Page 23 of Heart Strings

Chapter Ten

Alejandro

My bandmates knew I had a new girl. They just hadn’t met her yet.

For some reason, introducing Abigail to them was a bigger step for me than introducing her to my parents. I had known my mamá and papá would like Abigail - although, how anyone could meet Abigail and dislike her was beyond me. My band, though, I had to spend hours and hours of the day with, traveling, practicing, and playing. Things that they didn’t like would follow me across the country in the form of bad relations and tension.

Hadn’t I just told myself no one could dislike Abigail? I was worrying pointlessly. We would go to Vaporized’s practice at my house in an hour, Abigail would play the keyboard as I had suggested last night, since our keyboardist was out of town, and everyone would be impressed with Abigail’s skill. Nothing to worry about, nothing at all.

Splashing some cool water on my face did wonders after the heat of the shower I had just finished. I was just a little on edge, that was all. I had a weird dream last night, filled with strange, unidentifiable characters and shifting scenes. And I swear there had been some strange noise playing in my ears as I fell asleep by Abigail’s side. Some kind of humming, maybe?

I splashed more cold water in my face and decided not to think about it. Coffee would help my day get off to a better start.

Since there was no coffee at the condo, after Abigail and I hopped into the car to go to my house, we made a quick run through a coffee shop drive-thru and ordered whatever we fancied.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay if I play the keyboard today? I mean, I know how to play one or two Vaporized songs…” She blushed when I shot her a surprised glance. “Yeah, I learned a couple for fun, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played them.”

“There’s sheet music for everything,” I told her, “and most of the keyboard parts aren’t too hard because it’s mostly accompaniment. Although you’re welcome to try your hands at the songs we’re practicing today that have solos.”

“I meant, will it be okay with the band? I’m sure I can play whatever I need to. I just don’t know if the rest of Vaporized will be okay with some girl they’ve never met playing with them.’

“Oh, that. Of course it’ll be okay. It’ll be great, in fact, because practicing an instrument down would have been annoying. Oh, fair warning,” I added as an afterthought. “Jake’s kind of an ass, so just ignore him most of the time. It’s what the rest of us do.”

“Okay.” She laughed a little nervously. It was fine for her to be nervous because I knew the moment she started playing that her memory would kick in and she would play like the Goddess of Piano that she was. This was the perfect time for her to meet the band since Sierra was never around for practice and wouldn’t be there to add extra tension.

Judging by the lineup of expensive cars in the driveway, we were the last ones here. That was perfect. I would only have to introduce Abigail once instead of multiple times as the band trickled into the house.

When we walked through the door of the practice room, Jake was examining a drumstick and Cory was twanging the strings of his bass guitar. “Hey guys,” I said, more to get their attention than to greet them. “This is Abigail, our stand-in for Marcus.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. Clearly, he didn’t miss my little verbal avoidance of saying either “my friend” or “my girlfriend.” Still, he shook Abigail’s extended hand after Cory did. “Hi, Abigail. I hope you can play.”

It was my turn to glare, but Jake turned back to his instrument. I motioned Abigail to Marcus’ keyboard, and she sat behind the stand. “Here’s all the sheet music,” I told her. “Just follow our lead and don’t be surprised if we stop. That’s kind of how practices go - we find out what doesn’t work and try to do it better. We’re doing this song first.”

“Got it.” Abigail fiddled with the settings on the keyboard for a moment, tapping a few keys to hear the sound, then nodded. “Ready.”

Not all songs had the same settings and sound for the keyboard, but luckily, Marcus had included those on his versions of the sheet music. Honestly, it was impressive that Abigail had noticed that and been able to find the right settings on a keyboard she had never seen before - and one that was probably a lot more expensive and complicated than any she had previously played.

Jake gave Abigail another doubtful glance, but I ignored it as I picked up my guitar. If I stopped to take offense to every stare he gave my girl, I would have to hit him over the head repeatedly with one of his own drumsticks. Better just to wait and let him see her capability for himself.

We began after Jake played a few beats on the cymbals to get us all on the same page beat-wise. My guitar joined in, Cory’s bass joined in and Abigail’s keyboard joined in. Not only did she start playing at the right time - she must have heard this song before - she kept pace with the rest of us who knew it well, playing her part with skill and accuracy. Her playing lacked some of the flair Marcus liked to give it, but that wasn’t in the sheet music and it was his personal preference, something he especially liked to do live.

Then the vocals kicked in, and I started to sing. I felt Abigail’s eyes on me whenever she could spare a glance from her keyboard, and I realized I had never sung for her before. She had heard me sing countless times, I didn’t doubt, but none of those times had been in person, for her. So, I put everything I had into my vocals, making sure this personal taste she had of the voice of Vaporized would be one that she would remember forever. And it wasn’t just me, either. The entire band played exceptionally well - up to recording quality, probably. We hadn’t worked this well together in a while.

A lucky day, maybe. Or we’re picking up on Abigail’s energy.I was definitely doing the latter, so maybe it was a sort of chain. I drew energy from Abigail, and my bandmates took their energy from my singing.

We played several songs, pausing in many of them to talk about one thing or another. Gradually, in places where the keyboard was supposed to shine, I could hear the other two laying off their instruments and letting Abigail play her part as it was supposed to be played - a sign of respect from the two seasoned band members. They were impressed, and I was too - even more so than when I first heard her play at the bar in New Orleans.

Suddenly, in the middle of a guitar solo, I had an idea that caused me to miss a couple notes. I started the solo over, but the idea remained, waving its hand and begging me to pay attention to it, mention it aloud.Not right now,I told myself.Not yet.This was something I would need to think over very carefully before mentioning to anyone, including Abigail.

Practice ended. Cory and Jake said their goodbyes to Abigail, Cory openly praising her and Jake just not saying anything rude as his apology for doubting her.

“He’s not that much of an ass,” Abigail said after the two had gone. “He just seems like he cares about the band a lot and doesn’t want anyone to mess with it and the music.”

I tilted my head in a gesture that said “sort of”. “I would say that’s true, but he’s also hard to get along with. And he thinks that if the band has been successful this long playing the same kind of sound, we shouldn’t change anything. But making the same album over and over again gets boring.” I set down my guitar. “Let me show you around the house! There’s a lot of Vaporized stuff here. This is kind of like our storage place for all the awards we get, merchandise we sell, old instruments we used to play, stuff like that.”

“Cool,” Abigail said eagerly, turning off the keyboard.

I gave her a tour of the house. I had done this enough times to have a relatively good path to follow and an informative little bit to give about each thing I deemed important to Vaporized history, but I did skip one little place - the bedroom Sierra, and I shared. I pointed out a photo in the hall to Abigail, using it as cover to shut the door on the disrupted bedcovers and mess of women's’ clothes inside.

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