Page 2 of The Sounds of Her
“Hey, it happened, what am I gonna do, lie about it?” He lifts and drops his shoulders. “Besides, it’s no fucking secret what I was like back then.” He turns to check his hair in the mirror and does something that causes Elsa to push his hand away like he’s a child. “Ow.”
“Stop messing it up,” she shakes her head. “And that did not hurt.”
“I know,” Jordan says, grinning over at me. “It was about as soft as Archer-man’s love balls.”
“Fucking hell,” Adam moans.
“You told the story,” I point out.
“Yeah man, what the fuck came over you?” Jordan drops into the seat between me and Ad and puts his arms around both our necks. “Reliving a happy memory?”
Adam throws his arm off, but I leave it, not in the mood for a tussle with the man-child.
Elsa sits on Nick’s lap. He’s still focused on his phone, but he kisses her shoulder, and she gets a dreamy expression on her face.
One question I’m going to get today is, ‘when are you gonna settle down?’ or ‘is love on the horizon for Archer Harris?’ Just because the rest of these guys are locked down, doesn’t mean I need to be. I prefer to think of myself as the last true rock n roller of the band. Besides, after seeing some of the shit these guys have been through with their women, I’m happy being single.
“I bet you guys have many funny stories from the old days,” Elsa says.
“Too many to talk about,” Adam says, a note of finality to his voice, regretting bringing up that story, because the other women will hear about it before the night is through.
“I didn’t exactly enjoy ball slapping you either,” I point out. “Your cheek was stubbly.”
“One might say, prick-ly,” Jordan smirks.
“Fuck you all,” Adam gets up and walks to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
“He’s such a sulky bitch,” Jordan frowns. “Has Jenna taken my advice and decided to wait until they’re married?”
“Why does his mood have to be about Jenna?” Elsa remarks.
While they discuss the reason for Adam’s attitude, I zone out. I’ve been doing it a lot. Fortunately, no one appears to have picked up on it. I got better at hiding it after Nick realised there was something wrong last year, and we got the band a hiatus.
And that is nothing like what I’m dealing with now.
My phone vibrates against my thigh, and I pull it from my pocket. My mood darkens when I see it’s from Madison. What makes it worse is, it’s work related. How can she send texts like this after the huge fucking bomb she dropped on me three days ago?
She loves playing mind games with me. Her favourite pastime is fucking me the hell up, so I delete the message without answering and put the phone away. Adam comes out of the bathroom and watches me from across the room.
I barely even hear what the others are talking about as I turn away from the prying, perceptive eyes of my best friend.
Maybe he knows something is going on, but I’m not telling him. I’m not telling anyone.
The door opens. “You’re on in five. Can you follow me, please?”
“So polite,” Jordan grins, jumping up. “I love Canada.”
“Break a leg,” Elsa gets up and heads to her make-up station.
“Aren’t you gonna come out and watch?” Nick asks.
“I didn’t know I could,” she says.
We walk around them as Nick asks if Elsa is allowed on set and follow the signs towards the studio. Adam falls into step with me. I expect him to ask what’s wrong, but he says nothing, and I appreciate the fuck out of that. He’s there if I need him, without getting all emo and offering to talk.
We’re fitted with mic packs and wired up. Adam tucks his in-ear monitors into the top of his t-shirt after putting the wire around his neck. He’ll use them while he’s singing to block out noise so he can keep in time and in tune while he sings.
Not that he needs it. The guy is amazingly talented, and no one is more professional than him. He’s always been that way.