Page 39 of Only You
‘You’re asking me this now? At… 3:12?’ He shrugged, waiting for the answer. She crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly.
‘You first. You don’t seem like a night owl to me.’
‘I’m afraid you don’t have a choice as a musician. Artists rule the night,’ he said. ‘My friend is a producer in New York. There’s a song he’s working on and he asked me to play bass with the singer’s band. I’ve worked with her before but this time we were thereallnight. We didn’t leave the studio until ten a.m.’
Dani winced. ‘Damn. You couldn’t just do the bassline and leave?’
‘The singer insisted on the entire band being there and getting it right live,’ he said, exhausted by the mere reminder of the session. ‘I have never seen someone so obsessively work on a song for ten hours straight.’
‘Wait, you didn’t start until midnight?’
‘The band started at nine, but the artist didn’t show up until midnight. They had a concert earlier.’
‘They had a concert and then ran over to the studio,’ Dani said in disbelief. ‘How? I’m tired after sitting and playing Beethoven for two hours, much less having to jump around a stage.’ Jones threw his hands up helplessly.
‘Either they ran on Red Bull and faith, or they had something extra to get them through. I was tempted to dip out every break, but I knew it would cause hell for my friend.’ He laughed a little at the image of Jair pounding at his door for leaving him with the insufferable pop star.
‘Do the artist often have “something extra”?’ Dani asked.
‘Eh, I’d say it’s fifty-fifty. Usually, it’s nothing more than weed but some get a lot morecreative.’
‘How vague of you.’
‘It keeps me in the biz.’ He winked, making her giggle. ‘You’ll learn one day.’
‘I doubt I’ll be working in a studio a lot. Maybe for soundtracks or live recordings, but I think I’ll stay strictly in the performance realm for now.’
‘And you think they’re any more chill?’
He and Dani exchanged knowing looks both smirking. Jones didn’t spend a lot of time with the performance majors when he was at Howard, but he did know enough people to know where there were packed schedules, there were more than a few drugs to be found.
‘NowNow, back to you. What’s got you craving fries this early?’
‘Between Brahms’ Double Concerto and Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E Minor? Nothing,’ she replied. He chuckled at the response as she looked up at the moon. ‘My fingers feel like they’re swollen. My back is killing me most days and I’m reaching my breaking point with my solo. Younger me who thought grad school would be easier because I could just concentrate only on music was foolish.’
‘A solo, huh?’
‘It’s nothing.’ Dani waved her hand as if to brush off his awe. ‘Like hell it is,’ he said. ‘Some people would kill for that.’
‘Unfortunately,’ she sighed. ‘Meanwhile, I’ve been distracted, so now there’s less praise and more whispers of my talent “finally” fading.’ She looked away from the moon, shadows falling on her face as she picked at her nails. ‘I feel… I feel like I’m being consumed by them, you know? I keep having to remind myself that I’m not one ofthemwhen I wake up. And their emotions feel so overwhelming. I mean, I dreamed of them before, but to live it is too much. Where’s the room for me?’
‘It’ll come back,’ Jones said. ‘When the memories are done. It’s a headache until then but it gets better. After.’
‘So, you just lived your life completely fine?’ she said sceptically.
‘Oh, absolutely not.’ She raised her brow, silently asking for more. ‘I got the memories in my second semester at Howard. I failed all my finals, could barely get out of bed the first half of the summer and then spent the rest of the time begging my professors to let me retake the tests I missed. Not the adventure I would choose.’
She laughed before quickly sobering up, looking down at her hands. ‘They’re saying that Dr Carver made a mistake when he assigned the solo to me,’ she told him, her voice almost a whisper. ‘They say I’m too distracted, that I wasn’tsupposedto have a solo like that anyway. I’m notobsessedenough. I don’t have extra training… I practise a lot but not as much as others—’
‘You’re gifted and they’re not,’ Jones interrupted. Dani’s jaw dropped before she burst into laughter. Jones’s brows raised. ‘What?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Dani said between peals of laughter. ‘It was just blunt; I didn’t expect it. No one’s that straightforward other than my friend Riley and, well, she’s my friend so…’
‘I’m usually not,’ Jones admitted. ‘But I’ve seen you play. And I’ve been there, so I know. Don’t take it personally. There’s always a genius, always the one with connections, always the one who made it on their own, and at the end of it, none of it matters. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try but sometimes, the only real difference is luck.’
She looked at him warily, as if she were right on the cusp of believing him but not quite. He gave her a reassuring smile but didn’t push it. If Dani was already this far into her career, he had no doubt she could handle the performance. A little midnight doubt came with the territory.
Still, he felt his heart warm when she held out her fry box to him. She nodded at his questioning gaze, and he grabbed a couple of fries, luckily still a little warm.
