The Second Tour of 44West

ch. 23 - tampa pt.2

Rion

--

She showed up.

I texted her and she showed up.

I told her I wished she was here, and she showed up.

She's with Robbie, which is a bummer.

But, she showed up.

    Tonight, at the show, I felt this overwhelming presence coming from my right. I can't even explain it, but it was like everything in the universe was telling me to look. And when I did, I couldn't believe it. It was everything that I had wanted to happen, but wasn't willing to believe would.

She showed up.

    And that meant everything.

    "Rion, you good?" Breaker asked. It was the next morning, and we were set to leave for Baton Rouge in around four hours.

    I looked over to him as his question brought me back to myself, and noticed he was freshly dressed and rubbing a towel on his very short hair. He must have just gotten out of the shower.

    "Yeah," I said, clearing my throat and rubbing the sweat from my palms onto the denim of the light-wash, ripped jeans I was wearing. "I'm good." I added, now getting up to pace a bit as I felt a need to do something.

    To go see my parents.

    "Breaker, I gotta go." I said, making the decision quickly so I wouldn't chicken out and grabbing my phone off of the table in front of me, walking towards the door of the bus. "I'll talk to you later."

    "Okay." He called after me with slight concern in his voice, but I was already paces away, heading towards where Montoya stood with some of the Amalie crew.

    "Hey, can you drive?" I asked him in a low voice with my head down, not wanting others to see me vulnerable or hear the details of my request.

    "Drive where?"

    I bit the inside of my lower lip and chewed on the skin there, a nervous habit I had picked up on our first tour, and tangled my fingers together in front of me. I opened my mouth to speak, but he just raised his hand, cutting me off and nodded. "Get in the car."

    "Thank you." I said, walking quickly to the black sedan and sliding into the back seat, willing the tears to go away. The weight of what I was about to do was starting to sink in, and I felt like any small thing would break the dam of tears building behind my eyes.

    I watched my manager as he walked around to the drivers side and settled himself into the seat. He looked in the rearview and gave me a reassuring smile before cranking the car and driving towards the exit of the small parking lot.

    "Wait." I said suddenly, as he hit the breaks.

    What am I doing?

    "Everything okay?" He asked, putting the car back in park.

    What am I doing?

    "Just... hold on." I opened the door and let my feet carry me to the front door of the bus she was on, not letting myself think twice about what I was doing. I raised my hand and knocked, and praised the Lord and universe above that Elizabeth was the one to answer, and not Robbie.

    "Will you come with me?" I asked in a small voice, knowing that her rejection at this moment would wreck me.

    Elizabeth shook the surprise off of her face before glancing inside of the bus she was on and looking back at me, nodding her head. "Of course." She grabbed her phone and slipped it in her back pocket before sliding her sneakers on and following me out of the door, back towards the waiting car. The fact that she agreed without knowing a single detail brought warmth to my heart, but it didn't last long as I knew I would have to tell her what was going on.