“The personal side? Uh oh. Where’s this going?” He smiled, clearly not concerned.
I decided to run with a line of questioning I knew better. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No, not right now. But I am in the market.”
“Did you hear that, ladies? Maddox Trance is available and looking for the right girl.” I glanced at Jade to make sure she was okay with what I was doing. She seemed relieved, so I continued. “So Maddox, what would this perfect girl be like?”
“Hmm, tough question. I mean what is perfect anyway?”
“And he’s philosophical too.” Wow, I was teasing the guy. What was going on with me?
“If you want philosophical, talk to your boyfriend. I can’t imagine what his pillow talk is like.”
“For those of you who don’t know, Cara’s boyfriend is Chase Denton of Chance of a Lifetime.” Jade was back.
I crossed my legs, trying to get more comfortable. The Chase pillow talk comment had thrown me off. “We’re not talking about Chase right now, Maddox. We’re talking about you. Surely there are certain traits you look for in a partner.”
“She has to be nice. I don’t want a girl who’s going to make fun of anyone else. She also has to be super low-maintenance. Make-up and stuff is a major turn-off.”
“You like the natural look, huh?”
“Exactly.” He adjusted the bill of his Clemson baseball cap. The grin hadn’t left his face since I started my line of questioning.
“Anything else?”
I noticed some annoying red light flashing but ignored it.
He shifted on his stool. “Ideally, she’d like my music.”
“That’s a bonus, although I had no clue Chase was even a musician when we got together.” Clearly, I was getting too comfortable if I was willingly sharing personal information.
“Really?” Maddox sat forward. “He never mentioned that detail.”
“We’ll save that story for when he’s on the air. So blonde or brunette, what’s your preference?”
“Brunette usually.”
Two more lights started flashing, so I looked to Jade for help. She grinned. “Looks like we’ve got some calls, people. That’s a first for this show.” She clicked on one of the buttons. “Hi, you’re on the air.”
“Hi, Maddox. My name’s Virginia.”
“Hi, Virginia.” He smiled.
“I’m a big fan of your Reds album, and well, you’re adorable, so I’d love to go out sometime.”
“Wait, are you asking me out?” Maddox rested his feet on his stool.
“Yes.” The caller giggled.
I glanced at my watch. It wasn’t even five fifteen. Impressive.
“All right, Virginia. I’ll get your info in case Maddox wants to take you up on that.” Jade clicked off on that one and got another. “You’re on the air with Maddox Trance.”
“Hey, Maddox.” It was another girl. “I have a boyfriend, so I’m not offering myself up, but my roommate is a cute brunette who I think you’d like.”
The calls continued, and Maddox and I kept our banter going. It was light, easy, and fun. Jade got into it, and we even managed to squeeze in some music talk. Before we knew it, Maddox was performing.
I turned on my stool so I could watch him. I’d never been a big fan of electronic music, but Maddox had a cool sound. He also sang on top of a heavy bass line and eclectic beats which made it work for me. I just don’t like music without words. I need lyrics to help me connect.
When Maddox finished, I let Jade do the closing. I figured I’d done my part. Hopefully Jade was okay with the direction I’d taken things. She seemed excited by the listener response we got. She put on some music to close out the hour before the next hosts started.
“That was fun, ladies.” Maddox packed up his gear. “I’ll have to tune in to see who else you have on.”
“Thanks so much for coming. I know it was really early.” Jade stood from her stool.
“It was well worth it, but I’m going to go collapse.”
“Nice seeing you again.” I smiled.
“Same to you. Chase picked well with you.”
“Thanks.” I gathered up my coffee cup and purse.
Maddox waved again before disappearing through the door.
“You’re the best.” Jade surprised me with a hug.
“Oh, it was just some quick thinking.”
“It was awesome. I can’t believe you thought of that on the spot.” Kyle joined us. He’d sat in the back of the booth mostly.
“I don’t know enough about music to ask relevant questions, so I just changed to a topic I like better.”
Kyle laughed. “I’ve got an interesting idea, but you can both feel free to veto it.”
“Let us hear it.” I shifted my bag to the more comfortable shoulder.
Kyle stretched his arm to his back. “Want to use my time slot? We can all work together.”
We? Did that still include me? “Wait. Do you mean I’m doing this going forward?”
He smiled. “Yeah. And it’s an eight p.m. show so you can’t even complain about getting up early.”
“We got participation at this hour. Can you imagine our reach at night?” Jade was giddy.
“Oh yeah, we can call it Sleeping with the Band.” I laughed. “Just kidding.”
“That’s perfect!” Jade hugged me. “Sexy, innuendo, different. It’s going to work.”
I turned to Kyle. “Are you really okay turning your hour into a Sleeping with the Band segment?”
“It was my idea, and why not? It doesn’t have to be every week, and we play music all day. People want something different once in a while. They want something personal. What’s better than having sexy sorority girls questioning their favorite local musicians?”
“We can even take requests for guests,” Jade added excitedly.
I felt a surge of excitement of my own. “Chase is going to laugh so hard when he hears this idea.”
“Then call him.”
“It’s not even seven a.m.”
“So? I thought you told me he wakes you up to talk in the middle of the night all the time. This is exciting for you.” Jade leaned against the table.
“All right. I’ll give in to peer pressure.” I dialed him.
Chase’s sleepy voice answered. “Cara?”