Unveiling The Unexpected

“Roar!” Exclaimed Remy, pulled back the curtains of my bunk. “Roar, roar, roar!” I groaned and rolled over on my side. She crawled on to me, before I felt an even larger mass fall on us both.

“Roooaaar!” Jack screamed, trapping Remy between the two of us. What I thought was laughter quickly turned into yells, yells of pain as Remy’s fingers gripped my skin.

“Jack, get off!” I cried out, and Jack immediately scrambled towards the end of the bunk.

Remy whimpered, pushing herself close to her chest. “Ow, that hurt,” she said softly, and I wrapped my arms around her protectively.

“You idiot Jack, you hurt her,” I muttered, looking down at Remy. She seemed fine, so I figured being stuck under Jack (as skinny as he looked, a three year old is still no match for him) just terrified her.

Jack crawled forward slowly, unsure of how Remy would react. “I’m sorr –“ But Jack couldn’t finish his sentence before Remy had pounced from my arms and on to him, pinning him back with a huge grin on both of their faces.

“I gotcha!” She exclaimed. “Gotcha, Jacky.”

Jack chuckled, allowing himself to sit up slightly. “Were you faking the entire time?” But Remy didn’t answer, instead staring up at Kelsey, who had silently peeled back the curtain to watch the three of us.

“Oh, hey,” I said, reaching forward to pull Remy onto my lap. The little girl giggled.

“Hey, Zack.” She didn’t acknowledge Jack or Remy. “You want to go for a walk or something?” I liked the sound of that, I really did. Can you blame me?

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” I replied as evenly as possible. “C’mon Rem, lets get you a sweatshirt so you’re not cold.” I moved to get up, lifting Remy off my lap, but Kelsey stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Uh, I was thinking it would be just the two of us, Zack. Yeah?” I knew the glint in Kelsey’s eyes. It was way too familiar. But instead of exciting me, I felt a ball of guilt settle into my stomach. Remy, who had remained quiet, looked at me with quivering lips. The poor girl had been inside all day, and though she had been running around the bus with Jack, it wasn’t the same as going outside. But gosh, did I want to be alone with Kelsey…

“Can you watch Rem, Jack?” I asked, staring with pleading eyes at my best friend. Jack shook his head.

“No can do, Zack,” was all he said, before exiting the bunk and pushing past Kelsey.

I bit my lip, and instantly reached for my phone, dialing the one number who I knew would watch Remy.

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Handing over to Chelsea for a couple of hours didn’t go as smoothly as I thought it would. Remy cried as I tried to detach her from my arms, huge tears that I had never seen the little girl produce before. But Chelsea took it all in stride, immediately taking Remy in her own arms and comforting her while I exited before she could even notice.

I felt terrible, I really did. But I rationalized it to myself that she would have to be out of my sight at least occasionally. Better to get used to it now than later.

Kelsey held my hand the entire time we walked, talking about things that didn’t really interest me, but I nodded and smiled just to keep her around. And yeah, things got a little heated behind a bush at some local park we walked by. But whatever.

What was mostly on my mind? How Remy was doing. If she was still crying or not. If she was hungry. If she was, would Chelsea know how she liked her sandwiches? Would Remy hate me for leaving her alone for two hours?

Did everyone who had a kid feel this anxious all of the time?

By the time we reached the buses, I was nearly a full sprint. When I opened the door to The Summer Set’s bus, my mouth nearly fell to the floor. Sprawled out over the entire living area of the bus was a huge set of play wooden train tracks. All of the members of The Summer Set, as well as some crew members, and, of course, Remy, were all on their hands and knees either extending the track or playing with small trains. Remy was no exception, as she chased Stephen Gomez with her train. “Wow,” muttered Kelsey, crossing her arms next to me.

“Oh, hey, Zack,” Chelsea said, standing up and walking towards me.

“Hi Zacky!” Yelled Remy, and I cracked a smile. She didn’t get up and run towards me, like I expected.

“Wow, this is… this is great,” I said softly.

“Yeah,” responded Chelsea. “I figured she’d like playing with trains. I just didn’t realize everyone else would, too.”

“Where’d you get them?” Questioned Kelsey, a bit of an edge to her voice. Chelsea ignored her.

“Uh, c’mon Remy,” I called, though my voice waivered slightly. “We’ve gotta go back to the bus.”

“Aw, why Zacky!?” She responded, stopping to look at me.

“Yeah, c’mon dude. Don’t be such a buzz kill,” added Stephen. A couple other people voiced their disagreement. I just shook my head in response.

“Remy, lets go. It’s nearly time for diner.” She huffed, but came as I responded. “Thanks for everything, Chelsea.” Well, at least I knew someone on tour was willing to watch out for Remy. Even if it seemed like they treated her better than I did.