Not that his mother knew that he liked boys. That mere fact would send her in hysterics. “Yeah, okay, thanks Mrs. Jones!” Isaac looked up. James was just getting off the phone, grinning. “You called her already?” Isaac said incredulously. James shrugged. “Gotta move fast, dude. Gig’s tonight and we have to be there in half an hour. Don’t worry, I just have to get you home before the day officially ends and your mom will be okay with it. So come on, hurry up!” James was right; setting up wasn’t particularly difficult. It had just been lugging a lot of equipment and making sure the wires weren’t criss-crossed or anything. James had done most of the actual checking. Isaac stared at the musical instruments, feeling excited. There was no one at the club yet; of course nobody would be there during set up time. But he could already imagine The Clankers playing there later. It would be amazing. “Looks good,” a voice said behind them, and Isaac turned around. Lex was walking towards them. Isaac fought the instinct to turn and hide by digging his nails in his palm. “No thanks to you,” James said, rolling his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you jerks to get here earlier to help out?” Lex raised up his hands defensively. “Peter’s car had a problem,” he said. “You’re lucky we got here at all.” “Heh. The show will go on without you guys. Plenty of better bands are gonna play tonight.” Lex elbowed him jokingly, and James allowed himself to be jostled. “Whatever, man. You better be good. I don’t normally do this shit out of the goodness of my heart.” “No, you’re doing it because you get a free pass inside the club,” Lex said. Then he turned to Isaac, smiling. “Hi?”
28
A Daydream Away
| first love