My Heart Is The Worst Kind Of Weapon

“We’re here.”

I turned away from the open window of Georgina’s car and faced her, smiling.

“Thanks for dropping me off.” I told her, unbuckling my seatbelt and pulling the sunglasses on my head down over my eyes.

“You want me to wait?” She asked, her eyes trained on the radio in her little Volkswagen Beetle.

“Yeah, thanks. I should only be a minute.” I got out of the car, heading towards the silver building that she had pulled up in front of.

Holding my purse in my hands, I walked through the double glass doors and into the lobby of the place I worked.

“Ms. Winters!” The secretary greeted me, “I heard about your news!”

I smiled at her, placing my elbows on the high wooden desk she was situated behind, “Thanks. Any mail for me?”

“No, but Demelsa has asked me to send you up to her office.”

I nodded, walking over to the elevators that would take me to Demelsa Racines’ office. She was the head-honcho around here.

I worked for a tour management company. We were very popular among bands and musicians alike, all looking for people to organize successful tours for them. It’s a little known fact that our company has had the gratitude of artists such as Chris Brown, the Pussy Cat Dolls, Eminem, and also bands, our most popular ones being Simple Plan and Metallica.

Demelsa was the one who organized all requests from the bands and then handed down that responsibility to her tour managers, which was what I was.

Tours are not easy things to deal with, even though most of the time they are fun. But the numbers of problems that occur when you’re on a tour are mountainous, and it’s up to you as the tour manager to control everything. One wrong move on your part and the whole tour could be ruined.

All in all, pretty stressful work.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped into a small hallway, following it until I reached Demelsa’s office. The door was open so I knocked and poked my head through.

“Lindsey! How good to see you!”

Demelsa was a ravishing woman of forty, though she didn’t look it. Her chocolate brown hair was curled in massive ringlets, and her skin was as unblemished as a baby’s.

“Hi Demelsa.” I sent a smile in her direction and sat myself down in her plush leather armchair in front of her desk.

Demelsa smiled back at me, before turning to stare out the window. It was a moment before she spoke.

“Lindsey, I need a favour.”

“Sure, what is it?” I asked.

She sighed, turning to face me with her green eyes filled with apology, “You see… Megan was scheduled to do a tour with a new band that has never booked us before. You know how important it is for first-timers to receive a good impression of our company.”

I nodded, and she continued, “Megan informed me two days ago that she cannot make this tour due to a family issue. Her father is in the hospital, and she doesn’t want to spend seven months away from him.”

I had a distant vision of where this conversation was going, and I raised my left hand, “Demelsa, you know I’m getting married.”

She sighed again, “I know. And I know the possibility of you accepting to do this tour instead of Megan is very unlikely. However, I would like to say that if you agree, you will receive a bountiful sum of money, as well as a bonus payment.”

I bit my lip, calculating mathematic equations in my head. As a tour manager, I made about two thousand dollars a week. But the problem with managing tours is you can only usually do one tour per year, seeing as they last so long. Usually I don’t even do the whole tour myself. Two tour managers are assigned to the same artist, one for the first half of the tour and the other for the second half.

But if I did do this tour, I would have the whole seven months worth pay under my belt, plus the bonus.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t agree, seeing as I would need the time to plan my wedding… but if Dylan and I were going to get married and live in our own apartment, we’d need extra money to do that, wouldn’t we?

“I understand completely if you are not willing to take this tour. Getting married is a project all on its own.”

I sighed, mentally hoping Dylan wasn’t going to hate me too much when I told him I would be away for seven months.

“I’ll take it.”

Demelsa gasped, her hands covering her mouth. Then she giggled.

“Oh, Lindsey, this is just wonderful!” Demelsa exclaimed, “I cannot tell you how grateful I am.”

I couldn’t suppress a smile as Demelsa filled me in on the details of the tour.

“The tour starts on October 4, so that’s…” Demelsa paused, and I could see her mind whirling as she worked to figure out how far away that was, “… about two and a half weeks from now.”

“It runs until April 4, exactly seven months after it’s starting date. Come in next week and I’ll have all the information ready, as well as your itinerary, and everything you’ll need!”

I nodded, getting up from the chair and gathering my purse. I told Demelsa I’d be in to see her next week and then headed toward the door of her office.

“Oh, Demelsa?” I paused right in threshold of her door.

“Hmm?”

“What’s the name of the band I’m touring?”

I watched as she picked a piece of paper from her desk, scanning the first few lines before she smiled and looked up at me.

“My Chemical Romance.”