The Lunacy Fringe

The next day, Felix asked me to hang out with him again. We lay on his bed, facing each other and talking for a long time. We didn't spend a whole lot of time kissing. Just touching hands while he played with my fingers, we told each other all our hopes and dreams. And okay—we did kiss a lot. Actually, most of that time we spent kissing.

"You know rubies are my favorite gems?" he murmured as he pressed kisses on my lips. My cheeks got hot again.

"Right, I'm sure," I agreed. He smiled, and then his expression went solemn.

"Ruby, I uh…." It looked like he had something important to say. But then he changed his mind and kissed me again.

"What is it?" I asked anyway.

"I uh—I want to take you out tomorrow."

"Like on a date?"

"Yeah, a real one this time."

"Okay."

He smiled and kissed me again. But then the phone rang so he got up and went to get it from the living room. While he was gone, I fixed my hair, hoping it didn't look like I'd spent the afternoon making out. He appeared in the bedroom a minute later and leaned against the doorframe.

"It's your dad," he said.

"Oh great." I followed him back out to the living room to answer it. "Hello?" Felix hovered nearby. Probably hoping he wasn't about to lose any fingers.

"Ruby, would you guys come over?" my dad asked. My heart seized. I didn't even realize he was home. "I have some news for the band."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah. Do you want me to call them?"

"Please?"

"Alright. We'll be over in a minute."

He hung up, and I wrapped my arms around Felix's tense shoulders.

"My dad just wants to talk to the band. You can keep your fingers."

"Thank God," he said with a dramatic sigh. "He wants to talk to us now?"

"Yeah. After we call everyone else."

"I don't want you to go home."

"Me either."

"I'll call them, and that'll give us a few more minutes."

"Sounds good."

I plopped down on the couch while I waited for him to finish making the calls. He ended up dumping the responsibility on Quinn. He then flopped over onto the sofa, landing with his head on my lap. He sighed again.

"So—this date tomorrow—you want to talk about something?" I asked.

"I want to talk about you," he replied simply.

"Me? What about me?"

"Everything about you."

"We talk all the time."

"Yeah, but—It's different. Nothing bad. We'll just talk about it then."

"Alright. If you say so."

Eventually, we decided to get to my house before my dad started planning which fingers he would take off first. So we left Felix's house right as Quinn pulled into the driveway with Billie in the front seat. Then we all headed inside to watch TV while we waited for Freddy, Jack, and Aaron.

When they finally got there, we all camped out in the living room, waiting for my dad. He showed up a minute later with a notebook.

"Alright, guys," he said, taking a seat on the coffee table since there was no room anywhere else. "Remember those friends of mine who run a studio in LA?"

"I vaguely remember you saying something about it," Quinn admitted.

"Well, they were at your show yesterday, and they were very impressed. They wanted to know if you'd like to come up and record an EP with them."

"They what?"

"It won't be anything big. Don't get too far ahead of yourselves. It's not a record label, and they're very small time. But they have the equipment and the experience to be good mentors. They can help you get something recorded to send off to other companies or sell at your shows—that kind of thing. Just to get you guys off the ground. People have been asking for merch, and so far, all we've been able to sell them is the shirts Billie made. Which are great, Billie."

"Thanks," she said.

"But they're obviously unprofessional, and I doubt you can keep up with the demand."

"Aw yeah. Those took me forever to make." I patted her arm.

"Exactly. And you're going to make more sales from merch than you are with gigs. So I think this EP is a great place to start. At the very least, it can open the door for a few festivals next summer."

 "So—when would we start?" Quinn asked.

"That's the only catch," my dad said. "They're limited on time, and so are you. Once you guys are back in school for the year, you're pretty much unreachable until next summer. Their studio isn't free like this very often. So you'd have to leave tomorrow and will very likely spend the rest of the summer working on it."

"Are you serious? We still have to talk to our parents."

"I've obviously already talked to Crystal, Quinn. I've called Fred and Aaron's parents, and Jack's mom said she would get back to me."

"Holy shit." Quinn put his head in his hands. "Tomorrow? Why so soon?"

"They want you finished by the end of the summer. The sooner you get it done, the more time you'll have. If you start late, you may not have it done by the end of summer, and your chance will run out. It's doubtful any of us would be able to drive you to LA every weekend to keep working on it once school starts. Things like this sometimes take months. You'll need all the time you can get."

"This is big."

"It's not big. A lot of bands start out this way. It's the big guys you should save your panic for. And these guys are just a stepping stone to lead you in that direction. You won't have anything to share with labels if you don't have something recorded. And anything recorded in your garage isn't going to be good enough quality to get you noticed. Here, I made you guys copies of the contract and information. They retain no rights except that they are allowed to sell your records at festivals and booths. Which is excellent publicity for you. You just won't get a significant chunk of change from it.

"Also, the contract has a lot of legroom. You're not obligated to them for the rest of your careers. You can break it at any time if you guys want to come home. They can't do anything without going through me first. And I'll be up to check on you frequently while you're recording. I've already found a place for you guys to crash for a few weeks. It's nothing fancy, but they have a pool."

"Can we just have some time to think it over?" Quinn asked.

"Of course. But you'll have to leave tomorrow at the latest."

"We'll call you, okay?"

"No problem, guys. I'll be in my office if you need me." He gave me a wink and left us alone. Jack headed right out so he could go talk to his mom since she was the one who never let him do anything. And okay, maybe a tiny part of me was hoping she would say no just so I could fill in as his replacement. But I wasn't going to get my hopes up.

"What do you guys think?" Quinn asked as he looked over the contract.

"I don't know, man. It seems really sudden. And I have no idea what any of this means," Aaron said, tapping his fingers on his paperwork. "For all I know, we could be selling our souls."

"My dad knows what he's doing," I assured him. "He wouldn't sell you guys out like that, and he wouldn't ask you to do anything you can't handle. So if he thinks it's a good idea, then it probably is. Besides, he did say it's not as big of a deal as it sounds. More like an insurance for the future."

"I'd have to talk to my parents about it," Freddy added.

"I'm cool with it," Felix decided with a shrug.

Of course, he was. He was always the first to jump in. Whenever my dad booked them for a gig, he was always the first to say he'd be there. Most of the time, he didn't even care when or where it was. The other guys always had to sit and talk about it and ask their parents. I didn't know if Felix was just ready for anything or if his mom just didn't care. But if they did all agree—including Jack's mom—it would mean they'd spend most of the summer in LA. And I didn't really know what that would mean for us.

By the next morning, every single one of them (and their parents) had agreed. So we stood out front of my house as the sun was coming up to watch them load everything into the rusted old van Aaron's brother owned. I watched Felix push his amp into the van's trailer, and then I walked up to him.

"Hey, can we talk for a second?" I asked, twisting my fingers.

"Yeah, of course," he replied, sweeping his black hair off his face.

He followed me back into the house and up the stairs to my room. I shut the door behind him and then found that I couldn't speak. I stood still, trying to think of what I could say. I was disappointed. Jealous. Almost hurt even. I didn't want him to go, but I didn't want to ask him to stay. He had a chance, and I couldn't be selfish even though it ate me up inside that I couldn't be part of it.

"I'll miss you," I finally said.

"Ruby," he started, taking a step closer to me. "I'll miss you too." He rubbed his hands up and down my arms and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"What about that date?"

"We'll postpone. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"What about what you said you wanted to talk about?"

"I—I don't know—I'll have to talk to you about it when we get back." I nodded slowly again.

I wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about. I'd almost convinced myself he would ask me to be his girlfriend. But if he really wanted that, he could have just asked. I would have said yes, and he knew I would have. But he didn't ask. So I couldn't help but wonder why. Maybe he didn't want to be tied to someone so far away all summer. Maybe he was hoping he'd find someone in LA to pass his time when I couldn't be there. He wouldn't want to have to explain to Quinn why he was cheating on his sister.

He saw my eyes get glassy and pulled me to his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and forced myself not to cry. Despite all my doubts, I didn't want to let him go. I had a nagging feeling in my gut that this was the end.

"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby," he whispered. Someone honked a horn outside, and I held him tighter.

"C'mon, kids! We gotta hit the road!" my dad called from downstairs.

"I don't want you to go," I said, hating myself for sounding so pathetic. But I had a feeling if I let him go, I'd never get to hold him again.

"I don't want to go either," he told me. "Ruby—I…."
      
"C'mon, guys!" my dad interrupted. Felix never finished that sentence.

"I have to go," he said. Then he pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. So that I was forced to look into his vibrant green eyes. "I'll be thinking of you every minute."

"You'll call me, right?"

"I will."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He kissed me on the lips, and I wrapped my arms around him. He lifted me off the floor, and I squeezed him as hard as I could. The horn beeped again.

So he set me down, and we headed back outside. He gave me one more hug and pecked my lips in front of everyone before climbing into the van. I stood beside Billie, waving goodbye. She took my hand as they pulled away.

"Everything will be okay," she said with a smile. I nodded. I didn't believe that. Everything would be fine for her and Quinn. Because Quinn was utterly devoted to her. Felix, on the other hand, it was still too new. Too fresh to last a summer apart. It didn't matter how strongly we felt for each other; I knew from experience that it just wasn't going to work.

"I know. I'm just—being pathetic," I told her anyway.

"You're not being pathetic," my dad said, pulling me to him and ruffling my hair. "You're just being a kid. How about we grill up some burgers for dinner? Sound good?"

"Sounds great, Dad."

"C'mon," Billie said, retaking my hand. She pulled me back into the house and up to my room. Then when we were alone, I sat down on my bed and sighed. "You look completely heartbroken." She sat on my chair to study me. She didn't have that usual glimmer of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Pathetic, I told you." She slumped.

"You're not pathetic. I feel the same way. I've never gone a summer without them. But at least we're not alone. We have each other." She brightened up and reached out her hands to me. I took them and nodded.

"Yeah, who needs boys anyway? We'll make this the best summer ever."