Jenny turned to walk away, but my mother called after her before she got far. “Who’s your friend, Rainier?” sheasked.
“Mom, this is Jenny. Jenny,mymom.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs.Thompson.”
“You work with Rainier, don’t you? We've heard so muchaboutyou.”
At this, Jenny’s smile grew wide. She gave me a quick glance before answering my mom. “Yes,ma’am.”
They exchanged comments about the show for a few minutes while I wished I was anywhere but there. Being on stage made me feel vulnerable and having my parents and Jenny fawning over me when I was the weakest member of the band made me even moreuncomfortable.
Eventually, my mom brought me back into the conversation. “We really are so proud of you. Maybe we can do ice cream or dinner sometime this week to celebrate ourrockstar.”
I felt my face heat up, but smiled tightly and nodded. Ice cream for the rock star. I doubted Mick Jagger ever went to ice cream with his parents to celebrate a show. I pictured the giant red tongue associated with The Rolling Stones with a giant cone of soft-serve.
“Jenny, why don’t you join us? I’m sure Rainier can text you when we come up with some plans,” mydadsaid.
“That sounds great,” she answered before I could say anything. Not only were my parents so weird, but now they were dragging Jenny into it. Howembarrassing.
“Then it's settled,” my dad said, shaking her hand. He turned to me and told me he'd see me back at the house before walking off hand-in-hand withmymom.
I spent the next several minutes trying to convince Jenny she didn’t have to come, that my parents were just super supportive. She insisted they were sweet and that she couldn’t wait before leaving. I didn't have many friends, and the support she showed by coming meantalot.
“Does Weiner want some ice cweam?” a high-pitched voice said from beside me. I just wanted to pack my things up and go home, because like Jenny, I was tired from a long day. I didn’t want to deal with Owen and his attitude. If he hated me so much, why did he agree to have me play as part oftheband?
I certainly wasn’t in the mood to deal with his crap tonight. “What do youwant,Owen?”
“Nothing. I just think it’s adorable your parents take you to ice cream to celebrate your temporary position inTheBand.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I think it’s adorable that someone who is as into rock and roll as you claim to be didn’t realize there’s already a band called The Band. I bet every time we have a show; all the real music lovers are laughing their asses offatus.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, the confidence that was always evident in his expressionsfaded.
“Look ‘em up,” I said, and went back to putting mycordsaway.
There were better ways to address the name. Owen was volatile, and I never knew what would set him off. I’d been working up the courage to say something to Matt for the last couple weeks because even though I wasn’t a long-term part of the band, I was still embarrassed every time Owen announced our name beforeashow.
Everyone thought the name was so clever, and that just showed how little the group actually knew about classic rock. How could they act like they were the next big thing if they didn’t know theirhistory?
Tap,tap,tap.
So, yeah, I needed to say something. I only wished I would have gone about it differently. I packed the rest of my things and got out of Wild Bill’s as fast aspossible.
ChapterNine
Michelle
Aves:Carter is bringing me by soon formycar.
My phone had been buzzing nonstop all morning, but I had no desire to get out of bed. This summer was the worst. I was so frustrated, and I just wanted to sleep mydaysaway.
I didn’t hate my job at Between The Pages as much as I thought I would, but I didn’t like Rainier and his attitude. He thought he was so much better than me and it irritated me tonoend.
And Avery and I had been fighting off and on more than we ever had. I knew part of it was I was still pissed about missing out on Mexico. Feeling like the third wheel to Carter and her didn’t help either. She’d messaged me several times asking if I was going to come by. She wanted to know how she was going to get her car. I’d been ignoring them until I saw she was onherway.
Me: I justwokeup.
Aves: So, what? Are you workingtoday?
