Page 116 of Rock Out Together
“He should do by now,” I replied, wondering why our manager had put all of these instruments in our rented house when we always wrote new songs on our own equipment. Maybe he was trying to tell us to get new gear? I couldn’t see how it would affect anyone. We played the instruments he gave us when we went on stage but writing songs? We always used our own instruments.
I wandered over to the package that had been left for us on the large coffee table, plonking myself down on the sofa before opening it up. This would be our instructions.
“Guys! Come on, let’s have a look at this so we know what the plan is,” I called out. When they’d flopped into seats of their own, I took out the itinerary from the envelope and began to read aloud.
“Boys, I’ve organised it so that you’re only doing one gig a week while you’re back in that quaint little town of yours. This gives you at minimum, six days a week to work on the new album. You’ll be staying until September 2nd, at which point, I expect you to show me what you’ve created. The instruments in your house are for the gigs you’re going to be doing, so you can get them set up how you like. I know I can’t persuade you to write the songs on decent new instruments but see how you get on with these anyway. Attached is the dates and venues you will be performing at in the coming weeks. Good luck and if you need anything, let me know. Signed, Doug.”
I scoffed at the letter in my hands. I guess he forgot we wanted some downtime to ourselves. I ran my eyes down thelist of venues we’d been given, surprised to see our old venue on there. Sweet Dreams, the place where we had met Kate. The paper was snatched out of my hands a minute later, causing me to come back to the here and now.
“Why are you spacing out man?” Benny queried, running his own gaze across the sheet now in his hands. “Ah.”
There it was. The acknowledgment he had just seen the same name I had. Joel peered over his shoulder, not one to be left out from what we were talking about. He whistled low.
“Sweet Dreams? That’ll be interesting if Kate’s around,” he muttered, glancing toward me with trepidation in his eyes. I shrugged, leaning back in my seat casually.
“What does it matter? She won’t be there anyway, she left town remember?” I replied, pulling my phone from my pocket and distracting myself as the others continued on.
“Of course it matters!” Joel cried out, jumping up from his chair and launching into the seat beside me. He grabbed my phone out of my hand, tossing it onto the cushion behind me and shushing me before I had chance to protest. “You were in love with her mate! It will be huge if we see her again.”
I stared at him in shock. Shit! He knew? I peered over at Benny who gave me a silent nod.
“Yeah mate, we knew,” he informed me, answering my unspoken question. “It was obvious to see, then when we saw how hurt you were when she left, it wasn’t even a question. We just figured you’d tell us if you wanted to.”
“Damn, I thought I hid it so well,” I grumbled, gutted I’dkept my feelings to myself all this time when I should’ve just let them help me.
“Nah man, you were a wreck when she left! We’d be blind not to have noticed,” Joel interjected, his talent for being blunt coming through in spades. I glared at him. His smile faltered, and he leaned away from me with his hands in the air. “Sorry.”
“Come on, why don’t we go check out the place before we have to play? We can get through any of the old greetings we need to do so we’ve got a clear head for our gig,” Benny suggested. I breathed in deep as I thought this through, exhaling slowly as I nodded my head.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea actually. Let’s go.”
Sweet Dreams. The sign hung in neon pink above the doors, against a silver background. I glanced at the exterior noticing it had been spruced up since I was last there. Gone were the faded pictures on the walls and the peeling, cracked paint that had once covered the building. Now, the paint looked fresh, vinyl pictures covered the walls to make it seem welcoming to those going inside. Joel made a comment about how posh it looked, but I ignored him. The moment we had arrived, my palms began to sweat. It felt ridiculous to me that I was so nervous to enter a building, but it wasn’t just any building. It was the place where we had started to live our dream at long last. It was the place we had met Kate.
Taking a breath, I pushed open the doors and headed inside, the others hot on my heels. I studied the interior with awe. The years had definitely changed this place, and for the better. The stage area where we used to perform was nowdouble the size it used to be, allowing for better movement on stage. The restaurant section of it appeared to be about the same but everything had been given a facelift, just like the exterior. I frowned as I wondered what had made them change. A new owner perhaps?
“They’ve spent a lot of money on this place haven’t they?” Joel whispered to us, as tactful as he ever was. I was grateful we were the only ones who could hear him. Before I could warn him to be careful with his words, we were interrupted by a woman in a crisp white shirt and black pencil skirt.
“Hi there, welcome to Sweet Dreams. Would you like a table?” she asked politely. I shook my head.
“No, thank you. Is the owner here? Or manager? We’d like to speak with them please,” Benny asked, causing the young woman to eye us warily.
“Is everything alright? Perhaps it is something I can help you with?” she queried, pushing for some kind of answer from us. I smiled warmly at her.
“Don’t worry, we’re not making a complaint. We’re due to perform on the stage at the end of the week so just wanted to come and say hi first. We go way back with this place.”
Immediately, her whole body relaxed and she flashed us a small smile. Telling us to wait while she fetched her boss, she turned around and strode away from us. I chuckled. Poor girl, we hadn’t meant to alarm her but I realised it was inevitable with how we had worded that. I stood chatting with Benny and Joel as we waited, my back to the restaurant so I was confused when the guys froze from what they were doing and their faces went slack.
“Hi, I believe you wanted to speak with me,” a voice sounded from behind me, followed by a sharp intake of breath. I’d recognise that voice anywhere. I turned in the direction of the newcomer, her face pale as though she’d seen a ghost.
Kate.
She appeared thinner than before, more tired but other than that, there she was. Exactly the same as she always had. Long, dark brown hair tied up in a bun, a blue shirt and black trousers covering her body, piercing blue eyes gazing at me in shock. I stood for a moment, unable to believe my own eyes. I never thought she would have come back, let alone to the same restaurant. Benny coughed awkwardly behind us, causing me to give a little shake of my head as I stared at her.
“Luke? What are you guys doing here?” she asked, her hands going to the hem of her shirt and smoothing it out as she spoke.
“We came to see the manager or the owner, whoever was in charge, ahead of our gig on Saturday. I’m guessing you’re the manager now?” I replied, gesturing to the name tag with her name on it. She nodded her head briskly.
“Yeah, that’s right. You will need to speak to Ted, he’s the one who booked you in. Come with me,” she answered, her eyes darting to the young woman who had fetched her for us before marching away. I strode swiftly after her, not caring if the guys kept up with us or not. I couldn’t believe it. Kate was right in front of me after all this time! What could I say though? I wondered where she had gone, whatshe had been doing all of this time. As I watched her, albeit from behind, I noticed the tension in her shoulders and that gave me some comfort. Knowing that we had this effect on her meant that she still felt something for the band. For me. Perhaps she might tell me why she disappeared.
