Baby Blue Eyes

Chapter Eleven

‘A minute,’ interrupts Eddie, laughing.

‘Well, with goons like you in the band, it’s necessary,’ Matt retorts, but he’s smiling. ‘Yeah, I know, you know, but we can’t let anything go wrong. You all know where it is?’

‘YES!’ shouts Eddie. ‘Look Matt, it’s all going to be okay. You’ve bloody organised the entire thing on spread sheets, it can’t really go wrong.’

Matt gathers his spread sheets to his chest, looking hurt. ‘These spread sheets are very handy!’

‘Ah crap, Eddie!’ Jamie whispers to his friend. ‘You’ve made a grave error; insulting his spread sheets!’

‘Don’t do it again if you value your life,’ Levi advises him, making me chuckle. Levi’s actually been far more easy going these last two practices, being much more open to a laugh.

‘My deepest apologies, Matt,’ Eddie says, sweeping him a bow. ‘I shall forever regret my mistake. Those spread sheets are the love of my life.’

Matt smiles. ‘Alright, alright, don’t over do it.’

‘So, the coffee shop in town, 11:30?’ Jamie checks.

‘Yep, that’s it,’ Matt says.

We always used to play in coffee shops before the break up. People told us that they enjoyed the music, and we often got more gig requests after wards. Sometimes it just used to be Levi and I, Levi playing his guitar, and me with the shaky egg to keep us in time. That was if we were doing a smaller coffee shop; but this one is nice and big, and often has bands in to play at the weekends, so there’ll be room enough for us all, as long as Eddie goes for the Cajon drum rather than his entire drum kit.

‘Right, shall we carry on then?’ Matt asks.

I nod. ‘Have we practised ‘Raining’ yet?’ I ask.

Matt shakes his head. ‘I thought it was too hard.’

‘We used to get a great reaction when we played that though,’ Levi says, thoughtfully.

‘Could we pull it off?’ asks Eddie. ‘What was so hard about it?’

‘There’s some tricky chords,’ I say, and Levi nods.

Matt shrugs. ‘My part was hard too,’ he says. ‘But why don’t we give it a go? It’s worth a shot.’

Finding the right piece of music, I look at the chords and bite my lip. I can’t remember how half of these go. This was probably our best sounding piece, with Matt playing a gorgeous riff on the keyboard that actually sounded like rain drops falling into puddles.

I attempt to play it through, and just about manage it; though there’s one chord I can’t quite manage: a Dm/C which I can’t remember.

‘You alright with the chords, Zo?’ Levi asks, having evidently noticed my frowning over the sheet of music.

‘Mm, it’s just that Dm/C; do you know what it is?’

‘Dm/C?’ Levi comes up by me to look at the music. ‘Ah yes, that’s a tricky one. It’s 030231,’ he tells me.

I frown, trying to fit my fingers into the shape. ‘Er could you say that again?’ I ask, rather embarrassed at not being able to do it.

‘030231,’ Levi replies with a little chuckle.

‘Uh-’

Before I can ask for help again, his body presses lightly against mine as he comes up behind me, gently holding my fingers in place, shifting them to the right positions. I ignore the fact that my entire body is tingling, also ignoring the memory of Tasha telling me ’sexual tension’ and stammer my thanks. 

‘That’s okay,’ he says, softly, right by my ear, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. Then he moves away, the pressure of his body no longer there. I don’t miss the feeling at all. Not at all.

After that, the song goes rather smoothly. Though we mess it up the first few times due to the tricky rhythm and the difficulty of fitting everyone’s parts in, eventually it all works as the music jogs our memory, and we smile proudly at each other.

When the rehearsal is over, Matt checks with us again that we know where we’re going. ‘Try bringing along friends too,’ he tells us. ‘That’ll help swell numbers.’

‘I’ll bring my girlfriend,’ Jamie says. ‘She likes coffee.’

‘And you, hopefully,’ Eddie suggests. ‘So she’s bound to come.’

‘Yeah, I’ll try bringing some friends along,’ Levi says, with a smile. I wonder if he’s thinking of Imogen. Imogen bloody Cooper.

I nod. ‘Mm, I’m sure my friends would love to come.’

‘Okay. Well, I’ll see you there, then,’ Matt says. ‘Make sure your on time, okay, I don’t want any late arrivals.’

‘Yes sir!’ Eddie says, pretending to salute him. ‘Do we get a detention if we’re late, sir?’

Matt rolls his eyes, but I think he secretly likes playing the teacher to us all. I think it makes him feel more mature. I catch Levi’s eye, and we grin at each other, both secretly chuckling at Matt’s behaviour. Bless him, I don’t think he means to act like an army general, but sometimes it sure feels like we’re in the military rather than a band.

When we eventually get dismissed by our leader, I head out into the evening sunshine, feeling extremely optimistic. I can’t wait for the gig, and I can’t wait for the rest of the things that our band will get up to. Though, why I can still feel the distinct pressure of Levi’s body against mine is beyond me. It’s not like I enjoyed it or anything.