How to avoid falling for a Trohman for dummies

2

Joe

"Can I have a beer now Terry?"

"Joe, its 10am."

I trudged off. She'd thrown this crazy rule that there was no drinking before 12pm. She was harshing my mellow but if I could choose a woman to harsh it, I wouldn't be able to choose one as attractive and demonic as Terry Fields.

She reminded me a little of my ex-wife but she was a lot more tanned and had a lot more curves. She was a stunner but damn was she strict.

She was now more comfortable around us, sauntering through the bus she shared with myself and Andy in a pair of low riders and a midriff black top with sneakers and her hair down for the first time revealing that she had a cascade of the straightest raven locks I had ever seen.

"Hey Terry?"

"No Joe."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"You've been staring holes into the back of my head. You can have a beer in two hours. You're not going onstage trashed or complaining about being sore because I can't give you your pain meds when you're drunk."

Suddenly, her rule showed me a bit about her. She didn't want me to mix alcohol with pain killers. I continued on as though I didn't just see evidence of her being a caring human. "Actually, I wanted to ask you if you could tell me a bit about yourself. We're practically living together and I feel like we skipped a step in the relationship."

She blushed profusely and looked down at the ground. "Joseph Trohman, you do realise you're asking me about my personal life when you and I have a professional relationship?"

I pointed and laughed at her, "you're doing this human thing we call blushing Terry!"

Before I knew what I was saying, I went off asking another question that was probably too personal. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

I saw Terry visibly stiffen. "No. That's part of the reason I'm in this line of work too. I do not want a man in my life and travelling constantly makes that very easy."

It was my turn to be shocked. "Why though? You're beautiful. I thought you'd be mobbed by men and bask in the attention."

She scoffed at me, "please Joe. We both know I'm a complete bitch and quite happy to be one."

I didn't know when to stop. Everyone knew I couldn't stop if I tried. Ruby inherited it early on. Trohman's took chances and pushed until we were explicitly told enough was enough. "An ex-boyfriend or ex-husband?"

Her eyes became stormy and I could see a hint of rage. Through gritted teeth she spat out, "I don't know what you're talking about Mr. Trohman."

I casually walked past her to the fridge and took out two bottles of Pepsi, throwing one to her which she snatched out of the air with the grace of a woman who'd had her buttons pushed. "Yeah, you do know what I'm talking about. You also know I'm probably the one out of two people here that would understand. I know Pete was the one who called you in to be our tour sitter. I know you and him are friends - you're always talking when you can. Is it him?"

I suddenly felt a twinge of resentment - Pete and Patrick were the golden boys and Andy and I were just along for the ride. She took a long sip from her Pepsi bottle and whispered, "fuck it give me a cigarette."

My mouth flew open and before I knew it I had handed her my smokes and lighter while she walked away to the smoking area set up on the bus. "I need to figure that woman out."