by Nora Crystal
We left the club and headed for the Gino, it was the only place that I knew I could get ice cream this late. “This is so rock n roll,” Sheila teased as we got our sundaes. The kitchen was closed, but the Gino served dessert until the bar closed. “Isn’t it more romantic if we share one?”
“Sure, but there’s more ice cream if we get two.” I said. It had become sort of a tradition after the last month of terrible shows. I went for ice cream, usually by myself. “You’re the only person I’ve ever brought here,” I told Sheila, although I was looking at the Sundae. “It’s kind of my secret shame.”
“So you don’t go and get smashed with the guys?”
“If I have to,” I explained. “I really hate being around those guys anymore. We’re a factory band that no one cares about. Being around them makes me feel like a failure.” I took another bite. “We’re supposedly exactly what people want to see.”
“I think people want to see some of you more than others,” Sheila smiled, I watched as her cheeks turned a bit red. “And it’s not enough to have all of the boxes checked, you also need a good song.”
“I can’t fix the lyrics.” I had been trying for weeks. “Seth tries, but Liam thinks he’s got to get the band’s name into everything, and he gets final say on the lyrics.”
“Well, then I don’t think there’s any way around it,” Sheila had a sly look on her face. “He needs to be killed.” We both laughed, but I wasn’t really all that opposed. Although, Liam was just doing what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to be the moody singer. Tantrums just come with the territory.
“We shoun’t be har on hum,” I said with a mouth full of ice cream. “He takes this very seriously. This is his shot to break into the industry. I remember what that feels like.”
“So you don’t need this shot?”
“I’ll go back to session work, or work as a manager, my uncle is always trying to get me to do that anyway.” I finished the ice cream and we headed out the door. It was 1am and it felt like the night was just beginning. “Where do you want to go?” I asked as we got out into the crisp night air.
It was early fall, and the days were still hot, but it was cool every night. It was my favorite time of year for being outside. It seemed like it was always the perfect temperature. Sheila’s sparkling, blue eyes looked up at me, she was biting gently on her lower lip. Her perfectly formed, lower lip sucked me in, I put my hand on her chin and kissed her. She turned her body into the kiss and I slid my free arm around her waist.
The kiss broke as a drunk pushed past us. “Fucking kids!” He yelled. We both started to laugh. I grabbed her hand and led her down the street. Gino’s was just off of River Road and so we were a quick walk down from the sculpture park. It was one of my favorite places to go in the city.
“I can’t believe that,” Sheila laughed. “I haven’t been called a kid in forever. I mean, I have a kid.” She calmed her laugh and waited for my reaction.
“My uncle told me,” I said. It was true. My uncle thought the world of Sheila and her song writing and he had tried several times to get her back into a band. “He also told me that you were the lead singer for Pink Battle Axe. You guys were pretty hardcore.”
“Yeah, back in the day, I was pretty hardcore, I guess,” Sheila shrugged. “Your making me feel old.”
I stopped walking and swung in front of her. “You feel young enough to me,” I said and tried for a kiss, but she dodged under my arm. “Too corny?” She nodded. “Sorry, it sounded great in my head. I figured I would say the line, then kiss you, and then you would marry me and never let me go.”
“You’re frankly lucky that I didn’t just keep running. That was a very stalkery, creepy line.” Sheila laughed, “Although, I was going to say that I couldn’t see you as a manager, but now I see it.”
“Eh! What?” I pretended to be upset. “I will have you know that the ‘manager’ is a profession with a tried and true heritage, and a proud tradition of…excellence, or something. I mean if I don’t take 10% someone else will so why not.”
“That was a very good speech,” Sheila smiled. “I just find the whole music industry to be corrupt, managers, agents, and record execs are just the worst offenders. I literally can’t write in their presence, they have a way of sucking the creativity right out of a room.”
“I get that,” I said. I meant it to. I really did feel the same way, “But I just don’t have it. I am good enough to nearly make it, but I have an ear for hits. I would like to think that I can go in there and contribute to a solution. Fight the system from the inside, but I just want to make music.”
“I just want to make music,” Sheila teased. “Spoken like a true cock-eyed optimist, but you know you’re going to get sucked in…”
“Sucked in by something I love doing, that doesn’t sound so bad.” It was not only a statement it was a revelation. I had been avoiding the transition, because I felt the same way that Sheila did. No rocker wants to turn into a suit, but really working in the music industry was my passion. It’s exactly where I wanted to be.
“No, it doesn’t sound so bad,” Sheila said as I helped her up onto a sculpture of a giant bench. I started to climb up the side. “Honestly, how many girls?” She asked when we got settled on the bench. It was six feet off the ground and ten long, I could lay out flat without touching the back of the bench. It wasn’t much of a sculpture, but it was kind of my spot.
“Literally all of them, every woman who is crazy enough to come to the park with me gets to sit on the bench with me,” I said jokingly, although it wasn’t that far off. It was my favorite spot in the city.
“It’s a nice view,” Sheila said as she nuzzled into me. I already had my arm around her. She looked up into my eyes and I kissed her.
“He’s around here somewhere, we already checked Ginos,” I recognized the voice right away, and I told Sheila to hush. We tried not to giggle as we moved to the back of the bench. We laid out flat and stared at the stars through the long limbs of the ancient trees that stood above us. The sky was alive with activity. I saw three shooting stars.
“Make a wish,” Sheila whispered. We were trying to stay quiet. We could still hear the footfalls of Seth and Ralph as they stalked me through the park. I was surprised that they would even be out here this late. There should have been a studio party going on somewhere. We were all supposed to be doing our part to build buzz for the band.
“Bobby!” Seth yelled.
“It didn’t come true,” I whispered back at Sheila. We laughed as they continued to yell. Sheila snuggled up with her head on my chest and I threw an arm around her. It felt so natural just to be there with her. I didn’t always feel comfortable around people, but something about her put me at ease. In that moment it felt like I had everything altogether. With the stars as our canopy, I drew fresh air into my lungs and enjoyed the feeling of being, of being with Sheila.
“I think they’ve moved on, but let’s run,” I said when things finally settled down. I climbed down and then Sheila dropped into my arms. She was less than half my size. I started walking without putting her down.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Oh, am I still carrying you?” I asked. “I barely noticed.” Sheila swatted at me and got down onto the ground. She was still swatting at me until I started playfully wrestling with her. She jumped and took me right to the ground with a tackle. It was an unbelievably sexy tackle. I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard.
“I win!” She yelled. She sat up half way and pretended to drop an elbow on me.
“Ouch!” I yelled grabbing for my chest. We wrestled around for another minute before I noticed that Seth and Ralph were standing right over top of us. “Hi, guys, how are you?” I asked the question as if I was even questioning if it was the question I should be asking. They both looked depressed and angry at the same time.
“Liam is gone, and your uncle has pulled the plug, he says he is killing the band and he’s suing us all to ge
t the funds he lost back,” Seth looked like he was going to hit someone. I knew this play, my uncle was just pissed. He would never waste his time suing out of work musicians.
“I will fix this guys,” I said. “You have nothing to worry about.” I looked into their faces. It wasn’t going to be enough. I needed a way to fix this for them.
*****
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Rock Bottom Love
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