Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Fret ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

 

They wandered back through the twist of alleyways and arrived at the square. No traces of law enforcement could be seen, but the guitarist across the square was gone.

“I come here on some of my weekends. I don't really need the money, but its so much fun to play for people that I really just do it for kicks,” Emmett exclaimed zealously, punching the air.

“I did that yesterday,” Josh said with a sardonic smile. “I didn't open my case, so I got no money and slept in a park.”

“Well Josh my good friend, let's make you some money right now. It is a Saturday in the big and beautiful City and the tourists are awaiting our entertaining abilities. We don't want you to go hungry and shelter-less again.”

They settled onto a cement planter in front of Chocolaterie Magnifique. Josh sat, but Emmett remained standing with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Josh felt the thrill of an imminent challenge start to pump him full of adrenaline.

“What do you want to start with?” Emmett demanded from Josh. Josh knew that Emmett would judge his real character from the first song he picked, because Josh would have done the same.

“I'm thinking of a pretty appropriate title for right now. Do you know James Morrison's song `Undiscovered'? He's from England I believe,” Josh mentioned briskly, testing the waters for Emmett's reaction.

A grin erupted on Emmett's face that stretched from ear to ear. “Now that's a Brit with an ear for music. He's a right genius, that one. All right, let's “jam” as you Americans call it. Start us off.”

“Okay. But I'm gonna crank the tempo up just a smidge.”

One two, one two three four he tapped out on his guitar body and then started to pick the intro. Josh decided to make things more interesting, faster. He added a few complicated turns to the simple introduction, and a extra minor seventh chord for a second. Emmett cocked his head to the side, and smirking slightly, nodded. On cue, he burst in and instantly overpowered Josh, rubbing his bow in tight geometric shapes. Josh instantly pumped up the intensity, and counted himself into the song.

“I'm not lost, just undiscovered. We're never alone we're all the same as each other. You see the look that's on my face. You might think I'm out of place. I'm not lost, no, no, just undiscovered,” he sang, every note tuning in with his very core. The violin zipped along rapidly and they harmonized perfectly. The music dripped into the air like thick honey, so tangible that once you heard it, it stuck with you. The people zeroed in on the pair like bees to clover, and money dropped into the case in a continuous stream. Minute after minute, the satisfying clink of small change and the green flutter of bills caused Josh's heart to rise higher and push his limit. Emmett split bowstrings striving to match Josh's artful, intricate solos, as well and challenge him by keeping on pushing the tempo and intensity. Songs flying in rapid fire left the audience spellbound and the entertainers fervently playing. Minutes passed and soon blurs flew across the buskers' instruments in vague hand shapes, Emmett's bow barely visible and Josh's fingers and pick long gone. They frantically hit all the notes and added twice as many into the song, building a complex network of improvisation within the loose weavings of the pop songs they were imitating and expanding upon.

Finally, the drained musicians ended their thirty-minute rant. A few seconds of silence hovered in the crowd that was pushing over eighty people. Then, as if cued, the crowd burst into applause and deafening cheers. Josh looked around and saw a policeman pretending not to see them in the far corner of the square. Silently, he thanked him and then set his guitar on top of the nest of bills in his guitar case.

Panting, Emmett held out his hand and Josh, understanding him perfectly, gave him a five to get bottles of water. Josh closed his guitar case and Emmett's violin case, sitting on his own and cradling Emmett's violin and case in his arms.

“Band practice is very different,” he decided definitively. He wracked his brain for anything remotely like it. Multiple images shot into his head, and he tried to sort out the multitude of emotions he felt and match them up with past events in his head.

“Hey, I just called this bloke, and we're getting some food. Want to come?” Emmett offered.

“As long as it's free.”

They walked along the sidewalks now, and Josh attempted to get onto the curb and stay there. Trees kept getting in the way, and the sheer mass of people had him teetering dangerously on the edge the whole time. The cars flew by him and he felt a slight fear of death, but not enough to impede his set path.

“Hey, Josh. What are you doing? Why is it the smart ones who are so weird? I mean seriously, look at us!” He shook his head, concurrently pulling Josh into the safer part of the sidewalk. As if a zombie, Josh didn't resist, and he stayed on the sidewalk.

“We're here. My roomie will meet us here in a minute. Let's go get a table.” Emmett told Josh. Josh pointed out a table away from the bar, and they logically worked their way around the already crowded tavern to the table.

“So,” Emmett half yelled, “you're on your tod traveling to Canada. Why aren't your parents or siblings with you?”

Only understanding half of what Emmett was saying, Josh answered as best and as truthfully as he could. “My dad's dead, my mom's in Canada, and I'm an only child.”

“I thought you seemed sort of lost. Tell me what happened,” Emmett leaned in concernedly, still yelling and making Josh's ears

Josh took a deep breath that seemed to last for a few minutes. He felt the air spread to the tip of his fingers and the air seemed to blow away all the emotion. He began, paused, then took a different, blunter route. “My dad only had time to get my mom pregnant once before he got into a car crash. They were actually trying for a second when the accident happened. After he died, my mom went a little psycho. To be honest, from what I heard my mom was always a little obsessive. Not anything truly detrimental, but just a tendency to grab onto something and be very passionate about it. Her obsession at that time was my dad. My dad was the same way, but his passion was split evenly between my mother and his music,” Josh explained.

“I thought from the way you talked about her that she was a bit scatty. But don't worry, you're a good bloke,” Emmett said sadly.

“Yeah, she's a good person, she's just lost the most important thing in her life. My two-year-old self watched my mother slowly see me as my father. She shut all her emotions away and partied. Everything in her life was chaos except that she never forgot to take her birth control and her sleep was orderly. I heard her always mutter car crash statistics so precisely. She would name a date, the number of crashes, number of wounds, fatalities, ages, etc. She still loved me, it was just hard for her to look at me. I look a lot like my dad. It was normal as a little kid to me, but now I realize that most people would think of that as weird,” he shrugged, smiling a small knowing smile.

“She should be checked out by a therapist,” commented Emmett. “They could help.”

“I don't think so. She's been in Canada with my aunt for a couple months and probably isn't returning any time soon,” he replied grimly.

“Well that's sad. Why isn't your guardian with you?”

“I don't have one.”

“How can you not have a guardian? You're underage, it's against the law.”

“My guardian was my mom. She left. I don't have one. Point-blank.”

“Bloody! How are you surviving? I would have collapsed miserably if I had to care for myself at sixteen. My roomie still has to keep me in check!”

Josh sighed a deep sigh. “I'm not. I paid every single house payment, but the electricity, water, and gas are all off. The phone line is disconnected, the garbage isn't being picked up, and the house is basically good for a bed. I just didn't have enough money and then my mom offered for me to join her…”

“But you need to stay here. Canada's no place to start a music career unless you're a little blond freak like Avril Lavigne,” Emmett finished his thought for him.

At that moment, Emmett's roommate came in and they introduced each other. After they had all eaten, the sky was growing dark.

“D'you need a place to bunk? Our flat has enough room for you,” offered Emmett.

“That would be great. But I'm leaving the first thing in the morning,” Josh said sternly.

“Suit yourself.”

The two college kids led the way back to their dorm. Once again, the lost puppy image dominated his mind.

The door creaked open and dim lights flickered overhead. Josh spied the two bunks, and then a worn loveseat. He dropped his stuff next to the doorway, then walked over to the loveseat and collapsed on it.

“Thanks Emmett…”

Slowly, what he saw with his closed eyes went from light pearl grey to the deep purple black of slumber.