by Mindi Scott
So I watched and listened to him explain the closing procedures while he pressed buttons on the computer, counted the till, and took all the paperwork to his office to get it in order.
“Think you can handle it?” he asked afterward as he piled up the receipts on his desk and stapled them together.
From where I was sitting on the chair next to him, I shrugged. “There’s lots to remember.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll have you practice a bunch of times before I leave. And I’ll put together step-by-step instructions you can follow if you ever run into a snag.”
“Well, if you’re sure I won’t screw anything up.”
“I’m sure. I know I can trust you with this. Which is more than I can say for most of the other dildos I’ve hired on this crew.”
“Thanks a lot,” I said, letting out a short laugh. “Seriously, though, I’m glad to do it. And I’m even gladder that you’re not pissed anymore. Jared and Daniel have had the hate going for two weeks straight now.”
“You knew that was going to happen, though, right?” he said, swiveling his chair to put the deposit in the safe. “Especially with Jared. He made a plan and he was fully expecting all of us to go along with it. I’m putting off my night classes at the community college until next quarter. You really chose a hell of a time to quit on us.”
“I can’t make all my decisions based on what my brother wants.”
“You’re right,” Mikey said, spinning back around and facing me. “And I guess I’ll give you a pass for not coming on tour. I mean, if it’s really about you finishing school like Jared was saying. I can’t say I get why it had to be this way, though.”
“What way?”
“Come on. You joined another band without even telling us. You, me, and Daniel, we’ve all been tight forever. And Jared’s your brother. You just bailed like you didn’t give a shit anymore.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t how it was.”
“Well, that’s what it seemed like.”
“Xander and those guys had nothing to do with it. I didn’t even know they were looking for a bass player until after I’d told Jared and Daniel I was out.”
Mikey didn’t respond. He just busied himself by separating slips and paper-clipping things together in an order that made sense only to him.
I went on. “Look, playing with you guys hadn’t been the same for me since Daniel and Isaac’s fight. And with Isaac not even here anymore, everything’s just . . . way different.”
“Well, that’s true,” Mikey said. “Now we only have to worry about Daniel getting into fights and passing out in random alleys.”
He was smiling when he said it, but I didn’t find it funny. Yeah, Isaac did used to get hard-core wasted when he was bored or pissed off or having too good a time. But was that seriously the only thing Mikey could say about him?
Mikey sighed, obviously picking up on my mood. “We’ve had a lot of good times in this band. That weekend trip to Portland where we spent more at the strip joint than we made at the gig. Camping on the way to and from Boise during spring break because we couldn’t afford a motel. The parking lot duels with those swords from the truck stop. And a lot of it was because of Isaac.”
I nodded, glad he could at least admit that Isaac was fun and not just some pain in the ass.
He went on. “But we’ve got to keep going. Isaac isn’t here anymore, but we are. And now we’re gearing up for our biggest adventure yet.”
Right then I had a pang: doubt, regret, and a tiny bit of jealousy all rolled into one. There was nothing I could do about it, though, and nothing I wanted to do about it. “And while you’re having your adventure,” I said, “I’ll stay here and solve the square root of x divided by y for you.”
“You can handle it,” Mikey said. “And Seth, you and me are cool, okay?”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” He locked all his paperwork into the filing cabinet, then grabbed his jacket off the hook and motioned that I should get up too. “You know what I was thinking the other day?” he asked as he flipped the lights and set the alarm. “With you gone, there’s only one real McCoy left in the band. How stupid is that? I think Daniel’s on to something with his Fake McCoys idea.”
I couldn’t help laughing as I followed him through the store in the near darkness. “How have things been working out with my replacement?”
“Craig—he said he’s having a hard time figuring out my go-to beats, but he’s doing good and having fun with it. And so far your brother gets along with him. Which means a lot less arguing and bullshit at practice. I’m thinking in that way, you might have done us a favor.”
“Cool. You should tell that to the other guys.”
Mikey turned to me with raised eyebrows. “Maybe you should.”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
7:25 P.M.
I was finishing my dinner at Good Times when cold hands covered my eyes. I didn’t even have to wonder who it was.
“Hi, Kendall,” I said, twisting out of her grasp.
Her shiny peach lips formed into a pout. She looked trashy as always, but also kind of hot in a tight top and denim skirt. “How’d you know it was me?”
“Because I don’t know anyone else who goes around smelling like a pack of gummy bears all the time.”
“Gummy bears?” She sniffed her hands. “All I smell is my mango lotion.”
“Mangoes. Gummy bears. Whatever.”
She took a seat across the table from me. “You can’t hide, you know. I know where you live, where you work, where you hang out. I’ll always find you, driving around on that ridiculous spare tire.”
So dramatic. So Kendall. But in spite of the threatening words, I wasn’t worried; she was looking a lot friendlier than she had during our last conversation.
“Was I trying to hide from you? Because I don’t think I was.” I looked over my shoulder toward the bar. “Does my mom know you’re here?”
“She’s the one who told me where you sit.” Kendall pushed some orangey strands from her face, all serious. “Anyway, I’ve decided that you’ve had enough time to think things over, so we’re going to come to an agreement now.”
Kendall could stand to learn a thing or two about communication. Based on our past conversations she should already know that her ordering-Seth-around strategy was guaranteed to fail.
“If this is about that dance, my answer is still no.”
She clasped her hands together and stared at me pleadingly. “Please? If you do this for me, I’ll do anything you want! Anything.”
I could think of very few things I wanted from her. “I’m getting the feeling this doesn’t have much to do with you wanting to be better nonenemies with me like you said before.”
She sighed. “Well, of course it doesn’t.”
“So what’s the deal?”
Kendall grabbed my Coke and sucked on the straw. “I didn’t want to get into this with you, but the truth is, I’ve kind of been hooking up in secret with someone from school. I figured we’d finally be going public at the dance. But as it turns out, he likes keeping me hidden. He’s taking someone else, if you can believe that. We can’t let him get away with it.”
Typical Kendall, getting herself mixed up in something like this and then trying to make it my problem. I wondered if the secret-boyfriend thing was about her moving on after Isaac, or if she was still just trying to convince herself that she was over him. “Who is this guy?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you.”
If she was hoping I’d try to get it out of her, she was about to be disappointed. “Why do you want to go with me so badly?”
Kendall laughed. “Oh, Seth. Fishing for compliments! I never thought I’d be seeing this.”
“I’m not—”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll do it.” She grabbed a steak fry from my plate and shoved it into her mouth. “My plan is to make him jealous,” she said, chewing and talking at the same time. “So whoever I go with has to b
e hot, right? You happen to be the hottest single guy I know, and you don’t have a date. That makes you the one I need.”
She was laying it on a little thick.
“What do you think’s going to happen?” I asked, wadding up my napkin and throwing it at her. “He’ll drop the other girl in the middle of the dance when he sees us together?”
“That would be the best thing ever.” She grinned and threw the napkin back. “But don’t worry. No matter what, you’ll still get your payment.”
My payment. When she said it like that, it sounded sketchy.
She went on, taking another fry. “Now, this is the part where we negotiate a deal. If you spend the evening of the homecoming dance looking like a sex god and pretending to lust madly for me, I’ll do something for you. Whatever you need, lover,” she said, winking.
Good thing I could tell she was messing with me, because there was no way I was going to go there. But the more I thought about the dance itself, the more I was realizing that it might not be all bad. I could keep an eye out for Rosetta and make sure Carr wasn’t harassing her. I’d surprise her.
Of course, I still couldn’t make things easy for Kendall. This was a big favor, after all. “Yeah. You know, I’m not so sure about this.”
“I’m willing to spend money,” she said quickly. “How about if I buy something you need for that rust bucket you call a car? A new tire, maybe?”
“Perfect. You give me a hundred bucks for new tires and I’ll go to the dance with you.”
She dropped the fry she was holding into the ketchup glob on my plate. “You think I’m made of money? How about fifty?”
I could tell I had her, though. Making her loser secret boyfriend jealous was obviously important to her. “Seventy-five. And you have to knock off the ‘lover’ bullshit too.”
She nodded slowly. “Deal.”
We reached across the table and shook on it. Then, as I tried to let go, she gripped tighter and wiped her oily fingers all over my hand.
I jerked free and grabbed a fresh napkin. “You suck.”
Kendall laughed and then, looking past me, said, “I wonder what those two are doing.”
I turned. Next to the bar, Xander and Taku were talking to my mom. “They’re probably looking for me.”
With nosy Kendall following, I headed over to see what they wanted. I was sure I hadn’t told them I eat here, and I park out back so no one sees me coming and going. But I guess it wouldn’t have been too hard to find me if they were looking. Kendall had proven that.
I was still a few tables away when Taku handed Mom a folder. “We stuck a band biography, lyric sheets, and a CD with three of our songs in there for you to check out,” he said. “Is that all you need?”
It wasn’t looking like they were there to see me after all. No, it was looking a lot like they were there trying to book a gig. For their band. Their band of which I was also a member.
Shit.
Just like that, my heart was racing, and the cheeseburger I’d eaten was wreaking havoc on my insides. Kendall pushed her way through to stand next to Mom and grabbed the folder. Like I said, nosy. “‘Scratching at the Eight Ball,’” Kendall read from the cover. “Kind of a long band name. Cool logo though.”
Taku and Xander stared at each other like they were trying to figure out what Kendall was doing there and why she’d busted in on their conversation. I couldn’t say I blamed them.
Since they still hadn’t noticed me off to the side, I stayed back and tried to decide how to handle this. They’d played together for a year before even bothering to find a bass player. What was the rush to play a live show all of a sudden?
Xander started rambling. Like he does. “We did the demo in a home studio, but it’s good quality. Oh, and you’ll see that we don’t have any press clippings. And our bio doesn’t have much going on either. But I know we can get a bunch of people here to see an all-ages show if you’ll give us a chance.”
Kendall looked across the way at me and raised her eyebrows, as if to ask if I’d known they were going to do this. I shook my head in answer.
“I don’t schedule the shows or have any say over which bands play here,” Mom said, smiling at Xander and Taku in an “oh you poor kids” kind of way. “But I’ll be sure to pass this on to the guy who does.”
“Thank you,” Xander said. “We really appreciate that.”
Kendall laughed. “Are you guys serious? Do you really not have any idea who you’re talking to here?”
Xander and Taku looked at each other and then at Mom, trying to figure it out, but they had no clue. I decided it was probably time I got Kendall to stop torturing them, so I went over.
“Oh, hey, Seth,” Xander said when he saw me. “What are you doing here?”
“Eating dinner.”
“What a weird coincidence.” He grinned at Mom. “This is Seth McCoy, our bassist. He’s played here with the Real McCoys, and they’ve pulled in a good crowd on quite a few occasions.”
Kendall laughed some more, and Xander and Taku gave each other questioning looks again, this time tinged with annoyance.
“Oh, I know Seth McCoy all right,” Mom said, smiling. “He’s one hell of a bass player, I tell you what. He took a few lessons when he was a kid, and then taught himself the rest by sitting in his room listening to the radio and playing along to every kind of song out there. Or so I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. The radio thing is true, but it’s embarrassing when she talks about it. “This is my mom, you guys.”
“What?” Taku said at that same time as Xander managed a “Huh?”
I went on. “Mom, Xander and Taku are in the band I’ve been playing with.”
“I kind of figured that out,” Mom said.
Jared was the one who told her I’d quit the Real McCoys and joined a new band. She hadn’t said much of anything about it to me, but I could tell she didn’t get it. She kept smiling, though. Mom pretty much always kept smiling. “Baby, you could have told me your new band was looking for a show. You know Will can get you on without all the usual hoop jumping.”
“I might have if I’d actually known we were doing this.” I gave Xander a pointed look. “Can I talk to you guys for a quick second?”
They followed me over to a booth.
“I must have heard you wrong, because I thought you said that was your mom,” Xander said, shaking his head. “You meant to say ‘sister,’ right? Because there’s no way she could be anyone’s mom.”
“Except, maybe, like, an infant’s,” Taku said.
“You didn’t hear me wrong,” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell us your mom worked here?” Xander asked.
“It never came up.” Which was true. When would it have come up? “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to book shows for us? It’s kind of something I’d need to know, don’t you think?”
“We thought you’d be glad if we did all the legwork,” Taku said. “But I can see now that it would have been smarter and saved us some steps if we’d had you do it.”
I was on the verge of losing it. “I’ve only been in the band a few weeks. Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Taku and I have wanted to do this for a while,” Xander said. “Then the stuff we’re doing in IC class gave me the push I needed to stop waiting around for something to happen. Now that we’ve brought you in, we can move forward.”
“Does Brody know?” I asked.
“Brody is what you might call ‘resistant to change,’” Taku said. “But he’ll come around. He always does.”
Xander nodded. “We aren’t going to commit to anything unless you and Brody agree. This whole thing is just about us putting some feelers out there and seeing what kind of response we can get.”
“Well, I don’t think we’re ready,” I said.
“Most places book a few months out, right?” Xander said. “So you don’t have to worry. You already know our songs almost as well as we do. By the time our fi
rst show comes along, you’ll know them even better.”
He was missing my real issue, but I didn’t want to spell it out. If I was lucky, Will would take his time about giving us a show. And if he didn’t?
Well, I had no idea what then.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
7:17 P.M.
Kendall and I hadn’t even left my driveway yet, and the whole homecoming deal was already a pain in my ass.
“You’re going to be talking about me every chance you get, so you’ll need to remember to use the words ‘hot,’ ‘sexy,’ or the equivalent,” Kendall said as she followed me down the steps. “Also, you have to seem jealous when other guys hit on me. But not too jealous. It might get complicated if people believe we’re a true couple. And anyway, I don’t want anyone to think I have bad enough taste to be with some controlling asshole, you know?”
I was starting to think it would have been better just to pick up extra shifts at the car wash instead of putting myself through this dance crap.
“You don’t care if I think you have bad enough taste to waste your time trying to make some douchebag jealous who won’t even go out in public with you?” I asked.
Kendall wrinkled her nose. “Make sure you don’t have that expression on your face all night. People need to think we’re having a good time, or this whole thing is pointless.”
“Whatever,” I said, pulling my keys out of my pocket.
Mikey’s truck came kicking up gravel around the corner. His headlights shone in my eyes for a temporary blinding, but not before I’d seen that there were three people in the cab.
Fantastic. Now I really was wishing Kendall had stuck to our original plan and met me at the dance instead of having her mom drop her off here to ride with me. Jared and Daniel had both chilled out some since I’d talked to them after my first night closing with Mikey, a little over a week before. Still, I could have lived my whole life without them finding out about this. As far as I knew, no one had a clue about That One Night, and I wanted nothing more than to keep it that way.