Rock On Awesome Peeps

The Trip

When I'm finished showering I return to the living room. Breakfast is ready. "I hope it wasn't too embarrassing walking into our son in the shower." Clayton says. "Not for me. Maybe for Tanner. But that's for him too judge. I only turned around for his sake, so he wasn't too embarrassed." I answer. "Thank you for that. Even when such and incident happens you're still the awesome Remko you always are. Although I rather have you walking into me, than a woman or girl." Tanner responds. We all laugh. We eat our breakfast and then it's time to go to Texas. Time to see Tanner's collab partner: Griffin. We take Claytons car as he trusts his car more than a rental car. I take along my laptop as you never know when it can come in handy. Before I pack it I check my mail. Reply from Beamer. He thinks it's a great idea. I can count on him, especially since I chose Karoline as his collab partner. His parent agree too and will send a separate mail to me to show their approval. No reply yet from Karoline. I pack my stuff and we go to the car. Clayton and I take a seat in the front and Tanner in the back. Since Tanner doesn't like long car rides we decide to play a game. Guess the song. Whoever guesses the song and artist the first gets a point. Tanner thinks he can win easily. Bad news for Tanner. He's got tough competition in me. Who doesn't know Justin Bieber's Love Yourself? I was a bit faster than Tanner. But he's not giving up. Next up Shawn Mendes with Stitches. "Damn, you're good. But these have been covered a lot, so easy ones for you." Tanner says. Suddenly the car makes a strange sound. According to Clayton nothing to worry about. It was just a short sound. Not warning lights and the car is still driving. Probably we hit a piece of garbage on the road. Tanner and I continue our game. I'm still in the lead, but Tanner still thinks he can win. Clayton decides to trick is. Without us knowing he puts on Why not me? by Tanner himself. I recognize it and see Clayton winking. "What a terrible song. Whoever sings that should rethink his singing career. He can't sing at all." I say. Tanner is surprised by my reaction. "Is it really that bad?" he says. "Yes. Remko is absolutely right. This is terrible." Clayton responds. Tanner doesn't know how to respond. He thought we liked his singing. "I thought it was rather good." Tanner says. "Maybe you should play the song again, so Tanner can take a good listen to how terrible this is." I say. What I don't know is that Clayton has a surprise for me too. The next song he plays is not Why not me?, but a song I don't know. "What song is that? I don't know this one." I say. "Do you like it?" Tanner asks. "I certainly like it Tanner. I was teasing you with Why not me?, but this is a total new song for me, so I'm not teasing you this time. Totally different than Why not me?, but this is a great song too." I say. "It's called Play it everyday and it will be my second single." Tanner says. "I can say great music is coming." I respond. Tanner's happy again.

"You can't tell anyone about this song yet. It must remain a secret that there's a second song." Clayton says. "Don't worry. I'm good at keeping secrets." I say. We're nearing the venue where Griffin has to perform and the car starts making strange noises again. And it doesn't stop this time. We barely make it to the parking lot, when the car suddenly stops and doesn't want to start any more. That's not good. Someone at the parking lot notices what happened and comes to us. "Problems with the car?" he asks. "Yes. We were driving here from Oklahoma and the car made a strange sound, but as it was only a short sound and everything seemed fine, until we entered the parking lot here, where the car just stopped. Didn't want to start any more." Clayton says. "I can call a garage for you. Hopefully it's something easy to fix." the person says. "That would be great. I'm here with my son and a friend to see Griffin Tucker in action. Would be a shame to miss it." Clayton responds. "I've seen Griffin and he's good." says the guy and starts to call. Not long after that a guy with a pick up truck comes and looks at the car. He takes a look at the car to see what's wrong. He knows what the problem is. Only there's nobody at the garage today, so they can't fix it until tomorrow." He gives his card and takes the car to the garage. The guy that called the garage for us is gone. We'll ask Griffin's parents if they know a good hotel in the neighbourhood and go inside. It's not Griffin's turn yet so we're on time. We're looking at the artist performing before Griffin when we suddenly hear: "If I'm not mistaken that's Tanner Massey in front of me.". Surprised the three of us turn around. "Yes. I am Tanner Massey." Tanner says. "I'm George Lopez." the guy says. "Cool. Great to meet you." Tanner says. "This is my dad." Tanner says while pointing to his dad. "And I think you know this guy too. He's a big TanFAN too and also a big GrifFAN." Tanner says while pointing to me. "That face does look familiar." George replies. "Hi George. Nice to meet you. I'm Remko." I introduce myself. "Remko from Europe. Wow. That's a long trip and I didn't even know you were coming." George says. "I didn't know either until I yesterday morning Dutch time. When my boss told me to go to the USA, to meet 2 artists I want to work with. And I couldn't tell anyone since I wanted to surprise the two boys." I say. "Griffin will like this surprise. That I'm certain of." George says. "Ah. I see Bryan and Kimberly. Let's say hi to them." George says. "Good idea." I say. So we walk to Kimberly and Bryan. "Hi Kimberly." George says to Griffin's mom. "Hey George. Great to see you again. You're the first of the group I've seen today. Who have you brought with you?" she asks. "Three people that want to meet you and especially your son. The guy on the left is Clayton. He's the dad of the kid. That kid is Tanner Massey. And the blonde guy to the right is a big GrifFAN from Europe." George says. "I recognize him now. It's Remko. Someone very special for Griffin in more way than one." she says. "And of course also nice to meet you Tanner. Griffin will certainly like it you're here. And nice to meet you too Clayton." she says. "I have a strange question for you Kimberly, but Clayton's car broke down and we need a place to stay the night. Do you know any good hotels?" I ask. "I'm paying Clayton, as I can declare the bill" I say to Clayton. "Well for what you want to do for my son, I can't let you stay in a hotel. The three of you are staying at our house until the car is fixed. Has the car been towed to a garage yet?" she responds. "We can't accept your offer Kimberly. We can't force you to take in three people." I say. "If my wife offers you to stay at our house, you are special. She never lets people stay at our house she just met." Bryan says. "By the way I'm Bryan, Griffin's dad and Kimberly's husband." he says. We introduce ourselfs. "Ah, there's our other son." Bryan says. Dylan comes over. "Hello George. Great to see you again." he says to George. "Nice to meet you too Dylan." George responds. "Hi, I'm Dylan. Griffin's older brother." he says to us. We introduce ourselves. "Remko is the guy that arranges the special plans between Griffin and Tanner." Kimberly tells her son. "Ah, you're the guy that's making my brother happy." Dylan says. George looks wonderingly. "What special plans?" he asks. "Can't tell in such a public place since it's a secret." I say. "But you'll find out soon enough and you'll like it." I say.