and the stars will all come out

chapter seventeen! ☆

"TURN LEFT AT THE NEXT INTERSECTION," Landry said, looking closely at the map.

Well, Dave supposed she would've been looking closely had he actually been able to see her: her corner of the U-HAUL was entirely covered by the map of Nashville they'd bought at the most recent gas station. Upon opening it, it had swallowed Landry whole and she'd disappeared from view under the unfurled paper, so he now only had her voice to rely on.

"Corner of Peabody Street?" Dave repeated blankly as they continued to drive straight.

Miraculously, Landry's hand reappeared from under the enormous map to give him a thumbs up. "Yep."

Now seeing the turn, he flipped on his turn signal. "Okay, gotcha..."

"After that, we're gonna drive down this road for a bit and then take a right, and then Jimmy's should be right there," she continued, her voice slightly muffled from underneath the map. "Brick building next to the Starbucks, right?"

"Sounds about right," Dave muttered under his breath, looking left and right as he drank in Nashville. He'd been here before, of course, but he was feeling a lot of pressure to not get lost. "I think you'll really like Jimmy, by the way. He's super easy-going."

"Anybody that's a friend of Dave's is a friend of mine," she responded brightly, shifting the map and making the paper crinkle loudly; she was still entirely covered. "The guy who sold the soundboard to you's gonna help move the thing, right?"

"Oh, fuck yeah. Don't worry, I don't think it's gonna be any trouble at all."

☆

AN HOUR LATER, LANDRY STOOD THERE WINCING AS SHE LISTENED TO THE GRUNTS AND SCREAMS OF TEN GROWN MEN SQUIRMING AND WRESTLING THIS GIANT SOUNDBOARD OUT OF THE BASEMENT.

"When I say move, you move!" Dave bellowed, holding up an entire corner of the soundboard by himself, sweat dripping down his forehead. In all honesty, it looked to be an unachievable mission, trying to get this gargantuan thing through the window, up some stairs, out of the door, and then safely strapped into the U-HAUL, but they'd been brazen enough to try. "On three, we all push this fuckin' thing out the door, alright? Listen to me! One...two...three!"

Awkwardly standing there to the side, Landry watched as the men once again lifted the soundboard in unison, groaning and grunting in pain, and tried to cram the soundboard through the door. Like the other three unsuccessful attempts, it didn't work. Jimmy and Dave had insisted she stay well to the side, and she'd had nothing to do with the lifting, but it was still painful for her to watch. She'd never taken into account just how much Dave smoked and how skinny his arms were, because she was honestly afraid he would collapse underneath the weight of it.

He'd told her it would be no trouble, and here the soundboard was, causing a lot of trouble.

"Push!"  Dave bellowed at the other men like he was yelling at a woman to give birth, "Push!"

"Up the stairs, boys, up the stairs!" Jimmy shouted over Dave screaming at the top of his lungs, like that would do anything, and the pandemonium of yelling only continued.

"Give 'er!" Somebody was hollering, spittle flying out of his mouth. "Fuckin' give 'er!"

Dave was bright red with overexertion now, doing everything in his power to yank the soundboard up the stairs. "Almost there, almost there!"

"Careful!" Landry called out uselessly from below in the basement, but sure enough, with one final, magnificent push, they'd miraculously been able to force the soundboard up the stairs and out of the door.