Rhythm in Blue (2 page)

Rick awoke to the sound of pounding. His mind struggled to determine if the pounding came from within his hung-over head or outside his body. Opening one eye, he saw the girl next to him on the bed. The pounding returned. Someone at the door. The girl stirred, opened her eyes, and smiled.

“What?” Rick yelled.

“Ricky, you gotta get up. Everybody’s waiting on you!” It was their road manager, Johnny. “Devon’s pissed as hell you’re not on the bus. Says he’s gonna come up here and kick your ass!”

“Tell him he can come up here and
kiss
my ass.” Rick looked at the young, naked girl beside him and reconsidered. “No, I’m up. Tell Devon I’ll be down in just a minute.”

If Devon found him with the girl, there would be more to it than just getting his ass kicked. Though she told Rick she was nineteen, he guessed she was closer to sixteen. Devon would freak out, and he always warned them all to stay away from the young ones. Devon, lured and lied to by a mature looking girl, spent six months in prison for statutory rape when he was nineteen. It was a mistake he intended to make sure the rest of them never had to deal with.

In his drunken and stoned stupor, Rick had no problem believing she was nineteen. When he took her to bed, however, her cry of pain as he plunged into her depths belied her claim of maturity. At the time, he didn’t care, and he figured she wanted to be there. Now sober, he saw the innocence in her eyes and the bloodstain on the sheet, and he knew he’d screwed up. It wasn’t the first time his inebriated judgment put him in a tight spot, although most weren’t this sticky, he would have to take care with his escape.

“Sweetie, you gotta go.”

The girl’s face fell as he crawled out of bed and began to dress. “Can’t I come with you?”

“Baby, you’re sweet, and so beautiful,” he leaned over and ran his fingers down her cheek. “But this is just gonna have to be a onetime thing for now.”

Seeing tears well up in her eyes, he added, “If I could, I’d take you with me. Honest. But I can’t. We can’t bring girlfriends on the road, it just doesn’t work.” A smile crept back to her face, hearing herself referred to as his girlfriend. “Now you gotta go, because I can’t stand long goodbyes.” He kissed her lightly on the lips, and then headed for the bathroom. As he relieved himself, he heard the door close behind her.

He washed his face and observed his reflection in the mirror. Rick wondered what it was that made women want him so badly they would lie and tell him anything he wanted to hear just to be with him, or any rock star for that matter.

Taking a deep breath, the remnants of the previous night’s fun hit him like the stench of a public toilet – stale beer, Crown Royal, and sex. There was no time for a shower, but his aroma might buy him more room on the bus. The nausea would make for a long day on the road, but it would be worth it. He tugged at his signature puka shell necklace, pulling it out from under his shirt, gave his reflection a crooked smile, and headed for the bus.

~

Parked in front of the hotel doors, anyone who wanted in or out had to walk around the tour bus. As Rick pulled himself up the steps, a woman dragging a little kid behind shot him a dirty look.

“Good morning,” he beamed his winning smile that had taken him so far. She was not impressed. “Sorry,” he muttered as he continued up the steps.

When he reached the top, he found Devon, scowling. “Every time Ricky, every single fucking time! You know, we’re finally done, finally going someplace worth going – you’d think we wouldn’t have to wait on your sorry ass for a change!”

Sometimes it was hard to take Devon seriously. His thick Alabama accent made him sound a little like a male Dolly Parton. As Rick pushed past him, he saw Devon breathe deeply and catch a whiff of Rick’s morning after aroma.

He chuckled as Devon gagged, “Shouldn’t be in such a goddamn hurry all the time, asshole.” The bus was already moving as he worked his way to the back to find some open space. Keith and Randy shook their heads as he passed by, even though it was a daily ritual for Rick to keep them waiting.

As he found his spot and began to settle in, he saw Randy trying to get his attention from his seat a few rows ahead, waving a joint in Rick’s direction.

“Here.”

Rick met him half way. “Thanks, man.” Randy nodded. Rick lit up and inhaled deeply. The nausea would soon subside, and he closed his eyes to settle into the familiar jostling of the bus. A thump on the head jolted Rick and his eyes flew open. The wadded up cigarette pack fell from where it hit him on the head, down his chest, and into his lap. He looked up to find Randy hanging over the back of his seat, waiting for acknowledgement.

“Bet you can’t make that same shot again,” Rick challenged as he handed back the joint.

“Give it back and I will.”

Rick tossed him the pack as the bus rumbled along, passing miles of cornfields and pastures of cattle. Randy shot and missed as Rick plucked it from the air and tossed it back. The game continued and Rick considered the mundane things that kept them occupied on the road.
Not very glamorous
, he thought as the pack smacked his ear and he threw it back. In previous years, they had bet on this kind of stupid, made-up game, but after Randy ended up a few thousand dollars in debt, they stopped.

“Do you suppose they have nude beaches on the island?” Randy asked.

“I don’t know. They might.”

“Man, I hope they do. Can you imagine it? Naked women everywhere…” Randy’s shot went wide left as he imagined the scene. “What are you gonna do if this guy turns out to be a big asshole?”

“Not really sure,” Rick said, shaking his head. The question kept him up nights, but he still didn’t know how to answer. They were heading to Europe in a few days, to an island in Greece, where his little sister had fallen in love with a Greek man, a man she intended to marry in less than a month. Rick asked Devon to accompany him to the wedding, but Randy horned in on the trip. After that, Rick had no choice but to invite Keith.

“Nick says Greek men are chauvinistic bastards and mama’s boys,” Randy said.

“Yeah, he told me too.”

Nick, a roadie who worked with them on the last leg of their tour, was of Greek descent, and considered himself an authority on all things Greek.

Over the phone, Erin had assured him that Kostas wasn’t like that. “He is a good man and we love each other. When you meet him, you’ll see.” But Rick had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Ten years older than Erin, why did Kostas had to go cradle robbing instead of finding someone his own age, not to mention nationality?

She was the only thing Rick regretted about leaving home at such a young age. He hated leaving Erin behind, leaving her to deal with the mean, alcoholic mess that was their father. He started out sending her a little money when he could, and even more as time went by. Rick knew it wouldn’t protect her from their dad, but at least she could treat herself and her friends occasionally. When she was old enough and he thought he could handle it, he went back and took her away. If Rick had known what else the old man was doing to her, he would have risked it and taken her years before.

Erin was everybody’s little sister, not just Rick’s. His concern that she would not survive their father was a collective one. They all mentored her and felt pride when she became a confident and beautiful woman, despite what her father had done. Together, they would now watch her give herself to a stranger in a strange land.

Rick caught the wadded up pack one last time and tossed it into the empty seat next to him. Seeing the game was over, Randy turned and slid back into his chair, mumbling, “I say if he is an asshole, we beat the shit out of him and dump his body in the ocean.”

Rick smiled and looked out the window at the passing terrain. He hoped it would be that easy, but Erin was stubborn, and he knew that once she had her mind set on something, no one could talk her out of it, not even the brother she adored.

He lit a cigarette and thought about the trip and the rest they would finally have. It was a good thing they wouldn’t be touring for a while. Falling into a cycle of too much alcohol, drugs, and too many women was so easy. Today was the first time in months there was no entourage of young groupies with them on the bus.
Yeah
,
I definitely need a break
.

Chapter Two

After a night in Athens, they had little trouble catching the ferry the next morning, and the seven-hour trip was its own odyssey. The boat was grimy and covered in salt. In only an hour, Rick craved a shower, but the grime made the trip more of an adventure.

The sea was calm, and their excitement peaked when they spotted some dolphins chasing the bow of the ferry. The dolphins jumped out of the water, their momentum carrying them forward, until they dove back into the prow’s wake. Beneath the surface, they built up speed to break through the waves again.

Rick and his friends remained outside on the deck. The benches were uncomfortable, but the view, the dolphins, and the light mist of the sea were too exciting to abandon for the drab, confining interior cabin. Even Randy was too distracted to chase after any of the European women surrounding them, all eager to party and soak in the summer sun. 

“I can’t believe I can just sit here, out in the open, and nobody gives a damn who I am,” Devon said, leaning his head back to get better exposure to the sun.

“Yeah,” Rick said, “It’s nice. I used to think it was a bad thing, not being popular in Europe.” He looked down to find his chest turning pink, so he pulled his tee shirt back over his head.

“I don’t know,” Randy said, “it might make it hard to get any action this way.”

Ignoring him, Devon continued, “Now, if we acted like some of those crazy bastards that deliberately draw attention everywhere they go, it might be a different story.” He said it in an I-told-you-so manner. Devon was the one who always insisted they fly under the radar and stay low-key. Other famous bands, hungry for constant attention, paid the price by having no privacy.

Rick looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “You might want to put your shirt back on too. You’re starting to look like a lobster.”

Devon examined his bare, upper-body, and reached for his shirt. Nodding toward Keith, whose bench was shaded, he said, “Maybe we should go sit with that smart guy over there.” They gathered up their things and headed for shade.

When the ship’s bell rang and a crackly voice from a loudspeaker announced that they were approaching Paros, they rushed to the railing to get a glimpse of the island. He would be seeing Erin in just a few minutes, and he tried not to show much excitement. The guys would tease him, even though he knew they felt the same way.

As the ferry pulled into the harbor and sounded its horn, the vivid Aegean colors of the town jumped out at him. The domes of churches, shutters on windows, doors, and the sky all matched the blue of the sea. The buildings were all a brilliant white – a stark contrast to the surrounding green speckled, brown hills rising in the background. The bay was peppered with beaches and small piers filled with fishing boats.

The main dock lay ahead, the people becoming more discernible as the ferry approached. Rick was sure he saw Erin standing in the crowd, it had to be her. Standing about a foot off the ground on a metal gate, she pulled herself up against the rails as though she were in jail.

Devon pointed and yelled, “Look! There she is!” They waved and yelled until she spotted them. She waved back, jumping up and down. At length, Rick noticed that while the ship was docking and they were waving and yelling, the other disembarking passengers lined up, so by the time they gathered their bags, they were last in line.

When they finally made it off the boat and through the gate, where Erin waited, she looked exasperated. She didn’t complain, she just lunged for Rick and locked him in a hug. He rocked her back and forth, kissing her cheek and smoothing her long, dark blond hair. “Oh sweetie,” he cooed, “I’ve missed you so much.” Tears ran down her face, and as she pulled away, she tried to wipe them before anyone noticed, but must have decided she didn’t care who saw.

She embraced them all in turn, and as she did, Rick eyed the man waiting with her. He didn’t look like much – kind of short and thin, with frizzy dark brown hair, a big nose, and a huge, toothy smile. The man offered his hand. “Ricky,” he said, rolling his
r
. “I yam Kostas!” Rick shook his hand and grinned back. He couldn’t help himself, the smile was contagious.

Erin returned to Kostas’s side and put her arms around his waist. “This is my guy.”

“It’s great to meet you,” Rick said, finally letting go of his grip on Kostas’s hand.

“Erin has been so excited for you to be here,” Kostas nearly shouted, obviously eager as well. Though Rick was prepared to dislike Kostas as soon as he met him, he began to realize it might be difficult to dislike anyone with such an infectious, wild smile.

Kostas yelled to an old man with a wooden cart waiting nearby. The man approached, pulling the large cart behind, and he and Kostas began throwing their luggage onto the rickety wagon. The man looked as though he had one foot in the grave, but he heaved the bags around like he was Hercules himself. When the bags were loaded, Kostas guided them into the white village, and the old man followed, pulling the cart behind.

Erin took Rick’s hand as they walked. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

He squeezed her hand, “I am too, sweetie.”

~

“So, darlin’,” Devon said, slapping 50 Drachma on the bar, “this is your life’s dream, to tend bar in some rundown club, putting up with drunken idiots like us?”

Erin handed him his beer and shook her head, “You know, we can’t all be rock stars.” She continued as she wiped the wet ring left by his bottle on the bar, “And this place is not rundown,” she said. “It may need some TLC, but look at this place – I mean the island. It’s amazing, and the people are all so nice, why wouldn’t I want to stay here?”