Confessions of the Band P.A.: Saved (The Strypes)

TFIOS

A hot sunny afternoon in Los Angeles and I had my day off.  The lads also had their free time before doing a gig tomorrow night. I knew Evan and Josh went to do some gear shopping somewhere with Niall. I wasn’t sure about Ross though, he was nowhere to be seen. Pete – the lad I was looking for – was having some snacks at the hotel café. I sat in front of him and put my bag on the table while he stared at me stopping in mid-bite of his sandwich.

“Hello!” I beamed at him and he looked at me suspiciously before finally biting into his BLT.

“Hello…what do you want?” Pete cautiously asked. He sounded like one of those dads who would ask this question whenever their child is being unusually happy and chirpy towards their parent.

“Can’t I just say an innocent hello without needing anything?”

 He just his raised eyebrow and waited for me to speak up.

“It’s my day off…I want to watch a movie.” I said to him and he immediately understood what I meant.

“Oh, it’s that time of the month already?”

We had a deal about three months ago. I got sanctioned by the management because of this cow dung incident with Pete which resulted in temporarily removing my free drinks in venues and movie twice a month. We came up with the deal after he dared me to flash my tits to a bunch of senior citizens on a boat party when we were in France. Pete had been true to his word and been taking care of my PA privileges for two and a half months already.

“Yep.” I nodded and smiled expectantly at him.  

“Okay…”  He stood up and dusted off his pants. I looked at him quizzically when he stared back at me waiting for me to move. “Well, come on then.” He motioned with his head.

“Uhh…you’re going?” I asked because Pete just usually gives me money.  

“Yeah…there’s nothing much to do anyways.”

I just shrugged my shoulders and took my bag with me before we started heading off.

“What’s with the huge bag?”  He pursed his lips towards my bag as we took a cab.

“Oh, I got my slanket in here.”  

“A what?” He tilted his head in curiosity.   

“A slanket.” I repeated and he was still confused by it. Oh right, Pete sometimes has his 70s head switched on and would be completely clueless about modern stuff.

“It’s a blanket with sleeves…practically the wisest and most useful invention of today! Blanket with sleeves!” I think I got a bit carried away with my enthusiasm in explaining it to him but Pete still frowned at me, obviously not getting it.

“A blanket? Why?”   

 “Well, it can get chilly inside the cinema. Esp. with that kind of shirt, you’ll freeze there.” I said and eyed his flimsy green t-shirt.

“Whatever you say, granny. Don’t tell me you brought socks too?” Pete chuckled slightly mocking my cinema essentials.

“Heck yeah, well it’s because I’m wearing flip flops today. What’s wrong with that?”

I frowned at him and he looked at me expecting me to be joking. When he saw I was dead serious, he just snorted away.

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“I kinda want to watch…hmm… 22 Jump Street.” Pete said. His eyes shifted from one movie poster to the other.