Sheet Music - A Rock 'n' Roll Love Story Read Free Page B

that cool or what?” Ivory added.
    “I think you’ve all lost your minds,” Gary sputtered with defeat and walked off toward his car.
    “Need a ride home?” Buzz asked Annie.
    “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
    “Come on, Ivory.  I’ll drop you off too.” Buzz stated as he headed toward his van.
    Buzz chatted endlessly on the way home while Annie barely made a sound.  He felt exhilarated and could not understand why Annie did not seem to share the same excitement.
    “Did I miss something back there?” Buzz asked.
    “Huh, what do you mean?” Annie replied.
    “I wouldn’t say it as crudely as Gary did, but it was obvious that something was going on between you and Michael Wade.”
    “You’re both crazy.  He shook my hand like everyone else’s.  That’s it.”
    “This is me you’re talking to, not Gary.  What’s going on with you?”
    Annie glanced toward Buzz and shook her head.  “I’m fine.  Just a bit awed by meeting him I guess.”
    “That’s it?  Are you sure?” Buzz questioned.
    Annie smiled and felt her face flush.  “He is pretty amazing, isn’t he?”
    Buzz shook his head.  “Damn it, Annie.  Whatever you think you’re feeling right now you better ignore it.  Let us not lose our focus here.  Okay?”
    Annie looked out the window, ignoring Buzz's concern.  What was she feeling, she wondered?  How could she define it?  Meeting Michael Wade was better than she had ever imagined.  He was breathtaking.  Larger than life.  And yet, there seemed to be a quiet introspective side to him that intrigued her.  She wondered if he was thinking about her and then quickly laughed at the thought.  With all the women he met in a single day, meeting her had to be a pretty insignificant event in his life.  She was certain of that.  She doubted if he would even remember her name.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    As scheduled, two days later Michael Wade came back and sat in on one of White Rush’s practice sessions.  For years the band had been using the old Play House in the town Annie lived as their practice site.  It was owned by Annie’s uncle who let them use it for free during the day as long as they played one gig there every month.  The location was perfect for Annie.  It was within walking distance of her apartment and the diner where she worked.  The stage was large and lofty and the lighting bad but the acoustics were fabulous.
    They had played and practiced at the Play House hundreds of times but on this day it felt like the first time they had used the stage.  They fumbled to find the wall outlets and juggled amplifiers around mindlessly, aware of the fact Michael was in back of the theater watching them.  The deal was just that.  He would silently attend a week or more of their practice sessions, at the end of which, he would give them his professional critique on the strengths and weaknesses of the band.  The end result would be a better, more commercially marketable band.  It was all part of the bands’ grooming process to ready them for performing on stage as the opening act for Thrust.  In the long term, they could possibly pick up a record contract with their new exposure.
    There was a lot to do in a short amount of time and all were expected to make some sacrifices; first of which was to change their practice schedule.  Instead of meeting once a week for a few hours, they now had to practice every afternoon from one o’clock to six o’clock in the evening.  Their club dates were diminished to Saturday night only with the club sites to be approved by Bostonian Promotions.  Sunday was their one day off to do as they pleased.  They were asked to take a leave of absence from their day jobs and instead they would receive a weekly allowance from Bostonian Promotions.  The allowances were not much but it was understood that they would have to make do with it.  The bottom line was Bostonian Promotions, as well as Thrust, wanted White Rush to eat,