ONNAXOFF

Chapter 16

Abel

Lamar enters just as two girls are leaving the tour bus.
“Wow, didn’t even save one for me.” He shakes his head disappointedly. 
"Oh where do you expect me to believe you were for the past few hours? Taking pictures?" 
"Yeah." He nods innocently. 
"Uh huh. Sure." I raise my eyebrows and pull out my phone to check my email. I’ve been on the road with him way too many times to believe that. 
"Pictures of some girls. Ok, so they were naked." He admits finally, with a grin.
I chuckle. He lives for this shit, maybe even more than I do.
"I brought you a burger and fries." He says, dropping a bag on the table in front of me.

As I eat my cold meal, he shows me the pictures he took, stopping at a girl lying on the floor with her t-shirt rolled up around her shoulders.
“This girl has hair kinda like Jessie.” I’m startled by the mention of her name, incorrect as his observation is.
“It’s nothing like Jessie’s.”
“Not length wise but like it has the same blonde tip thing.”
“What are you talking about? Her hair is light brown all the way through.”
“It used to be.” He raises his eyebrows. “She changed it. I thought you knew.”
“When?” I ask sceptically. “More importantly, how do you know?”
“I saw her on FaceTime the other day.”
I stare blankly at him. Trying to keep the suspicion out of my voice, I swallow my mouthful and carefully ask “And why are you FaceTiming her?”
“So she could give me a striptease.” He answers. “Nigga, what do you think? It was my birthday. She called to wish me Happy Birthday.”
“Did she say anything else?” I want to be relieved but again, I know Lamar too well.
“It was like a three minute call. She was walking on her way to somewhere. With that friend of hers, Rose, I think her name is.” He says. “Nigga, if you want to see her, just call.”
“I was just fucking asking.” 
"Yeah, whatever man. You should probably zip up your jeans before you call though." He smirks as he lays down on the couch.

__________

After exactly 10 days of playing before every show, I finish GTA V. Instead of leaping up in celebration like I want to, I fall back in the armchair. Firstly, I have to save my energy for the show I’m performing in 2 hours and secondly, I’m kinda sad that it’s over. The game was more than worth the wait, the story engaging, the graphics nerdgasmic, as Jessie would say. I bet she’s been playing too. If this isn’t the perfect time to FaceTime her, I don’t know what is.

I scroll down to Honey Loops on my phone and dial, turning the camera so she’ll see the credits rolling when she picks up. It rings for a while and then her face fills the screen. She looks confused for a second but recognition soon flashes in her eyes and her lips curve up in a smile.

"I finished that game four days ago."

"Well, I’ve been a little bit busy. You know, touring."

"Wow, what a lame excuse." She jokes. "What city you in now? How’s it going?"

While I tell her about my last show in Atlanta, she munches on a sandwich. Every now and then, a gust of wind creating a roaring noise over the speaker, blows her newly-dyed hair up around her flushed face.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"I’m at the skate park."

"Oh, so you were serious about going back."

"Yeah, and I’m really good now. Wanna see?" She grins.

Before I can even finish saying yes, she’s already jumping up and flipping the camera.

"Hold my phone, please." She says to her friend. "Say hi to Sam."

"Hi Sam." I comply.

"Hi FaceTime guy." Sam replies in a deep rumble.