sweet deal

Kyle felt foolish being with Derrick out in the garage with the band stuff. He now had a drum-set.

"I just need you to play so I can practice." He shrugged. He went in about this laborious story how his band had fallen apart and in the next couple of weeks he needed someone to help him some gigs he had planned.

"I mean, I could do all this stuff myself if I had the right equipment. I could set up my own baseline." He shrugged.

"Now what would be the fun in that?" Kyle smiled as if he liked all the comradeship that went along with being in a band. You at least need 3 people, didn't you? Probably 4, he thought.

"I know. Which means, you think you could do it? It would cool. I just need a singer to sing my songs." Derrick was serious.

"Um, no. You better ask your sister." Kyle looked at him blankly.

"Why? So she'd say, no." Derrick glared at him while he was messing with his electric.

"No, because she's a good singer." Kyle winced. "Anyway, I'm kind of in a bind. I gotta find a place to live. Work. You know. Real life stuff." Kyle put down the drumsticks. He'd played a lot longer than he meant too.

"Why don't you just break-up with her?" Derrick said so matter of fact about Amber.

"Well, you know," Kyle said with a somber smile. " I love her and all, and she needs me right now."

"Man, I wish it was just you, me and Mandy. Like old times." Derrick nodded.

"Um, you know she's married, right?" Kyle looked at him as if to tease him.

"Yeah, when is that dude gonna get off my case?" Derrick scowled.

"Elliot cares about you." Kyle told him. "He wants what's best for you, and it might not be here playing around all time."

"I just want to get those gigs done. I can't tell them NO. They're honest to God, paying gigs. I can make up to a thousand dollars on each one." Derrick was serious.

"Really?" Kyle felt bad he couldn't help. "Well, talk to Elliot about it. He's not that bad on the guitar. He knows his way around on a keyboard, too. How many you got lined up?"

"Six." Derrick fiddled with the guitar, again.

Kyle wished he could be a rockstar, but he had other things to worry about.