Two Roads Split Off From Here

Do It For Your Friends

I sat in my car, thinking. I held my ex-boyfriend’s band’s CD in my hand, and another potential boyfriend was in there. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I put the CD in my bag, locked up my car and went in.

“Hi, Joe,” I said.

“Hi, Lisa. Frank and Aaron are waiting for you. Aaron has something for both of you to work on.”

“Okay.”

I went to put my coat away, and I went to Aaron’s office. He was the one training Frank and I, showing us around, and showing us what we’d be doing. I walked in.

“Hi, Aaron.”

“Hi, Lisa.”

Frank turned to look at me. He had a hurt look on his face, but he turned away quickly. Aaron got up and we followed him.

“What we’re gonna do today is, I’m going to talk to you about organizing. When someone comes in and records, you would help them figure out the order of how the tracks will go on the CD. Like what song sounds good after another song, or before. Make sense?”

“Yes,” both of us said.

“Let’s do a test for both of you, Lisa, go there, Frank go over there. You each have a CD of four songs. Listen to them, and see how you think the track listing should go.”

I did as he said. I listened to the CD, and wrote down the track listing I thought was good. We both finished and went back to Aaron. He looked over what we put.

“Okay, this is what you guys put, and this is how they listed them. Both of you got it right. You both seem to have good ears for music. That’s what I mean by organizing. Don’t tell them, though, suggest it. Like ‘well, I think this song seems to work better before this one.’ Not like ‘this song should go here.’ Am I still making sense?”

“Yes,” both of us said.

“You two learn quickly, and work really well.”

We learned more about organization, and he showed us around the studio before sending us off to lunch. I went to my locker and grabbed the CD. I stood there for a moment, staring at it. Just do it, for Sonny, Travis, and Derek. For Sonny especially. You’ve been best friends since you were five.

I headed back out and went to Joe’s office. I knocked.

“Come in.”

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi, Lisa, what can I do for you?”

“I have some friends who formed a band. They got some stuff together and made a CD. I sold a bunch yesterday on my last day at Hot Topic. I was wondering if there was someone I could give the CD to?”

“Do you have one on you?”

“Yeah.” I handed it to him.

“Okay. I’ll take it, and show it around to people.”

“Really? Thanks. I put contact info in that one. It would mean a lot to them. The singer, and the guitar player are my best friends since we were about five. The bassist and the drummer I met in high school, but they’re all cool guys,” I explained.

“I’ll have people listen to it. Now, go eat some food.”

I smiled and walked back out to the break room. I glanced at Frank who was eating a sandwich and watching the TV. I grabbed my food and sat at the farthest table from him. I ate my food and just ignored everything.