Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch. 09

Brody stared at him. "What the hell? You think she was cheating on you?"

Rick shrugged. "She probably thinks I'm too dumb to notice that she had lunch with Doctor What's-his-name five times in a month."

"No, man." Brody shook his head. "Amy wouldn't do that. I just can't see it."

"Oh yeah?" Rick raised an eyebrow and gestured at Brody with his beer. "You telling me you never worry about Ryan and all those guys in the other bands?"

"No." Brody hadn't given it a thought.

Rick threw his head back and laughed. "Brody, you are . . . look, think about it." He leaned across the table. "You can honestly sit there and tell me you don't give a shit about Ryan going on tour, surrounded by—by—all those guitar players?"

Brody relaxed back in his chair. "She's been working with Nate and Mitch for years and as far as I know, nothing ever happened. Why should I suddenly start worrying about guys she hasn't even met?"

Rick gave a mirthless laugh. "'As far as I know.' Yeah, that's what I thought. When Amy was looking for a job I figured, hell, she's been in school with men, what's the difference if she's working with them?" He finished his beer, signaled for another. "Let me tell you, man, there's a difference."

After the next beer arrived, Rick challenged Brody to a game of pool. Relieved not to have to continue the conversation, he accepted. The rest of the night was uneventful, although Rick drank at a rate that surprised Brody, especially since his brother had to work in the morning. When he made a comment, Rick waved it off and said he had it under control.

Back at his hotel, Brody tried to put it all aside. He was beat from the game and from the extra travel, and he had an early flight the following day. Even so, sleep didn't come easy.

At last, on the plane, Brody let himself think about his time with Rick. He hadn't seen that side of his brother before and he didn't much like it. Presumably it was exacerbated by the beer—Rick had downed six or seven to Brody's eventual two—but one thing he knew about alcohol was that it didn't give a person new personality traits. It just magnified ones that were already there, and in Rick's case it appeared anger and bitterness were prominent.

That was why Rick had said those things about Ryan, Brody decided. He was just projecting. Brody supposed it was a risk that Ryan might meet someone in the music business, but he didn't worry about things that hadn't happened. What was the point? Besides, things with Ryan were good.

On the other hand, everyone had thought things were good between Rick and Amy, too. Including Rick.

He shook his head. No sense worrying about things over which he had no control. Rick was going through a tough time and that was making him pessimistic, but it didn't mean Brody had to be.

x-x-x-x

Ryan ignored her cell phone and focused her attention on sorting through clothes to pack for the tour and clothes to store.

"Hey, you going to answer that?" Lara stood in the doorway.

"Nope. It's my mom. I know why she's calling and I'm done with being yelled at."

"Ah, I see." Lara surveyed Ryan's room for a few minutes before observing, "This place is a mess."

Clothes, papers and general stuff littered the bed and floor. Ryan snorted. "Your room is no better. I saw it myself."

"True. Moving sucks." Lara came in and sat on the floor.

"At least you have a place to put your stuff. You're moving in with Trout. I feel like I'm doing half a move. I get to sort and pack but I don't have an end point." Ryan riffled through some papers and dropped them in a trash can.

"I talked to Annette the other day, she said she might know somebody. She'll text you."

"Thanks. I haven't had time to do much looking around."

"Any more news on Evan?"

Ryan sat on the edge of her bed and dropped some more papers to the floor. "Nothing new. Dad's still pissed, but give Evan some credit—he's not budging. At least since Evan has a scholarship, Dad can't threaten to pull the plug on tuition."

"That's good. Has your dad left you alone?"

"Yeah. JT called and started in on me, but I hung up on him."

"You go, girl!" Lara grinned.

Ryan gave her a wry grin. "Thanks."

"Hey, listen, speaking of moving, Trout has a friend who wanted the sofa. He was going to come around today."

"Oooooh, cool! We can have a pajama party in the living room! With sleeping bags and everything!" Ryan clasped her hands together in mock excitement.

"Oh, please. It's only a couple of weeks. That must be him." Lara jumped up when someone knocked on the door.

Ryan followed her out and watched as Trout came in with another guy. It took them a few minutes to wiggle it out the door, and she stared at the empty space after they'd left. "How did all that stuff get under the couch?"

"I'm not sure," Lara said.

"Hey, I wondered where that went." Ryan knelt down and picked up a book.

Lara joined her. "You are a slob. Look at all these. What, did you corner the market on Combos?"

"I'm not the only one," Ryan said. "I do believe all of these M&Ms are yours. I'm going to get a trash bag." She went into the kitchen and came back, shaking the plastic bag open.

"Oh, my God, what is that?" Lara pointed at an unidentifiable blob on the floor. "I don't want to touch it."

Ryan looked around and finding nothing suiting her purpose, sighed and touched the thing with her foot. It flipped over, making Lara jump. Ryan snickered. "I think it's dead."

"Well, I'm not picking it up."

"Oh, for God's sake." Ryan used the bag to protect her hand and picked it up. As it fell in, she noted, "At least it didn't stick to the rug."

"That's so gross. God, let's finish this and get the vacuum cleaner."

After the area was clean, Lara stared at the space. "Wow, it looks a lot bigger in here."

"I know. It's weird, isn't it?" Ryan turned to Lara. "I mean, we haven't really been here all that long, but I'm going to miss this place."

"Yeah, me too. Not surprising, I guess. It's the first place we had on our own. We found it, we paid for it, we furnished it." Lara held her hands out and then dropped them. "And now we are moving on to a new stage of our lives. Naturally there will be feelings of loss and perhaps even a sense of mourning."

Ryan stared at her friend, then burst out laughing. "Those psych courses finally came in handy, huh?"

Lara grinned. "Well, I read it in an advice column, but yeah, I think we covered it in a class somewhere."

"You have better recall than I do." Ryan shook her head. "Okay, I'm going back to try and get organized."

"Yeah, me too. I'll grab you for some dinner later, okay?"

"Sure."

Ryan went back into her room and wanted to walk out again when confronted by the piles on her bed and floor and other flat surfaces. She considered procrastinating by returning her mother's earlier call, but sorting and packing was far easier than dealing with her parents.

There was something to what Lara had said. After college, she and Lara had shared a house with a couple of other women, but there had been personality conflicts and more drama than Ryan cared for. When a couple of boyfriends turned into de facto residents, Ryan and Lara decided they'd had enough and had found their current apartment.

She remembered how they'd walked in and been a little overwhelmed. The apartment wasn't huge but it had seemed so with the eggshell walls, beige carpeting and lack of furniture.

It had seemed the best of both worlds. With separate bedrooms, they would each have a place to go to be alone but they'd be close enough to talk or work on songs. For a couple of years now, it had worked out perfectly.

Ryan packed some winter clothes into a box. Lara's mom had offered to store some of her things, and Ryan had gratefully taken the offer. She didn't want to impose too much, but she couldn't toss everything, and storage units could get expensive.

She flipped on her iPod and laughed when David Bowie's "Changes" came on. She couldn't even remember when she'd added that, but if only for the title it felt appropriate.

Ryan mused that her own life had been full of changes the last few months. A boyfriend, getting rid of Jason, and now the tour; she hoped things would slow down for a bit so she could adjust to it all. She smiled at the thought of Brody—that was one thing that had taken less adjustment than she'd feared.

She checked the time and wondered when he might call. He'd gotten back from Michigan the day before, but the team had a busy schedule as the season wound down. They'd talked on the phone but hadn't been able to meet up yet. Busy, busy, busy, Ryan thought. She stopped in the middle of folding a shirt then went into Lara's room.

"Hey. What's up?" Lara stuffed a teddy bear into a bag.

Ryan leaned against the dresser. "I was just thinking. It's going to be really weird when we go on tour and I won't see Brody."

Lara looked at her, puzzled. "Okay. I mean, yes, but what exactly is weird about it?"

"I'm not sure." Ryan frowned. "It's just . . . so far, he's been doing the traveling. And that's fine. Sometimes he's gone a couple of days, sometimes a couple of weeks. But there's always a break for home games and we get to see each other. But we're leaving for what, six weeks, right? That's a long time not to see someone."

"I haven't seen my dad for six months," Lara offered. "It's worked for us."

Ryan gave a half-smile and shook her head. Lara and her father were barely civil to each other. "You know what I mean. You won't see Trout, either. Aren't you—I don't know—worried about it?"

"A little, maybe." Lara sat on her bed. "I'll miss him, sure. And he'll miss me if he knows what's good for him."

That got a laugh out of Ryan. "I'm sure he will; he's a bright guy." She quieted again. "This whole thing is just weird for me."

"Well, I did say before, it's really cute to watch you deal with a real relationship." Lara snickered and dodged when Ryan threw a stuffed cat at her. "Your aim sucks."

"You're not supposed to move." Ryan reached out to pick up a toy horse. "Why do you have all these things anyway?"

"When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then I got grossed out in biology class. Stuffed animals filled the gap nicely. And Trout got some for me."

"Yeah, it's nice when they do that, isn't it?" Ryan turned the horse over in her hands, staring at it but not seeing it.

"When who does what?"

"When Trout does something just because he knows you like it. Like Brody, when he got me that rabbit."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, he got you a rabbit?" Lara widened her eyes.

Ryan threw the horse at her. "Get your mind out of the gutter. The purple rabbit I showed you. He remembered that I said rabbit feet creeped me out, and so he said this one was lucky because it had all its feet. It was sweet."

"Yes, it was. Ryan, you have to relax. Going on tour isn't the end of anything. It's supposed to be a beginning, a fun time, and hopefully we'll make some progress, maybe get onto a bigger tour or even get in with a record company."

"I know, I know. And I want that, believe me. It's just . . . well, like I told Brody, anytime I thought about stuff like this before, I never had a boyfriend in the picture."

"Things change, Ryan. You just need to re-do the picture. Insert the boyfriend in, you know, like a mental version of Photoshop."

Ryan smiled and nodded, still trying to work through her thoughts. It couldn't be easy for Lara to go away from Trout, but they'd been together for a long time and helped each other through stressful times. There was security there. Ryan and Brody didn't have that kind of history. Slowly, she got her concerns out to Lara.

Lara brushed her hair back and thought before responding. "He's still been there for you, Ryan. Even before you started going out, like the day of the GW show last fall. That's a good kind of history. I know I've kidded around a lot, but I think you've been pretty relaxed about the whole thing, and you shouldn't change now."

"It's just—he does a lot for me. I'm not sure what I do for him. So if I'm out of the way for a while, maybe he'll decide things are easier without me."

"I don't think so." Lara gave her a reassuring smile. "Ryan, I've seen you guys together. Brody cares about you and I don't think he'll suddenly decide things are better just because you're not around to eat his food."

Ryan gave a wistful sigh. "I will miss the food."

"You know, you should be talking to him about all this, not me."

"I know but it's easier with you. I know you won't break up with me." Ryan laughed and it was her turn to dodge a flying stuffed animal. "Your aim is worse than mine."

Lara pretended to pout but relented and smiled. "Really, you're worrying too much. And you should talk to Brody. Maybe he's worried about this stuff, too."

"He's probably too wrapped up with the playoffs to worry too much."

"Oh, no. Don't do that." Lara shook her head. "That's the experience with your dad and all talking. Don't bring all that in or use it to judge things with Brody. You won't know what he's worried about until you ask him."

Ryan rested her chin in her hand. "What column did you read that in? Maybe I should read it, too."

x-x-x-x

Brody opened the door and laughed when Ryan threw her arms around him. "I missed you, too." He hugged her with one arm while closing the door with the other.

Ryan looked up at him. "I can't believe we live in the same building and haven't seen each other in almost a week."

"Yeah, I know. Crazy." He put his other arm around her and leaned down to kiss her. She laughed against his lips when he straightened up, lifting her so that she had to stand on tiptoe. He grinned and they went into the living room.

"So how goes the packing?" he asked. "Finished yet?"

"I guess. I'm at the point where I'm so tired of it I'm just throwing things in boxes or bags. I've tried to throw away as much as I could, but—" She held her hands out in a helpless gesture. "I'm lucky Lara's mom will keep stuff for me. Oh, and Annette put me in touch with someone who needs a roommate, so that's one less thing to worry about. I hope."

"Would that be in Arlington?"

"No, in D.C., actually." Ryan looked excited. "That could be fun. The place would be near Adams Morgan, so there's lots of stuff there: clubs, restaurants, everything. I like it here but I like the idea of living in the city, too."

"Is that a safe neighborhood?" Brody liked the District well enough, but was only familiar with a few spots. He knew that like any city, D.C. had its share of higher-crime areas and he wanted Ryan in a decent place. It hit him that he was disappointed at the news. Living in the District mean that she wouldn't be living in the building; she wouldn't be a few steps away. He shoved the thought away for later.

"Oh, yeah." Ryan laughed. "With the—what is it—the gentrification and all, Adams Morgan has become quite the happening place to live. You'll love it; there's a ton of ethnic restaurants there."

"Hey, I do like that. Speaking of which, let's eat." He stood and held out a hand for her. She took it and they went into the kitchen.

"Wow, that's great." Ryan took another bite. "What is it, aside from delicious?"

Brody smiled. "It's my mom's patented chicken pot-pie recipe."

"It's amazing. I've only ever had this frozen."

"Frozen is never better than stuff made from scratch."

"It is if my mom cooks it." Ryan rolled her eyes. "I don't think she's ever made anything that didn't involve at least two elements that were pre-made or pre-mixed."

"You poor thing." Brody laughed. "How'd you ever survive?"

"Sheer luck."

They ate in silence for a while and then she helped him clear the table. "Do you know, the last time I was in Nate's apartment, I don't think he had a single clean plate. The ones by the sink looked like a science experiment." She pretended to shudder. "One had tentacles, I swear."

"And you solve that by never eating off of plates, right? Just out of bags and boxes?"

"No, that's not true." She gave him a fake glare. "I have those plastic plates you can reuse for a while."

"Oh, that's so much better." Brody shook his head.

"Well it's better than starting new life forms in the sink. I always tell Nate he should have majored in biology. He could bring down governments with some of the stuff he's got growing in his apartment."

"Doesn't he have a roommate?" Brody rinsed the plates and handed them to Ryan to place in the dishwasher.

"No, Nate's always preferred to live alone. He had one at the start, after high school for a while, but ever since that guy left, Nate's had his own place. Sometimes his girlfriends have tried to clean things up, but it doesn't work." Ryan shook her head. "So either that stuff is a commitment-avoidance mechanism or Nate is a slob of pathological proportion. On the other hand, he's an excellent bassist and guitarist, so we figure it evens out."

Brody laughed. "I see."

"Plus we refuse to eat anything that comes out of his kitchen. We love Nate but we can't ignore our survival instincts."

"You know, I was curious, did any of you guys ever date? Each other, I mean?" Brody felt odd asking, but it had been on his mind ever since talking with Rick.

"What? Us? You mean, like me go out with Nate or Mitch?" Ryan stared at him.

"Well, yeah. I was just wondering, that's all."

Ryan laughed. "The answer is a total 'no.' Lara was already seeing Trout when we all got together. I think Nate had a girlfriend and Mitch had just broken up with one. So there was no interest in dating on anyone's part. Besides, we said at the start that we didn't want to be the next Fleetwood Mac. I guess we were lucky; lots of groups have those kind of problems."

"You're not lucky, you're good. That's why you'll make it."

"Hey, thanks." Ryan looked surprised and pleased and stepped around the dishwasher to hug him. "I appreciate that."

"Yeah, well, it's just true." Brody kissed her forehead before closing the dishwasher. He felt guilty for even asking and mad that he'd let Rick's drunken statements make him feel insecure. "Come on, there has to be a better way to spend the evening than doing dishes." He led her back to the living room.

"I did go out with a couple of guys in other bands," Ryan said. "It never worked out, though."

"Why not? Not that I'm complaining."

Ryan paused as she considered the question. "Well, I guess they thought I was too serious about my career, and I should have been more serious about theirs. Like it was cool that I was in a band, so long as nothing happened. But if I wanted to work with Imaginary Grace on something, or we had a gig, and it interfered with whatever was going on with whoever I was seeing—" She rolled her eyes. "Then I was this horrible, unsupportive bitch."

"How dare you have your own goals," Brody said with mock disgust.

"Oh, don't you start."

Brody rubbed her arm. "You realize I'm kidding, right?"

"I know." She smiled and leaned in to kiss him. "That's why I stick around."

"So, any other skeletons in the dating closet?"

"No. I didn't date a whole lot and basically they thought it was neat that I was in a band until they realized I was serious about it." She kissed him again. "How about you? Any potential stalkers in your past?"

"Not so far. I never stuck around long enough to piss anyone off to that extent." Brody smiled but inside, he cringed at his words.

"So you're the love 'em and leave 'em type?"

"What? Oh, no. I mean, it never got that far, either. I mean—that's not what I—" He stumbled over the words and stopped when he saw Ryan's lips twitching. He huffed out a breath. "That's a female thing, isn't it? Setting little traps like that."

She chuckled. "You're giving me too much credit. I'm not devious enough."