Above the Noise (23 page)

“Listen, Becki—”

“No,
you
listen, Calon. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to make decisions for me. You’re my boyfriend, not my parent.”

“I didn’t make the appointment because I’m your boyfriend. I’m trying to take care of you. I want you to feel better.”

“Does this have something to do with Chloe, Calon?” I couldn’t read her tone or her body language. It was like she was apathetic.

“No. Well, I guess a little. But—”

“Calon, I’m exhausted, not dying.” As soon as she said it I saw her cringe. “I’m sorry. That sounded insensitive. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I think you’re taking this all too seriously. You can’t put your experience with Chloe on me. You can’t assume the worst whenever I don’t feel good.”

“Becki, wouldn’t you feel better to know what’s actually wrong, instead of just assuming it’s exhaustion and stress?” My voice was shaky. I think mostly because I was reliving conversations I’d had with Chloe. Becki looked at her hands folded in her lap. I got the feeling she wasn’t just being stubborn.

“Calon, my mom wasn’t big on going to the doctors. But I’ll never forget the time she drove me from the school nurse’s office to my pediatrician. That’s the last day I was a healthy kid. A day later I was diagnosed with Leukemia and fighting for my life. I went through it all. Cancer is a fucking nightmare. I swear it’s Hell on earth. Well, once I’d been cancer-free for five years, I decided it was going to take a hell of a lot for me to voluntarily go back to a place that hands out death sentences.” I pulled her into my lap, and I turned and stretched my legs out on the length of the bench seat in the back of the van. She laid her head on my shoulder and bit her thumbnail. I’d seen Becki nervous before but nothing like this. She was terrified of getting slapped in the face with a diagnosis she was least expecting.

“Look, the doctor can see you later today. I’m not going to force you to go, but let’s just wait it out a little and see how you feel later. We can always cancel it.” I rubbed her back, and she tucked her face into my neck. I felt a couple tears, and it broke my heart. Was I making my own diagnosis just because of what I’d been through with Chloe? Would I always assume the worst? I didn’t want to upset Becki, but I thought it would put both our minds at ease to know for sure it was just stress.

“Calon, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult. I just don’t want to see that look again. I didn’t understand it then, but I’ll never forget his somber gaze. He knew the words that would fall from his lips would change everything for my mom and me. I don’t want to have something like that thrown at me again.” She wiped her face with her hands and took a deep breath.

“Let’s go grab something to eat and take it up to the room.”

“Sounds good.”

“Calon, I’m going to cancel that appointment. You know that, right?”

“Yep.” I smiled down at her, and we headed to grab some takeout.

We knocked on the door because our hands were too full to reach for or even swipe a key. Bones swung the door open and waggled his eyebrows like he did when he was about to hit on someone.

“Get outta the way, Bones. I’m gonna drop all this food.”

“Hey, guys, Cal and Becki brought dinner. And, Cal, someone’s here to see you.”

Becki and I sat the bags down on the table at the same time and stood stoic next to each other due to the leggy blonde in cowboy boots perched on the edge of our dresser. She had big curls that fell around her face and down over her shoulders. One of the curls actually disappeared between her breasts. She wore a lacey peach-colored dress that came just to the middle of her thighs, but her legs looked to be nine feet tall, so her dress appeared way shorter than it probably was. A pair of Ray-Ban’s sat on the top of her head and a smile that could stop traffic spread across her face. She uncrossed her ankles and walked over to Becki and me with her hand extended.

“Calon. Becki. I’m Danny. Cyan said this was a good time to come meet you guys. I just wanted to introduce myself before we made any plans for a discussion on what services I could provide the band.” She winked and shook both our hands.

I waited for some snide comment from Bones on the
services she could provide
for him. He said nothing, but Becki’s body language told me I should be more concerned about her reaction to Danny than his. I took Becki’s hand in mine and lifted it to kiss her knuckles, making it perfectly clear that flirting with me was not in Danny’s best interest.

“Nice to meet you, Danny. I hope you like Mexican food. You’re welcome to join us for dinner, and we can chat while you have all of us here.” I motioned toward the food.

“Sounds great. I’m a Mexican food whore.” Her voice was sultry and deep. But she had a sweet air about her, too.

We spent the next couple hours getting to know Danny, and it seemed she really knew her stuff. As long as she and Becki could stay on good terms with each other, I knew they would make a phenomenal team.

“So, Danny, you would be working as my assistant, which means, as manager, I would give you your weekly responsibilities and you would fulfill them to the best of your ability. What strengths do you have that you feel would be an asset to us?” Becki spun a pencil between her fingers and then tapped the eraser end on the table, as though that was the cue for Danny to answer. There was a subtle cockiness in Becki’s attitude. It was obvious she was pissing on her territory and letting Danny know she wasn’t going to be disrespected. Manny and Spider both looked over at me and nodded their approval of how Becki was handling the situation. We all glanced over at Bones who was staring, mouth agape, as Danny licked her fingers free of dripping salsa, as she readied herself to answer Becki.

“That’s a great question, Becki. Look, I’m here to assist you, plain and simple. Are there tasks and details that I enjoy better than others? Sure. But, my job is to make your job easier, and that’s what my focus would be. I’m a very detail oriented person. I’m a bit OCD, which lends itself well to getting a job done right, the first time. I’m also a people pleaser by nature—”

“Shit, yeah you are.” Bones’s hand slapped over his mouth, and he spoke through his fingers. “Shit! Did I actually say that out loud? Fuck. I’m an idiot.” He motioned with his hand for Danny to continue. The rest of us just shook our heads.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bones.” Danny laughed. “Becki, you and I can sit down and make a list of the things you would rather not be bothered with, and I won’t overstep the boundaries you set. I’m meticulous with following directions and I won’t let you down. I really think we’d make a good team.”

“Sounds promising. Now, Danny, can you tell us a little about yourself? What would you like us to know about you other than your job-related skills?” Becki jotted some things down on her tablet. I looked over her shoulder and read the words she’d just written…

A BIT TOO PERKY, BUT I DON’T HATE HER YET.

I had to rub my face and clear my throat to keep from laughing out loud.

Danny took a sip of her water and wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin. I had to kick Bones under the table to keep him from being so obvious with the inappropriate thoughts he was having about Danny as she spoke.

“Well, let’s see. I was born and raised in Texas. I’m a country girl through and through. I sing. I’m a huge romance book addict. I run every day, and I’m trying so hard to curb my instinctive reaction to Muppet-flail right now because I’m sitting in a hotel room with the hotties of Alternate Tragedy.” Her voice went up like three octaves as she spoke that last fact, and I could almost feel Becki’s eyes roll.

“You said you sing.” Becki’s voice had a ‘bring it on’ tone to it. She didn’t even give Danny a chance to respond. “Not to put you on the spot, but can you sing something for us?”

“Um, sure.” Danny scooted her chair back and shot Becki a look that spoke volumes about her lack of intimidation. Man, chicks were brutal. She smoothed her dress, cleared her throat and put one hand on her stomach. She closed her eyes, hummed quietly, and took a deep breath. She tapped out a beat with one boot and slapped the top of her thigh on the offbeat with her free hand. And like she was standing on an audition stage, she belted the most hypnotizing rendition of Sara Evans’s “Suds in the Bucket” I’d ever heard. Her voice was strong and sultry with just the right amount of rasp. I slowly and discreetly rolled down my flannel sleeves. Becki would punch me right in the junk if she noticed the goose bumps that raised on my arms.
Shit, she’s amazing.
Her voice did the perfect country twang trill in all the right spots and soon her hips were dipping up and down, back and forth as we watched her lose herself in the a cappella moment.

She sang the entire song, complete with a ‘yee-hoo’ that just about threw Bones to the floor. She finished, smiled a shy smile, and blushed a little then sat back down in her chair and took a huge bite of her over-stuffed taco. She glanced up at the rest of us, mouths still agape, and giggled.

“Wow. Holy hell, Danny. You’re crazy good. Wow. You gave me goose bumps.” Becki’s eyes were as big as saucers as she spoke her sincere words. Danny was incredibly talented. No one could dispute that. “Well, even if you’re only half as talented at assisting, then we would be lucky to have you. You guys agree?” Becki looked around the table at the rest of us, and we all nodded in unison.

“Oh my Gawd! I won’t let you down, I promise.” She high fived each of us.

“One last question, Danny…” We all looked over at Becki as she smirked at each of us one by one. She was about to add something to this interview, but I had no idea where she was going with it. “Are you free next weekend?”

“Halloween weekend? I’ve had a couple of party invites. They’re nothing I can’t respectfully decline, though. What’s next weekend?”

“We are headed to Knoxville for the first stop on our newly-titled SURPRISE TOUR; Mitchell’s Pub, where these guys have played for years, is having their masquerade ball, and we will all be showing up in costume. It’ll be a surprise to everyone except Gracie and Buzz.”

The guys howled.

“Becki! That’s amazing, but how are we going to do that? It took us days to get out here from Tennessee, and we certainly can’t afford to fly.” I didn’t want to put a damper on what sounded like an incredible plan but I couldn’t figure out the logistics.

“
Well, believe it or not, Buzz was so excited about the idea he figured out how to make it work. He’s a former executive at an airline. Go figure, who would have thought of the grizzled barkeep in a three-piece suit? As part of his retirement package, he gets a decent number of travel vouchers each year. He never uses them because he’s too busy running the bar. Lucky for us, he can gift them. It’s one of the perks of being an executive. He told us to let him know anytime we need to fly
. He’s wetting his pants and has all kinds of ideas for hyping the event without actually revealing who will be taking the stage.”

We all whooped and yelled at the same time.

Becki grinned and nodded.

“Becki! This is incredible!” I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a loud smacking kiss on the neck. As much as I’d always imagined travelling with the band, I had recently realized how much I missed the small town celebrity thing. I loved checking out all the new venues in LA and meeting new fans each night. But, even with all the exciting things happening, I missed Mitchell’s, the college scene, and our close-knit family of fans. I’d never realized what a hometown boy I was.

We were going home. It was only for the weekend, but it would fill our tanks.

“So, I’ve never been to Tennessee. I’m assuming by y’all’s reaction, this is going to be a great time.” Danny smiled and seemed to welcome the adventure.

“Hell yeah, it is. I would be honored to be your own personal tour guide, Danny.” Bones spoke with sincerity. I waited for the punch line, something that would give her a peek into his inappropriate thoughts, but there was none.

“Thanks, Bones. I’ll probably take you up on that.” She smiled coyly and winked.

“So, now that it’s past happy hour, how about we all head out for the night to celebrate Danny joining our crazy little team and because we’re going home next weekend? Who’s in?” Manny’s party meter must’ve been running low.

“Danny, you wanna come upstairs with me? My room is a little less smelly and more girl-friendly for primping.” Becki seemed quite comfortable with this new assistant idea. Especially for being surprised by the fact that Danny wasn’t a dude.

“Sure, Becki. Thanks.”

Becki came over and kissed me, and then the girls left the room, and the four of us took turns fist bumping each other.

We did a couple shots and talked about our pending Tennessee trip while we waited for a text from Becki that they were ready to head out. When we got her text, we took a couple minutes to throw the untouched food in the fridge.

“Shit, Cal. The threesome you could have with those two. Woooo, shit! I’d pay to watch that!” Bones made a jacking off motion in front of his crotch.

And there it was. He’d held it in longer than I’d ever known him to, but it all caught up with him and wham, he had me naked with Becki and Danny.

“Shut up, Bones!” I cuffed him on the back of the head, and we all cracked up. I knew each of us got a small glimpse of what that would be like just because of Bones’s comment. I shook my head as an innate reaction to rid myself of that image.