“Spill it.” Marie plopped down on the empty seat next to
Irene for the ride back. The tournament
was a bust. The basketball team had headed
immediately for the losers bracket, and then to the bottom of the losers
bracket, making each game a bit more doleful than the last. Even the presence of the pep band could not
pep the team—or its crowds—to much in the way of enthusiasm, much less winning
a game.
Marie was the only other female saxophone and normally would
have been her partner in crime for the trip, but she was preoccupied with
brokering a peace accord between Karen and her now ex-Jason and she herself had
recently taken up with different Jason, this one a tuba player, so had been
running with the brass crowd. With Irene
hanging out with the drummers, they hadn’t crossed paths much during the trip,
but Marie had a keen eye and a good ear for gossip and Eddie’s constant
hovering near Irene had not gone unnoted.
“What do you know?” Irene asked her, searching for dirt.
“Do you want to know the wild, unsubstantiated rumor; the
one I heard and believe, or the facts I, myself have observed.” She spoke in a
low voice, conscious of the people around them.
Marie could ferret out the secrets, but she also knew how to keep them
to herself.
“Must I choose?” Irene grinned. The two of them had been friends since junior
high and knew each other’s ways.
“Good point.” Marie agreed.
“Let’s start with the wild rumor. You, Irene Johansen, snuck into Alex’s
room and engaged in various forms of congress with all four drummers staying
there.”
“Ugh.” Irene protested.
“Not Alex’s room. Stefan ended up
in Alex’s room, no way would there be congress of any kind happening there. Not
even general passage of legislation.” Stefan was the lumpy and slow male cymbal
player.
“Ah, so there would be with Alex.” Marie pushed a bit,
curious. She didn’t really understand
Irene and Alex. They always seemed like
friends who were on the verge of fighting.
But something also seemed to indicate they were on the verge of—well not
love, exactly. Maybe a physical
consummation of some sort? Both kept
their feelings confined, so even Marie’s best reconnaissance had left her with
confusing data.
Irene made a face, thinking of Alex and various forms
congress. “Not going to happen. Who
starts those rumors, anyway? Let’s move
on to what you do believe.”
“I heard that Eddie has a thing for you.”
“And?”
“And that’s what I heard.” Marie said.
Irene sighed. Marie
was holding out.
“Let’s move on to what you’ve observed.” Irene said,
deflecting the request.
Marie gave her a look. “I’ve noticed that Eddie has never
been more than 10 feet from you this entire trip.” she counted one on her
finger. “I’ve noticed that even right now he is not more than 10 feet from
you.” She counted two while Irene leaned past Marie to scan the bus. Eddie was sitting
one seat behind and across the aisle. He
and Alex were working out a complex rhythm, softly beating their drumsticks on
their legs.”
“I’m willing to bet,” Marie continued, counting off another
finger, “that he looks over to check on you before I hit one.” She began
counting down, ”Five. Four, Three, Two.”
Dammit. Right as
Marie hit the number two, Eddie looked up, caught Irene looking at him and
smiled at her. Irene smiled back and ducked down again.
“Furthermore,” Marie counted off her last finger “I’ve
noticed how much you’ve been flirting with him this weekend.”
“I have not.” Irene protested. She had hardly talked to him, since they had
the conversation on the way there about joining drum corps for marching band.
Marie fixed her best stare on Irene. “Please, lady. I know you.
The hair flipping has amped up, plus, I haven’t been too far away to see
the sideways glances you favor and the cheery waves you’ve been dispersing all
weekend.”
Irene rolled her eyes, caught.
“What I want to know,” Marie leaned closer. “is do you like him?”
Irene sighed, and kicked the back of her seat a few times,
thinking. “Maybe?”
“He’s a drummer,” Marie countered “You have to give me more
than a maybe.” Marie and Irene had
fought back against the drummers through most of the marching band season. They didn’t like the drummers’ attitudes,
their inflated egos and their bossiness.
The two of them had done a pretty good job making themselves pains in
the asses of the entire percussion section.
Irene’s feelings had changed a bit as the months had passed, mostly
paved by Alex. Marie wasn’t really convinced
drummers were okay. Her head had been
turned by the shiny volume of the brass section, working her way from trumpet
to trombone to now tuba.
Irene thought a bit.
“I don’t not like him.” she
said slowly, “but I’m not sure if I like him because he likes me, or because I
like him. I don’t really know him very
well.”
Marie squinted one eye and observed her. “So we need to shrink the group a bit, I
think.”
“What do you mean?
“I mean, your group is too big, he can’t get a word in
edgewise. You should have a few people,
like no more than five, over to your house and see what he does.”
“I don’t know,” Irene hedged. “Maybe I want to find out if he likes me.”
“Oh he likes you.” Marie said, glancing over her shoulder
and catching Eddie peering past Alex again.
You know what made me laugh out loud? Stefan. No more words needed. :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice. I want MORE!!!
I wasn't in band in HS, but I've heard a lot of stories about it. From what I've read of your story so far, it seems pretty accurate (lots of "hooking up," different cliques, etc.).
ReplyDeleteI, too, laughed at the name Stefan. But, I also wondered just how much was true to life... Except I NEVER hooked up with a Tuba player! Oh, Shit. He had a crush on me. Not the other way around.
ReplyDelete