The Roadie and Me

Music for a drunk crowd.

I tune my guitar and try to focus on the music, other than the girl who is on the couch. She's getting to my head without her even having to try. 

"Okay one more time from the top," I say and we kick into the seventh song.

Andy works quick. He is an insane musician. It's only been two hours and he's already perfected the first six songs off of the set list. Six more to go.

"Shit," David says as one of his bass strings snaps.

"And this is where we come in," the roadie with shaggy hair says. "You won't be doing any work for the bassist, but it's still good to know what to do in case something like this happens."

"Then who am I working for?" Isabelle asks following the other roadie who takes David's bass. 

"Stephen. They agreed it was best to have only one roadie for each member so they can know who to blame if something goes wrong."

"Great," She sighs.

"Thanks Johnny," David says. 

We go sit down on the couches while Johnny works on the bass. Isabelle Is carefully watching, then Johnny lets her do one. When she fails, they both laugh. They're lucky it's David's instrument their experimenting with. If it was Stephen's, one of them would be headless. 

Valerie comes to sit by me. She lays down and puts her head on my lap.

"Logan, I don't think it's right to have another girl on the tour bus." 

"Are you jealous?" I tease.

"Oh be quiet," she says and pulls my head down for a kiss. "A little," She admits.

"Well don't be."

"You don't think she's pretty?"

"Forget the looks, that attitude of hers makes her undesirable," I laugh.

"That's a yes," Valerie says. I lean down and kiss her again. And okay, maybe it is a yes. 

Once Johnny finishes with the bass we continue to work. We finish around two in the afternoon. Andy nailing all twelve songs in such short time amazes me. 

"That was amazing!" Alex shouts. "Maybe we could permanently replace Shane." He says. Only he laughs. There's an awkward silence before he finally notices how not funny his little joke was.

"Joking. I- uh. I didn't-"

"Next time keep your shitty jokes to yourself," I say. 

"Sorry," He says looking down at his shoes. "Look, to make it up how about we take the tour bus out for a test drive? We could go to a club and celebrate Andy!"

Isabelle fakes a cough to get Alex's attention. 

"Oh and Isabelle too!" He laughs. Her eyes light up and a smile stretches across her face as she laughs along with the others, except for Valerie who only rolls her eyes. 

We all agree and make our way to the bus. Valerie stops at the door. 

"Aren't you coming?" I ask. 

"I have work to do, but I'll catch you later on tonight. Have fun for me."

"Will do," I say. 

"But not to much," she says looking up at the bus window where Isabelle is visible. 

I roll my eyes and smile.

When I step into the bus I find everyone in the lounge area, some sitting on the long gray couch, and others sitting around the small table. Everyone's here except Isabelle and Ian