Better go Solo

Chapter 23

»Do we stop on our way to get something to eat?« Josy asked with a voice like a five year old. I started laughing as to her childish behavior.

Heather agreed on Josy's request but seemed in a really bad mood.

»What's wrong?« I asked. She grabbed the steering wheel even tighter but did not answer. She drove on the highway and seemed concentrated so I decided to stop bothering her.

Instead I plugged my earphones in and listened to some music. I scrolled through my Instagram feed and stared at a photo of Ash singing on stage for some minutes. He was still the embodiment of what I found attractive. The knowledge that I would meet him in a few days made me even more excited.

The car stopped and Heather got off it. I put away my earphones and got off too. Heather parked the car in front of a diner. Josy went in first, we followed her. The waitress showed us a table we could sit down at.

We had a seat and I immediately grabbed the menu card laying on the table too look up what I would order. Heather was still in a bad mood and crossed her arms in front of her breast.

»Heather, what's wrong with you?« Josy asked and looked at her curiously. Heather snorted so I rolled my eyes.

»Stop behaving like a toddler. Just tell us what's wrong« I said and gave the menu card to Marla who asked me for it before.

Heather kept silent until the waitress came to us. We ordered food and drinks so she left again.

»Heather« Josy admonished her. Heather snorted again.

»How dare you talk about disputes between us on national television!« Heather yelled at me loudly so that some other costumers at the diner stared as us.

»Oh come on. That makes us even more likable and shows the humanity of us« I replied and rolled my eyes.

»I have to agree with her on that« Josy admitted. Marla also nodded.

It seemed like she would kill everyone in the room within two seconds.

Luckily, the waitress brought our food so I could occupy myself with eating. I just ordered fries as I ate some of the snacks previously. In between I took a sip from my glass filled with an Oreo milkshake.

»That's so unhealthy« Heather accused me and pointed at my plate filled with fries. Josy lowered the hamburger in her Hands and looked at Heather annoyedly. Heather's plate was filled with a salad. She had not even ordered salad dressing to save on calories.

»I can eat whatever I want and I'm still lighter than you« I replied with my mouth full.

»That's so unfair« She moaned. I rolled my eyes and continued eating. I bit my tongue to not reply to her comment.

»Did you hear something from the label about salary?« Josy asked to change topic.

»The album is selling very well but we had so many expenditures that I think there won't be much left after all« Heather replied. I dropped my fork.

»What expenditures are you talking about?« I asked and looked at her seriously.

»The song writer, the recording itself, management, rent for the storage unit we're practicing in, the outfits for everything, record label« She enumerated and shrugged.

»The song writer? Are you fucking kidding me? You told us, you pay that since nobody asked for it and you didn't ask us if we want that too« I bitched at her.

»And what outfits are you talking about? We all paid our outfits by ourselves« Josy added. Even Marla seemed to be pretty pissed.

»That's not my fault« She replied.

I looked at her in disbelief with my mouth opened.

»I want every single cost you are charging from our earned money in writing. And I want to know all of the money we made« I commanded. Heather rolled her eyes.

»What's even the deal? I thought you just want to have fun« She said and took the last sips from her glass filled with water.

»I can't believe it« Marla snorted and stood up. Josy and I did too and left the diner without saying any more word.

Heather wanted to follow us but the waitress stopped her and told her that she had to pay.

»I can call my dad to pick us up. I don't want to spend any more time with her in one car« I said and took out my phone.

»I can't believe it« Josy murmured and walked next to me as we left the parking los. Marla followed us in silence.

Finally, dad answered the phone.

»Hey dad« I greeted him.

»Hey, what's wrong?« He asked. He knew that something was wrong when I called him.

»May you pick us up? We had a fight with Heather« I asked.

»Sure, send me your location« He answered. I thanked him and sent him our location.

We found a bench nearby where we sat down.

»I feel betrayed« Marla said and stared on her hands.

»Me too. I'm curious what the actual numbers look like« I said and took the pack of cigarettes out of my purse. I twisted it in my hand until I opened it.

»Any of you want one?« I asked even though I knew that nobody would. Against my expectation Josy actually took one and grabbed my lighter.

We waited about half an hour until dad arrived. He stopped right in front of us so we stood up. I sat down at the passenger seat while Josy and Marla got on the back seat.

»So what happened?« He asked when he drove again.

»Heather apparently spent the money we earned with the album for things we didn't agree on« I said. He seemed to be shocked.

»I already asked her for a list with all of the earnings and expenditures« I explained and leaned back, he nodded.

We did not talk about that topic for the rest of the ride. Dad stopped in front of the house Marla lived in.

»Greetings to your parents« He said what made her smile.

»I'll tell« She replied and got off the car.

Josy's car still stood at our place so dad drove home and parked the car in his garage spot.

»May I get the car on Friday?« I asked while we got upstairs. Josy followed me as we wanted to talk about our outfits for Friday.

»What's on Friday?« He asked. I did not tell him about the message yet, I was scared how he would react to this but I would stay away at least over night when we would actually party with them so I had to tell him at least anything.

»We got invited to a party in LA and stay there over night« I said. I did not even lie even though I concealed the important details.

»At Evelyn's place?« He asked but I just shook my head.

»There's this boy I'm dating and don't want to go alone so I asked CJ to come with me to take care of me« Josy lied when she realized that I did not want to tell dad the entire truth.

»Sure but drive safe« He said and smiled at me.

Josy went to my room to talk about our outfits a bit until she headed back home.