Chapter One
It seemed like Super Bowl Sunday with all the people in the
house tonight. Lindsay and Sean were hosting a football party in their home and
their closest friends (plus a few of their friends) came over.
The living room and adjacent areas were filled with people –
Sean was hanging out with the guys who were sitting at the large, beige multi-sectional
couch watching the game, eating popcorn or chips, and drinking beer. Lindsay, on the other hand, was up and about
most of the time getting drinks to serve from the kitchen. The rest of the time, she was hanging around
the women who were sitting by the double bay windows, joined by the guys who
didn’t particularly care for the teams playing but loved to drink and party. They were talking about the last club they played
in and cracking jokes about the people that were there.
Yep, everyone in the house was either a musician or a
musician’s girlfriend or spouse. Sean
himself was the bass player of Dark Seas, a hard rock/metal band he formed with
his closest friend, Josh. Josh was their
lead guitarist. He created most of their
tunes and Lindsay wrote a lot of the lyrics. A few times, she even collaborated with the
band and played the keyboards onstage for a few of their songs.
The guys wanted to include her as part of the band, but she
refused. She just couldn’t picture herself being the lone female in a hard
rock/metal band. Even though it wouldn’t
be unusual – it just wasn’t something she wanted. She had too many other interests to be able
to commit herself to the band’s busy practice and show schedule.
Lindsay was a creative spirit – and the guys knew how lucky
they were to be able to exploit her talents in their music. For her, it was all a self-gratifying experience
she willingly shared for the love of Sean.
The football game was in progress on the 52-inch LED screen
mounted on the living room wall. Sean
recently purchased that TV with his share of the money that the band made at a
few of their gigs. They played every
other week-end at local hotspots in the metro.
The gig money was pretty good considering they were still another
unsigned band just waiting and hoping to be “discovered”.
Tonight, the game was the Cowboys against the Redskins and
all bets were on the Redskins. Mainly local Virginians, the band and their
friends were pretty much biased towards the Redskins. Call it a local
thing. It was just the way it was.
Six-fifteen and it was the start of the second half. The Redskins just called a timeout.
“Hey, sweetheart, could you bring us some more chips?” Sean
called out to Lindsay, holding out a big empty red bowl over the back of the
couch. Kevin, who was sitting next to Sean,
smacked his shoulder and said, “You bee-yotch!
That was my beer you finished!” Lindsay’s
lips perked up at the sight of the guys acting like college frat boys at a
party.
Gazing at the guys having fun, she thought to herself how
great it was that they could have fun like that together over the years. While
many others they’ve known have come and gone as friends, these guys managed to
stay close like brothers. It’s probably why the guys got along so well in the
band.
Sean nearly dropped the bowl onto floor but Lindsay’s quick
reflexes allowed her to reach out and catch it before it reached the floor. Suddenly she realized - “Duh, it’s plastic!” -
And she laughed at herself for looking like a diver when she lunged forward to
grab the bowl.
As she regained her balance, Lindsay caught a glimpse of
Josh clandestinely opening his cell phone to read a text message he had just
received. When she bent over to see if
the boys needed anything else, she noticed him frowning for a second as he switched
off his phone and slipped it back into his pocket, briefly looking towards the
window where the other group of party-goers erupted in laughter. His mind
appeared to have wandered away from the rest of his band-mates on the couch.
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