The Understudy (hiatus)

Chapter Eight - Daniel

This late morning had been eventful. In the space of two hours, I'd managed to: make Tyde cook me pasta; made her cook chicken (for dinner) for me if we're still on the road; get embarrassed, let her find out that I'd enabled notifications for her twitter; let her tickle me; annoy her; think that I'd broken her arm: throw her off a bunk and then get attacked by her.

Nice one, Dan.

After all of this, we both sat on her bunk and stared out of the little window she had.

"I thought we were staying parked up for a few days and then in a hotel for three days? Why are we moving?" Tyde spoke up, frowning at me.

I thought for a moment. Tyde was right, why were we moving?

"And where's Dick? I haven't seen him since he dropped me off here," She questioned further.

"Dick's in the van with Coop and Greg," I assured her.

"I thought he stayed here? I thought that was his bunk there," She argued, pointing to the empty bunk at the back of the bus bedroom.

"Sometimes he does, it depends. I'll just ring Dick now, see what's going on," I said, dialling his number. It rang a few times, and then I heard his voice give out a sleepy 'hello?'. I asked him about why we were moving, he explained, and then he hung up the phone.

"Well...?" Tyde waited for me to explain, eyebrows raised.

The urge to kiss her at that moment was overpowering, but I managed to fight it. I blinked a few times and spoke; "There's been some swap arounds, we're travelling to Phoenix for tomorrow's show,"

"Oh right," Tyde smiled. "How long will we be travelling?"

"Dick said about seven hours, eight at the most,"

"So we'll be in Phoenix for 9 o'clock at the latest?"

"Yeah,"

She was silent for a few moments.

"How do you like your chicken?" She laughed, and I smiled. "Do you want it marinating or anything?"

"Are you actually, like, a dead good cook?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Runs in the family. What do you want then?"

"What you got?"

Tyde jumped off her bunk and beckoned for me to follow her down the stairs. We walked into the kitchen area and she opened a cupboard. The cupboard was full of spices and marinades.

"Did you bring all of this?" I asked.

"Of course she did, we don't buy stuff in bulk," Will yelled from across the room. Kyle was asleep and Woody was watching TV.

"A girl needs some spice. So what will it be, Smithers?" Tyde asked, and I chuckled whilst looking through the cupboard.

"Smithers?" I asked, as I read some of the marinade names.

"I like it," Tyde giggled, and I grinned to myself. She sounded so adorable when she giggled. Shut up brain, I thought.

"Ooh, what's this?" I asked as I pulled out a small tub which read 'Jamaican's finest'. I undid the lid and sniffed it, and it smelled so good.

"You want Jamaican chicken?" Tyde asked, and I nodded. She took the tub off me, placed it on the counter and looked in the fridge. Suddenly, she pulled out a large jug (filled with water) containing five defrosted chicken breasts.

"What? When did you defrost all them? Why five?" I asked, baffled.

"I had a feeling I'd end up cooking so I pulled the chicken out earlier, and I need cook for everyone, remember?" She started cutting up the chicken into a chunks and rubbed a small amount of olive oil over them. She then started massaging the spices into the chicken, placed it all into a bowl and wrapped it in cling film. "That'll be ready to cook around seven," Tyde smiled, placing the bowl back in the fridge and washing out the jug.

"Good, we'll actually have a home cooked meal instead of microwave stuff!" Woody called, eyes still fixated on the TV.

Tyde left and walked upstairs, and I sat down beside Woody. He was watching some kind of Rugby match on TV.

"Tyde's nice," Woody smiled, and I nodded. "I was worried about having a girl on the bus, but she's okay,"

"She reminds me of you," Will piped up, pointing to me.

Kyle suddenly stirred and yawned.

"You'd make a cute couple," Kyle mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes.

"That's not going to happen though," I said sternly, and Kyle smirked.

"Whatever you say, Smithers,"

I dared to hope that it would happen.

Maybe one day, I'd tell Tyde how I felt. Maybe.