Chapter Three
Elly
I stayed up late, swapping bad relationship stories with the girls that night. As stereotypical as it sounds, trashing men made me feel a lot better. Hearing that Tammy, and even sweet little Hannah, had the same kinds of problems that I did made me feel like less of a loser magnet. Maybe they were just all losers; who knew?
It was after one in the morning before I finally passed out for the night, so when my alarm went off at seven a.m. I was in a world of hurt. The first thing I did was look outside. The sun was shining brightly. Too brightly! I shut the blinds again right away and considered pulling the covers back over my head, but I didn’t. I looked over and saw that my bunkmate Lori was already up and out…or maybe she’d stayed out all night? She wasn’t there when I went to bed and I didn’t hear her come in. Anyways, she was a big girl and I didn’t care if she wanted to stay out all night. Maybe she met a guy who wasn’t a loser; I had my own problems to deal with. I pulled myself up out of the bunk and headed in to see if the shower was free. I could hear the other girls talking and smell the coffee brewing. By the time I got out of the shower, I felt almost human.
After I was dressed, we all went over to the cafeteria on the lot for breakfast. I didn’t see Tristan or Brooke there; I wondered if they were sleeping in after having marathon sex all night. I tried to tell myself that thinking like that wasn’t helping anyone. It actually made me sick to my stomach to think about it. I did my best to enjoy breakfast and then we headed out to the amphitheater to set up for the show that would be the replacement for the one we’d cancelled the night before. That day and the next were supposed to be days off for us, but the rain stole one. I really wanted to see a little bit of Colorado. I hoped that we didn’t get tomorrow taken away somehow, too.
As I was having that thought, I looked up and saw Jake. He was standing about six feet away and looking right at me. When I looked up, he smiled. I didn’t smile back; I just turned my head quickly and pretended that I didn’t see him. I could definitely see how he sucked the young girls in. He was so damned good-looking, like a GQ model. As I did my best to ignore him, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing to my career. I decided that it didn’t matter though; I wasn’t sleeping with the old pervert or anyone else in order to keep my job.
The morning passed in a rush of setting up the stage and checking sound. I thanked God that I didn’t draw getting the singers in order. I wasn’t ready yet to face either Tristan or Brooke. We went back to the bus around two to get ready for the night. It was quite an adventure to share one small bathroom with five other women. I spent half an hour on Facebook and twenty minutes on the phone with Susie before it was finally my turn.
“So how is it going with the new roommate?” I asked her.
“He’s a boy and he smells,” she complained. I laughed and said,
“Yes, but does he pay his part of the rent?”
“Yeah, he does that much at least,” she said.
“Better than Tristan,” I said, spitefully.
“Are you two still angry with each other over all that?”
I considered telling her what he’d done recently, but I felt like I’d talked it to death the night before. It could wait until I had more time to catch up with her. “I’m still angry with him, yes. He’s just a big, lying jerk.”
“Well, I hope you’re not letting it ruin your trip.”
“No, I’m having fun, except for having to wait on the bathroom. Even you didn’t take as long in there as these girls do.”
“At least you’re sharing your bathroom with girls. Why is it that a boy can’t hit the toilet right in the center every time?”
I loved Susie; she had me in an even better mood by the time I hung up. I called my Mom next and after she asked me if I was eating and sleeping okay, she said, “And how is Tristan? Is he thrilled to be the star attraction?”
“Yeah, there’s nothing Tristan loves more than that,” I told her.
“You sound like you’re upset with him. Did something happen?”
With a sigh I said, “I’m just not so sure it’s going to work out for us, Mom.”
“Oh honey, I’m sorry. You two are so cute together.”
“I have to go now, Mom. I love you. Kiss Daddy for me.”
I hung up after she sent her love back, wishing that I hadn’t called her at all. It wasn’t her fault, but I was thinking about him again and wishing we really had been cute together.
It was finally my turn in the bathroom. I dressed warm because in spite of the beautiful, sunny day, Colorado was still no California in the fall. Finally dressed and feeling better about myself in my new jeans and Roxy sweater, I pulled on my black leather boots and headed out with Tammy to get the ball rolling. The show was set to begin at five and would go until about eight. All the way over to the theatre, Tammy chatted, but I didn’t really hear what she was saying. I was trying to convince myself to stop thinking about Tristan. I hated to admit it, but I’d half expected him to call me and tell me that he really didn’t sleep with Brooke. When he didn’t call, I started trying to tell myself that maybe he really hadn’t slept with her and I’d accused him unjustly. I really was an idiot.
Just as I was about to check my headset before the show began, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at it, still hoping it would be Tristan with a totally believable explanation. It was a text and it wasn’t from Tristan.
Hey, I’m here at the show too!
I stared at the number for a while. It looked familiar to me but I couldn’t remember who it belonged to. Whoever it was knew I was at the show, unless it was just a random coincidence. I started to ignore it, but then I got another right after that.
Maybe we could hang out after the show? I’ve missed you. It’ll be fun to catch up.
Finally I had to answer.
Who is this?
The response came quickly.
Cole.
Shit! How did he know that I was there? I hadn’t talked to him in at least a year. The last time was right before I went to rehab. He was drinking heavily back then and I told him it wouldn’t be good for me to be around him. The truth really was that once you crossed that line between friendship and sex, there was no going back. He didn’t seem to care much back then. All of a sudden he misses me?
How did you know I was here?
Facebook!
I decided it was time to turn off location services. That’s another thing, if he missed me so much, why the hell hadn’t he ever messaged me on Facebook? I decided to politely decline.
I have to stay and clean up after. I don’t think I’ll have time.
Tomorrow?
Shit! I guessed it wouldn’t hurt to just hang out for a while, although it was probably going to be as uncomfortable as hell.
Yeah, we have a day off tomorrow so I have some things to do in the morning. Maybe we can get a cup of coffee or something.
He sent back a smiley face.
I’ll text you tomorrow. Can’t wait.
Shit! Cole and I were good for one thing…helping each other deal with the tragic loss of a man we both cared about. No, that wasn’t really true. We had been good friends once, a long time ago. After my boyfriend, who was also a good friend of his, died, all we did was help each other get high and drunk and then we had wild sex so we didn’t have to think about it. I guessed a cup of coffee wasn’t going to kill anyone. We’d be back on the road right afterwards and Cole and I could go our separate ways for another year…or more. I put him out of my head for that night and concentrated on my work. If anything did come up later down the line with Jake, I wanted to have the fact that I did a great job to fall back on.
I watched as each of the singers did their thing. Brooke was fifth on stage and she seemed a little off that night. She looked gorgeous, as usual. I should have given her a black eye at least. It would have been nice to see her up there with a ton of concealer, trying to cover it up. I shook off that nasty thought and moved onto my next when Tristan came out. As usual, he was amazing. It was country night and he did a song called Burnin’ it Down by Jason Aldean. I stood there trying not to let it get to me as he sang about lying naked in bed and making his woman feel like an angel as he sang to her. Argh! Stupid bastard was probably thinking about Brooke while singing it.
When the show was over, he must have went straight back to his bus. I went in to clean up the equipment in the green room and Brooke and Ethan were there, but no sign of Tristan. I got a glare from Brooke, but the fact that Ethan was there kept her mouth in check, I think. It kept my mouth in check too. I had plenty that I’d liked to have said to the skank, but not in front of mixed company. I kept to myself, and by the time I finished wrapping cords and unplugging systems, they were gone.
The girls and I worked until after ten cleaning up and packing up. When we finished, we all went out for something to eat. Afterwards, since we had a night off, most of them went out to a club. Hannah and I begged off and went back to the bus. We talked for a while, mostly about the show and everyone that had anything to do with it. Hannah was really well-informed about everyone. I guess it was because she was one of those people that felt safe to talk to. I told her about my plans the next day and that I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing Cole.
“Why not?” she asked.
I didn’t talk about my boyfriend that had overdosed to anyone other than family or Susie. I’d never even really told Tristan all about him. I finally just said, “We both lost a good friend and because of that, while we were grieving, we crossed that line friends aren’t supposed to cross. Things got weird and uncomfortable. I haven’t seen him since.” I didn’t tell her that we didn’t only have sex once; it was several times. It was also drug and alcohol fueled. Those were details that Hannah didn’t really need to know.
“You know, sometimes you can get that friendship back, and sometimes things and people are in the past because that is where they belong. You won’t know, though, until you see him again.”
“True,” I said. “And it’s only for tomorrow. I doubt he’ll be expecting much.”