Page 20 of Belonging to Them
He nods, not looking up.“She’s got good stuff.I’m glad Pat found her.”
I’m glad, too.
“Do you think we could get Cinderella’s permission to use one of her songs?”Pat asks.
I look around at the group and realize she’s asking me.
“That Cinderella chick is hot,” Landen says around a mouthful of sandwich.
“Shut up, Landen,” Bret and Pat say at the same time.
“What, she is,” Landen says.
Bret throws a guitar pick at Landen.“Don’t be a douche—Sebastian is dating her.”
Landen’s bleach-blond eyebrows shoot all the way up to the rim of his backwards baseball cap.“The fuck, seriously?You’re like twice her age, man.No offense, but you’re old.”
“Thanks, noted,” I say.
“Are you some kind of perv?”Landen asks.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Pat says in a no-nonsense voice.She’s the only one Landen listens to, it seems, and even then, his “listening” is done begrudgingly.“Sebastian, if you could ask Cinderella, that would be fuckin’ awesome.”
“Yeah, no problem,” I say.“It might need Helena’s approval, though, too, and you know how she is with new artists.”
“Aw, shit.Never mind, then,” Pat says.
“I’m still going to tell Ella, though,” I say.“She’ll be flattered.”
“You should bring her around sometime,” Pat says.“We could all jam.”
I can only imagine Ella’s squeal of excitement at the invite.“I bet she’d like that.”
Landen shoves the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth and scowls at the rest of us.“Are you all done eating yet?”he asks, almost spraying food.“We should get back to work.”
Pat and I finish eating, and I take a different look at this band.They’re all in their twenties—Ella’s age.I’m forty-three.I don’t think of them as literal kids, except maybe Landen, who is showing that he’s immature as hell.
As we run through song after song, with Pat and I configuring who will sing which verses, where to join in on the chorus or the bridge, and who takes the lead where, an uncomfortable idea takes root in my mind.I can’t shake the thought that I am too old for Ella…but at least I’m not a child.If Landen is an example of the other guys out there who want to date her, well, I can say for certain I will treat her better than this douchenozzle ever will.
But…am I too old?Shit.I could be.What’s the “rule” I read on the internet somewhere?Half your age, then add seven years.Let’s say I’m forty-two, since that’s an even number and I’m trying to go easier on myself.Half of that is twenty-one, plus seven, is twenty-eight.
Ella just turned twenty-six.
Fuck, maybe I am a pervert.
SIX
Ella
Tommy can’t hear me through the apartment manager’s door, but I’m out of my chair and running from the office so fast, Squid has to tell me to slow down.
Barely heeding him, I shout, “Tommy!”
My brother stops moving up the stairs and peers over the railing.“Ella?”
I’m vaguely aware of Cora and Squid trailing behind me as I march up to him.“Your apartment,” I say.“Now.”
“Good to see you, too,” he says slowly.
