Good Girl

Chapter 6: Haley

"You ever going to play a cover?" Lita calls over the muffled shuffling of feet on the hotel's carpeted lobby floor as we wait for elevators. The overhead lights cast a harsh glow on artists and crew alike, all holding the same energy of excitement and exhaustion. "They loved our Cranberries song."

"Not going to happen," Jax says. "I don't do other people's shit."

"What about 'Inside'? That's your shit. From another lifetime." Mace says it like a joke as we pile onto two elevators.

I'm swept into the one with Lita, Nina, Jax, Mace, and their drummer Kyle, plus a couple of the techs whose names I'm still learning.

"Would it kill you to play it for your fans?" Nina glances up from her phone, looking as alert as she did at noon even though it's after midnight.

"It might."

The doors start to close, then hesitate.

"I'll get the next one." I start to step out, but Lita sticks her arm in front of me.

"Don't be dumb. If you haven't figured it out, personal space doesn't exist here."

Tour rule number twenty-three: no one is content to live in their own bubble; they need to bust uninvited into yours as well.

Disliking being touched by strangers should largely go unnoticed in life, but you'd be surprised how many times it comes up.

Everywhere from café lines to house parties to movie theatres.

By far the worst offender is elevators.

"Kyle, you have to stop giving shout-outs to random charities." This is Nina's voice.

"We're lucky to be famous, Neen," the drummer replies easily. "We should use that making the world a better place."

"We need to scope them before we tell your fans to give their money to the Coalition for Panda Feelings. That is not a real organization."

As the doors close again, my feet inch back until I'm pressed against a hard chest.

I know without looking who it is. I feel the sweat through his shirt, smell the salt.

"I'm going to start a charity," Brick drawls. "The Free Blowjob Society." Everyone groans. "You tell me that's not making the world a better place, you're full of shit."

I try to move, but there's nowhere to go. I turn my head, and my ponytail bumps something. Probably Jax's face, I realize as Brick stifles a laugh.

"Sorry." I face forward again.

"How did you like the show, Haley?" Mace asks.

"It was, ah"—Jax's chest rubs my back as he shifts—"loud. I mean... good."

After Jax slipped me the phone, I'd found my way back to the sound booth.

Jerry had acted as if he'd never tried to get rid of me earlier, even berating me for being late.

I couldn't get a handle on it.

I can't get a handle on a lot of things.

"Good?" Mace glances in amusement between me and the man behind me. "I think that's the first 'good' we ever got, Jax."

I'm counting the floors in this tiny box rising through the air.

Being in a confined space with lots of sensory stimulation makes me want to crawl out of my skin. Now, there's the buzz of chatter, the faint scent of sweat and makeup. A breath at my ear cuts through the rest, sending shivers down my spine.