CHAPTER SEVEN
By the time I made it to rehearsal that afternoon, I realized that I wasn’t going to stop thinking about Olivia any time soon. If she wanted to guarantee that I couldn’t just treat it like a one-night stand, she definitely picked the right strategy, I thought as I started plugging in and checking the levels on everything.
“You’re quiet, Nicky,” Alex said, exhaling a gust of cigarette smoke from the couch.
“He went with a girl who had already decided not to have sex with him,” Dan pointed out. “I think our Nicholas is coming down with something.”
“Yeah but he stayed the night, and from what he told me…” Mark smirked from the drum kit, where he was adjusting one of the hi-hats.
“Maybe Nick’s actually falling for someone,” Jules suggested, strumming a quick check of his guitar’s tune.
“I’m just tired, guys,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She had me up all night.”
“I didn’t think she was the type,” Mark said. “Seems like a one-and-done kind of girl.”
“Nah,” I said, grinning to myself. “I’m not even sure there’s an end to her. Once you get her started, I mean.”
“Nicky is falling for her,” Alex said, sitting up and staring at me. “You’re totally into her.”
“She’s fun,” I told him, shrugging again. “She’s smart. And fuck, man…” I shook my head, remembering the way that Olivia had felt, wrapped around me, the way she’d sounded, moaning out, the way her breath caught and she trembled when she got close to climax. “If she hadn’t skipped out before I woke up, I might not even be here. I’d be too busy making her scream my name.”
“She skipped out on you?” Dan made a face, his eyes wide with amazement. “No wonder she’s got him on the hook.”
“Yeah, yeah. She’s an enigma or whatever. Are we going to rehearse or not?” Alex jumped to his feet and strode towards the mic stand, and for a little while the subject of Olivia and my feelings about her was forgotten. We played through the new album from start to finish, stopping to change something that had worked in the studio but didn’t really come across “live,” or to change a solo here or there, or to jam out a bit. We took a break before we had to get into the older songs, to try and decide which ones we were going to keep on the set list.
I stepped outside the rehearsal space and got my phone out of my pocket, along with my cigarettes and lighter. I figured that hopefully by then, Olivia had managed to make it back to her place; it would be a decent time to text her. Hey—that was some disappearing act this morning. Everything okay? I felt like a fucking idiot when I sent it; something in the back of my head told me that the reason Olivia had left before I woke up was that she’d regretted going to bed with me in the first place. But why would that even be an issue? She’d had a good time—I was sure of it.
A few seconds later, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I flicked ash off the end of my cigarette and slipped my phone out to see if it was Olivia. It was. I had to go into the office. Editor wanted the interview ASAP, so I thought it’d be best to work from there. I rolled my eyes; it was a good excuse, but it felt like just that—an excuse.
I’d like to see you again. I mean…if you had a shitty time then I get it, I won’t bug you. But if you had a good time… God, I sounded like I was in high school again. I couldn’t think of a better way to say what I wanted to say; I sent it even though it sounded like some pathetic dude who never got laid.
I went back into the rehearsal space and threw myself into work, pushing Olivia to the back of my mind. My phone buzzed in my pocket at one point but I made myself ignore it; I wasn’t going to be like those chicks that stared at their phones waiting for an answer, fingers itchy to send another message. I’d just get around to it when there was another break. We started discussing which of the songs we wanted to be on the core set list—the songs we played every show—and which we’d keep on the secondary list to have something to change things up. The tour was going to be pretty long; it would drive us all crazy to play all the exact same songs every single night of it.
“Crack some beers,” Jules said when we’d all decided we’d had enough for the afternoon. We might do a little more practice in the evening, but Alex wanted to spend some time with Mary since he knew we’d be leaving on tour in a couple of weeks.
I threw myself onto the couch and opened my pack of cigarettes; I’d need to stop by the Circle K on the way home and get another—I was down to four. Mark handed me a beer on his way to the enormous beanbag chair on the other side of the couch, and I raised it in the air as I lit my cigarette and took the first drag of the smoke. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and finally—finally—checked my messages.
It’s not that I had a bad time or anything. I just…you have a reputation, Nick. You have to admit that about yourself. I like you and the sex was amazing but I’m not sure how much I want to trust you. I frowned at my screen and took a quick sip of my beer. For the first time in my life, the fact that I slept with women freely was truly biting me in the ass. Olivia wasn’t trying to get me to ‘change my ways’ or convince me that she was woman enough to keep me from wanting anyone else; she was actually pushing me away.
“Hey,” I said, holding my hand up to stop Alex before he left. “Didn’t Record Spin say they wanted to arrange a tour journal with us?” It had been something that Ron had brought up before Olivia had even interviewed us.
“Yeah,” Alex said, nodding. He looked at me for a moment and then started grinning. “Oh man. You want to bring that girl on tour.”
“Nicky got bit, man,” Jules said from the beat-up wingback chair he’d thrown himself into. “He’s chasing that tail.”
“You guys liked working with her yesterday,” I pointed out. “She’s the best interviewer we’ve worked with the entire time we’ve been doing this shit. Why not Olivia?”
“Think about what you’re doing, man,” Dan said, looking up from his sketchbook. “If you really want to win her over, you’re going to have to be clean-nosed on tour. No flirting with anyone else, even.”
“I just think it’d be a good idea,” I said, shrugging. “If she doesn’t want to do it then they can send someone else out with us. But she’s the best option.”
“I’ll have Ron make the call,” Alex said, looking at me for a long moment. “If she’s up to do it, then yeah, she’s the best one we’ve dealt with so far. I wouldn’t mind having her around.”
“You have to let her work, though,” Mark said, giving me a little grin. “If you get her all distracted or keep her in your bunk all the time, all she’s going to get in some pictures that aren’t fit to print and an article about fucking guitarists.”
“I’m not going to interfere,” I insisted. “But it does give me a chance to flirt with her a bit and get to know her.” I grinned. “She thinks I’m just going to move on to the next bimbo that crosses my path.”
“Well that is what you would normally do,” Dan said, raising an eyebrow.
“Nah. This time I’m going to see what a steady lay is like. Get some routine in my life.” Mark snorted.
“She’s going to ditch the tour in a month—fifty dollars on that. Who’s in?” I rolled my eyes as the rest of the guys gave their estimates: Jules said Olivia would last two weeks, Dan said she’d last the whole tour but never speak to me again, and Alex put in for me to go the distance—six months, with the ‘relationship’ ending two months after the tour did. I refused to bet on it at all; I still didn’t know exactly how long-term I wanted things to be. I just wanted a chance to see where it went, and having Olivia on the bus would be a good way to do that.