Beating the Odds [Ch. 9, Pt. 2]

During the interval between the incident at Skoonerz and the appointment with Mr. Jet, I didn't allow Taryn to do practically a single thing by herself. She might not have exactly liked it, but she knows damn well that she would have, or at least attempted to do the same if I were in her condition. 1

Everything seemed to happen so fast, and eventually I found myself in Mr. Jet's office. Most people would feel a little nervous in such a place like this, but strangely, I felt right at home.2

Caleb was half asleep, dangling on the sofa in the back of the room, and David was checking out some of the other bands Mr. Jet had previously signed. 3

"These dudes look like all they want is the money," he says to me,"they all seem so fake."4

"Wouldn't doubt it. Money has a way of motivating people, even when it deteriorates the beauty of things like music."5

"Then how did they get signed? If they aren't so fucused on their music, wouldn't they most likely suck?"6

"No, not necessarily. Sometimes it had to do with luck, and sometimes they keep their heads outta their asses long enough to see what people like so they can go with the flow."7

"We'll that's cheap. Cheatin' little bastards."8

"Shit happens."9

Simon Jet finally walks through the doors and seats himself at his desk. 10

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, I had...things to take care of. Nonetheless, let's get right to it. Here's your contract. Now, I'm not going to let you sign it until you hear me out thoroughly and have some time to think on it. You don't just walk into a spotlight, give it all you got and have things handed to you. If only things were that simple. Are you ready?" he started. 11

With a nod from each of us, he continued.12

"You're going to need a manager and a PR agent. I'll handle that much for you, I can't always be around exactly when needed. You're at the foot of the mountain my friends, you have a lot to do to make your way to the top. Since we're starting out small, which is the best way might I add, I just want you to play a few local gigs. Nothing major. The people at the bar who liked you two days ago are sure to tell some friends, family, etcetera . You know what that means, don't you? They'll come to your next gig with these family and friends, and if the family and friends like you, they repeat the process. Understand?" he informed, pushing the contract closer to us.13

"I'm sure you three are more than ready to hear the perks of this contract? Well let's start with discounts that grow with your reputation. Discounts on any equipment needed for the band: guitars, drums, mic stands, harmonicas, I don't care if it's a freakin' banjo, you're discounted. Not only that but you get...private stashes lets say. It also grows with your reputation. When the time comes, I'll provide you with a few bodyguards to pry the fans off your back. By the way, that money is for supplies and clothes, so dont splurge just yet," he continued. 14

After touching on a few less important topics, he had his secretary fetch us all a few drinks. 15

"The bartender who assisted with the problem at Skoonerz is meeting with me shortly after you all. Believe it or not, he can play bass quite well and I think he'll come in handy to you."16

"But...Caleb's bass," David added. 17

"For now, yes, but I can see it in his eyes, you're set on more than bass aren't you?" he said to Caleb. 18

Surprise struck all three of our faces. How did he know? Caleb nodded and sat up. 19

"I'll give you some time to get aquainted, and you should start thinking of a new stage formation. I want you to give him a chance. See how it works out," he tells us. 20

"Sounds good to me," Caleb replies with a smile. 21

Sounded good to me too. 22

"Now that I think about it..." he begins, turning to his secretary, "bring Mr. Howell in here, might as well get them aquainted right now."23

She nods and leaves quickly, bringing back with her the bartender from Skoonerz. Simon stands and offers him a seat. 24

"Matt, this is the band from the other night, I'm sure you remember. I'm running low on time so let's make this quick. This is Shane, David, and Caleb. I want you to join them a while as their bassist and see how things turn out. I have a good feeling about you all, and that doesn't happen often. Here's your first check, it takes some cash to get started, so this bit should help," he says, handing them to us and giving me the contract after everyone else has signed it. 25

"This bit? I could buy myself a neighborhood with this 'bit', damn!" Caleb exclaimed with an excited smile.26

"Don't get too excited, it's for the band, remember? At least 90% of it. I won't deprive you of all your fun," he ended with an experienced grin, leading us back to the girls who were waiting patiently for us to get done.27

Simon departs back to his office, and my face lights up when I see Taryn, sitting there with a nervous face. 28

"Babe, I'd like you to meet Matt, our new bassist," I tell her as I help her up. 29

"We've met. What do you mean 'new bassist', I thought Caleb was?" she questioned, a little confused. 30

"Yeah, was. Caleb's taking over as a second lead, like we planned a while ago," I explained as we waited in front of the elevator. 31

We eventually got into our vehicles and made our way home. Taryn had a look on her face like she was dying to know more of what'll be going on. 32

"Matt's coming over, so we can get aquainted or whatever, you know, guy shit. Simon says he's got some real talent, and that it wouldn't hurt to have an extra member to spice shit up," Caleb informs before I can.33

"So...what happened, did you get signed?" she eagerly asked. 34

I grin slowly, thinking of her reaction as I pull the packet of papers from my pocket, displaying it on her lap and pointing directly to our signatures.35

Her smile grew wide and her eyes bigger than I've ever seen them before. 36

"I'm so damn proud of you Shane, this is amazing!" she squeals, clinging to me as we all pull in at Caleb's house. 37

Sometimes it amazes me how selfless she can be. To get so excited over my dream. It felt good. 38

It didn't take us long at all to get in and settled, and as Taryn delivered a few sandwiches, something hit me. 39

"Oh, Taryn, I almost forgot," I said, lifting from my seat and wrapping my arm around her, "Mr. Jet handed us each an advancement check. As soon as we get situated and everything tomorrow, you're coming with me to pick out a new car," I finish, trying to hide my enthusiasm, and failing as I break into a broad smile. Her beautiful eyes widen again as she shares one of her own. 40

"Are you serious, baby?"41

"Yup, he has a really good view on our band, says he's never seen such raw talent and ambition. We each got enough cash to fund a small country for an entire year," I answer, kissing her over and over until I feel tears running down her face. 42

"Babe, what's wrong? Why're you crying?" I question, drying the lines the tears have created on her cheeks. 43

"Because, I'm so proud of all of you, even you Matt, and I barely know who the hell you are," she says with a giggle, accompanied by a couple laughs from the rest of us. 44

Jess makes a playful sad face and hugs Taryn, telling her they're gonna be shopping every chance they get. Caleb comes to me with a satisfied grin. 45

"Look how happy they are man," he states. 46

"Yeah...that's all I wanted," I told him. 47

"You're getting mushy again dude," he teases, patting my shoulder. 48

I just grin and sit lazily on the couch, David sitting a few inches away, lighting up a joint. 49

"Well, we've taken the hardest step. I'm sure everyone's plans have slightly changed since then, so spit it out, I wanna know," Caleb adds. 50

David straightens up in his seat and says, "well...I want a mansion, a huge one, enough to hold the band and their families, maybe some friends. Then if we decide to take a break, we can all just hang out and shit."51

"There's gotta be a pool man, it just ain't the same without a pool," Matt inputs. 52

"And a dirtbike track," I say with a grin. 53

"Fuck yeah dude," Caleb agrees as Jess sits on his lap, "I think we all know who'd win though," he brags. 54

With a smile and nod, I say, "yeah, me," before we break into a small, playful, competative spat. 55

"I could take both of you," Taryn joins in, handing me a Mountain Dew with a devious grin plastered on her face. Me and Caleb pass a no-way-are-we-getting-our-asses-kicked-by-a-chick look to eachother and Jessica laughs. 56

"You two'd be liking the rear view too much to wanna pass us up," she teases.57

"Yeah, they'd dress up in something skimpy just to win, little cheaters," Caleb says to me. 58

"Yup, evil little things aren't they?" I comment, earning me a playful smack. 59

After playing around a bit, and eating some dinner, we went to the garage. Once we get our own studio, we wont need this garage anymore, so we wanted to spend as much time in here as possible. The women joined us, and we smoked one before setting up. 60

"Hey, dudes, any of you got a bass I can use? Mine's at home, not like I was expecting to be signed into a band or anything," Matt requests, sitting on David's stool. Caleb walked over to these huge closet doors in the back of the garage. I figured it was full of tools and yard shit, damn was I wrong.61

He opens it slowly, revealing his collection of guitars: four bass, four electric leads. 62

"Choose your weapon," he says in some video game narrator-like voice and a dramatic look on his face. 63

Matt's eyes light up as he skims each one slowly. Each had it's own distinct design, paintjob, headstock, neck, and fretboard. Damn were they beautiful.64

While they were getting ready, Taryn came over to me and sat in front of me, as I put the strap of my guitar over her head, lifting her hands on the right places and teaching her a few notes. She giggles at the small mistakes she makes, and I kiss her cheek gently, telling her she's doing great.65

After a couple hours of just hanging around, a couple for practice and some movies, I helped her off of the couch and led her to our room. We fooled around a bit and wound up next to eachother, talking. 66

"I can't find the words to tell you how amazing that was, Tar. Although...I can't find anything about you that isn't amazing," I tell her softly, running my index finger along her arm and kissing her shoulder. Her face flushes a little. 67

"You like making me blush, don't you?" she asks, turning to face me completely with a shy smile," you certainly do it enough."68

She moves closer to me and gets herself into a comfortable position, kissing me once. 69

"We better get to sleep if we're car shopping tomorrow morning," she says. 70

With a nod, I hold her until she falls asleep. And then a childish smile meets my face and I slip out of bed slowly, hoping not to wake her, making my way to the kitchen. I left a message to the car dealership we're going to see tomorrow, telling them that if they have a dodge charger of any kind, hold it for me, and that I have the money. Caleb walks in and throws some dirty plastic cup into the sink. 71

"Who the hell could you be calling this late at night?"72

"Making arrangements for a little gift for Taryn for christmas, but keep your mouth shut or I'm gonna kick your ass," I told him. 73

"Sounds fair to me, I'm plannin on a gift for Jess too, just dont know what yet," he confessed. 74

Eventually, after a short conversation, I return to Taryn's side and laid down gently before drifting off to sleep.75

Once morning came, I practically carried her out of the house, quickly setting up in Caleb's mustang and driving to that very same dealership. I shook the hand of the owner, telling him I'm Shane and arranging Taryn's gift as she checked out a few cars. None of the cars there, however, sparked my interest, so we piled back into Caleb's mustang and left. She sat in the passenger side, a bit bored, so instead of going to another car lot, I thought of what i really wanted. 76

"You know...I think I'd rather have a motorcycle. There should be a Harley Davidson place around here. What do you think?" I ask, peeking over at her a couple times, waiting for an answer. 77

"It's your money, Shane. I think you'd look good on a Harley, to be honest, so if you want one, get one," she says with a smile. 78

That's all I needed to hear. 79

I tried to hide how excited I was, but as soon as we walked through the doors, I don't think my eyes could have gotten any bigger. As I was examining every bit of the inside, the owner came to greet us. He looked like the typical, older biker. 80

"Hey there, the name's Bill, can I help you two with anything?" he questions. I shook his hand just to be polite. 81

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Shane. I'm looking for a bike, got cash and plenty of it," I told him.82

"Well, that's something I always like to hear. Anything in particular you're looking for?" he asks, after Taryn introduces herself. 83

He begins to turn around, but stops himself. 84

"Taryn Miller? As in Ray's kid?" he adds. 85

Taryn nodded. 86

"Yeah, he was my father, you knew him?" she asks in return. 87

Suddenly this trip to find a motorcycle turned out to be a place of rememberance for her. They talked a while about Ray being a regular customer, and a good friend here. He pointed out a picture in the back of the room that her father had given them of her and him on bike together. She immediately leaves my side to go to it. I know she misses him like hell...I don't blame her. I bring myself to her side as Bill brings up another section of the conversation. 88

"Are you alright?"89

"Yeah...I'm glad we came here, really....let's find you a bike, k?" she says with a smile and slightly swollen eyes from tears. 90

"Well, if it's quality you're looking for, I'd suggest the Heritage Softtail right over here. Same as Ray's just a bit newer," he says, pointing it out and walking in that direction. 91

He pointed out some additions that would prove useful for Taryn. 92

"What do you think babe?" I ask with a grin.93

She circles the bike, looking at every detail. 94

"I definitely like the ape hanger handlebars, and the shotgun pipes. Bill, does this have an S & S carburator?" she questions, checking out the engine. 95

I knew she was familiar with bikes 'cause of her dad, but I had no idea she knew as much as she did. My grin got bigger and my eyebrow raised slightly. 96

"It sure does. I'm guessin' your dad filled you in about bikes?" Bill asked, just as impressed.97

"If this one interests you, we can add a sissy bar to it, if you'd like one."98

"Not necessary, sissy bars look pussy on any bike," Taryn adds. 99

I was wrong. My eyes could get wider. 100

"I'll take this one," I told him, "but if we ain't installing a sissy bar, then you're getting a helmet," I order as we make the purchase.101

I let Taryn drive Caleb's Mustang home, while I placed myself proudly on my new Harley, starting it up and listening to it for a moment. It sounded perfect. This wasn't just some ordinary Harley. Taryn drove next to me, smiling over at me periodically. Once we came to a red light, she leans towards me a little. 102

"Look at that sexy badass," she says with a laugh and a big smile. 103

"You're one hell of a babe in that Mustang yourself," I yelled back. 104

She laughed again and blushed and we made our way home finally. 105

As soon as I pulled in, Caleb and David came out to check on the newest addition. 106

"Dude, that's one kick ass bike! Let me sit on it, I wanna see how fuckin' awesome I look on it," he jokes as I get off of it. 107

"You better not scratch it, asshole," I replied with a laugh.108

He mounts it and smiles, pulling his glasses out of his jacket and putting them on. 109

"Sharp," Dave says. 110

"Take a picture," Caleb orders, posing. 111

We all just laugh, and after I take the bike into the garage, we walk back into the house. 112

The next few weeks, I've been riding with Taryn everywhere, even though I probably shouldn't with it snowing and shit. Me, Caleb, and Matt went to the bar to hang out a bit, but Matt had an alterior motive. 113

A girl. Her name's April. He got turned down however, and has been in a depressive mood every since. We walked through the front doors of Caleb's and there was Taryn, in the kitchen, and damn did something smell delicious. 114

"What's wrong with Matt?" she asked lightly. We quickly explained, but what was more important right now was...freshly baked cookies, sitting behind Taryn. 115

"You made more cookies?!" I excitedly questioned, already salivating as I reach for one. She smacks my hand and slides the batch away from me. 116

"They're still hot! And you're gonna need a trip to a dentist and a personal trainer if you keep up the diet your on with all these sweets," she kids, smiling. I just smile back and wrap my arms around her waist from behind her. Caleb passes me a look. That usually meant I better brace myself for a smartass remark. 117

"Yes dear," he teases, knowing I never argue with Taryn.118

Biting her shoulder playfully, and squeezing her gently, I rest my chin on that very same shoulder and stare at her side profile. 119

"So...any ideas for what you want for Christmas?" I ask. 120

She pulls away a little as if she's surprised.121

"You still have to do your shopping? Shane, tomorrow's Christmas! I got all mine done last week, are you crazy? Such a procrastinator," she says with a giggle, " you're gonna be running all over the place."122

"Nah, he's just a lazy bastard," Caleb interrupts. I just flip him off as the rest of our crew, (Brittany, Jess and Dave) come through the door with some fried chicken. Matt immediately digs in. 123

Accompanying the fried chicken was a movie, but it didnt last long before we're more interested in each other. I'm lying on my side on the couch, Taryn in front of me, kissing lightly up her neck as a couple knocks on the front door interrupts everyones activities. 124

Caleb sighs and turns the TV down with the remote, throwing it in his chair and leading himself to the door, opening it. 125

It was Taryn's mother. What the fuck was she doing here?126

We immediately get to our feet. Taryn gives Caleb the ok the let her in, and she comes to her, pleading for her to come home. 127

"Please Taryn...it's Christmas Eve, I have no one. You belong at home..." she says softly. 128

"I was never important before, when you had Mike around, and now that he's gone, now you need me? I like it here, I love it here, and I belong here. I have no intention of leaving. I'm sorry...I love you, but I can't put up with any of that anymore," Taryn replied. 129

Her mother pleaded and pleaded but Taryn kept refusing. 130

"She isn't going anywhere. You left her behind, and now she's with me. And you can't change that," I basically added. 131

I wanted to say, "you're a self centered, dillusional bitch who shouldn't have any company. As a matter of fact, why don't you join that egotistical, pussy ass bitch of a boyfriend of yours in that cozy little hole of a cell he's in and rot in hell since you're just as much of a criminal as he is," but...I didn't want to hurt Taryn's feelings. She still cared about her mother.132

After a few minutes, Taryn orders her to leave. And she does. 133

Her fragile figure is quivering, tears once again running down her face. 134

"...are you ok?" I whisper, kissing her lightly. 135

Thinking to take her mind off of it as quickly as possible, we continue watching the movie. The poor thing falls asleep on the couch, and so I lift her carefully and carry her to our room, laying her gently on the bed and lying beside her. She still seemed a little stressed...hopefully tomorrow that would subside.136

I woke up a couple hours later and couldn't get back to sleep as usual, so I waited patiently until I thought it was an appropriate time to wake her up. 137

"Merry Christmas, babe," I quietly tell her as her eyes slowly open. I kissed her once and she rewarded me with a gentle smile, sitting up. 138

"Merry Christmas to you too, handsome," she replies.139

Caleb and the rest were most likely already up. 140

"C'mon, I got a surprise for you," I say, helping her out of bed. 141

She puts her robe around herself and gets into her slippers. Me, of course, just waking up and a bit lazy in the mornings, was basically just in some pj's. Leading her quickly to the living room, digging into my pocket for my red bandana and placing it around her eyes on the way out, motioning the others to follow. 142

Pressing my palm against the door, I pushed it open and lead her out onto the porch. It's good that I made plans with that car dealer a while back while we were test driving. At least I wasn't stupid enough to forget. I usually have horrible luck with gifts, but damn it, this one's pulling through.143

We stopped in front of her gift. She was shivering because of the cold air, brushing every bit of her available. 144

"You ready?" I whisper into her ear, warming her up the best I could. She nods and I pull the bandana from her eyes. I can't help but grin at her pitiful blinking to cure her temporary blindness, rubbing her eyes lightly and trying to focus her vision. 145

As soon as she sees it, a smile races across her face and her eyes look completely entranced with it. 146

"Shane!" she says in awe, giving me an 'I'm not worth it' look. 147

"You like it?" I ask, holding her close and grinning wide. 148

"Are you kidding me?! I love it! I can't believe you got me a car!" she finishes, still shocked as I pull her towards it. 149

Digging out the keys from my pocket, I dangle it in front of her and she practically snatches it outta my hands and quickly opens the door, sitting inside as I put myself in the passenger seat.150

She seemed to really dig being surrounded by all the pink. 151

"It's perfect Shane...I can't believe you did this for me, a car? Of my own, I can't believe it," she repeats. 152

"Well, believe it. It's all yours, its even in your name," I tell her as a certain thought creeps to the front of my mind, " I'm glad you like it though...we'll have to take a cruise and christen it soon." My grin spreads even wider. 153

"Shane!" she squeals, slapping my arm, "we are not sexing in my new car!" she states as we both break into a laugh. 154

Jessica is outside of the car, running her finger along the exterior and examining it. Caleb and David are shaking their heads at the pink vehicle in the driveway, and Matt laughed as he walked to his truck. 155

"I'm just kidding, tar, although it sounds pretty damn sexy," I add slyly, sneaking my hand up her shirt. She giggles. 156

"You're horrible!" she says, laughing and kissing me, thanking me again157

.158

"You're more than welcome. I'm glad you like it babe, now put those keys in and let's see how this mobile sex machine drives," I finish as she shoves the key in the ignition and starts it up.