"So, how old are you, anyways?" Adam asked as he set up everything needed to teach Andy Traditional.
"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen at the end of band camp though. And you?"
"Me? I'm nineteen. Just out of high school in the next town over."
"Nice. And I'm assuming you have a girlfriend?"
"Nah, I'm a single guy. No girls ever look at me." Andy scoffed and started playing again.
"Oh, suuuure. Maybe that's because you're too busy checking them out to notice they're ogling you."
"And what do you mean by that?" Adam looked up from her hands in mock anger. Andy was in Adam's apartment sitting at a table made out of a rubbery material that bounced perfectly. She was actually catching onto traditional rather quickly, but wasn't really getting too far due to their habit of stopping to talk.
"Oh, I just mean that you need to pull your eyes up to a girl's face every now and then, jerk face," She grabbed his chin and forced Adam's gaze higher, which had been drifting downwards again.
"Sorry," he muttered, not sorry in the least. Especially since the object of his gawking was now attached to his chin by her feminine, if calloused, hand. "Your thumb is in the wrong place again."
"Well, fix it then. You know I have no clue what I'm doing" Adam came over to her side of the table and reached around her shoulders, pressing his chest against her back. A very firm, muscular chest if Andy did say so herself. Gently, Adam fixed her thumb position and then pulled a roll of Scotch tape out of his back pocket.
"We're going to tape your fingers together in the right position every night for the rest of this week"
"Bleagh!" Andy cried, staring at him in horror.
"Hush now or I'll tape everything else to this chair"
"Goddamn system." Andy muttered as she sportingly let her fingers be taped. "Now, oh Great Adam-sensei, teach me more." She focused back on the table and started practicing with a renewed vigor that made Adam reel, especially since "watching her hands" was a viable excuse to stare at her chest.
llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll
The next day at Line, they got their cadences.
"OH MY GOD! We've resurrected Blackout!" Yelled Andy, who had heard this cadence performed her eighth grade year. She put the packet down on the floor and did the god-worshipping bow, which made her shirt fall down dangerously low. "Oops…." She stood up and pulled the front of her shirt back up before addressing the line. "Soooo….snare hopefuls come with me and Adam, since you'll have to audition traditional. Bass hopefuls stay here with Mr. B. And Tenor hopefuls…are there any? Two of you? Okay, you go with Tony. Yeah, he's the guy with the glasses over in the corner. YO! TONY BABY! GET THOSE HEADPHONES OFF AND MAKE THESE KIDS GOOD AT TENORS, YOU MORON!" She shook herself a bit, and then grinned. "He may be in college now, but he'll always be my moronic drum captain from Frosh year….so, come on, we've got nice drum pads for ya'll"
In the back hallway, there were three tables set up with drum pads lining the top, and Andy and Adam started teaching the newbies the cadence, measure by measure.
"One!-and-a-two!-and-a-three-e!-a-four!-e-and-a" Ah, the chorus of drummers…Andy surveyed the prospects, noticing a boy with huge, dark brown eyes who seemed to be picking it up well. That was promising. She walked up to him and asked, "Hey kid, what's your name?" He gawked up at her for a second before saying "I'm Shashvat. Everyone calls me Sushi though."
"Kay, then, Sushi, try out for snare. I want you." She grinned, and then realized what she had said. "OH SHIT! No, not like that! Everyone knows I'm going to be a nun! Right, Adam?"
"Sure, sexy. Whatever you say," Adam replied, chuckling a little.
"Aren't you supposed to be my teacher? You know, aloof and priggish?" Andy asked.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Andy shot him a mini Look and turned back to Sushi.
"Anyways Sushi, you'll make it, trust me. Freshmen do have a chance to be on drums their first year if they're good enough, the rest of you too. Try out even of you think you suck, because my little buddy Becky-chan over there beat a junior out of her spot at auditions her freshman year, and she thought she sucked and no one on the entire line could convince her otherwise. Poor Kirstie… although, I don't know WHY I'm saying poor Kirstie, because she made tenor that year instead. So anyways – onto the next measure. One-and-a-two-e-a-e-a-four-and-a one. Got it? Alright. You guys go now, practice, and don't forget that five stroke on the 'and-a' in the last part."
About half an hour later, they were called back into the band room for announcements. Mr. B hushed them all, and then climbed up on the podium.
"It's been a great first day of Line, and you can the drums home, but first you need to sign them out with Andrea. Adam, you help her." Sushi took out a snare, as did four other freshmen, and Becky did also. Then Andy went off into the practice room with Adam to begin her second Traditional lesson.
"You'd better keep your eyes where they're supposed to be tonight, Adam"
"You have my word" Adam said, bowing extravagantly.
"Mhmm… suuuure…" Andy walked into the practice room, and Adam followed, only staring at her ass a little.