Page 65 of Shame Me
By the time we played our last show—a big one in New York City—we were ready to be home. We’d loved this taste of beingrock stars, but the four of us, over dinner the night before, had admitted we were ready to return to reality for a while.
And that, of course, was when Mick hit us with the news. The next morning before checkout, he said he wanted to take us out to breakfast before we began the long drive back to Colorado. We would be on the road for three more days before getting there and we were tired.
After sitting down at a table in McDonald’s, Mick said, “You guys kicked ass. What do you think of your first tour?”
Cy said, “I don’t think I could’ve prepared myself for it.”
We all agreed. Zack said, “I know Dani’s worried about money, but I think it was a success.”
“Hell, yeah, it was. You played to sold-out crowds who enjoyed your music. If you haven’t earned thousands of new fans after this, I’d be surprised.”
Braden said, “Guaranteed. All you gotta do is look at our social media to know that.”
“And that brings me to what I need to tell you guys about.” A shiver darted down my spine as he continued talking while unwrapping a sausage and egg McMuffin. “The label is happy. They said your sales and streams are up, and they want more.”
I asked, “What does that mean?”
“It means they’ve sketched out a second leg.” At first, I was confused—but his next words clarified exactly what he meant. “You’ll be supporting Name of My Killer. They’ve already got the cities and dates lined up, and you’ll be joining ‘em in Salt Lake City on November 8.”
My mind reeled. We wouldn’t even be home until the night of Halloween—but, I supposed, that would give us a week to recover. But before I could even complain, Cy said, “Do we have a choice here?”
Zack said, “Dude, this is what we want…what weneed. We’re never gonna make it to the next level if we don’t push as hard as we can now. This is part of it.”
“And if it makes you feel any better,” Mick said, barely swallowing the bite he’d taken, “it’ll be all the same crew—including Schultz. I already checked with ‘em.”
“When?” I asked, feeling like he’d betrayed us, keeping this information close to his vest until the last minute.
“Last night. You guys were onstage and I’d just gotten off the phone with the news. I wanted to know how quickly I had to pull this all together.”
“But that’s only a week off,” Braden said.
“Yeah—and guess what I’m gonna be doin’ that whole time? I’ll be booking hotel rooms after creating your itinerary.”
My stomach knotted, thinking of all the new expenses we’d start racking up. Zack must have sensed it because he squeezed my knee below the table. “Sales are up. Streams are up. This is paying off.”
I only prayed he was right.
CHAPTER 19
When it was time to begin the second leg of our tour, we left at two in the morning. If we’d thought the tour with Last Five Seconds was exhausting, we’d had no idea. In fact, we found out later that the reason why Name of My Killer was looking for another opening act was that the first band who’d toured with them couldn’t handle the schedule.
What the hell were we getting ourselves into?
I was a little nervous but also excited, because even though the itinerary looked exhausting, we would be in far more venues. I’d wanted to maximize our potential for profits, and this tour would do that. Not only that, but we’d just have to split the revenue with the opening act—meaning we’d make a little more money—and there wasn’t much downtime, so few wasted days (one of them was Thanksgiving, and I tried not to be depressed that I’d be away from family for that).
When we boarded the bus, the same one we’d been on during our first leg, I just wanted to sleep—but when I heard Cy asking Mick a bunch of questions, I had to tune in. What did the money look like in terms of streaming and sales? Zack jumped in andsaid he’d been talking with the label over our week-long break and said they didn’t have numbers for us yet.
And Mick told us to try to get some sleep because we’d be performing later that evening.
Although the seats weren’t comfortable, this time we’d gotten smart—we’d brought pillows and blankets to keep on the bus for sleeping. And we’d need to this time, considering we had a crazy schedule. In fact, Mick had already told us we wouldn’t be in hotels as much; we’d either shower at the venue or at a truck stop. Most of our time would be spent in the bus.
Again, my frugal heart warmed at the notion of saving money.
I curled up next to Zack in his seat and he wrapped an arm around me as we tried to get comfortable. Over the week-long break, we’d been nearly inseparable. The first day we’d spent at home and all I’d done was sleep. That night when I’d told my mom I was spending the night at Zack’s, we had a long conversation—at first, she’d been upset, but then she asked if Zack and I would spend half of our time off at her house so she could see me.
We both agreed. My mom didn’t get home until around four o’clock on the weekdays and Zack’s mom, still on a weird schedule, left in the early afternoon and got home around eleven at night. So, either way, we had a lot of alone time.
And we were still enjoying exploring each other’s bodies, having sex several times a day when we were alone.
