Rum and Coke

“And you’re going to call every day?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Ellie replied impatiently. She had a schedule to keep.

“And you’re going not going to push yourself or Ryan too hard?”

“I promise to take it easy.”

Adam narrowed his eyes at her.

“I promise! What, do you want me to spit shake on it?”

Sighing, Adam pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you.”

Ellie wrapped her arms around him. “I’m going to miss you, too. But, remember, I’ll be back in no time. We just have to finish the last leg of the tour.”

Adam kissed the crown of her head and pulled away. “You take care now.”

“You, too,” Ellie smiled before turning to face the rest of the people waiting to see her off. “Okay, Aunt Idina, I’m leaving you in charge of him,” Ellie said to the only woman who could somewhat fill the role of her mother. “You’re the only thing that’ll keep him mostly sane while I’m gone. Feel free to put him to work. I even give you permission to slap him around a few times.”

Idina laughed as Adam protested. “I’ll take good care of him. Don’t worry,” she said, pulling Ellie in for one of her infamous Idina-hug. “I love you, sugar,” she said, kissing the teenager’s cheek.

“Love you, too.” Ellie smiled as she pulled back. Ellie quickly turned and hugged Taye. The two had never needed words. Taye just smiled and patted her back.

“Go get ‘em. Show the world how tough a New Yorker really is.”

Ellie smiled and looked at the three. “I love you guys. Take care, and I’ll see you in two weeks. Bye!”

The three adults chorused their good-byes as Ellie boarded the bus.

~*~
It’s been almost three weeks. The only things that had changed since the New York show were SY’s set and the fact that everyone was getting short-tempered. Everyone was happy that tonight’s performance would be the last. There was only so much drama that they could go through before they broke.

“Hey, Brian, can I talk to you?” Ellie asked in the doorway of the bunkroom.

“Um, sure,” Brian said, closing his suitcase. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, um, I was just wondering, when the tour ends, what will happen…to us?”

“Nothing, absolutely nothing.”

“How? We’re going to be 3,000 miles apart.”

Brian’s face lightened up. “No, we’re not. I’m going to move to New York.”

“What?”

“Yea, I’m going to spend two weeks here gathering what I need and selling what I don’t, and then I’m moving to New York. Adam is pulling a few strings to get me a house.”

“Brian, you don’t have to gibe up everything for me.”

Brian sighed. “I’m not. I have nothing left here except for a huge, empty house and a half dozen vehicles.”

Ellie shook her head. “What about them?” she asked, motioning to the laughing group behind her. “Aren’t they your brothers? Do they know that you’re abandoning them?”

“Ellie, listen. I am not abandoning them. Knowing us, we’ll chat everyday and send e-mails once a week.”

“And your job?”

Brian shrugged. “I already called Warner Bros. They’re expecting me in the New York office in three weeks.”

“You’re really doing this?” Ellie asked after a tense moment of silence.

“Yes. I missed eighteen years of your life already, I don’t want to miss anymore. So, please, will you let me fully into your life? Into your family?”

“I-I’m going to die soon. I have a year tops.”

Brian smiled and stepped closer to his daughter. “Then let’s make it count. Please, Ellie, you’re mother walked out of my life forever, I don’t think I can bare to lose you the same way.”

Ellie smiled and nodded. “I don’t think I can lose you, either.”

Brian smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

Ellie pulled back for a second. “But don’t think that this means you can boss me around like a child- I am an adult, afterall.”

Brian smiled and pulled her back into his arms. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”