I'll Be There

I stared up at the burly man blocking my way, glancing past him into the exotically lit room beyond. He glared back down at me and I stared blankly. “Name.” He stated gruffly, looking towards Dj. “Ashba.” He replied coolly. The man’s face softened under his dark glasses. It was funny how he had to look down at him, but Dj appeared solemn as ever, totally unaffected by the man’s size. “Yes sir.” He said, moving away from the entrance immediately. Dj took my hand. “She’s with me.” He said. The man looked like he was going to object but decided not to. I gladly let Dj pull me into the place, automatically wincing as the loud music struck my ears. After a moment of adjusting though my face brightened. “Metallica!” I shouted above the noise. Dj smiled and nodded at me, leading me further into the place. I stared around like a kid in a candy store. Exotic girls spun around the place, weaving through men and strangers, dancing with the music as the beat changed to a softer Guns N’ Roses song. I followed Dj up some stairs, brushing past a few girls on the way, each of whom glared at me after tossing a million dollar smile at my guitarist. I glared back, and even gave one the honor of my special finger when she gave me a particularly dirty sneer.
Dj noticed all the women being mean towards Raven, but he tugged her along, hoping she would ignore them. Once they trudged up the stairs he took a hard left and swerved around people and halls and tables like they weren’t even there. She kept up surprisingly well, weaving along behind him. He finally saw his destination; the mix master, a friend of his named Chris, or DC (for DJ Chris, minus the J) when he was working. He was at his usual table in the back, waiting for his latest master mix to run out before he changed it to another hellish creation of his. The man was on his phone, probably tweeting about the strange and ominous rendition of an Alice Cooper song currently playing, when he looked up and saw them. It took him a moment before he smiled and waved them over. Dj pulled out a chair for Raven before seating himself. “Dj! It’s been a while man, how was touring?” “Amazing” responded the guitarist, “DC this is my girlfriend Raven, Raven this is Chris, he creates the music from hell that you hear in this place”
I smiled without really meaning to. He called me his girlfriend! Chris held his hand out to me, and I took it happily. “Pleasure Raven, and please call me DC, any friend of Dj’s is a friend of mine.” I beamed at him, “Igualmente DC, Dj do you have any other friends with half of your initials?” I joked at him. He smirked. “Well, there’s that one guy…” he started, and I made a face. “Well then,” DC said, “Would you like a drink?” He waved over one of the girls who was clearly a waitress and asked for a beer for himself. “Well, actually..” Dj began, but I cut in. “Jager’s good for me, same for you Dj?” He gave me a dirty look and nodded to the girl. “Same.” Chris gave us a funny look but clearly thought it was nothing of importance. “So, what brings you here tonight?” he asked Dj, and they launched into a conversation that included too many topics for me to know what was going on.
After a few minutes of describing the electronics of Guns’ soundboard to Chris, Dj noticed that Raven wasn’t even paying attention and was instead fooling with her phone, no doubt texting Nikki or checking twitter, maybe both. The last thing he needed was Nikki bugging her about their conversation. “Chris, you think we could go check out that mixing board you never use?” Dj asked his friend. Chris smirked. “I use it sometimes okay, but playing the next track from my phone is easier.” He tried to defend himself as he downed his drink and stood up. Raven looked up at Dj. “We leaving?” she asked. He took her hand. “No, just going to un-bore you.” He said. She made a guilty face and put her phone in her pocket. DC led them around the club to his mixing board. Raven listened to him describe it, and even knew some of what he was talking about. Dj was impressed, even wondering how she knew so much. By the time she had mixed her own song, DC was the one learning. Dj started laughing. “Let’s leave before DC gets fired” he joked. Raven made a face and pulled her phone out, a sign that she was giving in and going back to her world. Dj bid farewell to his friend and led her away from the dark club.
Dj walked beside me for a few blocks, finally stopping at a surprisingly small place on a dirty old corner that was lit with string lights, and housed comfortable chairs with a few people on laptops. We sat down across from each other at a tall table as I pulled my phone out and answered Nikki. He was being surprisingly difficult about answering my curiosity. Dj lightly placed his hand over my phone and raised an eyebrow at me. I surrendered it to the table and looked at him. “What?” I asked. “What was with your sudden soundboard knowledge back there?” I shrugged. “Nothing really, Kerri showed me some stuff at the studio and-“ “You were at Nikki’s studio?” he asked. “Yeah?” I said, more like a question. Nikki never told him? “Anyway,” I continued, “Kerri showed me some things and I pick up on it fast I guess.” I acted like it was no big deal. My whole life I picked up on things easily, it’s one of the reasons I can play guitar so well without being so experienced. Dj looked thoughtful, and I gave him a questioning gaze. “You don’t have a job do you Raven?” he asked, already knowing the answer. I felt my face get red. “Well…no..” I stammered. He nodded to himself. “Why don’t you intern under my rig manager? You could tour with me and get paid at the same time” I stared at him. Did my boyfriend just offer me a job? I said the only thing I could, “Sure.” I mentally facepalmed. He smiled. “Great.”