Something's gotta give

32 - Farewell and Godspeed

Expectedly, they woke up late. Eddie had no problem to get up at once and jumped out of bed - but Charlie fell right back on the pillow. "Ouch..." "Hangover, eh?" He looked down at her, putting on his pants, smiling. She moaned. "Apparently, you're good, huh?" He nodded and took his shirt. "Yeah... I think I'm more used to it. Always pays off next day. You've got some minutes to get up, I'm in the bathroom." "You're so caring", Charlie murmured slightly annoyed. She heard him laughing from the hall. "Drink like a man, take it like a man..."

Charlie pulled a face but with a smile. "Very sentient and indulgent, Fisher!" she whispered to herself, knowing he was right. "C'mon, you little sissy... get out of bed!" Only moving slowly and carefully she managed to rise. While getting dressed Fisher's phone on the nightstand went off vibrating. Charlie wanted to shout out for Eddie - but then curiosity took over. She went to the nightstand on her tiptoes and had a look at the display.

She read the notification which just had been sent by Zach: "Fisher, get your and her ass over here - pronto! He's starting to get distrustful and..." She couldn't read the rest of this message but it wasn't hard to guess how it would go on. 'Can't HE just get on that plane to L.A., already?!' Charlie thought. 'Maybe I can talk Eddie into a dine out so I can avoid to see Ryan before he's off. I can't face him today. He would only read my mind. I'll be unable to hide my emotions given the state I'm in. To be honest I don't think I can face him ever again.'

Her headache was increasing minute by minute when she realized: Eddie wouldn't join the game, warned by Zach's text message and he wouldn't take any chances to run into trouble with the guys. He came back from the bathroom pulling over his shirt. "Your turn", he said to Charlie. "No hurry, tho. They can charge me for another day if we're not out by noon, I don't care." She shook her head. "No, I'll be quick. It's of no use trying to put off the evil day..." Eddie gave her a puzzled look but she went out without any further comment.

When she returned from the bathroom she could sense that Eddie was nervous about Zach's message. "Right, get dressed fast, please. They're already missing us." "Oh, really? That's so nice... caring like overanxious parents. Can I await a whipping, coming home so late at least?" "Well... you can expect a whipping any second now if you don't get dressed in a tic!" Eddie said with a smile but in a serious tone. She showed him her middle finger in reply, inwardly raging about Eddie paying deference to his friend and bandleader once more.

(later on, approaching the busses)

Charlie was getting more and more nervous and approaching the venue but the busses not yet in sight she said: "Fisher, can you do me a favor?" "What is it?" "Stop here for a minute. I want to phone Brent or Zach first." "What for?" "I just need to know where Ryan is." "To stay out of his way?" "Yep. As long as possible. Do you know when his plane's gonna take off today?" Eddie shook his head. "No, not exactly... in the early evening is all I know. Don't phone them, text Zach. It's most likely he can't talk with Ryan being on his tail." "Okay." She switched on her phone for the first time in 12 hours. There were several notifications of missed calls and unread text messages - each and every one from Ryan. 'Damned little bastard of control freak!' she thought. 'I don't need to read your messages, I can pretty well imagine what's it all about and I'm sure I'll do much better to delete them unread!' So she did and asked Zach on which bus Ryan was right now.