Blue - Dodge Mason

TEN

'There's no together in Panic. It's you or me.'

"We're closed." A voice rang past the door. I stood outside with my arms crossed, "I just want to talk, I'll be quick." "Who-" Dodge swung the door open and confusion filled his face, "Jacky?" "I need to be quick." I tell him, "Can I come in?" Dodge nods and opens the door so I can come in. He was in the middle of cleaning and pulled one of the chairs off a table so I could sit. "Why are you here, I've already been told to not play once today." Dodge leans against the table across from me. I guess, "Ray?" "What gave it away." Dodge scoffed and I sighed, "You should see it as a good thing, means he thinks you're a threat."

"Why are you here?" "I wanted to talk to you, to propose something." I begin and he nods for me to continue. "A partnership." I state and this causes Dodge to almost laugh, "You're kidding." "I'm not." "And why would I want to work with you?" "Well, you're the new kid." I recite what I was working on in my head on the drive here, "I've lived in Carp my whole life, I know the town and the players better than you and that's going to hold you back in challenges. And, and plus I know more about the game better than anyone." "How so?" His brows raise and I continue, "My brother played, he almost won, got out in the individuals. My point is, when he played I felt like I was too, I have insights on Panic." "And why do you want to partner with me?" Dodge asks and I look at him, "Excuse me?" "Well if you know so much about Panic and you have all these advantages, why ask me to work with you, why want to work with anyone at all?" "Because I'm scared." My voice drops to nearly a whisper, "Of too much. And you Dodge Mason, don't seem to be afraid of anything."

Dodge seems to think for a moment, "I can help with your fears." "You're in?" I smile slightly and he raises his hand, "I didn't say that yet- how'd we split the prize money?" "60-40? So if I won I'd keep 60% and give you 40% and vice versa?" I suggest and he sighs, "That could work." "It will work, I don't think either of us could win on our own." I remind him. Dodge looks at me with his brows still raised, "Okay, Jacky. I'll be your partner." "Really?" I grin, "The challenge is at the Granary." "How do you know?" "The missing letters above the theater spell it- it's a long story, just, pick me up tomorrow and we'll go see if there's another clue?" I tilt my head and Dodge asks, "Why can't you right now." "I have a show." I look at my watch, "That I'm playing in five minutes." I run out to grab my guitar and run up the street to the brewery.

Val, the owner of the brewery, meets me at the door, "You're late." "Almost." I bolt by and head up to the stage. Quickly I set up my equipment and test my microphone. As I look up at the room, there's people eating, drinking, and beginning to gather in front of the stage. "Excuse me." A voice perks up behind me, "Are you Jacky?" "I am. You must be Ellie, your Val's daughter right?" "Mhm! I love singing." She looks up at me and I smile, this is going to be a long night.

After an hour of playing Disney songs on my guitar while Ellie sings in front of me I continue to strum while I look up at my friends standing in the front row. I shake my head smiling as I see Nat with her phone out recording me, Heather with too thumbs up, and Bishop with a supportive smile. They're never going to let me live this down. Ellie continues to sing and the crowd loves her, she's adorable. We have a tip jar at one of the stage corners that seemed to be filling pretty well, and the bonus is that Val's letting me keep all of them since Ellie's just a kid.

Eventually, Ellie begins to get tired and Val picks her up off the stage as she finishes her final song. Everyone in the brewery cheers for her and the young girl grins, waving as she's carried away. Val comes back and says to me, "Thanks for that, she loved it." "Of course." I smile, "I can get my stuff packed up-" "We're open till 9, only if you want to keep playing." He tells me and my face lights up, "Are you sure?" "Yeah the people love you." "But what should I play?" "Anything, Jacky half this crowd is drunk and just wants something to dance to." Val tells me honestly.

I step back towards my stool on stage, pulling it forward. "Everyone having a good night?" I ask into the mic and I receive cheers and hollering. I was trying to stall, not sure of what to sing. "Alright well, thank you for having me tonight, you all have been absolutely lovely." I beam, "If you don't mind, I'm going to sing a little something I've been working on." I open my notebook, placing it on my leg as I reach for the strings of my guitar, "What do you know? Honey come see, the meaning of life is on the big TV..."

The 40 or so minutes were filled with some originals and some covers I knew how to play. I got better reactions to the more country sounding songs, but hey we are in Texas. I noticed Val would be closing soon so I decided to play one last song before thanking the audience. "Goodnight ladies and gentleman. I'm Jacky Bennet and it's been a pleasure playing for all of you." I grinned and hopped off the stage, hugging my three best friends. "Holy shit Jacky, that was amazing!" Heather exclaimed and I began ranting, "I know I can't believe Val let me play on my own, it felt so surreal being by myself up there in front of a real audience-" "Dude why haven't we heard those songs before, they're so good." Nat compliments and I laugh, "There's more where that came from."

As I'm heading out of the brewery after Bishop, Nat, and Heather went home, my guitar was strapped to my back and I was carrying my bag of cash. "You sounded good." A voice stopped me in my tracks. I looked up angrily as Ray Hall grinned at me. "Stalking me?" I cross my arms and he thinks, "Nah, just scoping out my competition." "Look Ray." I glower my eyes at him, "Don't bring Panic here, this is my work, I need this money." "I thought you knew what you were signing up for. If Panic's too much for you, you could always drop out of the competition." Ray smirks. I shake my head and he continues, "Just don't be surprised when it consumes your life. I know the game already haunts your family Bennet, why make it worse?"