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Dinah had gone to a few more open mic nights at the coffee shop since meeting Ollie, mostly in support of Tom and to watch her little cousin grow as a musician- but it had been… nice getting to sit with Ollie too, to see him again, and to hear a little about his son, the aspiring rockstar. He was growing on her, despite her usual disdain for the overly chivalrous types.
Nevertheless, she’s surprised when Tom begs her to come to the next open mic night despite his inability to perform.
“ Pleeeeeeeeease Dinah ,” he pouts up at her. “I really wanna go and Mom can’t take me, and Pops has to work, please .”
“Why do you wanna go so bad? You can’t even play right now after breaking your finger.”
“Yeah, but Ollie’s gonna play and his kid is coming and Ollie said they’re gonna play together and I wanna watch. Please please please please please please please plea-”
“Okay okay, I’ll take you, jeez you’re being awfully pushy about this.”
“Roy sounds so cool and Ollie says he’s really good and I wanna see what they play.” Tom grins. “Besides, you could meet your boyfriend’s son.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Dinah spits back. “I just sit with him when I go to watch you.”
“And he buys you coffee, and sometimes you go back to his apartment and-”
“Tommy, you’re my cousin and I love you, but I need you to stop.”
As it turns out, Tom does not stop- he talks her ear off incessantly about getting to see Ollie again and meeting Roy, and keeps asking Dinah if she knows what they’re going to play. The answer is no, she doesn’t even have Ollie’s phone number, and usually she finds out what he’s playing after he plays it and he has to tell her whose song he’s covering. The joys of disparate music tastes- protest songs have never been her thing, especially not the ones in the folk genre.
They’re walking into the coffee shop, Tom holding a bouquet of “not quite good enough for a bouquet” flowers in his hands to give to the men they’re there to see when anxiety grips her. What if Ollie’s son doesn’t like her? What if she doesn’t like him? What if- what if - what if-
But Ollie’s booming voice can be heard across the room, and it’s being answered by someone equally as loud and Tom tugs on her arm.
“That must be Roy.” He whispers. “He looks so cool .”
There’s a ginger man standing next to Ollie, electric guitar in hand and some sort of drum pedal by his feet. He’s taller than Ollie even if only by an inch or so, with the same broad shoulders and impressive arm muscles but he carries himself differently, somehow both more open and more reserved. Tom takes a liking to him immediately and rushes over.
“Hi!”
Ollie laughs and ruffles his hair. “Hey Tom. Tom, this is my son Roy, and Roy this is Tom- the kid I told you about.”
Tom’s eyes widen and he stares at the men like they hung the moon. “You talked about me?”
Ollie laughs. “Well yeah, you remind me of Roy when he was younger.”
“Woah. So I might grow up like you then.” Tom turns to Roy. “You’re so cool I bet you get girls.”
Roy laughs, loudly, and then winks. “And boys too.”
Ollie groans and Roy shakes his head. “Don’t-”
“I still think you should have tried harder to win over Wally instead of going for Dick-”
“Ollie-”
“Well I don’t like him.”
Dinah’s relieved to see that Ollie’s issue seems to be about specific guys even if Roy looks deeply annoyed by Ollie not liking “Dick.”
“ Anyway .” Roy sighs, fixing Dinah with a look. “You’re Dinah.”
It’s not… the friendliest greeting and her anxiety’s raised. “Yep, that’s me.”
Roy looks her over and then shrugs, turning back to Ollie. “It’s a shame Uncle Hal couldn’t come.”
Dinah fidgets. “I wasn’t aware you had a brother.”
“He doesn’t.” Roy says, rolling his shoulders. “Uncle Hal’s my other dad.”
Ollie looks startled for a moment, as though he hadn’t expected Roy to say that.
Tom, however, is unperturbed. “Woah! You have two dads? That’s so cool! I only have the one dad but he couldn’t come tonight cause he has to work.”
Roy laughs and squats down to Tom’s height with a grin. “I’ve actually had four dads, but since I was thirteen I’ve only had Ollie and Uncle Hal.”
“Woah, well it’s cool that one of your dads is here to see you play!”
Roy laughs again and winks. “Tell you the truth Tom, I’m only here because it meant that the old man here had to listen to Green Day to play with me.”
Ollie’s face is tinged a bit red, and Dinah’s sure it’s embarrassment. “And you had to listen to Phil Ochs.”
Roy stands up and shakes his head, clapping Ollie on the shoulder. “Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, I lived with you , I did my time with your Phil Ochs and Pete Seeger albums.”
“You like Phil Ochs!”
“I like his lyrics .” Roy says, shaking his head with a small smile tugging at his lips.
“You’re killing me kid.” Ollie says, clearly trying to sound exasperated but mostly sounding fond.
It’s the kind of relationship Dinah’s always wished for with her own mother. The obvious closeness, the good natured teasing, the clear love despite their stark differences- it’s bittersweet to watch.
“Going last again?” Dinah asks, in an effort to remind Ollie that she’s there.
“Hmmm? Oh no, Roy has to leave early for a date.”
“A work thing.”
“With a young lady you’re very interested in, that’s a date. So we’re going first, that way he won’t be late.”
Roy bends down to Tom’s level and hands him his phone with a wink. “Can you do me a huge favor and video this for me? I want proof that Ollie actually agreed to play rock music in front of people.”
Tom bounces a bit and beams. “Yeah! I can do that! Oh!! These are for you!”
Tom holds the flowers out and Ollie takes them with a smile. “Thanks kid, go get a good seat okay?”
Tom nods and then scurries off to find a seat waving to Dinah once he’s settled, she shakes her head with a laugh. “He really likes you.”
“He’s a good kid, it's not hard to be nice to him.” Ollie says, plucking a flower from the bouquet to present to Dinah with a flourish. “For you.”
Dinah can’t help but laugh. “Oh boy, a flower from my work, how thoughtful.”
“I didn’t know you worked at a flower shop.” Ollie says as she takes it.
“Oh my god.” Roy mutters, looking annoyed as he moves past, getting the chairs and drum set up for their performance.
“You don’t even believe in God.” Ollie calls after him, in a poor attempt at making Dinah feel better.
“Neither do you!” Roy calls back. Attempt at making Dinah feel like Roy doesn’t hate her status: failed.
“He uh… doesn’t like me very much.” She whispers.
“Don’t take it personally, he doesn’t like anyone I date.”
“He seems to like Hal just fine.”
“I’m not dating Hal.” Ollie answers with a shrug. “Kid’s got a lot going on, it’s probably not you.”
“Reassuring.” Dinah replies dryly. “I think you’re on, if the glare Roy’s leveled at me is any indication.”
Ollie nods and offers her a soft, almost sad smile as he heads up to the stage and she goes to sit with Tom, who is taking his role as Roy’s videographer very very seriously.
She recognizes Roy’s guitar riff instantly and sighs as he starts singing American Idiot - Green Day, of course. But then Ollie’s dulcet tones come in, warm and bright and contrasting nicely against Roy’s more brash sound as he starts singing…. Something she’s sure has to be satirical if the barely hidden laughs between him and Roy are anything to go by.
After the performance, Roy retrieves his phone from Tom and gives the kid a fist bump before making his way outside, Ollie follows with Dinah and Tom trailing behind.
The two men pull off to the side to have a short whispered conversation that ends with placing instrument cases on the ground so Ollie can scoop his son into a hug that lifts him off the ground. Ollie helps Roy load the drum into his car and then waves as he drives off.
“Walk us to our car?” Dinah asks, awkward.
“Course.” Ollie replies easily. “My part of the song is Love Me, I’m a Liberal by Phil Ochs by the way.”
“I didn’t even ask.”
“You always ask.” Ollie answers easily.
“And are you?” She asks.
“Am I what?”
“A liberal?”
Ollie’s face twists into something offended. “I’m a leftist- didn’t you listen to the song?”