chapter two
My mouth dropped open. “ Bullshit Jane. I know we’re in Tulsa and all, but that’s not funny.” I said.
“ I’m not kidding Delilah. I’m so not kidding you. I don’t think that kind of joke would be funny.” Jane said, quite seriously.
Crap, she was right. “ I just danced with Zac. Wow. That kind of makes the guy who sang to me in the dog suit look kind of stupid.” I said laughing.
I was taking this better than I had always thought I would. “ God, don’t even compare Zac to Mark.” she said. “ Good point. Well, I think I’ve had a full night. I’m ready to go back to the house.” I said. I felt like everything that had happened was a dream as we walked out of the club and to my Honda Accord.
We practiced every day till Thursday. I wanted to sound perfect for Zac, and god only knows who he’d bring along with him. I sat there talking to our lead guitarist Jason working out a difficult part in a song with him. We got to talking and he looked up at me.
“ Layla, did this guy say that he was going to show up for sure?” he asked.
All my friends called my Layla, partly because everyone knew that was my favorite Eric Clapton (okay, Derrick and the Dominos if your picky) song, and it went along with my name okay too.
“ No, well, he said he’d be there.” I said, realizing that I barely knew the guy, so why was I counting on his word that he was going to be there? I had too much blind faith sometimes.
“ Oh, well, at least that’s something.” Jason said. I smiled and shook my head as he put his guitar away.
“ I guess we’ll find out tonight.” he said. I just sat there, praying that Zac wouldn’t break my heart.
That night Jane and I were back at the club early. Jane always did my hair and makeup before a show because I was always too nervous to do it myself. She was kind of like the band’s makeup artist. I tried to calm myself down as she spiked Jason’s hair for him, but nothing seemed to work. Gavin, our bass player came over to me and started to give me a massage.
“ I’ve never seen you this worked up before a show Layla. What’s up with you?” he asked.
Our lead singer, Page, came over to me too. “ Yeah Layla. You gonna be okay?” she asked, concerned. We all were like one big family and when one of us is all freaked out then we all get on edge.
“ Yeah, it’s just I wish I knew that Zac was here, but then I’m gonna be so paranoid about messing up.....oh god.” I said.
“ You wanna switch me tonight Layla?” Gavin asked from behind me.
“ I know you know all the bass parts, that way you can be up front.” he said.
“ No, no thanks. I know I’d fuck up then.” I said chuckling.
“ We gotta go guys.” Jason said, getting up.
We all walked out to the stage and took our places. I looked out at the crowd and didn’t see him.
“ And now ladies and gentlemen, we present Redundant.” the manager said. I hated our band name, it was stupid.
Half way through the first song I saw Zac, Isaac, Taylor and two girls come in. Zac looked slightly angry, but cheered up when he saw me behind the drums. I smiled and the rest of the show went off with out a hitch.
After we finished the set we went out into the bar and Zac found me before I could even begin looking for him.
“ I’m not going to let you get away from me this time.” Zac said coming up behind me. I spun around and saw him.
“ I’ve got a seat saved for you over at our table.” he said.
He led me over to the table and I sat down beside him. “ Hello.” Taylor said smiling.
“ Hi.” I said back. “ I’m Layla.”
“ Oooh, great name.” Ike said smiling. I giggled.
“ Thank you.” I said.
“ I take it you know my brothers and me.” Zac said.
I smiled and nodded. “ I’m Heather.” the girl next to Tay said.
“ My boyfriend has terrible manors.” the girl with dark brown hair and bright red highlights said.
I chuckled. Taylor leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.
“ This is Jenn. She’s my girlfriend.” Ike said smiling wide.
It was apparent that this had only started recently because of the looks that they’d give eachother. Heather and Taylor looked like they had been going out for a while, but were totally in love with eachother. I looked at Zac and he smiled.
It’s nice to meet all of you.” I said, looking at the two happy couples.
“You guys were awesome.” Zac said to me.
“Thanks. I was really nervous that I’d mess up. I always do that though.” I said. Zac laughed. “ Yeah, when we first started out I would like puke before every show. That totally sucked.” he said.
I laughed. All of a sudden a familiar song started playing over the sound system.
“ Hey, it’s our song.” I said jokingly. Zac smiled. “ Yeah it is. You wanna dance?” he asked, taking my hand.
Whoa, talk about electricity. Damn, that had to be enough to make your hair stand up.
“ Yeah.” I said, short of breath. I heard Ike chuckle and invite Jenn to dance. Heather and Taylor were already on the floor, dancing as close to eachother as possible. I looked at Zac and we danced even closer than we had at the club. God he smelled good. He had on a tight black T-shirt and some dark green pants and black boots. Did I mention that he smelled really good? He did. And just like the last time, the song ended all too soon. “ You wanna come back to our apartment later?” he asked whispering in my ear. Oh god.