Page 33 of Call and Response

On this level,GFMwas mostly a typical record store, then there was the traditional radio station above. Down in the basement, though, that was where the magic that got sold, streamed, and sent out over the radio airwaves was made.

I hadn't been here for myself in… damn.

Too long.

Which was wild, considering the way I’d practically lived down here back when I was still making music with Josiah. The shit had been effortless back then, andconfidence?

Man, that hadn’t even been a consideration.

We had fans that would rock with us no matter what, as long as the passion was behind it; the kind of support that meant the most, as hard as it was sometimes to actuallyseeit.

Back before the negativity, the insecurity, got too loud.

Even though I hadn’t recorded formyselfin a while, I’d been here recently for the song with Kyir. It had been a good time, a good experience that should have put a battery in my back for making music again.

It had an unfortunate adverse effect.

The way it had been so effortless to jump on a feature while recording my own shit was so damn hard…it had fucked with my head.

A lot.

And it was hard not to have that shit in the back of my mind as Audra and I headed for our designated space where we were meeting up with Dean to actually make this music happen.

“Hey,” she spoke up as we stepped off the elevator downstairs. “So… there's this show later. I want you to come with me.”

“Oh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“Date?That's a big word for Elmo,” she said; eyes wide.

“And yet the question remains…”

She sighed. “It’s lowkey a work thing. Songbird Dani and Logan Lewis. Since the show is just right in Blackwood, I figured I’d do a little customer service follow-up—hear what I wrote for them live, see the crowd feedback, all that.”

“Okay… that doesn’t sound like work.”

“That’s why I saidlowkey.”

“Nokeys.”

“Fine.” She laughed. “Do you want to come with me or not?”

“Well, they both stay in heavy rotation on my personal playlists, so I will happily be your plus-one for the show,” I agreed.

“Nice.” She smiled, then bit down on her lip. “Now… You know what the internet narrative is going to become if we’re seen out in public together like that. First we perform together, with all the obvious chemistry, now we’re booed up at a romantic concert…”

I leaned in, dipping my head a little toward her. “Now hold on, you said nothing about being booed up.”

“Oh, you don't want to be booed up with me?” she challenged.

“I didn't saythat, I’m just saying you didn'tleadwithbooed up.”

She propped a hand on her hip. “So going back to my original question—do you want to be booed up with me?”

“Woman, do youwantme to want to be booed up with you?”

“Only if youwant meto want you to want to be booed up with me,” she countered, laughing. “We can do this all day.”

“Yeah. We could. Or we can just speak plainly. That's an option too.”

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