Right Back to You

8. The Magic of Touring

Kyle couldn't believe he'd finally managed to escape his stuffy home. With tears in their eyes, his parents wished him and Jessie much luck and success and let him get out of that house with luggage and his instruments. Honestly, if they would've thrown in the Harley, he'd have absolutely no desire to ever return there.

His heart clenched at the thought of Sam, but his parents had somehow made him and Jerry magically disappear every time Jessie and her parents stopped by, as if it would be inconceivable for them to have more than once child. Kyle secretly wondered if his parents hadn't been worried that Jessie might like Jerry or Sam, who was her age on top of everything, more and not want to marry Kyle.

Well, tragedy averted. Jessie hadn't secretly fallen in love with Jerry for his brooding good looks and stick-up-his-ass charm. The family was saved and Kyle couldn't even think those words without laughing out loud.

But he could afford not to care for a few months as he and Jessie set of with only Macy for company. She was a short black woman with short hair and a short temper. Everything was short about her. But she was crazy competent when it came to yelling at various people on the phone.

Her latest trigger? They'd somehow lost all their new banners and posters somewhere between Denver and Phoenix and now she had to use the old ones which only featured Jessie. And the event company from Arizona was asking for too much money because they were apparently bring a tech person no one had asked for.

"No, I don't care. I want those banners yesterday!" Macy roared as the borrowed tour bus sailed between the airport and Phoenix.

Kyle strummed the chords of his guitar, keeping his smile in. Across from him, Jessie had headphones on and was listening to her latest song, tapping her pen against the pages filled with lyrics.

"You incompetent fuckers!" Macy yelled. She took her headset off and tossed it against the window. She did that a lot. "I'm sorry for the language, kids. I just don't know how something like this could happen."

"It's okay, Macy, we don't care," he assured her, changing the chord to a more dramatic one before strumming again.

"No, it's not! Our sales tripled with both of you in the news and on the banners."

"That shouldn't matter. We play the same music."

"Publicity, Kyle! The fans don't only love your music. They love the story behind your music. The love story that comes with the tour."

Yeah, the story... Their supposed engagement which had everyone bombarding them with requests for romantic ballads they should sing to each other. They'd only caved once and the recording of that particular performance had gone viral online. It led to an avalanche of ticket sales for the next show in hope they'd catch something like that again. It made Kyle uneasy. Singing was a very intimate experience and something he didn't feel like pretending about. Singing with Jessie was fine, fun. Singing to her however... It felt like an elaborate form of cheating. He'd rather pretend to hold her hand and kiss her forehead (which also drove the fans wild) than sing to her.

"We'll get the banners back," he said just to appease Macy.

"Damn right!" She picked up the headset again. It never stayed down for long. "Now let me see what the hell this tech guy is supposed to do. Your equipment is perfect."

"Yeah, but the venue may need him."

Macy hesitated at this, but decided to call someone and yell some more. Kyle tuned her out and focused on his chord progression. Jessie took her headphones off, her lips puckered in a pout.

"I don't like it," she declared.

"What are you trying to write?" he asked.

"I want..." Her cheeks caught fire. "I haven't really written any love songs, you know. And now everyone wants one!"