But I Never Promised You

I had just finished setting up the booth when Zack walked up to me.

“Hey Zack. You ready for the show to start?”

“Of course, I was just coming over to let you know that the doors will be opening soon. Be ready for a bunch of teenagers to want to buy a shirt.”

“Oh, I’m ready alright. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“This probably isn’t going to sound very nice, but it looks like your starting to get a belly there. I think you’ve been having too many drinks with Alex and not enough time at the gym with Zack.”

“Oh, Zack, you’re a riot,” I said looking down at my stomach. I had thought my clothes were getting a little tight, but I assumed they had just shrunk in the wash. “Maybe you’re right. I thought my clothes had just shrunk and that’s why they felt a little tight. Let me know when you’re going to work out. I’ll come with you.”

“Will do ma’am. I know the other guys probably won’t notice yet, but I wouldn’t want to wait until they do to do something about it. You know how image is everything in this business.”

“Yeah, I know. Hey, maybe I could take my skateboard out in the parking lot or something. It burned off my baby fat; it might work to burn off my beer gut.”

“Maybe. You’d probably have to get permission for that, but I have to go backstage before everyone comes in, so I’ll see you after the show.”

“Bye Zack.”

I looked down at my belly again. It wasn’t very noticeable yet, but it didn’t really look like I was getting fat. Maybe I was just bloated. I had been drinking a lot of water lately. Come to think of it, whenever Alex and I went out for drinks, I usually only sipped on Alex’s. I wasn’t a heavy drinker like they were. Realization was starting to dawn on me, but I didn’t want to tell anyone my suspicions until I knew for certain what the problem was. I would need to get to the store and I was probably going to need help to do it.

I was trying to think of who would be the best person to ask when the doors opened and hundreds of crazy fans started making their way into the venue. I would have to wait until later to ask.

Since All Time Low and We the Kings were the main headlining bands they would be the last two to perform. I couldn’t remember who went on stage first, but I would figure it out very soon.

The roadies for the first band were starting to set up the instruments. I knew it was still about half an hour before the show officially started, but since I was stuck at the booth, I would have to wait. After about five minutes, I got my first customer.

“Hey, can I get you something?”

“Yeah, as soon as I decide what I want. Well, actually, I want all of it, but I can’t afford to get one of each so I have to decide first.”

“Well, if you want my opinion, this shirt is my favorite. I have one back at the hotel.”

“That is a pretty cool shirt. I’ll take that.”

“What size did you need?”

“I normally wear a medium, but that shirt looks kinda big. I’ll go with a small.”

“Okay, that will be twenty dollars please.”

She handed me a twenty dollar bill and I put it in the money safe after handing her the shirt.

“Enjoy the show.”

“Thanks.”

Once that first person came up to the booth, a bunch of other people came to get something too. It was almost like people were too shy to be the first person to buy something. I hoped it wouldn’t be like this at all their shows or it might not be very good for business. I didn’t want to get sent home early because I couldn’t sell enough merchandise to pay my way through tour. Of course, Alex probably wouldn’t let them send me home early, but I didn’t want there to be any chances.

After I had helped the people in line, I looked up at the stage. The first band was getting ready to go on.

“Hey everyone, we’re The Summer Set and we’d like to play you a few songs.”

Of course, I had completely forgotten that they were even on this tour. How could I have forgotten that? I sat down ready to enjoy the show until I got more customers.

It wasn’t until The Summer Set’s third song, Chelsea that I had another person come up to the table.

“You’re Mika right?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought so. You’re Alex’s girlfriend.”

“You are correct again sir. Did you need something?”

“I’m getting to that. You skateboard pretty well.”

“How did you know I skate?”

“I knew you wouldn’t remember me. I skated against you last year.”

“I skated against a lot of people last year. What competition was it?”

“The Grind for Life competition in Florida.”

“I didn’t do well enough to place, but I remember you got second.”

“Oh yeah, the guy that beat me won by like a point. What’s your name?”

“David Clinton.”

“I remember watching you. You’re not bad. Just need a bit more practice.”

“I’ll never be good enough to beat you. You’re crazy good.”

“I’m not as good as all that, but thank you. I should probably get back to work though. Did you want to buy anything?”

“Maybe later. I don’t really listen to these bands, my friend dragged me along.”

“Tokyo seems pretty far away for a friend to drag you along for a concert.”

“We’re over here for a competition. He wanted to come in our down time.”

“Oh, I see. Well, good luck. What day is the competition?”

“Two days from now.”

“Well, that’s our free day before we leave to go to the next place. Maybe I can convince the manager to let Jack and I go down there. We were going to board that day anyway.”

“That would be sweet. I bet if the officials knew you’d be there, they’d let you skate. You’re pretty famous over here in the skaters’ circles.”

“Wow, I didn’t think I was known anywhere other than Iowa. I’ll catch you around kid.”

“Thanks.”

After The Summer Set The Spill Canvas performed. I was too busy helping customers to really pay attention to the show anymore. From what I could hear of it, they sounded great. When it was time for We the Kings to perform, I got a surprise.

“Mika, come up here. I need your help.”

I wasn’t sure what Travis needed my help with. Unless he was going to debut the new song he wrote. Either way, I had to go onstage, so I called someone over who I knew could handle it and went up there.

“Hey guys, this is Mika June. Some of you probably have heard of her, some of you have not. Anyway, she’s going to help me sing this next song. It’s a new one and it’s called We’ll Be a Dream.”

After the song, everyone in the crowd cheered. I was glad they liked the song, but I had to go back to work.

“Thanks everyone. Come visit me at the All Time Low booth. I’ll be there the rest of the night.”

The rest of the show went off without a hitch. Alex and Jack made fools of themselves, of course. They say the silliest things during their performances, but I had bigger things on my mind at the moment than their banter. I really needed to find Rian.

Everything was already packed up and we were getting ready to go back to the hotel. I wanted to talk to Rian before we got there. It would be easier to find someplace private.

Coincidently, he found me a few minutes later.

“Hey, Mika.”

“Hey, Rian. I was just looking for you. I need a favor.”

“Okay. What is it?”

“I need you to take me to a store. Like a Wal-Mart or something similar.”

“I think I can do that. Should we tell the rest of the guys where we’re going? They probably would want to come along.”

“No, I need it to be just you and me. It’s important. They can come next time.”

“I’ll get it arranged then.”

“Thanks.”

I met Rian at the entrance to the hotel a few minutes after we got back. We had to wait for one of the vans to get emptied out before we could take it. I wasn’t sure if Rian knew where to go. I thought we should take a cab, but he said he knew where he was going.

When we got there, I really wanted Rian to stay in the van, but he said he didn’t want me going in there by myself. Anything could happen to the pretty American girl. Some days I really hated how protective they were of me.

I guess he would have to find out what was wrong eventually. He followed me through the store until we were standing in front of what I needed. I wasn’t sure if one brand was better than another, so I just grabbed a multipack.

“Whoa. Mika really?”

“Yeah. That’s why I didn’t want everyone else coming.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“Not yet. I didn’t want to tell them until I knew what the answer was. This is all I needed. We can go unless you want to look around at anything.”

“No, I was just the chauffeur.”

I went and stood in line to pay and then we went back to the hotel. I hid the bag in my purse. I didn’t want the other guys seeing it and asking questions.

Once back at the hotel, I went up to the room and locked myself in the bathroom before any of the other guys could come back in the room and see the look on my face and start asking questions.

Of course, while I was waiting for the results, I heard the other guys come back in. Great. I’d have to tell all of them then in trying to tell Rian.

The allotted time had passed and I looked down at the results.

I came out of the bathroom and saw everyone looking at me.

“I have something to tell you.”