Chapter 31 - Milo
Milo
“You’re such a fucking pussy,” Violet muttered from the bed.
“Shut up,” I said while looking at myself in the mirror mounted on the wall of the hotel room.
“Puuuuuussy,” she repeated, drawing out the word. “Just go do it.”
“I am.”
“You’ve been preening in front of the mirror for an hour.”
“It’s only been a few minutes.”
“It’s felt like an hour,” she insisted. “I can’t concentrate while you’re changing shirts over and over.”
“Because the sight of me bare-chested is enough to make you question your lesbianism?”
Violet rolled her eyes. “You’re hot as fuck, bro, but my queerness is impenetrable. And don’t you dare make a joke about penetration.”
“You know me too well.”
“Which is why,” she said, “I know that you’re being a big fat pussy right now.”
“Just give me a minute!”
She let out a dramatic sigh as I went back to the duffel bag I was using as a suitcase and pulled out another shirt.
“A polo? Seriously?”
“I want to look nice.”
“A collar isn’t going to make a difference. Just go ask her.”
I admired myself in the polo. Yeah. This was the one.
“Cash and Rox got back ten minutes ago,” Violet said. “If you don’t leave this room right fucking now, I’m going to go ask her out for you.”
I rounded on her. “You’d do that for me?”
“It was supposed to be a threat, not an offer.” She leaned against the headboard and started tapping on her phone.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You’re not texting her, are you?”
“I’m texting Dana. My wife. Jesus, just go do it already. The worst she could say is no.”
That’s what I was afraid of, though. Roxie saying no. Then things would be awkward between us for the rest of the tour. I didn’t handle rejection well. Violet claimed I had abandonment issues.
Which I probably did. But still.
I’d been thinking about asking out Roxie for weeks. Turning the idea around in my head like a Rubik’s Cube, planning out the best angle of attack. I wasn’t normally this reserved. I was usually too impulsive, as Cash liked to say. I rushed into things and worried about the consequences later.
But the stakes felt higher with a girl like Roxie.
I didn’t want to fuck this up. And I definitely didn’t want to screw with our group dynamic. Nothing destroyed a band faster than internal drama. I didn’t want Roxie to become our Yoko Ono.
“Come on, Milo,” I whispered to myself. “You’re fucking dope. Everyone likes you. Roxie would love to go out with you.”
I was so lost in thought that I rounded a corner and ran right into her.
My momentum caused her to stagger backwards, but I was a drummer, which meant I had great reflexes. I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward me before she could fall on her ass.
But the soup she was carrying exploded like a bomb.
I don’t really remember what happened next. I was jacked up on adrenaline and nerves, and tore my polo shirt off and started using it as a rag to clean up the mess.
And then, after giving up on that, Violet’s words echoed in my mind: Just go do it, pussy.
So I blurted it out.
“I was actually coming to see you. I was, uh, going to ask you out. On a… date.”
Roxie’s big, innocent eyes widened in surprise. The worst possible reaction I could have expected. I knew that look, and it filled my veins with ice.
But then she grinned. A big, genuine smile that warmed my heart more than a dozen containers of soup.
“I’d like that,” she said. “I’d love to go on a date with you, Milo. What are you thinking?”
Shit. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Think fast, Milo. Think. She’s staring at you! Waiting for an answer!
“We’re in Minneapolis next,” I said. “But after that we’re playing in Denver. I kind of lived there for a year, so I know a lot of cool dive bars. Places with live music, stuff you wouldn’t know about unless you’re a local.”
“Oh yeah?” Roxie tilted her head to the side. “Are you big into music?”
She said it deadpan with a straight face, so it took me an embarrassing couple of seconds to realize she was making a joke. “Ah ha ha, yeah, you could say I’m into music. A little bit.”
“That sounds like a wonderful date,” she replied. “I’m in.”
“Yeah? Really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” she teased, poking my bare chest with a finger.
That was a reminder that I was shirtless, and that there was at least a pint of soup running down the wall next to us. “Hell yeah. Sick. I’ll grab some towels and, uh…”
“Go back to your room and chill,” Roxie insisted. “This is my mess, so I’ll talk to the front desk and get it cleaned up.” She patted me on the arm. “Looking forward to Denver!”
I practically floated all the way back to Violet’s room.
“I’m beginning to regret giving you a key,” she muttered. “I never get any peace and quiet. Why the hell are you shirtless?”
“Soup police.” Now that I was safely in the room, I pumped my fist and let out an excited yell.
“Let me guess: she said no?” Violet asked.
I flipped her off while continuing to jump around, letting all the nervous energy wiggle out of my arms and legs.
“Seriously though, why are you shirtless?”
“I already told you. Soup police.”
“That’s not even close to an explanation.”
“She said yes!” I did a belly flop onto the bed, causing Violet to bounce up and down. “I asked her out and she said yes! Can you believe it?”
“I can believe it, because I spent the last hour telling you to do it. You’re welcome.”
I rolled over, grabbed her calf, and gave it a kiss. “You’re my favorite lesbian, you know that?”
“I thought Brandi Carlile was.”
“You’ve passed her,” I insisted. “You’re now number one, Brandi Carlile is number two, and Tegan and Sara are number three. And yes, they count as one.”
“Damn. You really have a crush on this girl. I bet you’ve been writing her name over and over in your diary.”
“I don’t have a diary, but I might buy one just to do that.” I pulled out my phone and hit play on my Good Mood Spotify playlist.
“I was trying to relax,” Violet complained.
I jumped out of bed and started dancing to the music. “Come on. Celebrate with me for a few minutes, then you can go back to being a grumpy dyke.”
There was a knock at the door. I danced my way over and opened it, and Cash stepped inside.
“Sure, come on in,” Violet said sarcastically. “It’s not like I was looking forward to the privacy of my own hotel room while we were here.”
“I wanted to talk to you guys about…” Cash trailed off with a frown. “What are we celebrating? And why are you shirtless?”
“Soup!” I sang in tune with the music playing from my phone. “Soup, soup, souuuuuuuup!”
Cash turned to me. We shared a look that we often did when we felt like the parents of the energetic toddler that Milo often was.
“I’m not celebrating anything,” Violet explained. “But Milo is hyper because he finally sacked up and asked Roxie out on an official date.”
“Oh. Shit, really?”
“Not an official date,” I clarified. “Just a date. A normal date. It’s not a big deal.”
“Clearly not a big deal, which is why he’s dancing around like he just won American Idol,” Violet muttered.
“Congrats, dude,” Cash said. “You just asked her?”
“Yep! Five minutes ago.”
“What did you want to talk to us about?” Violet asked. “I’d like to get back to enjoying some peace and quiet, if you don’t mind stating your business and then dragging Milo out with you.”
“Um.” Cash rubbed the back of his neck the way he always did when he was nervous. “It can wait, I think.”
I stopped dancing. “Is it something bad?”
Violet was smirking like she knew what he was going to say. “I suspect that it’s bad for you, but good for Cash.”
“How’d you guess?” Cash demanded.
“Because I know you. All of you.”
“What?” I asked. “Why do you know about it and I don’t?”
“Because you’re about as observant as a puppy chasing a ball through a parking lot,” she replied.
Cash grimaced and turned to me. “Roxie and I went to pick up soup for Riot. On the way back, we popped into a thrift shop to get some clothes. Roxie bought a leather jacket.”
“Oh yeah! She was just wearing it. Looks great on her.”
“While we were there… Roxie and I kind of hooked up.”
They hooked up.
Cash and Roxie.
My brain didn’t absorb the words immediately. It took a few seconds. Cash was staring at me, waiting for a reaction.
“Wow. That’s great, dude,” I said.
“You’re not jealous?” Cash asked. “Or upset?”
“I’m a little jealous,” I admitted, “but not in a bad way. It’s more like: oh shit, bro. I’m so jealous you got to see David Bowie in concert while he was still alive! That kind of jealousy.”
“You sure?” he asked.
I gave Cash a hug and clapped him on the back. “Bro, I’m good. Nothing could fuck up our friendship, not even a woman. I’m annoyed that you got to her first, that’s all.”
“The thing I love about Milo,” Violet chimed in, “is the fact that he’s a terrible liar. He can’t hide anything, especially not his feelings. So you know he’s telling the truth.”
“Thanks… I think.”
Cash’s lip finally twitched in a smile. “I don’t know if it will happen again. I mean, I hope it does. But I’m trying not to think too far in advance. Especially since she’s with Riot, too.”
“Hey! Maybe we can have another Violet situation,” I suggested.
Violet scoffed loudly. “There will never be another Violet situation. But maybe, just maybe, you can find something similar with Roxie. She’s cool as fuck.
I’d be into her if I wasn’t happily married.
And speaking of that… how was it?” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“Was it good? Where’d it happen at the thrift shop? ”
“Dressing room.” His cheeks turned red. “And that’s all I’ll say about that. I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Boo. I’ll get you drunk and pull the rest of the details out of you.”
“Do you think she’d be into that?” I asked. “Like… all three of us? Me, Cash, and Riot?”
“She joined the tour after seeing us play one show,” Violet explained. “I think she’s into it for sure. Any woman would be. You guys are hot. Just play it cool and don’t fuck it up.”
Don’t fuck it up. That was good advice. It was easier said than done, though.
I shared a glance with Cash and saw that he was thinking the same thing.
It was going to be a long wait until Denver.