Page 6 of Banging the Drummer

Official_Mason_Ball: Fascinating. How about another one?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Tug-of-war used to be an Olympic sport. Britain took home five gold medals.

chapter

four

Mason

I’m sitting in first class on the plane to London where our reunion tour launches. The melody in my head plays on and I try to write down the notes on one side of my notebook, while jotting down lyrics on the other side. I haven’t been this full of ideas and music in years.

I’ve worked. Scoring movies under a different name because I didn’t want yet another stream of notoriety. Being a member of Soul Obsession and the wayward son in a musical genius family is enough for one lifetime.

Crue drops his large body in the leather recliner next to me. His eyes glance at my notebook, but he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t ask questions. I know he’s curious. I’ve seen him watching me, but it’s just his way to wait until I’m ready to talk.

“I think I’ve met someone,” I say, closing the notebook over my hand.

He nods. “Someone important?”

“Potentially. Yes. Maybe.” I squeeze my eyes closed for a moment. “I don’t know. I honestly don't even know how it started. Maybe it was ego, but I think it was more morbid curiosity.”

Crue’s brows raise.

“I found myself on the old bulletin board for Soul Obsession.”

“Like that old-school message boards?”

“Exactly. Did you ever visit?”

He chuffs a laugh. “A few times, I guess. I don’t remember anything specific though.”

I nod. “Admittedly, I would go on there—back at the height of our popularity—and just soak it all in. It helped me process everything. I couldn’t really focus when it happened in real time. It was simply too overwhelming. I would just sort of mentally check out.”

“Yeah, we all knew that about it. I’m glad you figured out a way to work through it. I sure as fuck didn’t know how to help you,” Crue says.

“It was mostly on the bad days. Or the days when my parents would call or send word about my brothers’ accomplishments. I'd pop onto the message boards to remind myself that what we were doing had real value. I know it sounds narcissistic, but it helped keep me grounded in a way I couldn't when we were on stage.”

“Makes sense, man. I get it. So I take it you went to the boards for old-time’s sake?” Crue asks.

I laugh. “Yeah. After the announcement of the new album and reunion tour released, I found myself poking around.”

“You know there’s just as much on the newer social media platforms.”

I shake my head. “Nah. That’s more likely new fans. I wanted to see how our original fans were taking the news.”

“Pretty fucking well, I’d imagine.”

“Yes. I mean there are always going to be some trolls and haters, but for the most part people are excited. One thing led to another and I found myself sliding into this one poster's DM's. Other posters had been giving her shit and she handed them their asses while doing it sweetly and with authority.”

I can’t help but smile remembering how I’d watch Luna admonish them. “It was fucking beautiful to watch. So I reached out to thank her for being a voice of reason.”

Crue’s brows raise. “That’s really all that caught your attention?”

I shoot him a glare because I hate that, after all these years, he still knows me so well. “Maybe the fact that her username was Luna_and_Mason_4Ever caught my attention. Maybe I noticed that on the user details it clearly said she'd been a member of the forum for fourteen years. Almost from the very beginning.” I look at Crue. “She is a legit true fan.”

“Which means she’s likely old enough to be married with some toddlers running around,” Crue says.

“Don’t you think I asked? Our initial conversations were brief and stilted with lots of her using words like Mason's team and the like. I finally asked her what she meant because my username clearly stated I was Official_Mason_Ball.” It occurs to me that it could actually take the entire flight to London to explain all of this to Crue or I could just hand him my laptop and let him read through our initial correspondence.