by Nora Crystal
“Gil is over,” Travis said. I didn’t look up, I wasn’t getting sucked into a conversation. “He brought over the new band.” I kept my head down. “They’re all like a hundred.”
“I thought you were going to be quiet?”
“All right,” Travis said as he put his hands up in surrender. “I will just sit here quietly.” I put my head down and started reading again. I had only made it half way down the new page when he started in again. “Gil thinks he has the whole tour planned out, but he hasn’t even realized that I’m going to do everything in my power to wreck it just ‘cause I hate him.”
“I think he probably does realize that you hate him, you always treat him like shit.” I said as I thought about the relationship. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but he definitely knows that you’re going to treat him like shit.” I could see a realization passing over Travis’ face.
“Why does everybody put up with this?” Travis asked as he looked deep into my eyes. “It’s insane, the things that I have put people through. I mean I know they’re collecting a salary, but there must be a better way to earn a living.”
We had been talking about this a lot lately. Travis didn’t like the person that he was around Gil, and around the other band members from They Might be Rock Hyenas. He had heard Bob apologize for creating this persona, but Travis believed that it was his fault. He was the one who let his ego get in the way of friendship.
“It feels like I am doing this now just to be on the road,” Travis sighed. “It was Randy, Mikey, and Hank that made the road fun.” He looked like he was about to cry. “And now I’ve gone and chased those guys away.”
“Have you tried to talk to them?” I asked. I knew the answer because we had already talked about this earlier in the day. Travis didn’t say anything, “Then maybe you should.”
“I know,” Travis muttered. “I’m sorry, I won’t bother you anymore. I will just stay quiet and let you work.”
“Thank you,” I said as I returned to reading. I was reading a book about the theories involved in making laws. It was a methodology book about the law. There was nothing in the world harder to read than a book on methodology. It was literally studying the art of studying, and it was hard to make it through on the best days. I tried to keep my head down. “I can’t do this.”
“Good, let me come and pick you up.” Travis said. “I need a buffer from all the nuttiness in this house right now.”
“I need to get this reading done.” I tried to sound as firm, so that he would understand. Travis looked upset, but he smiled weakly and shrugged. He tried a little pouty face. “That isn’t going to work,” I said, even though his lower lip was killing me inside. I just wanted to run to him with every fiber of my being.
“All right, but will you take a year off?” Travis asked out of nowhere. I didn’t know what to say, and I was making noise that made no discernable sense. “I don’t need an answer right now, but this tour would be much better if I had you with me. I want you by my side.”
“Yes, of course,” I said as I held back tears. It was like a proposal. My heart was racing. I knew that it meant a lot for him to ask this question. I knew that he had never taken a girl on tour before. “I will be there.”
“As soon as school is done,” He said. It was a question more than a command.
“Yes, as soon as I write the exams.” I looked over at the calendar. It was only about a week away at this point. I had never been on tour before, but I was sure that I would be happy anywhere as long as Travis was there.
“All right,” Travis said, “Then I guess I will let you study.” Travis hung up and I tried to get back to my book. The dull text seemed even duller, and suddenly I realized that I had re-read the same paragraph three times.
“Mom,” I said as Sheila picked up the phone. I told her all about the phone call and the offer to go on tour.
“Can you take a year off?” Mom asked. She had never had to play the role of parent. I was surprised that she even knew the words to say. She had always hated my schooling and now she was concerned about me finishing and taking time off.
“I thought you would be happy for me,” I said to Mom as I tried to control my rage. She had been telling me stories my whole life about the road and travelling in a rock band. I was finally getting a chance to see this part of the world, and of life.
“I am happy darling, I just don’t want you to have any regrets,” Mom lied. I thought that she was just trying to keep the relationship from going any further. She had seemed jealous of this relationship since I got back for LA. “I think that Travis is a good guy, you know that, but I think that he’s not going to want you on tour, when he gets over this funk he’s in.”
I slammed the phone to the ground, and then remembered that it was a touch screen and I had to touch the bottom of the screen to disconnect. Mom was still saying something, but I was done listening. “He is never going to be faithful as long as he is still a rock st…” I threw the phone onto my bed and tried to read again.
The chapter was on constitutional law. It was on the governing principles that help us form the rules for making constitutional law. I tried reading the paragraph for the fourth time, because I still didn’t know what it said. When I got to the end of the paragraph, I still didn’t know what it said.
“I give up!” I shouted at the book and I went to bed. I was tired and emotionally exhausted. It was just time to give up. I pulled the covers up over my head and closed my eyes. I could see Travis and me riding in the back of his tour bus. We were drinking champagne and having fun. I didn’t know if I could live like that forever. I had always wanted to travel, but not by bus. I knew that I could live like that for a year. Especially if it meant being close to Travis.
I pulled the covers down and stared up at the ceiling. I was going on tour with a rock star. It was amazing. I just couldn’t believe it.
Ch. 16 – Travis
All right! Everybody out! I yelled in my head as I walked down the stairs. I couldn’t believe the crowd of people that had gathered in my house. I found Philly by the speakers in the foyer and pulled him aside.
“It’s my buddy Jeff’s tenth anniversary,” Philly said as he pointed to the man dancing in the yarmulke.
“That guy got married ten years ago,” I wasn’t always good at guessing people’s ages, but Jeff had to be in his early twenties. On top of that, he was freaking with two girls who looked even younger than he did.
“No,” Philly laughed, “Sorry, my bad man, the tenth anniversary of his bar mitzvah. He doesn’t normally wear the hat.” Philly said as if that was the most important news.
“So where is my new band?” I asked as I watched a man dressed as a rabbi screwing a stripper from behind up against the wall. A huge crowd had formed to watch. I was really trying to focus, but it was such an odd visual, my gaze was transfixed for a second. Long ago parties had lost their magic for me. I had stopped paying attention to anything else that was going on at the party. My only focus was on me. I had forgotten how out of hand they can really be.
Philly was about to answer when he followed my eyes. “That’s nothing, the guy dressed as Jesus draped her over the Styrofoam cross that he was carrying and then did her,” Philly laughed and then put his hand up for the high five. “I thought it was funny. The dinosaurs of rock are up in the dungeon, and you slime ball agent is running around here somewhere.” I patted Philly on the back and took one last look at the horny rabbi. I ran up the stairs. I only had a week to start getting these guys ready for the show.
“I can play through anything!” Pete yelled after I asked if he could practice right now. He wasn’t mad, but I could tell that he had suffered a ton of hearing loss over the years. He had been hiding it pretty well before, but that was what the rock n roll life did to you. “Get me to the drums,” Pete said smacking one of the guys I didn’t even know the name of. The other man rolled over and moved Pete to my dungeon drum set.
I had had them put i
n there with the idea of shooting a music video in the space, but I had never found the right song for my dungeon. Bat and Trunk Hunker, both got their instruments ready as they all warmed up. It took a bit longer than I was hoping, but I attributed that to the heroin. They actually didn’t sound that bad once we got going.
We riffed for a while, just trying to play off of each other. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had an honest to God jam session. There was no direction, we were just making music, and it actually sounded good. I had been worried about these guys, but they were all solid musicians. I was really feeling the sound we were creating. I had Manse run up some copies of the songs that I had written. I was up to fifteen now.
The more time I spent with Jean the more the music just poured out of me. I almost couldn’t stop it. Everything she did, or said, or every time I thought about her, it all inspired music. “This isn’t as hard as your old stuff,” Pete said as he read it over. “I like it, but it seems really mellow for you.”
“I think it is,” I said as I got ready to play. Pete counted us in and we played the song, but this time with the new sound that the band had found. It was all coming together beautifully. I had a new band and a new sound, and Jean had agreed to come with me. There was no way to bring me down.
“You guys sound hot!” Gil said as he came into the room. That did it. I was already unhappy. I tried to keep a smile on my face. Gil hadn’t even done anything, except of course interrupt a song that sounded amazing with his awful presence. “I just thought it would be neat to give these good people a sneak peek!” Gil said as he waved the party into the room.
The bar mitzvah boy, the rabbi, and Jesus were all in the front row. I glared at Gil for a second and then looked back at the guys. I could see that they didn’t care. It was after all a party. I nodded to Manse to turn on the dungeon disco ball. Pete went into the count down.
“This is a new one,” I said as I started to play. “We have been rehearsing it for all of two seconds, so if it sounds a little rough I’m sorry.” The song was called ‘Rooftops,’ and I had written it about the times that Jean and I had spent together as kids hanging out above our apartment building. It was a song that I wasn’t sure was going to resonate with an incredibly drunk crowd, but they seemed into it.
“That sounded great guys,” I said as we finished, but by now the crowd was chanting for the classics. They wanted to hear my old hits. I was a little conflicted. I had never played them without the guys, but I had always been a sucker for a screaming crowd. I gave in right away.
“Here it goes, ‘Banging on the Walls!’” I yelled as we started to play. The crowd was going wild. The band sounded great. I could see the tour right before me. If we could make this happen after fifteen seconds of practicing then we would be amazing on the tour.
We played for an hour when suddenly the beat was gone, I didn’t hear any drums. I turned around to see Pete doubled over his drum kit. “Pete!” I yelled as I pointed to Manse. Manse knew that I meant call an ambulance. We had had enough parties here to have developed a short hand for emergencies. “Hold on buddy,” I said as I rolled him onto the floor. He was far too heavy to carry. People were fleeing in droves.
I started doing CPR, and Bat helped me, I pumped the chest and he did the breaths. We got into a rhythm, but it was no use, we weren’t getting his heart started. We kept checking and nothing was happening. Manse ran in with a defibrillator. “I called the ambulance, but I brought this just in case.”
“Where did we get that?” I asked. Manse was busy hooking up the patches. “Why did we get that?”
“Insurance purposes, you signed the delivery receipt,” Manse said as he pressed the button and made the big man jump. He was about to do it again when Pete sat up and started swinging. Manse and I rolled out of the way at the same time. It wasn’t our first time with a large dead man coming back to life in our dungeon. They always swung their arms before realizing they were not under attack.
“Are you okay Pete?” I asked as the big man tried to get a handle on the situation. I was actually shaking, I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“Yeah, yeah, I feel good,” Pete looked me in the eyes, “As good as you could expect.” Bat and I helped Pete get back to his feet. The big man held onto his knees and then went to sit down on a bed that doubled as a torture rack.
“This ends here,” I said as I turned on Gil. I almost knocked my water bottle off of the stool, but I needed something to lean on. I put my weight down on my hands and dropped my head low.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Gil said. He was nodding his head confidently. “He looks like he came out of it nicely. The last time this happened he needed to go to the hospital, but he is fine right now.”
“This has happened before?” I asked, almost throwing myself back to a standing position. “I can’t believe that you didn’t tell me about this.” I lied, because I had absolutely no trouble believing it. I grabbed my water and had a drink. I was tired and thirsty, and I didn’t even think about how long Gil had been standing there.
I set the bottle down, and then I noticed a bitter after taste. Gil was smiling as I stared at him and threw my hands out to grab is neck. What the hell was in that drink? I thought as I felt the Earth move up to smack me in the face.
Ch. 16 – Jean
“If you are here to say I told you so, don’t bother, I have been hearing you say it in my head over and over again for the past six hours.” My mother was banging on the door, but there was no way I was going to let her in after the way I had been treating her. She was definitely going to rub this in my face. I totally deserved it, and one day I would submit myself for punishment, but that day was not today.
“I’m just here to talk,” Sheila yelled back. My mother was never just anywhere to talk. I knew why she was there and it was disgusting. I had so many stages of grief to go through before I was going to be ready for what she had to say. “I really wanted to be wrong, and I am sorry. But right now I just want to hug my daughter.”
I opened the door with tears streaming down my face. The pictures were everywhere on the internet. Travis had hooked up with two hookers and gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend. “She’s some two-bit catalogue model,” Sheila said, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t care who she was, I just wanted to know why Travis had chosen her over me.
I tried to just get dressed. I had been reading on my phone before I got dressed or did anything, so when Mom came in I was still in my pajamas. My hair was going in every direction. I didn’t look like the kind of woman who attracted rock stars that’s for sure. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I pulled the covers back over my head. I just didn’t have the energy to deal with today.
“You can’t let this get to you,” Mom said. “You are so close to the finish line. The cap and gown are almost here…”
“I thought you hated the cap and gown?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing my mother say.
“For me,” She laughed. “This isn’t what I would want for myself, but it is what I want for you. More importantly, this is what you have always wanted. I want you to be happy, and this is the culmination of decades of hard work for you.”
“I know,” I moaned from under the sheets. I wasn’t ready to start moving around, but my mother was helping. I knew that she wasn’t judging me. This was a pain that she knew very well. She had been through this with my father and with other rockers through the years. She always said that she led the way for me so I didn’t have to make her mistakes, but here I was crying over a rock star.
“He’s calling,” Sheila said with a hint of anxiety in her tone. I hit ignore so that she could relax. I hadn’t even bothered to do that with the other calls. I had just ignored the calls all together. So far today Travis had called fifteen times. I had decided that I was never going to talk to that man ever again.
“I had even given him an out,” I explained to Sheila what I had tried to do on the ride to
the airport. I had tried to let him end it then. I would’ve been hurt, but I would’ve been expecting it. I was completely blindsided by the pictures and stories this morning. I had just been invited on the tour. I had thought that our relationship had reached a new level, but it was just a higher height to drop my heart from.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Sheila sighed as she rubbed my back. “There’s nothing that can really help right now, but time. Time, and focusing on something else. Do you want me to help you study?”
I started to laugh a bit, but then I noticed that Sheila was serious. “It’s law school, this is very advanced stuff, and it’s not easy to just jump in.” I tried to explain without hurting her feelings any more than I had.
“Well, what about this test prep book,” Mom said. “I bet it has the answers in the back.” I nodded it was worth a shot. Mom flipped to the back and started asking the questions. The answers started flying out of my mouth. I didn’t even need to think about it. It felt good to know that all of that studying was paying off.
The last week it had been very hard to focus and do the readings. I had been worried that I would never pass my boards with the way my schooling had fallen off. However, as I aced the practice tests I started to realize that I had fit tons of information inside of me in this last week. Maybe it was okay to have a more balanced approach to my studies. I took a deep breath and answered the next question.
It was a question about corporate law and it involved the laws surrounding merges and acquisitions of another companies assets. Then there was another question about intellectual property law. I knew it all. “All right, I think we can take a break,” Sheila said as she held her hands up to her head like she was trying to hold her brains in place. She turned on the TV without thinking.
“Travis Mellnick, has announced that his first solo tour, planned to start this week, has been cancelled.” The anchor person said as the TV flashed a big picture of Travis. “The singer and lead guitarist claims that his activity of late, including vomiting on stage and several sexual escapades has all been the work of his manager Gil Capernick, and that he is not now, and never has been going out with the model Christy Bellemore…”
