Tegan watched two boys bouncing a ball around a court. They looked like they knew what they were doing, so far as she could tell, but she didn't really understand the rules of the game. They were only using one of the hoops, for one thing, when she'd always thought that each of them would be aiming to score at opposite ends of the court. But Tegan was happy to admit to herself that she didn't know if the game was more complex than she'd thought, or if this was some kind of training drill. There was a lot of standing still in different parts of the court before trying to take the same shot, so she guessed the latter.
She could have called out to them, to at least make sure that she had the right people. But she got so carried away watching them that she barely even noticed when half an hour had passed. She only emerged from that fugue when she heard the rattle of the doors opening to let two boys out of the cage-like space of the court. She watched them leave, and quickly corrected her inner monologue. Not boys; young men. They were surely older than her by at least a couple of years, and both were tall, muscular, and looked like they could have been professionals. Both had sleeveless tops bearing a logo that declared 'Moistville Saracens' too; although the shorter one had it tied around his waist as he played. Given how much they were sweating, they probably didn't care about the weather slowly sliding down to winter temperatures.
They walked right past Tegan, not noticing that she was staring after them. She regained her composure in just a second, and chased after the pair.
"Hey, Dean?" she called. And she knew she must be right, because the shorter one turned and smiled. His grin showed off perfect teeth, to go with a perfect body, and she really hoped that he wasn't going to get the wrong idea. It was easy to imagine that sportsmen like this would be starting to get a lot of attention from girls, and she didn't Dean to assume she was just after one thing. Not that she would have been opposed to spending some more time with someone who looked like that; she just didn't want her first relationship to be accelerated like those jocks would expect.
She shook her head to clear away all the intrusive thoughts as he spoke:
"He's taken." That must mean that Dean was the tall one, she guessed. Or rather, the taller one, because both were well above average. "No fangirls, them's the rules. We don't make 'em but we gotta take 'em. And if that's not enough to put you off, I should warn you that we live together. So whatever you get up to, I get to watch."
The other guy, Dean presumably, shot him a withering glance but didn't say anything. Tegan tried to collect her thoughts together. She thought that Theo had said the piper was Dean's roommate. So if the huge jock was Dean, and the two lived together, then the cute one was probably the piper. Of course, she still had to consider the possibility that this was all part of some in-joke or routine. She was sure that she'd seen the 'we don't make em' line online before, so it was probably a song lyric or a quote from some movie she didn't know. Still, she could only work with what she had.
"Fine by me," she replied with a smile, just to see the overconfident guy deflate for a fraction of a second. That was a response he hadn't expected, wherever he was coming from. "Just so long as you can play the bagpipes."
The cute jock seemed dumbstruck, and Dean hesitated just a second before erupting in a deep belly laugh.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Even after I got kicked off the team, we still get people staring who don't realise that I've got a personality beyond my physique. And Pete likes to make a joke of it. But I'd guess you know us, even if we don't know you."
"Pete?" she said, filing the words away in her mind. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Tegan. We're putting together an alt rock band, but it just doesn't sound right. We've got an eclectic set of instruments, but I figured that what we need to complete the sound is bagpipes. And one of my friends, Theo, said she knows a guy who knows a guy, kind of thing. Didn't say anything about you, just set me off on this quest to find Dean. And I've asked everybody I can think of where Dean might be found, until a chipper goth chick said I might find you here. So... did I get the right Dean?"
"Probably," the tall one said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the taller one. "This guy is Dean Carter. Star of the high school team, but never made it in college. I'm Pete Singer. They begged me to join, but–"
"But he's an inveterate liar," Dean cut in. "He never joined the team, never even applied. He has this amazing gift for looking like the kind of guy who'd be a basketball natural. Nabbed some of my old shirts and comes down here trying to pick up guys. But yeah, he plays pipes. Seriously, your band needs bagpipes?"
"Maybe not," Tegan admitted. "It's a bit of a long story. But to cut it short, we ended up being half a tribute band. Playing their original tracks by Franklin's Muse, as well as trying to recreate the ethos of the band and write our own. They have a different set of instruments on every track, almost. We've switched it about a bit, like we've got this guy who can somehow play some of Gattac's synthesiser parts on spanish guitar. But the woodwind part on this one track just sounds too weak on everything we tried to adapt it to. And then the guy who's actually seen them perform said he's playing bagpipes for that track. Now, I can't promise we need a piper for every track. But I figure all the instruments that aren't actually in the original can play like a chorus, or play along with one of the other instruments. Or maybe there's other tracks we can work it into. But for at least one track, we need a piper. So if you'd like to play..."
He didn't say yes right away, which frankly amazed Tegan. But they went along to a burger and kebab place called Fleshmongers, where they could talk more about the band over food. It was still too early for Tegan to eat anything else, but the two basketball players told her that heavy exercise could really build up an appetite. And she had to believe that, after seeing how much meat they could both put away.
"Do you sing at all?" she asked Pete, after a little while. "I mean... I'm not joking about your name. Well, not just. But in Franklin's Muse, they all sang. And aside from the bagpipes and a lack of depth in the rhythm section, I think vocals are our biggest weakness."
"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I've done karaoke, but I don't know how good I am. I guess you're thinking about giving everybody a role, right? So in the songs where the pipes don't fit in, I could sing instead. I think that's a good idea. I mean, I think I've got good breath control, and I could probably learn to sing well enough if there's somebody who can give me some pointers. Or even just tell me which bits I'm doing okay and what needs improving."
"We can do that," Tegan said, and felt a lot more confident than she had in weeks. Somehow, solving a little problem for the band meant more to her emotionally than all the different problems and obstacles that still lay ahead of her, in every aspect of her life. "Want to come along to practice, see how you get on with the other guys?"
"Sure," he said. "But first, let's talk percentages. And what's the rights assignments?"
Tegan's face must have been a picture, as she reached for words and found nothing that would help her. But it only lasted for two seconds before both Singer and Dean broke down in laughter again.
"Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I just want to play on a stage, that's what matters to me. Money isn't the point here, but I thought that's the kind of thing you're supposed to say before you sign a contract. And that response, well, it kind of tells me you're not the kind of manager who's looking to take advantage of the talent. So yeah, I'd like to meet these guys, this sounds awesome. And I'll do my best to learn the band's back catalogue, too. What did you say they were called?"
"Franklin's Muse," Tegan answered, feeling more confident about this than about just about all of her recent decisions. The guy seemed genuine, modest, and really interested. And she was almost sure that it wasn't the mesmerising display of sweat drops running down over his pecs that was holding her attention. She wanted to know if he sounded as good as he looked. "They're kind of obscure, but I can give you a copy of some tracks if that helps. I got some videos from–"
"I'm sure I know that name," Dean interrupted. "I mean, it sounds really familiar. I'm not sure, but I think maybe I used to babysit a girl who was really into them. If they're the band I'm thinking of, I've got one of their albums at home."
"That'll make it easier. But if you have any trouble, just let me know. Okay? My brother put together a big collection for me, just about every piece of media that's out there. Like, a montage of a live show filmed with a hundred fans' phone cameras, as well as the official releases. I'm really hoping you'll like them, because you sound like the kind of guy who'd fit the band pretty well."
Everything was all smiles, but somewhere in the back of her mind Tegan still knew that she had more important things to deal with. More important than the band, even, and that was a concept she found it hard to believe. But the things her brother had done to her needed to be resolved, while she still had some little scraps of her reputation. And thankfully, she had a friend who was in the top half of her psych class when it came to hypnosis. Sure, Theo didn't have people saying she was a gifted genius, like the way Logan talked about Ness. But Tegan was sure that she would be able to help; and then she could have her life back without any more worries.
She was nervous, but she said goodbye to Dean and Pete for now, and walked back in the direction of Bentdick's. Fingers crossed, because it was her only real option at this point.