The Second Tour of 44West

ch. 20 - mr. sassy pants

Rion

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I woke up around nine in the morning, feeling, well, I don't know how I feel. All I knew was that Elizabeth kissed me last night, I gave her my phone number, and my nose is a bit sniffly from spending so much time in the damn rain. I feel so many different ways about what happened, but the emotions that outshine the rest are excitement, happiness, and nervousness.

I wanted, no, needed, to talk to Elizabeth today and try to figure out where her head was with all of this. I wanted so badly to wrap her up and claim her as mine in front of the whole world, but I knew a couple kisses didn't mean I could do that. And I would never do anything she wasn't comfortable with. She was still with Robbie, and as much as I absolutely hated that, I had to let her have her boundaries and figure things out free of mine or his persuasion.

I stood up out of bed and checked my phone for any messages, hoping for one from someone specific, but nothing.

She needs time, Rion. This was probably a lot for her to process.

I went to the bathroom to do my morning routine before throwing on some sweats and a beanie and heading downstairs to the lobby for breakfast.

"Morning." I mumbled to whoever was down there already and sat down next to Breaker who was on his own at a table in the back of the room.

"Morning sunshine." He said before sipping on his orange juice. "How are you?"

"Fine." I grumbled. "Just tired as shit."

"You sound stuffy." He said, raising an eyebrow at me as I looked at him questioningly. There was a hint of concern in his voice, knowing we have two more shows to play here, but there was also a twinkle of something else. Knowing? Amusement?

"What do you know?" I asked as he let out a chuckle.

He took a pause as he sipped his drink again before looking at me with a sly grin. "Who do you think told Elizabeth where you went? I bet she's just as stuffy as you."

My jaw went slack at his words before I broke into a wide smile that I tried to hold in but couldn't. Then I remembered Elizabeth kind of blurting that detail out when she was rambling outside.

"So it went well?" He pressed, seeing my expression and the blush that was now creeping over my cheeks.

"I guess we'll see, huh?" I said back, smiling up at Montoya as he joined us at the table.

"Morning." He said, sitting down and handing me a hot coffee, making relief and gratitude for the man fill my chest.

"Oh, Benny Boy, thank you so much. If I wasn't incredibly gay, I would smack a fat ass kiss right on your face right now. I might still do it to be honest." I grabbed the paper cup and let the heat warm my hands before bringing the liquid to my lips and swallowing, sighing in happy contempt as the contents warmed my stomach and woke me up from the inside out.

Montoya just grumbled in response as he sipped his own coffee, and looked out towards the rest of the open room in a tired daze.

Breaker and I looked at each other before returning our eyes to our manager. I waved my hand in his face, effectively getting his attention and looking at him with a tilted head.

"What?" He asked as I let out a confused chuckle.

"You're staring off into space."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Really?" I asked, sipping the coffee again. "You feeling okay?"

"Like you don't know, Rion." He said, half annoyed, half asleep. "I had to take Elizabeth to the airport at like, three in the morning. I didn't get back until four and then I woke up at -"