Here, Here, and Here

“Are you ready?” Reaghan called from the bathroom.

I look up from the old, beaten guitar once more. As I turn to face the bathroom boor my fingers brush the guitar’s strings, releasing a faint hum. “I’m waiting for you” I respond to Reaghan’s question.

“Oh, well then let’s go” she says walking out of the bathroom putting her earring on as she went.

I walk to the other side of the room. I go to tom’s speakers and unplug my iPod, turning off the speakers while I do so.

“Oh crap, I almost forgot!” Rea yells from behind me, “Where’s your jewelry?”

“In the side pocket of my bag” I gesture to my small suitcase, “Why do you need to know?”

“Because I need to find you a really cute belly-ring” she says digging through my bag. She looks for a few seconds and pulls out a few pieces of jewelry. “Ooh I like this one” she says holding up a belly-ring with one main blue flower and a trail of flowers and leaves behind it. The smaller flowers are all different colors of blue and green with maybe one or two pinks. It’s one that I haven’t worn often.

As she pulls it out it’s tangled in with another belly-ring, this one smaller. It falls to the bed as she looks at the blue flower one. I pick it up and examine it. I spin it around between my fingers and read the words in black script across the red heart, “Fragile.” ‘How perfect.’ I slip it into my small clutch.

“Okay, so now are we ready to go?” Reaghan asks me again.

“Still waiting for you” I reply shortly.

“Fine then” she says in mock hurt, “Let’s go.”

We walk to the elevator and Reaghan pushes all the buttons faster than I can react. The door takes a while to slide open though and I can see Reaghan getting impatient. She starts tapping her foot and popping her gum in a really annoying fashion. After about thirty seconds of that I’m about ready to snap.

Pop!

Pop!

“Reaghan!” I yell.

“What?” she says turning to me.

“Stop popping your gum” I say my eyes widening.

“Sorry” she says recoiling, “What is your problem? You were in a good mood a minute ago and now you’re freaking out on me.”

She’s right, I was overreacting a bit. But it’s not my fault, its theses damn mood swings. I need a Dr. Pepper and fast.

“Sorry” I say as the elevator dings open, “Let’s just go.”

“You’re right, we shouldn’t keep our men waiting” she jokes, “I know Tom’s really excited for tonight.”

“Why would he be really excited?” I ask and then add keeping the conversation light, “Other than spending time with me?”

“I don’t know, he just really wants everything to go perfectly.”

The elevator arrives on the ground floor and we both step out, our walk full of attitude. We continue out the door and step onto the street which is oddly calm and quiet.

‘Snap, snap’

“What was that?” I ask.

“What was what?” Rea asks stopping and looking at me.

“I thought I heard a camera snap” I look around in a worried fashion.

“I didn’t hear anything” she says looking around on her own. She pauses for a second as she looks behind her and huffs; “It’s that little girl taking pictures with her toy camera” she looks at me with her hand on her hip and her head tilted to the side. I look behind me and see the little girl with a pink princess camera in her hands.

“You’re being paranoid, you just need to relax. In fact that was one of the things that Tom stressed the most about tonight, ‘Eibhlin has to be relaxed’” she shrugs her shoulders, “He seems really protective over you all of a sudden.”

She steps towards a big, black car, “Tom says that I’m not allowed to drive his Escalade” she hands the keys to me, “He ordered me to give you the keys so you could drive.”

“Oh” I say taking the keys from her hands. I click the unlock button on the keys and open the door, “What do you mean protective of me?”

“Well when we were finishing up the tour and you were taking a vacation he was really anal about calling you. And he acted really sad and depressed and worried when you left. He was also really jumpy when he heard anyone say anything about you or Keevie and he wasn’t in the conversation” Reaghan said in a rush taking sips of from a water bottle she magically produced from her purse, “I think something’s up.” She looks at me suspiciously out of the corner of her eyes.

I start down the street and stop at a red light, “Maybe he was a little stressed out and happy and worried because he just found out he had a four year old daughter and met his best friend again?”

“Maybe, but I think there’s something else going on” she says a sly smile playing across her face.

“Maybe” I stress the word maybe, “you’re the one who’s paranoid?”