Page 28 of Accidental Fire
“Come on, Riv. We’re going out to the beer garden. All the bands are meeting there to celebrate.” Arlo tugged my arm, but I stayed where I was—under Kit’s left arm.
“Naw, man, I’m going back to the resort. I’m beat. I’ll see you guys later. Don’t get arrested,” I joked.
“God, you’re lame as fuck. Night, loser,” Arlo responded as he hurried to catch up to the others.
I turned to Kit. “Clancy will stay here to bring them back to the resort, so it looks like I’ll be on foot.” Yes, it was a come-on, but I wasn’t very good at shit like that. I fully expected him to laugh and walk away.
“I don’t think that’s the safest thing to do, River. In the best interests of the band, I’ll escort you back to the resort after the truck is loaded and I move it back to the security lot.” Kit kissed my forehead, which was unexpected, and then he disappeared into the crowd of guys changing out the setup for the next band.
Our backdrop was wheeled behind the stage, along with Hardy’s drum kit, which was all put together and attached to rolling platforms. Our mics, speakers, and instruments were taken into the semi-trailer and stored on the shelving units inside. It really was an ingenious way to move things aroundwith the least hassle and would come in handy at the other venues.
“Why don’t you get in the truck and relax? When we’re done, I’ll move the rig back to the resort for the night. You guys were phenomenal tonight,” Kit said as he walked me over to the red semi and opened the door for me.
I climbed up and looked around. It was the first time I’d seen the inside of such a beast, but it would be a lot of fun to explore while Kit supervised the loading of the trailer. I slid into the seat and he closed the door. The chirp of the locks caught me by surprise.
I opened the glove compartment to see that it contained little more than the papers associated with his truck and insurance. The captain’s chair on the passenger side was comfortable and reclined, which was really nice.
There were a lot of gadgets and gauges on the driver’s side, making it look like the cockpit of an airplane. There was a compartment under the radio that I opened to find some tissues, an open bag of Dum-Dums, and a small trash receptacle, where I guessed he put the wrappers when he was on the road. As I expected, it was empty.
There were two cupholders next to the compartment, and everything was neat as a pin. It wasn’t surprising at all.
I stood from the chair, which had an arm that lifted to make it easier to get to the sleeper part of the cab. There were a lot of stainless-steel cabinets with locked doors, so I couldn’t snoop. The bed was a nice size.
Sitting on the edge, I looked around to see some pictures on a corkboard hung over the entryway. There were pictures of people in his life that he must have liked looking at while resting. One was a man at a desk. He had to be Kit’s father because Kit looked just like him.
There was a picture of three guys in blue military uniforms with white hats. I stepped closer to see that one of them was Kit, and he looked very handsome. There was also a picture of a couple and a boy, which I guessed were Kit’s parents and him when he was young, and there was a picture of Kit, probably from high school prom, with his arm around a very pretty girl.
There, on the corkboard, was a picture of Nate Ashby, the head of Sound Wave Studios. I knew Kit was acquainted with Nate because he was at the dinner before the tour, which was where I met him. Why would he want a picture of Nate Ashby to look at when he took a break from driving?
There was a book on the shelf over the bed, along with a small lamp that I guessed Kit used when he read. There was a surge protector on the wall with ten outlets and places to charge cell phones. It was efficient.
The comforter and pillow covers were navy with beige trim. I lifted the edge of the comforter to see beige sheets, and when I smelled the pillowcases, the scent of lavender filled my nose. It would be amazing to smell that all night.
“Are you smelling my pillow?”
Shit! Busted…
Chapter Eleven
Kit
After we finished loading the instruments and moved the drum set and backdrop out of the way, I locked the trailer and said goodbye to Sam and Allen. The security crew went with the band to the Beer Fest, and I got into the cab of my truck on the driver’s side.
When I didn’t see River sitting in the passenger seat, I turned to look in the sleeper and smirked when I saw River on the bed with my pillow covering his face. “Are you smelling my pillow?” It was cute.
He abruptly sat up, his face flaming bright red in an instant. “Uh, well, I just wondered… I wanted to know what you liked to smell when you were going to sleep.”
“What do you think? It’s the same fabric softener my mom used when I was a kid,” I answered.
River smiled. “Smells really nice. Do you have trouble sleeping?”
I stepped through the cab and sat next to him on the bed. “Some nights. If the weather doesn’t cooperate and there’s nowhere for me to get a workout, then I have trouble staying asleep. I’m used to driving around eleven hours a day, and that’s after a ten-hour rest. I have to stop for half an hour every four hours for a break, so I try to do some calisthenics or go for a run if there’s a place where I won’t get hit by a car. This job is great for me because the way the tour is set up, with breaks in between, it won’t take ten hours to get to the next city, so there’s time for me to exercise and relax.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s right. They spaced it out pretty well. We, uh, we would have been fine coming straight here after San Diego, but we had to make some changes to the song for that movie coming out next week. We have a few more days in the studio to record the rest of the songs for the album, and after that, we’ll ride the bus, which will be crowded and noisy, but I guess we’ll manage.”
My mouth suddenly started moving before my brain kicked into gear. “Well, if you need a break, you can ride with me. I’ll be going to the same places as you.”
River’s eyes doubled in size, and the flush of his skin started again. “Thanks. Uh, I might take you up on that. Do we need to move the truck?”
