On Tour

Chapter 14 - Little Black Dress

ALEC

Three months on the road feel already like forever. I feel blessed doing what I do for a living, but at a certain point all buildings, streets and arenas start looking the same to me. Gabriella has outdone herself to make us feel comfortable and closer to home. Whenever we arrive at a new place I already have a laptop waiting for me to video call my son if my phone signal doesn't work. I don't feel as anxious as during the previous tours because I know that I can count on her for anything, whether it is a clean pair of socks, an aspirin when I've had too many beers or a reminder of our next engagement.

We've done so many interviews at this point, close to 200 since the tour was announced, that I can barely keep track of what we are doing or where we are. The techs tape the name of the city we are at next to the song set list so we don't make the blunder of saying the wrong place. It happened once to Ozzie and the media mocked him the next day. I would like to see any of those reporters moving to a different place every two days to see if they can remember where they are.

My phone buzzes with a notification of the tour app. I look next to me where Gabriella is typing quickly on her phone. It's a miracle that thing hasn't caught fire yet from the intense use.

"Hey, I'm sitting next to you," I bump her arm in a friendly way. "You can tell me what changed instead of buzzing me."

"Buzzing you?" She chuckles.

"That's how we call it when you send these things," I motion with my phone. "We had to come up with a word. We used to get prints before."

"Not very environmentally friendly and the way things change with your schedule I would have to print things several times per day. Anyway, my buzzing is to let you all know that we managed to shuffle some things around and you have the whole day free tomorrow."

"Are you serious? We don't have a concert tomorrow. Does that mean..."

Gabriella laughs as Lexy, Ozzie, and Joel to a certain extent, cheer when they read their phones.

"It means no interviews, photo shoots, sound checks or shows. You can sleep in, go to the pool, and if you want to go sightseeing just let me know to arrange a private transport and security."

"Jeez, thanks!" I hold her in a hug and kiss her cheek.

When we separate, Gabriella has an awkward expression in her face. I've never shown any physical affection towards her.

"Sorry, Gabriella. This feels like a gift somehow. I didn't want to cross the line, but you feel more like a friend, not a manager."

"There's nothing to feel sorry about. I love hugs," she simply says. "But normally I only get drunken or sad hugs. This must be the first sober and happy hug that doesn't come from a family member."

"Then in that case, come here," I say before giving her a hug that she returns.

"Thank you," she chuckles and returns to whatever she was doing with her phone.

We complain often about our long working days and how much we miss home. I just realized that Gabriella and our tour crew probably feel the same. Many of them have partners and family at home whom they barely get to see. Just like me, I see them smiling at their phones after receiving a message from back home. 

Knowing now that we have the day free tomorrow, I just need to make sure that I'm back on time for our evening plan. Lexy insisted that we need to bring Gabriella and Daan together. They spend a good amount of time together, definitely working, but it's obvious that there's something more developing. It's a bittersweet feeling because I wish I was the one going with her on that date. I try to convince myself that my crush is just thankfulness for what she's done for me, but I wish she would look at me the same way she does Daan.