and the stars will all come out

chapter forty! ☆

ONE AFTERNOON, DAVE AND LANDRY WERE SPRAWLED OUT in a wide corner table in the corner of the humid diner, poring over their notebooks.

"I think we can record the porch one next," he said, flipping to a page that was covered in his scrawled, perpetually uppercase handwriting. "You know, the one I wrote on the porch a few months ago that I used to sing all the time? Ain't it the life, ain't it the life, got no crime..."

"Just sail on by," Landry sang the rest softly, picking up her fork. If she stared too long at her own notebook, her shepherd's pie would get cold. "Yeah, I think that's a logical next step. It's kinda like Learn to Fly, reminds me of nice sunny weather."

"I do miss that," Dave agreed, looking out of the window at the damp, snow-covered city. "I don't really know if songs necessarily have seasons, but this next record definitely has a bit of a sunny vibe."

"Well, I suppose it reflects when we first started recording, right?" Landry said, forking out a bit of mashed potato. She'd be loyal to the diner's shepherd's pie forever. "We had a really sunny autumn, and a lot of the time we'd just be chilling in either the basement or outside, and it was really nice and simple for the most part, so I think what we came up with really reminds us of that. Even though it was like, two seconds ago. I feel like the winter came really fast."

"It always does," he replied, picking up a fry from his own plate. "But it'll pass just as quickly, too, and then we have all the fun spring stuff I'm planning."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

He shrugged. "Well, a plan hasn't really been formed yet, I haven't even told T, but the other day I was talking to Nate and Adam, and I'm really hoping the record will be released at the end of this year. As much as I love it here, I've seriously been missing going on tour, having just Nate and T officially in the band is great and all, but when we do eventually go back on the road, I want a new guitarist. I can't play two guitars at once, right?"

Landry nodded, understanding. "Well, why don't you just hit up that Pat guy that Taylor was talking about?"

Dave made a face. "He, uh, doesn't like me much right now. Lost custody of him in the divorce."

She made a face back at him. Oh. "So what are you planning?"

"Sometime when the album is finished, probably in the spring at the rate we're going, I want to go back to LA and hold auditions. It doesn't need to be a crazy big pool of people, but I really want to find someone. We'd probably be back in LA for a week or two. Give or take."

"Well, I'm coming with you," she said immediately, like it wasn't a discussion.

Dave grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."

She smiled back at him. "You know, I would volunteer to play guitar for you guys, but I think I'm really meant to be a bassist or a songwriter more than anything. I can already tell that you'd need someone completely new."

He nudged his plate over to her - just like last time, he'd ordered a classic cheeseburger and fries. Ever since the formal start of their relationship, they'd been hanging out here a lot, just brainstorming about new songs. "You want a fry?"

Landry popped one in her mouth, and nudged her bowl over to him in return. "You can have some of my shepherd's pie, if you want."

He immediately went for a spoonful. "You're right, this is so good."

She grinned, grateful to have someone who agreed with her. "I know, right?"

She stole a few more fries, then flipped a page in her notebook. "I do have, like, three more ideas in here that reminded me of you, in case you wanted to look them over."