Page 40 of Broken Chorus

“Maybe you should explain it now,” Cade suggested. “That way both parties hear what you’ve got to say.”

“Fine, but for fuck’s sake, can we take it outside?” Aaron grumbled, feeling his whole mood crash as the desperate need for another joint crept back in.

“After you,” Declan said, finally maneuvering his chair out of Aaron’s way.

He trudged to the door, hands shoved in his pocket with Kazzy walking right beside him. What had felt like a one-way trip to paradise just moments before, now felt like a trip to the gallows. People were milling around beside the entrance, so Aaron headed a little way down the sidewalk to lean against the barber shop wall.

“Alright man, what’s this all about?” Kazzy asked, as Aaron got busy lighting up.

Narrowing his eyes on the flame, Aaron waited until the whole thing blurred before snapping the Zippo shut again. “Just something he’s making way too big of a deal over.”

“Why not let me be the judge of that,” Kazzy insisted.

“I told Kelly I’d prefer if you played drums for us, is all.”

“Then why aren’t I playing?”

“’Cause I might have said it only after the results of the blind auditions revealed some potential issues with the choices we’d made,” Aaron admitted reluctantly.

Kazzy’s eyes narrowed a fraction as understanding hit. “So, you didn’t choose my audition tape, but when you found out you hadn’t, you tried to choose me?”

“Something like that.”

“Pretty sure the biggest influence was him finding out about my chair,” Declan remarked.

Aaron said nothing, hoping the questions would stop now and they could go on their merry way, without a total and complete derailing of their plans for the evening.

Kazzy plucked the joint from between his fingers, much as Declan had a few nights before, drawing a growl from Aaron. “What the fuck is with you people constantly stealing my weed?”

“Wouldn’t have to steal it if you’d remember the universal law of puff, puff, pass, you bogarting fuck.”

Aaron threw his hands up, but said little else, considering Kazzy had a point.

“Is it true?” Kazzy asked, after Cade had liberated the joint from him.

“Sorta.”

“I don’t think this is the sort of question covered by sorta,” Kazzy said. “It’s either truth, or it’s not.”

“It’s true that I’d rather have you playing with us.”

“Why is that, if you thought Declan was better?”

Aaron flipped his hands in the air and sighed. “’cause I know you, alright. I know what I can say and do around you without coming off like a fuckin’ bastard. On the stage there’s a chemistry between us that makes playing feel good. Like tonight. I haven’t played like that since my band broke up. Off it, we can talk and bullshit and I don’t have to over analyze everything I might say to be certain it doesn’t come off as insensitive. I wanna be comfortable in my band, not walking on eggshells.”

Kazzy fell silent, while Declan stared at him with the strangest look on his face. Cade said nothing, just smoked Aaron’s joint and kept watch to ensure no one ambled up to interrupt their conversation.

Finally, with a painstakingly slow and hollow tone, Kazzy directed a question his way. “But youdothink he’s better?”

“I…” Aaron stammered, not wanting to hurt his friend.

“Nevermind,” Kazzy muttered, jerking away from the wall, hurt and fury at war in his eyes. “I won’t make you say it. The answer is written all over your face.”

Aaron hurried to catch up to him when he started walking away. “Kazzy, wait. Man, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you are,” Kazzy said, spinning around and shoving Aaron away from him. He landed on his ass on the sidewalk, shocked, as Kazzy growled down at him. “Only, if you want my opinion, you’re sorry for the wrong damned thing.”

Kazzy didn’t give him a chance to say anything more. With long strides, he stalked away from him, leaving Aaron beneath a streetlight to ponder just how much worse things were going to get before he just couldn’t take any more.

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