Page 34 of Play Me

***

An hour and a half later, we decide that we’ve done enough for the day. Hank, Sebastian’s assistant, hands me a bottle of water and I down it in almost one gulp. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was.

“Fuck, it’s really coming down out there.” Brad says, leaning against the window, taking a big bite out of his routine post-rehearsal apple.

We all herd over to the window, watching the sky open up and spill a heaven of tears onto the Sydney metropolis. The layers of gray and white interweaving are mesmerizing and we stand in awe of the power of Mother Nature for a moment, feeling small and inconsequential.

“Nutfuckles!” The expletive breaks the mood and everybody turns to face me. It seems their creative potty-mouth tendencies have rubbed off on me.

Jez sighs and pats Sebastian on the arm. “And to think she was such a lady when you introduced her to us.”

Sebastian grins and winks at me, and for a moment we’re back in George’s music shop, crammed in the back with me chastising him for swearing. I blush at the memory and avoid his look by rushing over to the couch to grab my bag and phone.

“Wassup, potty-mouth?” The guys follow me.

“I forgot that my friend Sarah drove me here today and I was going to walk home because it looked like such a nice day.” I point to drenched sky. “I should work for the Channel 9 weather team.”

“Oh, one of our cars can take you home,” Dennis offers generously.

“Drivers are on their break.” Hank tells us.

“I’ll drive! I haven’t driven for aaaages, I miss it!” Marius stands up and nudges me with his elbow. “You trust me, dontcha?”

I’m not sure I do but I appreciate the offer, and Sebastian has suddenly turned eerily quiet, so I nudge him back and say, “Of course, you should be bright and alert considering you’ve been sleeping for the last two hours.”

“Nutfuckles, indeed,” he responds and pushes me out the door. In the corner of my eye I can see Sebastian watching me. I give him a small wave and mouth, ‘good night’. He barely smiles in response.

I guess he hasn’t had any problem leaving it all behind after all.

***

“So, just before we go, which one is the gas pedal and which is the brake again?” Marius asks me.

“Marius!” I cry out, horrified.

“Relax, just kidding! I’m from London, remember? We drive on the left as well.”

“Oh yeah, I forget you’re from all over the world.” I clasp my seatbelt and hold on probably tighter than I need to.

“Yup, Brad and I are from England, Jez is from Romania and Sebbie’s a stinky Frenchman. But we’ve pretty much all lived in the UK since we were pretty young.” He reminds me as he turns out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

“How did you all meet?”

“Well, we were all at the Guildhall School of Music in London together. At one point or another I guess we kept finding each other in detention and decided we might as well do something with our time together. We formed No Strings Attached, now Rock Chamber Boys,” he gives me a quick wink before continuing, “... when we were about seventeen. There’ve been some member changes, at one point there were seven of us. But us four, we’ve always been the core and I guess that’s partly why we wanted the name change, to really cement who are now as people and musicians.”

“Marius. I think that’s the longest you’ve ever spoken without saying a swear word.” I tease him.

“Well, fuck me, if you ain’t bloody right!!” He exclaims and we both get the giggles.

The laughs die down and we drive in silence for a while, watching the rain engulf the car.

I take advantage of him being quiet for a change and say what I’ve wanted to say for a while. “Hey, thanks for being so nice to me. You guys have...you’ve just made this very easy for me.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re pretty simple, mate. Don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you.”

I just smile. I’ve been around them enough to know that they’re all about mate ship and loyalty. There’s nothing I could say that will mean as much as what I do.

We drive for a moment longer before he speaks up again, “I know about the $50,000.”