Road Rash (30 page)

“I flew here with Ginger. And Sarah.”

“Whoa. So you got your sister to come with you?”

“Yeah, thank God, because there’s no way my parents would’ve let me come alone. It took some serious plea bargaining to get to
this
arrangement, even with Sarah as my chaperone.”

“So where are they now?”

She looked around. “They’re here somewhere. Sarah came in with me to make sure the place was okay, then she and Ginger went next door to grab a bite.”

“They can come and hang, if they want. As long as they stay back here away from the bar when we’re playing, it’ll be okay. The owners are totally cool.”

“Okay, I’ll call them as soon as your break’s over.”

I nodded, then I paused for a second. It seemed like a stupid question, but I needed some answers. “I’m really glad you’re here.” I laughed. “God,
that’s
the understatement of the century. But the last thing I heard from you was that you didn’t want to see me again. So … why are you here?”

“To apologize. Zach, I am
so
sorry I didn’t listen to you. When I heard all that stuff, it just seemed so believable.…”

“Well, that was partly because I didn’t tell you the truth myself. Did you get my message apologizing about that?”

“Yes. That’s what made me go talk to Alicia, and—”

“Wait a minute. You talked to my monkey-girl sister?”

“She’s actually really nice, and smart, too. And without her I wouldn’t be here right now, so don’t go making fun of her.”

“I wasn’t. I love her. Usually. Sometimes. But I don’t understand how—”

“Let me back up to where I got sidetracked.” She took a big breath. “
So …
When I heard the stuff that Kevin had been spreading around, it seemed to make sense. At least,
I
thought it did. And it took me a while to figure this out, but the reason I took it so hard is because you had become really important to me. And that’s
my
understatement of the year. So here’s the outline version: There’s this guy, and I’m totally crazy about him, and then I find out he’s not what I thought he was, and I’m devastated. And he insists I’m wrong, but I’ve got a dozen other people saying the opposite and he’s already lied about it once. I need to know for sure, so I go digging, and that eventually leads me to his sister. She fills in some important missing details and
I realize I was an idiot for doubting him. Then I tell my parents that what I want for my sixteenth birthday more than anything is to take a trip to Yellowstone. They quickly figure out that I’m not going there to see Old Faithful, but they know this guy a little, and even though they’re not thrilled that I want to go a thousand miles to see some rock drummer on tour, I bust out all my negotiating skills and”—she threw up her hands like,
Ta-da!
—“here I am!”

“Yup, no doubt about it—here you am. Wow … that’s quite a story. So, you came all this way just to tell me you’re sorry for misjudging me?”

She put down her drink, came around the table, and climbed in my lap. Talk about déjà vu …

“Mr. Ryan,” she said in her professor voice, “I am here to offer my most sincere apologies for ever doubting the righteousness of your intentions.” She dropped the act and whispered in my ear, “And to do this …”

Then she kissed me. For reals.

Sarah and Ginger sat with Kimber during the next set. When we broke, I grabbed a coke and joined them.

Sarah smiled. “Hi, Zach. Nice to see you.”

“Good to see you, too.” I turned to Ginger and grinned. “Hey, thanks for being the responsible adult and escorting these two children all the way out here.”

“No problem,” she said with a straight face. “That’s why their parents paid me to come.”

“What?”
Kimber and Sarah both said.

She just laughed. Kinda reminded me of a junior Amber. “You guys sound great,” she added.

“Thanks.”

Ginger and Sarah left to get something to drink. Kimber turned to me and smiled. “I think my sister kind of likes your guitar player.”

“That’s only fair … I think his drummer kind of likes Sarah’s sister.” She laughed, and I said, “Speaking of music, how’re the Sock Monkeys doing? Last I heard, they were in some pro studio making a record.”

“Kyle didn’t tell you?”

Oops. He might have tried, but I hadn’t exactly been taking his calls. “Uh, he and I really aren’t speaking too much these days.”

“I know he bailed on you when you left the band, and I don’t blame you for being upset about it. But”—she kinda sighed—“he feels really bad about it. You two guys are best buds, and—”

“
Used
to be,” I corrected.

“Okay, but I think he’s starting to realize what a butthead he’s been.”

“You know, I don’t really want to talk about him right now—I’d much rather talk about you.”

She reached over and shoved me. “You brought it up.”

I held my hands up. “Guilty as charged.”

She got serious. “The truth is, I don’t know
how
they’re doing, because Kyle’s out.”

“Of the band?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

Now
that
was news. “They fired him, too? God, those guys are bigger idiots than I thought.” No matter what, Kyle was a rock-solid player.

“Actually, he quit.”

“Quit? Those guys have a steady gig all summer and access to a studio and a producer who’s helping them make a pro recording …”

“I guess none of that matters if you’re miserable, right? Personally, I think he finally woke up. Let’s see …” She looked up, like she was trying to remember something. “He said, ‘Toby’s a butthead, Justin’s a pawn, and Josh is a spoiled brat who couldn’t keep it in the pocket if there was a button, a zipper, and a frickin’ Velcro flap holding that pocket closed.’ At least, I think that’s an accurate quote.”

I had to smile. “Yeah, that sounds like Kyle. But I got news for you—Toby was always a butthead.”

“No kidding.” She paused. “Look … Kyle should have walked when they kicked you out. He’s a little slow, but he’s catching on. I think a lot of the reason that he left the Sock Monkeys was that it wasn’t fun anymore without you.”

I almost shot back a sarcastic reply, but I didn’t feel it. I mean, I was still pretty resentful, but I just couldn’t seem to work up a good case of the hates for Kyle after hearing all that.

Besides, having Kimber here made it hard to be unhappy about anything.…

Saturday was a blur.

A wonderful blur, but a blur just the same. Bits and pieces stick out in my mind.… Having a picnic lunch in the middle of a steaming lunar landscape; eating blueberry-cheesecake ice cream inside a giant log-cabin lodge with the roof seven stories above our heads; walking around the Upper Geyser Basin with Kimber’s hand in mine; watching a wayward herd of elk wander across the road next to Yellowstone Lake; and the four of us just cruising around the park in their rental car with the windows
down—music blasting away—being amazed by everything we saw. But as hokey as it sounds, probably the best part was seeing Old Faithful.…

The four of us were sitting on the viewing benches with a few hundred of our closest friends, waiting for the eruption. Kimber was in the middle of telling me about the thrills of summer school when there was a noise from the crowd, like a chorus of oohs and aahs. I looked over at the geyser cone. Okay, there was some steam drifting from it now, and water was splashing up and out intermittently. Was that it? I didn’t get what the big deal was. I mean, I guess it was kind of interesting, but I didn’t really see why everyone was so—

And then it blew. Holy freakin’ smoke. That thing went off like a freight train, pushing God knows how many thousands of gallons of steaming water two hundred feet straight up into the sky. And it wasn’t just one burst, either. It went on and on.…

I turned to Kimber and said the most brilliant thing I could think of. “Wow …”

She smiled back at me. “Yeah. Wow.” And then we kissed. It felt so natural I didn’t even think about anybody else being there. But when we were done, both Sarah and Ginger were looking at us. It was semi-weird until Kimber announced, “You know, I really like this scruffy-drummer-dude-type guy. Plus, he smells faintly of Starbucks. So get used to it, you guys.”

They both laughed, and that was that. Funny how quickly the weird can become the norm, huh?

All of that was absolutely wonderful.

What absolutely sucked, however, was saying goodbye.

They had to drive back to Bozeman that evening in order to catch their flight, so they couldn’t go to the gig. We were just hanging out on the street back in West Yellowstone after dinner, and before you knew it, it was after eight. It’s funny, but it seems like all of a sudden you cross that line from
This is so much fun it’s never going to end
to
Oh crap, it’s almost over
. And from the moment you first think that, it’s
not
fun anymore. There was no getting around it—I had to get back to the club and they had to hit the road.

What I really wanted to do instead was hole up in an out-of-the-way coffeehouse with Kimber for the next several hours and just hang. And maybe have a listening party, where you take turns choosing and playing favorite songs for each other. (Okay, maybe with occasional breaks for something “less cerebral,” as Kimber would say.) We’d known each other for a couple of years, but now there was this whole other … 
thing
. It was like we’d just met, and we were absolutely dying to get to know each other better.

I stalled as long as I could, but it finally got to the point where if I left right now, I could just make preflight. “Thanks again for coming up here with them,” I said to Sarah. “I think that was totally cool of you.”

She smiled and nodded. “No problem—we had a great time.”

I looked at Ginger. “You too—thanks for making the trip with Kimber. You’re a good friend.”

She grinned. “So are you, Zach. Enjoy the rest of your summer.”

Then I turned to Kimber. She tried to smile, but there were tears forming in her eyes. “Hey, it’s okay, birthday girl,” I said. “We’re halfway done—I’ll be home in four or five weeks. And you can talk to me anytime you want. Because
I
leave my phone on … unlike a certain little brat that I could name.”

She hugged me. “Five weeks is a long time,” she said quietly. “And I’m going to miss you like hell.”

“Even more than you missed me when you thought I wasn’t me anymore?” I was just kidding with her, trying to lighten her load a little, but it didn’t work.

“Worse. Because you are you, after all.” She finally grinned a little. “And then some.”

“Thanks. I think. And I’m going to miss you like hell, too.” I thought of a hundred different things to say, but none of them really seemed to fit, so I just picked her up and held her. Finally, I set her down. “I have to go now.”

She couldn’t really talk. She just nodded.

I turned away and headed up the street. Pretty soon I was running.