Free The Story of Lansing Lotte by L.B. Dunbar Page A

wrath. I was all kinds of confused after my day with Layne.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t know. Why didn’t I know?” Perk looked around the room.
    “You’ve been busy,” Tristan snorted.
    “Not that busy,” Perk replied under his breath.
    “Can we get back to the business at hand? The concert?” Kaye used his authoritative tone for a moment. I wanted to interject and ask who died and left him in charge, but I knew that answer. Arturo had, when he left us to wonder what happened to him.
    “I suggest we cancel. Full refund. In the meantime, it gives us time to figure out what to do about the album.  Do you want to replace Arturo?”
    “What the fu…?” Perk began, but Kaye silenced him with his hand.
    “Replace him, or finish the album with only the three of you. Or scratch the album.”
    “No,” Tristan’s tone was firm.
    “Well, these are all things to think about. Concert is a done deal, though.”
    We were all silent for a moment. The room had that funeral feeling again. If it wasn’t that someone had died, it was that some thing had. Possibly the band. Possibly our spirit. We remained silent as Kaye said he was using Arturo’s office to make a few calls. Even though it was evening, he could still reach the West Coast. Guinevere followed him down the hall and the rest of us remained in the living room. Perk looked at his phone again, and I threw myself onto the large couch like a petulant child.
    “What the fuck is your deal?” Tristan began.
    “I…I don’t know,” I said scrubbing my hands down my face.
    “When was the last time you got laid?” he asked.
    “Fuck off.”
    “No, dude, that’s what you need. To fuck. Off.” Tristan laughed again, and Perk looked up.
    “What about you?” Tristan eyed our big friend.
    “What about me?”
    “Did you do her, yet?”
    I’d never seen Perk move so fast, but he was up in Tristan’s face instantly.
    “Don’t you ever talk about her like that.”
    “Whoa. You got it bad. We got another Arturo here. Have you fallen in love?”
    The thing with Perkins was he wasn’t falling. He’d been in love with the same girl for years. A girl he had obsessed over, but couldn’t prove existed. However, I think I knew who she was, but that was another story.
    The guys eventually left. When I said I was going to stay, Tristan gave me a long hard look before he said, “Oh no, not you, too?”
    I didn’t respond and he didn’t push. He had a girl to find, he claimed. He never had the same girl twice, so it wouldn’t be the nurse from the other night. Every night was a new flavor to him. Perk, on the other hand, continued to seem distracted and left without much further conversation.
    “You don’t have to stay,” Kaye assured me. “She’s much stronger than we give her credit for. Arturo knew that about her.”
    I didn’t respond to him, either. I didn’t want to discuss Arturo and Guinevere’s relationship. I didn’t want to discuss Guinevere, period. I knew I should go home to my own place. I didn’t know why I kept showing up to torture myself. My thoughts drifted to Layne. She was sweet, a bit of a contradiction, but I was willing to find the balance in her. I was thinking those thoughts when Guinie entered the living room.
    “I was just leaving,” I said to her placing my elbows on my knees for a moment.
    “Where were you today?” she addressed me from the corner, like she had earlier.
    I was surprised she asked and I looked in her direction.
    “I had a date.”
    She smiled weakly and her eyebrows rose.
    “You did?” her voice actually sounded excited.
    “I did.”
    “Anyone I know,” she teased lightly, the smile creeping larger on her face.
    “Just an old friend.” I didn’t feel ready to share with Guinevere who that friend was. If Layne had already told Guinevere, Guinie would have to admit it to me first.
    She approached me slowly and stood at the back of the couch.
    “That’s exciting.”
    I didn’t know how to respond, so