“Just having fun with your new buddies,” she whispered back. Then she raised her voice and said, “I’m expecting you all to takeverygood care of Roxie on tour.”
I tried not to roll my eyes again.
“She’s safe with us!” Milo said.
Violet put an arm around me and added, “I’ll make sure she’s good. I’m more trustworthy than Milo here.”
“What? No you’re not!” he argued. “Why am I not trustworthy?”
Violet glared at him. “You knowexactlywhy.”
Milo loaded my first suitcase into the storage compartment underneath the bus, then threw up his hands. “Are you seriously still mad about the Pop-Tarts?”
“It was the last one,” Violet said, acid dripping from every word. “You knew I was looking forward to eating it.”
“I forgot!”
While they argued, I hugged Meghan goodbye. “Thanks for the ride. And for pushing me to kind of consider this.”
“I’ll always look out for you, Roxie,” she replied. “Now go have fun. But nottoomuch fun. Unless you really want to, in which case I give you permissionandmy full endorsement.”
Now I did roll my eyes. “Get out of here.”
“Keep me updated!” she said, blowing me a kiss before getting back in her car.
As I watched her drive away, I felt like a child being dropped off for her first day of school.
“Come on, babe,” Violet said. “Let me give you a tour of the tour bus.”
“I called dibs on giving her the tour!” Milo said, shouldering her out of the way and grinning widely at me. “Right this way, my dear.”
“I don’t need the royal treatment,” I said while following him up the steps onto the tour bus.
“This is how we treat all our guests. Especially ones who will be joining us on tour. Okay, confession: you’re the first person who’s ever toured with us. Because this is our first tour as headliner. But we’re very welcoming people! Don’t be intimidated by the sick jams we play on stage.”
“I’ll try,” I said, smiling at Milo’s hyperactive energy.
He gestured around the open area next to the driver’s seat. “Here’s the front of the tour bus. We’ve been calling it theliving room, but we’ve only had the bus for a few hours, so that might change.” There was a booth and table that could seat four people, and two standalone chairs next to that.
“There’s a foldable laptop stand next to that chair,” he added. “We can basically keep that reserved for you and your laptop, since you said you need space to work.”
“That’d be perfect.”
“We were founded way back in 2019,” Milo explained while leading me farther back. “Riot was one of the founding members, along with yours truly.” He paused to bow at the waist. “We recruited Violet next, and she brought along our original bass player. But he was kind of a dick, so we replaced him with Cash during 2020. And the four of us have been one big, happy band family since then. When did you first hear of our fame and glory?”
“I’ll be honest,” I replied with a grimace. “I hadn’t heard of you before you opened for Rainknife. But you’re really good!”
“Hell yeah, we are. Way better than Rainknife.” He glanced at me and raised his eyebrows.
“Rainknife is, quite literally, our favorite band,” I told him. “But I have to admit: you guys were better.”
Milo beamed. “I know you’re probably just being nice, but I’ll take it. Here’s the sleeping quarters.”
He paused at the back of the bus. There was a single bed squeezed into the left, and four bunks were built into the wall on the right. They all had privacy curtains that could be drawn, even the bed.
“Which one’s mine?” I asked.
“We’re currently in the middle of a heated band disagreement over the sleeping arrangements,” Milo said, lowering his voice as if sharing a hot piece of gossip. “Riot hates sleeping in a bunk, but Violet insists we share the real bed.”
