Life, Love, & Lies

Thirty-Four

LoLo sits quietly, lost in thought as she looks out over Barcelona, her mind preoccupied by the last couple months. She never would have imagined that life would turn out like this, with Matt and Milo so close and yet so far away. With a friend like Zach, who saw through all her walls, and chose to help rather than run in fear like she had been told to expect. The North American tour had for the most part been hard on a level she had expected, she knew her dad's execution was coming up, and she knew she would be nervous about working for Matt and Milo, while hiding her identity. She knew to expect things that happened, to happen.

But Europe has been a different kind of hard, and emotional kind that she had never expected to deal with, especially not like this. Staying up late talking though things she has never had the chance to talk about, not really. Stretching the bounds of her trust and the box she hadn't realized she had become comfortable in. She hadn't thought so hard about her past since it was happening, and maybe not even then. She had never had someone take a genuine interest in hearing her, and wanting to dig into the horrible traumas of her past the way Zach did. And it was helping, slowly, but it was also taxing, and exhausting.

"Can I join you?" She turns from her thoughts, smiling softly as she sees Milo standing beside her small Café table.

"You're up early." She nods, motioning for him to take the seat across from her.

"Says the one who's already ordered and finished her breakfast." He chuckles.

"I still have some of my coffee left." She defends with a laugh.

"Why are you up so early, LoLo?"

"Got a lot on my mind." She shrugs, "And I'm so exhausted that I can't seem to sleep well, which makes no sense, but it's the truth."

"I get that. I'm definitely ready for tonight's show and then to have a full month off before we head for Japan and the last leg of the tour." Milo agrees, waving down a waiter and ordering some coffee and breakfast for himself.

"Ya, I love this job more than anything, and I couldn't have asked for a better band to work with, but it is exhausting."

"We love having you here too, LoLo. And I hope our collaboration continues long after this tour."

"Me too. I've been keeping my eye on some LA real estate trying to decide where I want to live in the city, and where I might be able to afford. I want to stay close to the band and keep working with all of you guys."

"I'm glad to hear that. If you need any help, just ask too."

"Thanks, Reese said I could move in as her roommate, but I think I want to see if I can find my own place first. I don't know, I like the idea of living alone if I can. I like having my own space."

"Reese can be a lot all of the time, I'm definitely not judging you for not waiting to be her roommate. I love her to death, but could never live with her like that. Tour is plenty of living with Reese for me."

"So, what are your plans for the break?" LoLo changes the subject as Milo's food is placed in front of him.

"I'm headed to Germany for a couple weeks to see my parents and spend some real time with them there. I haven't actually been back for a longer stay since they moved home from New York about three years ago. After that I'll probably stop over in New York for a week and see Matt's family, they're like my family and it would be nice to spend some time in the city again with Matt, like old times. Then a week at home in LA before we head out to Tokyo from there."

"So, still traveling, and staying busy." LoLo laughs.

Milo shrugs, "I like to travel, at least this time it's three places in four weeks instead of five places in one week. And I get to stop and stay for a few days in each place."