Read Rhythm in Blue for Free Online Page B

either side.
    “Of course I won’t.”
    “Well – and I’m not just saying this because I’m talking to you,” she was blushing terribly, fidgeting, and struggling to spit it out. “I want to be a song writer.”
    Rick wasn’t sure how to respond. People always wanted him to listen to their demo tapes, wanted a leg up in the business. He and the guys couldn’t escape the constant invasion. It was normally a familiar routine, but this was anything but normal. He thought for a moment, nodded, lit another cigarette, and asked, “Do you play music?”
    She still blushed, but seemed relieved to have said it aloud. She took the cigarette he offered and leaned back into the bench again. “Well, no, not really.” She continued nervously, “I hear the songs in my head, and I write down the lyrics…but that’s all I can do.”
    He considered what she said for a moment. “Well, you’ll have to sing me something sometime.”
    “Oh no,” she shook her head, “I have a terrible voice. I mean, I can keep a tune, but I sound like I should be singing opera, or country, or something, not rock.”
    He laughed as she took a drink of her beer. “In that case you’re gonna have to learn to play… something .”
    “I suppose I will,” she said, nodding. “How did you get started? You were really young, weren’t you?”
    He met his band mates not long after he ran away from home, wandering into a dimly lit bar one night to escape the freezing rain. Although he looked like a drowned rat, no one paid much attention to the scrawny, wet teenager. The memory made him shiver, even in the warmth of the club.
    “Yeah, I was your age when I saw those guys playing one night. They had this incredibly soulful, rock and roll sound, and the way they fed off each other, each one pushing the other to a higher level – it blew my mind.” He scooted to the edge of his seat. “While they were playing, I watched the audience’s excitement grow, and by the end of the show, that excitement peaked at such a high level… They were so cool, and I knew, that’s what I wanted. I wanted to be a part of it, so I waited until they were on a break and introduced myself and asked if I could play with them.”
    “Ha! What did they think of that?”
    “Well, Devon thought it was pretty funny. He didn’t even ask if I could play or anything, he just told me they couldn’t afford another member.”
    “Could you play?” Shelby asked as she drank the last of her beer.
    “Not much, at least, not like they did. Anyway, I found out their schedule and started following them around. After a while, they let me travel with them, and whenever they weren’t playing, I’d be practicing on Randy’s guitar. One day, Devon brought me a bass guitar, and said, ‘Learn to play this, and we’ll let you join.’ So I did”
    “Wow, at fifteen?”
    “Nah, I was sixteen by then,” he winked at her and smiled as he leaned back into his seat.
    “How old were they?”
    “I think Randy was seventeen, but Devon and Keith were around nineteen or twenty.”
    She tilted her head, “How did you guys get your big break?”
    “You know, after five years playing all over, we had a pretty good following. Randy wrote a few songs that people really liked, and we found a label that liked our stuff.”
     Shelby nodded, but her attention had turned to a young man strolling around the club.
    Rick followed her gaze, “Friend of yours?”
    “No!” she said, almost violently. Then her tone softened, “We used to be friends, but he turned… mean.”
    As he sauntered by, he said something to Shelby in Greek, and Rick noticed she lost some color in her face. He kept moving, but his eyes stayed fixed on Shelby, and he sat at an empty table not far from theirs.
    “What did he say to you?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Come on, tell me.”
    “Fine. He asked if I told you yet that you wouldn’t get any…,” she hesitated, “any action from me.”
    Rick was stunned and shot the