Violet gave me a lopsided smirk. “Every now and then. But mostly no. Have I told you about the first time Dana and I kissed?”
I leaned forward. “No! Do tell.”
“I didn’t even realize it was a date.” She stared off and smiled at the memory. “We went to the same gym, and sometimes asked each other for a spotter. Eventually she asked if I wanted to get lunch. We had a nice time, chatting about this and that, and then left the cafe. And while I was saying goodbye to her, she grabbed a handful of my shirt and pulled me into a kiss.”
“Hot,” I said.
“It was the first time I’d kissed a woman,” she admitted. “It was like there was a room in my house I’d never noticed before, and suddenly the lights had been turned on inside. A car drove by and a guy yelled out the windowhell yeah!And being with a woman has been excellent ever since.
“I look back on my time with the guys fondly,” she added. “But I don’t really miss it. Maybe in a nostalgic kind of way, but that’s it.”
I nodded along. “That’s really great. Thanks for sharing.”
“You ever want to switch teams, I know some women who wouldeat you up.” She stood up and stretched like a cat. “I’ll let you get back to work. Holler if you want to take a break and share another beer.”
I put my headphones on and got back to work. But the idea of anal sex had been planted in my head, and I could feel it taking root.
40
Roxie
Portland had dreary weather; the sky was the color of ash, like there was a layer of smoke hanging over the city. It drizzled on and off, never heavy enough to carry an umbrella around, but always enough to make things annoying.
When we got to Seattle after that, the weather got worse. Storms came off the Pacific and swirled around the city, a constant downpour interspersed with the distant booms of thunder that rolled and rolled without end like the chord from a bass guitar.
“Should be a break tomorrow afternoon,” one of the roadies told Cash. “We’ll finish unloading the equipment van then. Unless you want it done now…?”
Cash shook his head. “We’re good to wait. No need to get everything drenched. You guys take the rest of the day off.”
The roadie smirked. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”
We sat on the tour bus while the rain came down in sheets. Riot plucked at his guitar while making notes in his sheet music notebook, but Milo and Cash were antsy because their instruments were still on the equipment van. Milo paced fromthe back of the bus to the front, while Cash nervously tapped his foot. It was uncharacteristic for the normally stoic bass player.
“I might make a run for it,” Cash said while staring out the window. “I’ve got a bassline rumbling around in my head that I need to put to paper before it’s gone. It’s for that song you asked me about, Riot.”
Next to me on the couch, Riot perked up at that. “You’ve got something finally?”
“Think so.”
“Then get the fuck out there. You can borrow my raincoat if you need it.”
“I’ll go with you!” Milo offered.
“What are you going to do,” Riot asked, “carry all the drums back here one at a time? Arrange them all over the bed in the back?”
“Absolutely not!” Violet shouted from her bunk in the back. “Guitars can be played with headphones on. Drums are loud as fuck.”
“I can practice on the equipment van, if my drums are accessible. And if not, I’ll be there for moral support.”
“I don’t need moral support, but you’re welcome to get drenched with me,” Cash said.
Milo clapped him on the back. “Hell yeah. It’ll be an adventure.”
“He has a very low threshold for what he calls an adventure,” Riot said as the two musicians sprinted across the parking lot behind the venue. We watched through the window as they struggled to open the back of the van, then eventually got the door open. The rain was coming down so hard that they quickly disappeared from view once they were inside.
Riot went back to his music, and I returned to the band poster I was designing for the Pittsburgh show next month. When I finished that about half an hour later, I realized Milo and Cash hadn’t returned from the equipment van.
“They probably don’t want to run back in the rain,” Riot said absently while making another note on the sheet music.
