<strong>Outside the Coffee Shop</strong>---Scales Removed<br/><br/>Katey let John talk.  She nodded in agreement.  She was done with the old way.  She always thought of the wise words of Steven Tyler when she heard people talk about drugs, now.  "We played like shit, people stopped coming to our shows...we stopped doing drugs, we were able to perform, people came to the shows...go figure..." or something along those lines.  Cause and effect.  She'd lived and died, for three and a half minutes, that story.  But, there were others...others who were not so fortunate.<br/><br/>Outside, as they walked back, John taking the one tray after giving her his unshielded gaze, Katey stopped him and set her tray on the ground.  She took the tray from John's hands and set it on top of hers.<strong>"John, I get it.  And, this---" </strong>she gestured back and forth between them,<strong>"---this is pretty fucking awesome.  I don't want a free ride, I don't want to sing again.  I want real, you know?"</strong>She grasped the sleeve of his jacket and waited until those damned glasses were looking down at her.<strong>"I heard...About your loss.. And, I'm so sorry.  I couldn't use the phone or I'd have called you."</strong><br/><br/>Katey looked at her hand on his jacket and heaved a big breath because what she was going to do could make or break their deal and their friendship.  She leaned in and hugged him, not a grabby-tight hug, but a real hug with nothing attached except friendship, if he wanted.