One Hit Wonder (3 page)

“Audrey, you have gorgeous eyes.” Kevin zoomed in the lens on her face, and she instinctively covered it with her hands.

“If you delete something, I swear.” Audrey pointed a finger at him. “I haven’t downloaded last night’s photos yet.”

“Man, give her the camera. I had my sexy shirt on last night.” Tyler winked at Audrey from the soda machine as he filled his cup with Dr. Pepper. She frowned at him, trying to decode his ambiguous expression.

Two days before, his dispensed gallantries had escalated to a rubbing of her feet that felt unexpectedly sensuous.

“You have a tattoo?” Tyler gasped while studying the delicate cluster of cherry blossoms on her right ankle. His own arm appeared to portray a narrative much like Dante’s
Inferno
— ergo it was hard to see authenticity in his caught breath over a few flowers.

Kevin purred, “A tattoo? You naughty girl.” He nodded to Tyler to scoot over so he could sit at the little table across from her. Instead, Tyler moved to the floor, without letting go of her ankle, and started to massage her foot.

Audrey snapped her brows at him. “What are you doing?”

“Relax,” Tyler told her, smirking and squeezing her foot a little harder. Kevin propped his feet on the table as he said, “I’m next.” Tyler proceeded to massage her feet and calves while staring intently into her eyes. For a split second, she feared if she were alone with him inside the Winnebago it could had been the end of her perennial celibacy.

Tyler was well aware of his sex appeal and he used it well, but she dismissed his smirk as John emerged from the groceries side of the gas station with a bottle of pink lemonade and a pack of cigarettes in his hands. “You guys about ready?” he said.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Rob asked.

“I’m not hungry.” John’s gaze stopped at the camera in Kevin’s hand as he handed it back to Audrey.

• • •

John was the only one who hadn’t opened up to her, ignoring her as much as he could. She couldn’t quite figure out why he continually froze her out, whatever it was; an interrupted look, a change of subject, walking away whenever she arrived. She wanted to knock it out of his head with a crowbar.

Acutely aware of his behavior, the only thing left to do was find out what was his problem. She was all right, wasn’t she? A bit flaky and gawky at times, but she found solace in knowing she was the only one who suffered by her own faults. In truth, she considered herself quite gregarious, even witty and smart. Then, why was John being such a snob?

“Are you going to the bathroom?” Audrey asked when he got up from a folding chair near the fire and started to walk toward the bathroom at a campsite in Virginia. She needed to talk to him alone, without the others overtaking the conversation and transforming it into a big joke. They hadn’t talked a lot before the tour, but it never crossed her mind he was going to be the one she’d butt heads with.

“Oh … yes.” John turned back, surprised.

They had been making s’mores and drinking instant cappuccino with whiskey by the fire after dinner — a bag of fast-food hamburgers.

“I’ll go with you.” Audrey stood and walked toward him.

“Anyone else?” John said.

Kevin and Matt shook their heads, Tyler and Rob were already in their tent — the cheaper alternative to hotel rooms. She slept on the bed in the Winnebago and everyone else slept in two tents. She had offered to take turns but they refused. Sometimes Kevin or Matt slept on the couch, rarely Rob or Tyler, never John.

Audrey bit her lips to prevent a smile, amused by his eagerness not to be alone with her. Matt had told her John was their leader, the glue that kept them together from the start. Essentially, he was the sun which the band depended on to survive, providing energy and generating life; in other words, composing the songs.

“Gosh, it’s cold when you’re not by the fire.” She rubbed her arms as they walked.

“It’s actually not bad for March. It could be a lot worse.” John looked straight ahead and down at the ground at each step.

“I had forgotten how much fun camping is. My father used to take me all the time when I was little.”

They walked forward in semi-darkness, guided by the light hanging on the corner of the bathroom’s bare cement construction.

John, with his hands in his pockets, said, “I’m glad — ”

“Boo!” Kevin had sneaked up behind them and pinched Audrey’s waist.

“Ahhhh!” She jumped. “You idiot!” She frantically slapped his arms as he ducked and stepped away. When she turned back to John, he was gone. She was disappointed; it was the first time in days he had spoken to her directly.

“What do you think of me and you going to explore the woods?” Kevin asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward a dark trail on their left.

She pulled her hand away. “Yeah, right. So I can be eaten by a Sasquatch while you run for your life.”

“That hurts my feelings. You don’t think I can protect you?” Kevin flexed his arms and kissed his biceps.

“It isn’t a matter if you can or can’t, but rather what your survival instincts will tell you to do, and I have a hunch they’ll tell you to protect those golden locks of yours.”

When they arrived at the bathrooms, John was already leaving.

“Johnny, Audrey thinks I would run away and let her be the entrée of a hungry Sasquatch. Can you believe it?”

“I kind of can.” John lit a cigarette and wisps of smoke rose into the air.

“Oh, man! What’s a guy have to do to earn some respect around here?”

“Don’t feel bad, It’s not just you.” She stepped on the bathroom’s threshold. “It’s self-preservation, people think of themselves first.”

John raised his eyebrows and walked away. She watched him being enveloped by darkness before closing the door.

“Let’s have a toast.” Kevin often suggested, raising his glass. They all drank together, but no one felt like toasting every time they took a sip. So, at the later hours of the night, the communal answer was no, and they would just knock back their whiskey — Kevin’s favorite — making faces and shaking their heads. He could have made a fortune as a bootlegger; whenever Audrey thought they’d finished drinking, he surfaced with another bottle. In the beginning, she wondered if he was trying to get her drunk. She eventually realized he was trying to get everyone drunk.

“Audrey, how come you don’t have a boyfriend?” Kevin’s flirtations were always more acute as the emptied bottles amassed.

“Who said I don’t?” she said in a defiant tone. It had been almost six months since she had her last encounter with a lingering ex-boyfriend. He was someone she grew accustomed to having around but never felt compelled to take the next step with. He had hinted more than once they were heading to the altar, but when time came to make a decision, she bailed.

“Only an idiot would let a girl like you go on a two-month road trip with a bunch of guys, and you don’t look like the type of girl who would put out for an idiot.”

“Then your chances are zero, aren’t they?”

Kevin chuckled. “I don’t mind being an idiot when it comes to you.” His green eyes fixed on her like laser beams ready to take her down. Fortunately, with eyelids droopy and attention dispersed, he always seemed to have had one too many drinks to use his weapons of seduction properly.

• • •

Sobriety hours entailed photographing the band and updating their MySpace, Facebook and Twitter accounts. At her old job, she’d spent long minutes scrolling down Facebook’s news feed out of boredom. She thought it was stupid for people to describe their entire day using status updates, and was specially annoyed when someone would post “I’m going to bed, good night.” Now she twittered the band’s every move, no matter how silly or weird. She also set up a Tumblr account and posted behind-the-scenes pictures along with the twitter updates, increasing dramatically the number of followers in less than two weeks.

Very naturally, she started to act like a promoter when they arrived at a new location, taking the initiative to call radio stations to arrange interviews if there was enough time. Once in Asheville, she managed to get a TV appearance, orchestrated in part by the venue owner’s local influence, but likely impossible without her diligence.

She also arranged for the band to visit a school that offered a music program for underprivileged kids. Peter, one of the program’s volunteers came up to her in the bar where the band was playing. He was a seventeen-year-old high school senior, very determined to get into Yale in the fall. It was what got him volunteering in the first place, but he’d confessed after he met the kids he felt helping them was the biggest thing he’d ever done.

“Excuse me, are you the band’s manager?” He must have assumed because of the way Audrey moved around the place before the concert, talking to the owner, pointing at the stage, and setting up a table with the band’s CDs and T-shirts for sale.

Peter invited the band to come to the school to play and talk to the kids. Audrey agreed without asking the guys. He handed her his phone number and left to study for a calculus test the next morning. She stared at him walking away, and felt touched by his determination and confidence. Peter was clearly a responsible and — more importantly — compassionate young man. She thought about what she had done for others during her high school years and quivered with regret.

After the concert, she told the band about their next-day engagement and didn’t have to convince anyone. During a game of pool, they decided to not trash themselves that night.

“Got to put up a fresh face for the kids.” Kevin said, lifting up his beer bottle.

John shook his head and racked the balls.

“What? Beer is cool. Shots are the problem.” Kevin shook his head and took another gulp. He was sitting near the pool table with Audrey, Matt, and Rob. Tyler was talking to a couple of girls at the bar.

“Can we play?” Tyler asked, bringing the two blondes over.

“Sure.” John chalked his cue and broke sharply.

“This is Ashley and Tiffany.” Tyler placed his beer at the table and grabbed cues for the girls. “That is John.”

“Hi,” the girls sing-songed.

John lifted his beer and nodded.

“Kevin, Audrey, Matt, and Rob,” Tyler said, pointing at each.

“I’m on your team.” Tiffany moved to John’s side of the table. She was wearing a pink V-neck sweater that complemented her rosy skin and a short skirt that was very inappropriate for playing pool. Her shaggy hair fell on her face as she smiled apologetically, telling John she wasn’t a very good player.

For minutes, it seemed Matt and Kevin had lost their verbal skills as they watched the game — or the blonde. Tyler and Ashley seemed to be ready to take their game elsewhere. They giggled, whispered, and hugged every time one of their balls sank. Since those girls came in a pair, Audrey suspected Tiffany would also be getting ready to move along in her game with John, and a surge of irritation rushed through Audrey, making her stand up abruptly.

Matt and Kevin turned their heads toward her, and realizing what she’d done, she said casually, “I’m going to get a drink.”

“I’m packing it in.” Rob stood as well. Inwardly, she sighed in relief when their gazes fell on him. Rob usually was the first one to go to bed, so he could drive the next day while the rest of the band slept in the bus.

Audrey grabbed her camera bag and walked away before Rob, afraid of being asked to return with drinks for everyone. At the bar, she ordered a beer, sat at a stool in front of the TV screen, and placed her bag on the floor under a foot rest. She sipped her beer and glanced at the pool table, Tyler was rubbing the girl’s back and she felt a little jealous. It had been months since she was touched like that. Hell, six months. She turned her gaze to the other side of the bar. Perhaps, she would see someone, and she could hook up, too, if she wanted. In fact, as she looked at the pool table again, she knew could have any one of those guys. Except John. She wasn’t his type. He preferred long-legged blondes.

She closed her eyes and took a long pull of beer, savoring the cool, bitter taste that coated her mouth. When she opened her eyes again, John was handing Kevin his cue and, stroking his fingers through his hair as if relieved of a heavy burden, grabbed his cigarette pack from the stool behind him and walked away. Alone. The long-legged blonde looked at the other girl and shrugged, then turned to Kevin and smiled. As Audrey watched John walking toward the door, he sneaked a sideway peek at her. She immediately felt a tantalizing warmth running through her body and, disconcerted, looked away.

• • •

Bill wasn’t enthused over Audrey’s interventions. After the first radio interview he called often. During one of those calls, John looked flustered — then suddenly relieved — as the bus stopped at a gas station and he jumped out.

“That was a good thing” and “it is free publicity,” she heard him say into the phone as he stepped from the bus. She tried to appear inconspicuous as she leaned against the window. “No! She’s not expecting to be paid for that.” John’s voice became an indecipherable mutter as he moved out of her hearing range.

Is he standing up for me? Audrey wondered, watching him pace with the phone and gesture sternly. When he hung up and walked inside the gas station, she jumped out of the bus and followed, finding him staring at soft drinks in front of a floor-to-ceiling refrigerator.

“John?” She approached him gingerly. “Is everything okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Bill.”

“Oh, it’s fine. He was just asking about some of the things we’ve been doing.”

“Does he think I’m meddling?

“Nothing he can do about it from hundreds of miles away.” John snorted.

“I don’t want to cause any trouble — ” Audrey smiled sheepishly, “ — for you.”

John held her gaze and her heart skipped a beat. She felt the charged energy between them, and when he took a step in her direction, it multiplied by tenfold.

“Audrey — ”

“Hey kids,” Tyler said, coming out of freaking nowhere and grabbing a soda from the refrigerator. “What’s happening?”

John twitched his lips at her, then turned to an expectant Tyler. “I was telling Audrey about Bill’s management style.”