Chapter Five
“So spill. How’d it go?” Tommy asked as they sat down at a nice restaurant.
Bas was so hungry he tore into the bread as soon as the waiter brought it over.
“Bad at first. He’s got a mouth on him.”
“No worse than you. You hide all your meanness in jokes and sarcasm. He just says it.” Tommy pushed the bowl of olive oil and seasoning Bas’s way. “Nothing you can’t handle.”
“Made me mad at first. So I left. But don’t freak, I went back.”
Tommy tapped the top of his bucket. The other was in his car. He would send his manager off to deliver the cookies to Ru and Adam.
“That’s how these happened?” He swept his hands through his dark hair and smiled at the container. He’d already eaten a half dozen of them. “He barely touches food. Did he watch?”
“He made them. I just read him the instructions and walked him through the process. He was watching me very carefully. Probably worried my gay cooties would get in your food or something. He accused me of trying to get in your pants.” Bas flipped through the menu. He wanted meat. Not just chicken or some fish. He was craving steak and pretty sure staring at Dane’s skeletal form was the reason for it.
“If I were gay, you would.”
“Wow, if that’s not ego talking, pretty boy.”
Tommy grinned wickedly. “You know you want me, gay boy. If I decided to play for the other team, you’d be first in line to teach me the rules.”
“I’d let you break all the rules. Truth. I admit to crushing, but nothing I can’t deal with. Just don’t get pissy if you catch me staring at your ass. A gay man can appreciate a fine ass.”
“I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Bas laughed, feeling a little lighter, but was still bothered by Dane’s thin appearance. “I need meat after spending all that time with him. He looks awful. How could he have gotten this bad and no one notice?”
“Too busy with life ourselves, I think. I hadn’t seen him in months before this.” The waiter came back and took their orders. Once he walked away, Tommy continued, “Ru was gone from the group. We were on hiatus, waiting for instructions from the production company. He sort of fell off the radar. He’s always been sort of a lone-ranger type. Between albums and tours, he’d vanish. Sometimes you’d hear about him attending a party but never anything substantial. He admitted himself to rehab after he fell through a glass coffee table. Ms. Cates, his manager, says it was because he’d overworked his body.”
“Not enough calories in and excessive exercise. At least he recognized he has a problem.” Bas stuffed himself with more bread.
“But he hasn’t done anything to fix it other than admit himself.”
“There was a girl who died. One of the nurses mentioned her. Said that she and Dane used to sit together for meals but never spent any other time together.”
“He didn’t call me until after that. All I know is that his manager said he was doing okay until his friend passed, but now he just seems to have given up.” Tommy took his own slice of the bread and dipped it in the oil.
“Why are there no interviews with him?” Bas had looked, trying to get a feel for Dane’s life before all of this. AJ did most of the interviews for Vocal Growth, but Ru and Tommy had a few too. Nothing from Dane.
“He has a tendency to say whatever is at the front of his brain. Ru said that Dane’s censors don’t work to filter out what he should and shouldn’t say. So the production company kept his contact with the public minimal.”
And no family to be found. Dane had no one. Even the band had felt the need to not pry. It was oddly familiar. At least Bas had his grandmother to help him through the worst. The years before the big breakdown that had almost ended his life had been an odd adventure of disconnect. Until Adam and his phone call for ice cream.
“He is insistent that Ru is not to know. I didn’t realize they were that close. Ru rarely talks about him.”
Tommy nodded. “Dane idolized him. I think Ru leaving the band really messed with Dane. He stopped talking to Ru and that hurt Ru. I’m pretty sure Ru saw him a lot like he sees me, a big brother. But that’s not how Dane saw Ru.”
“You mean Dane is in love with Ru?”
“Not in the strictest sense. I think attracted, yes. Ru was available and everything Dane wants to be. Independent, good-looking, talented, confident. I don’t know that Dane is gay or even bi. I honestly don’t thinkheknows. But he has always worshiped Ru. Tried to be like him.”
“And this breakdown happened about the same time that Ru first came out publicly with Adam.”
“Yeah. I matched that up too.”
Bas nodded. “I think tomorrow I’ll go before their first meal. Have breakfast with him. I want to watch him interact with food more. We have to start somewhere.”
