Audrey pulled the car up to Josh’s house and parked it on the side of the street. The door to the garage was already open. Inside, Josh was setting up his guitar and plugging in his amps. Audrey carried her electric keyboard from her car into the garage and placed it on the stand, in its usual spot. It felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
Familiar, because they had been practicing for the Renaissance Faire concert for months now. Same as they did last year. And the year before that.
Unfamiliar, because this weekend was going to be their last concert. Not just this year, but probably forever. Josh said they could still play these concerts after graduation, but Audrey never seriously believed that would be in the cards. He would move on, and she would move on, to whatever happened next after high school.
Josh interrupted her reverie. “I invited someone to come by and check out our practice today.”
“Why?” Audrey said. “We’ve never done that before.”
“It’s our last concert together. I want it to be good.”
The concert was this weekend though, and this was their last practice. There wouldn’t be much time to fix anything, but Audrey guessed they could still do a few small tweaks, especially for their last show. “Who’s coming?”
“Haley.”
“Haley?”
Haley was a mutual friend of theirs. There was nothing wrong with her showing to a practice – except she didn’t know anything about music. She could barely carry a tune. Audrey had heard her sing at a party once.
And then she noticed that Josh sat up a little straighter and smoothed out his shirt a bit when he said her name. He probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, she thought, and she couldn’t resist having a little fun.
“I didn’t think Haley was a musician.”
“Maybe not,” Josh said defensively, “but she goes to a lot of shows.”
“If you want we could write up some last minute lyrics and have her as a guest singer for our show.”
“No no, she’s just going to watch and give us some feedback. She doesn’t sing.”
No, she definitely doesn’t. Warbles, maybe. Audrey held back a smile and warmed up by playing a few chords on her keyboard.
When Haley arrived later, Josh had just finished setting up the holographic projector. His back was turned, and he didn’t notice her arrival.
“Hey, Josh!” Haley said.
Josh jumped up and greeted her back. He ran his hands through his hair.
Audrey rolled her eyes.
“Want to check out our show?” Josh said.
“Sure!”
Josh looked over to Audrey, who nodded that she was ready. He counted off, one, two, three, four, then launched into their musical set. It was a cycle of pieces inspired by the seasons, and as the music played, the holographic projector showed different backgrounds from around the earth, a matching mood for each season.
Audrey was pretty sure she had seen the same generic scenes playing in the waiting room of her dentist. But Josh had picked out the scenes for the projector, and she didn’t care enough to argue. Playing in the concerts was something she did to relax and have a bit of fun. Not something to be taken too seriously.
Not like Josh, who treated it with more intensity than any of his schoolwork.
Josh played the final riffs, ending the set. “So what do you think?”
“It, um, was cool. Good job,” Haley said.
If Josh noticed the awkwardness, he pretended not to notice.
“Any suggestions for our show this weekend?”
“Well.” Haley thought about her answer. “Have you thought about making the show, like, bigger?”
“What does that mean? Bigger.”
“Well, you know how like Ian’s show has that—”
“Ian? That guy can barely keep time. Have you heard his solos?”
“Really? It seems fine to me. Anyway his shows have this cool hologram thing where it follows what the audience does. So when they start clapping, these sparkly things bounce around more and kind of start dancing on their own. It’s not as…” Haley trailed off.
“Not as… what?”
Audrey had heard this tone in Josh’s voice before. She tried to defuse the situation. “I think what she means is that we can probably make our hologram show a bit more interesting. Isn’t that right, Haley?”
“Right,” Haley said, thankful for the rescue. She retreated down the driveway. “Anyway I’ll be at the Ren Faire, so I’ll check out your show!”
“Can you believe that?” Josh said, when Haley was gone. “Ian? That guy is an incompetent hack.”
“Sometimes,” Audrey said, “It’s not about just the music. It’s about the show.”
“I guess we’ll have to practice on Friday night.”
“But I thought this was our last practice. I have plans on Friday night.”
“It’s our last concert. Besides, you heard what Haley said. We have to make it more interesting.”
Audrey considered protesting some more, but she knew Josh would just whine until she agreed. And if she were being honest with herself, she was curious about what he would come up with.
Nothing, as it turned out. Josh had come up with nothing.
It was Friday, and Audrey had come over after dinner, and they had tinkered on the projector for hours.
They took a break around midnight. Audrey snacked on a chocolate bar as she looked out the window of the garage. The streetlights were dim and all the houses she could see were dark. On the block, their house was the only one with any signs of life.
“I don’t think we’re going to figure this one out.”
Josh just sat there. He didn’t say anything for a while.
“It’s not fair, you know,” he finally said.
“Haley has no taste anyway. Who cares what she thinks? For the record, I agree with you. Ian can’t keep a beat. And he’s a bass player.”
“I’m not talking about that.” Josh waved his arms at their musical equipment. “I’m talking about this. All of this.”
Audrey didn’t understand. “What about this?”
“Do you know what we would be if we weren’t in Selunia Falls?”
“Delinquents?” Audrey chuckled.
“Rock stars! We would be rock stars.”
“Maybe you would be. I wouldn’t.” It was said without self deprecation nor shame, just an objective statement of fact. She put in the time as long as it was fun, but she would never be dedicated enough to turn pro. It didn’t bother her. “I would probably be doing the same thing I’m doing now. Taking these stupid exams, getting into college somewhere, then becoming a scientist. Maybe even coming back here to do research in the future.”
“I just want some more respect. That’s all.”
“If you wanted respect, why didn’t you do something for the science fair? You’re good enough to come up with something.”
“Why should I have to do what everyone else does?”
Audrey shrugged. Josh was in one of his moods again.
She finished off her snack and stood back up next to the holographic projector. “So what are we going to do with this thing?”
“I already gave you a suggestion, but you said no.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“I’m serious. We can double the power of the ionic rotator in the projector. It’ll work.”
“You mean it’ll explode in your face.”
His obsession was getting the best of him, Audrey thought.
“You heard what Haley said. We need something big to spice up the show, and we don’t have anything else.” Josh cracked open the projector and adjusted some of the components inside.
Audrey was too tired to have the same fight for the third time that night. This time, she simply escaped to the farthest corner of the garage and tried to hide behind some cabinets, hoping it would provide enough cover. “Don’t do it.” She said it anyway, knowing full well that he would ignore her.
The projector gave a muted hiss and smoke started floating out of it. The unpleasant smell of burnt metal wafted through the air.
“It didn’t work,” Josh said.
I told you it wouldn’t. Instead Audrey said, “That’s it. I’m going home.”
“You can’t go home. We haven’t figured out anything for tomorrow yet!”
“And now we have no projector either.”
Josh was taking apart the projector again. “We can fix it.”
“Josh. It’s past midnight. I told you not to do it and you ignored me. I’m going home.”
The next morning, Audrey arrived at Josh’s house to go to the concert together.
“You were right yesterday,” Josh said, as they loaded their equipment onto a cart to carry it to the concert. “I’m sorry, I should have listened to you.”
Audrey only grunted, both as an acceptance of the apology as well as a response to all the physical exertion.
They rolled the cart along the sidewalk, making their way to one of the shuttle stops that would take them to the Renaissance Faire. It was a little bit busier than usual, though there still weren’t many other people on the street, as they made their way through the suburban streets. Audrey guessed most of the other people were going to the Renaissance Faire also. Occasionally she saw a group in costume.
They walked for a while, before Audrey realized they hadn’t made much small talk. That didn’t mean that they were still angry from last night. They had known each other long enough that they were able to walk together in contented silence.
But something felt different.
It was quiet, but it wasn’t an angry quiet. Nor was it a moody quiet. It was something else. She tried to pick up on it and then she noticed his walk, and it was more self satisfied than she would have expected, and…
“What did you do?” Audrey said.
He was up to something. He was way too relaxed with a bit too much smug.
“What? I didn’t do anything.”
“What did you do?” Audrey said again, in the same even tone.
“Fine, fine. I fixed the projector.”
“No, you did something else. What did you do, Josh? Don’t lie to me.”
“I came up with something big for our show.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Audrey took a deep breath. “I’m performing on stage with you. I’m not the person you should be surprising.”
“Ok, that’s fair. But it’s too difficult to explain right now. I’ll show you when we get to sound check.”
Audrey wanted to smash his face in with his own guitar. She resisted the urge. It wasn’t the way she wanted their last show to go.
It would have felt really good though.
Finally they arrived at the Renaissance Faire. They proceeded to the open air tent, where sound check was being held.
“So what did you do?” Audrey asked.
Josh led her to one of the far corners of the tent, away from where the other bands were warming up. He unpacked the holographic projector and set it up to play. It projected a shot of green meadow, the selection they had chosen for spring.
“You fixed it.”
“I did more than that. Look again.”
Audrey studied the image being projected. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. The projector panned from flat grass to a field of lilies. The image was translucent. She could see through it to some vendors on the far side of the Faire. She leaned in to examine the projection. That’s when she smelled it.
“Lilies?”
Josh grinned. “So you can smell them.”
“How did you do that?”
“I know a guy.”
“Are you for real? You know a guy-“ Audrey made an air quote with her hands “-that you talked to after midnight on a Friday, and he found some part, that not only fixed the projector, but also creates smells?”
“I know how it sounds. But that’s what I did. There’s a guy who lives up in that neighborhood where all the scientists live. He deals in odd technologies, stuff I’ve never seen before. I found him this morning and he set that up for me. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but you have to admit, it’s pretty cool.”
Audrey didn’t have a chance to dwell on it, because the stage manager came by. “You’re up in ten,” he said.
Audrey and Josh moved their gear onto the stage. Audrey still felt the butterflies before every concert, even though the crowd was small and she’d been doing this for years. She ran her hands over the keyboard again to calm herself.
Josh counted off. “One, two, three, four…”
She played the first chords of Spring, and settled in to the familiarity. By a few notes in she was playing on autopilot, muscle memory from months of practice taking over. The scent of lilies was faint, and wasn’t enough to crowd out the aroma of lamb cooking from one of the food grills nearby. She scanned the audience. No one noticed the added effects.
Oh well, she thought.
The first song completed, they moved on to the next one, the Song of Summer. The projector played a scene of a luminous sunset with a volcano in the background, the entire image bathed in red. The day was warm, and Audrey felt herself starting to sweat, much more than she had expected. She thought maybe it was some kind of psychological trick, that the image of the volcano was causing her to imagine that it was warmer than it really was. Then she looked up and almost forgot her notes.
The banner above them had caught on fire.
The fire was small but was spreading its way across the stage. Some people in the front row pointed at it and applauded.
They think it’s part of the show, Audrey realized. More people were gathering in the audience now to see what the commotion was about. Keep playing. Don’t cause a panic.
Audrey looked over to Josh and was glad he had come up with the same idea. He looked up at the banner and gave a small shrug.
This time, I really am going to smash his face in with that guitar.
The fire was spreading above them, but it wasn’t spreading beyond the stage. It looked like it would just burn out the banner, and that would be that. Crisis averted for the moment, Audrey went back to focusing on her music. As the Song of Summer neared its end, Audrey mentally prepared for the Song of Autumn. There would be a videoscape of fall foliage, and… she didn’t know how all the dry leaves in it would interact with the fire, but it probably wasn’t good. She looked over to where Josh was playing the solo at the end of Summer. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, as usual.
If the dry leaves in that scene did what she expected, there would be a panic for sure.
She looked around for something, anything, like a fire extinguisher, but she couldn’t find anything to contain the blaze – and even if she had, it was probably too late to use it. It seemed like everyone at the Renaissance Faire had come by to watch their concert, and it was just a sea of faces in front of them.
Her last concert was about to end in disaster.
Then she stumbled on an idea. An idea that would also give everyone there a show to remember. If the idea worked.
She only had to figure out how to get Josh to cooperate.
Before the Song of Summer was done, she started playing a new set of chords. The music clashed at first, but then Josh, realizing that something was wrong, started following along with her. He looked over at her in confusion.
Winter, she mouthed to him, her mind screaming.
He didn’t seem to understand.
Come on. Figure it out. Come on. She made a subtle movement with one of her hands while the other one continued to play. She gestured towards the projector, using the keyboard to hide the motion from the crowd.
Josh’s playing grew more confident. Audrey breathed a sigh of relief.
He started the last song in their set, and as he did so he danced his way to the projector, making it look like it was part of the show. He gently nudged it, so gracefully that it seemed intentional, and the snow white mountains of the Song of Winter appeared on the stage.
As they played, ice crystals started to form around them. Audrey didn’t really understand exactly how this new projector worked, but her gamble had paid off. The chill wrapped around her, a welcome contrast to the previous heat. The ice smothered the fire. The crystals floated around them and melted into a gentle mist that drifted through the audience as Audrey and Josh finished their set.
It was a standing ovation. And Audrey thought, maybe, just maybe, they were rock stars after all.
Even when the stage manager rushed up to them, it couldn’t dampen her spirits.
“What the hell were you two thinking?” the stage manager screamed.
Audrey only laughed, high on the performance, causing the stage manager to become further enraged. But before he could berate them again, they were rescued by someone else who came on the stage. This time, Audrey was stunned into silence.
The man needed no introduction, but he gave them one anyway. “I’m Adam, the head of the laboratory at Selunia Falls,” he said, with a firm handshake. “Did you two enhance this projector yourselves?”
“Yes, that’s right. We did,” Josh said. He puffed out his chest.
“That’s pretty impressive. Have you ever thought about coming and working for the lab?”
Josh didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to be a musician.”
Adam handed him a business card. “Well, if you ever change your mind.”
He turned to Audrey. “What about you? Interested in working for the lab?”
All those late nights studying, all those exams. And now this job had practically fallen into her lap.
Her response surprised even her.
“You know what? I think I’m going to see what’s out there.”