Connection -- A Ross Lynch Story

Done Deal

The next day, we had another meeting at the label. It was not fun seeing as all of us were pretty hungover from the party. Everyone had fun memories about the night. Carson hit it off with Rocky and Riker immediately and spent most of the night trying to get each other laid. Asher and Piper had grown closer to Rydel and Ellington. The exchange I had with Ross was replaying in my mind. That was the only thing going on in my head besides the pounding.

I pulled my sunglasses down over my eyes and stuffed my hands in the pocket of my leather jacket. The sunlight coming through the windows of the office irritated my headache. Every little thing was getting to me.

"Good sunny morning," Mike nearly hollered, causing us all to wince. "So I hear we have reached a decision on the tour deal."

"We'll do it," I said in a low voice. Even the sound of my own talking made my ears bleed. "What do we have to do next?"

"That's wonderful! Since everything is already set up date-wise, the next step would be to add extra meet and greet packages that people can add onto their tickets. We can take care of the scheduling and most of that. You guys have to work on perfecting a set list and getting packed because you'll be gone for a couple of months on the road." Mike clapped his hands together, and I was convinced he did it on purpose. "Let's get to work, huh?"

My sunglasses slid down the bridge of my nose and I squinted at Mike, watching as a smirk replaced the gentle smile on his face. He definitely did it on purpose. We all agreed that we'd work on set details the next day, because we all desperately needed to sleep off our nasty hangovers.

Back at my one bedroom apartment, I had gotten stripped into a baggy shirt and shorts, ready to collapse back into my unmade bed, when my phone started to buzz like crazy on my dresser. The caller ID didn't recognize the number, so I promptly ignored the call. Whoever it was could wait. But as soon as the phone stopped ringing and I thought i was in the clear, it started again with the same number flashing across the screen. I groaned and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Trina?" a familiar voice said. "This is Ross. I got your number from your manager. I hope that's okay."

I was confused. Why would he be calling me? "It's fine," I said, not quite sure of what else to say.

"I just wanted to thank you for agreeing to go on tour with us. We all had a really great time getting to know you and your band last night." He sounded nervous.

"We had a great time, too," I chuckled quietly. "A little too great of a time. We all have awful hangovers. In fact, I was just about to pass out when you called."

"I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I'll let you get back to it. And I'll see you tomorrow to watch rehearsal,, yeah?"

"See you on tomorrow," I agreed. "Thanks for calling, Ross."

"No problem, Trina." His signature smile was audible through the phone. As soon as the line went dead, I collapsed into the embrace of my bed and passed out without bothering to set an alarm. I could have slept throughout the entire day and the following night without a guilty conscience. I was going to need all of the sleep I could get before it became something of the past.

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"Do you really want to open with Storm Warning?" Carson asked me as he fiddled with the strings on his bass guitar. "You never give them the goodies right away. You have to make them wait for it."

I laughed and rolled my eyes as I took a long drink of my vanilla double shot coffee. Going into this process, we knew that it would be difficult. God only knows how Carson and I had remained friends since middle school; we constantly bicker. We can never agree on anything. Piper and Asher learned to deal with it. Ask them about the tiffs Carson and I have and they respond with shrugs. They are too busy kissing each other to pay attention or even care about what we are bickering about. "That's so stupid," I said as I picked the opening guitar line to our song. "Why can't we start the show with a winner?"

"Let's just start with Cold Shoulder," Asher piped up after he removed his tongue from Piper's throat. "It's the title song and really good. It will get the energy up enough without giving too much away."

Carson and I shared a look before we wrote it down on our list. The process of deciding which songs made the cut and which were going to be extras for the publicity shoots was long and painful. I was thanking God that I had my coffee. After adding a couple of cover songs to our setlist, we went to stage design and lights. R5's lighting director, their younger brother Ryland, had offered to help with our lights at no charge. We were learning early on that tours with this band were a family affair.

R5, Ryland, and their parents met us at the rehearsal space later that afternoon when we were sure we had most of the kinks worked out of our list. "Are you going to give us a little show?" Riker asked, taking a seat on the couch.

"If you're up for it," Carson responded as everyone took their places on the small stage.

"Go for it!" Rocky sat down next to his brother and draped one long leg over the other. The rest of the group found places to sit as we shook off the nerves and Asher counted us into the first song.

After going through the entire set, complete with covers and epic guitar and drum riffs, my voice was a little raw. It had been a long time since I had worked that hard, and I could tell that I was going to need all the rehearsal time I could get within the next week. Everyone really enjoyed our music. "You guys put on a good show," Ross said. "I can't wait to see what it's like in front of a real crowd."

"I have some ideas for lights," Ryland added. "Maybe we can meet tomorrow and we can work all of those details out?"

"Sounds good," I said, sealing the deal with a handshake. For the first time since we started talking about tour a few days ago, I was starting to feel my own excitement growing.