Page 28 of Tumbling Hearts

“Yeah! C’mon, man!” the first guy cheers.

A shiver runs down Ray’s spine. He can’t keep listening to these guys. He finishes his drink, letting out a sigh as he sets the glass back down on the table. Carol makes eye contact with him. Was she listening in on them, too? It’s pretty hard not to. Either way, she doesn’t seem to want to comment on it, which relieves Ray.

“I’m gonna get another drink,” Ray tells Carol. “You wanna come up to the bar with me?”

“But I’m not even done with my first,” she giggles.

“I’ll finish it for you if you don’t want it.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll drink it. It’s not that much, anyway.”

And so, after Carol finishes the last drops of her drink, they go up to the bar to get new ones. With their new glasses in hand, Ray convinces Carol that they should find a different table, with the excuse that he’d rather sit closer to the upcoming band once they start playing.

And when that band does come onstage and the alcohol catches up to him, he loses himself in the music. This band is honestly pretty good, even if they’re just playing covers. He nods his head, singing along softly to the tunes he knows, and Carol joins in with him. Yet even doing this brings back a memory. He’s reminded of when he and Gene would listen to cover bands at bars just like this one.

Carol smiles at Ray, and he wishes it were Gene instead of her.

Almost another week has passed, and currently Gene and the rest of the Dusty Brooms are back in Grand Rapids, at the photo studio where their friend Maurice works. Nicky isn’t with them, opting to stay home at the Brooms’ place back in Lake Orion, which is fine. He may be Gene’s friend and their touring keyboardist, but he’s not needed for an official shoot. But Toshiko and Carol are with them, and Carol is actually going to be modeling with the band this time. Apparently she had told Ray some grand idea of wanting to be featured in their photos for ‘sex appeal’. Sex appeal! The Brooms already have plenty of sex appeal simply by having Ray as the frontman, Gene thinks. No need to add her into the mix.

Whatever. Gene can deal with it. He’s got Toshiko by his side, supporting him. At the moment, they’re taking turns doing solo portraits. Gene is sitting in a folding chair, Toshiko also in one next to him, watching Maurice shoot photos of Ray in the studio space against a dark reddish backdrop. Ray looks stunning, with his shimmering blond hair, his sleek sense of style—a dark blazer, tight pants, carefree shirt, and a silver necklace accentuating his collar bones—not to mention he just knows how to pose. With each snap of the camera, Ray stands contrapposto, changing it up—a hand on his hip, a hand in his hair, or even lifting both his arms, raising the bottom hem of his shirt a little to show his tummy. Just that small sliver of skin riles Gene up, but he must keep his composure. There’s a time and place for that, and it definitely ain’t fuckin’ now.

But regardless, Gene can’t help but reminisce. This past month basically flew by for him. He hasn’t even been doing much, other than hanging out with Toshiko and jamming with the band—not to mention smoking all that hash. But he misses those nights where he was alone with Ray, the beautiful man posing in front of him. He knows he should just forget these thoughts. Why wish for something that he knows can never be?

Ray had made it abundantly clear that Gene’s wishes won’t come true when he flat out told him he won’t break up with Carol.

And so, Gene’s been having fun with Toshiko instead. She’s musical just like him, she has a phenomenal singing voice, she’s great in bed, and she joins him whenever he wants a smoke. It’s been nice. She’s already been with him for a whole month now. He’s never been with a woman this long in any sort of ‘relationship’, if you could call this that. The longest was… with Toshiko herself, when they first met in LA. Perhaps that’s a sign? It could set Gene on the ‘right’ path, as his own mother would suggest. He hasn’t told his mom about Toshiko yet, but he knows she’d be ecstatic to know he’s got a female companion.

But time is running out, and Toshiko will have to head back to California to be there for the release of her new album. Gene’s not quite sure what he’ll do then. He’ll figure it out later. Right now, he just wants to watch Ray pose for the camera.

After Ray is done, the rest of the band take turns doing solo portraits. Though when they’re finished, Maurice rounds them all up for a group pose—minus Carol, at first. The photographer brings out a bench for them to sit on, and they find their places. Somehow, Gene always gravitates to sit next to Ray.

“Good, very good,” Maurice says, nodding while walking around the scene. “Get comfortable! I always like that you guys are so friendly with each other. That’s what makes your photos so good.”

“Oh, sure,” Ray says, and he leans closer to Gene, putting his hand around Gene’s arm. It sends a flutter through Gene’s chest—they’re so close—they haven’t gotten this close to each other since their vacation up north. But he can’t really savor that closeness as Santiago, sitting on Gene’s other side, also leans in toward him. Santi keeps his hands to himself, but Gene throws an arm around Santi to hold him steady. There, at least like this with both of them on him, it comes off more friendly than anything. Especially when Toshiko and Carol are watching them from their seats behind Maurice. He hopes his red cheeks don’t show up on film.

“That’s great! Keep it like that for a sec,” Maurice says, pulling the camera over his eye and snapping the shutter.

The photographer walks around them all, getting photos from various angles. Up, down, left, right, snap, snap, snap. “You can change up your pose a bit, if you want. But stay right there,” Maurice says.

“Okay,” Ray replies for everyone, as he usually does as the de facto leader. Pat and Stefan are on Ray’s other side, and they shuffle a bit while Santiago sits up more by Gene. Though Ray doesn’t honestly move much, aside from leaning even further onto Gene, his lips dangerously close to Gene’s ear. He can feel Ray’s warm breath, and it sends another flutter through his chest.

“Perfect,” Maurice says, snapping the shutter again. Usually when they take photos like this, somehow, Ray and Gene are always by each other one way or another. It reflects how they are in reality, each other’s closest friend. Not just friends, Gene thinks, there’s something more, too. Even during this whole past month where they haven’t been hanging out as much, Gene can still feel that connection just by Ray’s proximity now. It’s like there’s this magic link holding them together—he can’t think of another way to describe it.

“Let’s change things up again,” Maurice says once he’s done. “I want just Ray and Gene in the frame this time, if you all wanna step away for a bit.”

“Oh, really?” Gene’s eyes widen.

“Yes, of course! You know I’ve done it before.” Maurice chuckles. “I love seeing your chemistry and getting to capture that in a photo. The way you two light up a room when you’re together… it’s like a ray of light.”

“A ray of light?” Ray laughs, the sound in Gene’s ear giving him butterflies.

“How about a flare of light instead?” Santiago offers, getting up from his seat along with the other band members.

“Yeah, that works.” Maurice nods. “A flare, shining brightly with sudden intensity, just like how you guys are on stage. Wait, what if we called you two the ‘Flare Twins’?”

“The Flare Twins?” Gene repeats, his heart thrumming in his chest.

“Yeah! What do you think?”