I Hope You're as Happy as You're Pretending

CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to a World Where Dreams Become Nightmares
February 4, 2011 - Battle Creek, MI
“No, no, no, no, no.” She looked back at me, as I planted my feet on the ground, not allowing her to attempt to pull me any further. “Not yet.” I didn’t want to go, I didn’t want to meet them yet, and still, here she was, pulling me closer and closer to the buses that they had been calling home since the tour had started. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go yet, and I certainly didn’t want to meet anyone, not yet, not right now.

“Yes! Come on now!” She answered back, the wind taking her dark hair in every direction. It was a early, cold Michigan February day, well below freezing and I was letting her drag me into places that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be in, just yet. She stopped pulling at me, letting my arm go, allowing me to regain my composure. “You have to meet them all, eventually. You’re going to be touring with them. Better to meet them now with me, than later by yourself.” I groaned. She was right, but I still didn’t want to. I wanted to know more about them than their names and stage names. It wasn’t nearly enough, not yet. I wanted personalities, I wanted to know what I was going to be dealing with day in and day out. “You already know George. He’ll make it easy for you.”

“Yeah, I know George. He knocked your ass up,” I pointed out, and she smiled. She set her hands on her large, protruding stomach. She had done this for as long as she could, tour while being pregnant, but she was getting so close that George and she had decided that it was more than enough touring, and all the stress, drugs, and alcohol that went along with it, for her. She was a little more than eight months along, and I had become her mid-tour replacement.

“Yeah he did,” she smiled larger. She was excited for the new edition to her family with George. It was all her and I talked about when we chatted on the phone, anymore. Which was fine, I liked babies and I was just as excited for her as she was for herself.

“I thought you hated babies,” I smiled at her, pressing her buttons a little bit. She had been against children from the moment I had met her, almost five years ago. It was a very touchy subject with her now, she was more than ecstatic about being pregnant for the first time with her lover’s baby, but I still liked to bring it up with her. I just liked to push those buttons, sometimes.

“Before I met George.” I rolled my eyes. She had been with George for almost two and a half years now, but still lived here, within the state of Michigan. And after tomorrow night, she would no longer be apart of this tour, and would go back to her apartment in Royal Oak to sit for the rest of the tour and wait for her’s and George’s bundle of joy to arrive. I was hoping I could learn enough about the guys and her process of doing things in that time before she decides on leaving the tour completely tomorrow night.

“I know. You love yourself some George.” She nodded at me.

“Yeah. George is definitely it. I saw myself having babies with him a long time ago.” I smiled at her, noticing George walking up behind her with a big smile on his face. I couldn’t ever remember him being a morning person, so I didn’t really understand the smile or even why he was up this early.

“Still rather unexpected though, isn’t it?” She turned toward her boyfriend, and I thought about making a run for it. I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready to take this on yet. Sure, I had tour managed pretty heavily before this, but not for a band this big, and definitely not on a tour this large and widely known. “Hey Jessi, nice to see you again.” I nodded toward him, pulling a package of cigarettes from the pocket of my solid black peacoat.

“You too,” I answered back, watching him slid his arms around her and letting their lips meet for a moment.

“Not around Kristie here, please,” he requested, referring to my cigarettes. I raised my eyebrows, as Kristie turned herself back toward me. “We’ve had to cut back, and therefore, so do you.” I sighed, stuffing my cigarettes back into my pocket. “You know, just until she leaves. She’s been such a Debbie downer since she got pregnant.” She titled her head back, glaring up at George, who was looking down at her, still holding her tight against his chest.

“Its whatever,” I returned and she looked back down at me.

“Well, I think Matt and Jordon are up, if you want to meet them,” Kristie said, breaking free from his arms. “And then the crew is already roaming about. You’ll have to meet them and talk to them on your own terms. They’re kind of like ‘ehhh’ about this. They figured they could handle it themselves. They’re not on speaking terms with me.” I shook my head a few times. I knew that an unhappy crew was not a good thing among everyone and that bringing in a new tour manager was even harder to deal with, when they had been under the same one for years. Doing it halfway through a tour was even worse than just starting out with a new one. It was harder, things would change.

“Great.” She gave me a weak smile, knowing I would do my best to take care of everything. I had turned a lot of crews around from completely hating one another to being friends. It couldn’t be done in less than 10 days, which was what was left on this tour, but I would try it. I would try to keep the crew civil enough for the tour to run as smoothly as possible. It was my job and I would attempt to fill Kristie’s shoes as well as possible.

“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be this big of a deal,” she began to talk faster, apologizing for her crew, even before I could meet them. “A lot of them, they’ve been under me for like three years, and its hard going to something new, especially in the middle of a tour, but I just can’t be here anymore.” She set her hand back on her stomach, obviously referring to her pregnancy. “I don’t know why they don’t seem to understand that.”

“It’ll be fine,” I promised. I would try to make it as fine as possible when she came back, if she came back. If she didn’t come back, which was also a large possibility, it was better that they started out with me as a tour manager, than someone else. She and I had about the same sort of managing style, if you could call it that, while others were completely different and much more difficult to work under. Probably why they had picked me to come in now, rather than someone else.

“Let’s go inside,” George offered, suddenly, obviously getting cold in his short sleeved t-shirt. “Its fucking cold out here. Anything to get out of this fucking cold.” I nodded, agreeing with him. It was colder than I had expected it to be today. It had not been this cold when I had left Ohio this morning at about four this morning.

Ohio was where I lived when I wasn’t on tour. I was bounced around so much from tour to tour, that I never knew where I was going to end up anymore. There were a few lucky people in my business, like Biggie, who had worked for Eighteen Visions constantly in the past, and Every Time I Die, who he worked for now, and Kristie, who both knew where they would be from tour to tour. I was stuck guessing most of the time, waiting for a phone call, from whoever needed a new tour manager, merch bitch, and even just a straight up crew member to help set up and move gear. I was open to any position, really; I absolutely loved to tour.

“It is,” I answered back. “Fuck Michigan.” George nodded in agreement, and we both knew it was going to piss Kristie off. WIth the way she was frowning, it had. She had too much pride for this cold place.

“Fuck both of you.” George let her out of his arms. She looked back at him for a moment. “He’s drunk,” she informed me, looking back in my direction. I raised my eyebrows, pulling my phone out of my pocket to verify that it was only ten in he morning here, which it was. I couldn’t imagine getting drunk this early. Plus, this wasn’t even his own timezone. It was only seven in the morning, on the West Coast. “He’s not a morning person,” she continued. “You’re just better off letting him be until about noon.” I nodded. I wasn’t really a morning person, either. I would do about anything to get as much sleep as possible.

“True story,” he grinned, taking Kristie’s hand. “Come on, come meet some of the guys.” I shrugged my shoulders, allowing them to lead me in the direction of the bus. I felt more at ease now. There was no reason why I couldn’t take care of these guys. I had worked with so many smaller diva bands in the past, that these guys’ would be a breeze. The way Kristie had constantly talked, they were easy going. Wasn’t sure if it was because of George’s infatuation with her, or just because that’s the way they were in general. I’d have to wait until I met them and worked with them all to make that decision. I was hoping it was going to be as easy as she led on.

“This is it,” Kristie said and I began to make mental notes of the bus. They all looked pretty similar in style and color, but this one had a trailer. That was pretty much the only distinguishing factor. She punched in the code on the door of the bus quickly, too quick for me to pick up on, and then pulled the door open, letting the warm air hit my face instantly.

“Its usually not this warm on here,” George informed me, looking back at me as we walked up the three steps onto the bus. I could tell why he was brining it up, it had to be about 80 in here, but I didn’t mind it. I liked it, but I knew that as soon as she was gone, they’d probably knock it a few degrees to make it more comfortable for everyone in here. “But Kristie gets cold easily, anymore.” She threw her hands up.

“I’m pregnant, sue me.” He laughed, rubbing her large stomach a few times. I could tell that he was just as excited as she was about it, though it had obviously not been planned. “Love you.” He grinned at her.

“Love you too,” he returned, and their lips met for a brief moment. “Alright, I’m going back to bed.” Kristie shrugged at him, and gave him a playful push back in the direction of the bunks. “Welcome to the Nightmare After Christmas, Jessi.” He gave me a large smile,and I set my hand on my face, shaking my head a few times. I could already tell that this was going to be an insanely long tour, even if there were only about ten total days left, and just five more actually show days.

“Its not that bad,” Kristie turned toward me, in an attempt to comfort my worries. “Been doing this a while with them. They’re pretty low maintenance. You just have to be firm with them. You know.” I nodded my head. I did know; there were a lot of bands who wanted more than what they deserved, and I had cut them down, many of times.

“I know. Its just going to be hard, trying to keep everyone happy after three years of just you.” She sighed, knowing I was right. People didn’t like change, and after having the same person for three straight years, it was going to be even more difficult for most of them, if not them all.
“I know, but it’ll be fine. You’re great at what you do. They’ll just have to get used to it. I don’t even know if I’m going to tour anymore after the baby. If I do come back, it won’t be for a long time. Mine and George’s baby is much more important than doing this.” I nodded at her. I completely agreed with that. They couldn’t expect her not to have reservations about leaving her child to continue to do this. I wasn’t even sure if George would even let continue her do this after their baby is born.

“I completely understand,” I answered back, and she sighed. She wanted to keep doing this, even right now, pregnant and all, but everyone knew it wasn’t the best idea. “I can handle this, you know. Done it before.”

“No, I know.” She nodded. “Its just, I don’t know.” She sighed. “Its whatever. Its hard leaving like this. I’ve never left a tour, not like this, not in the middle of it. I’m just not sure if its the right thing.”

“Kristie, its fine. I can handle this.” She nodded at me. She, just like myself, was still going to have reservations no mater what I told her. This was her baby for three years, all six guys’, plus the full crew.

“I know, you’re more than qualified.” I nodded.

“I am.” She nodded in return, and then looked in the direction of the bunks, hearing a little bit of noise.

“Sit, and I’ll go see who is up and bring them out for you to meet.” I nodded my head, taking a seat at the table.

“Okay.” She disappeared into the back of the bus, and I waited. I began to notice how clean the bus was and I just couldn’t believe it. Bands usually had their shit trashed within the first week of tour.

She was back a few minutes later with three men at her heels. They all looked groggy and tired; it was early for them yet. “Jordon, Matt, and Dylan,” she introduced down the line. They all gave me a small wave, as if to verify each of their name’s. “And if they don’t answer to that, Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, and,” she paused, looking back toward the last one in her line up, Dylan, as I recalled his name to be. “Who are you?” He glared at her for a minute, and she smiled at him. “Funny Man.”

“You’re a bitch,” I picked up from his Spanish he had just spewed at her, and I laughed. I knew a little bit, as much as I could learn from high school, not that I had learned that in high school. That sentence was a little bit more self-taught, though.

“Quit swearing at me in your fancy-ass language over there,” Kristie told him instantly, and I knew she was kidding. They all seemed to know she was kidding with the way they were grinning at her. “I’m not you’re girlfriend, I am not your mother. I will slap your face.”

“So angry this morning,” Jordon told her. “Always so angry, both of you.”

“Shut up. Introduce yourselves to your new best friend.” And the attention went away from her and to me. “Any concerns? Take them to her. I am done for this tour. I’m just a shadow. I observe now.”

“I like to be called Mr. Scene,” Jordon told me, extending his hand in my direction. I took it slowly, allowing him to shake my hand a few times, before pulling it away from him. “I like candy on my pillow and my sheets turned down nightly. Any concerns can be taken to my assistant, Mr. Kurlzz.” He pointed toward the man standing next to him, who was rolling his eyes.

“Jordon,” Kristie said forcefully, and he laughed.

“I’m fucking with you. I’m Jordon Terrell and I bang sluts.”

“IDs must be checked,” Kristie announced immediately. “Too many seventeen year olds, you goddamned pedophile.” Jordon gave me a nervous laugh, before moving out of the way and back over toward Kristie. They started talking quietly among themselves, probably about what his first impressions of me were or something. I tried not to look too deep into it; I didn’t care. I had to not care. Had I cared about all the bands that hated me, I wouldn’t have been doing this anymore.

“I’m Matt,” he smiled at me, extending his hand toward me. I took it within my own, shaking a few times. “I answer to everything. Its cool.” I smiled at him.

“Jessi,” I answered back.

“And I guess that makes me Dylan. How much Spanish do you know, Jessi?”

“Enough to know you called her a bitch.” He grinned largely at me. “I’ve been around.” He nodded.

“We’re easy to get along with,” he smiled. “Kristie recommended you greatly, so thanks for coming to hang out us. Its hard, walking in mid-tour.” I nodded at him. He couldn’t even begin to understand how difficult it was going to be for me, in particular. It was a lot of pressure. “George just had to knock up our favorite tour manager,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear, whether they was paying attention or not.

“Hey dude, fuck you!” I could hear George yell from the bunks and he and I both laughed. “Its not like I did it by myself!”

“Go to sleep, George!” Kristie called back to him. “You’re fucking cranky as shit.” The smile stayed plastered to his face.

“No, but really, we really do appreciate you coming out here with us. We’d probably lay an egg if we were without a tour manager. We wouldn’t do shit. Just party and sleep.”

“Its what you do now,” Kristie shot back. “You don’t do jack shit. And stop making George cranky. Now I gotta go lay down with him, and he’s going to be a bitchass...” She trailed off, heading back to the bunks, both Jordon and Matt following after her like puppies.

“I wonder who’s going to make George happy now that his bitch is leaving him,” he laughed to himself. “It was nice to meet you. Glad you’re sticking around with us. We’ll have some fun.” He went back toward the bunks, and I stood up. I didn’t know if this was something I wanted to get into right now. This all was so nerve wracking. They’re so set in their ways with her.

“Hey, you must be our new tour manager.” I looked up from the ground and stopped my pacing. He came toward me and then stopped, deciding it was probably a bad practice to approach someone he had never met before. “RIght?” He turned back toward the bunks, deciding that I was probably not the best person to ask about my own identity. I could have been some crazed fan, I saw his reasons for his reservedness. “Hey Kristie, can you come out here for a minute!” He looked back at me for a moment, as if keeping his eye on me, just incase I was a crazed fan.

“I’m coming, Danny,” she answered back, and appeared seconds later. “What?” She looked toward me and sighed. “Oh, that’s Jessi. She’s your new tour manager, your new lifeline. Danny, Jessi; Jessi, Danny.” She looked back toward Danny again. “Stop being so worried when you see women. No one is going to rape you. No one left the door open, okay?” He laughed nervously, and came toward me. “Let me go see if I can get Jorel up, okay?” She disappeared back by the bunks once more.

“I’m sorry about that,” he apologized. “You just never know, anymore. Some of those bitches are pretty vigilant.” I nodded. “I’m Danny.” He extended his hand toward me, and I took it, shaking it.

“Jessi, as Kristie pointed out.” He nodded.

“We’re both new-ish. We should be friends.” I laughed. “They’re easy guys’ to get along with. I can tell you’re nervous, I was too. Don’t worry about it, okay? They welcome and embrace change, for the most part, as long as its positive change. I know they’ve had Kristie for a while, she was here when I was brought in, but I’m sure you’ll do just fine. But, do you know where I can get some food?”

“Uh... I have no idea. I just got in myself.”

“You already fail!” He laughed, smiling. “I’m kidding.” He went into the set of cabinets, and pulled out a large, powdered blue notebook from the top shelf that read Hollywood Undead on the cover. He turned toward me, and set it down on the table, which was sitting next to me. Along the side, there were several tabs with various tour names and festivals on them. He grabbed the one that read Nightmare After Christmas and flipped it open to that page. He flipped through several pages until he came to the one that read Battle Creek at the top in large, bold letters. “Kristie has everything in here. Food, bars, potential set times, signings, bus calls, meet and greets. So on and so forth, you know, everything we might need. This is pretty much our bible. She does a lot of sitting on her ass at home, calling venues and using the internet. Guess that’s why she gets paid the big bucks.”

“I didn’t realize she was so structured.” He nodded, flipping back to a date on an earlier tour. He had opened to some random date for Chicago. It had everything listed that he had talked about, but it was covered in cross outs and rewrite-ins. Everything had to be right, apparently.
“She keeps track of everything,” he pointed out. “She can tell you what songs they played on her first day on tour with them. Its insane. I’m not sure if they keep her around because she bones George or because she’s a good tour manager.” He laughed. “Probably both. He’s got a temper on him, sometimes. She’ll put herself right there between him and whoever he’s threatened to fight. He’d never hit her, but he’d deck the rest of us.”

“Stop making her nervous, Danny.” We both looked toward Kristie and the guy who must have been Jorel. He had his hands over his face, and he was looking toward the floor. It was obviously a little early for him this morning. “This is Jay,” she said, and he looked up, pulling his hands from his face. His dark hair was everywhere, and he managed to plaster a smile on his face. “Jay, J-Dog, Jorel. He answers to all of them. Jorel, that’s my replacement for the rest of the tour, Jessi.”

“Hey,” he said, coming toward me.

“You’ve got some sexy white-ass legs there, Jay,” Kristie laughed, as he extended his hand out toward me. He was in t-shirt and shorts, that went down to just above his knee. His legs were a humorous white. This kid lived in Los Angeles most of the time, and his legs were pale enough to glow in the dark.

"I hope I don’t blind you with my legs,” he told me laughing, as I took his hand, giving it a quick shake. “Jorel,” he started. “Its nice to meet you. Kristie’s talked highly of you as a replacement.”

“Well, good. I’m Jessi.”

“Hey Jorel, put some clothes on and take me to breakfast,” Danny told him, and I looked to my left, where he stood. “I’m hungry.”

“Fine,” he groaned. “Nice meeting you.” He hightailed it back toward the bunks, and Kristie came toward me. She leaned herself against the table, looking toward Danny.

“Go away,” she told him, and he sighed, heading back toward the bunks. She looked toward me. “And?”

“What do you mean and? And what?”

“What do you think of everyone?”

“Would like it better if they didn’t think of you so highly and I’d like to meet my crew, and Danny and Jorel were nice.” She nodded.

“Jorel and Danny are pretty cute.” She looked toward the back of the bus, hearing the dividing door between the bunks and the front open once more. George led out, followed by Danny and Jorel. “I thought you were going to sleep, J-3,” she said to him, as he stopped next to her. He shrugged.

“Got hungry. Jay and Dan are going, so I figured I would too. You want something?” She nodded.

"Please,” she smiled. “You know what I like.”

“Yes ma’am.” He looked toward me. “You want something, Jess?”

“No, I’m okay,” I answered. They slipped past Kristie and I and headed off the bus. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She looked toward me, raising her eyebrows, like she didn’t know what I was talking about.

“About?”

“Jorel. He’s a beautiful soul.”



I stood next to Kristie, watching her recite every word to every song, as Hollywood Undead played it in their set. She wasn’t much paying attention to their set, she was on her phone instead, texting back and forth with someone. She had told me that she didn’t do much during their set, besides watch their masks and make sure they all had water and such. She had everything set out for me in her book, and I knew this tour would be a breeze, if I could stick to it.

Their set amazed me; I hadn’t ever seen something like it before. They had so much energy and they kept the crowd completely enthralled, even though a lot of the people in the crowd weren’t here for them, they were here for Avenged Sevenfold or Stone Sour. I looked back over to Kristie for a minute, who had put her phone back into her pocket, and was looking back toward the stage. I looked back to the stage, listening to the guys’ go back and and forth between the crowd, getting them to scream according to gender.

“Everywhere I go,” Jordon started, throwing one of his arms in the air, like the rest of the guys. The swung them back and forth, “bitches always know that Charlie Scene has got a weenie that he loves to show.”

“Bitch!” George bellowed into his microphone, and Kristie laughed from beside me. She seemed like she was having a great time all of a sudden, must have been her favorite song or something. This was the first time I had ever heard them before. They were good, I liked their music.

“You love this song, don’t you?” I looked toward Kristie, who was grinning largely watching Hollywood Undead. She nodded her head at me.

“Yeah, I love this song,” she answered, and turned away from the stage. She began walking toward the exit, and I followed her. “Need to make sure that their food came.” She glanced back at me, as we walked through one of the side doors and into the cold Michigan air. “Otherwise they’ll be cranky. Party officially starts after their set.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. I just assumed that they would go out and get their food like every other band I had worked for, but this was new, and I’d do what was needed of me to get them through the rest of this tour. This was her livelihood and was going to take as good of care of them as possible for her. She weaved through the buses and to Hollywood Undead’s. She punched in the code quickly, which I still didn’t know it, and walked on. On the table sat six pizzas, and there were two empty pizza boxes sitting on the floor, beneath the table. The crew was standing around, in the middle of scarfing down their third pizza.

“Hey guys, this is Jessi,” she said to them, and they all mumbled their quiet hellos, trying to finish their pizza before they had to go get their things off the stage, which they knew was soon, because she was back on the bus. She had told me that was something that she did for their sake so they could eat before they were to get to work, and she took care of everything during their set while they took care of what they needed to take care of. “She’s good at what she does. Stop being such assholes.” They all shrugged their shoulders and headed for the door. She set her hand on her forehead, shaking her head a little bit. “I’m so sorry.”

“As long as they do what they’re supposed to, its fine,” I reassured and she gave me a hopeful look that it would be okay, that I would make it okay. She took a seat on the couch, setting her hands on her stomach. She looked like she was in a lot of pain, probably couldn’t wait to get home, and honestly, I couldn’t wait to get to work with these guys. I was excited for something new, and they all seemed pretty relaxed, which relieved me greatly. If I did something wrong, I was sure that they wouldn’t get too mad, like some bands.

“They stress me out. They’re going to send me into early labor, I’m sure of it.” I shook my head.

“Please, please don’t do that. George would freak, I would freak. Everyone would freak.” She laughed a little bit, as I picked up a slice of the pizza that was sitting on top. I hadn’t eaten much today, and I was starting to get hungry. “You want anything?” She shook her head, laying on her side on the couch.

“No,” She pulled down the pillow and tucked it beneath her head, “I just want to go home. I’m tired, I’m sore, I just want my own bed.”

“Aw, you’re okay. You’ll be there before you know it.” She nodded her head.

“I’ll miss George and whatnot, but I just can’t do this anymore. This baby is slowly killing me. Plus, now you and Jorel can get it on.” I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “You think he’s cute, and I’m sure he thinks the same. Just do him.” I sighed, sliding the boxes of pizza further back on the table, and took a seat on the table.

“I’m not just going to go up to him and be like take off your pants.” She laughed. “Its not going to happen. Nothing is going to happen. After this tour, I’ll be back with George, and we’ll have that baby delivered.” She rubbed at her stomach again.

“Little baby Ragan,” she laughed. “But do you think you can handle this? This whole thing? The crew is being a bunch of douches, the tour is huge, and the band is full of alcoholics.” I nodded my head. “Not that I’m trying to turn you off or anything. I just ant to be sure that you’ll be okay with all of this, because tomorrow, I’m seriously, like, done. I’ll be around, but I’m not dealing with anymore crap. It’s all on you. I just don’t want you to feel overwhelmed or anything, but tomorrow is it for me. I’m not doing anything Hollywood Undead anymore, not until I decide that if I want to come back or not.” I nodded my head. I was sure I could do this. I felt so at ease with the guys. Everything was going to be fine.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. This tour will be fine. I know this is all your baby and everything, but it’ll be okay, Kristie. I’ll take good care of everything. Just stop worrying.”

“I can’t help it,” she admitted. “I’ve been doing this with them for three straight years. I’ve been taking care of these guys’ like a big bunch of children, and I’m just worried. I know you’re well qualified, but everything still freaks me out.” I nodded my head. If I had been with a band for as long as she had been with this band, I would be worried about someone else coming in and taking over this position too. So many things could go wrong, but that’s not what I wanted to concentrate on right now. I wanted to think positive, make sure this all went well for them and me. “I go from this,” she held up her hands, referring to touring and the band, “to this.” She set her hands on her stomach. “I don’t know if I’m ready to let touring go and bring a child in my life. I’m fucking scared. And there’s a good chance that George won’t be there to see his baby born. Then what?”

“Stop freaking yourself out,” I told her. “Everything will be fine, okay? You’ll take good care of mini-George and I’ll take good care of the crew and the band. Just have some faith, yeah? Stop worrying so much.”

“I’m trying, but nothing seems to kill these fears in me.” I looked away from her, and to the bus door opening. On walked George, followed by Jorel and Jordon. Each of them had two cases of beer, and they stacked them on the table, next to me.

“You want anything, Kristie?” George questioned, looking back at her. “I know that you haven’t eaten much today.” She shook her head, as he went toward her. She slowly sat up, and George took the pillow she had been laying on, and took a seat where it had been. She laid herself back on the couch and in his lap. I looked toward Jorel, whose fingers were quickly moving, trying to get into the case of beer.

“You drink?” He asked me, pulling the case open, and setting it up on his side so the cans wouldn’t roll out and onto the floor.

“A little,” I answered, and he handed me a beer.

“Well, you better learn to start drinking more.”