Page 104 of Caught in a Storm

“Sorry. Yeah, that was me.”

“It’s cool, rock star,” says Nikki. “I was feeling that, though. We’re close with that one, right?”

“Fuck yeah we are!” says Wave. “Hot!”

Jenny, Anna, and Margot look at one another. That song, if you can even call it a song, is far from close, and as much as Margot would like to give Axl the middle finger, he’s not wrong about the distinct lack of a single so far.

“That’s the chorus, right?” says Nikki. “It’s you, not me. You, not me. A breakup anthem. Breakup anthems are huge right now. Women’ll turn that shit up.”

Wave punches himself gently in the chest. “I’m feeling it.”

Margot rubs her calluses together. “Hey, Chuck,” she says.

The studio mics are hooked into the control room. Chuck looks startled. He’s not used to the band talking to him directly. He touches a button. “What’s up, Margot?”

“Who’s playing?”

“Um, pardon?”

“The game. Behind you. Who’s playing?”

Chuck turns to the monitor. “Oh, right. Yeah. Yankees-Orioles.”

Margot wonders if Billy is watching the game, too. She misses the gentle murmuring of baseball, like the comforting hum of an oscillating fan. “Who’s winning?” she asks.

Jenny hugs her guitar. “What the hell, Margot? You’re, like, into sports balls now?”

“Just wondering.”

“Well, the Yankees, obviously,” says Chuck. “I mean, Baltimore sucks, right?”

Margot knows he’s talking about the baseball team, but the sentiment hurts, because…no it doesn’t. Margot actually likes it.

The door from the lobby opens and Rebecca Yang enters. She’s carrying a few bags of Chinese takeout in one hand and some rolled-up poster board in the other. “Hey, ladies,” she says. “Got a sec? Are we breaking?”

The smell of food does them all in. Jenny and Anna set their instruments on their stands and head for the table at the back of the room.

“What time is it anyway?” says Jenny.

“Something in the p.m., I’m guessing,” says Anna.

“Good,” says Jenny. “I’m more talented at night. Rebecca, if I open my mouth like a baby bird, can you pour caffeine into it?”

“Stop harassing Becca,” says Anna, who has taken to calling Rebecca “Becca.”

The guitarist and bassist eat, both wielding chopsticks. Nikki picks up a fortune cookie, and Margot watches an Oriole at bat through the control room window. He smacks the ball between two Yankees and trots to first base.

“All right, so, I’ve got some layouts for you all to look at,” says Rebecca. “Cool?”

Anna’s mouth is full of noodles. “Layouts of what?” she asks.

“Album covers, for starters. Tour posters, too, if you’re interested.”

“We don’t even have an album title yet,” says Jenny.

“It’s Burn It Back,” says Nikki. “Didn’t we all agree on that?”

“So, like, we’re all in on burn puns, then?” asks Anna.