Exile by Kevin Emerson Read Free Book Online Page A

right.”
    I check my phone. “Palauan.”
    “We’ll learn Palauan.”
    “Yes.”
    We walk, drifting along. He takes my hand. “That was definitely not in my plan,” says Caleb as we go. “I mean, I thought about it.”
    “You thought about what?”
    “Well, I mean I’m a guy . . .”
    “Right.” I don’t bother telling him that girls have those thoughts, too. We’re just better at poker.
    The end of our walk is as silent as the start, and yet, this silence is a whole other world, nearly bursting with possibility. I expect the school to be empty. But when I look at my watch I see that barely forty-five minutes have passed. Last period will be starting soon.
    We stop in the same hall outside PopArts, the circle complete. The last moment before returning to the real timeline, and I’m almost sad. “So,” I say.
    “So,” he replies.
    This makes me want to kiss him again, but the halls feel like they have eyes. “So . . . that.”
    “That.”
    Before we can say any more, the bell rings, and the hall begins to fill.
    Caleb takes a step back. He motions like he’s going to head to class. So I take a step back, too. We both smile. We both turn away. But he is the only thing on my mind for the rest of the afternoon.
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    VINYL CUFFLINKS
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    Where We Are Music Infinite
    —posted by ghostofEliWhite on September 17
    More from the anniversary of Into the Ever & After . Here’s something interesting: I was reading through the interview archives in On The Tip of Your Tongue , the anthology of interviews, letters, and journal entries from the band, and I noticed a quote, the significance of which I’d totally missed before. When asked by KNBC’s Hollywood beat reporter Sherrie Pine how the new record was coming along, Eli said:
    “Slow slow slow, but the end is in sight. I think we’ve got seven tunes tracked. Kellen’s are all done, as usual. I’ve gotten a few of mine down, but it’s these last fewthat I’m most excited about. I think they’re my best work, and I can’t wait to lay them down.”
    You do the math, friends. If they’d recorded seven, then doesn’t that mean that Eli is talking about the LOST SONGS? Is it possible that he had those songs sketched out, at least in his mind?
    It just makes his passing all that much worse, knowing that his best work went with him into the ever & after.
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    MoonflowerAM @catherinefornevr 1h
Now hear this: Introducing Dangerheart! Mount Hope’s astonishing new band feat Caleb, Jon & Matt. Say you knew them 1st. #youllthankmelater
    It takes two weeks to get things rolling. Two weeks to make flyers and BandSpace ads, to find a drummer (Matt, a freshman) and a guitarist (Jon, a junior transfer), neither of whom knows or cares about Caleb’s baggage. Two weeks to try out six bassists, all of whom are worse than me, and I’ve never played bass.
    All the school rehearsal spaces are taken, so Caleb, Jon, and Matt pool money, with help from Caleb’s uncle Randy, to get a tiny spot over at the Hive, a warehouse that’s been converted to practice spaces.
    Caleb comes up with a list of names, and on a Sunday we meet for coffee and commence the Sad Googling, whichreveals that after sixty years of rock bands, ALL OF THE GOOD NAMES HAVE BEEN TAKEN. The only two names left from Caleb’s list of twenty are the Lonely Clones and Dangerheart. Nobody really likes either, but they dislike the Lonely Clones more. Dangerheart it is.
    We also do a search for my list of new management names. That’s a little easier, and I am officially reborn, from Orchid Productions to Moonflower Artist Management.
    During the coffee-and-naming session, Caleb and I sit close, hips and shoulders touching as we lean over his tablet. There was no kissing for the first week after our date at the center of the solar system, and it was just starting to feel