Tour the way: Book 2

Stand By Me

"Okay, I can do this." I told myself. "Put one foot in front of the other." I could hear my own heart beating inside my chest. It was like one of those moments when everything else around you kind of just turns into muffled white noise, but for some reason, your heart is the only thing that sounds clear. "Nothing has changed" I thought to myself.

"One, two, three!" I heard Valentine clap along to the counts. I'm not sure if it was the echoing of his claps or the ringing in my ears, but I was pushing myself as well as I could considering my body was still in London. My sleeping pattern was completely shot. I completely understood why Avi had such bad jet lag sometimes. To put it simply, it sucked. Big time. I yawned as Val proceeded to walk back and forth in front of us explaining some new choreography. "I'm sorry, are you bored Erica?" Val asked sternly and stopping in his tracks. My heart dropped. I knew I was about to get an ear full from him. Val was here visiting from his busy schedule to see how we're doing in rehearsals. To be perfectly honest, I was surprised he was here and not handling some Dancing with The Stars business somewhere. I never understood how he worked round he clock, even on his days off.

"No sir." I said quickly trying to fix my face.

"Erica is still kind of on Euro-time." Lena tried to stick up for me. I smiled at her as silent thanks.

"I can understand that, but at the same time, I don't want to hear any excuses." he told me as if he were a disciplinary father figure. "Erica needs to keep up and pay attention." he said. "You guys have a performance coming up in Rockefeller center and I'm not letting you go out there and embarrass yourselves or this company." It fell silent and the tension took a rise and I could hear the air molecules crashing into each other. I looked around and saw my cast mates as they watched not knowing what or if they should say anything. "Get it?" he asked.

"Got it." I replied sheepishly.

"Get it?" he asked again. He was clearly looking for me to sound more confident with my answer.

"I got it." I said looking him the eye this time.

"Good." he finished. With nothing hurt but my pride, we continued with our regular day. It was a struggle, but I managed to stay awake throughout the remainder of work.

"Thanks for standing up for me back there Lena." I thanked her again as we were packing our things in our duffel bags. I had put my tights in my bag and searched for my comb.

"No problem." she said cheerfully. Lena let her hair down and I put my high top shoes back on. "I told you that you should have stayed home today." she said. "I'm not sure if you're ready to start back up again." Lena told me. I took her words into consideration as the two of us proceeded to walk through the front doors of the building.

"I've missed enough practice as it is" I replied a little sadly. "I don't wanna fall even more behind you guys than I already have." I continued. I spent what felt like an eternity away from the others and it was really kicking me. I didn't regret going, it was just hard to readjust. "Europe was fun, in more ways than one, but vacation is over and I'm trying to settle back into reality." I said wiping one more piece of sleep dust from my eyes. That show in Rockefeller center was gonna be epic. Sure, we weren't the show that the Rocketts put on at Christmas, but this was still something to look forward to. Big show or little, I had to give it my all. I just had to work a little harder than everyone else to make up for lost time. It had been about a week since I got back and I couldn't believe that I was still treading euro-time. I was almost over it. I just knew it. I just had to make it through a few more nights. 

Later that night, I had finally got home and settled in for the evening. With my favorite pair of flannel pajama pants and my Hello Kitty shirt, I was ready to turn in for the night. Just then, I heard my phone my phone began to buzz on my nightstand and my hand fumbled to find it.

"Hey Beautiful." I heard Avi's voice and all was right in the world.

"Hey." I said a little lackadaisical.

"Are you still tired?" he asked concerned.

"A little, but I'm managing."  I was too tired to hide it.

"I'll let you rest." he told me.

"No, wait." I started. "It's fine. Besides, the longer I stay awake, the easier it'll be for me to sleep tonight." I reasoned.

"Oh, the sick game of jet lag." he said.

"It sucks." I told him while I rubbed my eye. "I don't know how you guys deal with it on a regular basis." I told him. He chuckled at my whining. "Don't you laugh at my pain and misery." I laughed. Soon, we were both laughing at the situation.

"You'll bounce back sooner than you think." he assured me. "Trust me." he finished.

"I always do." I replied to his words. "Avi, I don't know if I say this enough, but I'm really lucky to have you in my life. You always stand by me when I need you." I smiled into the phone.

"You're tired." he said. I could hear him smiling over the phone.

"You're modest." I quickly said back. "I may be tired, but I mean it" I replied.

"Hey, Erica" he began again. "Are you wearing the night shirt?" he asked.

"What shirt?" I asked.

"You know, that Hello Kitty shirt?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?" I asked.

"Nothing it's just that you always look kinda cute in that shirt." he told me.

"You're so cheesy!" I said laughing into the phone.

"You say that, but you know you love it." he told me.

"It's okay I guess." I said jokingly.

"I love you." he told me.

"I love you too my little bass canon." I told him.

"We were having a moment and you ruin with twitter names." he said laughing.

"I couldn't resist" I admitted laughing with him. "Give me some slack. I'm not as alert as I usually am." I defended. We said our good nights and I hung up before practically passing out in bed and completely ignoring the cup of tea I had prepared for myself.

The next morning, I was as chipper as a school girl. I practically skipped to the kitchen to make breakfast. Lena entered the kitchen with her hair still messy.

"It looks like someone is feeling better." she said still groggy.

"Much better. I talked to Avi before bed last night and somehow, it just made everything better." I said smiling.

"I thought I heard you on the phone last night." she said. "You're absolutely glowing." she walked towards me and examined my face. Invading my personal space.

"Can I help you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Did you?" she asked. "Over the phone!? You dirty little vixen." she said with a devious smile. My face turned hot.

"What!? Of course not!" I told her flustered. "I just talked to him and he made me feel better after all this grueling jet lag." I explained.

"Erica! You're killing me!" she said overly dramatic. "I'm tired of this 'will they? Won't they' noise." she said laughing. I covered my face. I threw a piece of toast at her when her head was turned. She slowly turned back around. "You did not just do that!" she laughed.

"What if I did?" I asked. "What are you gonna do about it?" she slowly approached the couch and threw a pillow at me. I caught it and tossed it back. Lena grabbed another one and the two of us were throwing pillows back and forth like it was a little girl's slumber party. I missed these moments when I was away. Just then, we heard the doorbell ring. "Truce!" I shouted after I dropped my weapon. I walked to the door and was pleasantly surprised at who I saw standing in our doorway.