Fall From Grace(23)

Once again, Shane’s voice silenced a room.  This time, it wasn’t with the sounds of his singing, but with the anger, he had for a friend.  Jackass!

Lea gave me a sideways glance.

I grimaced at her, warning her to keep me out of the situation.

Conner motioned for Shane to calm down. Impressively, he took control of the whole situation.  “Listen, it’s only Sunday.  We have until Friday night.  You know that there are shit loads of guitar players in New York City that have your CDs, knowing your music by heart.  Let’s ask around, make some flyers and have a small audition on, let’s say, Thursday.  You guys can pick the best player.  You definitely won’t find anyone who can play the piano and the guitar like Alex, but just don’t do the songs that call for both.  Alex, how long do you have to have the casts on?”

“Six weeks or so,” he answered.

“Okay, so it’s only for a few weeks. Just think of the exposure it’ll get you with having auditions.  If that’s not good for you guys, then cancel the next six weekends.  Take a break,” Conner offered in all his level headedness.

Shane grumbled in the corner like a child.  The rest of the band considered what Conner had said.

“We can always get Tucker to do it.  It’s been a while, but I bet he remembers how to play,” Ethan said.

I followed Lea into the kitchen when she went to get more water.  “Okay, number one, why the hell are you serving them like that?  Are you now studying for a career in waitressing?  And number two, isn’t this like a personal band thing, why are they here talking about this? Don’t they have like an entire apartment building they live in?  And number three, Tucker can play the guitar?”

She offered me a goofy grin.  “They always come to Conner for advice.  He’s the smartest one in the bunch.”

“A raisin would be the smartest one in that bunch, Lea,” I cut her off with a laugh.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off. I couldn’t pass that up, continue please.”

“They have all known each other from high school.  They were all in the high school band together in ninth grade.  Conner used to play with them too.  And they always end up coming here.  Conner’s here a lot.  It makes me crazy, if I know they are having weird band orgy parties there and Conner is with them.”

“Lea, have they ever had weird band orgy parties where they live?” I asked.

“No, but they might.  Grace, I really like Conner and I don’t want him to lose interest in me and end up with some random...”

“I got it.  I’m not complaining that Conner is here.  He’s awesome, Lea, he is.  And don’t you dare volunteer me for anything to do with playing my guitar for them!  I saw that face you made!”

She made a pouty face at me.  “They may be jerks sometimes, but they are really great guys, even Shane.”

“Even Shane what?” Shane’s voice cut in.

Lea and I jumped at the sound of his voice.  Lea composed herself quicker than I did.  “We were just wondering what we could do to help, that’s all?  Um, how long were you standing there?”

His face gave nothing away.  “Long enough to know that we are jerks, but really great guys, even me.”  He glanced at me.

Lea chuckled, “Yep, that’s how I feel about you guys in a nutshell.  So what can I do to help?”

He tilted his head.  “Do you have markers and paper, so we can make some posters and put them up in all the local bars.”