Alan’s POV
I stormed back through the curtain to the bunk area dragging Erin with me. When we got to the middle of the walk way I stopped and pushed her up against the small sliver of wall between the sets of bunks. I kissed her, hard. I was so frustrated it might help to let it out some other way. I was about to start taking her shirt off when Austin came through the curtain from the back lounge.
“Uh…” He said and I let go of Erin. She was in a daze. “I think the guitar techs wanted to see you…” He said awkwardly. I groaned. Of course they did.
“Okay I’ll be there in a minute.” I said. We let Elise and Austin walk through to the front. I took Erin in my arms again. “I want you to wait here I shouldn’t be long and then I’ll come get you before the show and you can watch from on stage that okay?” I asked. “Sit here this is my bunk.” I said and pointed to the bunk right behind us. She laid down on the bed and grabbed one of my stuffed cats and held it up to her face and gave me kitten eyes. I smiled at her and kissed her head. “I’ll be right back.” I said and closed the curtain to my bunk. I saw the reading light go on, on the other side of the curtain.
When I opened the curtain to the front longue I saw Austin and Elise having the same conversation with Phil and Tino that we had earlier. I ignored it and kept walking. I had to fix something with my guitar. I got inside the building and walked down the hallway into the green room. One of the guitar techs, Loni, walked up to me.
“Damn Alan you look a bit flustered. Where have you been? We wanted you out here like 40 minutes ago.” She said as she brushed her long dark hair off her shoulder.
“Did you dye your tips?” I asked. She had aqua tips on her hair I didn’t see two days ago. “They look nice.” I said trying to make her forget about the question she had just asked. She seemed to blush a little.
“Yes, me and Brandie both did and thank you.” She replied. I used to like her. But then again what girls that went on tour with us didn’t I like? But she was different. I almost had the balls to ask her out but then she got a boyfriend. His name was Kyle. I hated him he was an asshole and he mistreated girls all the time. I didn’t see what she saw in him. But I guess it was all for the best because now I had Erin.
“Anyway, one of the amps blew after sound check we had to fix it and we need you to do another sound check.” She said. She seemed a little off today.
“Okay,” I said walking with her. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Brushing the question away from her. Obviously hiding the truth.
“Seriously Loni? I can tell something’s upsetting you.” I said as I grabbed her arm to make her stop walking and look into my eyes. I noticed now her eyes were red like she had been crying.
“It’s Kyle… We were supposed to go get sushi after the show tonight but he broke the date... this is the third time he’s blown me off. I’m starting to wonder if there’s someone else…” She said and got distant as if she were imagining this other woman.
“Look Loni, you deserve so much better than Kyle. He’s such an ass. He does this to you constantly and-” I was stopped mid-sentence by her lips. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. A minute later she let go.
“I’m so sorry Alan. I don’t know what came over me…” She said and she looked embarrassed.
“It’s okay. But it can’t happen again okay? Just find yourself a nicer guy okay?” I said and smiled at her. I didn’t mind the kiss I just felt bad for Erin. It’s a good thing I told her to stay in the bus.
“I have but he just told me to not kiss him again…” Loni said and it looked like tears were building in her eyes.
“Look Loni in the past I did like you but right now I found someone and I really like her, I’m sorry.” I said and hugged her.
“It’s okay… I’m sure someone else will come around.” We let go and I smiled at her.
“I’m sure someone will.” I said and we walked on to the stage.
“It’s almost time to open the doors! Come on hurry up!” Brandie, another tech that had dyed her tips with Loni, said as she saw us walking onto the stage. “We need to get this amp up and running again!” She handed me my guitar and I put the strap over my shoulder. “Okay play the guitar part for ‘The Calm’.” She said and waited. I started playing the riffs. “Okay that sounds pretty good.”
“Are you kidding? That sounded amazing. I don’t think my riffs have ever sounded that clean.” I said feeling stoked about tonight. I hoped they would sound like that all night. My fingers found every note and string perfectly on time it sounded perfect.
“Yeah, whatever.” Brandie said. She was one of the slightly less friendly girl techs. Don’t get me wrong she could be friendly and she was super-hot. I wasn’t ever really into blondes but she was an exception. I’m guessing she was being this way because she saw me with Erin right before we drove off to go to the hotel.
“Is that all?” I asked hoping it was so I could get back to the bus and Erin. Brandie sighed and nodded her head.
“But can I talk to you really quick?” She asked. I walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the stage. “Look I wasn’t going to get involved but… Really? You drove off with a groupie?” She asked.
“She’s not a groupie.” I said flatly. I wasn’t in the mood to get into another fight over Erin.
“Okay well, if she’s not a groupie why did you automatically skip to sex? You don’t even know her.”
“We didn’t automatically skip to sex… And I know her…” I said defensively.
“Oh really? Tell me her full name.” Brandie crossed her arms.
“Erin… uh… Fffffff…. I forget…” I said looking down sheepishly. She rolled her eyes.
“Well maybe you better figure it out. How much do you actually know about her?” She asked.
“Enough…” I said and a smile crept across my lips. Definitely enough.
