Love's Back Pocket (5 page)

Chapter 9

They had reached San Diego three hours later. Traffic was absolutely ridiculous, but Holly fixated her attention on a book, quietly reading in her room, while Tanya amused herself with Mitch. Surprisingly, the bed she would be occupying for the next couple of months was quite comfortable, and she found herself dozing up until the point when somebody started to pound on her door. The young woman was so surprised she nearly toppled out of bed, but managed to catch herself just in time. She blinked once, suppressing a yawn as she opened the door. There stood Tanya with way too much energy, at least for Holly’s current tastes.

“You’re not even ready?” Tanya asked, looking at Holly’s casual clothing before meeting her friend’s eyes, her brow furrowed. “I wish I could be surprised, sweetie, but …” She let her voice trail off with obvious disdain, and walked in without permission.

“I was thinking of just going in this,” Holly said, shrugging. “I see no point in dressing up for a concert.”

Tanya placed her hands on her hips, her eyes searching Holly’s for something that might give her secluded friend away. “Oh, all right,” she said finally. “Don’t dress up. But you absolutely have to promise you’re going to have fun, okay? I know you; I know your mind. Instead of nit-picking every word in every song, just … just lose yourself in the music, okay?”

“I really don’t know how to do that,” Holly mumbled, glancing at the loose sleeves that currently engulfed the majority of her arms, including most of her fingers.

“It’s not something you can be taught,” Tanya told her. “It’s just a feeling. Let it take you over; don’t try to analyze it.”

“I’ll try,” she conceded, and nodded once.

“Good,” Tanya said with a grin. “Now come on, let’s go. Tommy got us backstage passes.” Tanya handed her friend a badge clipped to a cloth necklace, and Holly immediately pulled it over her head. “The band is backstage, doing a mental run-through, their usual prayers—”

“They pray?” Holly asked, not bothering to hide her astonishment. She wasn’t doubtful of the method, just surprised.

“Of course they pray. They do it every night. The show starts in about an hour, give or take. We need to leave now so we can get good standing positions. You have no idea how crowded it can get in a club, Holl. I swear.” She turned, and after Holly shut the door behind her, the two made their way off of the bus.

Tanya seemed to know where she was going, and she led Holly out of the parking lot and to a nearly empty back lot of what appeared to be some sort of restaurant-bar-club combination. A big, buff man with an earpiece and a clipboard stood there, his intent eyes masked by black sunglasses. After each woman showed him their passes and identification, they were allowed entrance into the building. Holly was awed at how technical it was, with wires and the like running through the area. Despite how stressful she imagined running a concert might be, the atmosphere was quite calm and relatively casual.

“Where do you suppose we go?” Holly asked, leaning forward slightly, her tone just above a whisper. Her brown eyes were wide as she took the place in. She had never really been behind the scenes of a production before, and surprisingly, she found that she was quite interested in it.

“Tanya?” a voice asked somewhere to the left. “Holly?”

“Mitch!” Tanya exclaimed, dashing over to her drummer with Holly following closely behind. When Tanya saw him, she jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We decided to come.”

“Well,” Tommy said, standing off to the side, his dark eyes grinning mischievously at Holly, “you guys decided to come.”

Tanya gave the lead singer of
The Futurists
a flat look. “Yeah, I just said that.”

“Well, I’m just surprised.” Tommy shrugged his shoulders. “You guys are absolutely going to have a blast. Well you already know this, Tanya, but Holly, you’re going to get a treat. I promise.”

Holly looked at him, unsure if he was playing some sort of trick on her or not. It was so hard to tell with him. “I’m looking forward to it,” she told him.

“Not enough to dress up, obviously,” Tanya put in, a teasing sparkle in her eye.

“I think she looks fine,” Tommy interjected before the young woman could defend herself. “You know, there are only a rare group of people who can pull off the whole I’m-in-sweats-because-I-have-finals look and still look—” Before he could say whatever he was about to say, he cut himself off. “Good. You look good.”

Holly smiled up at him, still unsure of his sincerity, but pleased by his statement nevertheless. “Thank you,” she told him. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Tanya grinning wickedly before playfully nudging Mitch. Mitch met her eyes and nodded once, leaving Holly to wonder what they were silently saying to each other. She was still amazed at the synchronicity the two had developed in such a short amount of time.

“Come on, Holl,” Tanya said, leaving Mitch’s embrace to walk over to her friend and link arms with her. “Let’s go get in place.”

“Break a leg,” Holly said over her shoulder. “But … not literally, of course.”

--

The Futurists
started with the same song they had yesterday up in Los Angeles. Holly tried not to pay attention to the insinuating lyrics, so she focused solely on the man singing the songs. Tommy was behind the microphone, gazing out at the audience as a whole as his raspy low voice filled the speakers. He was currently wearing a long-sleeved white collared shirt that buttoned down low in the middle and black leather pants with chains hanging from the waist. On his feet were worn combat boots. His shaggy dark hair framed his face, and Holly tilted her head slightly to the side in order to get a different view of him from another angle. He really was remarkably handsome; even if he wasn’t in a successful rock band, even if he couldn’t sing, Holly knew that he wouldn’t have any problem winning women over. The fact that he exuded charm from every pore was definitely icing on an already-delicious cake.

As the concert continued, Holly glanced over at Tanya. Now, when Tanya had first told Holly about losing herself in the music, Holly couldn’t quite grasp the concept. But seeing the way Tanya looked at that moment was indescribable and yet, Holly knew exactly what she was feeling. Tanya’s dark eyes had this shine Holly had never seen before, and though the young woman was swaying to the music, Holly could tell she wasn’t exactly paying attention to it. Instead, her eyes were locked on the tattooed drummer banging away on his percussion. Holly wondered at that moment if her friend was lost in the music, or lost in the man. Could she be both? She had never seen Tanya this way before, and she realized that she was happy for her friend—really, really happy. And another softer part of her hoped that someday she would feel as content as Tanya looked right now.

Her eyes drifted back up to the singer, and she swallowed. Drops of sweat now decorated his brow, and his shirt was completely unbuttoned, revealing a toned body with sprinkles of dark hair over it. Right below his belly button was a patch of hair that led underneath the waist of his pants. It was a happy trail. Tanya had mentioned them before, but now Holly could see why they were so enticing. A smile tugged at her mouth as Mitch started a drum solo, and she felt her heart beat increase to the momentum of the song.

Tommy sang about hot cities and trains never stopping. He raised his arm up as the music paused for a moment, causing the whole audience to burst out into cheers and applause. Holly could feel the excitement of the people around her, the happiness and intensity, and the camaraderie that this group of people had. They were sharing this experience with each other and nobody else.

Once this epiphany flashed through her mind, a genuine smile broke out onto her face and she began to move her body along with the music. She had never felt so …
free
before, and she found that she was enjoying it much more than she ever expected.

“There you go!” Tanya exclaimed, giving her friend an encouraging smile.

“This is so much fun,” Holly shouted back.

“It’s supposed to be!” Tanya reminded her, and the two shared a laugh together as the music started back up again and
The Futurists
continued to play into the night.

Chapter 10

“So,” Tommy said, meeting the women backstage, “how’d you like it?”

As Holly looked at him, she noticed the mischievous glint that resided permanently in his pale green eyes, and she felt something in her chest tighten at just the sight of him. The young woman wasn’t stupid; she knew how it felt to be physically attracted to somebody. However, she had yet to actually feel something odd in her chest, and couldn’t quite understand why it happened. Instead, she slipped a smile on her face, and she replied, “You were really good!” Her tone was genuinely appraising, and Tommy’s grin widened.

“Didn’t I tell you?” he teased. His eyes caught sight of someone, and he nodded over to him. As Tanya slipped away to talk to Mitch, Tommy gently placed his hand on the small of Holly’s back, leading her over to a man. “Holly, there’s someone I want you to meet. Victor, this is Holly, the young woman I was telling you about. Holly, this is Victor, our new bus mate and the licensed psychologist I promised.”

“Wow, she’s pretty,” Victor said dismissively before rolling his sapphire blue eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

“She’s smart, though,” Tommy put in, tilting his upper body forward just slightly, and looping his hands behind his back. “That should be surprising.”

“Um, maybe it’s just me,” Holly began as she regarded Victor, her face contorting into obvious confusion, “but I feel as though you don’t like me very much and I’m not exactly sure as to why.”

“When Tommy told me he wanted to help a recent graduate attain the required thousand hours by bringing her on tour with him, I admit, I was definitely suspicious,” Victor began, giving Holly a long, dry stare. “However, he assured me that you would not be some sort of ploy to take a young woman on his tour bus to, for lack of better term, have a summer fuck buddy.”

“Oh,” Holly said, trying to keep the slight offense she was feeling off of her face. “Well, I can tell you I wasn’t planning on sleeping with him.”

“Yes,” Victor replied. Holly learned upon listening to Victor that the man had a natural dryness permanently etched in his tone. “That’s what they all say … in the beginning, at least.” Then he sighed dejectedly and looked at Holly with more intent. “Listen, Ms. Holly, I realize that you really believe what you say, but I must implore you to remember to maintain professionalism during your stay on the bus.”

“Of course,” Holly said, nodding. Victor opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and shut it, shaking his head. With a curt nod, he walked away from them, heading out of the building, and probably back to the tour bus. She glanced up at Tommy, who had an unreadable expression on his face. “I don’t think he likes me,” she murmured, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Don’t feel too offended,” Tommy told her, glancing down at the young woman. “He doesn’t like anybody.” He suddenly clapped his hands before rubbing them together. “So, ready for the beach?”

--

There was a beach a couple of blocks from the nightclub, and Tommy, Holly, Mitch, and Tanya decided to walk to it. Tommy, as usual, was cracking jokes and making his company laugh as they walked into the cool summer night. When they reached the sand, they could see a few bonfires, the embers flickering and cracking, creating a beat for the slow roll of the waves. It wasn’t long before Tanya and Mitch separated from Tommy and Holly, holding hands and talking about only goodness knew what, which left Tommy and Holly alone. The two were quiet for the first few minutes, simply listening to the sounds the calm environment was providing.

Tommy watched the young woman as her eyes scanned the beach, taking in all that was surrounding her. He had noticed her out in the crowd that night, especially when she lost herself in his sound. It was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and that was why he loved performing live. The audience’s reaction to his voice, to the band’s music, was always what he looked forward to whenever he was on the road. But seeing her … At first, he noticed that she wasn’t too sure, and yeah, he could admit it, his lyrics could be kind of wild, kind of out there, but once “Hot in the City” started playing, he knew he had her. And her body could move. Too bad she didn’t have on anything formfitting; she could probably seduce a blind man with the sensual rocking of her hips. He idly wondered how someone so conservative could move that well.

“Oh, look,” Holly said, breaking the comfortable silence between the two, and pointed up into the night sky. Tommy immediately followed the tip of her fingers, the two stopping so they could see better than when they walked. “Stars.” She looked up at him, her whole face sincerely excited at such a sight. “They’re so big here. I wish they were that way in LA.”

“They are beautiful,” Tommy conceded softly, his eyes dancing between the white diamonds cradled in a black blanket.

“It’s perfect, isn’t it?” He looked down at her, his eyes intricately skimming over her sharp profile. “I mean,” she continued, completely unaware of his studious stare, “the water hitting the shore, the stars shining in the sky. It has such a calming effect. I would love to have this sort of scenery to relax me whenever I get stressed.”

“Do you get stressed a lot?” Tommy asked as the two started to walk down the shore again. Though the couple knew Tanya and Mitch were up ahead, they could only make out their silhouettes.

“Sometimes,” she admitted. “Do you?”

“Nah,” Tommy replied, shaking his head. “I’m a pretty laidback person, if you haven’t already noticed. But if I ever do, I just write a song and it causes any stress to … disappear.” He glanced back at her, flashing a brilliant smile, revealing straight, white teeth.

There it was again—that odd little tightening of her chest as she saw it etched out on his face. She swallowed and looked away, completely distracted from the stars, the ocean, because of something as simple as a smile. This just wasn’t rational. “Your songs are very …” She paused, not exactly sure what to say. Tanya told her that there were times Holly meant to compliment someone, but it sounded like an indirect insult. Instead, she swallowed the word that was on the tip of her tongue, and opted for, “I like them.”

Tommy smiled again at her, but said nothing, and Holly couldn’t think of anything else to do but smile back. The two walked in silence for a moment before Holly thought of something and stepped in front of him to look in his eyes. “May I ask you a question?” Tommy stopped and nodded a couple of times, an amused smile on his face. “Did you really only offer me this … position so you could sleep with me?”

Tommy appeared to think about it for a moment, seeming unsure how to answer her. “Honestly?” he asked. Holly’s brow perked, slightly worried by this question, but she nodded nonetheless. “Yeah, I think so,” he replied, but quickly tried to amend his honesty with, “but I liked you, too.”

Holly’s brow furrowed at his answer, and before she could think of anything to say, her arm lifted up and slapped him right across his face. With that, she spun on the heel of her flip flop and headed back toward the tour bus. She wasn’t exactly sure where this burst of anger was coming from. In fact, Holly had asked for his honest response, and he had given it to her. Logically, she shouldn’t be this angry. However, she reacted before her mind could process anything, and it appeared as though her arm acted of its own accord. Now she was quite angry, all but stomping back across the street, and to the tour bus. Her mind would not allow Tommy’s face to disappear, and yet it just increased her anger to a level of incomprehension.

The tour bus was practically empty when she arrived, and she immediately made her way into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. She couldn’t
believe
the gall of this man, nor could she believe her reaction to him. As she continued to think about it, she realized that she didn’t remember when she had ever gotten this upset before. Logical arguments were one thing, but this blind anger over one stupid comment was completely not like her. She kicked off her sandals and plopped ungracefully onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

We’re still in California
, a voice in her head pointed out.
You could always go back home.

No,
another, more stubborn voice replied.
Then he would win.

So it’s a game
? the first voice taunted.

Of course not
, the second voice commended.
But if it is, I want to win.

You’re losing your rationality because of this man, Holl,
the first voice said.
You better be careful.

Face it
, the second voice put in.
If you don’t straighten up, you’re doomed by way of Tommy Nye.