Authors: Heidi Hutchinson
“
I
heard that!” Ashton yelled.
“
Good!
Put some pants on!” Mike hollered back.
“
Just
a couple of days guys and she’ll be on her own bus.” Luke
was trying to keep the peace but Lenny couldn’t figure out why.
Why was he being nice to her?
“
Yep,
and I plan on treating her exactly as she deserves until then.”
Mike stated plainly.
Luke let out a heavy
sigh through his tired smile. He looked at Lenny apologetically,
“I’m going to bed.” He climbed into his bunk and
closed the curtain.
Ashton
whined for a while before she, too, finally went to bed. Lenny half
expected her to try to crawl into the same bunk as Luke but she
didn’t.
Thank
God for small miracles,
Lenny
thought.
She and Mike stayed
up watching classic movies, not speaking. After Humphrey Bogart put
Ingrid Bergman on the plane bound for Lisbon, Mike coaxed her into
trying to get some sleep.
She
climbed into her bunk and tried to block out what Ashton had said to
her.
You
think they care for you and they’ll fight for you. But they
won’t
.
Lenny took that as a threat, Ashton was planning on getting rid of
her. Well Ashton James might have gotten her way in the past, but
Lenny didn’t lose. Ever. It was so on.
Lenny got up the
next morning feeling invigorated despite her lack of sleep. She
hadn’t had a challenge in a long time, and Ashton James just
bit off more than she could chew. Lenny was determined to make her
choke on it.
Ashton's
presence on the tour was already oppressive. Lenny could sense it in
the mood of the crew. It was like a black cloud hanging over each of
them individually, waiting for the inevitable lightning strike. It
pissed Lenny off to see that Bitch Face could have that kind of power
over the people in her life.
Not
if I have anything to do with it.
She showered and
dressed quickly, pulling her hair into a messy bun with a few wisps
of hair escaping around her face. She threw on her standard jeans, a
snug, canary yellow tee and her trusty Chucks and quickly made her
coffee rounds. She greeted Carl in their usual spot with a beaming
smile.
“
You
look like sunshine this morning,” Carl eyed her suspiciously.
“You didn’t kill Ashton by any chance, did you?”
“
Not
yet.” She said with a lopsided grin.
“
That
woman makes my skin crawl.” Carl took a sip of coffee.
“
Are
we sure she’s even human? I mean, isn’t there a separate
classification for pure evil?”
Carl gave Lenny an
amused warning glare. “You better steer clear of that little
nightmare, Lenny.” He said in his worried dad voice.
“
You
have no idea how capable I am of handling her.” Lenny
reassured him.
No
idea at all.
Carl flashed her a
look that said he was still unsure but proceeded to change the
subject.
“
The
good news is that I’ve arranged to get hotel rooms for us when
we reach Denver. I booked you a nice suite since you’ll have
spent the week in a viper’s nest.”
“
Thanks,
Carl,“ Lenny smiled sweetly at him. Carl didn't do favors for
anyone. Lenny recognized the huge deal that it was and she
impulsively threw her arms around him. He stiffened at her sudden
embrace and she held back a laugh.
“
That's
enough,” he growled but Lenny heard the affection in his voice.
Her status in this
band was solid, Ashton was an idiot.
***
The guys were tense.
Mike watched them eat quietly as he sipped his orange juice. Lenny
had gathered them up and taken them to breakfast but no one could
find Luke...or Ashton. Mike knew the guys were already running
through their worst case scenarios in their heads. Ashton had
successfully thrown them back into a place of angst and distrust.
Everyone except for
Lenny. She was irritated but still peppy. Mike watched as she tried
to pull the guys out of their glum moods and he again thanked God for
her existence.
Mike was pissed too.
He was doing his best to not entertain his own dark temperament, but
it was still there, lingering in the back of his mind. He really
hoped Luke wasn't being stupid. He'd been Ashton's lapdog once
before. It didn't work out.
“
We
need to do something fun.” Lenny announced to the table
causing the solemn eaters to stare at her.
“
What
do you have in mind, mama?” Blake finally asked tiredly.
“
I
heard there is a bungee jumping area near here,” her face lit
up with rebellion.
“
I
don’t know if Carl would go for that.” Harrison eyed her
suspiciously and Mike sniggered. Lenny was definitely in a wild mood
this morning.
“
Who
says he has to know?” She dared them, eyebrows raised.
The looks that went
around the table ranged from terrified to excited. Lenny didn't bend
the rules. Lenny would never go against Carl. Lenny was
predictable. Lenny was safe. This wasn't Lenny...was it?
“
Hell,
I’m in.” Mike was the first to commit; he knew why Lenny
was feeling so unruly. Ashton’s presence was suffocating and
Luke wasn’t being himself. He had pretty much gone off alone
since Ashton had shown up. And he was also avoiding the rest of the
band. Lenny was feeling a need to express her frustration and bungee
jumping was a way better alternative than what Mike had come up
with...binge drinking and smack.
The others turned to
Mike, clearly surprised at his easy agreement.
“
Dude,
we could die.” Harrison felt it necessary to point out the
dangers, in case it wasn't obvious.
“
Yeah,
but we won’t.” Mike winked at Lenny and stood up from the
table. She joined him at the door where they turned to look at the
others who were still gaping.
Mike chuckled and
grabbed Lenny's hand, tugging her into the sunshine that matched the
color of her shirt.
***
Mike
looked down at the raging water below him from nearly two hundred
feet.
This
is a very bad idea.
He was having second thoughts at Lenny’s choice of activity for
the day.
He looked at her
getting her harness attached and was amazed at her calm focus. She
seemed more relaxed than he had seen her all tour. It shouldn’t
have made sense, they were easily in the most dangerous scenario he
could come up with, and she was acting like it was a trip to the
mall, or whatever girls do for relaxation. He had obviously
underestimated her drive for extreme adventure.
Harrison, Blake and
Sway had agreed to try it if Mike and Lenny went first. But Mike
could see the apprehension on their faces. Harrison was visibly
sweating. He chuckled nervously to himself, what had they gotten
themselves into?
Lenny approached the
edge of the platform and listened to the instructions from the
operator. She nodded and took a deep breath.
“
You’re
afraid to get on a snowboard again, but this doesn’t scare
you?” Mike tried to reason with her. Lenny just flashed him a
grin and then dove off the platform.
Mike's stomach
dropped to his feet as he watched her body fly into the open air.
She got to the end of the line and her body rebounded and then
plunged again, continuing to oscillate up and down until all the
energy was dissipated. The operators lowered a rope to her, she
attached it to her harness and they hauled her back to the platform.
“
That
was awesome!” Sway gave her a high-five.
“
Are
you okay?” Harrison asked, his eyes wide, trying to search for
any visible injuries.
“
I’m
great!” Lenny responded, “I’m gonna do it again!”
Her face was...serene, her cheeks pink from giddiness.
Mike shook his head;
he knew it was his turn. He would have to follow through since he
had given the others such a hard time for being scared.
“
You’re
gonna love it,” she whispered in his ear as she gave him a
quick hug. She stood back, biting her bottom lip and grinning at the
same time in anticipation of his jump.
Mike approached the
edge and took a deep breath. In a moment of courage he took a flying
leap and was airborne. The sensations that raced through him were
indescribable. He felt completely out of control but totally centered
at the same time. Then he experienced a brand new rush in the
recoil. His heart was stuck in his throat, but he knew his face had
a silly grin plastered across it. As soon as it had started, it was
over, and they were pulling him back up.
His mighty leap
impressed the guys and they got geared up to make their own jumps.
Lenny let loose more than all of them, jumping three more times
herself before they had to call it a day and head back for sound
check. It was weird to not have Luke with them but they still had
fun despite his absence.
“
Can’t
tell Carl, okay guys?” Lenny leveled a serious look at all of
them.
“
Why
does it matter if Carl knows? We’re the ones who hired you.”
Sway said, and Mike noticed Lenny’s lip twitch at his words.
“
Let’s
just keep it between us, okay?” Lenny said again earnestly and
they all nodded in agreement.
***
Luke was late to
sound check again, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. It
was amazing, Ashton had only been a part of the tour for twenty-four
hours and Luke had aged ten years. His hair was more matted than
stylishly messy and his eyes were unfocused and empty.
Lenny was helping
the guitar techs, Dustin and Ben, get set up when Ashton pranced
across the stage
“
Oh
good, Ashton,” Blake sounded relieved, “It’s just
you, I thought I heard someone backing over a goat.” The
guitar techs laughed and Ashton shot daggers at him.
Lenny stopped
laughing when she saw Luke watching them. He had never looked so
lost. Lenny took a step his direction but he minutely shook his
head, signaling her to stop. She frowned at his pinched expression,
silently asking her question from across the stage. He held eye
contact with her for far too long, as if attempting to dump every
thought and feeling he had into that one, simple communique. Lenny
nodded, understanding as much as she dared.
She
left the stage in search of Carl. No way Ashton was going to force
the alienation of Luke from his friends.
Home-wrecking
sociopath.
***
The show that night
was better than the previous, but only marginally. The rest of the
band was tight but Luke struggled with playing and remembering all
the lyrics. He would look up from the mic and back to the sound
booth but Lenny wasn’t there. He didn’t know where she
was and it bothered him. He knew he was the only one at fault for why
she had to stay away. Punishment for past sins.
Luke trudged to his
bus, no autographs or photos with fans. His shoulders pulled down
and he felt like shit. He dreaded seeing Ashton. She would be half
naked again and obnoxious as hell. He paused outside the door and
took a deep breath, bracing himself for the inevitable chatter that
she would start hurling at him.
He heard a stirring
to his left and he frowned into the darkness. He made out a shadowy
figure waving him over. Taking a few steps in that direction, he
recognized Sway.
“
What’s
goin' on?” He asked his shifty friend.
“
Come
with me.” Sway waved him to be quiet and just follow. Luke
shrugged and crept along the back of the venue in the dark with his
bass player. As they made their way along, Luke could hear more
whispers and they came around a corner to an ugly brown van and the
rest of his band.