“Ah. I suppose not.”
“Though he does have soulful eyes and rock-hard abs. Not like us schlubs, eh?” He slapped Jay lightly on the shoulder.
“Mmm. Definitely not,” Jay agreed, surreptitiously laying a hand on his stomach like he was checking the firmness.
Christ, he was adorable.
“Huh. Would I have heard any of the Jayd guy’s music?” I asked.
“Pfft. For sure. He’s all over the radio. You know, lots of people have actually compared his sound to mine. Not that I think Jayd copied me or anything,” Chet said modestly. He paused. “That I know of.”
I rubbed a hand over my mouth to smooth out my smile. “Well, I’m sold. Why don’t you pop Chet’s CD in the player there, Jerry? I’d love to hear this.”
Jay’s jaw did that side-to-side thing, which could not be healthy for his molars, but I knew he was fighting amusement, too… or at least he was until the CD started playing and Chet’s cover of “Unmade” came out the speakers, because that was decidedlyun-funny.
“Once I had the answers
Sure and certain, never fade
Then along came you
And suddenly, I was unmade.”
I’d actually enjoyed this track onConstellations—which was objectively a good album, if you weren’t inclined to hate it on principle, which I was—but Chet had butchered it. And I mean, he’d killed it deader than dead. His voice was decent, and he was definitely talented, but he’d overlaid the simple vocals with a thick, sludgy bass riff that turned the bright melody into a screamo funeral dirge.
“Whaddya think, Jerry? Mind blown?” Chet yelled from the back seat.
Jay and I shared a look. He seemed caught between laughter and outrage. “The, ah, bloodcurdling cries at the end of the chorus really… add something.”
“Exactly what I thought!” Chet sat back. “I don’t wanna criticize Jayd, but I told him he was kinda singing it wrong. I mean, it’s a song about getting frisky, after all. Gotta make it sexy.”
“This song’s about sex?” Jay’s voice sounded strained.
“Duh.Unmade. Like a bed with the covers all messed up because he’d been in it doing the sideways Macarena?” Chet made a hole out of his left thumb and forefinger, then fucked it with his right middle finger, while making the high-pitched screechy noise of springs squeaking. “Ya get me?”
“Sadly, yes,” I said.
Chet grinned. “Don’t blame you for being confused, though. The lyricsarea little obscure.”
Jay scrunched his whole face up for a second like he was trying to stop himself from speaking.
It didn’t work.
“Are they, though?” he blurted in a rush. “Because I think the lyrics are pretty clearly about someone who thought he had all the answers until he met someone who made him question himself. His mind was made up, and then it wasunmade.”
Chet burst out laughing. “That’s a real cute interpretation, Jerry! Wait’ll I tell Jayd.”
“Yeah, why don’t you do that?” Jay challenged. “Text him right now.”
“Jerry,” I said in a warning voice, and Jay relented with a sigh. He folded his arms over his chest sulkily… which lasted for precisely ten seconds before something out the window caught his attention and his wry smile was back.
God, he fascinated me. I wanted to climb inside his head. See the world through his eyes. Understand him the way I once thought I did.
“Check it out! More signs! ‘Only three hundred nineteen miles to theunmissableHole Inn the Wall! Reasonable Rates, call ahead!’” Jay turned to me. “You hear that, Tom?Unmissable! And I do love a reasonable rate.”
I huffed out a laugh. I knew he was mostly joking… but only mostly. The Hole Inn the Wall seemed like the kind of people-watching spot Jay would have loved before he got famous—the kind of place where he could blend anonymously into a crowd and people watch, which used to inspire his songwriting as much as the salt water and the sunshine on the Key had. I wondered if he ever had the chance to do that sort of thing anymore, and it made me sad to realize that the answer was probably no.
Still…
