Music Biz

“As the darkness rose, we watched our beauty fade away with the light…” I sang.

“Wow, that’s amazing. It’s a beautiful melody. Though dude, can you sing higher? Just two more note would make it so much more stunning,” Brandi said.

“Another note higher? That’s high, you know? As it is, I’m singing two higher than I originally wrote it in.”

“Whoa. But I do think it would sound better. Just try it, ok? It’ll definitely make it a tear-jerker,” Brandi urged.

“Fine, fine,” I said, playing the beginning notes to the song on the piano.

“Why don’t you understand, I only want to be ok…” I started.

“See, wasn’t that better?” Brandi asked when I was done.

“Fine, fine, I’ll admit it, it was much better,” I replied.

“Glad we agree on that. Now, the melody is amazing, and it’s defiantly in a better key. Lunch?”

“It’s already lunch time?” I asked.

“Well yes and no. Seen how you don’t actually have an actual schedule, we can go whenever, and I am getting hungry,” Brandi said.

“Oh fine, let’s go then,” I said.

“And you have to call people, remember?”

“Oh right! Thank you! I totally would have forgotten!” I exclaimed. We grabbed our purses, and left.

“So where do we eat?” Brandi asked.

“Wherever you want. There’s a bunch of little restaurants along that road, and a couple fancier ones that way,” I said, pointing around.

“Little restaurants sound better than fancy ones. Cute guys work at small places,” Brandi noted.

“Are you like, boy obsessed or something?” I asked.

“Of course not. It’s just fun to tease them,” she replied.

“If you say so,” I said, pushing open the door to the small pizza joint.

“Perfect example,” Brandi whispered, nodding towards the boy behind the counter.

“Hello ladies, what can I get for you today,” he asked.

“Well, I’d like your name, number and a slice of cheese pizza,” Brandi replied.

“I’m Andrew, and no you can’t have my number. What do you want?” Andrew asked, looking at me.

“One slice of pepperoni and a Root Beer please,” I said.

“That, I can do,” he said.

“And you can just as easily give me your number,” Brandi put in, leaning towards him. Now I realized how come she wore low cut shirts. Surprisingly, it was funny to watch Andrew’s face change from controlled to nervous. I tried not to laugh.

“Here,” he said, grabbing a napkin to write on. “Now, let me get your food, and then we’ll talk more, right?”

“Of course,” Brandi nodded. Somehow, this was going to end badly.
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“Here’s your food, ladies. I hope it’s up to your liking,” Andrew said, sliding the plates across the counter.

“If it’s as good as you are, I’m sure it’ll be perfect,” Brandi replied.

We ate quickly. I still needed to call Darek, and he didn’t always like double dates.

“Good pizza. Is it always this good?” Brandi asked me.

“Yeah. Supposedly, it’s this old family secret,” I told her.

“Interesting… hey Andrew,” Brandi said.

“Yes?”

“I won’t be calling you. The pizza may be good, but I’ve seen better guys. Goodbye number,” she said, dropping the napkin into her lemonade glass. She got up, getting ready to leave, and I followed suit. Andrew didn’t look too good.

“You ok?” I murmured to him.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured me. I nodded, and followed Brandi out of the shop.

“Well that was fun. Did you see his face? It looked like he was going to cry,” Brandi exclaimed.

“Uh, sure.”

“Anyways, I’m going to go back to the studio. There are a couple things I need to talk about with Mr. Watson. And you, girly, need to call your boyfriend,” she told me again.

“I know, I know. I’ll call him right now!” I said, searching for my cell phone in my messy purse.

Brandi had long since disappeared by the time I found my cell. God, I need to clean out my purse. So much useless stuff…

I went into a small café to make the call. It’d look weird if I randomly stood somewhere to talk.

“Hey Darek,” I said when he answered on the fifth ring.

“Hey babe, how are you?” he asked.

“I’m good, what about you?” I replied.

“I’m good, I’m good,” he said, rather loudly. In the background, I swear I heard another voice asking who was on the phone. A female voice.

“Julie wants to go out for a double date tonight. Francis finally asked her to be his girlfriend,” I said.

“Go out where?”

“We’d actually be staying at my place, supper and a movie I guess.”

“I guess that’d be ok. Can you come pick me up?” he asked. It only slightly bothered me that he didn’t have a car.

“Yeah, I’ll be there at seven if that’s good with you,” I said.

“Aw, can’t you come earlier, and we’ll chill here a bit before?” he wanted to know.

“Maybe, it depends when I get off work,” I told him.

“Well call me when you’re done, and we’ll go from here. Ok?”

“Ok, see you later!” I said, hanging up. Now, to call Julie.

“Hey Julz,” I said.

“Dasha! So glad you finally got back to me!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, well. I worked all morning. Brandi’s got me working my vocal cords,” I said.

“That sucks. So we’re still on for tonight?” Julie asked.

“Yeah. Darek said it’s fine by him. Do you need me home early to help with the cooking?”

“No, no. Francis actually told me he wants to help, so we’ll be eating whenever you and Darek get home,” she said.

“Ok. It’ll probably be around six then. I get off about five, and with traffic and everything it’ll take me about that long to get him and get home,” I said.

“Awesome, I’ll see you then.”

We both hung up, and I sighed. This was going to be a long evening.