Page 46 of Chronicles of a Rockin' Mess

“It. Was. The. Worst,” Savannah manages in between laughs. We all melt into a puddle of laughing women.

“Uh, can I get you ladies anything else?” a waitress asks.

“Oh, uh, no, just the check,” I manage. She nods and quickly disappears. Her awkwardness just launches us into another fit of giggles. We slowly pipe down, sipping on our drinks as we sigh in unison and grin at each other.

“We really do need more girls’ nights,” Savannah says. “We’ve missed you, Lark,” she adds and takes my hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze.

“I missed you guys too,” I admit. “It’s nice to hang out.”

“Let’s promise, we’ll make this a regular thing,” Amelia says. “Lord knows, I’ll need some breaks from my busy class schedule.”

“How is your grad program going?” I ask her. She launches into details as the waitress brings the check. Savannah pays for it. She always does. Savannah is rich, like her-dad-owns-a-company rich. She’s always insisting on paying for everything. After a while, Amelia and I gave up on trying. Although, occasionally, we get sneaky and get the check while she’s preoccupied with her phone.

“Well, I guess we should head back unless you ladies want to hear more boring school tales,” Amelia says.

We agree and slowly make our way back to the hotel.

“Night,” I say to them. We group hug, and I head down the hall to Lincoln’s suite. I knock on the door but he doesn’t answer, so I go to my room and promptly fall asleep.

Chapter 23

I’m awoken by knocking on my door. I groan and pick up my phone. Did I miss a call from Lincoln? Shit, did we have a press event this morning? A radio show call-in? No. No, we definitely don’t have anything on the schedule yet as it is only seven.

I get out of bed and scurry to the door, looking through the peephole. I see nothing. I shrug and start walking back to my bed when there’s another knock at the door.

“Yes?” I call out, hoping it’s a maid, and I can tell her to come back later.

“You want me fluff your pillow?” Lincoln’s voice rings out in a perfect imitation of Tommy in the movie Tommy Boy. I groan and turn to open the door. What I expect least in the world is now greeting me…Lincoln, holding two coffees, one of which has my name written on it.

“I thought you might need coffee,” he says. I reach for it hesitantly as though maybe I’m being punked. He nods toward it.

“I hope I got it right. Soy caramel latte, two shots of espresso?”

I tilt my head to the side as I grab the coffee. “Yep.”

“Did you have a good night?” he asks, breaking what is now becoming awkward silence.

“Uh, yeah. It was fun. How was your night?” I ask as I sip the coffee which tastes like perfection in a cup.

“Nothing exciting,” he says. “You ready to sing with Hank and the boys at the festival?”

I haven’t thought much about that for the past few days. But suddenly my nerves kick up a notch. “Uh, yeah,” I mutter. “I should probably get showered and ready. It’s gonna be a long day.”

“Right, yeah…we have sound check at eleven,” he says. He starts to open his mouth again, and then promptly shuts it. “I’ll see you at sound check, then?”

“Of course,” I say, trying to sound cheery, but really just sounding confused instead.

I close the door and lean against it, taking a deep breath. I can do this. Tonight, and the festival, and another few days till we play in LA. Then, I’m officially done, if I want to be done. I groan because I don’t fucking know what I want.

Lincoln

We’re on the bus again. I’m freshly showered and the adrenaline from being on stage is still pulsing through my body. I watch Lark talking with Amelia and Savannah on the far side of the bus. I grin like a fool. She talks with her hands and right now she’s waving them around as she tells them some story about a crazy fan who hopped on stage tonight.

Kade waves a hand in front of my face.

“What?” I grumble as my gaze shifts across the table to him.

“You better not fuck this up,” he states.

---