“I grew up around the church choir, but most of the time, I only listen to classical.”
He let out a fake gasp. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. Obviously, I’ve heard popular music and it’s great, but I grew up on classical.”
“Have you been to any concerts?”
“Tons,” I told him, which was the truth. I’d been to many. They just all happened to be classical or instrument-based.
“What was your favorite?”
I didn’t really need to think about that one. “Actually, my favorite performance wasn’t really a concert. It was more of a showcase of extremely talented local performers. Mostly all still in their teens, about five years ago. My favorite performer was a local violin player named Daisy Thompson. She was amazing.”
Brian choked and sputtered on the drink he’d just taken while Ned stared at me with his mouth hanging open.
“Seriously?” Brian asked. “You’re telling me that your favorite performance was Daisy Thompson playing her violin?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Why? Is that weird?” Though I didn’t care if it was. She’d been amazing like she’d been one with her instrument and I could’ve listened to her play all night. I’d been there with school. It had been a rare field trip that we’d gotten to take.
“Nope.” He looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Not weird at all. I bet she was awesome.”
“She was.” But I didn’t like the way those two looked, as if I’d just said the most ridiculous thing. “What’s going on? You two look like you’re about to wet your pants.”
“Jurnie,” Brian said nicely. “Have you kept up with Daisy Thompson? To see what she’s up to today?”
“No. Should I have?”
Ned cleared his throat. “Let me show you what she’s been up to these days.” Then he hit a button and a song started up.
The unmistakable sound of a violin began and I thought it was weird that they’d have this kind of music ready to play. Then the drums started. Then the guitar. Then if I wasn’t mistaken, the bass. It all came together in a medley of sounds that were pleasing to my ears, even if I didn’t know what was happening.
The voice of an angel came out next. This was no doubt more rock and roll than anything I usually listened to, but damn. It was good.
As it ended, Ned cut in. “What do you think?”
“That was really good, but—”
“The singer is Daisy Thompson and the band is her band, Pushing Daisies.”
“Not her band,” Brian corrected him. “She’s in it with her brothers and they’re getting quite a lot of radio play.”
“I’ve heard of them but didn’t know enough about them to put it together,” I told them quietly. “But wow, she’s still awesome.”
As we ended my bit on the show, Brian told me I’d done fantastic, whatever that meant, and they’d be pulling me in again soon.
Apparently, they did this with every batch of interns. That had been a test of sorts to see if I could handle being on the radio as well as their joking around. Obviously, I’d passed with flying colors.
As I made my way back to the accounting department in a haze of excitement and wondering if I’d embarrassed myself, I secretly hoped they’d call me in again. That had been fun on my end though they didn’t seem as excited. Then again, I didn’t have a lot in the way of excitement so anything would probably get me going.
“How’d it go?” Alyse, the accountant I mainly worked with, asked.
“It was fun.”
“Seriously?” Alyse was around thirty years old and always had her black hair pulled away from her face. She’d told me one of the things she loved about working here at the station was being able to dress down. They were very casual and could get away with jeans most of the time.
I didn’t try that as an intern unless it was Casual Friday, which it kind of always was here. Still, like today, I wore a flowy skirt that went to my knees and a button-up blouse, as my mother called it. For shoes, I typically went with ballet flats because I did a lot of running around in this office. I should probably wear a step tracker to count it as exercise.
Nodding, I said, “It was. Though I didn’t know that my favorite violin player is now in a band. Pushing Daisies.”
Her hazel eyes widened. “Seriously?” she asked again. Alyse used that word a lot. “I saw Pushing Daisies perform many times when they were still doing the bars. I love them. They’re opening for Courting Chaos now and getting bigger by the minute.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t know who Courting Chaos was, either.
Maybe it was time for me to expand my musical knowledge. Especially in case Ned and Brian call me into the studio again.
2
Bonham
“Why the fuck did we have to fly in so fucking early?” my twin brother, Van, asked as he leaned his head against the window of the SUV taking us from the airport to our own places. Our oldest brother, Mack, was driving. That was part of his managerial job, I supposed.
“Aww,” I cooed as I ruffled his dark hair. “Is someone not a morning person?”
He lifted his middle finger my way without moving his head.
Our band, Pushing Daisies, was on a one-week break. Something that had been worked into the schedule not by us, but by the headliner, Courting Chaos. Most of us—Van, our other brother, Daltrey, and our sister, Daisy—still couldn’t believe that Mack had snagged us the opener gig for Courting Chaos.
Chaos had opened for Kissing Cinder, the biggest band in the fucking world, who also happened to have longevity, last year and they’d blown up. The same thing was happening to us now and it was surreal.
The week-long break couldn’t have come at a better time, to be honest. None of us were used to being on the road the way we were, though not a single one of us had been complaining. This was our chance and we were going to take it.
“Hey now,” Van’s new girlfriend, Lexi, said as she pushed his finger down.
Lexi was beautiful, looked a lot like her brother Lawson with dark hair and I have no idea what color his eyes were, yet we’d all been taken by surprise when he’d hooked up with her. There were so many reasons and some sounded a little incestuous. We weren’t related to her at all, but she was the sister of Daisy’s boyfriend. Seemed a little too much like keeping it in the family to me.
Other than Lexi, Van didn’t do relationships. Ever in his life. He hadn’t had a girlfriend the way most of us had. He was more of a fuck ’em and forget ’em until next time kind of guy. But Lexi’s dark hair and blue eyes had hooked him. She looked a lot like Lawson, Daisy’s boyfriend, which would be too close for comfort for me.
Still, if it worked for him, I was happy.
The SUV was barely big enough for all of us, but thankfully, we each only had one bag. We hadn’t brought everything with us because we’d be back on tour in a week. Mack was driving with Daltrey in the passenger seat. Van, Lexi, and I were in the back with Daisy and Lawson in the middle. Sure, we could’ve all taken separate cars, but that wouldn’t have made sense.