She-Rox: A Rock & Roll Novel (10 page)

It was the dinner hour and all lights were on when Ben dropped Eddie off at the Hildebrandt’s. The front door opened and there was T.J. Crossing the threshold, she hugged her friend and pulling away, T.J. cried, “
Look at you!”
Their old habits came back as the two stomped up the stairs in tandem to T.J.’s room.

“Where is he?” Eddie whispered.

“He’s here, but we gotta talk first,” T.J. said, closing her bedroom door.

“What now?”

“Studying for the MCAT has turned him into a wicked version of Jekyl and Hyde. So, he’s here, but he’s in a foul mood. You may not want to see him.”

“Oh
.
”

“Give him some space.”

“Give him some space?” Eddie uttered, “I’ve been doing that for seven months.”

“He finally got his own apartment, he’s never here anymore . . . I haven’t even seen Leah Campbell, but that doesn’t mean anything. Man, that girl is wack.”

“That girl is gorgeous. I look positively plain standing next to her.”

“Who knows what Kai’s up to. The guy can be a knuckle-dragging bro-magnon who thinks everybody wants a piece.”

“They do,” Eddie pressed.

“Yeah, well, Mr. Bed-Room-Eyes is nothing more than a dressed up pair of Santa Claus batteries right now. He should be fun, but—”

“And one day he’ll be Dr. Bro-Magnon and the women will stack up faster than the Wall Street Journal.”

“Until there’s a female specimen out there who looks like a Victoria’s Secret model, can hold a deep conversation regarding linear algebra, vectors, or particle/wave duality and fill out a teddy, Kai ain’t interested. So, you’re safe.”

“Leah comes awfully close.”

There was a quiet knock on the door. Kai stuck his head in. “I thought I heard you two.”

He looked wiped out, but his wavy dark locks and green eyes were just as Eddie remembered. Standing in bare feet, jeans and a maroon t-shirt that had “Stanford” stamped on the front, he asked, “Can we talk?” Not waiting for an answer, he left, expecting Eddie to follow. She did.

Books littered the floor of Kai’s bedroom.

Seeing them, Eddie asked, “How’s school?”

“It’s grueling and I’d rather not discuss it if you don’t mind,” he stated. “I would rather hear how you’re getting on in Los Angeles. All I know is what T.J. tells me and that is that you’re playing in some girl band and you got a job at a diner or something.”

Eddie filled him in.

“And that’s everything then?” Kai questioned.

“Pretty much,” she returned.

“That’s not
everything
, though.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“What’s all this about some rock star?”

“I should’ve known T.J. would tell you about Slade.”

“Slade . . . you’re on a first name basis with this guy? So now, besides trying to get into med school I have to worry about you hanging out with
Slade?
This is perfect.”

“What do you care? Besides, it’s nothing.”

“Nothing, huh . . . I’ll tell you what nothing is. Nothing is being in a room full of cadavers for company and making friends with the smell of formaldehyde. That’s much closer to nothing. Hanging out with rock stars is definitely something.”

“We are
not hanging out
, Kai.”

“
I
even heard of Slade McAllister . . . only you Eddie . . . only you . . . “

“I got a job recording in a studio and Slade just happened to be there. He came in asking to borrow a guitar string, that’s it.”

Kai gave a look of disbelief.

“I’m not kidding. He has a girlfriend. She’s a Hollywood female mud wrestler . . . like I can compete with that.”

With a mocking curve of his eyebrow, he replied, “It certainly looks like you’re trying.”

“Kai, you’ve never liked the way I’ve dressed. It doesn’t fit the Stanford coed mold. Why don’t you just get yourself a girl that goes by the name of Buffy, and we’ll both be happy.”

“I don’t have any kind of mold when it comes to women, Eddie. You’ve . . . changed, that’s all.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have,” he insisted, his eyes looking her over again. “Even your body language is different. The last time we were together you were sweet and adorable, you were . . .
sweet
.”

“Kai, the last time we were together, was at Club Cathedral and you asked my drummer if he got more than drool on his SAT, which, by the way, culminated in a band argument backstage—”

“—and I would have known about it, but you took off—Eddie, you didn’t even say goodbye! You packed your stuff up and
left
for L.A.”

“What reason did I have to say goodbye?”

“Oh, get real.”

“Kai there’s no exclusivity here.”

The two looked at each other.

“Eddie, we’re different.”

“
We are
. . . different how?”

“Our dates are different, where we go and what we do is different. The way we communicate is different.”

“That’s only because I play in bands, ergo, you hang out in places you normally wouldn’t. I put your name at the door -- you skip out on the cover charge. That’s the difference.”

“That’s not it – you don’t talk like other girls, you don’t act like other girls, you don’t do the things that all the other females I know, do.
You
are different, which is what makes everything between us different.”

“All that and you still need a harem full of Paris Hilton wannabes.”

Eddie got up to leave, but Kai blocked her.

With his hands rigid on her shoulders, he ordered, “Don’t go.” Softening his grip, and letting his hands slide down to twine with her fingers, he quietly pleaded, “Sorry, I haven’t been myself, lately.” The warmth from his fingers made Eddie’s pulse instantaneously race. “Eddie, I’m trying to get into what is arguably the most difficult medical school in the country and you’re melting at the feet of some guitar hero . . . and seeing you looking like this, it doesn’t help.” He fumbled with any more coherent explanation and finally confessed, “I didn’t know how much I missed you, till I saw you and—”

“You missed me?”

“God, yes
.
”

Kai’s head hung low and his lips came down to meet hers. The same flood of emotion Eddie had longed to feel, the ringing in her ears, and the sensory overload that happened when she kissed Kai came back like a tidal wave. The blaze from his mouth made her free fall, like a good euphoric drug.

Kai buried his face into her hair, and whispered, “I miss doing that. I miss you being here. Eddie, please come back and go to the Conservatory—”

“Kai.”

“You’re wasting your talent.”

“Stop.”

“I’m serious,” he pled, as his hands cupped her face.

“So am I.”

“What makes you think you’re going to waltz down there and all your dreams are going to magically come true with this girl band? Hollywood isn’t Disneyland
.
”

“
I know that
.”

“Why would you want to throw away your genius so you can to attend some punked-out school?”

“I already told you, I don’t want a classical career.”

“Some people would kill to have your talent, but your ambition only goes as far as a patch cord can plug into a tube screamer.”

“I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

“You mean like a roadie? This is the kind of lunacy saved for stupid star-struck teenagers.”

“Yep, I’m just some stupid hairdo trying to land crazy kabuki gigs . . . and now, I’m star struck on top of it.” Eddie dropped her arms and stepped out of the warmth of Kai’s arms.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’ve already landed my first studio gig, I’m in a band, I’m networking and one of the biggest rock stars on the planet has sent me flowers. I’d say I’m doing pretty good.”

“Slade sent you flowers?”

“They were apology flowers,” Eddie explained.

“And what could he have possibly done to sanction apology flowers?”

“It’s not so much what he did, but more what I said,” Eddie confessed. “I sort of ran over his poetic license and bashed into his male pride.”

“Why would he send flowers for that?”

“He asked me what I thought about his new songs and I told him the truth.”

“You didn’t like ‘em?”

Seeing the impish shake of her head, Kai thought,
“That’s my Eddie. She isn’t enticing musicians . . . she’s insulting them.”

December 23, 2006, San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center

“I hate these social things,” Kai said.

“It was the ballet, Kai. You didn’t socialize with a single soul other than me. The lights went out, Clara took the stage and now we’re walking to the car.”

“Why do they call it “The Nutcracker” anyways? It sounds like a mob movie.”

“I would have happily gone with my parents.”

“And miss time with my girl?”

“
One
of your girls
.
”

“My favorite girl—”

“Right.”

“Let’s get something to eat.”

Sampling her truffled fries, Eddie mentioned, “T.J. told me you have your own apartment now.”

“Yeah, it’s closer to campus . . . more convenient.”

“And private
.
”

“Yes, that too,” Kai smiled. “You may think you’re some hardcore rocker, Miss Eddie, but you are still a hard wired member of the female sex.”

“You’ve got to stop using the word ‘rocker’ like junkie, hooker, pimp or stoner with me.”

“You’ve got curiosity written all over your face.”

“That may be true with all the other babes you lure back into your web. But I have no plans, no schemes . . . your personal life is just that, personal. We meet up and hang out when we can.”

“What we got going on is a bit more than hanging out, Eddie,” Kai stated, sounding annoyed. “What is it with women anyway? You call them back the next day—you’re a stalker. You don’t call ‘em, you’re a jerk. You ask them to coffee—you’re a tight wad.” Taking a bite of his sliders, Kai continued, “I met this one girl at the campus bookstore. We were both in the physics section. I figured I might be able to have a half way intelligent conversation. And the stars must have been in alignment because she had on this short little skirt—the whole package, right—thought I’d won the lottery. So I ask her if she wants to get a cappuccino over at the espresso bar and halfway through my latte, she writes a note on this napkin and slides it across to me and you know what it said?”