by Tori Brooks
“Millions of girls and their moms can’t be wrong,” Flynn agreed, breaking Teri’s rampaging thoughts.
“Have fun. I’m going to go take a shower.” Teri retreated up the stairs before the situation got any more awkward. Behind her, she heard the front door slam as Cassie, Tiff, Dev and Bryan came home from school. Oh, God. Flynn Peterson in the same house as Cassie and Tiff. What the hell was Paul thinking?
• • •
Flynn sat in the basement and listened as Kenny put his band through their best moves. They had some skill. Flynn looked closer to see where they needed help.
Bryan’s drum solos were rough. Nicholas’s plea to smooth them over came to mind and brought a smile to Flynn’s lips. Bryan was fine for keeping a beat, just not for taking the spotlight. It figured, their musical rough spot wasn’t Flynn’s strong point either. It’d be fine. Flynn could point Bryan in the right direction and then recruit Drew. The drummer for his own band was Flynn’s best friend and would willingly lend a hand.
Kenny was good on guitar. Really good. Considering relative experience, he’d be better than Zane someday.
Jess was good too. His voice had a nice quality to it and he had a good range. Kenny mentioned Jess was taking voice lessons, and Flynn wondered how much of what he heard was natural and how much was the hand of a good instructor. It didn’t matter. His movement looked natural and Jess used his available space well. He was energetic and flamboyant. Jess was going to be good on stage.
Shifting his focus, Flynn quietly watched Dev. Jess might be good in the spotlight, but the young man to his right wasn’t. Dev had a formal carriage and posture that made Jess’s movements seem more fluid, but it also emphasized Dev’s tension.
Flynn knew Dev flew back to New York every couple of months for photo-shoots so his nervousness surprised him. Dev’s face was everywhere for Oskar Viktor’s upscale youth clothing line. The ads were great: Dev was overwhelmed by girls, presumably due to his fashion sense. Flynn started to get the sinking feeling that Dev’s expressions of horror at the onslaught of girls weren’t entirely faked.
As Flynn considered how to address the problem with Dev, he received a pleasant surprise. Midway through a song, Jess turned and started singing to Dev, essentially accusing him of fooling around and indiscriminately breaking hearts.
Dev scowled at Jess, who grinned in response. Flynn perked up as Dev’s nerves melted away, replaced by hostility. Jess wouldn’t let it go and casually wrapped an arm around Dev as he continued singing. Jess even rested his cheek tenderly on Dev’s head. Something he wouldn’t be able to do much longer, Flynn thought of the younger boy’s inevitable growth spurt. Dev confirmed Flynn’s suspicion quicker, by stomping hard on Jess’s foot. Jess swore loudly and backed away from Dev to sing the chorus.
Flynn chuckled and Kenny gave Jess a truly venomous glare. Jess wasn’t paying attention to Kenny though. Dev moved forward slightly during the interaction so he wasn’t behind Jess’s line of sight any longer and Flynn noticed that Jess kept stealing quick glances Dev’s direction.
When Jess started to back up and to his right to get behind Dev, Dev grabbed the cable attached to his electric guitar and pulled on it. The cable was secured across the room behind Kenny and, when Dev pulled it tight, it made an effective trip-line, sending the unsuspecting Jess crashing back into Bryan’s drums.
The laughter Flynn was reining in broke free as the music stopped and Kenny started lecturing Dev and Jess.
“I warned you two!” Kenny offered a hand to Jess. Bryan moved to try to keep anything else from falling over.
“He tripped me,” Jess protested.
“You started it,” Dev accused, staying clear as Kenny pulled Jess free from the drums.
“You weren’t smiling,” Jess said.
“Stay on your own side.”
“Jess, help Bryan with the drums. Heaven help you two if his hard head bent something again. Dev, untangle these cables. Stop booby trapping the area,” Kenny ordered.
Flynn watched as, obedient yet unrepentant, Jess and Dev set about their assignments. Kenny turned to face him. He was pissed, it was written all over his face. When Dev hit him across the back with a cable, presumably on accident, Kenny merely closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Flynn started laughing again.
“Flynn, don’t encourage them,” Kenny sighed.
“Kenny, encouraging them is actually what you should do.” Kenny gave him a look of disbelief and Flynn stood up. He motioned Kenny to follow him upstairs. “They won’t kill each other without you there to break it up, will they?” Flynn asked, as they climbed the stairs.
“No, Bryan’s the house referee. Everyone listens to him, even the girls.”
“Handy.” Flynn motioned him into the living room and sat down. “Listen. You’ve got a good sound, so there’s a decent foundation to build on.”
“Bryan needs work.”
“A tad, when’s Spring Break?”
“Not sure, I’ll ask.”
“I can help him with drums, but on solos, I’ll call Drew. Sound isn’t my primary concern. Paul mentioned problems with Jess and Dev. Dev, in particular, is a big concern.”
“He’s shy. It’s hard to play crowds.”
“I’m not a crowd, Kenny. You played in the park and in front of small groups.”
“Yeah.”
“Usually end like that?”
“Not always that spectacularly.”
“But they fight.”
“Yeah.” Kenny slid down in his seat in defeat.
“Dev has stage fright. I can’t say if Jess recognizes the need to redirect his attention consciously or if it’s more instinctive. Probably the latter if he’s never talked to you about it, but that’s what he’s doing. He’s transferring Dev’s anxiety about playing in front of a crowd to focus solely on himself. Whether Dev is focusing on Jess in terms of apprehension, anger, or revenge probably fluctuates, but the end is the same.”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“Encourage the playfulness, Kenny. I would have done anything to get Drew front stage to play with me on tour. That kind of thing will make you a popular touring band, assuming we can get them to play their little tricks without disrupting the show.”
“So let them play, just set some ground rules,” Kenny nodded, relaxing.
“Their fighting’s been on your mind,” Flynn guessed.
“They go at it constantly. Dev is a smart little brat and it isn’t hard to outwit Jess if you put half your mind to it. Jess is smart enough to catch on and get even. I asked Dev to help me with Jess, figuring he’d find some way to trick him into cutting back the number of girls he sees.”
“Didn’t work out?”
“God, no. I made the mistake of pointing out that girls are a little funny sometimes and reminding him that Jess has a serious crush on Cassie. Dev’s response was a list of drugs, prescription or simple compounds, that will make Jess temporarily impotent.”
“Um, he didn’t . . .”
“No. I explained that wasn’t cool. He reminded me that I was the one who said Jess needed to be dealt with. Bryan explained that was going too far. We both threatened him with life and limb. Now we both watch him to make sure he’s not slipping anything to Jess. I warned Jess too, just in case.”
“Wow.” Flynn wasn’t really sure how to take that. “So Dev is officially off the Jess problem?”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
“Just wanted to be sure. Ah, well, that kind of threw me off track. Note to self, watch Dev.”
“Especially when Teri enters the picture,” Kenny reminded him.
“Now there’s a situation I didn’t want to consider.” Flynn felt a headache coming on. He took a deep breath and tried to push it aside. “That’s a problem for another day.
“Moving on to your image: Dev looks like he stepped out of an Oskar Viktor ad. He’s standing right next to Jess, who doesn’t. Do you have an image in mind yet?”
K
enny shrugged. “Dev always looks like that. He has a uniform if it’s a school day, but he hardly ever wears jeans or T-shirts anymore. Jess will dress up if there’s a girl involved, so if I tell him there are hundreds of girls involved he’ll wear anything I tell him to. I can’t play in a dress shirt and slacks though, it feels weird and Bryan can’t either. We’ve tried, it just throws us off. Jess prefers not to, but he will.”
“So casual then.”
“Except Dev. Ties are his comfort zone and I don’t want to mess with that.”
“Agreed. Okay, so not a unified look. Of course Dev and Jess are like yin and yang and visually that just emphasizes it. I noticed Dev has his hair neatly trimmed as opposed to Jess’s longer hair. I thought maybe school had something to do with it, but I guess not.”
“No, and I never complained that Jess was the only blond. It makes him stand out just a little more.” Kenny hesitated.
“Ask.”
“What did Paul tell you?”
“About the band? A bit, but a lot of the information I had coming in was from Teri.”
“He didn’t see the fighting was helping Dev.”
“He didn’t know to see it for what it was. It doesn’t completely solve the problem, either. Paul saw Dev as shy, possibly intimidated by girls. Dev doesn’t have to worry about being mobbed by girls while he’s playing. That happens later.”
“Girls will still be a problem.”
“He’s fifteen, give the kid a break.”
“He’ll be sixteen in a few months, the end of April. Jess and I turn twenty this summer.”
“Don’t rush it, Kenny. I want to get you in a studio this summer, but even if everything goes smoothly, you won’t be doing many live shows for a while. Bryan and Dev are still in school.”
“Bryan graduates in June.”
“Even so, you aren’t signed yet and it takes time to get the real tour opportunities. You could do small demo shows, but you can’t hit clubs because you’re all under the drinking age. It gives us time to work out some bugs first. Let Dev grow up a bit more.”
Kenny nodded and looked at the basement stairs. “Ideas on what to do about Jess?”
“A few. I want to get to know him better first.”
“What are you thinking?”
“To begin with, he might regret the promiscuity later. It’s not uncommon if you make it in the industry. He’s just ahead of the game.”
“To a point. And I wouldn’t care except he doesn’t exactly use discretion or common sense. Paul pointed out it was a matter of time before he either slept with someone whose father would care, or got someone pregnant. I tried to just give him rules, but he doesn’t take it seriously.”
Flynn nodded. He wouldn’t expect Jess to accept limitations on his sexual exploits from Kenny. “Looking back, I can honestly say I wish someone would have reined me in, but I only get one chance to make that point with Jess.”
Kenny looked up over Flynn’s shoulder. "You gave me some good news and advice, I’ll return the favor. Teri’s back. What are you going to say to her?"
"Making it up as I go. Right now I’ll settle for getting her to smile. The Hail Mary will be to get her out of the house."
"Yeah, lotsa luck with that." Kenny rolled his eyes.
"You guys bet at all?"
"Until very recently, we were always broke."
"It’s not about money, it’s about the challenge. Bet you I can get her out of the house in the next twenty four hours."
"For how long? To get the mail? Not biting on that one." Kenny shook his head.
"For at least a half hour. That’s progress, right?"
“Against what?” Kenny eyed him nervously.
“You have to be open minded about me and Teri.” That wasn’t asking much, right? To Flynn, Kenny already seemed to be willing to give him a chance.
"You’re on," Kenny said with a smile.
• • •
Teri watched Kenny go before approaching Flynn and taking his place on the sofa.
“Kenny seems happy.”
“I believe I mentioned your boys are going to be rock stars.”
“The noise downstairs implies they knocked over their drums again.”
“There was a minor mishap.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Do you really want to know?” Flynn asked, a teasing upturn to his lips and a twinkle in his eyes.
Teri really wanted to take his picture. She fought the impulse, but Flynn took her hesitation as indecision.
“Jess started picking on Dev while they were playing. Dev tripped him and he fell backwards into the drums. I guess Kenny’s been fighting this sort of thing for a while. He won’t be anymore.”
“You think you can put an end to Dev and Jess fighting?”
“No. They’ll still fight. Kenny just won’t try to stop them anymore.”
“I didn’t see that coming. So you heard them play?”
“Yes, they’re good.”
“Bryan needs to learn to play the drums.”
“Bryan knows how to play the drums,” Flynn laughed.
“I have an economy size bottle of Tylenol on my nightstand that says otherwise.”
Flynn smiled and shook his head. “Bryan just gets distracted when he can’t hear Dev and Kenny anymore. I’ll call Drew in and we’ll give him some pointers. When’s his Spring Break?”
“Third week in April,” Teri answered without hesitation.
“Is that a good time or are you planning on taking them somewhere?”
“It’s Dev’s birthday, but it should be fine. If it comes down to Bryan learning the drums or a quick trip somewhere tropical, my head and Kenny win: Bryan gets drum lessons.”
Flynn chuckled and shook his head. Teri knew he was a few years older than her, but he didn’t look it. She was briefly jealous until she realized how much work it must take to maintain that appearance.
“You’re not thinking about drum lessons,” Flynn accused her. He wasn’t laughing anymore.
Damn. Teri wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Aside from, once again, wondering what Paul was thinking. Actually, Flynn seemed to know his stuff. Of course he would, he’s been doing it long enough. Maybe that was what Paul was thinking.
“My mind wanders sometimes.” Teri stood up. “I should see what Nicholas is planning for dinner. He tries, but he’s got a limited number of things he can make. Are you staying?”
“Actually the boys are kind of excited, I was thinking of just taking you all out.”
Teri hesitated. “I . . .”
“Haven’t been getting out much. Nicholas mentioned it. It would be good for you to get out. No doubt Kenny’s enthusiasm will liven things up. Jess and Dev might still be going at it, I wouldn’t know. At the very least Bryan wouldn’t be anywhere near a set of drums.”
Teri laughed quietly.
“If you like, we can sit Nicholas between Jess and Dev, see how that works out for entertainment value.”
“No,” Nicholas’s disembodied voice cast a vote from the kitchen. Teri laughed harder.
“I’ll see where the girls are,” Teri agreed, turning to the kitchen.
“Sleeping over at Tiffany’s,” Nicholas answered.
Flynn stood up with a smile. “All settled then. What are you in the mood for?”
• • •
Kenny sat at dinner with mixed emotions. He should be celebrating. Flynn gave him confirmation that he was on the right track and they took a giant step forward in dealing with Dev. Flynn also made him realize how much he didn’t know about people.
He already came to grips with Paul being smarter than he originally gave him credit for. Paul recognized Jess’s philandering and Dev’s shyness were problems that Kenny couldn’t ignore, and gave him some very good advice. Yet, for all the careful planning Paul did, Kenny still doubted his choice of Flynn Peterson to help them out. To the point he almost declined the offer.
Now, after just one day, Flynn g
ot them further along than Kenny thought possible. He was happy to see Teri out of pajamas, thrilled that she did her hair. When he came upstairs to find Flynn was taking them all to dinner, including Teri, he was stunned. He made a mental note not to bet anything serious with Flynn.
Jess had a date, but Kenny told him to cancel it. Period. As a consolation, they let Jess choose the restaurant. Italian of course.
He sat back watching Teri sit between Flynn and Nicholas as they talked. Kenny hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation, but Teri was smiling.
“You could referee just as well as Bryan, I bet,” Flynn encouraged Nicholas.
Kenny was confused as he caught the snippet of conversation. Nicholas frequently refereed.
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to sit between Jess and Dev. Actually, you should be in that position. You need to spend more time with the boys, get to know them.”
“I will. I am. See? I’m sitting by Jess; that counts.”
“He’s preoccupied, you haven’t really experienced him yet,” Nicholas countered.
Flynn turned to look. Jess was concentrating on eating his lasagna — with chopsticks.
Kenny smiled. It was a traditional competition between Jess and Dev, but he doubted anyone thought to mention it to Flynn. Bryan sat between them as judge, a mostly useless position at this point because both of them were pros with chopsticks now. Flynn looked over at Dev, then Bryan and Kenny.
“It’s their thing. Bryan and I don’t play,” Kenny told him.
“I see. Do they always eat this way or just at restaurants?”
“Just Italian.”
“Pizza?”
Dev and Jess both sat up and looked at each other appraisingly at Flynn’s question.
“No,” Kenny snapped at them.
Flynn started laughing, as did Teri. Kenny reconsidered his position on the ongoing war between the two.
“Okay, fine, whatever.” He looked to Flynn, who gave him a slight nod of approval. Teri rewarded Flynn with a horrified look.
“Boys will be boys. No good comes of trying to stop them,” Flynn told her.
“That’s right, you have girls,” she said with a nod.
“I was a teenage boy once.”
“Did you eat pizza with chopsticks?”
