Page 7 of Banging the Drummer

I pull it out of my worn leather bag, open it to the right spot and hand it to him.

“I think this will be easier.” I point to the screen to Luna’s response.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: I don’t know whom I’m talking to OR if it’s the same team member each time.

Crue reads aloud. “She has a point.”

Official_Mason_Ball: What team?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Mason’s Publicity OR social media team.

Official_Mason_Ball: I have no team. Its just me.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Me? Who is me?

Official_Mason_Ball: Mason.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: So, I’m just on here conversing with my teenage crush? OH, OK.

Official_Mason_Ball: I wasn’t usually a favorite among the fans. Sitting behind drums is less appealing to teenage girls than being in the front and dancing. I'm a shite dancer.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: same.

Official_Mason_Ball: You in a band too?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Hardly. No. Just a shite dancer. I lead a much more glamorous life of being a middle school social studies teacher.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: That’s roughly eleven to fourteen.

Official_Mason_Ball: Rough age.

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Perfect age. TOO big and ‘mature’ to need cuddles like elementary kids, but not so arrogant as a teenager to think they know everything.

Official_Mason_Ball: That actually makes a lot of sense. What's your name?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Luna.

Official_Mason_Ball: Right, of the Luna_and_Mason. So I was your crush, huh?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: From the very beginning. I’ve been on this forum since I was fifteen. Teenage me believed in my deepest heart that I would marry you when I grew up.

Official_Mason_Ball: Did this include posters on your bedroom walls?

Luna_and_Mason_4Ever: Of course. And inside my locker at school. Kids today don't even know what lockers are. They just schlep all their supplies from classroom to classroom, ruining their backs to ensure chiropractic care continues to be useful. Clearly a conspiracy.

Crue glances over at me. “She’s funny.”

I find myself smiling and nodding. Like I’m proud of her when I have nothing to do with her sense of humor. But yes, my girl is funny.

“We’ve been chatting ever since. We stayed on the forum for a while, but eventually graduated to email. I’m trying to convince her to give me her cell number so I can call her.”

Crue nods, and hands me back my laptop. “I’m happy for you, man. Truly.”

“I invited her to the Houston show since she lives in Texas. But she said she couldn’t make that one but already had tickets to the Austin show. I’m going to ask Shelby about upgrading Luna’s tickets, make sure she has backstage access.”

I’m quiet for a minute before I admit. “I know it could turn into absolutely nothing, but the idea that I could have a normal life with a normal girl is just so damned appealing.”

“I hear that.”