Daylight

Viv’s POV

Warped was about two weeks in when we got to Omaha. I hadn’t seen Petula for a few days, so I decided to check in with her that morning.
I knocked on her bus door a little after ten.
Her friend Mo, the shorter of the two blondes, appeared when the door opened.
“Hey, Miss Viv, how’s it hangin’?” she greeted me in a raspy morning voice.
“Hi Mo, it’s all good. I’m just here to see Pet. Is she up yet?” I asked cheerfully.
“Uh—she’s—she’s, lemme see…” she stammered, and then she suddenly vanished. I tried to mount the steps, but just as suddenly, the door was closed again.

I could make out some voices, muffled but apparently panicked. What the hell’s going on? I wondered.
The door hissed open again, and there stood Mo.
“Hi Miss Viv,” she repeated, out of breath this time.
“Hi again,” I said impatiently. “Where’s Pet?”
She looked around desperately at the other girls, and I took the opportunity to hop onto the bus. When she next looked in my direction, I was standing inches away.
She jumped. “Oh! I didn’t know…” Mo trailed off.
I glanced at Sal. “Anybody here wanna tell me what’s up with Petula?”

I hadn’t seen such guilty looks since I was in high school.

Sal blurted out, “She’s not up yet!”
Man, are these two bad liars! I thought.
I smiled sweetly. “Really? Well, then, I’ll just go rouse her,” I declared, starting for the back of the bus.
“Rouse who?” came Pet’s voice from the bus steps. In seconds, she and Joe McCullough were both in sight, each carrying what looked like an overnight bag.
Overnight bag?
Pet ignored the stunned looks we were all giving the two of them. “Hi Aunt Viv,” she said, kissing me on the cheek.
“Vivian, good morning,” Joe said politely. Both of them brushed past us all to the bunk area.
“Hey guys, laundry day,” Petula called back when she was almost out of sight.

Mo and Sal still had guilty expressions.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So…anyone wanna share with the class? Or do I have to beat it out of you?”
Unexpectedly, Tia giggled. “Oh God,” she groaned, “I would love to stick around for this, but I gotta get me some coffee. Have a nice morning, girls. Miss Viv, see you around.”
She walked off the bus, still laughing.

I turned to the two blondes, still staring at me with that deer-in-the-headlights look.
“Well…?”

Pet’s POV

It was hard, but I managed not to burst out laughing till Joe and I got back to the bunk area.
We threw the bags on my bed, and I grabbed Joe’s hand to lead him into the rear-most bunk, the double one Shoshi and Ray had been using. I shut the door and cracked up, falling over onto the bed.
Joe sat down, his expression bewildered. “What’s so bloody funny?”
“The look on their faces…” I gasped out. “My Aunt Viv is totally gonna rip those two a new one.”
I could tell Joe wasn’t exactly familiar with that phrase. “Uh…and that’s bad, right?” he asked.
“Oh yeah,” I replied, holding my stomach; it hurt from laughing so hard.
He was quiet for a minute.
“So…what happens now?” he wondered.
I calmed down and thought for a few moments.
“Hmmmm…maybe we should give them their money’s worth,” I suggested.
Joe looked at me intently and I raised my eyebrows at him, biting my lip.
“Hmmmm…” he mused. “I suppose a little…display would be in order?”
I nodded.
“You, Pet,” he said admiringly, “have an evil mind. I like it.”

We waited a few minutes in the bunk and listened carefully for any sound. Oddly, there was none. You’d think a massacre about to happen would be a little…noisier.

I finally heard what I’d been waiting for, and tugged on Joe’s hand.
Showtime.

Viv’s POV

To say the tension in the air was thick would be a gross understatement.

Mo and Sal seemed to have relaxed when Petula arrived with Joe. But, when the two of them passed us all by and disappeared into the back of the bus, the two girls were left standing facing me.
No explanation was forthcoming, but I could pretty well guess what’d gone on.
“Well?” I said, my voice sounding more like an old woman’s than I’d ever remembered it had before. “What the hell did the two of you do?”

A minute or so later, Tia arrived with her coffee—and their manager Shoshi in tow. A tall man was with them too, someone I’d never seen before.
It looked like their drummer had briefed the other woman; she seemed almost as annoyed as I was. Still, she smiled graciously at me.
“Vivian, what a nice surprise,” Shoshi said warmly. Her sweet tone belied the dangerous glance she then cut at the two blondes, who sank into the tiny bench in the kitchen booth. Shoshi then took my hand and the man’s as well.
“I don’t believe you’ve ever met my husband, Ray,” she remarked, ignoring the fright she’d obviously caused in the two young women. “Ray, darling, this is Vivian Nordstrom. She’s Petula’s godmother, and a writer for AP as well. Vivian, this is my husband, Ray Levi.”
I shook hands with Ray as he smiled almost shyly, even while his other hand was firmly around his wife’s hip. “It’s a pleasure, Vivian,” he said softly.
I nodded back, smiling politely, trying to gauge the situation.

Almost on cue, Joe and Pet appeared from the rear of the bus, Joe toting his duffel and the two of them holding hands and smiling.
“Ladies….” Joe greeted us all. “And…gentleman,” he added once he saw Ray. “Have a good day then.”
He and Pet stopped just short of the bus steps.
She smiled up at Joe. “I had a really nice time last night,” she said, practically glowing.
“Me too,” he answered. “Later then?”
Her smile got even bigger. “Absolutely.”

Then they kissed—right in front of us all.

Holy shit, what a kiss.

It was fascinating, yet frightening in its intensity. I got a weird sinking feeling in my stomach and glanced away.
Tia, Sal and Mo were clearly in shock.
Shoshi’s surprise, on the other hand, was definitely tinged with anger; I could see the color rising in her face.

Joe let go of Petula and walked down the bus steps without a look back. She turned to us with an oddly triumphant expression on her face.
Ray nudged my shoulder. “Vivian, could I interest you in a cup of coffee?” he asked quietly. “I think we’re not really needed here.”
No shit, I thought. “Yes, I’d love one, Ray, thank you,” I replied as calmly as I could in the aftermath of what we’d all just witnessed.
Ray kissed his wife and we hurried off the bus as fast as possible.

Ray looked back as we headed for the food tent. “No way did I want to be on that bus in the next few minutes,” he muttered. “It’s liable to explode.”