Back-Up

by A. m Madden

  I lie in bed for hours and I frantically try to think of a way I can ignore it. As the sunlight starts to filter through my window, I come up empty.

  Chapter 14-Jack

  As I drive Hunter’s car back to the city, every street, road, and highway from Hoboken to Brooklyn goes unseen. Autopilot takes over and allows me to twist the steering wheel or accelerate and break when needed. I can handle all the mundane tasks necessary to operate a moving vehicle while completely in a trance, and I spend the entire drive replaying the evening in my mind.

  I can’t quite pinpoint why I feel so uneasy and unsettled. I made peace with Leila, and I really enjoyed her company. She is easy to talk to, and get along with. She’s caring, and also a nurturing person, not to mention gorgeous.

  My head is in chaos and I’m irritated by the time I walk into my apartment. Seeing Hunter and Amanda going at it on the couch further annoys me.

  “Hey, how did it go?”

  “Hi Amanda.”

  She looks up and smiles. I can see the draw for Hunter. Not only is she very pretty, she’s very shy. She’s basically Hunter’s perfect woman.

  “It went well. I think we turned a corner.” I offer no further explanation, as it wouldn’t matter anyway. Hunter thinks what Hunter thinks. Prior to heading over to Leila’s earlier, I told him that I wanted her to feel more comfortable with me, and for us to become friends.

  He didn’t buy it and kept harassing me to leave Leila alone. I swore I didn’t have a hidden agenda. Well, I lied a little. My agenda isn’t to get into her pants, as Hunter thinks. It’s just to spend time with her.

  Their make-out session on the couch resumes and is once again grating on my nerves. “I’ll leave you kids alone.”

  Normally I would head right for the roof but I haven’t spent a lot of time up there since our party. Instead, I lock myself in my room and start pacing like a caged animal. I can’t figure out what the fuck my problem is.

  It’s late, and sleep is the last thing on my mind. The unsettled feelings I had earlier morph into complete irritation. A realization hits me full force like a tidal wave just as I grab my notebook to work on some of the songs I’ve started. I’m jealous of Hunter. I want to be with Leila at this moment on her couch kissing every inch of her.

  Fuck…Fuck…Fuck!

  While still holding my notebook, I abandon all my current projects to start a new one fueled by the thoughts that are consuming me. Like a man possessed, I frantically scribble down lyrics that pour out of me uncontrolled. My hand cramps from all the writing and my head hurts from thinking too much. I even go as far as strumming some basic chords to the words that validate my feelings.

  The result is a heart-felt ballad. I most likely will never let another person hear it because it’s way too personal, but it needed to be released from my head.

  Surprisingly, even after a sleepless night filled with nothing but tortured romance crap, I’m still wired. What the fuck? I don’t do tortured romance crap.

  I jump into the shower to get ready for the day and the song gets stuck in my head on an endless loop. It continues to play even as I prepare my first cup of coffee.

  “You ok?” Hunter stands directly in front of me without Amanda. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, I never even heard him approach.

  I ignore his question and ask, “Amanda’s not here?” I don’t want to get into this with him. I don’t even know what “this” is at the moment.

  “Nope, she left last night.” He replies as he grabs his breakfast of choice. Hunter helps me forget my own issues by being a romantic sap. I should bet Scott on how long it will take for those two to screw each other’s brains out.

  Hunter immediately knows what I’m thinking when I shake my head and smirk. “Back off, I know what I’m doing.”

  “Ok. It’s your dick. Just make sure your constant hard on doesn’t interfere with playing drums.” I laugh at the visual in my head.

  “Fuck off.” He says while smiling. I’m guessing he envisioned the same image. Even so, he becomes serious all of a sudden and asks, “What the hell were you playing your guitar all night for?”

  “Just working on something. I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Just make sure your constant hard on doesn’t interfere with singing on stage.”

  The dickhead is so onto me!

  Fuck off.” I repeat his words. He laughs annoyingly as I flip him off.

  ***

  Leila is already sitting on a stool when we arrive to the studio. It’s before nine, and she looks like she’s been here a while. She’s texting someone on her phone and barely notices our entrance.

  She looks adorable with her hair in a ponytail, tight Levi’s, converse sneakers, and a tiny little Born to Run concert shirt that hugs all her curves. She definitely wore it on purpose. Watching her for a few seconds does things to my insides.

  “Good Mornin’.” She beams once she notices me checking her out and effectively takes my breath away.

  “Hi guys. I brought coffee and donuts.” She points towards a table laid out with a mini breakfast buffet.

  “Awesome.” Hunter makes a beeline to the box. He grabs one and shoves it whole into his mouth.

  “Fanks, Laywa.” Crumbs shoot like bullets directly at my head.

  I glare at him and punch his arm.

  “Owf.”

  Leila laughs out loud. I love the way it sounds.

  “He is such a Jackass.” I point out while she still giggles.

  “Thanks for the coffee.” Walking over to where she is sitting, I look down at her chest. “Nice shirt.”

  “You like it? I can hook you up with one if you want.” She winks.

  Leila winking? Who is this girl and what has she done with the real Leila? There is no way she could feel comfortable enough to wink at me after just one night of bonding? This is a huge difference from the bundle of nerves that walked in here a few weeks ago.

  I think I like it.

  Jennifer strolls in like she owns the place. Leila sits up straighter on her stool making it pretty obvious she is intimidated by Jen.

  “Good morning everyone.” She surveys the room. “Ready to rehearse your asses off?” She looks like she is about to walk a runway and not to sit in a stuffy studio for the next ten hours.

  From the corner of my eye, I watch as Leila measures her up from head to toe with a very envious look in her eye. I want to shake some sense into her. Leila looks more in place with a pair of jeans and a Springsteen t-shirt, not to mention she is striking.

  Jennifer’s phone buzzes. “Don’t move.” She barks and walks out of the room to answer the call. Leila visibly relaxes the minute she is out the door.

  “Hey, she doesn’t bite.”

  She looks up embarrassed and blushes. “Is it that obvious?” Her words come out in a whisper.

  Leaning in close enough to practically touch her ear, I whisper back, “Yes.”

  Her eyes widen, and a small gasp escapes her lips causing me to chuckle. “What?”

  “She’s scary.”

  “She’s harmless.” Unconsciously I rub her back to ease her discomfort. She stiffens slightly at my touch. Well maybe she is still a small bundle of nerves.

  “She works for you too. Knock it off.”

  “Yes, boss.” She salutes me.

  I wave a finger at her and sternly command, “I mean it.”

  She looks up at me and I freeze. Her lips are totally kissable, her eyes are wide and innocent, and her chest rises with every breath. Damn it. I really, really want to kiss her. Imagining the reaction I would get from Leila and Hunter is the only thing stopping me.

  This is going to be a long day.

  Scott appears next looking fresh as a daisy. I know that he didn’t see Patti last night so he would be in top shape for our first day of rehearsals. He can be such a nerd.

  “Yay, who brought donuts?” He grabs one from the box as Hunter points to Leila and shoves another into his face.

 
“Thanks Leila.” He answers copying Hunter. “I’m starving.”

  Ugh. Except for Trey, sometimes this crew acts like they are five.

  Speaking of which, of course he is late. While we wait, Hunter bends to pull out a large packet of papers as well as a few CD’s from his duffle bag and hands them to Leila. At least this time he has the decency to pull the donut out of his face before he attempts to speak.

  “I printed up all our lyrics as well as our sheet music for each song. We have been working on adding your backgrounds and keyboards as well. For the next few days we will run through our library, song by song, and add your vocals.”

  Hunter hands Leila the CD’s. “These are all the songs recorded. You can take them home and listen on your spare time to become familiar with them.”

  I admit that he sometimes acts like a child, but he really is a good manager. He ran this by me, and I told him it was a great idea.

  Leila looks impressed. “Thanks Hunter. This is perfect. I really appreciate it.”

  Jennifer barges back into the room and looks around like she lost something. She looks at Hunter and commands, “Hunter, text Trey to see how far away he is.”

  “I am two feet away.” Trey says from the doorway. “Calm down. I’m on time.” He heads for his corner and promptly ignores our stares. Trey is almost half an hour late. His clock runs in half hour increments, so on his clock he is on time.

  “Of course you are Mr. Taylor.” They exchange sarcastic smiles. Watching Leila watch this exchange wide eyed is comical.

  Jennifer flips her hair as she turns and focuses on Leila.

  “So Leila, I see Hunter filled you in on what we plan on accomplishing this week. It’s important to get you up to speed with the current Devil’s Lair library. Please be sure to listen to their CD’s as often as possible to familiarize yourself with their songs. We will start re-recording each song to include your voice, once we feel you are comfortable with your backgrounds and keyboard additions.”

  Leila clears her throat. “I am pretty familiar with most of their songs. I’ve been a fan for years. I’ll be able to record backgrounds in a few days if you want. Regarding keyboards, I’ll just need one run through to get up to speed.” She sits up even straighter and levels her gaze at Jennifer.

  I’m floored. I had no idea she was a fan. She acted star struck at her audition, but I would never have guessed she was a true fan. Hunter is beaming at Leila’s admission. He’s always been Leila’s biggest supporter…besides me, that is. Right now he couldn’t look prouder.

  Jennifer on the other hand looks skeptical. “Well, that’s good news. That will help us keep to schedule as we have a lot to do before September. We will be working in this studio until we are ready to add your vocals to our tracks. Then we will be moving to Bobby’s bigger studio in the Village.” She glances at her watch as she sits on a stool near the glass partition that separates us from the control room. “I wonder what’s keeping Dylan.”

  “Oh, he said something came up.” Leila responds. “I’m sorry I forgot to tell you. He texted me earlier to tell you to he’ll catch up with you later.” She looks around the room clearly embarrassed.

  Jennifer levels her gaze on Leila. “Well then, let’s do this.”

  Dylan texted Leila?

  What?

  He is so smooth… I didn’t see that coming.

  Chapter 15-Leila

  Our first few days in the studio were exciting, grueling, and had me second-guessing my decision to work both gigs at the same time. Each night I climbed into bed, dead to the world and I haven’t hit the weekend yet, where I’ll have to end my day performing at The Zone. I hope Cliffhangers are close to replacing me.

  I worked my ass off, so my new band wouldn’t think I was a slacker. Of course I’m not and if anything I ran circles around them, except Jack. His stamina is impressive.

  Lunch and dinner were brought in so basically we never left the studio.

  He was always conscious of my needs, constantly asking if I needed a break but never bothering to ask the same of the guys.

  It’s gotten to the point where they each want to kill him.

  Hunter was the ringleader in coordinating different ways to annoy Jack.

  On day one, Hunter complained he was hungry and wanted to take a break. He griped he couldn’t play the drums well if his stomach was growling. Jack of course ignored him. The next day Hunter was prepared. He pulled out a huge punch bowl filled with Fruit Loops from behind his drum set and preceded to slurp them down in the middle of a song. Everyone laughed, even Jack hiding a smirk.

  I thought it was hilarious and couldn’t keep from laughing.

  They would all raise their hands and ask for permission to go to the bathroom. If Jack ignored them, Hunter would ask me instead. “Miss Marino, can I go pee pee?”

  We discovered that Hunter had the guys in the control room alter our voices to make us sound like munchkins when we listened to the playbacks. Trey almost pissed his pants when he heard it.

  As exhausted as I was at the end of each day, I still loved my new job. I haven’t laughed as hard or as much as I did these past few days. My old band members were fun, but watching these guys interact was nothing short of a reality show in the making.

  Besides the fun and the whip cracking, there were many moments of clenching on my part. If I thought Jack was sexy on a normal day that was nothing compared to how sexy he looks while playing a guitar and singing.

  Oh my sweet lord. It was an aphrodisiac of the most dangerous kind.

  His handsome face was so intense when he concentrated on the words and his hands were so sexy as they moved among the strings that I couldn’t stop staring at his pure perfection. He caught me and smiled shyly. Witnessing him playing guitar will no doubt fuel many, many more dreams of Jack Lair.

  Jack was thrilled to call me car service at the end of the day. I had to admit it was really nice being driven, especially after the exhausting days we had. In hindsight, his suggestion was thoughtful and sweet. When I regretfully thanked Jack, the bastard winked at me.

  All in all, things were really moving along until today. I woke up with a terrible head cold and my voice wasn’t cooperating. Even so, I wasn’t going to be the cause of screwing up our schedule. Jack and I argued all morning and got nothing done anyway. He can be so stubborn.

  He ended rehearsal early by sending me home and ordering me to rest. I wasn’t going to win this fight, so I did just as he asked. I set an alarm just in case I overslept, and woke up feeling cranky and irritable when it went off. The nap did more damage than good. As I’m lethargically getting ready for tonight’s show at The Zone, my cell rings.

  “Hi, Jack.”

  “Leila, you sound like crap. Did you do what I said?”

  “Yes boss. I had soup, I slept, I took a hot shower, and now I have to get to work.”

  “I knew it. Leila you need to stay home and rest. I’m sure the guys will understand.”

  “I’m fine. I feel better. I took cold medicine and I’m fine.” Of course it was a big lie.

  “Leila…”

  “Jack, it’ll be a quiet night. I’ll play keyboards and…”

  “…I’m calling Evan.”

  Sighing heavily, I begin to lose my patience. “I have a dad, I don’t need another one. It’s just a stupid cold. Please stop.”

  The long silence on the other end forces me to ask, “Are you there?”

  “A cold that can turn into something worst. Call me tonight. I don’t care what time it is. If you forget, I’m coming to Hoboken.” With that he hangs up without a goodbye.

  What the fuck was that?

  Once I arrive at The Zone, Evan takes one look at me and smirks. “You do look like shit.”

  “Gee thanks.” Obviously Mr. Lair called him. “You are so generous with the compliments.”

  Evan confirms my suspicion. “Cut the crap. Your boyfriend called. Go home.”

  “Uh…he’s not my boyfriend.�
��

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  “Jerk.” Brilliant, mature comeback Leila.

  Lori walks up to me and smacks her hand against my forehead.

  “Owwwaaa.”

  “You’re hot.”

  “Thank you. You’re annoying.”

  “Hilarious. Go home.”

  One by one my friends nag me and make me feel like I’m five. Matt is no way sharing a microphone with me. Joe has a party this weekend and if he gets sick and misses it he will kill me. Logan and Alisa both take the liberty to tell Sal I’m sick and have to go home. Sal calls my dad who then precedes to text me relentlessly.

  I can’t take anymore!

  “Fine, I’m going. You are all irritating the crap out of me and that’s the only reason I’m going home.”

  As soon as I’m back in my apartment, I text Jack.

  i’m home…they kicked me out... going 2 sleep.

  I receive his return text instantly.

  good…b there soon…what kind of soup do u like.

  no!…can’t chance you getting sick…i’m fine…locking door and passing out.

  grrr…ur so stubborn….fine…call me 2morrow.

  did u just growl?

  grrr.

  ***

  My cold turned into an upper respiratory infection. I hate when I’m proven wrong. Evan and dad came by to check on me. Jack took the opportunity to gloat and alternated between texting and calling me. It was bordering on excessive and annoying and it was kinda hot. I felt cared for. It’s stupid, because I am cared for between dad and my friends. But Jack’s “take control” antics were turning me on.

  My phone now buzzes with text number seven hundred and three. This one announces that he is at my door.

  open up.

  Groaning, I shuffle to the door without opening it. Calls and text were hot and sexy, but showing up at my door when I looked like a zombie out of the Walking Dead was not cool.