Rum and Coke

“Come on, Ry, today is the day,” Ellie said excitedly. They had made it to the venue in Trenton in record time. Sound check had been quick and easy. All that was left to do was wait for a few more hours. Only Ellie, Ryan, Jimmy, and the stage crew opted to stay at the venue- the rest had gone to the hotel.

Ryan narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t trust that look.”

“I am going to give you the best leg massage ever to get your circulation going, and then you’re going to try out these suckers,” she said, whipping the brackes out from behind her back.

“Ellie, it’s a little too early for that, don’t you think? I mean, I’ve only been out of the hospital for a week.”

“The earlier we get started, the sooner you’ll get to drum again.” She said, kneeling in front of him. “Think about it, you’ll actually get to manage your full kit again. C’mon, I know you’re dying to hit those skins. I’ve seen it in your eyes at the shows.” He eyes were wide and pleading. A small pout formed on her lips. “Please?”

“Urgh! Fine,” Ryan said, succumbing. “Just know that I hate you and I’m not expecting anything.”

Ellie beamed. “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take,” she said in a posh manner.

“You’re a dork, you know that right?”

“Of course I do! Now, shut up and let me get to work,” she said, immediately seizing a hold of his left leg and gently working her fingers over the waning muscle.

Ryan groaned. “Damn, I forgot how good you were. Where the hell were these since the start of tour?”

Ellie laughed and moved on to the other leg. “We’ve all been busy doing different things. You were with Kay, I was with Brian. Mark and Bailey-”

“Hey, don’t start that,” Ryan mumbled. His eyes were almost closed. “They-” he was cut off by a yawn.

“Hey, no falling asleep on me. You need to test out your new legs,” she said, patting his leg.

“Gah, I hate you.”

“You love me. Who else would take care of your ass?” Ellie grinned, going to work on his feet. “Okay, I’m going to work your knees and hips a bit, and then we can start the brace work,” she said standing up. Ryan laid down fully on the couch and let her do the exercises without complaint. Ellie had been in and out of the chiropractor’s office so much, that she knew how to do everything. “I relaly wish I had an e-stem machine. That would be awesome- it would take care of a lot of tension in all of us.”

“Yea, that would be nice. But they’re so big and awkward. Not to mention expensive,” Ryan muttered.

Ellie smiled down at him. “Yea, no place to put it on a bus, especially one as crowded as this one.” She said as she set his leg down. “Hang on, I’m going to need some help for this. You just stay right there.”

Ryan propped himself up on his elbows and watched her leave. He shook his head at her. “Ellie Marie Patterson, you are something else. No wonder everyone falls in love with you. You’re just too unique- too perfect,” he muttered under his breath.

“I have returned with a Reverend! That way, if you die, he can lay you to eternal rest right on the spot!” Ellie grinned.

“Ha ha. Very funny, Ellie,” Ryan said dryly.

Ellie grabbed his braces and adjusted them accordingly. The two teenagers were the exact same height, so it worked out perfectly. “You know, I feel like one of those Landstrider-things from The Dark Crystal,” she said before making odd noises and using the braces like the fictional beasts. It was a fairly good impersonation of one.

Ryan and Jimmy could only laugh.

“Man, I’m so pissed that I left my camera on the bus,” Jimmy laughed.

“She’ll do it again if you ask, trust me,” Ryan laughed. “alright, Terror Twin, you’ve had your fun, now let’s do this.”

“You sure?” Ellie asked in a teasing tone as she sauntered over. “Last time I checked you were a Downer Dave.”

“Ellie, may I please have my braces? I would like to drum before the century is up,” he laughed.

“Okay, but we’re only going to work on standing up in them. I don’t want to overstress you,” Ellie perked up, skipping to her brother. “Jimmy, I want you to be the front spotter. Your job is to make sure that he doesn’t fall flat on his face. I’m going to support his hips. Now, Ry, I need you to sit up all the way for me…That’s it,” she said as he complied. “Alright now, I’m going to scoot you forward and get behind you. Jimmy, let him use your arms to get up.” The two did as she instructed. When Ryan was standing- well, mostly, he was hunched over quite a bit, and very shaky on his feet.

“Alright, now Ry, let go of Jimmy with one arm and slid your arm into the holster and grab the grips. Jimmy, make sure that you keep him steady. Good, now the other?”

Ryan shakily put his arm into the holster and grabbed the handle. He lost his balance a little, careening into Ellie. Ellie wrapped her arms around his waist and gently pushed him forward.

“It’s okay, I got you.” She whispered in his ear. “I’m not letting go.”

“Great, so we’re both screwed if I fall!” Ryan exclaimed as he caught Jimmy’s eye. “Well, make that all three of us,” he added with a laugh.

“Hey, no jinxing. We haven’t fallen yet,” Ellie said behind him. “Okay, Jimmy, I can’t see a damn thing. Is he slightly steady?”

“Define slightly steady,” Jimmy said with a laugh

“He’s not swaying like the Whomping Willow on a windy day.”

“So, you want him swaying like it on a clear day?”

“Precisely.”

“Can we not refer to me as a tree that’s guarding a secret passage to the Shrieking Shack?” Ryan asked, struggling to stay still.

Ellie smiled. “Sorry, Ry-Ry. Okay, when you’re ready, Jimmy is going to slowly move away. But don’t worry, because I’m still going to be behind you, okay? So, if you need to fall, fall backwards. There’s a couch. We’re good.”

It took Ryan several minutes of pure concentration to stop most of the side-to-side wobbling. After three agonizing minutes, he nodded his head, telling Jimmy to slowly move away. Ryan was fine for half a second before he let out a slew of curse words and fell backwards, onto Ellie and the couch. “God fucking dammit! Not even a second!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ellie cooed, getting out from underneath him. “You stood up. You were on your own for a bit. It’s progress!” Ellie smiled.

“It’s more than I did my first time,” Jimmy said as he sat down.

“Wait- what?”

Jimmy scratched the back of his head. “Yea, I got into a fight and was shot in the back- right
next to my spinal cord. I had to relearn how to walk. Man, was it a disaster!” he laughed at the end.

Ellie leaned forward. “I didn’t know that about you.”

Jimmy shrugged. “There’s a lot a bunch of people don’t know about me.” He took a large gulp of his water. “So, Ellie, how did you know what to do?”

“I’ve been in and out of the hospital a lot. I’ve been to the chiropractor a lot, too,” she answered with a shrug. “And I just picked stuff up by observation and practice.”

Jimmy nodded. “Because of your condition?”

“Yea, because of my condition,” Ellie confirmed, happy that the shakes were gone for now.

~*~
Ellie bounced offstage, much to the dismay of Brian, still feeling the high from the crowd singing her lyrics back to her. She hoped that she never get used to it- it was too intoxicating. She was bouncing ahead of Ryan, Ren, and Kay all the way back to the greenroom when she faintly heard her cellphone go off. Instantly recognizing the ring tone, her grin widened and she darted into the green room which was only a few yards away.

“ADAM! I’m so sorry! But I just got off stage! It was amazing! The crowd was insa-”

“Ellie. Stop.” He commanded. Ellie cold never remember his tone being that cold.

Ellie instantly stopped skipping wondering what kind of news merited that kind of tone.

“I have some bad news.”