Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
AIDEN
It’s been just over a week since our first set last Friday and the following intervention on Mia. Hell, if we’re being honest, it was a full band-wide intervention too. Noah’s penchant for partying, Mia’s drinking, Leo’s health, and my own inferiority complex rearing its head.
Thinking of how we could have sunk it all for good in that one night after just a single show with Knotty Tour is still sometimes paralyzing. Us crashing and burning out here would be the final nail in my career coffin, probably Leo’s too, and who knew how bad that’d make it for Noah and Mia.
But it isn’t just the band at stake, but the pack, too.
It’s that guiding force that pulls us together. We smashed the Saturday and Sunday shows last weekend and all three this weekend, too. We hustle offstage from the last show to the sounds of cheers and applause that keeps us high for the rest of the night. Mia’s cheeks are flushed from the summer heat and singing. Noah finds a clean towel and wipes the sweat from his face and Leo heads for the closest bottle of cold water he can find.
“We nailed it!” Mia shouts happily with an adorable wiggle dance as we cross the ready area where another band is preparing to take the stage after us.
There is no ability within me to not grin when she does that adorable dance. “We did. Great job, guys!”
Noah tosses the towel over his shoulder. “Not bad for a bunch of a strangers who met a few weeks ago.”
I chuckle, about to make a comment about how Leo’s no stranger when I see him struggling to open the water bottle. “You okay?”
Leo looks up quick. “Yeah. All good.” Still he struggles with the cap.
Warning bells go off in my head. Just last weekend Leo mentioned a nerve pain flare bad enough to take meds for. He took it easy between shows and didn’t touch a drum set all week, but if he’s still in pain after all this time…
Leo must have clocked concern growing on my face because he hands me the bottle and levels me with a look. “I’m okay, okay? Just a little grip weakness post-show, I guess. I shouldn’t have drunk what I have recently, and the stress—but it’s getting better.”
I open the bottle for him but shake my head. “You need to take it easier.”
Mia circles closer as she watches this exchange. “What’s going on?”
Noah hovers close behind her.
Leo doesn’t look at them. “I’ve lost enough time to this disease, Aiden. It nearly took everything from me. I’ll rest, but if you’re about to suggest taking time off from the tour entirely or anything resembling stopping with Exit Fate, you can keep it to yourself. I want to be here. I want to do this. And I know the risks.” Only then does he glance at Mia and Noah. “Being with you all feels like finally being home, so I’m not leaving.”
Mia touches Leo’s arm. Leo welcomes her to his side and wraps his arm around her and sips water from the bottle in his free hand. “We’ll just rest between now and Friday.”
Noah nods to me. “And write, gotta make Wes happy, too.”
Wes is supposed to meet us at the next tour stop. He will be happy to see how much of an album we’ve got together so far. But I’m wondering if a few solid days of rest might be the way to go.
“How about we go out for dinner tonight?” I suggest. “Tour goes late, so nothing should be flooded with concert goers for a few hours yet.”
Noah nods to me. “Sounds good to me. I’ll hop in the shower first.” He heads off before the rest of us can agree to the plan.
Leo chuckles lightly. “Rest away from the tour’s party scene will be good. I can grab my prescription while we’re out, too.”
Mia hugs him tight. “If we can help with anything, just let us know.” Then she shoots me a concerned look, too. “How are you ? Leo’s not the only one watching health issues.”
I was sure they’d forgotten. Being called out for it has me rubbing the back of my neck as if to call direct attention to the issue. “I’m good. The shorter sets have helped immensely in that regard. No neck pain.” A little stiffness here and there, but nothing like it used to be. “I can’t complain.” And so I haven’t.
Mia nods then looks up at Leo. “Then you’re the only one who gets to be nursed back to health—lucky you!” She flashes him a charming smile bright enough to cut through any dark day.
Leo kisses her forehead and smiles warmly. “Hmm, maybe I need to slow the healing down then, really take advantage of this.”
I bark a laugh and wave them on toward the parking lot. “Come on you two.”
We hurry back to the bus and wash up after a hot set in the early summer. The sun is just going down when we collect inside a taxi and make our way to a twenty-four hour diner in the next town over, with booth seating, a 24-hour breakfast menu, and even claw machines with prizes inside. It looks like it was built in the eighties and has never once been renovated.
Thankfully, it’s as empty as I was hoping it would be both for our sake in general, but especially for Leo’s.
We order food and drinks and set about just enjoying the slowed down evening in a quiet diner. Which is why it’s no surprise that Mia pulls out a pen from the inside of her black jacket and starts writing on a napkin. She really is an insanely prolific lyricist.
I let her go about it when Noah jumps in with melody suggestions. It’s hard not to let my attention wander to Leo. Prior to Wes’s fated phone call and offer we weren’t super close. But Lost Time and Designation Outsider came up around the same time. We did Knotty Tour together, partied with the same circles, all of that. The last thing I want is for the strain of this tour—which will hit all of us at some point—to put him back into a hospital.
At one point, Leo gets up and wanders over to one of the claw machines and within a few tries to snag a neon-blue penguin plushie.
He proudly sets it down over Mia and Noah’s work. “There we go, Exit Fate’s mascot.”
Noah laughs, but Mia’s warm smile melts my heart.
She pats the penguin’s head. “He’s perfect. Henceforth known as… Mr. Frosty.”
Noah moves him slightly to the side, off of the napkins filled with notes. “Mr. Frosty’s ass is in the way.”
Leo chuckles and sits back down. “Had to try. And hey, just proof my hand is better after some rest.”
I snort a laugh and carry on attending to the basket of fries in front of me. “And now ‘Mr. Frosty’ gets to appear at every show.”
Leo shrugs. “I can set him on the drum set.”
Mia points her pen at Leo. “You better!”
A flash outside the window startles all of us. It’s been dark out for a while, and the parking lot isn’t well-lit by any means.
“The fuck?” Noah asks.
A group of people in their late teens or early twenties floods into the quiet diner. In come the concert-goers. But it’s the flash that’s got me worried.
My body tenses as more concert-goers flood in. So much for peace.
Then someone points to me. Then the whole band.
“Exit Fate!” one girl shrieks at the top of her lungs as she whips out her phone. “It’s Mia!”
Mia’s eyes go wide. “Uh, hi.” She waves a little.
Noah starts collecting their napkin notes and Mr. Frosty.
The other concert-goers let out gasps of surprise. A few take steps toward us, others also take out their phones. There are phones everywhere these days, I swear. And worse, it’s hard to get the temperature of this crowd. Is it just excitement or is this going to turn into a problem?
Leo’s brow is creased. The worry in his eyes is evident, too. We’ve both had the problem of unexpected recognition in public it seems.
“Mia!” a girl probably no more than seventeen shouts. She’s in black shorts with a Lost Time t-shirt and has bright blue hair. “You’re amazing—all of you are! Can we take a selfie together?”
Mia climbs over the back of the booth seat into the booth behind us and hurries toward her. Noah’s hands clench like he’s going to reach for, but he stops short of actually doing it. Leo, who’s sitting next to him, stands to get out of his way. I stand, too, as Mia happily trots over.
“Of course!” Mia exclaims, a PR-winning and genuine smile spread across her face. She poses with that girl and then three more sets of people before waving the rest of the band over. “Come on, guys, get in here.”
Maybe it’s the flashbacks to that time we had to rescue Mia from a bar, but something keeps me from wanting to jump right in. Leo sort of hangs on the edges, but Noah joins Mia inside the crowd.
We meet fans, take pictures with them, and sign autographs for a good twenty minutes before someone asks the fated question: “When’s your first album dropping?”
We all kind of awkwardly look at each other and stop just short of shrugging.
“We’re working on it,” I offer as the best answer I can give. It’s also the only honest one. Just because we hand in all the tracks to Wes at the end of Knotty Tour doesn’t mean the album will be released quickly thereafter.
A chorus of excited responses follow, which actually makes me feel good. Like the gut feeling we all had that we could make this work wasn’t just a gut feeling anymore, but a reality.
“Designation Outsider said they’re working on a new album too,” one of the men in the crowd says. “Are you going to feature on it at all?”
The question stops me in my tracks. I suppose it’s a fair ask, but it digs up things I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to bury for good. “Nah, man. That chapter’s over. But I appreciate you supporting Exit Fate.”
The fan accepts the answer. Another half hour goes by before the crowd dies down and we’re able to leave.
“That was wild,” Mia exclaims as we hop back into a taxi to return to our tour bus. Mr. Frosty sits proudly in her lap.
“Means this is going well, I think,” Leo says. His eyes are tight, but I can tell he’s trying to keep on the positive end of things. I can’t imagine the mental obstacle course of wanting to jump into crowds and meet fans but knowing doing so risks your health the way it does for him.
“It does,” I say, then nod to Noah. “Can’t wait to see what you two are working on, too.”
Noah elbows Mia in the side. “She’s an endless fountain of inspiration. It’s insane, actually.”
The conversation carries on much the same on the way back to our tour bus. I spend most of it looking out the taxi’s window and smiling.
What’s insane is that Wes’s absolute Hail Mary is working.
How did he know we’d create something this… wonderful ?