More than me, I do know that.
Katelyn wants to quit. She’s coming in today to talk to us about her job. Liam, he’s upset with her, but is trying to keep the professional side separate from the personal side. I’m not sure how he’s going to do that, I can’t. I want her around all the time. She excites me, makes me feel like I’m about to skydive. I could live off t
he adrenaline I feel from her alone. But I don’t want to force this job on her if she’s not comfortable. I’m just having a hard time buying she could mess up this big. Maybe I should’ve spoken to her at dinner the other night when the kids ran off to play, instead of discussing a drop off schedule for school.
I sit on my stool and spin around one time. I pick up my sticks, running my finger along the wood to check for damage. They look okay for now, but I’ll need to have Katelyn order more if she’s going to stay on. If not, I’ll be doing some mundane bullshit by myself, which means it’ll never get done. God, I need Katelyn in more ways than one. I just need to find a way to tell her this before it’s too late.
I feel for the foot pedals with my feet. Closing my eyes, I press down. One thump. Then another, back and forth until my legs are warm. I flex my wrist before setting my sticks down on the drums. One hit, then two. Over and over again until I’m jamming out. I go over the rhythm for the song I wrote about Katelyn. Playing it over and over again. I don’t know when we’re going to record it, but I can’t wait to play it live.
“That’ll sound good.”
I stop playing when JD and Liam walk in.
“What was that?” JD asks.
“Dude, what the fuck is on your neck?”
JD smirks and covers his neck with his hand. “That was Tracy, or Tanya… I can’t remember. Something with a T, though, definitely.”
“That’s just wrong.” Liam laughs. I shake my head and throw one of my sticks at both of them. They duck. My mouth drops. Katelyn is standing at the door holding her head. I fucking hit her with my stick. I jump up from my stool, my leg crashing into my set when I stumble by.
“I’m sorry, Katie.”
“What’d you call me?”
I stop when I get in front of her. Liam is laughing harder. I look at her and see nothing but pure hatred in her eyes. Her shoulders are heaving and she’s breathing heavily and not from the work out I just gave her.
“What?”
“I don’t know, Harry, what did you say?”
“Oh ballbags,” JD sniggers under his breath with more laughter from Liam. I look back at him. He has tears in his eyes. I rub my hand over my ball cap, pushing it back and forth over my hair.
“My name’s Harrison, not Harry,” I say as quietly as possible. When I was in school the kids called me Harry and I hated it because they attached other not-so-nice names to it.
Katelyn puts her hands on her hips, but my eyes focus on the large red spot in the middle of her forehead. “My name is Katelyn. That’s K-A-T-E-L-Y-N and only one man is allowed to call me Katie and you’re not him… ever!” She pokes me in the chest, hard, and walks off. My hand rubs over the spot as I watch her hips sway back and forth.
I lean forward and bang my head on the door jam.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask as I step back into our recording room.
“That, my friend, was Katelyn Cohen Powell giving you the what for.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“Clearly she doesn’t want to be called Katie,” JD adds for good measure. I roll my eyes at him and push him in the shoulder when I pass by.
“You’re observant, JD.”
“That’s not it,” Liam says as he tunes his guitar.
I sit down and push my foot pedal to get his attention. He looks at me. I throw my other drumstick at him. “Fill me in, asshole.”
“Only one man is allowed to call her Katie.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. I can’t freaking compete with a ghost. It’s getting to be too much. “Great, so I just made her cry because I brought up Mason? Score one for James.” I hit two rim shots and the cymbal – ba-dum-tsh. I guess the joke’s on me.
“Not even Mason was allowed to call her Katie, just his dad. I don’t know how it started, when we were little I think, but he’s always called her Katie and she refuses to let anyone else use that name.”