RYDER
Sitting around backstage always bored me to tears. Now we were going back out on tour, I quickly realized my feelings hadn’t changed.
One of the roadies walked through the green room where we waited. “Zeke, can you get me my Gibson? I feel like writing a little music.”
“Sure thing. I’m headed back out there in a sec.” He made a pass by the food provided by the caterers snagging a couple of sandwiches.
Joel finally sat up on the opposite couch where he’d slept for over an hour. “You’re gonna write? Dude, it’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been carrying around some music in my head for a while now. I’m ready to put it down on paper. Care to join me?”
“Hell yeah, I’ll join. You know I fucking love writing new tunes.”
The door opened with Zeke walking through carrying two acoustic guitars. The instruments’ age and abuse made them stick out like sore thumbs. We always used these to write the first versions of our songs.
Zeke handed them over. “I figured if Ryder were writing, you’d be joining him. So I brought yours, too.”
“Thanks, Zeke-man. You know us too well.” The two bumped fists.
“I should after all the years I’ve been traveling with y’all.”
“Shut up, fucker. You make me feel old.”
“Then guess how old I feel when y’all bring the next generation on tour with us? Feels like I’ve lived a thousand lives in twenty years.”
“I damn sure do, too. You should be one of ‘em’s dad. That’ll really make you feel ancient,” I added.
“Both of you shut up. I’m not old.” Joel strummed across the strings. “I’m seasoned. Just think of all we know now that we didn’t know at their age.”
“Yeah, and it’s up to us to show them what not to be so stupid about. I expect you not to act like the douchebag you were when we were their age, please.”
Zeke shook his head laughing on the way back out. “Yeah, I’m gonna hold my breath on that one.” The door slammed behind him.
“So, new music. Let’s hear what you got.”
I began playing the opening riff I’d been tossing around in my head. I knew Joel would love it. He always enjoyed beginning with this type of intro. Made for a perfect start to a show. Play a riff that the audience recognized, and it would send them into a frenzy before the lights illuminated the band.
I played through the intro, the first verse, and down to the chorus before stopping. I turned to Joel. “Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think? I think I fucking love it. It’s our next top ten. That’s what I think. Why you been holding off on letting anyone hear it?” He began picking out the rhythm on his guitar. “Let’s hear the rest.”
Before I could say anything, the door opened. Chandler walked in followed by the hot little photographer friend of hers. Chandler told us she would be around for our gigs to take some pictures, but I didn’t realize she was shooting us in the U.S.
“Oh, hey, Ryder. Joel. This is my friend and the official photog for the tour, G’Anna Lucian.”
Both of us set aside our guitars and stood. Her small hand fit into mine like a glove, and I swore I felt an immediate connection between us. It must have been from knowing she was the first friend of my daughter’s for me to officially meet.
“Hello. It’s great to finally meet one of Chandler’s friends.” I pumped her hand longer than needed, but I couldn’t bring myself to let her go until Joel made a noise. I immediately pulled my hand back only for Joel to pick hers up and shake it briefly.
“Nice to meet you, G’Anna. Great name, by the way,” he added.
“It’s wonderful to meet you both.” She beamed a beautiful smile at us. She looked at Joel. “And thank you. My parents are from Italy, but I was born here.”
“Sweet, a full-blooded Italian woman. I bet you can cook like a dream. Do you speak Italian, too?” Joel openly flirted with this gorgeous woman as I stood back and watched it all unfold.
I didn’t flirt. I hardly carried on conversations with women. It’s not like I didn’t speak to women. We had some with our roadie team from time to time, especially with the sound people. I talked to them about what I wanted changed. I gave suggestions or requests, and they completed them. I spoke, they listened.
This was different. This was holding a polite conversation. I didn’t spend time doing much that would be considered polite. Thinking about it, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I engaged in polite conversation with a female.
If I wanted a woman for the night, someone arranged it. We fucked. I slept. Someone escorted her out before morning. That’s the way I wanted it. I didn’t need to find a connection with a woman after Laina. The soft sound of G’Anna’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“You’d be sadly disappointed if you tasted anything I attempted to cook, Italian or otherwise. I leave the cooking to my mother. But, I can cuss like a sailor in Italian. That’s about the extent of my foreign language.” Laughter broke out among the group at her admission.
“Sounds like I’ll have to make you mad so I can hear your best skills then,” Joel jokingly told our new acquaintance as I sat back and watched the banter between them. It easily flowed for them, and for the first time in forever, I felt jealous of Joel’s ability to strike up a conversation on the fly this way.
I hadn’t considered my lack of conversation with a beautiful woman. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember a single time I’d conversed with a female other than a relative in forever. Damn, I needed to do something about this. Here I stood with my daughter and her gorgeous friend with nothing to say, nothing of interest to add to the light flirting Joel engaged them with. God, I was fucking lame even to myself.
“So, Dad…” Chandler turned to me bringing me out of my head, “… I thought if G’Anna could arrange her schedule, she might travel with us for a few days here in the U.S. and shoot some action pictures to use on social media or maybe for later in a video. Would you be okay with that?”
“Sure, Chandler. Whatever you want is fine with me.” I moved around beside her and captured her shoulder pulling her into my side. “If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
G’Anna spoke up. “Wow. Chandler, it’s the perfect opportunity to go wild with that kind of answer. Can you sneak dear ol’ Dad’s credit card for the afternoon? We can do some serious damage.” The little minx looked at me and winked. How was I supposed to react to that? Did she look at me like an old man because Chandler was my daughter?
“She can have her own card to my account. I’ll set it up with a phone call.” I pulled my cell out of my back pocket.
“No. No. No.” Chandler pushed my hand down. “I don’t need anything, and besides, I have plenty of my own money.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never had the chance to let you have a free day of shopping on me.” I’d missed so much of Chandler’s growing up, I wanted to make up for lost time any way I could.
“Thank you.” She kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll keep that in mind when I’m ready to go. Today’s not the day, though. We’ve got too much to do.” She turned to G’Anna. “Besides, we’re going to be in Paris soon. We can do some serious damage over there.”
“Absolutely,” the photographer added in a fake French accent. “Let’s put a day off on the calendar, so we don’t miss out. Champs-Élysées here we come.”
The two air-kissed each cheek directly in front of me. A light fragrance of lavender caught my attention when G’Anna leaned into my daughter. My senses perked up and went straight down my body causing my dick to twitch. Dammit, I was too old to let one feminine fragrance cause my dick to act fourteen again. Maybe she was right to consider me an old man. Guess that ship had sailed for me with a woman like her.