//------------------------------// // The DJ // Story: A Life of Music // by Zenaron //------------------------------// The DJ A few miles outside of Manhattan in the late afternoon the next day “Yo, Andy how long till we get there?” yelled a young woman with two shades of blue hair, and stunning ruby red eyes. She was in her mid-twenties, and she had a well-built slim body. She wore a white tank top that went half way down her stomach, and grey jeans with a tear in the right knee, and a pair of light purple sunglasses on top of her head. “We’ll get there in a few minutes Vinyl, keeps your pants on.” Andy said with an annoyed huff as he walked into the main room of the tour bus. He was about the same age as Vinyl, with an average build. He had blonde hair that was cut short and spiked slightly. He wore a regular white tee shirt and blue jeans. Vinyl sighed and fell back over onto the couch she was sitting on; the tour bus was very spacious, made specifically for the comfort of traveling long distances. There were a few couches and chairs placed along the walls for people to relax in. Each wall was decorated with posters of big venues that Vinyl had recently DJ’d at. “Hey what’s with the long face Cuss?” Andy asked as he sat down on the couch opposite of Vinyl. Vinyl looked over at him and sat back up. “I don’t know I’m just bored, really really bored.” Vinyl said as she looked over at one of the many pictures of her posing provocatively. “Is that really all that’s bothering you?” Andy asked, looking straight through her facade. Vinyl eyes winded slightly and she turned her head to face him. “Am I really that obvious?” Andy shrugged his shoulders. “Well I am your manger, and I’ve been your favorite cousin for a bit longer. So come on tell me what’s really bothering you?” He asked with a look of genuine concern. Vinyl looked at him and nodded. “I really am bored, but I guess more than that I feel…” She paused trying to find the words. “I feel tired, and alone. I miss being a normal DJ back in Vegas.” “What about the crowds, they’re all here for you.” “Oh shut up, you know better than most people that that’s a load of crap! The crowd is there as long as they like you, the second I do something wrong they’ll turn on me.” Vinyl said her voice rising in volume to the point she almost came out of her seat. Andy flinched from the rising volume in Vinyl's voice. He then unconsciously started to sit farther back in his chair slowly getting farther away. “Sorry, I got a little carried away there.” Vinyl said as she sat back and let her heart rate slow down. “I didn’t know you felt this way about it.” “Yeah neither did I.” Vinyl said as she looked out one of the windows. “I guess I’m just feeling all alone out here, with no one that really cares.” “What am I, chopped liver?” Andy said as a sly smile started to spread across his face. Vinyl glanced back at him before reaching down and grabbing a pillow from behind her and throwing at his face. “Yeah I guess you count for something.” She said as she resumed her position feigning innocence. Not expecting the throw, the pillow collided with Andy’s face and stayed in place for a few seconds before falling off onto his lap. He glared at Vinyl through slitted eyes. “I guess I just miss the feeling of having people who are here because of who I am and not what I have done.” “Did that letter from Lyra have anything to do with this?” Vinyl’s eyes widened in surprise and she quickly opened her mouth to deny it, but after a second thought she closed it. She knew that Andy would be able to see through the lie. “Yeah, I guess it did.” “I thought you said you were happy that she found a new girlfriend, and they looked really happy together in that picture she sent.” “I am, and they make a cute couple, but…I just wish it was me.” Vinyl said as she looked down, and fidgeted restlessly. “Is that selfish of me?” “No, I don’t think so.” Andy said as he sat back and threaded his fingers together in front of his face as he tried to collect his thoughts. “You’ve been under a lot of stress with this tour; I thought that letter would do you some good.” Vinyl nodded her head slowly in understanding. “Don’t let it get you down. So what if Lyra wasn’t the one, there are plenty of other women out there. Who knows maybe you’ll find the right one here in Manhattan; this is the city of love after all.” Vinyl looked up at him with a small smirk. “I think you have Manhattan confused with Paris.” Andy smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders. He noticed the bus was starting to slow down and he looked out the window. “Well it looks like we’re here.” “Great, the shows not tell tomorrow night right.” Vinyl asked as she quickly got up and stretched. “Yeah, why? Are you planning on going somewhere?” “Yeah, I need some time to unwind. So I was going to go find a bar and have a few drinks. You got a problem with that?” “No, not at all just be careful, and don’t wear your shades. It’s a dead giveaway of who you are.” Vinyl nodded in agreement, took off her signature glasses, and handed them to her cousin. After that she went over to her room in the massive tour bus and opened her wardrobe and glanced through it. After a few minutes of looking she found a white zip up hoody with blue stripes up the arms. She pulled it off the hanger and slipped it on, and looked at herself in the mirror and turned to see both sides of it. She frowned a little before she zipped the hoody up to her chest. “Perfect.” She said to herself before she turned on her heal and made for the door. She made her way through the rest of the bus and stepped out the side door. She stopped and took in a deep breath of the outside air. It was mid-autumn and there was a slight chill in the evening air. She loved this time of year, when the world seemed to be readying itself for the deep sleep of winter, where everything seemed to move just a little bit slower. “A pretty stark contrast to the way things in my life usually are.” Vinyl thought to herself with a small smirk. Then she shrugged philosophically, people always seemed to want what they didn’t have, the grass being greener and all that. She took a long, slow look at her surroundings; it was a pretty nice part of the large city, with most of the large sky scrapers off in the distance of the city proper. Once she seemed to have her bearings she took some time to glance over the club she would be playing at for the next few days. It was very typical of the clubs she had been playing at over the last few months. It had a very new age look to it, with its bright neon lights directing the outside walls to help draw the eye. Very few of them were on at the moment; she guessed that the rest would probably be turned on later when the club opened Once she had a good chance to look it over she nodded her head in approval. She then glanced over at the small crew she had unloading her sound equipment. She knew that this club probably had a decent set up, but she liked to use her own equipment when she performed. She then glanced over at Andy who had changed into a more business casual outfit, and he seemed to be having a friendly conversation with who she guessed was the club’s owner. That was one of the things she hated doing, and for some odd reason one of her cousins favorite things to do, which is one of the main reasons she hired him in the first place. Andy had a certain way with people that Vinyl didn’t, and she was grateful to have him around for things like this. She had heard horror stories from other musicians about what could happen if you didn’t have a good manager. She shook these thoughts from her mind as she noticed that Andy was walking over to her. “So everything still on for the show?” she asked with slight tilt of her head. “Yeah, I got everything hashed out in the contract and the owner said he’s excited to hear you play.” “You mean he’s excited to see how much money I’m going to bring in for him.” Andy nodded before he grinned widely at her. “Yap that’s about the size of it. So you headed off?” “Yeah just wanted to make sure that everything was squared away before I left.” Vinyl said before she turned on her heals and started walking away. “You have your cellphone on you right?” Andy called after her with a slight frown. Vinyl turned around and pulled the device out of her jeans pocket. “Yes mom, I have it right here.” She said in a mocking tone before she smiled and turned back around. Andy shook his head before he shrugged his shoulders and turned to make sure that there weren’t any problems with unloading all the very expensive equipment. Several minutes latter Vinyl had walked a good twenty minutes from the club and was finally in the main part of the city, she looked at some of the nicer bars that she passed and considered making one of them her stop for the night, but each time she would pass one, she would continue on with a small shake of her head. The last thing she wanted was for one of her crazed fans to recognize her and want to talk her ear off all night, or worse. She thought with a slight shudder. After another few bars she finally saw one that caught her attention. It looked a lot older than most of the other ones she had passed, and it also seemed well past its prime. The paint was pealing in some places, and in others the paint had been touched up with a slightly wrong color. She took a hard look at the sign that was hung over the door slowly swinging in the wind. “Big Pete’s Tavern.” She said out loud to herself as she took one last look at the old building. “Sounds perfect.” She said before she opened the front door. As she entered she was hit by a mixture of strange sensations, the smell of stale alcohol hung heavily in the air, mixed with the pungent smell of tobacco smoke and sweat. As she had guessed there was a good chance that none of her fans would be here, based on the average age of the current patrons. Aroused by the sound of the door opening some of the patrons looked up to see who the new comer was, and after the initial surprise of it not being someone they recognized as a regular they soon lost interest, none of them wanting to bother, or be bothered in some cases by the newcomer. Once inside she took a quick look around, and after a few seconds of searching she found what she was looking for. She quickly made her way through the large room and sat down on an empty stool at the bar. “Well howdy there stranger what can I get ya to drink.” The man behind the bar asked with a kind fatherly smile as he lifted a glass of the rack and cleaned it with his rag. Vinyl gave the man a polite smile as she looked up from the bar. “A gin and tonic if you’ve got it.” “Comin’ right up.” He said as he walked over and grabbed the necessary ingredients and started mixing the drink. “So what brings you to our little slice of heaven?” The man asked with a slight raise of his eyebrow. “Oh, I was in the neighborhood and I needed to unwind a little and this seemed like a good a place as any.” Vinyl said with a shrug of her shoulders. He nodded slowly as he placed a wedge of lime in the drink and passed it to her. “Here you are the finest G and T in all of Manhattan.” Vinyl reached out and picked up the glass and took a sip. She was surprised to find that not only was it good it was one of the best she had ever had. “So how’s it taste?” “It’s good, it’s really good.” Vinyl said as she took another sip before putting the glass down. “Thank you Mr. …” “Edward, Edward is my name, but my friends call me Eddie.” Edward said with a smile. Vinyl nodded before she took another longer sip form the glass. “So, what brings you here to our fair city?” “I’m uh…I’m a musician.” Vinyl said with a slight pause as she put her half empty glass back down. Eddie nodded his head in understanding. “I see, well it just so happens that our live music is about to start.” Vinyl perked up a little at that bit of information. “Really, I noticed that there was a stage, but I didn’t know anyone would be performing.” “Yap, she should be out any minute now.” Edward said as he glanced to see if she had come out on stage yet. Not seeing her he turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. “A female musician, is she any good?” Vinyl asked as with a raised eyebrow. “She’s the best cellist I’ve ever heard before. Oh and here she comes now.” Vinyl turned in her seat and looked onto the stage and let out a silent gasp. The young woman that was walking out on stage with her cello held protectively in her hand was beautiful. Vinyl was almost mesmerized by her grace as she walked to the chair that had been placed for her, and her eyes! Once Vinyl caught a glimpse of her beautiful pink eyes and she couldn’t look away. “Quite the looker huh.” Edward said as he leaned on his elbows over the bar. Vinyl silently nodded her head in agreement, and waited for the woman to begin to play. After she had taken her seat and slowly made sure her instrument was in tune. She raised her bow and immediately started into a slow, quite, relaxing song. Vinyl took in another deep breath of air as she was enveloped by the sound of the music. “Who is she?” Vinyl asked quietly as she watched the performance in complete awe.