Maybe if anyone saw Leon, they’d be too busy reading the terrible pun to pay attention to his face and recognize him.
“All right,” I said. “Don’t worry about the shirt. Come and meet the cats.”
***
Exactly ten minutes later, Leon—fully awake and docile as a lamb like Jake had promised—lay flat on his back, with three cats on top of him.
“I’ve found my happy place,” Leon announced peacefully, sounding entirely different from when he first walked in. “I feel so calm.”
“Cat purrs will do that to you,” I said, figuring he’d earned himself a nap.
Jake, however, had no such feelings. Instead, he leaned over and poked his bandmate’s cheek. “Come on, you can’t fall asleep yet.”
Leon grunted. “Why not?”
“Because I need to ask you some questions about the guys first.”
“Them,” Leon said, not too tired to sound disdainful. “They don’t let me sleep either.”
“I know, buddy,” Jake replied sympathetically. “But have you heard from Aspen? He never replied to me.”
“I’ve tri—” Leon attempted to sit up, but found he couldn’tmove beneath the cats. “Uh, a little help here?” I reached over and gently helped him remove thirty pounds of fur so he could sit up. “Thank you. So, uh, yeah, I tried texting Aspen too, but didn’t get a reply. I don’t know if it’s because he’s ignoring me, or if he just hasn’t figured out how to properly use his phone yet.”
I raised a skeptical brow. Seriously? “Why wouldn’t Aspen know how to work his own phone?”
“Because he just teamed up with Dlareme Technologies to promote their new high-tech cell phone,” Jake answered. “But Aspen doesn’t really know how to work it. Last time I saw him, he kept taking screenshots instead of answering a call.”
I gave both Jake and Leon a skeptical look. “But if he’s not tech-savvy, why would they ask Aspen to promote a phone?”
“Because he wanted to be a brand ambassador, and US has the perfect song,” Leon answered. “Aspen’s supposed to sing it, and then say,But that won’t happen to you on our phone.”
How would one of their songs be perfect for a tech ad? I frowned in confusion, and Jake noticed.
“He’s talking about ‘Dropped Call,’” Jake explained, referencing the US single that started with a phone ringing. Softly, he sang, “I go to talk to you, but I can’t figure it out.”
“My mind’s in a freefall,” I sang where Jake left off, recalling the lyrics as soon as I heard the tune. “The words won’t leave my mouth.”
Leon jumped in. “It’s like a—” He paused dramatically, like the song did, cutting off sound as if it were a spotty connection. Then he drummed his hands lightly on the floor, mimicking the cymbal clashes that came when the music kicked back in. “Dropped call!”
“Every time I talk to you,” we all sang, “it’s like a—”
Jake raised his hand, before closing his fist, causing us all to cut off at once, since the song ended mid-verse to honor its title.
“I came up with the ending,” he commented.
Of course Jake would help write a song about not being able to have a conversation through the phone.
“That checks out,” I muttered.
Jake sent me a strange look and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Leon interrupted him.
“So, Lucy, you can sing and you know the words to our hits,” Leon said, studying me in deep consideration before turning to Jake. “Have you considered giving Aspen and Phillip more time to cool off and just letting Lucy fill in?” He sounded like he was only half joking. “I’ll take Aspen’s baritone verses. You and Lucy can split Phillip’s tenor ones. We can be a trio. Lots of good things come in threes. Like the amigos.”
I glanced at Jake, grinning. “Or Josie and the Pussycats.”
“Alvin and the Chipmunks,” he countered back, just as fast and twice as sarcastic.
“The Three Musketeers,” Leon added.
