Love Will (26 page)

“Bonding,” Tavo says, finally joining us.

“We’re pretty
bonded
already, man. And in six hours, we’ll probably be meshing just like we were before the blizzard hit. Don’t
Yoko
her. She’s not breaking up the band.”

They all stare at me for about fifteen seconds before Damon finally breaks, and nods his head at me. “Is she someone we’ll continue to talk about?” he asks.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Her name’s Shea?”

“Yeah.”

“An introduction would have been nice…”

“I’m a selfish prick,” I admit to him with a shrug.

“You can make this all better by giving me one of those slices of cake.”

“I don’t take well to that type of bargaining, Damon. But I’ll give you half of one.”

He grins. “Fine. We’re cool.”

“All right.” We shake hands to agree on it.

Everyone gets up and starts doing their own thing. Peron retreats to his bunk, so I go to mine. “Did you get your bed moved?” I ask him.

“Yep.”

“Any response from Brooke?” He hands me his phone and shows me a text:

Mother fucker, fuck you
.

“That’s classy. But hey, you got her new number…”

He motions for his phone back and pulls up a photo. “Just flick through them.” Picture after picture, I see his things strewn on a curb, on cars, in the street in front of his apartment. A few shirts even hang from a neighbor’s fire escape. In the later pictures, people are already taking items.

“That kind of sucks.”

“It’s just stuff, right?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“I’ve got my guitar. My good clothes. My lucky coins. My journals.”

“You can move in with me and Damon when we get back and take our place over again. We never use that back dining room. I bet your bed would fit in there. There’s no door, but it’s a place to sleep. I’ll share my closet.”

“Thanks, Will.”

“Just… try not to worry about it. I know it’s easier said than done, but whatever I can do to help, I will.”

“A half of a piece of cake would help a lot,” he says with a straight face.

I glare at him, then lean in to whisper my response. “Fine, but you and Damon are splitting that piece somewhere far away from Ben and Tavo because I am
not
sacrificing my last piece of heaven to give to those guys.”

“We’ll lock ourselves in the bathroom,” he says.

“That’s fucking…
no
. Don’t do that. Lock
them
in the bathroom.”

“Deal.”

“Have you been able to write anything? It might be cathartic for you, you know?”

“A song full of
fucks
wouldn’t get us any airplay, so no, I haven’t.”

“Could be a YouTube sensation with a catchy chorus, though. Don’t write it off,” I tell him. “If nothing else, A Songful of Fucks is a great band name, if we ever venture off on our own.” That gets a small smile out of him. “You still going home when we’re in LA?”

“No point.”

“Yeah. Well, you and I are going to find some inspiration. I was thinking of maybe renting a car and driving up the coast. We could take our guitars, find some of those big rocks I’ve seen in pictures and look out over the ocean all day.”

He nods, but then sighs. “I wanna get laid.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged, too,” I assure him.

“Soon.”

“Okay. I hear South Dakota has a few women. I’ll be your wingman tonight. What do you say?”

“No offense, but I think Tavo’d be a better wingman,” he says to me. “You’re too damn pretty.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking… Tavo’s someone you actually have to overcompensate for.
Apologize
for. I can talk you up like no one else, Peron. I’m your biggest fan, you know this.”

“But the hottest girl’s gonna end up wanting you.”

I shake my head. “It’d be a waste of her energy. I wasn’t bullshitting you about Shea. I’ve at least got to try to be faithful or something. Surely I can at least
try
.”

“You’re not gonna be mad if we put money on this, are you?”

“Is
anyone
betting on me?”

“No. We’re taking bets on how long it’ll take you to cave.”

“Wow. Do I have any allies anymore?”

“You don’t have a good track record…”
I know I don’t
.

I start playing around on my guitar, strumming some different chords and plucking away at different riffs until a sound finally seems to intrigue Peron enough to join in. It’s been awhile since we’ve written this way, music first, with no lyrics. The song is in a minor key–it turned that way when Peron got involved–and has an angry rhythm to it. He’s definitely leading the way with this one.

“Can’t believe we’re heading to
Brook
ings,” he finally says with a chuckle. “The irony.”

“You know,” I start, “a
ton
of words rhyme with Brooke.”

“I don’t write lyrics.”

“You do, too. You have before, it’s just been awhile. I’m not going to judge you.”

“I can’t. She always inspired me.”

“You can… and she can still inspire you. It’s just a first draft. We can pretty it up later. Let’s get it out there, though. Let’s tell the world how you feel.”

“Damon, Damon!” I shout as soon as we’ve got all the words written down. “Come hear Peron’s masterpiece.”

“Will, no,” Peron argues reluctantly.

“It’s awesome, Per. You have to let him hear it. It’s a great break up anthem… we have to incorporate this in somehow. Let’s just go through it once. Okay? If he hates it, we can burn this on the side of the road the next time we stop–although I think it would be a big mistake.”

“We do have an awful lot of love songs…” Damon says. “Hand it over.”

Peron sighs before lifting the two sheets of notebook paper that we’ve feverishly scribbled the words on.

“Hold them down a little,” I tell Damon. “I’ll help you out until you get the feel for it.”

I nod my head, counting Peron in, and we start strumming his angry song together.

I went out with a girl that I liked

She was tall, she was blonde, she was Brooke

It was love at first sight; I was psyched

But her feelings for me, I mistook

It was after a show when we met

And she offered her hand, which I shook

There was kissing and passion and sweat

And then late that first night, yeah we hook’d

Up and away

I went to play

Was already planned

Just me and my band

Nothing illicit

Loved her explicitly

Few months later

I’d learn to hate her

Just finished a gig at a club

In need of a rest, which I took

Got a text on my way to the pub

Was an incoming message from Brooke

“Hey, I think that it’s time that we talked.”

Least original line in the book.

Took her two texts to tell me. I balked

At this horrible plan that she’d cook’d

Up and away

I went to play

Was already planned

Just me and my band

Nothing illicit

Loved her explicitly

Few months later

I’d learn to hate her

She went on to fuck some other schmuck

She said it was love; fit her like a glove

The guy is a crook, ‘cause he stole my Brooke

Now she’s giving him head, in their newly-bought bed

“Ahhhh, Peron,” Damon interrupts us, trying to be sincere through his laughter. “The newly-bought bed! It’s
priceless
. I love it.
Love
it, man! It’s funny ‘cause it’s true!”

“Shut up and keep going,” he says apprehensively as he starts to play again.

Up and away

I went to play

Was already planned

Just me and my band

Nothing illicit

Loved her explicitly

Few months later

I’d learn to hate her

But I know one day soon, they’ll be kissing

And she’ll know he’s not right, and she’ll look

Just to see what’s she’s got, who she’s missing

But then when she comes back, I’ll be book’d

Up and away

I went to play

Was already planned

Just me and my band

Nothing illicit

Loved her explicitly

Few months later

I’d learn to hate her

“Wait until Ben hears this. He’s going to flip. You guys are
on
! I love this tour!! Best thing that’s ever happened to us. I swear. Don’t you think?”

“Well, you know,” Peron begins, deadpanning, “except for the whole girlfriend ditching me for another guy… the whole thing you just sang about in this song that was caused by this tour, you know… yeah!”

“It was going on
before
the tour,” Damon reminds him, which is good, because I was going to if he hadn’t.

“Fuck, she probably would have been cheating on you behind your back if you hadn’t gone on tour, so this just may be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. And Per, you’re gonna get laid tonight, okay?”

“Yeah?” Damon asks.

I nod my head. “That’s the plan.”

“Then that’s the goal,” he agrees. “And I don’t fail at my goals. Peron, man. We’re finding you a honey tonight in Brookings–oh
fuck
!”

“Yeah, we know,” I tell him. “Strange coincidence.”

“It’s perfect. You get over Brooke in Brookings. No better place,” Damon says. “We should find you the sexiest woman and get a picture of you two doing nasty things to each other in front of the city sign… and then send that to Brooke.”

Peron looks Damon straight in the eyes. “That’s okay. Just finding the girl and a private place to, uh, do some nasty things will be sufficient.”

“If you say so.”

“Yeah.”