Changes

So day 1 of the tour went off without a hitch, exempting the argument in the trailer. Blondie had volunteered himself to drive the trailer through the, which Mike, Tre, and Billie disagreed with.

"You can't drive all night. You'll fall asleep." Mike argued. Robert shook his head.
"Blondie always drives the bus."
"Yeah, the guy is like a freaking robot. He doesn't need sleep."
"But-"
"He can do it. I'm serious, he's been driving all night since we decided to go cross-country with our act." Tony said seriously.
"Look, we'll trade off, okay?" Billie offered.

Truth be told, Billie just wanted an excuse to avoid sharing his bed with Tony. But hey, who needed to know that?

And then Blondie turned around in the driver's seat, and crushed Billie's hopes of avoiding Tony.

"Look, I've been doing this for a while. I am not going to crash the bus, fall asleep, or leave the bus parked on the side of the road while I escape with your money."

And before Billie could come up with a good argument, Tre cut in.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! You can drive the goddamn bus."
"But if you get tired, wake up Tre. He can drive." Mike added. Tre looked at him indignantly.
"But if Mike is closer, you could always wake HIM up."

Billie stopped listening and cursed quietly to himself. Suddenly, Tony grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the trailer. She shut the door very quietly, then slammed Billie up against the side of the trailer.

"YOU said you didn't have a problem sharing a bed with me."
"I don't!"
"Then what the fuck was that in there? 'We'll trade off'," she mimicked.
"I just didn't want Blondie to fall asleep and drive the goddamn thing into a ditch, alright?"
"Then why did you start cursing when Tre gave in?"

Billie couldn't lie to her. So he shoved her away and lit a cigarette.

And before he could even take a drag, Tony snatched it away. She inhaled, blew a smoke ring, and then looked at him, her face sad, almost wistful.

"Why are you so...I don't know...why is it, that whenever I'm around you, you get...all tense and uncomfortable?"

Billie said nothing.

"Is it something I did?" Tony asked, looking sideways at him.
"No...nothing YOU did." Billie answered, shoving his fists into his pockets.

How could you explain to someone that the only thing they'd ever done to offend you was remind you of their dead wife? That they reminded you of everything you'd lost? And that as much as you'd like to flirt and laugh and smile, the memory of what you've lost stops you from doing it?

Tony was quiet for a few minutes. Then she flicked the cigarette butt away.

"If you don't want to bunk with me anymore...I guess I'll just share with Berto."

Billie recognized her pet name for Robert and felt his jaw clench. He imagined Tony in his bed and nearly smiled.

"No...no its fine."
"You're serious? Because it's not much of a problem...at least not for Robert."
"No. I said I'd share with you, and I'll share."

Tony smiled, and Billie was forcefully reminded of Adrienne. And before Billie could stop her, Tony hugged him.

Billie had flashbacks to the first time he'd hugged Adrienne, to the club, watching Tony perform, to his wedding, to seeing Tony's eyes flash, to kissing Adrienne, to talking to Tony, to his honeymoon...

And then Tony let go, and Billie's world stopped spinning.

"See you tonight then."

The door banged shut behind her and Billie cursed, very quietly.

Before he could decide what to do, Tre opened the door.

"Billie, if you don't get on the damn bus right now, Blondie is going to leave you here in the parking lot."

Billie grnned and flipped him off.

"I'm coming, damnit."

And as he boarded the bus, he decided he'd get extremely drunk and pass out. Nothing bad could happen then, could it?