Lynne

Chapter 12

 To my surprise, the Vocals were all littered around the lobby. They were standing by the front desk, standing in a circle and chatting. When Len and I entered, Miku looked over us.

"Good shit," she laughed towards me.

I smiled. The excitement from the concert was fading, but it was ready to reignite at any moment.

She turned her attention to Len. "We want to go home."

"What? It's like, midnight. We wouldn't even get home until two or three."

"I know." She put her hands on her hips. "Tonight was great and all, but I'm not the only who can't stop thinking about my own bed." Her thumb pointed over her shoulder at the rest of the Vocals. "You don't have to come with us," she informed him.

He sighed, but he wasn't angry. "I don't want to drive through the mountains in the middle of the night, but I definitely get where you're coming from."

"Then go get your stuff and bring me your keycards." She slammed angrily on the desk. "The stupid clerk doesn't come in until morning, so I'm just gonna slide Erik our cards under his door and leave it for him to take care of."

"Did you tell him we were leaving?" Len asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. On the way back here. He's exhausted though, so he said he'd stay here and drive back to town in the morning."

Len looked down at me. "You okay with going home?"

I nodded, appreciating the fact that he had the courtesy to ask, even though I could tell I didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Alright. We'll wait for you. Go get your stuff."

We rode the elevator silently up. I hoped Len couldn't tell, but my uniform was starting to smell. There was nothing else in the world that I wanted other than to get this stinky, sweaty uniform off of me. I suddenly thanked the designers for making it so small. I would have burned up on stage in something long-sleeved.

My side of the hotel room was fairly clean, making it easy to pack my belongings. A tornado seemed to have torn through Len's side, however, so he took a bit longer. As I waited for him, I double checked all the important items in my single duffle. There wasn't a lot to keep track of, either.

"You're seventeen, right?" Len suddenly asked me.

"Yeah." I fiddled through my bag, finding my phone charger and checking it off the list.

"You have your license?"

"Yeah." I learned to drive in Dad's old little truck. Manual, too.

He chuckled. "If I pass out while we're driving, it's your job to get us home."

I knew he was joking. I looked over my shoulder at him. "Um, Len? If you're worried about falling asleep at the wheel on the highway, you probably shouldn't be driving." Plus, the idea of driving his fancy, expensive sports car made me more nervous than the show had.

"I'm kidding. Kinda."

"I'll try to stay up too," I promised him, finally zipping up the bag, content that everything was in there. "It'll be harder for you to fall asleep if you're engaged in a heated zombie debate." My mind flashed to the car ride here. The memory brought a smile to my face.

"We're still watching Zombieland when we get home."

"Deal. But in the morning, please."

"Yeah, definitely. I'm gonna crash the second we get home." He stood over his bag, looking through it. We had both changed out of uniforms, thankfully. Mine was folded neatly in my bag. Len was trying to push his into the already overflowing duffle bag with all his strength.