Blush (15 page)

“I'm having some jerseys made for us, babe,“
Jesse tells me. “Celeste said they should be here in a week or
so.“

“What kind of jerseys?“ I ask.

“They're a surprise but I guarantee you're
going to love them,“ he tells me and taps a finger to my nose.

“I saw 'em, Luce,“ Xander nods, “they're kick
ass and fun as hell.“

“Sweet.“ I'm excited. Matching jerseys with
my hubby isn't something I imagined I'd ever wear, but it sounds
like it's going to be about more than just wearing the jerseys.

I take a minute to look around. This café is
awesome. Red and black and white checkered.

“Hey,“ I murmur aloud. “Falling Down color
theme.“

“Dude,“ Xander exclaims. “It's a good omen.
This tour is totally going to be a BFD.“

Cage rolls his eyes.

“I was saying…“ I find Twitter on Jesse's
phone and sign in to my account. “C'mere those who want to see true
stalker behavior.“ I snicker when they all crowd around, then turn
around so they can all see the screen. I click on the lady's name,
then show all her tweets and retweets. Every single one is of
Milo.

“Fuck, how many are there on there?“ Ethan
asks.

I shrug. “I counted one day and it was only
morning-time and she had twenty-six tweets and retweets. All about
Milo, of course.“

“Of course,“ Kennedy says dryly. “Christ,
what do you do with that?“

“I don't know,“ I shrug. “He hasn't done
anything about it so he mustn't deem it a threat, otherwise he'd
have blocked her.“

“Or he hasn't noticed,“ Sera adds.

“There's that,“ I nod.

“Someone should tell him,“ Meggie
announces.

“Go for it. I'm not doing it. He'll think I'm
one of them too when really I'm not. This woman befriended me and
when I noticed she was off her rocker, I backed way off.“

“Good plan, Cupcake,“ Jesse agrees, pulling
me back against his chest.

Cage shakes his head. “That's crazy.“

I shrug. “I guess it comes with the
territory?“ It's more of a question than a statement. “I can't
imagine. I mean, on some level I get it. People feel close to
celebrities because they're on display so much, but what they don't
realize is the roles they play are just that: roles. That's not who
those people are. Not at all.“

Sera leans forward, looking at her phone. “I
can see here that a lot of them refer to him as Jess or Peter.
That's pretty wonky. He's not the person he portrayed in the
fictional TV shows.“

Cage crosses his arms. “You and I know that
but there are people out there who can't quite grasp the reality of
it all. They think because an actor plays a role, that they are
like that person, that they aren't playing some other personality
but their own.“

“Part of why Lucy walked away,“ Sera
sighs.

I nod. “Before it got to that level.“

“I hate to break it to you, Luce,“ Ben pats
my shoulder, “you're already at that level and it's bound to get
worse now.“

“Lovely.“

The waitress walks up, her mouth agape. I
imagine we're quite a sight and a shock.

“Hi Mist,“ I greet, reading her nametag.

“Hi,“ she clears her throat. “Y'all will have
to excuse me for a few minutes until I adjust. I'm just a little
star struck.“

“Ah, darlin', it's okay. We're not going
anywhere for a while,“ Ben tells her, patting her arm. I slap his
arm. “What?“ he asks.

“Stop it. She's already having trouble
breathing.“

Mist nods.

“Here, Sugar,“ Celeste stands up and takes
the pad from Mist. “I'll help take the orders while you adjust,
alright?“

Mist nods again, eyes still wide, floating
over all of us.

“Gosh, Mist, your hair color is gorgeous,“
Spenser compliments.

Her hand flies up to her lovely blonde locks.
“Thank you.“

“I'm Spenser Clarity. I, along with Carmen
and Simone here, take care of this crew's hair, makeup, and
wardrobe so I know amazingly natural hair color when I see it. And
the highlights, even while it's up in a bun like that…
fantastic.“

“Oh, wow,“ she blushes. “Thanks.“

“Here you go, sugar.“ Celeste startles Mist.
“All orders taken.“

“Whoa, you did a great job,“ Mist tells
her.

Celeste shrugs a shoulder. “I've done my fair
share of waitressing. I commend you for holding it together, not
squealing, or passing out on the floor. I've seen it done and it's
not pretty. You're doing great.“

Mist blushes. “I'll get your orders in and
bring you your drinks.“

“Thank you, Mist.“ Jesse smiles and Mist
freezes. Yeah, I get what she's feeling. Those dimples could render
even the most feministic female speechless.

Xander pats her arm. “He's just a guy and I'm
much better looking.“ He winks and Mist blushes again.

“I'll be right back.“

“You're terrible, Xan my man.“

“What? It woke her from the Kingston trance,
didn't it?“

“True. Babe, you need to realize those
dimples are lethal.“

Jesse chuckles. “I can't help it. Should I
put tape over them?“

“Little hot pink circles,“ Meggie teases,
then frowns. “Never mind. He'd still look lethal.“

I nod. “Likely.“

“Getting back to the original topic,“ Celeste
interrupts. “You wanted to put a stop to the Blush Baby fad. We've
got the guy we can contact—Jake, that you picked. We just need to
find a female.“

“Hmm,“ I murmur as Mist sets the drinks in
front of us. “Have we been getting any fan mail? Email?“

“Of course.“

“Can I see your…whatever that thing is you've
got there?“ I ask.

“My iPad?“ she asks.

“Yeah. Maybe open it up to the emails so I
can scan through. We may find the female Blush Baby in there.“

“Oh,“ she says, firing up her tablet. “Good
plan.“ She hands it to me and I start scrolling down. “Damn. I've
got some haters.“

“Screw them, baby,“ Jesse kisses the top of
my head then leans over my shoulder to read through a few with me.
“What's this one?“ he asks, pointing one out.

“Let's see.“ Instantly tears well.

“Lucy, what's wrong?“ Sera asks.

“This girl. She's seventeen and she's been
diagnosed with cancer.“ I hear murmured expletives. “She is
beautiful… gorgeous. She's bald from the chemo, but look at those
eyes, Jesse. You can see the wonderful person inside through those
eyes.“

“Let me see,“ Sera murmurs and I put the iPad
down on the table and spin it around for her and Meggie to see. The
rest of the gang tries to catch glimpses, some do and others are
too far away so they pass it around.

“Damn,“ Damian curses.

“What is it?“ I ask.

He shakes his head. “She's got leukemia.
That's a hell of a thing for a seventeen year old.“

I nod. “On top of that she's in the foster
system, has been for the past seven months since her mom died of an
overdose.“

“Fuck,“ Ben exclaims.

“Man, that sucks so hard,“ Ethan adds. “Isn't
there anything we can do?“

I tap my left index finger to my lip in a
very uncoordinated fashion. “Maybe.“ I look to Celeste as Mist
delivers our food. Celeste raises a brow already knowing what I'm
going to say. I nod. “Her. She's our Blush Baby.“

“Lucy,“ Cage begins softly, “she may be too
ill to be able to handle that stressful of a job. Let's not forget
she's in the foster system which means it's next to impossible to
get any kind of leeway, especially as she's sick.“

“Hmm,“ Meggie murmurs, pouring some ketchup
in the corner of her plate. “You'd think they would want to get her
out of there. I mean the burden of the expense alone would want CPS
to find her a place that could take care of something like that.“
Meggie slides a look my way and winks.

“I was thinking the same thing,“ Kennedy
adds. “I don't know about you, but I remember when we were kids and
when Linc got sick how they found an adoptive family and it took
less than a week to get him out of CPS and into that house. Glad
they did too. He'd never have made it otherwise.“

“What was wrong with him?“ Simone asks.

“Leukemia.“

“Damn. He survived?“ she affirms.

“Yep. He's one tough son of a bitch. Don't
get me wrong, it was touch and go for a while there at first, but
he's been in remission for years. Doing great too,“ Kennedy
explains.

“That's amazing. I always thought Leukemia
meant a death sentence,“ Jace admits.

“For some there's nothing anyone can do. It's
all a matter of how the body responds to the treatment,“ Kennedy
informs us.

“You all were close with Linc?“ I ask.

Jesse hugs me softly. “Yeah. He's our sixth.
You'll likely meet him at our stop in Chicago. He had to get a late
start with this tour but he'll be here.“

“Excellent. I can't wait to meet him.“

Xander laughs. “He can't wait to meet you
either. The woman who tamed the Jessman.“

“The ‘Jessman'?“ I ask.

Jesse shrugs a shoulder. “It's what Linc
calls me. Always has. He's a good guy and I know you're going to
love him.“

I nod then sigh. Jesse notes my dismay and
scoots me over. We both sit up and he cuts my cheeseburger into
quarters, then into halves of those. I could cry right now,
honestly. He does all this without me having to say a word. He's an
attentive man. Loving, caring. He just needs to learn how to be
this way when the excitement of the music gets to him. I can
understand how he got caught up. Hell, I got caught up in it on
stage. It's an incredible high and the admiration of the fans is
really something I can appreciate, being one of them myself. I just
don't understand the whole “groupie“ thing from the perspective of
these guys. They lived it for years and, yeah, it's going to take
some doing to realize how much has to change. If he seriously
didn't get fazed by any of the groping for however long, then it's
understandable what happened last night. God, was that only last
night? We need to talk, but it will be more enlightening and
understanding for both of us than the bitchfest that likely would
have come about last night.

“Thank you, baby,“ I tell him and kiss his
cheek.

“Welcome, Cupcake.“

Mist is standing there watching us, her hands
cupped together in front of her mouth, tears welling in her
eyes.

“What is it? What's wrong?“ I ask her.

She shakes her head. “Nothing. I'm so sorry
to intrude but watching you two together, it's inspiring. One day I
want to find a love like that.“

“Like what?“ Ethan asks.

“True, deep-down-to-your-soul love where your
partner doesn't even have to mutter a word, you just know what they
need and give it to them without hesitation. I was going to offer
to help Mrs. Russo-Kingston, but I watched as her husband helped
her. He just knew.“

I smile brightly at Mist. “Thank you for
that, Mist. You don't know how refreshing it is to not have someone
fawning all over us, especially the guys. They're amazingly good
looking and built and really great guys and since you have gone
above and beyond, I think you should come sit next to me and join
in our chat.“

“Oh, I couldn't,“ she looks back toward the
counter and kitchen.

“Don't you worry about that, darlin',“ Ben
tells her. “Come sit. We'll make sure everything is good with your
boss before we head out.“ He pats the seat between him and me and I
grin as Mist loses the battle.

I've barely begun eating my burger when Ben
hums in approval, closes his eyes in bliss as he bites into his
chocolate éclair.

I snicker. “Good?“

“Oh man,“ he all but moans. “So good. Where
did you get these? Somewhere nearby?“ he asks Mist who blushes
prettily.

“Uh, no. I made them.“

“You're fucking with me.“

“I assure you I'm not,“ she sits up
straighter in defense. “I make all the baked goods for the
café.“

“I didn't mean to offend you,“ he murmurs,
“these are just so fucking incredible.“

“Oh, well,“ she straightens the nonexistent
wrinkles on her faded jeans.

“Say,“ he begins, looking at me with a
glimmer in his eyes. My eyes widen in response as I bite into a
French fry and he winks.

“Hmm?“ she asks.

“Tell me a little about yourself, Mist.“

She eyes him warily, and rightfully so. “What
do you want to know?“

“Are you married? Significant other?“ Meggie
interrupts knowingly.

“Oh, well, no. It's just me and my sister.“
The way she says “sister“ leads me to believe she doesn't much like
her sister.

“Do you like it here in this town?“ Kennedy
asks.

She shrugs. “I guess. I'd much rather be back
in the city. When my mom died five years ago, my sister got custody
of me so I was forced to move to Bumfuck Egypt.“

Ethan snickers. “What would you say if we
offered to help you change that?“

She narrows her eyes. “What are you getting
at? I'm not that type of girl.“

“Good to know, Mist, but not at all what I
meant,“ he reassures her.

“What
do
you mean?“ she asks.

I sigh. “Oh for fuck's sake. You all suck at
this so bad.“

Jesse chuckles. “Let the master take
over.“

“Damn straight,“ Cage agrees.

“What they're wanting to know is if there's
anything tying you down to this Bumfuck Egypt town?“ I ask.

“No.“

“Nothing? What about your sister?“

“She's a nightmare. I've been trying to save
for years to get out of that house and away from her and her pig of
a husband.“

Ben's eyes narrow. “Has he hurt you?“

She shakes her head. “No, but not for lack of
trying.“ She gasps and covers her mouth. “I shouldn't have told you
that.“

“It's alright, darlin',“ he reassures her.
“You like to bake?“

“I love it. It's all I've ever wanted to do.
Bake and cook.“

“From the taste of everything, you're damn
good at it, too,“ Spenser throws in.