“I don’t care. You have to sing if we need you.”
I shrugged. “You want me to ruin your song, fine by me.”
“Did you like it?” he asked, and a hint of unease crossed his face.
I stared directly into his green eyes. “It was beautiful.”
Relief washed over him, and he grinned. “Thanks.”
Then he looked at both me and Shanna. “Okay, what next?”
26
They ended up taking requests for quite a while. Shanna really wanted to hear something by Katy Perry, so they did “I Kissed A Girl,” with Derek and Shanna singing together on the chorus. Shanna was giddy.
It was really interesting hearing the song where one half was in a deep male voice. And uncomfortably sexy whenever Derek would look at me while singing.
I have to admit, it also freaked me out a little to hear my roommate – who had seen me half-naked more times than I could count – singing a song about being bi-curious.
Ryan switched instruments to mimic the deeper, driving notes of the backup music.
He’d been good on acoustic, but he was outstanding on bass guitar.
Afterwards, I teased Derek a little. “I didn’t know you liked Katy Perry.”
“Ryan’s little sisters love Katy Perry, so we do it for them,” Derek said, scowling at me for impugning his manliness.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about ten-year-olds (or however old they were) being huge fans of “I Kissed A Girl.” It made it even weirder that the person singing it to them was the hottest guy ever, but… whatever.
They also did a great cover of a song called “D’yer Maker” by Led Zeppelin. I’d heard it before on classic rock stations, not to mention Sheryl Crow’s cover. Though Derek and Ryan’s version wasn’t nearly on a par with theirs, it was pretty damn good for a basement jam.
Derek’s singing was amazing; Ryan’s playing was fantastic. Ryan’s voice was nice, but had nowhere near the power or sexiness of Derek’s. And Derek was basically an amateur compared with Ryan’s ease with the guitar. By now Derek had abandoned his instrument and was just lounging on the floor, relaxed and completely at ease as he sang.
They did “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer, “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters, “Patience” by Guns ‘n Roses, “Flake” by Jack Johnson, and “I Give Her All My Love” by the Beatles.
They nailed every one of them.
And I was getting more and more turned on the entire time.
Derek was so damn good-looking to begin with… and now to hear this astounding voice coming out of him?
And to think, Yeah, he could actually GO somewhere with this?
I imagined him and Ryan as part of a band, playing at the 40 Watt or the Georgia Theater. I imagined hundreds of people shouting and screaming and singing along – not a far-fetched scenario at all.
It was… I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t be that shallow, but it was seductive to think of me backstage, watching from the wings, Derek winking at me every so often as he played to the roaring crowd.
Then I would think, But what about Kevin? and the daydream dissipated… only to start up again with the next song.
After awhile they took a break to stand up and stretch.
Shanna raved about them and basically attached herself to Ryan at the hip.
“What’d you think?” Derek asked nervously while Ryan shyly backed away from his new admirer.
I nodded my head. “You guys are really, really good. I’m very pleasantly surprised.”
Actually, I was more than pleasantly surprised, but I didn’t want to feed his ego too much. And Shanna was being a good cautionary example of how not to act as she rubbed up against Ryan like a dog in heat.
Derek grinned. “When I first told you I was in a band, you probably thought we sucked ass.”
“…noooo…” I said, not at all convincingly.
Derek laughed right along with me.
“You’re just so enamored with yourself, I figured you were probably exaggerating about your music, too,” I said.
He stared me in the eyes. “Well, the other parts of me I’m so ‘enamored’ of… was I exaggerating about them?”
I pressed my lips together and blushed a little as I stared into his eyes.
I absolutely refused to look at his arms… or his chest… or his lips… or his ass (not that I could see it right now… but my God, his ass…).
He evidently took my silence for disapproval – maybe because it veered too close to flirtation or sex – and he hurriedly said, “Never mind, I retract the question. Would you like to hear some original stuff we recorded?”
Anything to cut the sexual tension.