really just a guess.”
“Paul, tell me the truth, why are you so interested in making the band work now? Before, you shrugged it off as a pipe dream.”
Paul hesitated, quiet while he checked the steaks. “Off the record?”
“Sure.”
“Did Teri tell you about meeting Blaine?”
Kenny sat up, stiff and attentive. “No, she forgot to mention that.”
“I assure you, she didn’t forget. I wouldn’t mention it to her either. I wasn’t sure when to introduce Teri to my children. I even considered not introducing them at all. I suppose that sounds strange to you.”
Kenny thought of his conversation with Blaine Lovett. He wouldn’t want Paul’s son anywhere near Teri either.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Tim and Teri returned from shopping early. Teri met him in my office. It didn’t go well. I never expected my children to follow in my footsteps, Kenny. It didn’t matter what they chose to do with their lives, I would have supported them. They chose to do nothing. By the time I was Blaine’s age, I had a wife, three kids, and a multi-million dollar company. He has an allowance, hostility, and a string of disappointing decisions.
“Teri took it all very well; she didn’t react to Blaine’s behavior. That wasn’t the first time I noticed differences between her parenting style and mine. And as I sat there and thought of how Blaine, at twenty-five, still had no sense of direction, no passion, no goals, I thought of that brief conversation we had. How I insulted you by asking about backup plans. I have no idea if you have talent, but you have a goal and passion. I respect that, and a helping hand never hurts.”
“So you’re giving us a helping hand.”
“A little bit here and there. The thing is, art comes from experience. You have to experience life to write about it. I could call a studio and say ‘here they are,’ but it wouldn’t be doing you a favor. You’re not ready yet, Jess and Dev aside. You need the struggle to earn your fame, at least a little bit. It’ll give you something to write about, and something for the fans to admire.”
Kenny nodded. “Thanks.”
“I just hope I’m actually helping. One more thing, have you settled on a name for the band yet? I’m just curious because I’ve seen several on flyers.”
An embarrassed grin spread across Kenny’s face. “We can’t seem to pin it down. Bryan goes along with just about anything. Jess always proposes something too suggestive. I want something with a story behind it, like we named our band this because of some incident or another sort of thing. Unfortunately most our funny stories involve Jess and a girl and can’t be repeated. Dev wants something like a common phrase so it’ll be easy to remember and what he considers classic or timeless.”
“Funny thing about stories, Kenny, you can make a story to suit a name if you need to.”
“I can’t trust Jess to get it right.”
“Have Dev pick up a book of phrases or clichés or whatever he’s looking for and pull some out. Then think how you can orchestrate a story involving whatever you decide on. The story can be about Jess, set the stage and let him walk into it. Dev should enjoy it, tricking Jess like that. Once you have a name, I think it’ll help you pin down your image. I’m just guessing, don’t quote me. Then you can stop wasting time playing under a new name every couple of months while you fight about it. You’re not getting any exposure that way.”
“You’re really into manipulating people,” Kenny frowned. He wondered again about Paul’s motives - making friends with him, therefore the band, therefore Dev to get in tighter with Teri. Paul didn’t need to get in tighter, he was already sleeping with her and couldn’t marry her. It was as good as it got.
“Yet another helping hand I’m giving you: a real life lesson why you should be wary of businessmen and attorneys. We’re very good at manipulating people, image, situations, and perception. Watch for it. And another reason psych classes might help: it’s hard to play a player, Kenny.
“Now do me a favor and send the girls out, will you?”
“Putting them on the company payroll?”
“Jess has the lawn, you’re off the hook because you’re helping with Dev, but someone has to help with the house.”
“Bryan likes to vacuum. He thinks it’s Zen.”
“I know. He’s on my list too, but he’s not here.”
Kenny laughed. “Yeah. He’s determined to spend some quality time with Brenda. Having a steady girlfriend cuts into his week. I’ll send Cassie and Tiff your way.”
“Dev, give it a rest,” Kenny sighed in irritation two months later. His psych book lay open in front of him, demanding his attention. The assignment was boring, so Dev’s pacing proved more distracting than usual.
“Why are you taking that stupid class anyway? Paul sits you down for a warm fuzzy chat and two days later you register at a community college?” Dev demanded, finally coming to stand behind Kenny. “He’s got everyone in his back pocket.”
“He presented a good argument.”
“Jess? Kenny, c’mon. Jess is fine.”
Kenny bit back his concern for Dev. The kid was pretty perceptive about some things, and it wouldn’t help for him to find out Kenny and Paul were more concerned about him than Jess.
“Funny, I thought you were smart.” Kenny smiled slightly as he sensed Dev stiffen behind his back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kenny turned to look at Dev. He was growing again, taking on a stretched-out look. Next time he went to New York, Tim was probably going to take him shopping again.
“Dev, what do you think would happen if Jess managed to seduce Cassie?”
Dev scoffed.
“Girls are funny, Dev. Cassie thinks he’s cute.”
That got his attention. Of course there wasn’t really any danger. Cassie might think Jess
was cute, but she also thought he was an idiot. There were other cute boys for her to waste her time with. It got Dev thinking though.
“I’d kill him,” Dev said through clenched teeth.
“I’ll spare you the trouble. Jess goes through the girls and it has to stop. Sooner or later he’s going to get in trouble.” Kenny hesitated. “Dev, girls are funny, you just can’t tell what they’re thinking. Jess doesn’t know any more than anyone else really, he just knows enough to get in trouble.”
“So Paul wants you to be a shrink so you can handle Jess.”
“Just a few classes,” Kenny shrugged. “You can help. Hang with Jess, watch how he picks up the girls.”
“How’s that helping?” Dev asked nervously, small beads of sweat forming on his brow.
That was fast, Kenny thought. He wasn’t thinking about helping Jess when he made the suggestion, and Dev’s perfectly reasonable question had him trapped. He turned back to his book.
“It said here somewhere that observation was important,” Kenny grasped at the basic principles he had just finished going over. Not getting in over your head should be listed there too.
“You want me to watch Jess? Like he’d let me follow him around.”
That was true. Dev was four years younger than Kenny and Jess. Too young to be competition yet, but Jess instinctively knew that while Dev attracted girls, he tried to push them away too.
“Good point. I’ll think about it. Listen, did you put together a list of band names?”
“Oh, yeah. I gave them to Bryan earlier. Where is he?”
“Babysitting, so to speak. Jess’s voice instructor has a neighbor with twin teenage daughters. Jess said something about long black hair and blue eyes. Bryan’s making sure he doesn’t see any more than that.”
“Rachel and Robin,” Dev nodded.
Kenny looked back at Dev in surprise. “You know them?”
Dev shrugged. “Yeah, we’ve been in school together since about fourth grade.”
“Great, I’ll have you babysit Jess then. Bryan’s complaining that keeping Jess from getting a new girlfriend is keeping him from spending time with his own.”
“Tell him to take Brenda with him then, I’m not going near them.” Dev’s eyes were wide in the familiar girl-induced panic Kenny started to recognize after talking to Paul.