Page 24 of Broken Chorus

Chapter 6

All Apologies

The only reason he was standing outside of Kelly’s door, pounding on it so they could talk, was because Hawk had pressured him into doing it, or at least, that’s what Aaron told himself as he banged on it again. If it would put an end to Hawk’s insistence that Aaron try playing with the band before he declared it a shitshow in the making, then he’d do whatever thefuck Kelly wanted until everyone agreed that he was a piss poor choice and let him slink away.

“Alright, fuck, I hear you! You can stop knocking any time now!” Kelly bellowed; his words quickly followed by a collision with something. “Owe, son of a bitch!”

The sight of him wincing at the light, rubbing his eyes with his hair all disheveled was almost as amusing as the shocked way Kelly said his name. “Aaron?”

Snickering, Aaron gave a little wave. “Hey.”

“Seriously, that’s what you have to say to me? Hey? Like we’re just passing one another on the street.”

“Would you have preferred I just used my key and woke you by jumping up and down on the foot of your bed screaming wakey wakey eggs and bakey?”

“I would kill you.”

“Exactly. So….”

Aaron let the word trail off as he leaned against the wall beside the doorway.

“What do you want, Aaron?” Kelly grumbled, tapping his fingertips against his arm impatiently. “And why didn’t you bring coffee?”

“Because you have a coffee maker,” Aaron shot back. “Hawk said you wanted to talk.”

“You didn’t need Hawk to tell you that, and yet, it still took you this long to come up here.”

“Had some things I needed to work out.”

Kelly snorted like it was the most ridiculous thing Aaron could have said. “No shit. So…did you?”

“I guess only time will tell.”

“What exactly am I supposed to do with that?”

“Fucked if I know. I’m here. That’s what you wanted.”

“No, what I wanted was you here and invested two weeks ago when we were supposed to have our first session. Now you’restanding here at some hour that better not be obscene or I’ll kill you, talking like we just disagreed over whether condiments should be put on the meat or on the bun.”

“If you’re putting other shit on it, like vegetables, then you’d better put the condiments on the meat or all you’re gonna taste is under seasoned burger.”

“Why not both, then everything tastes good?”

“More like tastes the same, but whatever.”

“I thought cookie cutter was your thing these days?”

“’Scuse me?”

“No. Not yet.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Aaron growled, shoving away from the wall. His fingers flexed, dancing the way they did along the strings when he played guitar, only now they were rubbing against the seams of his jeans, half self-soothing and half anxious energy.

“I’m not ready to excuse your behavior!” Kelly snapped. “You wanting us to sound like we used to, thus the whole Kazzy thing, is bullshit, especially when you know all he’ll do is imitate our old drumlines and grossly overembellish at least one solo every god damned show.”

“What isyourissue with Kazzy since I’ve already gotten an earful about Hawk’s?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that, since you’re suddenly so keen on making him a member of this band when you used to gripe and complain every fuckin’ time he subbed for us!”

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