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Charlie flopped on the bed beside Jess. “So I just got off the phone with the record label.” Jess didn’t say anything, just reached out to pet Charlie’s hair. Charlie closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling as Jess worked out a few small tangles. Eventually, though, she had to confront reality and the situation and let Jess know what was going on. “They found us a drummer and singer. If we don’t take her, we’re cut from the label.”
“Well, that sucks, but at least they’re not trying to force us to take a whole band’s worth of people. We can make it as a trio,” Jess said. Charlie hummed noncommittally. With Jess on bass or keyboard and her on lead guitar, they really should be okay with just one other person, but their record label kept trying to turn them into a huge girl group. “Did they tell you anything about her other than she plays drums and sings?”
“Gave me her name. Claire Novak. They say she sings like an angel and drums like she’s got the devil inside, but somehow, I suspect that’s just hype. Didn’t tell me anything else. Well…” Charlie cuddled into Jess. “They did tell me she’s a lesbian too. Don’t know why they think that matters other than if she’s a lesbian who tells her record label that she’s probably not the kind of person who’d quit the band over it.”
“Well, you know. Some people worry about that.” Jess pulled Charlie closer. “Is it we have to take her and that’s that, or do we get a few rehearsals or something to make sure she’s a good fit? Because, you know, the band kinda broke up because Meg and Ruby weren’t good fits with the two of us, and we were old friends.”
“They said we had to take her. Hopefully if it’s a bad fit, they’ll see sense and let us cut her loose and find someone else, but sounds like that’s not our call. Wish I knew why they love her so much, but I don’t. Just have to hope she’s as good as they say.” Charlie scooched around until she was comfortable. “Naptime?”
“Naptime.” Jess kissed her forehead. “Love you, babe.”
Claire was not what Charlie had expected. For one thing, she was just barely old enough to perform in places that served alcohol. For another, she looked just as happy to be there as Charlie was to have her there. “They tell me we’ve got a concert coming up in a week, so you’re gonna have to teach me fast. You gonna be dicks who insist on sticking to your old stuff and not using any of mine?”
“No, we can take a couple days of practice where you teach us your stuff if you want,” Jess said. “I have to ask, though, if you don’t want to be here and we don’t want you here – no offense, it’s nothing personal, it’s just we wanted to find our own person or people instead of getting handed one by the label and told to make it work…”
“Then why am I?” Claire finished for her. “Because fucking Zachariah Adler has it out for my dad. I’m good enough to be a solo act and really would’ve preferred that, and Dad was getting that all set up, hooking me up with a backing band and all, when Adler said I had to join you guys or find a new label. Dick.”
“Dick indeed.” Despite herself, Charlie found that she was starting to like Claire. “Adler give you any of the demos or the recordings from our album?”
“Nope, I had to go out and download the album myself yesterday,” Claire grumbled. Charlie rolled her eyes. That so figured. She wasn’t gonna ask, but she certainly wouldn’t blame Claire for pirating. Not this time. “At least your music doesn’t suck.”
“Got a favorite? Least favorite? One you absolutely cannot stand?” Charlie asked. “Opinions for how to change it to fit the new band lineup better?”
“Well, no offense to whoever your previous drummer was, but either you guys sucked at letting her do anything cool or she sucked at doing anything cool,” Claire scoffed. Charlie couldn’t disagree. Meg was a very good drummer, but all too happy to settle for keeping the beat and not doing much else. It hadn’t really helped much that Ruby was a diva who’d eventually broken up the band over Charlie and Jess wanting their turns to shine instead of everything always being about the singer. “If you guys don’t mind letting me cut loose sometimes, we’re good.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Jess promised with a smile. “The stuff on the album, since it’s already out there and it sold well enough that we're at least a little famous, people will have expectations, but we’ve got some demos and stuff we were working on for the next album – I know Ruby and Meg will claim some of it, but the stuff Charlie and I wrote, they don’t get to take. We’ll give you that and you can do your thing with it and we’ll see how it goes, okay?”
“Yeah, okay, whatever.” Claire pulled her hands out of her jacket pockets and reached for the sticks tucked into the back of her jeans. “Still working on learning the words, but I got all the drum stuff down from the album, so start with that?”
Rehearsal went so much better than Charlie had dreamed it could. Claire, as promised, had no trouble at all with the drum parts of the songs from the album, and her voice worked well for the lyrics she knew. She didn’t try to copy Ruby’s singing, but she also didn’t get too far off on her own. At the end of the session, Jess told Claire to do her own thing with the drums on “The Bad Place”, which Jess and Charlie had never truly liked as it was and Claire knew all the words to. Claire’s improvisation on the drums improved it a great deal. “That was awesome! I think you should do that in the show,” Charlie said. “Love it.”
“Thanks.” Claire was smiling properly now, no trace of sarcasm or irony. “That one I kind of latched onto, reminds me of an ex-girlfriend who died of a drug overdose last year. Don’t do the sympathetic noises or anything, yeah it sucks but it was a year ago and my foster mom made sure I got the help I needed to process and grieve. Kaia’s demons can’t get her now.”
“Fair enough, then. Want to go get a drink, or go home and start working through some of our demo stuff and seeing what you can do with it?”
Claire hesitated for a moment. “Go on home. Give me whatever you’ve got and I’ll bring my stuff tomorrow for you two to go through.”
The next few days went just as perfectly. By the date of their first show together, Charlie had gotten to the point where she was just about to send Zachariah a fruit basket for this one. Claire was still a little wary, but at least agreed that their styles blended well and once they got used to each other, it would likely be a good match all around. Her hesitance wasn’t explained until after the show, which was a roaring success.
“So? What do you say? Stay with us, be a super awesome group kicking ass together?” Charlie asked as she handed out the beers. “Or go convince Zachariah that you can do this alone?”
Claire sighed and stared at her beer. “Is Zachariah fucking with me, or were Ruby and Meg more than just your bandmates?”
Jess and Charlie exchanged confused glances. “Meg’s an ex-girlfriend, but that was from high school, before we put the band together,” Charlie eventually said. “Neither of us ever dated Ruby. What did Zacharasshatt tell you?”
“Said that your band of lesbians was, well…” Claire waved a hand, letting the implication fill itself in. “You guys are pretty cool, and if it happens because we start hanging out together so much and like each other that’s one thing, but if it’s a requirement for joining the band, then thanks but I’m out.”
“You thought it might be and you still showed up?” Jess asked, eyebrows hitting the roof. “No. We’re not like that. Ruby and Meg might be with their new project, but not us. Charlie and I have talked about it a couple times, and if we find someone who fits and who we both like and think makes things better for everyone, then we wouldn’t mind opening up to a poly relationship, but trying to force that on someone? No. Definitely not. If you want to play music with us, be a good bandmate and that’s it. That’s all we expect from you.”
“Fuck Zachariah for giving you this impression to begin with,” Charlie added. “No wonder one of the first things he told us about you was that you’re a lesbian. What the hell is wrong with that douchebag of dicks?” Claire’s snort and long quaff of beer was exactly what Charlie had hoped for. “Friends would be nice, but even that’s not mandatory. That way if you decide to Beyoncé yourself out of our destiny, it hurts less!”
Claire giggled at that, an honest to God giggle. Charlie had never heard her sound that happy. “Sounds good to me. Let’s be awesome together as a band and see what happens on the personal front?”
“Sounds good. In the meantime, which brother should I call?” Off Claire’s confused face, Charlie explained, “One’s a civil rights lawyer who could put the fear of jail in Zachariah. The other would just stab him in the face. Either way, he never does that to another girl in the industry.”