Chance Meeting

Ten

"So, that was the chick you've practically been gushing about, Dad?"

        Looking up from unpacking his clothing suitcase so he could sort out the clothes that were still dirty from the lil bit he'd managed to wash at Ash's, Bobby saw that his son was working on his other one for him. It was routine the boy'd fallen into when he was–well, still a boy that he'd never broken, and he honestly didn't think he ever would.

        "Yeah, Aerin's the girl I've been talking about," he answered, balling up what was in his hand and taking a pot-shot for the hamper in his closet.

        "I guess the only reason I'm surprised is 'cuz she looks like mine and Zoe's age," Zak admitted.

        "She's between you and Zoe, actually," the bassist chuckled. "I'm not telling her age for her outta Respect, so that's as close as you'll get outta me."

        "Does she not like people knowing her age or something?" his son laughed.

        "Actually, she's unlike any girl I've ever met when it comesta her weight and age," Bobby admitted. "She'll answer with brutal Honesty when anyone asks, almost like she doesn't care–but I can tell she does, and that it still bothers her."

        "Damn, really?" the younger man asked, pausing in taking his toiletriesta the bathroom for him. "Then why does she still let people ask, if it bothers her?"

        "Ya got me, son," he answered. "I've really only known her for a week, but that first Night was what made me wanna really get to know her."

        Zak listened as he recalled that first Night in Atlanta, telling him how she'd been a bit of a tease, but refused to give in to his more or less Silent plea to join him on the bus. Something about her'd just Called to him in his dressing room, but he couldn't figure out what it wasta save his Life. He knew a lotta it was the fact that she'd respected that–rock star or no–he was just a guy at the End of the Day like even her neighbor. Part of him knew without having to ask that if he'd told her to, she'd have stopped gently tugging his hair that Night, and prolly even let go of it altogether.

        His son knew he was actually prone to some bad headaches, especially when he let his hair grow out like it currently was. Those headaches only got worse, the longer his hair got–that and getting sick of him yanking it as a baby and toddler was why he'd shaved his head back in '94. If it weren't for that reason, he wouldn't care if anyone yanked his hair so hard, they nearly pulled out a handful.

        As he told him about how Aerin'd been careful not to pull his hair too hard, but rather just enough to be a tease, those eyes he'd inherited from him widened. When he told him about the question she'd asked him–could he be her friend and respect her in the Morn?–it seemed that Zak was even more surprised than before. It certainly woulda made him take pauseta think about how he could possibly respond without getting himself in trouble–just like the bassist'd done that Night. Not only had she respected him as just another human being, but she'd wanted the same Respect in Return, nothing less.

        "Wow," his son breathed in Awe. "Yeah, she really is different from all the others."

        "Now, ya see why I wanted to stop in Nashville on my way home and see her again, don'tcha?" Bobby chuckled.

        "Yeah, I really do," he answered with a nod. "I'd be the same way, had it been me instead."

        "I thought so," the bassist said with a smirk. "And no, I don't give a shit that she's young enough to be one of my kids, either."