Soundtracks of a Life (4 page)

I go back into the house and
get on my swim clothes as he gets a couple of surf broads from the garage. We walk back to the beach and he sets the board on the sand.

“We’re not going to the water?”
I ask confused.

“No. First you need to learn how to stand on the board and that is better done on land, believe me. So the trick here is you have to prop yourself up
by putting both of your feet on the board at the same time. If you don’t, more weight will go on one side and you’ll fall before you can fully stand.”

“Ok.”
I say. He shows me how to do it first then I try a couple of times.

“How does this look?”

“Terrible! You’re not even close,” he laughs.

“Well it would help if you weren’t finding my failure so entertaining!”

“I’m sorry,” he says trying to contain his laughter.

I keep trying for a while longer.

“Ok, you are almost there, just a little faster on your left foot.”

“That’s it! You got it! Now we try in
the water!”

We head out to the ocean
, the water is cold at first but then my body gets used to the temperature and it doesn’t feel so bad. We paddle until he tells me to stop. The warmth of the sun helps to keep the cold at bay.

“Ok, so
now we wait for a wave, when I tell you paddle, you paddle as fast as you can. When you feel the wave forming you get up on the board like I just showed you and that’s it. Try not to fall and let the wave take you.

“Yes that sounds so simple!” I say laughing.

“It is, you’ll see.” He says encouragingly.

We wait for a while until h
e yells “paddle!” We wildly start paddling and I feel the wave forming under the board. I hear him screaming “get up, get up!” So I do… and then, obviously, I fall, I feel the water crashing against my back.  That repeats quite a few times, one wipe out better than the next, but I’m having a great time trying.

“Okay I’m getting my ass kicked out here,” I finally
admit defeated.

“You are close
, seriously. One more time, I can feel it, this time it’ll work.” Chris says prodding me to try one more time. So we go for one more wave. We paddle. I stand on the board and this time I don’t fall. I feel the board picking up speed. I’m riding the wave and it feels awesome!

Chris
had stayed behind and I hear him yelling, “You’re surfing baby! Yeah!”

I ride the wave to
the end then fall off the board. I jump right back on it and paddle back to where Chris is.

“Alright! I knew you could do it!” he says
excitedly with a big smile on his face.

“It was so fun!” I say laughing
still riding high from my accomplishment. “I can’t believe I finally did it!” I say laughing but then I notice Chris looking into my eyes so deeply it stops me short.

“What?” I ask
shyly a little disconcerted with his deep gaze.

“Nothing... It’s just
… you often have this look in your face, like you are always worried about something and right now it’s cleared... I would almost say you are happy.” He smiles at me.

I
look at him happily. We sit next to each other on our boards just quietly staring at the ocean lost in our own thoughts, until he sees me shiver. He rubs my arm and says, “It’s getting cold. C’mon let’s head back.”

**************

Next morning we get up early to drive back. I’m walking down the hallway when I hear Chris and his mom talking about me and I stop. I didn’t mean to listen to their chat but I couldn’t help it!

“So what is the deal between you and Lorelai?” I hear her asking.

“Nothing mom. I told you we are just friends.” Chris says trying to sound dismissive.

“Just friends… since when are you just friends with girls? And since when do you bring a girl home for us to meet? She is certainly not the bimbos you usually date!”

“Mooooom!” he says indignant and I have to suppress my laughter.

“Look, I’m just saying she is a nice girl Chris. Be serious with this one ok? Besides she has a lot to deal with without you giving her more. So you do right by this girl. That’s all.”

“Okay, but you don’t have to worry she is just my friend.”

I shouldn’t feel disappointed with this... we are just friends after all.
But if I’m going to be truthful with myself, I would have to admit, I was a little disappointed.

On the drive
back we don’t say much to each other. We are both very quiet, lost in our own thoughts throughout the drive. Before I know it we have arrived. He parks in front of my apartment and gets out of the car to get my bag from the truck.

“Thanks Chris
.” I say as he hands me my bag. “I did have good time this weekend. It was very nice meeting your family. They are really nice people.”

“I’m glad you came,”
he says earnestly and takes me in for a goodbye hug. I smell his perfume an intoxicating fresh lemony scent, his hand on my waist sends an electric jolt through my body.   We are both silent in an awkward moment. We’ve been having lots of these moments lately…

“See you at band practice.”
He says finally breaking the silence between us.

“See ya,” I
reply and take a deep breath as I watch him leave.

Chapter 6

The band was gaining notoriety and we were getting more and more invitations to play everywhere in the country now. We were also getting offers from people wanting to manage us. Because of our school, we decide not to take any engagements outside the area, and since we weren’t, we didn’t see the need to get a manager either. James could handle our local schedule, but all that was about to change soon.

That weekend we play
ed a big club in San Francisco. The house was packed and the show was a success. People were really into the songs and it was just one of those electric performances. The club owner couldn’t be happier and invited us for another performance at a later date. We are hanging back by the stage taking a breather before we pack our stuff to go. The guys are distracted chatting with some girls that came by the stage when I get approached by an impeccably dressed woman.

She
is tall, with dark, really short hair styled in a fashionable haircut. She looked like she was about in her mid-forties. Her clothes obviously yelled of money. She extends her hand to me.

“Hi, my name is Susan Carmichael.
” She immediately hands me her card. It reads, Sony Music Entertainment.

“Hi, Lorelai Hathaway,” I answer shaking her hand.

I was wondering if we could talk for a moment.”

“Ok,” I say and w
e take a table in the corner of the bar.

“Do you want to drink anything?
” She asks.

“Just water is fine, thanks.”

“That was quite the concert you guys put on tonight.”

“
Thanks.”

“It was really impressive. Your band has a lot of talent. Who writes the music?”

“I do.”

“You wrote all those songs the band played tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“They are really good.  They have incredible potential. A friend of mine saw your band and told I had to come and listen to you. I didn’t believe you were going to be as good as he said. I’m happy to say I was wrong. You
are better than he said. Who is your manager?”

“We don’t technically have a manager. James over there,” I point to James, “is kind of our manager. He handles our appointments and fees.”

“Well that makes it even easier then.” She says happily. “I’ll cut to the chase. I want to manage your band.”

“We had many offers for that. We are all currently
in college so we really can’t take many engagements…”

“I don’t think you understand. I’m not talking about managing you
for gigs at bars and small halls across the country. I believe you have what it takes to hit the big leagues and I would like to be the one to take you guys there. With me you can get there.”

“Wow, okay…
” she is definitely confident and straight to the point. “So what are we talking here?” I ask.

“Well, you talk to your band
first and then later we can get into specifics with everyone. Basically, I would sign you, become your manager and that includes getting you a record deal with Epic Records. We would cut a first album right away and start a campaign to get the music and the band in the media. Depending on the success of that phase then we can negotiate a more extensive record deal and so on.”

“Wow! Ok.”
I reply somewhat stunned.

“How many more songs you have like the ones you played tonight?”

“A boatload…”

“Wonderful,” she says smiling at me.

“Okay, I’ll talk to the guys. Where can we reach you?”

“
When you are ready, just call me at my office, the phone is in the card, and we will set an appointment to go through the details.”

She gets up, w
e shake hands and she walks off.

“Holly crap,” I say to myself taking a sit again still in disbelief of what just happened.

I walk back to the stage where the guys are now packing the gear to leave. The club is pretty much empty now, aside from the people who work there.

“Hey guys, can you
take a break, we need to have a talk,” I say. They stop what they were doing and we all take a table.

“So I’ve got some interesting news…
” I say excitedly.  “The woman I was just talking to, she is with Sony Music and she just offered to become our manager… not only that, she offered us a deal to cut a record with Epic Records!”

“You’re kidding,” James says
in total disbelief.

I put her busi
ness card on the table. They see I’m dead serious.

We
sit silently in a stunned moment staring at the card on the table and then, in unison, we erupt together getting up high fiving each other, jumping up and down laughing! “We have a record deal baby!” Ted yells.

I let the guys get it out of their system before I say, “Guys, guys, settle down now.
” They are still too excited to stop but I continue anyway. “Look, you do know what this means though right? If we go this route, this is for real. This would mean taking on the band full time. No more school.”

That thought
finally settles them down. We are all quiet for a while, until Ted finally speaks.

“Well I don’t care, I love this freaking band. I love you guys,” he puts each of his arms around James and Chris. “Playing drums in school or in this band is a no brainer for me. I’ll take you guys any time!”

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” James says. “As a musician, it would be crazy to pass it up. I’m in,” he says and asks me, “What about you Lor?”

“You know I’m all in James…”
It was a moot point for me I had no doubts on that matter.

Chris is the only one sitting quietly
now. He is no longer smiling. You can see the conflict in his face. We all stare at him.

“Oh c’mon lawyer boy! If you say no I’ll object!” Ted says
jokingly. “How am I going to get as many girls without you around? You’re my chick magnet dude!” Ted teases him on but Chris still doesn’t respond.

“Guys, can I talk to Chris alone?” I say.

James and Ted get up and go to the bar laughing celebrating the news.

“You don’t have to give an answer right now,” I say.

He looks at me for a moment before he speaks. “You know I want to do this. But my parents… they are going to be so disappointed. How can I face my dad and tell him I won’t be a lawyer? “Sorry dad I’m going to play guitar instead.” Chris pretends to say as if delivering the news to his dad.

“Look, from what I could tell when I met them, they love you Chris and I’m sure they will support you if this is what you decide. They will be disappointed, yes, but they will want you to be happy. The question is what do you want?”

“What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t want to influence your decision.”

“But I want your opinion. It’s important to me.” He reaches across the table and takes my hand in his.

“Well
, my very biased opinion is, you are 24 years old. You have a lifetime to be in a law office later. If this doesn’t work out, the worst case scenario is you come back to school to finish, get your degree and be a lawyer. So, if in your heart you feel you want to do this, then you should.”

We sit quietly for a while
until I hear him say excitedly.

“Fuck it. I want to do this!”

“Are you sure?”

“Very!” He gives me a big smile and pulls me
in for hug. I yell at the guys. “Chris is in!”

They come back to meet us with some drinks and we make a toast to our future.