What Separates Me From You

June 24th: Dallas, TX

The gates opened an hour or so later. Dallas Warped was open and the kids were going crazy. So far, so good, I thought to myself with a smile on my face. People ate. People drank. Some more than others. People rocked the fuck out. The signs of a successful day were everywhere. I was lucky enough that the only incident to occur was some drunken battle next to the bar.

I walked around to the different stages making sure the sound was good and that everyone was happy. The best part about my job was that when everything was set in place I could enjoy myself. I started to walk toward the main stage when I ran into Joey. Right-hand man Joey.

“Joey!” I exclaimed with glee as I hugged him. “Is this great or what? Thanks for all the help.”

Joey nodded and continued in the direction he was walking in. The bar. I laughed and continued towards the main stage. Only to be stopped by one of the rent-a-cops for the event.

“Miss, are you Olivia Greene?” asked the man in the navy blue suit. His poorly grown mustache made me cringe a little on the inside. Good thing my inner monologue is an inner monologue; otherwise a lot of people would be angry at me.

“Yes,” I answered shoving the inner monologue dilemma to the back of my mind. “Is there a problem, officer?”

Officer? What a joke. I almost laughed out loud.

“We were told to contact you in the event of an incident,” he stated.

Well, that was a redundant sentence. “Yes,” I replied irritated that this conversation was still occurring. “Is there a problem?” I repeated again.

“There what a fire.”

What?!

“What?! Why the fuck wasn’t I informed?” I asked more agitated than I was before the conversation had started.

“I just informed you, Miss,” the officer replied in a forced polite voice. “The fire department handled it and the med-“

“Get the fuck out of my way,” I said shoving the rent-a-cop aside as I hurried to the band food tent. When I got there the fire had been put out. Pounds of burnt meat lay in a heap on and next to the grill where the food was prepared. The firemen were packing up their stuff but the EMS guys were still treating some of the bandies that had been subjected to the fire. One of the wounded was someone I knew. My muscles tightened when I saw him.

“Oh hey, intern,” he greeted with a smile on his face.

“Olivia Greene,” I corrected with an irritated look.

“That’s the one who started it,” the rent-a-cop said joining my side and pointing at Jeremy.

“Thank you,” I said glaring at Jeremy. “I’ll handle this.”

When the rent-a-cop disappeared, I attacked Jeremy. “Why? What in God’s name told you that almost burning down the food tent was a good idea?”

“Hey,” Jeremy said putting up his hands in the air as if he were innocent. “You said to fix my own food. So I did.”

I threw him a look of disbelief. “Honestly?”

“I never said I could cook,” he admitted. “Look, sweetie-“

“Olivia,” I corrected again.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Jeremy replied rolling his eyes. “I don’t want to cause trouble. I just wanted my food fixed. So next time-“

“There won’t be a next time, McKinnon,” I informed him.

Jeremy looked at me in amusement, “Well! Greene! That’s what I like to hear! We both want to have a smooth summer so let’s just agree that you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours?”

If this guy thought he could manipulate me into catering to his every whim, he was dead wrong. No way in hell Olivia Greene would do a groupie’s work. I had worked too hard to get to where I was now.

“How about you do what I say because I’m in charge and we’ll leave it at that?” I replied.

Jeremy sighed and put his hands on my shoulder and hung his head, “I guess this means war.”

He lifted his head to look me in the eye. I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly, “Bring it on, McKinnon.”

“It’s on, Greene.”