Page 28 of #Moonstruck

Great. Now I’d be stressing about getting a neck injury and/or the bus getting into an accident.

“Let’s keep going.” Piper opened the door at the end of the bunk alley. There was a much shorter, skinny hallway with a door on the left, a door on the right, and a door at the far end. Piper opened the door on the right, showing us a clean, nice-looking bathroom. “There are two bathrooms here. Trust me when I say you don’t want to ever use bus water. It comes from holding tanks at truck stops, and that should tell you all you need to know. There’s plenty of bottled water to drink and to use for brushing your teeth.”

“So we shouldn’t shower here?” Parker asked. That put an image in my mind of Ryan De Luna, his hair wet from the shower, his sculpted chest glistening with drops of water—

Piper answered, interrupting my brain’s idiotic tangent. “Definitely not. Whenever we arrive at the city we’re performing in, you’ll have hotel rooms for however long we’re there, and you can shower then. The buses are just for traveling. Anytime you get an opportunity to shower, do laundry, eat, or take a nap, you should always take it.”

“But the toilets are okay?” That question came from Fitz.

“The toilets work fine. But the number-one commandment of every tour bus for every tour of all time is this—thou shalt never, ever poop in the bathroom. Ever. For any reason. The smell is horrific, and it costs a lot more money to take care of fecal matter than just urine. If you’re desperate, ask Vince to find a gas station as soon as possible. If you can’t hold it, you’re going to have to learn how to take a dump in a Ziploc bag. Same goes for puke.”

There was no way I could poop in a Ziploc bag. To distract myself from how gross that was, I decided Piper probably should have added “Go poop” to her list of opportunities we should never turn down. “What about the door at the end?”

“On the other buses, it’s another lounging area. On this one, though, it’s Ryan’s bedroom.”

Now I had an image of Ryan sleeping in a big bed, which sent prickles all over my skin and caused a sensation in my gut that felt like ribbons curling and twisting.

“Let’s head back to the front,” Piper said, and I felt actual disappointment that I wouldn’t get to see Ryan’s private sanctuary.

Something was seriously wrong with me.

When we got to the lounge, Piper took out a piece of paper from a plastic sleeve that was hanging next to the TV. “This paper will change every day. It will tell you when your sound check is, your set time, and the bus call time. Don’t ever be late. Time, tide, and tour bus wait for no man.”

She put the paper back in the sleeve. “I know this probably all seems fun and cool, but honestly, tour buses are difficult. It’s kind of like being in a marriage with a bunch of other people without the benefits. You need to learn to give and take, communicate, and be respectful, and know that some battles aren’t worth fighting. They’re not paying you the big bucks to perform. You’d do that for free. They’re paying you the big bucks to ride this bus.”

If that’s what I was getting paid for, it didn’t seem all bad. There were worse things in the world than getting to ride in a luxury bus that would take us all over the country and let us perform in front of thousands of fans. That giddy, excited feeling I’d had since talking to Ryan at the diner resurfaced, despite Piper’s warnings. This was what we’d always wanted. We were going on tour. We were being paid good money to play our music. Nobody could ruin that for me.

“Do you guys have any questions?”

“I have a question,” Cole said with his flirtation smile, and I shook my head in anticipation of whatever stupid thing he was about to say. “When are you and I going out?”

Piper waited a couple of beats and then said, “I have a lot more to do before we leave. Give me a buzz if you have any real questions. Fitz has my number. And Cole? Inevercrap where I eat.”

She walked off the bus, and Cole ran to the steps and yelled out, “I don’t crap where I eat, either! See? That’s something we have in common!”

“Where do you think that saying comes from? Do you think at some point in time there was a major issue with people crapping in their kitchens?” Parker asked, completely missing the upset look on Fitz’s face. If Fitz thought Cole was interested in Piper, there’s no way he’d make a move.

What Fitz had failed to take into account was that both Cole and Parker were interested in every female with a pulse in the entire world.

“This is it,” I said, sitting down on the couch. “Bus sweet bus.” Fitz nodded and sat next to me while Cole and Parker messed around with the Xbox, trying to see if they could get it to turn on.

In an effort to cheer up Fitz, I took the tinfoil off the brownies and offered him one. “Brownie?” Just as he took one off the top, the sounds of laughing male voices and stomping came from the bus steps.

Ryan walked in the room, and my heart jumped into my throat with excitement. His eyes landed on me, and his feet followed until he stood directly in front of me. “I’m glad you guys made it! Hey, let me introduce everyone. The aloof Russian wearing headphones who is just passing through is Anton. Best DJ in the world, but he’s also part hibernating bear. When we’re not performing, he’s sleeping.”

Anton, dressed in all black, made a small hand wave before heading into the bunk alley.

“Maisy already knows Diego, but for everybody else, he’s my cousin and guitarist.” Diego smiled at me, and where the first night we’d met I thought he was cute, now he was just like this nonentity. He’d gone from the Guy I Could Possibly Be Interested In category to whatever category my brain put my brothers in.

But Ryan had thought I was hitting on Diego. Did Diego think the same thing? Would I have to fend off his advances for this entire tour? I hoped not. Maybe I shouldn’t have made my brothers swear to back off guys they thought were hitting on me.

“Deshawn is our drummer, and Marcus here is on keyboards, and that’s Billy, who plays guitars and is our music director. He makes us sound amazing every night. Guys, this is Fitz, Parker, Cole, and Maisy of Yesterday.”

Everyone went around the room saying hello and shaking hands. I offered everybody a brownie, and it turned out to be a good icebreaker. Ryan’s bandmates talked with my brothers about how good they were, and then it was like people just paired up. Billy sat down next to Fitz and asked him about his sound plot so they could submit it to their sound engineer, Santiago.

Cole started talking to Marcus about what kind of keyboard he was using onstage. “I’ve got Yamaha’s Montage 8 as my main one right now.” Cole’s eyes seemed to turn even greener with envy.

Parker and Deshawn were bonding over jokes about lead singers. “How do you know when a lead singer’s at your front door?” Deshawn asked.

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