Daylight

Joe’s POV

I woke early in the unfamiliar bunk on the ‘Bathers’ bus. I was a bit disoriented, but then I remembered the gorgeous ginger at me side, and smiled at seein’ her sleepin’ face.
Pet rolled over and, on cue, started to snore. Lovely.
Fightin’ a strong urge to wake her up with my laughin’, I rolled away to sneak down the hall so I could, uh…water the plants, as they say.
I got about a metre out the door when I heard a giggle. Shite. Thank God I’d put on me pants. I looked to me left and yes, there was Maureen, leanin’ out of her bunk.
“Goin’ somewhere, sport?” she asked me.
“The loo,” I hissed.
“Oh, don’t be quiet just because of me,” said another voice. Sandra, of course. She pulled aside her curtain and grinned at me.
I grimaced and made the best of it. “Good morning, ladies,” I said softly.
“Good morning yourself,” Christine said from about two metres away, sitting on the kitchen bench. “Sleep well?” she inquired sweetly.
“Just fine,” I mumbled, makin’ me way to the loo.

When I got back to the rear bunk, Pet was stirrin’. She yawned wide as I sat down and regarded me with sleep in her eyes. “Hey, where’d you go?”
I waved me hand in the general direction I’d gone. Pet sat up and smiled in sympathy. “Had to run the gauntlet, huh?”
A fresh wave of giggles, muffled by our door, was her answer. I rolled me eyes.
“Yeah, thought so,” she carried on, leaning over to kiss me and put an arm round my shoulders. “Well, don’t feel too bad, everyone who spends the night on our bus gets that treatment.”
I looked round at her. “Everyone, you say?”
She looked embarrassed. “Not my everyone, but, you know…” she muttered.
I had to laugh at her. “I know, not your everyone,” I chuckled, “just everyone else, yeah?”

Pet’s POV

Thank God the awkward moment was broken by the sound of Shoshi’s voice. “Helloooo…anyone up yet?”
More laughter from my bandmates.
“Up being a relative term,” we heard Sal remark.
“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, Sal,” Shoshi replied, “and I’m pretty sure I don’t wanna know. Where’s everyone else?”
Tia said something I couldn’t hear, and then I realized that everyone else was quiet. Then I heard another set of footsteps…which meant that Ray was in the house.
My heart sank. I knew that if Ray was here, that meant pretty soon that Shoshi wouldn’t be…which was gonna suck. What would we do without her?
Joe pulled his shirt back on. “Come on, luv, let’s go,” he said with purpose. “I know you’ll want to spend as much time with ‘er as you can.”
I smiled at him. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

We walked up front to see Shoshi and Ray waiting for us. Shoshi opened her arms to hug me; she looked ecstatic.
“Hey, honey,” she greeted me. Behind her, I could hear Ray saying, “Hey man, how are ya?” to Joe. As we pulled back, the two of them shook hands.
“Ray, have you met Joe? He’s in the Madmen,” Shoshi murmured, as if the two of them hadn’t just said hello. The other girls hugged Shoshi in turn, and then we all just stood looking at each other.
Our soon-to-be-ex-manager spoke first. “Ladies, I just wanna let you know that Brian couldn’t make it today, but he’ll be along on Thursday. He had to take care of a few things first.”
The bunch of us just nodded stupidly.
“But there’s someone coming along later today to say hi and talk to you about him,” she continued. “Sort of a personal reference.”
We shrugged, nobody really looking at her or at each other.
Shoshi did her Church Lady face, putting her hands on her hips. “What’s with all this non-verbal shit?” she demanded.
“We don’t want you to go,” Sal blurted out.
“Well, babies, I know that,” our manager said, her face softening. “But it’s really not my decision anymore.”
Ray put his arm around her and hugged her to his side.
“Aw shit,” Mo said loudly, “Jesus, it’s like a fucking wake in here!”
We all startled and looked at her in surprise.
“Well, she’s trying to go on to something else,” Mo explained, “and we’re all acting like she’ll be gone forever.”
The rest of us just stared at her. Then we heard one more set of footsteps.
Tom was barefoot, in just his pants.
“Hello everyone, good morning,” he greeted us.
“And where did you come from?” Sal inquired. Tom just grinned and kissed Tia on the cheek.
Shoshi and Ray burst out laughing.
“Summat funny?” Tom asked.
“Always,” Shoshi replied. “Hey, listen, let’s all get cleaned up—I mean the ladies, guys—and run out for some breakfast. I know a great place nearby.”

Viv’s POV

I was rushing along to Tim’s trailer—Jesus, could the LA traffic have been any more fucked up that morning?—when I saw Pet and her friends on their way off site with Shoshi and her husband.
Pet waved and ran up to me, since we were actually walking in the same direction. In self-defense, I’d stopped off at my own trailer to freshen up (as in, change clothes) to try and lessen the reaming I was sure I’d be getting from Tim. Nothing succeeds like showing up for a morning meeting in last night’s outfit, right?
“Hey, Aunt Viv, what’s up?” she wondered.
I shrugged. “Not much, just on my way to see the boss man.”
“Oh,” she answered. “Hey, what happened to your shoulder?” She touched the top of my arm, and damn, but it was tender. Ow.
I looked around as if I didn’t know what she was talking about. “Oh, I must’ve bashed it on something. I’m clumsy like that,” I muttered.
“Oh,” she said. Then, in a similar tone of voice, she asked, “So, did you, uh, bash your neck on something too?”
I clapped a hand over the side of my neck. “Shit!” I shrieked, my face flaming.
Petula was already reaching into her purse. “I have some concealer that would probably work.”
I waved a hand at her, but she insisted. “Listen, I gotta go, we’re going out, so just…give it to me later, okay?”
I nodded, digging my mirror out of my bag as Pet ran off.

A couple of minutes later, I arrived at Tim’s trailer. I took what was supposed to be a deep, calming breath, then knocked and let myself in.
Immediately I heard two male voices talking. I walked into the main room and saw the back of Tim’s head.
He was deep in conversation with…Billy.
Oh, shit. Whatever mental peace I might have gained from my deep, calming breath attempt evaporated instantly.
Billy’s eyes met mine over Tim’s shoulder, causing my boss to spin in his chair to face me.
“Hello, Viv,” he said, almost cordially.
“Tim,” I nodded.
Billy was on his feet. I looked past my boss. “Billy?” I asked. “How did you get here, by helicopter? And when?”
“Ah, well, Joni and I were attendin’ today, you might remember,” he replied. “And I thought I’d come have a bit of a chat with Tim.”
“So where’s Joni?” I persisted, trying to hide my anger.
“Here,” a young female voice said from the hallway. Billy’s daughter smiled at me and held out her hand. “Have we met?”
I shook her hand briefly and smiled back, noticing how much she looked like his ex-wife. “I don’t think so. I’m Vivian Nordstrom. I’m…”
“…an old friend of my dad’s, I know, he told me,” she finished for me. “You’re Petula Langley’s aunt, right?”
“Right,” I confirmed, still wondering just what the hell Bill was doing here with my boss.
“Is she around?” Joni asked. A beautiful green-eyed blonde, she was easily half a head taller than her father, and looked like she’d be turning heads for decades to come.
Despite her genuine friendliness, I was so annoyed at Bill that I really had to concentrate to answer her. “Uh, no, Joni, she uh…I just saw her leaving,” I replied. “But I’m sure she’ll be back in an hour or so. She planned to let you have whatever you wanted signed by all four of the Bathers.”
“Cool!” She smiled, obviously pleased.
There was a pause while we all just kinda…looked at each other.

Bill was trying his damnedest to look innocent, which wasn’t fooling me.

Joni was still openly smiling, but seemed to be getting uncomfortable.

Tim…well, Tim was inscrutable as ever. That’s why he’s the boss, I thought.

“Well!” Bill finally said, standing. “I guess we’d better be going.”
“Just a minute,” I said, walking up to him. “If Tim would excuse me…could I have a word with you outside?”
“Sure.”
We stepped out, and I looked both ways before I let him have it. “What the fuck were you doing here with Tim?”
He looked dismayed at what he probably thought was a sudden display of temper. “I only wanted to meet him. Get a sense of what he’s about. Professionally, I mean.”
My ass. “No, you were trying to grease him up so he’d go easy on me.”
“Not the term I’d have used, but alright,” Billy leered.
I ignored his remark. “Look, no matter what I might or might not feel for you,” I continued, “I can fight my own battles. I don’t need you or anyone else to get my boss to be nicer to me.” I lowered my voice. “He’s an asshole, we agree on that. But if he thinks I can’t take his shit, he won’t have any respect for me at all. So don’t pull this again. Got me?”
He looked chastened, which I’d thought was impossible. “Got it.”
“Now, get out of here,” I advised him, smacking him on his very nice ass for emphasis. “And try and stay out of trouble, okay?”
His daughter came down the trailer steps; Tim was holding the door open, waiting for me.
“No problem,” Bill promised. “I’ve got me chaperone along. She’ll make sure I behave, Viv.”
Joni laughed. “Dad, I don’t think the person exists who can make you behave,” she replied, nodding at me. “Nice to meet you.”
I nodded back and turned away.

My meeting with Tim went much the same as I’d figured it would: he explained in no uncertain terms that I should never disappear from a meeting that concerned our intern staff, nor should I continue to be derelict in my duties at AP (yes, he really said that!); and I took it, since I couldn’t not.
Despite Tim’s warnings, at the end of it, I still had my job. The question was, for how long?
I was trying not to think about it.