Page 74 of A Hard Sell

Thomas was still waiting in their office when Luka went back. Luka stretched his mouth into a fake smile for him.

Thomas didn’t buy it. “You’re going to crush it, Luka. You can do this.”

He tried baring his teeth to see if that was more convincing. “Yeah, thanks.”

Thomas stood, collecting his things. “Is it okay if I go with you?”

Luka blinked at him. Right. Jitters was across the street from his building. “Of course. I just don’t think I’ll be very talkative.”

“That’s okay. I can talk.” So he did. “Did I ever tell you about the time I was in a band?” Thomas asked as they made their way out of the front door. Their shoulders bumped together on the crowded sidewalk, just two of dozens making their way home.

“What?Youwere in a band?”

Thomas chuckled. “I know I’m just a stuffed shirt in dark suits now, but I went through a bit of a rebellious phase as a teenager.”

“How have you not already told me about this?” Luka demanded.

Thomas looked pleased with Luka’s reaction. “I guess I was waiting for the right moment.”

Luka shook his head. “Spill.”

“Well. I was in tenth grade. I was confused about who I was, knew I wasn’t like the other boys and I was still pretty short. I didn’t really grow until the end of high school. So I was just this scrawny kid trying to figure my shit out. Some guys were looking to put a band together to get girls. My dad had some old drums and my rhythm was good enough.”

“A drummer! Okay, so rock?”

“I wish.”

“Tell me.”

“Death metal.”

Luka stopped in his tracks, throwing his head back to laugh. A woman bumped into him from behind and glared.

“Yup.” Thomas grinned at him as they continued walking.

“Please tell me the name was, like…” Luka chewed on his lip for a moment. “’The Devil’s Screaming Pain Machine’ or something.”

“Worse.”

“Well?”

“Savage Throat.”

“No, it was not!” Luka cackled again as they made their way down the stairs into the station.

“I swear.”

“Will you sing me one of your songs?” He was still giggling.

“I honestly don’t even know what any of the words were, but I remember some of the titles. We had one gem, what was it… Uh,The Brutality In My Eyes and the Deluge Of His Nefarious Vengeance. Oh, and there wasFucked by Hate.”

Luka let out another peal of laughter as they crammed themselves onto the crowded train. They held onto the pole in the middle, facing each other. Luka wiped a tear in the corner of his eye. He hardly noticed the people jammed in around them. “How long did the band last?”

“About five days. Turns out I hated the music and I wasn’t looking to get girls anyway, so…” They laughed together in the quiet train.

“Tell me more. You guys definitely talked about an album cover.”

The ride passed by quickly as Thomas laid out the plans for Savage Throat’s inevitable tour and album cover photo shoot.

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