“What about the show tonight? How can you do it without a bass player?” I ask when we ended all the hugging.
“Scot and Dave are on stage right now with a roadie who helps test all of John’s guitars. He says he knows all the songs, so they are going to run him through the list for tonight’s show. I called them while John was packing.”
“I can’t believe this is happening, everything is so crazy.” I’m grinning like an idiot at both of them.
“I didn’t fire John just because of what happened today. This has been coming for months now. We will need to have a band meeting tonight, I’m hoping the roadie will cover for John until we find a new member.” He shakes Chris’s hand then looks over at me. “I’m so glad you wanted to stay!” He pulls me into another hug, I can see Chris is shocked that I’m hugging Justin back but I don’t care. I just close my eyes and lay my head on his shoulder.
Chris went to help Scot and Dave work with tonight’s bass player. Justin had to make some phone calls but is taking me to lunch in an hour! I have showered, dried my hair and put it up in a clip. I only have one really nice outfit with me, it’s a black flowy skirt and a dark purple button down shirt. It’s nothing fancy but I still look cute. I’m putting on my black flip flops when Justin gets on the bus.
“Hey, are you….whoa!” He stops dead in his tracks when I stand up. “You look…great!” He says as I spin around giggling.
“I’m guessing you like my outfit.” I walk up and stand right in front of him.
“Yeah,” He looks me over again “come on, lets go before Chris sees you and tries to tag along.” We both laugh while walking off the bus. There is a white car waiting for us, he holds the door for me then slides in after me. After telling the driver where to go he looks over at me and smiles.
“Okay this is kind of cool.”
“I don’t get to drive very often so this is how I get around most of the time.”
“So where are we going?” He gave the driver an address not the name of a place.
“A private pub that is owned by a friend of mine. Don’t worry we aren’t going to be mobbed by fans.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that, but thanks for putting the thought in my head!” I laugh and hit him playfully on the arm. When the car stops, we look to be in a back alley. Justin jumps out and reaches for my hand, as he is helping me out I see a big metal door open and it looks like it leads to a kitchen.
“Justin!” I hear a girl scream, my first thought is shit a fan saw us, but then the woman walks up to us and he hugs her. I don’t know what to think. She looks to be in her late twenties, her light red hair is cut into a bob to fit her face. She is pencil thin, and is wearing a dark green wrap dress and white high heeled sandals.
“Sara this is Flower, Flower this is Sara the owner of Joe’s Pub.” We shake hands but I can see she is surprised to see Justin here with a girl.
“It is nice to meet you Flower, I love your name, it’s so fun!” Her voice is so peppy, like a perky cheerleader that you want to hit. I have never liked perky people, don’t know why but I just don’t. I just nod and smile at her, not really sure what to say.
“Is it safe to go in yet?” Justin asks her. Safe? What does that mean? I look up at him with a puzzled look. “They are clearing out one of the smaller dinning areas so we can dine alone. This is one of the ways I know we won’t get mobbed by fans.” He says as puts his arm around my waist. He starts talking to Sara but I’m not listening, all I can think about is how he is holding me close to his side. This is all new to me, new and scary and exciting!
A man yells at Sara that it’s all clear and she walks us to our table. The room is small, I’m guessing it is mostly used for private parties. We are seated in the back of the room, I think this is because you can’t see this table from any of the windows in the room. Sara tells us to enjoy our meal and to yell if we need her.
A young man comes out to take our drink orders, he hands us a wine list and I roll my eyes at him then order a sparkling water, as does Justin. We start looking over our menus and I can’t believe all that they serve here. They have burgers, steaks, lobster, oysters, catfish, and so much more. Their menu is so diverse, it is making it hard to choose.
“Well, what looks good to you?” Justin asks after the waiter brings our waters.
“I am having trouble picking, you’ve been here before what do you like?”
“I like the salmon with green beans, but I always get oysters to start with. What type of food do you like?”
“I like all different types of foods, to be honest I love to cook and I try to be creative when I do. Salmon sounds good for lunch, but can we skip the oysters?”
“You don’t like oysters?”
“I do like them, its just they are more suited for dinner then lunch.”
“Okay, well how about the cheese fondue then the salmon with green beans and something with chocolate for dessert?” My mouth is watering.
“Sounds perfect!” He signals for the waiter then places our order. So far everything is going great. I can tell he went to great lengths
