Forgotten

As we walked back into the Fargodome, I remembered that I was supposed to be staying with Lexi this week. I should probably call her and let her know everything that's been happening. She would either react like her dad and not believe a word I was saying, or she would be extremely excited (and jealous).

Billie, Mike, and Tre were all talking to the guy who'd introduced himself as Bill Schneider, the tour coordinator. I was lagging behind a few feet, I didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation. I could probably borrow someone's cell phone....but was it really necessary? I would be 21 tomorrow, I wasn't a child anymore. I could take care of myself. It's not like I could call my family right now, anyway. Lexi's parents, however, should probably know what's going on, just so they didn't think I died or something ridiculous like that.

I walked up beside Tre, since he was on the end of their line. It would be the less disruptive that way. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he turned to face me.

"Hmm?" I blushed a little. I felt stupid for asking this. I should have charged my phone before the concert, dammit. Then again, if I had, I wouldn't be here right now.

"Could I, uh, borrow your cell phone? You know, if you have it with you...I should probably call my friend's parents again..." Tre just gave me a smile and looked at me with those deep blue eyes of his.

"Of course. If you want, you can go stand right over by those buses. We just have a few things to take care of and then we can leave." He reached into his pocket and handed me his cell phone. I took it and nodded at him before walking over to the spot he'd indicated.

As I walked, I dialed the same number I had this morning. It rang twice until Lexi's dad, once again, answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's Shelbie...again." I said stupidly.

"Well hello there, again. Lexi's upstairs doing her hair, I think. Do you want me to get her for you?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." I'd just tell her everything that's happened and that I won't be seeing her this week...or in weeks to come. She could relay the message to her parents. I could hear her dad call her downstairs in the background.

"Hello?" she said, a little out of breath.

"Hey."

"Oh, hi! How was the concert?" She sounded really excited. I knew that she really was excited for us because we got to go, but I also knew she was a little more upset about not being able to go than she let on. I would feel bad telling her how amazing it was, and telling her it sucked would be a complete lie.

"To be honest, it was great. Amazing. Best night of my life." Well, it was true.

"Oooh! Well that's good. So what songs did they do?" She sounded happier than I'd expected.

I continued to tell her about the concert, stuff like what songs they did, how the pyrotechnics and the other effects were, how much they interacted with the crowd.

"Oh my God, that sounds amazing...I wish I could have gone! I can't wait for you to come over, you'll have to tell me even more!" Well...that wasn't going to happen...

"Yeah, I'd love to...but that's not really gonna work out..."

"What do you mean? You're staying with us until your parents get back, right?" She sounded confused, as she should be.

"I was supposed to...but something happened and I'm still in Fargo. And I don't think I'll be back in Bismarck for a while..."

"What?! Why are you in Fargo? Where's Kathryn and Christen?" It wasn't hard to detect the worry and the confusion in her voice.

"I have no clue where they are, but I'm assuming they're at Christen's house. I'm in Fargo because they sort of left without me...it's a long story." I sighed. It really was...not only that, but it was a story she most definitely would not believe. At least, I didn't think so.

"Seriously? What the hell happened there?"

"Yeah, I know. But it's okay. I'm fine, I'm with people I trust." I saw the guys walking back towards me and figured that meant I should probably hang up soon. "I've actually got to go now...but I'll try to call you later. Don't bother calling my cell, it died last night. I just wanted you to know that I'm okay and that you won't be seeing me this week. Pass the message on to your parents, okay? I'll call you again when I can."

"Yeah, okay. Wow... I still can't believe they just left you there! But I'll let you go."

"Bye, Lexi!"

"Bye!" Mike, Billie, and Tre were only a few feet away from me now.

"Hey. Are we ready to leave?" I asked, handing Tre his phone.

"Pretty much. As soon as we get on the bus, we're leaving. You're ready, right?" Mike said.

"Yeah, of course." I was more than a little excited to see the inside of the tour bus. Even though I knew that we wouldn't be taking the official tour bus (it would be way too obvious for following fans), I still wanted to see what one looked like.

"Then let's get the hell out of here!" Tre said, throwing an arm in the air with one finger, his middle finger to be exact, pointing towards the sky while walking towards the bus we would be taking. I followed eagerly, excited for what would come next.

***

The tour bus was larger than I had expected. The inside was filled with couches and tvs and all kinds of stuff. From what I could tell, there were also places to sleep and a bathroom, which was good.

"So, whaddya think? Pretty sweet, huh?" Tre said, nudging me.

"Fuck yeah! It's awesome. I can see how it would suck after a while, though." I was a tiny bit claustrophobic, so I wasn't too fond of how cramped it was.

"Yeah. It's fun for a few weeks, though." Mike plopped down on the comfortable looking sofa.

"I can imagine. Like the huge tv...." I looked around for the remote, but had no idea where it would be.

"Ah ah ah." Billie said, waggling his finger at me. "You won't be watching tv just yet. You and me are going to go practice in the other room. I'm sure you'll do fine tonight, but I want to make sure you're comfortable with the songs." Fuck. I forgot about tonight.

"Dammit...I forgot about that...Fuck..." I buried my face in my hands, certain I would find a way to screw up, even if I was only playing background.

"You'll be fine. Now, come on, let's get started." Billie grabbed my hand and led me through another door.

***

We entered into a bedroom of sorts. There wasn't much in there except a twin sized bed and two guitar cases.

"Go ahead and sit down on the bed. Sorry there's not much room in here, but Tre and Mike are lazy assholes who won't give up the fucking couch." He grabbed the cases from the floor.

"It's fine." I laughed a little. He took out the black guitar I had been using earlier and handed it to me, then took out another guitar with a mahogany body and kept that for himself.

"So, what do you want to start with?" He asked, taking out two picks and handing one to me.

"Umm...I don't care. Whatever you think." I bit my lip. I was so nervous to play in front of him. I would do something really wrong and then he'd realize what a big mistake he'd made...

"Okay, well how about Minority ." He smiled at me reassuringly.

"Yeah, okay." I knew that one pretty well.

"1, 2, 3." He counted off. We started playing together and I gradually started to relax more. We played in almost perfect time together until the song ended.

"Good. Now let's try American Idiot. On this one, if I stop playing, you vamp the intro, okay?" He instructed. I felt like I was five years old again.

We played together until it got to the part just before the solo. Billie suddenly dropped out. Not thinking clearly, I did too.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked.

"Because you did." It was a simple enough explanation.

"Didn't I just say to vamp the intro if I stopped playing?"

"...Oh. Yeah, I suppose you did. I'm sorry!" I felt stupid now. He thought I was incompetent.

He laughed a little. "Don't worry about it. See, even though you're playing background, it's still important that you focus. If I drop out to go liven up the crowd or some shit, then someone has to keep playing." I nodded, still a little embarrassed from my screw up.

"Let's try that again." We started playing again, only this time Billie stopped after the first chorus. I was paying attention this time and kept playing. He held up a hand to stop me. I muted the strings quickly.

"Good, good. I'm kind of thirsty. Can you go out there and yell at Tre to grab me some root beer and whatever you want?"

"Yeah, sure." I set the guitar down gently on the bed and got up. I opened the door and stepped out into the main area, only to see that we were already on the freeway.

"Hey, Tre, I'm supposed to ask you to find some root beer and a bottled water." Him and Mike were watching some random show on tv.

"What? Dammit. I'm comfy!" He complained, getting up anyway. I followed him into another room where there was a counter and a mini fridge, along with a few cabinets. Tre reached into the fridge and grabbed both, throwing them to me one at a time.

"Thanks, Tre." I said, walking back to Billie's room after seeing Tre resume his position on the couch.

Billie now had both guitars propped up against the wall. I handed him his can of root beer and opened my bottled water.

"I figured we could take a break and just talk for a few minutes. I don't really know much about you and I probably should."

I sat down next to him.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" I said, taking a sip of water.

"Well, you're in college, right? This is your fourth year, I'm guessing."

"Yes, I'm going to the University of California at Berkeley. I've actually just finished my fourth year of undergraduate school and I'm staying there to get my doctorate." I clarified. I was a little young for my grade. I always had been.

"So you want to be a doctor, then?" He asked, looking interested.

"Yeah. For now, I just want to work in internal medicine and I'll find a specialty sometime this year." He smiled at me again.

"Wow...that's pretty admirable. I didn't even finish high school." I laughed at that.

"I suppose. Here, you've got a piece of string in your hair." He reached up, trying to find it, but was unsuccessful. I leaned over, trying to get it myself, but it was just out of reach. Just as I finally grasped onto it, I lost my balance and fell on him. We ended up lying on the bed, with me more or less straddling him, breathing just a little too heavy.

Suddenly, the door opened and a very surprised "What the fuck?" was heard.

Oh shit.

***End Chapter 9 - Hitchin' A Ride***