"Will there be questions?"
"Of course, but I don't care. My phone is muted and I don't care to look at it. As it is, anyway, there's a ton of questions waiting for me that I didn't answer yet." I put my phone in my back pocket, not even glancing at it.
"And let me guess, that doesn't happen?"
"Never. Due to work, I have it on all the time; I always have people trying to get a hold of me, staff, artists, other companies I work with. No, my phone is never off, or muted, not even when I'm asleep."
"Same here. So how did you get into the promoting scene? Did you wake up one day and said that sounded good?" I laughed and shook my head as I took a drink of my water, glancing out over the ocean before turning to look at him again.
"Nothing so glamorous. I was helping my cousin, he was a drummer in a band, very underground; in fact, they sucked! But I had an ability to hype them up and make them sound good that people would support them. So, they got a pretty big fan base in the local scene.
"I had a few low key friends to some small labels and I sent their demos out; well the response was funny. I got a lot of 'because of your ability to talk them up, we listened and regretfully have to say they are horrible, but you have amazing marketing skills'.
"I was 19 when that happened, changed my major, joined my first PR firm at 22 and got my business degree at 28, and had my own firm at 30. I've been in this business for almost 20 years. Shocking huh?" I asked with a shrug, taking another sip of water.
"I don't know about shocking but impressive for sure. Well done." I smiled and ducked my head but nodded my thanks.
"Thank you. I had a love and a talent for it, so why not make a passion into a job, right?"
"Can never go wrong with that. So, do you have a corporate office?" I played with the bottle of water as I glanced at him before answering.
"I do; it's in LA actually, where home is for me too. I have a mini office in New York though. What about you? I'm assuming that you have some type of production company?" This time, it was his turn to take a drink as he nodded once.
"I do, and it's actually in LA as well." I looked into those brown eyes, sort of in shock. Not that it was out of disbelief at being in the same city, for LA was huge! But add in the fact that we were both in the scene made things a lot more odd at never running into each other. Not that it wasn't impossible, I mean we were two different sides to a huge music scene, but still. I dealt with production companies too. Not many, but a few.
"Really?"
"Yeah. My main company is in LA; I have a studio there that has four recording rooms."
"Main company huh?" I asked with a raised brow. He shrugged but smiled, offering nothing else to that. "I gather you get quite a bit of business?"
"I hold my own."
"Got any awards?"
"Yeah, I may have a couple up around my house." I just lifted a brow; something telling me there was more than just a couple.
"Uh huh, sure, not going to tell me the truth I see. So how did you get your own company?"
"Well, I worked with the company that was with my sister for a bit. And kind of like you, I worked there while going to school. I changed my major; got a major in music production with a minor in business.
"Not that I didn't love the company I was with, but I wanted to offer different things, work on different things, or make different sounds and mixes, and that company wasn't having it. So, I had left and started my own company; HowieDoIt Productions. I have a few bigger names that have come my way."
"That is really cool." I tilted my head, knowing that I had heard that name through the grapevine. I snorted at that, a FEW bigger names my ass. He had some huge ones, and if I recall from some interviews, some of his artists were never going to leave him, unless he was working with someone else. He gave me a side glance but I just smiled at him.
"What's the name of your business?"
"ResaD Promotions, the mistress of mayhem, at your service." He laughed at that. But his eyes gave me a different look. 'Ah, so I wasn't the only one to know of the grapevine; he knew that name too,' I thought, reading that look too well.
"Now that is awesome! And you probably do have mayhem."
"You can say that. I thought it was a great way to encompass everything and say that I offer a lot."
"Smart, very smart." We both stopped talking as the food came and for a few moments, we ate in a very comfortable silence.
Odd, the handful of times I had dinner with my ex, or any meal really, any silence we had while eating wasn't overly uncomfortable, but it never felt like this. This, this I could handle. I paused, my bite half way to my lips and I glanced at Howie out of the corner of my eye.
What….why…how did that thought pop up? No, can't be thinking like that. That wasn't good…right? I mean, no, no it wasn't good. Mentally, I slapped myself. No romantic thoughts, no romantic thoughts, I kept repeating. But, no matter how many times I had it on repeat; I couldn't stop the smile in my head.