Not Letting Go

Chapter 28

They arrived at Vi's place a few minutes later, ending up in a neighborhood that was not especially affluent, but was solidly middle class and had a good amount of space between the houses. Betty was parked in front of a house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

"Don't get too excited, angel. My place is the little shit behind here. That casita chilling out by itself."

"I'm sure it's still nice."

"It doubles as our studio, and we can play as loud as we want and no one complains, so I guess I won't either. Miss K, remind me to get you over here with your violin someday soon. We have a track that is begging for strings."

"Oh...I'm not sure I could really just come up with something, but...I guess I could try."

"Of course you can! You'll do great, angel."

"I've never done anything like this before..."

"Don't sweat it. No one will give you a hard time. No expectations. The same way I try to live my life."

This seemed to ease Kate's concern and she said, "Okay, maybe I'll try it."

"Fanfuckingtastic," Vi said cheerfully but then noticed Max was staring out the window with some concern.

Before she could ask, the brunette said, "Uh...Vi...that guy's at your place and he's staring right at us..."

While Kate ducked low, the older girl whipped her head around to look and peered our across the gravel path that led next to the small house where she lived.

There was a man who appeared to have just come around the side of the building and was now casually waiting at the door. All Max could tell was he wore a jacket with jeans and had a hat. He also had a short beard that he scratched.

Vi growled low in frustration and said, "Hold on..."

She got out and yelled, "What are you doing here yah dip head?"

The man tilted his head, seeming to struggle hearing her words.

"Fucking hell..." Vi muttered and walked down towards him. The man moved too and met her halfway. Max and Kate exchanged looks as Vi started walking and it seemed they agreed that they were not going to let her go by herself, though both did not hide their reluctance. They stood a few feet behind Vi.

Now fairly close, they could see the man was in his twenties. He seemed mostly friendly, though slightly annoyed.

"What's up, Vi? What were you shouting?"

"I said why are you here right now, dip head."

"What do you mean? Uh, Vi...practice?"

"Fuck you, moron, practice is on Friday."

"It is Friday."

Vi looked back to the other girls. Kate looked away and Max nodded while looking down to the side.

"Ah, shit." She put her hand to her head, as if the realization gave her a headache. After a couple seconds, she threw her hand down and said, "I knew that. Well, fucking hell, I guess I'm practicing right now. Ladies, this is Roland. Roly, this is Max and Kate, my new favorite couple." Vi suddenly jerked her head over to Kate and sid, "Oh shit, angel, I'm sorry. I forgot we were keeping that on the QT for a few days still. You don't have to worry about Roly though. He's gone for days without saying a word before."

Roland gave Vi a look that said she might have been exaggerating at the least, but then smiled to the other two girls and said, "Nice to meet you."