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And, oh yeah, I’m one of them too.
seven
Believer
Cooper
“What are you doing up?” Remy asks as I walk into the kitchen Monday morning for a cup of coffee.
I look at him quizzically. “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I be up?”
“But…it’s before noon.”
“Fuck you.” I grab a coffee mug from the cabinet and hit the brew button on the coffeemaker. I’m not in the mood for Remy’s sarcastic bullshit today. This is the first day of the mentoring sessions at Rhapsody, and I don’t want to give any fuel to the bonfire of hate Sloane Castle is stoking for me by being late. Much to Remy’s chagrin, I didn’t even go out last night.
“You are taking this mentoring gig seriously then, huh?”
I turn back to face him. “Yeah, I am. Why do you seem so surprised?” Remy and I have always gotten along. With any group, people naturally gravitate to certain other people, and Remy and I don’t have to try too hard with each other. With Remy, I can just be. I don’t stress like with sensitive Jake, worried I’ll say the wrong thing. And I don’t have to coddle ego like with Logan before Skyler mellowed him out. The dynamic is changing slowly, shifting in a way it hasn’t before. Since Andy’s death, we’ve dealt with it in our own ways and are responding to each other differently now.
Like Remy’s reaction to my interest in the mentoring program, before Andy’s death, it would have just been a thing that I did and maybe talked about, maybe not. But nobody would really ask. That wasn’t who we were as a group. We used to just be a bunch of guys who liked to jam, write songs, and then party. Now, we’re making conscious choices about how we interact with each other and genuinely asking personal questions.
We care.
I’m not used to it yet.
Remy shrugs. “It just doesn’t seem like something you’d be into, that’s all.”
“Really? Why not?” I take a sip of the hot coffee, relishing its burn as it travels down my throat. “I’m not a complete dick, you know.”
“Oh, I know,” he holds his hands up defensively. “I didn’t think teaching was your thing. You always bite my head off when I ask for input while we’re writing…”
“I do not,” I scoff.
He shrugs again and gets up from the table, tossing the dregs of his coffee into the sink and rinsing his cup. “If you say so, man.”
I don’t like where this went at all. “Dude, what are you talking about? Seriously.”
“Forget I said anything,” he says, pulling open the back door. “Really. Forget it. Have fun in school, Mr. Davies.” He flashes a bright smile and leaves.
What the hell was that all about? Am I a dick to Remy while we’re writing?
I need to do even more soul-searching than I have already this past weekend about where I am, how I got here, and where I want to go. On Friday, I drove up to Ojai to a cabin owned by Blackmore Records and sometimes used for writing music. Luckily, it wasn’t being used and was absolutely perfect for getting my head back on somewhat straight. But after what Remy said, maybe I’m not done with the self-reflection. Maybe some work still needs to be done.
But that waltz will have to wait for a different ball to get dealt with. I need to make sure I’m not late for my first day at the Rhapsody Foundation. I’m determined to show Sloane I’m taking this seriously, no matter what I have to do. Something about her lights a fire under my ass to be better for some reason. I’m not sure I entirely like it, but I at least like the motivation it gives me. Now, if she can see the effort I’m making, maybe it will make a difference in her attitude towards me.
Yeah, like that’s going to happen. Not.
* * *
When I arrive at the center early, Fiona greets me with an overly broad smile.
“Cooper! You came…” she looks around nervously. I assume she’s looking for Sloane.
“Of course I did. Today’s the first day of the session, right? Am I late? Too early?” I glance in all directions, taking in the people milling about in the hallways.
“No, no. You’re fine. You’re fine. You’re early.” She blushes and fumbles with the papers and files on her desk, clearly awkward, though I have no clue why. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was flirting, but I don’t think Fiona is the flirting type. “Here is the list of your students for today and your schedule. These are their files with their progress notes from the last session. It was a prerequisite to join the advanced lessons this session.”
I take the stack from her. I wasn’t expecting all of this information. I had no idea what to expect since Sloane never deigned to tell me in our previous meetings since she thought I would bail at the first opportunity.
