I continued to stare at the roof of the van as Nino softly snored into my ear, as she was still splayed on top of me. Everyone was still sleeping as it was only four in the morning, but I've been awake for the entire night.
I blinked as I mentally prepared myself for the long and eventful day in the front of us. First, we had a meeting with a record label that was interested in signing us. They reached out to me via email after one of their representatives attended the first gig, saying that they were impressed by the band's playing and stage presence. They offered a four album deal, and it also included releasing the records worldwide. Everyone fell asleep around midnight and that's when they sent the email. This came up super unexpectedly and was the reason I wasn't able to sleep.
After the meeting, I was planning to take everyone down to a music shop to celebrate. I had pulled out $2000 dollars from my personal savings account to surprise everyone with an upgrade of their instruments, as we would need it for the upcoming record.
Lastly, we would have our third show tomorrow night at a small bar. I was a bit nervous about this one as this was mostly a bar where metal was played, and a lot of men attended this bar.
I tried to shake off my nerves as I carefully slipped away from Nino and wedged myself between the seats, slipping out of the van door without a sound.
I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air before lighting a cigarette. I continued to smoke as I checked my emails on my phone. There was nothing new in my inbox except for the occasional promotional email for Hot Topic.
I quickly finished smoking my cigarette before climbing into the driver's seat and turning on the van. The engine came to life as I looked up a local truck stop so we would be able to shower.
I clicked the nearest one, the little robotic voice on my phone starting to guide me towards it. I turned down my volume as I backed out of our parking spot, bidding farewell to the venue we played last night.
It was a 45 minute drive to the truck stop, which wasn't so near, but we all needed to shower badly. I prepared myself for the trek by lighting another cigarette. I rolled down the window and watched as the smoke got stolen away from the van and to the air outside.
"Can I have one?" I heard a sleepy voice ask.
I snapped my head to the side to see Alex sitting down in the passenger seat.
"Yeah, for sure. The pack is on the dashboard," I offered, smiling at him before returning my attention back to the road.
"Where are we going?" he spoke, the cigarette hanging out of his mouth bouncing with every word he said.
"Truck stop, we all need to shower," I replied, taking another hit of my cigarette.
"Oh okay, awesome."
"I also have some exciting news but we need to wait until everyone is awake," I teased, throwing my finished cigarette out the window.
"What's the exciting news?" a new voice interrupts.
"Good morning, Bee!" Alex greeted Bert, who had just woken up.
"Morning" I murmured, stopping at a red light.
I turned around to see Bert sat in the middle of the first row of seats, rubbing his eye tiredly.
"I'll tell you guys when everyone wakes up," I continued, turning around and seeing that the light turned green.
Bert didn't reply and instead slipped a CD in the radio, heavy guitars filling the empty space.
😇
