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T-shirt and faded blue chinos like they were haute couture, but he had a serious expression on his face that belied his tattoos and floppy ex-skater hair. It was very clear to Leah that these two were the people she needed to impress. The contract hadn’t been signed yet; they could still change their minds.
    “I’m really excited about the opportunity to tour with you guys,” she said to James.
    His mouth pulled to one side. “Don’t speak too soon.”
    Leah didn’t have any idea how to respond to that. He must have been joking, but she couldn’t read any humor in his face at all.
    “Stop it, James,” Rushani said. “You’re scaring her.” She glanced around, and even though the lobby was empty aside from the woman at the front desk, she said, “Let’s go up to my room. We can talk in private.”
    A small knot of anxiety began to form in Leah’s stomach. What on earth was going on here?
    Aside from the open suitcase on the floor, Rushani’s room didn’t look like anyone had stayed in it at all. The bed was neatly made, and there was none of the usual travel mess strewn around, no toiletries on the counter or pizza boxes lying open and half-empty on top of the desk. Rushani gestured to the sole armchair in one corner and said, “Please, take a seat.”
    Leah sat, holding her tote bag on her lap. She had seen this movie. Someone would pull out a knife, or reveal they weren’t quite human. Leah, as the hapless and innocent heroine, would scream, or possibly faint, or else prove herself to be a member of that peculiar movie species known as the “strong female character” and bust out her awesome karate moves. Blood would be shed. All might end well, or tragically.
    Rushani and James sat side by side on the bed, both of them staring at her, and Leah waited for their jaws to unhinge in perfect sync and their faces to peel back to reveal their true selves, scaly lizard people from the Delta Quadrant.
    “There’s something about the band that you need to know,” Rushani said.
    Leah suppressed a hysterical giggle. We’re all blood-sucking vampires from outer space!
    Rushani glanced at James, who didn’t react. “The bassist quit, as you know,” she said. “It was a long time coming. The lead singer is sort of… difficult.”
    “Andrew,” Leah said. She had done some reading last night, after she got the phone call from James.
    “That’s right,” Rushani said. “He’s going through a… difficult period. It’s important that you’re aware. He may treat you quite horribly. The rest of us will do our best to run interference. If you think this will be a problem for you, please let us know now so that we can move to the next person on our list.”
    Difficult period? What did that mean? Rushani’s description was so vague that Leah couldn’t really figure out what she was talking about. But she knew it was a kind of trouble she had no interest in. She’d done her time in the band drama trenches. She had no interest in entering a meltdown situation. Plus, with that whole awkward situation at the bar—maybe it was better that she bowed out now, before things got any more complicated.
    James had been watching her closely, and now he said, like he was reading the thoughts off her face, “Leah, I’m going to be honest with you. Andrew is a huge pain in the ass. I want to throttle him on a daily basis. But we are completely fucking desperate, and you were so far above and beyond anyone else we saw audition yesterday that I will pay you just about any amount of money to put up with his bullshit for a month. The fans really loved Kerrigan, and they’re all freaking out about him quitting. The only way for me to not feel totally ashamed about dicking them over is to replace him with someone who’s at least as talented as him.”
    In the silence that followed, Rushani started laughing.
    “What?” James asked her. “Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?”
    “So much for negotiating!” Rushani