Backstage

Max was locked up in a prison somewhere in Sebastopol never to see the light outside of the prison walls again. It took Scott some time to get used to the fact that he probably was never going to see his dad again, but as young as he was, when his mom was happy, he was happy. Katie set Sami up with the new guy in their sound department at T-Bright Records. His name was Curtis and he was the nicest guy you would every meet. Things were going great for everyone.

Until January.

“You’re leaving?” Sami said to Billie as he zipped his empty suitcase open. He sighed.

“Yeah I know. It’s hard to just leave home. It was so much easier when they were all younger. But now…I dunno. It feels like I’m letting them down. Um…hold on,” he muttered. Billie jumped down the stairs and started of towards the laundry room.

Sami thought while she heard him downstairs. He was leaving. To go on tour. Sami was brought back to the days when she still toured. It was hard to leave Scott, she remembered. The last tour had been when Scott was only a year old. She remembered the years when Katie had to leave Kaylee with James. The first nights were always the hardest on her. Sami snapped out of her trip down memory lane when she heard footsteps starting up the stairs. She glanced at the door and saw Adrienne peek her head in. She looked around the bedroom and saw Sami. She smiled.

“Hey Sami,” Adie said. Sami waved soundlessly with a small smile as Adrienne flopped down next to her. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a grunting noise coming from the stairs. The two women looked to the door and saw Billie walking up the stairs, his arms full of clothes. The two laughed as he stumbled through the doorway.

“No baskets in the laundry room?” Adrienne laughed. Billie peered at her from over the pile in his arms as he kicked the door closed with his foot.

“Obviously.”

Adrienne and Sami laughed quietly as Billie dumped the pile onto the floor and began to sort through them. Adie watched him and sighed. Billie looked up at her as he set aside another pair of boxers onto a pile he had going. He smiled at her and stood up off the floor. He walked over.

“Honey, it’ll be fine. We’ve gone through this hundreds of times before. I’ll be back,” Billie said as he sat down on the bed next to Adrienne and gave her a hug. She nodded slowly and hugged him back.

“Would you guys like some grieving time?” Sami said with a laugh.

“Naw, Tre and Mike are coming over. They’d just ruin it anyway,” Billie said from his spot on Adrienne’s shoulder. As if on cue, a yell came from downstairs.

“UNCLE TRE!”
Adrienne giggled.
“And cue bozo number two…” Billie said.
“UNCLE MIKE!”

“The gang’s all here,” Billie said as he stood up. He grabbed the pile of shirts he had made and stuck them in his suitcase. He walked back over to his pile and picked up his pile of boxers. “Don’t be looking at my undies!” Billie said to Sami as she watched him. He was covering the pile with his hand. She laughed and turned away.

“Are you sure it’s ok if Scott stays here with you while I’m gone?” Sami asked Adrienne. She gave Sami a smile.

“Of course. Jakob is always a little down on the first day that Billie leaves. Scott will make him happy. You go and have fun with Curtis.” Sami gave Adrienne a hug.

“Thank you.”

Just then the door burst open.

“BILLIE! You aren’t packed yet? Oh come on!” Tre said from the door way.

“Hey, I’m sorry but Joey had a soccer game,” Billie defended.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Mike said appearing in the doorway.

“Hey Adie, hey Sami,” Tre said, noticing the girls sitting on the bed.

“Hey Tre,” they said in unison.

“Hey, where’s my hello?” Mike said with a fake pout on his face. Sami and Adrienne laughed.

“Hi Mike,” they said. Mike smiled.

“Much better.”

“Are Nikky and Katie here yet?” Tre asked as he leaned against the door jam. Adie and Sami shrugged.

“They should be here soon,” Adrienne said.

“Where’d every body go?” Nikky called from downstairs.

“There we go,” Sami laughed.

“We’ll be down in a second,” Mike called down to the two girls.

“Done,” Billie declared as he zipped his suitcase shut. Sami felt her stomach drop. Three of her best friends were leaving and they wouldn’t be back in five months. Sami felt Adrienne get off of the bed so she followed. Adrienne gave Billie a hug and a kiss while Sami hugged Tre and Mike.

“DADDY DON’T LEAVE!” someone yelled from the doorway. Billie let go of Adrienne to be greeted by a flying leap of a hug from Jakob.

“Aww, Jake, I’ll be back,” Billie said trying to make Jakob stop crying.

“B-But not for forever,” he sobbed. Billie knelt down so he was eye level with his son.

“It won’t be forever. I’ll be back before you know it and I’ll call every night. And you and Mommy and Joey are coming to see me in LA. Remember? We’re going to go to Disneyland!”

“Promise?” Jakob asked tearfully.

“I promise. As long as when I’m gone you listen to your Mommy and have fun at school and play with Scott. Ok?” Billie asked. Jakob nodded. “Ok. Just remember that you’re gonna see me soon. And when you do, Mikey Mouse will be there,” Billie said. Jakob gave a small smile and clung to his dad once more.

“I’m still gonna miss you,” Jakob said, tears still coming down his face.

“I know, I’m gonna miss you, too,” Billie said. He scooped up his son and walked out of the room, suitcase in one hand, Jakob in the other.

There was loud honking from outside. Jason White came into the house. Sami had met him once before when she had gone to the recording studio with them.

“Ready guys?” he asked. Billie, Mike and Tre nodded. Mike and Tre said their goodbyes to Adrienne, Jakob, Joey, Katie, Kaylee, Nikky, and Sami and then walked out the door. Billie took a little longer for Jakob refused to let go of him.

“I’ll be back, buddy. I promise,” Billie said as he hugged him.

“I…don’t…want…you...t-to…goooooo!” he wailed. Billie sighed and looked at Joey.

“Come here,” he said to him. Joey walked over slowly, not making eye contact with his dad. Billie grabbed him and hugged him.

“Why do you have to go?” Joey asked him.

“It’s part of what I do. I don’t want to go, but I have to,” Billie said. Joey nodded and hugged his dad back. Jakob was still wailing into Billie shoulder.

“Why can’t we all come too?” he wailed. Billie laughed.

“You used to, remember? But now you have school and I can’t take you out of school and away from all of your friends.” Jakob nodded.

“Come on honey,” Adrienne said as she pulled Jakob off of Billie and picked him up. “Let’s walk daddy out, ok?” Adrienne said. Jakob and Joey nodded. Adrienne carried Jakob out with Joey walking besides her.

Sami walked quietly out with Scott by her side.

“Mommy, why is Billie leaving?” he asked.

“Because he has to work,” she answered. When they reached the sidewalk, Sami gasped.

A huge bus was parked on the curb. Sami watched as Billie, Mike, Tre and Jason gave Adrienne, Joey and Jakob hugs and goodbyes.

“Katie, Kaylee, Nikky, Sami and Scott!” Billie called. They looked over at him. “Get your butts over here!” he said with a smile. Scott and Kaylee smiled and walked over to the group.
“We’ll see you when we get back, ok?” Billie said as he ruffled his hair. Scott smiled and nodded. Billie looked over to Kaylee. “Keep hitting on Joey. Really, he likes it,” he joked. Kaylee went scarlet, making Billie laugh. He hugged her as Scott was scooped up by Mike.

“Bye Sami,” Tre said as he gave her a hug.

“Bye guys, make all of your fans happy. Don’t do anything stupid,” she said. Tre laughed.

“Nothing stupid? How long have you known us, Sami?” Mike asked as he hugged Nikky. Sami smiled.

“I know. Stupid thing to say.” She let go of him and walked over to Mike.

“Bye babe,” he said.

“Have fun, don’t fall off stage again,” Sami said with a laugh.

“That happened once!” he said laughing with her. Katie heard as she hugged Billie and started to laugh. Adrienne walked over to say her goodbyes to Tre and Mike so Sami let go of Mike and walked over to Billie. He grabbed Sami and hugged her tight.

“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us,” Billie said.

“Can’t help it…Gone for five months…Crazy,” she mumbled. Billie gave a small laugh.

“We’ve been doing it for a long time. Believe me, we have experience.” Sami nodded.

“Guys! Come on!” Jason yelled as he jumped into one of the buses.

“Ok, ok!” Billie yelled.

“BYE DADDY!” Jakob yelled. Joey had his hand clamped onto his so he couldn’t attach himself to Billie again.

“Bye Dad,” Joey said. Billie walked over to them and gave each one last hug.

“See you soon,” he said and with that, he walked over to Mike and Tre and boarded the bus.

“Bye Adie! Bye Joey! Bye Jakob! Bye Katie! Bye Kaylee! Bye Nikky! Bye Scott! Bye Sami!” they all yelled as the bus drove off.

Everyone stood on the sidewalk waving as the bus shrunk in the distance. As she watched, Sami thought how long it was going to be until she saw all of them again. But somehow, Sami knew that no matter how far away they were, they would always be as close as they were right now.