By Another Name

Chapter 8.

She continues on to reveal that she is a vet, who lives on a ranch in the middle of even further than this nowhere and that without Denton's help in math, she may not ever have passed trig and gotten on to medical school. I realize I know absolutely nothing real about Denton, except that he's an awesome handler. She prattles on for a long time, and has all of my attention doing it, and finally says,  

"Denton what do you do now?" And he responds "Lou and I go around with a band." I am not sure what to say to that. Are we trying to make her think I'm a handler, or is he just leaving this part up to me?

 "Do you play any these days?" she asks Denton. Play? What? He's a handler. What does he play?

 "Oh, not really. I am more of a logistics person with them...several years now and the travel and all is quite fun and they are extraordinarily nice people to work with and I am around music more than I could have ever imagined," he says genuinely, and I realize the choice of *with* and not *for* is a distinct one, as he looks at me so squarely that I begin to feel like he has brought me a gift and he knows exactly what I need. So far, I have said absolutely nothing, but the food is good and the wine is better and the view is, frankly, on fire now. After a few moments of silence, she turns to me with a bit of red sauce on the edge of her pink lip and says,

 "Lou is it? Do you play?" And her brown eyes are the color of chocolate and honey, and I realize she has no fucking clue who I am. Brilliant. I shoot a glance at Denton and we both chuckle a bit.

 "What? Is that funny?" She asks, all taken aback. "You aren't like in Weezer or something and I'm clueless?" she smiles at us both, and really, it's a genuine smile and a beautiful one. The first thing I say to this girl is,

 "No, not Weezer. But I've recently met them and they are straight up fun blokes." And Denton laughs heartily with me at the memory of the festival we just attended. Harry practically screaming along to Beverly Hills from the wings, and Tease fangirling to an embarrassing extent and getting pictures with them.

 "GEL-US!" she yells, and throws up her hands. "Okay then, spill this secret. You're obviously sooommebody" she drawls. I consider what to say next. It's ridiculous to try and pretend, and Denton is not leading me in any direction here, so I try to think of the song most known by everyone everywhere and I ask.

 "Have you heard that song, What Makes You Beautiful by..." and before I can finish...

 "That One Direction group that the young girls all adore. Did you write that? Are you a songwriter?" And I am a bit crushed, because really, we've only just begun to write our own lyrics, and I certainly did not write that. I have a book full of lyrics now, but then, no.

 "He's in the group, love." Denton says, to kind of save me a bit. She covers her mouth, and a slight chuckle escapes.

"Oh, sorry!" She apologizes. "But, I thought those were boys. I guess I am not up on my knowledge of your band because you are definitely NOT a boy." And the look she gives me is, well, my god. It's not the look that I usually get from interviewers, or fans, or anyone really. It's a look that has no judgement, and no motive, and manages to convey genuine embarrassment. I keep looking at her and thinking "open book." I am not sure how to file it in my brain.