Page 33 of Doc Rock
“We’ve come to the decision that Sie is the best fit for Midnight Thunder,”Ford announced, his grey eyes on Mai, then he turned to face the other boy.“Ryan, you’re a fantastic player. I’m sure you’ll find a band easily.”
“Fuck.” Ryan jumped to his feet. “You’ve pickedtitsover me?!” His voice was incredulous.
Mai stared at the angry boy and lifted an eyebrow. She didn’t say anything. If she’d been herself, she would have blushed and dropped her eyes.
Sie Harrington didn’t blush and drop her eyes.
She was a Rock Goddess.
She gave him the finger without even cracking a smile.
Ryan swore some more and slammed out of the hall. When he left, she turned back to the band and allowed the corner of her lips to twitch upwards.
“It must be his time of the month.”She gestured over her shoulder to the door that the boy stormed through.
Ford, Joel and Scotty stared at her in silence for a long moment. Her heart pounded as she wondered if she'd ruined things before they started.
But she kept her face a mask, her eyes locked on Ford as he gazed back at her in shock.
Mai was beginning tofeeluncomfortable when a grin finally tugged at the corner of Ford’s mouth, and he began to laugh, the other two soon joining in.
Chapter 13
Mai (17)
Twenty-one years ago
Midnight Thunder had been playing together for a year on the local pub scene, initially performing cover songs to a crowd who weren’t that interested in them.
But in the last few months, things started to change. Their own musical sound became more defined, and at each gig, they now performed more of their own songs.
Mainoticedthat some of the audience were the same each week, singing along to their original music.
They were starting to have fans.
The band fell into a routine: practice on Tuesday, then songwriting every Wednesday evening.
“You two are so boring. Why are we here again?”Joel lamented as he sat at Mai’s mum’s kitchen table.
Mai grinned at him.“Because we’re writing music.”
“You two are writing music.”Scotty pointed at Ford and Mai.“We’re—”he gestured to Joel.“—sitting here, being useless. I play drums. In the last three months, I’ve made zero contribution to any song that’s been written.”
“If you help, yougetwriting credit. So once we’re big, yougetpaid,”Ford told them for the fiftieth time.
Mai tried her hardest not to gaze at Ford when he spoke, butit wasa losing battle. The more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. What had initially been a crush on a cute boy deepened with every minute she was by his side.
Joel snorted.“That hardly seems fair to you two. We’re literally contributing nothing.”
“Yeah, Iknow, it’s just—“ Ford started, but Scotty interrupted him.
“He’s right. These songs are all yours and Sie’s. We’re sitting here looking pretty, while you two actually write.”Scotty tapped his palms against the table. Even when he didn’t have sticks in his hands, he was always drumming.
“What do you want to do then?”Ford asked.
Joel and Scotty glanced at each other before Joel replied,“You two take full writing credit. And wegetour Wednesday evenings back.”
Ford’s grey eyes locked with Mai, and her heart skipped a beat. She never spent time with only Ford;it wasalways the four of them together.
