“I know. We’re going to make a demo for her. But she’s only fifteen. And I’m a volatile asshole rock star.”
He glanced at me, then back at the road. “Are you, though?”
“Does it matter? It’s gonna be a middle-aged dude sound engineer and me. I can’t have a teenage girl in there without a chaperone.”
“So you’re going to ask Gretchen to do it.”
“Yeah.” Right?
Yes. I was going to do it.
“Are you also going to tell her you’re in love with her?”
“What?” The seat belt lock mechanism engaged as I twitched, pinning me against the seat.
“Are you going to tell Gretchen you’re in love with her in addition to asking her to chaperone your recording sessions?” Jack said with an astonishing degree of sanguinity considering what was coming out of his mouth.
“I’m not in love with her!” When he didn’t say anything, I added, “I’m not the kind of person who falls in love.”
“Never?”
“Well, certainly not in the span of one month.”
“But according to you, you’re also not the kind of person who writes folk songs.”
“They’re notfolksongs.” I liked Jack better when he was grumpy and silent.
“What are they, then?”
“They’re folk-informed rock songs.”
Jack’s snort told me what he thought of that distinction.
“What is your point?” I asked shortly. Were we close enough to the city for him to let me out so I could get an Uber?
“My point is that people change.”
“Doyouchange? Are you going to get a job at Starbucks where you’ll have to mingle with the subliterate masses?”
“No, but I’m not as evolved as you.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”
“I was being serious.”
“Fine.” I didn’t want to talk about this anymore.
“I’m just saying, everyone could see that you and Gretchen were into each other.”
OK, maybe I did want to talk about this some more. A tinybit more. Because I needed some clarification on that. “You mean ‘everyone,’ like a generic anyone-could-see sense?” Which probably just meant Jack. Gretchen had gone to him for that condom.
“No, I mean literally everyone,” he said, his tone almost gleeful. “We all talked about you behind your backs. Well, they talked. I’m not much of a talker. I listened.”
He sure was doing a lot of talking now.
“Great. So glad everyone has the wrong idea about Gretchen and me.”
“Anyway, do what you want; no skin off my nose. I was just thinking you might have an ulterior motive in all this. There must be a million ways you could solve your chaperone problem without asking the woman in the middle of opening a new business.”
