Page 35 of The Drummer

“Of course. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for a long time, though.”

Her chuckle draws a smile from me as well.

“How much do you make for a show anyway?” she asks.

I almost choke at the random question, and she cringes in the mirror. “I’m sorry! I don’t know where that came from. Don’t answer that.”

I shake my head with a grin. Too cute.

“Not as much as you’d think,” I say. “Well not anymore, anyway. We used to get three to four hundred in guarantees. Now, it’s more like one or two. Less when we’re not headlining.”

I can’t help but smirk at her skeptical look. Not sure what she was expecting. “Two hundred? Like two hundred dollars? That’s it?”

Ha!

“Oh my god, I love you. No. Two hundred thousand.”

Her bewildered expression is even more amusing. How is she making this boring conversation so entertaining?

“Wait,per show?And that’s not much?”

I tilt my head, trying to read her. “I mean, it’s fine, I guess, but it’s not where the real money is. We make most of it through writing and performance royalties.” I nod toward Luke. “This guy here hasn’t touched a guitar in a year and is still making a fortune passed out on his ass, believe it or not.”

“Okay, Luke I get, but I thought you didn’t write. You said at breakfast Luke was the writer. You weren’t good with adjectives.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Seriously? Do you remember everything?”

“Am I wrong?”

I can’t help another chuckle at her smug expression. Her attempt at “smug” is everyone else’s “first sip of morning coffee” face.

“I guess not. I did say that. But to answer your question, I was just messing around. My name’s in the credits too. It’s true, Luke tends to bring the magic to the lyrics, but I’m the music guy. That hook in ‘Better Get Back’ that they use for all those hockey ads? All me.”

“The hockey song is from one of your songs?”

Right. I keep forgetting she isn’t obsessed with us. Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying this so much.

“Yeah. It’s not one of our bigger ones. Well, it wasn’t when they negotiated the rights to it.”

“I’d say it is now,” she mumbles.

She hums the melody, and Imightfree an eye-roll.

Great, now I’m The Hockey Song Guy.

“Yep, that’s it.”

“Wow, I had no idea. I actually really like that song.”

“You sound so shocked,” I say dryly.

She returns a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I guess… I don’t know. I try not to think too much about Luke the Superstar, so I haven’t made much of a connection between him and his music. You know, staying out of the whole pop culture bubble thing so I can see him for who he really is. I guess I did the same for you by association.”

Wow.

Now I really get why he gravitated toward this person.

“I like that,” I say, thinking out loud. “He needs someone in his life who’s real, but you should still pick up our stuff sometime. If you truly want to understand your new friend here, you need to listen to his music. I think it might surprise you.”

---