Page 4 of Rock Candy

She laughed again, and then with a clear and sturdy voice, she clarified, “You’re a songwriter, Henry.”

I nodded vigorously. “Yeah, and uh… I play guitar.”

“Me too.” She had a sweet smile, soft. I’d seen pictures of her. Lots of them. But she looked different in person, more girlish and less angry. I liked looking at her face, but I liked how easily we unraveled the beginnings of that song even more.

I was hesitant and phrased it as a question when I said, “I think we just wrote a song together?”

“I think we did.” She grinned at me again. Then she turned, stepping over and away from the rocks. I stayed where I was, and she looked back over her shoulder at me. “You coming?” she asked.

“With you?” I questioned. She nodded. I was kind of stunned. “Where?”

“Back into town,” she said matter-of-factly. “I have to meet my manager and the people that own my recording company. I’m late, but I thought maybe we could hang more.”

“Yeah,” I said confidently, already moving over the rocks in her direction, completely forgetting that I was ever freaked out.

When I was next to her, her feet began to move and she said, “Let’s go again.” There was a beat and then beating the rhythm on her chest with her hand, she sang, “I feel the walls closing in again…”

Eddy walkedme right back to my burger. Turns out, she was signed with LSA Records, which I would have known if I paid any attention to the industry, but I didn’t give myself too much flak about not giving a shit about the business side of things. That’s why I signed with Alice, so she could handle the things I couldn’t care less about. Once we were back inside the bar, Eddy got pulled in the direction of her people. Even though Alice was still standing there, I didn’t feel at all comfortable asserting myself into a conversation with the bigwigs from a record company, so I made my way back to where I belonged, in the corner with Alice’s friends.

When I sat down, Natalie stuck her chin out at me and with wide eyes, she asked, “Did you just come in with Eddy Meyer?”

I nodded.

“Do you know her?”

“Not really,” I said, watching Eddy from across the room. “We just met on the beach.”

From across the room, Eddy glanced at me. Our eyes caught and a soft smile played across her lips. I could hear the smirk on Carter's face when he said, “Dude, if you ask me, Eddy Meyer would like to know you a lot better.”

I shrugged and took a bite of my burger, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing even though I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Eddy was pretty in that rock and roll way. She was petite, with medium-length dark hair and blunt bangs. There was a tattoo on her shoulder, a shower of stars, and her look was edgy, dark jeans and a light-gray T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. There was nothing prima donna about her, no jewels or shiny eyeshadow, just some black eyeliner. Her look screamed artist. I respected that about her. There weren’t a lot of billboard-topping musicians who were more focused on their craft than their wardrobe.

I’d always liked her music. When she released her first album, I was skeptical because she was basically a teenager and at the ripe old age of twenty-two, I definitely thought something like how could anyone have lived enough to have grit at eighteen. But she proved me wrong and she continued to do so over the last five years. Honestly, who the fuck was I to have an opinion? Everyone did that shit, thought our opinions mattered.

Wanting to keep my exchange with Eddy to myself, I focused on chewing. The burger was good, not the best but a solid effort in the greasy spoon department. Trying to shift the subject, I grumbled, “Decent burger.”

Natalie, who had been looking back and forth between Eddy and me, kindly responded, “Better fries,” but she rushed the words because she was more interested in concurring with Carter's assessment. “Henry, why are we talking about the food? I don’t know what happened on the beach but you, my fine friend, have certainly captured Eddy Meyer’s attention.”

They had it backwards. The tiny rock and roller had captured my attention and I couldn’t get the song we were writing out of my head. I had to finish it. But I wasn’t going to say that. In fact, I wasn’t going to say anything. No matter how kind or personable Natalie and Carter seemed, sharing my life with strangers wasn’t something I felt comfortable doing.

“Yeah,” I said calmly. “She seems cool.”

Natalie scowled, narrowing her brows at me, clearly put off by my lack of excitement, and she sarcastically questioned, “Cool? She’s amazing, a phenom. I’d literally give up almost any of my worldly possessions to chat with her for a half hour.” She was so intense. Next to her, Carter turned his face, hoping she might miss him swallowing his chuckle. She didn’t. “Don’t you laugh at me, Carter. You know I’m right. He should be over the moon that Eddy Meyer is ogling him.” She looked at me and then at him and then at me and then at him again before faltering a smidge. “Right?”

I let Carter manage Natalie and glanced back across the room in Eddy’s direction, happy to find our eyes locked again. Like me, she was silently poised on the outskirts of a conversation she didn’t care too much about. Brazenly, because that’s how she made me feel, I tilted my head slightly toward the door, silently asking if she wanted to leave with me.

She smiled and bit her lip before subtly acknowledging and answering my subtle question by tipping her chin down, indicating yes. The corners of my lips spread out across my face instantly, making a grin so wide that I must have looked ghoulish, but I didn’t care.

I stood, scrounging in my back pocket for my wallet, then threw a twenty on the table. Turing to Carter and Natalie, I said, “I’m gonna…” I trailed off, not sure what I wanted to say.

With a knowing smile, Carter finished my sentence for me. “Go?” I nodded. “There’s a key under the mat, if you need it.” He winked. “But I don’t think you will.”

Natalie jabbed him playfully in the ribs. “You’re so gross.”

Outside I swayed awkwardlyfrom foot to foot, waiting for her to appear. Clearly her goodbyes were more complicated than mine, but eventually the door opened, and then she and I were outside, back in the sea breeze and alone again. We leisurely walked side by side back toward the beach in the dark. She told me she was playing on Saturday, and I mentioned that I was attending the festival as a performer too. I had the urge to reach for her hand or put my arm around her, but I caught myself, realizing that kind of physical contact was one of familiars, and we’d only just met.

“I probably should have made the effort to stay at that bar for longer than twenty minutes,” she lamented.

“Why?” I asked genuinely. “It’s not like you need to network. You’re already a household name.” As I spoke, I looked at her profile. She laughed under her breath and the sound made my guts go gooey. Being near her was disarming.

---