32. Los Angeles
NICKY
In the end, Judy and Selene had to abandon their Lyft and hike to the gate because traffic around the festival venue was gridlocked for miles. They were more than an hour late and didn’t arrive until eleven, but none of that mattered when I saw them and wrapped my arms around my besties.
“Oh, you guys!” I was jumping up and down, but they were, too, so that was okay.
“Ew, don’t hug us,” Selene cried. “We’re all sweaty and disgusting.” She didn’t let go, so I didn’t either. “It’s so hot here!”
“Welcome to California! Judy, your hair is so great!”
She squealed in my ear and then backed off enough to flip her hair dramatically. Usually a dark brown, she now had a crimson cap of hair with a white band below it. The ends were dyed a rich navy blue. “I’m a flag! Do you love it? I had to go to StyleEast to get it done—you know that place in Dover? It cost a fortune, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime—girl, what is that in your hand?”
I held up the pair of lanyards as if I were displaying the crown jewels. I counted off the tags. “VIP lounge. Backstage pass. Bus enclosure.”
“Omigawd!”
“Holy shit! You did it! Gimme!”
I looped the cords around their necks and preened as they admired the best necklaces ever. “Not bad, right?”
Selene was hugging me again, and Judy was dancing. “The festival tickets have been sold out for months,” she said. “We thought we were going to have to find a screen in the street! You’re the best best friend ever! How’d you do it? I thought Bruce hated you!”
I led them to the security station at the gate, and they fished for the right pass to show the trio of very large guards. They waved us through the pedestrian entrance and inside a chain link fence, screened with cloth so rubberneckers couldn’t stare at the many tour buses grouped on the pavement inside.
“Well, I’m glad you asked how I got the passes.” I linked arms with them and led them through the maze of buses, all of them rumbling and spitting out gas fumes so their various musicians would be able to wait for their turn onstage in air-conditioned comfort. “Bruce does hate me, and I’m a little concerned about that. But I appealed to a higher source.”
“Higher than the tour manager?” Selene was wide-eyed, torn between staring at the buses for the sight of someone famous and grilling me for information.
“I know one of Sheree’s security guards pretty well and got him to ask her directly.”
Judy stopped suddenly, jerking me back. “This comes from Sheree?” she screamed. “Sheree gave this to me?! Oh my fucking god!”
Happiness welled up in me. Even with all the Bruce craziness, having to completely rewrite my capstone project, and the wonder and astonishment of a relationship with Ian, I could delight and impress my friends. For this day alone, I could die happy. “Come on. Our bus is all the way by the festival stage. Sheree’s the headliner, so she’s parked all the way in. And for some reason, Aftermath got parked right next to her. If we get bored at the festival, we can come back to hang out on the bus.”
“With Archer?” Selene, all but engaged to her long-term boyfriend, wasn’t supposed to be nearly as interested in other men . . . but it was Archer Armstrong. Who could blame her?
“They’ll be off the stage by three, and they say they want to hang with us.”
“Could this day get any fucking better?” Judy punched the air. “Get me a rock star stat!”
A guy was leaning against the front of a bus, smoking a cigarette. He looked interested, but I grabbed her again, laughing. “Come on. The guys will be done with their interviews by now.”
Judy came with me, but she had her head craned back over her shoulder to check the guy out. “Smoking, though. Too bad. All right, who’s next? And by the way, Nicola, can I just congratulate you on avoiding a prison sentence for merch theft until after this event had passed?”
I shivered. “Don’t tease. They literally threatened me with the police. It’s not a subject I like to joke about.”
Selene linked her arm with mine. “Give me one more year and time to pass the bar, and I’ll defend you personally. At the friends-and-family rate.”
“Thank you. I’ll try to delay the charges until then.” My girls made even the horrible Bruce situation funny. God, I loved them.
Ken and Ismael were standing outside the buses in lazy conversation, apparently not bothered by the exhaust they were breathing. I introduced Selene and Judy and explained that the drivers’ network had saved me the first time I needed to reach Bianca.
“We’d do anything for our Nicky,” Ismael said, his brilliant grin lightening his expression.
“Well,” Ken grumbled, “mostly anything.”
I knew him well enough to read the twinkle in his grumpy eye.
“I know,” I promised him. “I’ll make sure no one poops on the bus, Ken.”
“Excuse me?” Selene, more restrained than Judy, was confused. Judy was howling with laughter.
“Go on,” Ken said, opening the door for us. “I don’t know if they’re done yet, but go on in anyway.”
Aftermath wasn’t done with their interview after all. Archer was in the banquette, facing us, with Mal leaning in from the base of the U-shaped bench. Ian knelt on one knee in the passageway so he could be seen on the laptop screen, too, and by journalist demand, Charlotte was stretched out on the table in front of them, kept still and happy by Archer’s stroking hand.
But even Archer’s attention wasn’t enough to keep Charlotte from welcoming someone new to the bus. She scrambled to her feet, knocked the laptop to the side, and leaped to the bench and then to the floor to rocket to us, long legs barely under control.
“This is Charlotte,” I whispered to Selene and Judy—unnecessarily, as it happened. They knew Charlotte already from her many social media posts.
Archer restored order with their interview and made their apologies. “I’m afraid we have to cut this off now, Ms. O’Conner. We’ve got some very important guests we need to greet.” He charmed his way off the call and nudged Ian out of the way. “Let me be the first to say—your hair is fucking outstanding.”
He reached a hand to help Judy stand from her introduction to Charlotte. I assumed she was grateful for the hand since Archer’s grin probably made her stagger.
“Oh. Hi.” She was suddenly breathless. I hid my grin; he was so beautiful that even Judy’s usual energy deserted her.
“This is Mal. And I assume you’re particularly interested in meeting this scary bastard.”
Archer stood back as if presenting Ian, who was rubbing his shorn head as if he wished he still had long hair to hide behind. I smiled at him and climbed over the dog to get to him.
I tugged his hand from his head to hold it in mine. “Ian, this is Selene, and this is Judy. The three of us have been best friends forever, so I hope you like them.”
Ian ducked his head and raised his eyebrows as he shook hands. “And here I was hoping they’d like me!”
Judy, standing between Archer and Mal, laughed. But Selene crossed her arms over her chest. “Well. We’ll see about that.”
I tugged Ian back around to face me. “Don’t worry. She’s just being protective.”
He offered me the first unguarded smile of the day, lopsided but sincere. “I recognize that impulse. I approve.”
Selene still hadn’t warmed up. “How nice,” she said dryly. “So glad you approve.”
I watched my clever friend. “Selene, what are you doing?”
She looked from me to Ian. “I have a few questions.”
I tried to explain—to diffuse. “Selene is in law school. She’s got a bit of the prosecutor in her.”
“I’m an open book,” Ian said, spreading his hands wide. “Ask me anything.”
A ripple went through the bus. Archer, Mal, and Judy were wide-eyed. “Selene,” I said warningly.
Ian fanned the air with his hand. “It’s fine. She’s protecting you. I like that. Go ahead.”
Selene cocked her head at him and then nodded to the banquette. “Have a seat.”
“Selene, seriously?—”
“Hush, Nicky. I just have a few questions.”
Ian took Archer’s place at the table, and Selene slid in to sit opposite him. I pushed Ian with my hip so he’d move over enough to make room for me. Archer and Mal did a polite little dance where they gestured Judy to one of the two armchairs, but she made Archer sit and then boldly sat in his lap. He grinned. Mal took the final seat.
Selene folded her hands on the table in front of her and began questioning Ian. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight,” he replied promptly.
“Prospects?”
“Prospects,” I echoed, rolling my eyes.
“Does twenty-six million views on YouTube count?”
Selene considered and then nodded. “Yeah. That’ll do. Family?”
“Right here.” He gestured to Archer and Mal and then put his arm around my shoulder. I smiled as I relaxed into his side.
“Very nice. I was specifically looking for your relationship with your mother. Are you nice to her?”
“My mother? Yeah. I fight with my dad a lot, but my mom and I are good.”
Selene whipped around to glare at Archer and Mal, who blinked and sat up straighter. “Is that true? Is Ian good to his mother?”
“Hell yes,” Archer said. “Magda. She’s awesome.”
“Insane shortbread,” Mal added. “She makes it for us all the time. Would she do that if she didn’t like her son?”
“Hmm,” Selene said shortly. She turned back to Ian. “Brothers and sisters?”
“Two brothers and one sister. They’re coming to the Seattle concert.”
Selene arched a brow. “The whole family’s coming? That’s a good sign. Will you introduce them to Nicky?”
Ian scoffed, his grin lifting my soul. “Obviously.”
“All right. Good answer. Next topic—past relationships. Have you had any?”
“Relationships?” Ian clarified. “You’re asking if I’d had girlfriends before?”
“Yes. If you’re one of those guys who can’t maintain a relationship for more than a week, you’re not ready to date my best friend.”
Archer squirmed under Judy and glared when Mal, Ian, and I all looked at him. “What? This isn’t about me!”
Selene patted the table, her version of a gavel to regain attention. “Ian, have you had girlfriends in the past?”
“Serious girlfriends? Yeah. Two.”
Mal spoke up. “Three, man. You’re not counting Tao-Li?”
“I don’t think Selene is interested in high school.” Ian shrugged.
Selene looked at Judy, who nodded. Selene looked back. “We are interested in high school. High school counts. We’ll start with Tao-Li.”
I felt Ian’s chuckle more than heard it. “Tao-Li and I dated for most of our senior year and the summer after that.”
“Why did it end? Who ended it?”
“Uh, neither of us. She went out of state to college. It just, you know, ended.”
“Do you still talk to her?”
“To Tao-Li? I guess. If I saw her in town.”
“No hard feelings?”
“Um, I don’t think so.”
“Okay. Who was next?”
“That would be Rebecca. We dated for five months.” Archer and Mal both reacted, one with a snort and the other with a sniff.
“What happened to that relationship?”
“What happened was I changed the locks in my house. Rebecca was a little . . . unbalanced.”
“A little,” Mal scoffed.
“I see. Do you talk to her?”
“I do not.”
She regarded him. “I suppose you know what a bad relationship is like. It’s good experience. Right, Judy?”
Judy offered a thumbs up and a nod. Good, I thought. This is going well.
“And the third girlfriend? Tell us about her.”
“Kelly.” Ian seemed to droop marginally. “That lasted almost three years. She was cool.”
Archer nodded. “She was.”
“What happened?”
Ian looked at the bus and then at his hands. “Aftermath got some more attention. We got more gigs. It began to annoy Kelly that I was playing on Saturday nights instead of taking her out. You could say we wanted different things.”
“Who ended it?”
He wrinkled his nose and waggled his skull. “By the end, we were pretty unhappy with each other. I’m not sure who ended it. She probably said the words first, but we both knew it was over. Probably dragged it out too long out of, you know, habit?”
Everyone in the bus nodded. We knew.
“All right.” Selene eyed him sternly. We all waited for the next salvo. “Why do you think you’re worthy of Nicky?”
Ian laughed, a free and open expression. “I’m definitely not worthy of her. If I hadn’t been lucky enough to get her into a bus for a month, she never would have looked at me.”
“That’s not true!” I protested.
He laughed at me, ignoring my objection. Then he took his arm from around my shoulder, leaned forward, mirrored Selene’s linked fingers on the table, and caught her in the intensity of his gaze. “Nicky makes me a better person. I’m stronger, happier, and braver with her in my life. I can’t tell you how long this will last. I’m old enough to recognize that infatuation can feel like something stronger, and she and I need more time to make sure this is the real thing. But I’ll tell you this.” He paused to ensure she was paying attention. We all were. He went on. “I’m not going to have a conversation with you about this relationship before I have it with Nicky. I admire your determination to protect her, but I’ve answered my last question about us.”
He sat back. I linked my arm with his, hiding my smile in his shoulder. Infatuation . . . or something stronger? It felt pretty strong to me.
Selene eyed him critically and then turned to Judy.
“Thumbs up,” Judy said.
Selene’s stern face broke into a smile. She held her hand out for Ian to shake. “Excellent. An excellent interview. Nice to meet you, Ian.”
He shook with her and then kissed the top of my head. Archer groaned. “Is she going to put me through that if you and I are dancing at this festival?” he asked Judy.
“Aw, she wouldn’t do it for me,” Judy said. “I’m kind of a tramp.”
“No shit,” Archer said happily. “Me too!”
“Well, all right!” Judy and Archer slapped hands, which made the rest of us laugh. “All right, show me the rest of this bus, and then let’s go exploit our VIP passes! Shit, you actually sleep in these bunks?”
Aftermath declined to go with us to explore; they’d been asked to stay on their bus until one o’clock, when they’d be expected backstage. Selene, Judy, and I braved the security gate to the backstage area on our own.
“I am so going to dance with Archer Armstrong this afternoon,” Judy crowed. There was no star power in the backstage area. It was mostly a large parking lot now covered in snaking cables and Jersey wall barriers breaking the space into chunks.
“Well, be careful. He’s happy to do his ‘dancing’ in places where he knows security cameras are watching.”
“Seriously? Could I get a copy?”
“You are such a slut,” Selene said lovingly, linking her arm with Judy’s.
“You could have Mal,” Judy offered. “He’s a hottie.”
“And a sweetie,” I added. “He deserves a brilliant woman like you, Selene.”
She gave us her proud lawyer face, which consisted of a Mona Lisa smile with closed eyes and raised eyebrows. “Even for a hottie like Mal, I would not risk my partnership with Dennis.”
“Of course,” I said, draping my arm over her shoulder. “But you don’t have to dance with him. You could just, you know, dance. If the music was hot.”
We laughed together at the distinction. At the back of the parking lot, a crowd had gathered around a chain link fence enclosure.
“Something’s happening over there,” Judy said, pulling us along. “Let’s go check it out.”
I spotted Bruce in the crowd and heard angry voices. I tried to pull them back, but Judy was a terrier on the trail of a very tempting rat.
And I hadn’t listened to the heated debate for even two minutes before I whispered to my friends, “We need to go get Ian.”