Until There Was You

I rub my hands together nervously as the other guys lounged around. Why was I so nervous to meet Phone Calls From Home? Maybe because I know that Dave probably didn’t like me already, and he’d probably be able to change Britt’s decision on people since they’re so close. We were all waiting in the hotel lobby, since we’d be here for a night.

What surprised me when they walked in was that Brittany was with them. “Oh wow hi.”, I say as a way of greeting. “You came to drop Dave off?”

She glances at the band, and lets out a laugh. “No!”, she says. “Phil suggested that I come on this tour with them as their tour manager, since I arranged most of it. He told me the day, or was it two? After we spoke with you. Since I had to do all the work early for the two weeks I would’ve been out of school, adding the two weeks in front of it wasn’t a big deal. Well, THAT big a deal, since I am still missing a month of school. But my professors were OK with it, since I handed in all the work. Everything was easily cleared and arranged. I’ll make it back just in time for midterms.”

I smiled really big at her. Hopefully, that meant we’d be able to spend a lot of time together. But, wait. “A month of school? There are less than three weeks of the tour left.”, I question.

She shrugs. “The band and I are going to check out some stuff in LA, and then we’re going back to Boston so I can see Michelle and Susan, and visit my mom.”

“Your…mom?”, he asks.

“She’s still family.”, Brittany says quietly. When I mentioned her mom, Dave came up behind her, massaging her shoulders. Another pang of jealousy shoots through me when she turns around to smile and lean into him, and he returns it with a reassuring smile of his own.

Dave clears his throat. “Uhm, well, this is the rest of the guys. That’s Danny, Zack, and Jason.” As he pointed at each guy, they waved at us.

“I’m hungry!”, Brittany announced. “Can you boys bond over Applebee’s?” Giving Danny a glance, she adds, “And Coca-Cola?”

Danny gives her a wide smile. “I’m down.” With that, the other guys all agree. John goes, “I want a steak.” Paul agrees while tapping furiously away on his phone, probably talking to Dani. I look around for Martin, who’s now talking to Dave. Zack and John also seem to be talking. Paul looks like he’s going to talk to Danny and Jason. Britt was just standing by the door, looking ahead of her. I tap her lightly on the back. “Hey.”, I say quietly. “I thought you were hungry?”

She turns her head towards me. “Yea. I am. I’m just looking at…that.”, she says gesturing to the boys in front of her. “I’m really happy that they talked me into setting this up. And thank you, too.”

“Glad to help.”, I say. “Why does…that…look so great to you?”, gesturing like she said.

“I knew Danny would be fine. Jason, too. But Zack and Dave are both quieter. Especially Dave. They all look like they’re fine now though, and…I dunno. Call it a maternal instinct. But I’m happy”, she says.

We walk a little a little faster to catch up to the group. “So,” I broach the topic of her mom. “Why do you need to visit your mom?”

“Do I need a reason besides for she’s family?”, Britt asks slightly defensive.

I shake my head. “But there was…something else there when you said that.”

She stays quiet this time, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Crap. “Hey. Don’t worry about it, I was just curious. You don’t need to talk about it.”, I say gently.

She gives me a grateful smile. Pointing at the group ahead of us, she indicates that we should catch up, since we were lagging behind again. As we rounded the corner, we spot Applebee’s. Jumping up and down like a child on Christmas day, she exclaims, “Food!” She grabs my hand and pulls us ahead of the rest of them. I smile. From anyone else, acting like this may have put me off, but I could see that she is genuinely happy to see the Applebee’s. Walking in, she asks the waitress for a table for nine. There’s a half hour wait. “Damn.”, she says. Turning to us, she asks¸”Do you guys mind?” We all shake our heads. “As long as you don’t.”, I add.

“Annoying, but I’ll survive.”, she says easily. “Let’s sit.” The nine of us try to squeeze into the waiting area, but only seven of us could fit at most. Paul excuses himself to go call Dani outside. We all offer her to sit, but she shakes her head.

“You guys keep talking, I’ll be fine.”, she says with a smile. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” She walks away, and I talk to Danny.

She was right about him. Danny is a great guy. I find out that he’s actually from Alabama, and that he met Dave and Zack on tour when he was with his old band. When his old band broke up, Phone Calls From Home happened to be looking for a drummer, and so he joined them. While Danny and I are talking, Brittany comes back, but heads toward Dave and Martin instead, sitting on Dave’s lap instead of standing. My mind starts to drift from my conversation with Danny, and I hear snippets of their conversation instead.

Danny gets my attention again when I hear him ask, “So, what do you think of Britt?”

I let out a short laugh. “She’s impressive, stunning, yea…”

Danny glances over at her. “You got that right. Absolutely unbelievable. I think our whole band had a thing for her at one point or another. She like a little sister at this point, but even as a sixteen year old, which is when we first met her, she was unbelievable.”

“Oh? All of you? So did any of you ever hook up with her?”, I ask curiously.

Danny starts laughing. “Yea right. She was too young when we first met her, and now we’d never have a chance. Look at them.”, he nods his head at Britt and Dave. “They are the perfect couple.”

Now I’m confused. “I thought they weren’t going out?”, I ask.

“Of course not. Because they’re both too idiotic to see that they love each other. But they do. Obviously. Well, more like Britt is oblivious to her own charm. She’s had Dave wrapped around her finger since…well, I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but it happened sometime after we knew her for a year. He started writing these songs, and he never told us what they meant, but they were about a girl. And they fit Brittany perfectly, and since she was the only one he spent excessive amounts of time with, we all kind of just assume they’re about her.”, he tells me.

I look at the two of them laughing with Martin, and my spirits are somewhat dampened. Danny was right. They complement each other very well looks-wise, and from what I’ve heard, personality-wise as well. Turning back towards Danny, I say, “So, what songs?”

“Well, A Reason to Love, which we sent you, was written for Britt. She asked him to record that one.”, Danny began.

I nodded. “Yea, she told me that already.”

“Alright…well, Perfect Mess and My Way Out. Those are definitely about her. But she has no clue, and he won’t say. Honestly, we all think he should just tell her. But since he hasn’t done so yet, he probably won’t ever. It’s a shame really.”, he concludes.

“A shame…”, I echo. As I’m about to ask another question, the waitress tells Britt that our table is ready. She pulls Dave up with her, and he swings his arms around her shoulder. Danny nudged me, whispering, “See? Perfect couple, and they don’t even realize it, even though people mistake them for that all the time. Britt just finds it insanely funny though.”

I nod glumly as the waitress leads us to our table.