Page 49 of The Drummer

“Liar,” I say with a smirk.

Her chuckle removes the rest of the tension. “Yeah. I’m kidding. Actually, I like it a lot. Not what I was expecting.”

“Really? What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know, the way you guys talk, I thought it would just be lots of incoherent screaming and banging.”

Screaming and banging? I shake my head with another laugh. “There’s some of that.”

“Yeah, but it’s beautiful too, in a way. I love the strings in the chorus. Right there! That part you can hear under Luke’s voice.”

Her pensive expression tugs at me as she leans closer to the phone. She’s reallyhearingit, despite the grating scratch of the music from the awful speaker. The fact that she specifically noticed the violin solo I did for that song means a lot too. Inserting my classic violin background into one of our songs for the first time was another F-U to my father.

For the record, listening to music without proper equipment should be outlawed.

“Wow. He’s really good,” she muses in quiet awe. “Like, really, really good.”

I almost laugh again. “Shocking, huh? Bands generally prefer frontmen who can sing.”

I get another eye-roll before she goes serious again. “That’s not what I mean. I just never heard him doing his thing before, that’s all. Well, that I recognized anyway. I never truly listened. It’s like learning something new about him.”

I swallow another uncomfortable feeling rising in my chest. “Yeah, this is a pretty old one, too. That’s why I was surprised Luke brought it up.”

I watch her face for any more clues.

“He was talking about the time your gear got stolen from the motel parking lot.”

A burst of old anger shoots through me. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that one. “Oh yeah. That sucked big time. We were all broke to begin with, and of course, those bastards took off with most of my stuff.”

“Luke said they took the stuff they recognized.”

“Yes, and apparently drums and cymbals are pretty obvious, even in their cases.”

“Well, thankfully you’ve recovered.”

Not really. All the money in the world can’t buy my very first kit. Something that symbolized my journey out of the ashes. It meant everything to me.

“Interesting choice,” another voice says from behind.

We twist back to find Luke moving toward us. He gives me a curious glance, and I motion with my eyes toward Callie. He knows what this song really is—and that there’s no way I’d choose it for any situation, let alone this one.

“You couldn’t at least play our good stuff for her?” he says, deflecting.

I shoot him a grateful look.

“She picked it,” I point out in the same light tone.

“I like it,” she argues. “Besides, we were actually reminiscing about your gear getting stolen.”

“Please tell me your reminiscing includes coffee,” Luke grunts, scanning the counter.

“Here, dude.” I slide the carafe toward him. “There’s food too.”

He cringes as he fills a mug. “Let’s go with coffee first.”

Stillness settles over us as the song continues. My nerves return, while Luke’s expression takes on a careful consideration I haven’t seen in years. It’s like he’s hearing this song for the first time. I don’t know what to make of it, and stare down at my plate.

The music cuts out, leaving an awkward silence in its wake. None of us seem to know what’s supposed to happen next. Least of all me with the riotous state of my head.

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