Life with the jokers: on tour

Part 26

After flicking through the TV and my phone, it was 5:45, so I did my makeup and made sure I looked close to presentable. Joe knocked on my door at 5 to 6, looking dapper in his smart lavender shirt- the "lavender glow of love' as he called it.

"You look great," I said, shutting my door and joining him to trail to the restaurant. He made me brave the elevator, well, I didn't want to speak up. It glided smoothly down, taking 23 seconds and leaving a few second delay before it set us free. Not as bad as I thought. We turned through the marble reception, and through some wooden and glass doors into a huge dining hall- with circle tables with table-cloths and tissue swans and a small stage for live music.

"Wow."

We found the crew near the wall, cramped around one table.

"Hey guys," Joe said.

"We wanna make this special. It's the second last meal of the tour," Rachel said, lifting her empty wine glass up.

I sat in the spare seat next to her, and there were 4 spare seats to my other side. Me and Joe were the first ones here- he likes to get there early incase there's any bread for the table. There was, and he was in there before he'd even sat down.

Sal and Q arrived 5 minutes later, looking smart in a shirt. They practically inhaled half the bread too. We waited for Murr, who swaggered in 5 minutes later. We all stared at him, making us wait. The table was chatting in groups, me and Rachel, Q and Sal, Murr and Pete, Joe was texting his wife, and the rest of the crew with each other.

"How are you?" She asked, "feels like we can never just sit and talk."

"I know, it's all so busy. I'm good. I... uh, kissed Sal," I felt she was the only one I could trust.

Her eyes lit up, "oh my god! So you're like a thing, then?"

"I don't know," I tried to hide the confusion in my voice, "he said he wants to wait until after the tour."

"I get it, it is really stressful for them. Make people laugh like every night, even on 4 hours sleep. It's tough."

"Yeah, I guess. But I'll be back in Florida soon."

"Love has no distance. We can arrange for you to come up, just take it out of Joe's food budget," she laughed, then her face grew soft. "In all honesty, I see the way he looks at you. I'm so happy for you both. But remember he will always have another love: the show. Or these dicks over here."

I smiled, "thanks. Keep it between us, yeah?" She nodded.

The waiter came over, and we ordered our food, taking around 3 minutes to get an order from everyone. I could only imagine the bill afterwards. The guys each had a beer, except Joe who ordered a lemonade.

"What do you think you'll do after the tour?" Joe asked me.

I sighed, "I'm not sure. Go back to waitressing maybe. Part of me wants to move up here, but I love the sun in Florida."

"Florida's beatiful. But I think you should consider moving up here, getting a full time job... with us."

"Really?" I had to try not to choke on my drink.

"Yeah. It'd be great. You helped us with the TV show a lot recently, and with a load of ideas. I think you'd be great. It is... if you wanted to. It is a lot to ask, do whatever you want."

"I'd love to," and in that moment I forgot all of my burdens back home. My horrible apartment, my family, my friends, my awful work. They wouldn't be elimated, but if you were offered a chance to improve your life... surely you'd take it? And take a job that a guy you like is in too. Sounds good to me.

"I'll talk to the producers later, sort some stuff out. But now, we focus on performing the best show so far in our career," he raised his lemonade, "we may get a bit anxious tomorrow. There's a lot of pressure to do the best show yet." I looked towards Sal, who was the epitone of anxiousness. Hands curling around each other in his lap, obviously thinking about tomorrow, a new beer placed infront of him. He looked up from his lap and caught me eye, and I attempted to give him a brave and reassuring smile.

You got this.

Our unspoken rule was that we wouldn't go around broadcasting our situation, so in my eyes that meant trying to talk to Sal the least.

Joe looked down at his phone and gave a huge grin. "Guys! Bessy's on her way up tomorrow- she's coming to the show!" He looked slightly emotional- but he hasn't seen his wife in months.

"Let's drink to that," Casey said, and we all put our glasses up in the air.

Our meals arrived, looking incredible, and we ate, laughing as if in a joyous Christmas movie or advert. The quiet other tables envied our joy, which didn't even settle when our plates were cleared away. We each ordered dessert and Pete stood up to make a toast.

"Hi everyone, I just wanna say that I am so proud of us all, and how far we have all come. From giving small 100 seat venue to... well, this. Madison Square Garden! This is the biggest moment of our lives so far... apart from Rachel who saw Chris Hemsworth at Disney World once. So I hope you are all ready for the rollercoaster of a day tomorrow, and have everything prepared," he paused and waited for the guys to nod. Murr, Joe and Q looked confident, Sal looked over at them to get their approval. "But don't get over your heads. No messing around tonight... if I find drug in your room," he settled down the small laugh, "ok, ok, jokes aside, it's going to be fantastic. And I'm so proud of you 4, we obviously couldn't have done it without you."

And to that we toasted, raising and clinking our glasses together. A sense of community and support. They got this, and it was going to be amazing.