Page 7 of More Than Words

“Didn’t your parents tell you it’s rude to stare?” I shook my head and sat in the empty chair next to Tibby.

“You’re in lurvvveee,” Claude teased.

“Dude, what the fuck is lurve? Is that even a word?” Didn’t wanna push too far given he’d just come around to us. He’d been so I’m Claude and my shit don’t stink for so long, we weren’t sure he’d work out as our drummer. Diamond and Shadow must’ve beaten some sense into him. He-he, beat as in a drummer who beats the skins. Yeah, I crack myself up.

“No clue,” Claude shrugged, “heard it in a movie once and it just kinda stuck. So, you and Wolf, huh?”

“Yeah, guess it’s out in the open now.”

“I’d say so,” Bowie added. “But, as your best friend I reserve the right to smack down anyone who hurts you.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure Wolf knows that,” I rolled my eyes though my besties protective side was one of many things I loved about him. “Pretty exciting, huh, hitting the road and getting to play at a bunch of places we’ve never seen before.”

“I wonder what our bus will look like?” Claude said. “I hear the Masterson buses are high end.”

“Yeah, but we’re the low hanging fruit so I’m guessing ours won’t be decked out,” Bowie replied. “Not that it matters. I know they wouldn’t let us use a crappy bus or have us stay in shitty hotels.”

“That’s true,” Pressley said when he walked in. “Our bus isn’t at Joey or Stoli’s level, but it’s not horrible either. All their buses have been remodeled, have wireless Wi-Fi and the latest gaming systems. There’s a small office area for me to use and Ely and Jordan, Rhone’s husband and David’s life partner from Embrace the Fear, manage menus for the bands as well as for the Rocktoberfest talent. Needless to say, the food doesn’t suck and there’s plenty of coffee on board.”

“Right-frigging-on,” Claude cheered. “Man, this is the life.”

“Just keep pulling your weight, all of you,” Pressley said. “Masterson invests a lot in their talent and that’s the least we can do to show our appreciation.” We all easily agreed to that. We’d been given the golden ticket, and I’ll be damned if we’re gonna screw it up.

I stood and threw my trash away. “Alright guys, let’s get back to it. We’ve got a couple of songs we’re just not landing it on. We need to knock them out before we hit the road."

“Hey, man, you got a sec?” I pulled Bowie aside, nervous as hell to show him this. “I’ve been um, I’ve been writing a song, and I’d like to get your opinion on it.”

He side-eyed me. “Dude, we’ve written hundreds of songs together so how is this one any different?”

“Here,” I shoved the folded paper at him. “You tell me.”

I’m Into You

On the back of your Harley did it for me

Just the two of us out for a ride with nowhere to be

At the first stop you said those words