Chapter 14 – Road Trip (Part Three)

Three days later – Thursday, April 24, 2014

Melissa was startled away from her book and lunch plate when she heard a loud smack on the table in front of her, feeling a whoosh of air. She looked up to see Gina staring at her, arms across her chest.

“Hi,” Mel said.

“Open it,” Gina said.

“What is it?” Mel asked, looking at the envelope in front of her.

“Well, if ya'd open it, ya'd find out,” Gina said.

Mel put one more forkful of her chicken salad in her mouth before dropping her fork to the plate, picking up the envelope. She watched Gina sit down in the booth across from her with a smile on her face as she opened the already torn flap.

As she pulled the slips of paper out of the envelope and saw the words written on them, she almost sucked a piece of lettuce down her throat taking in a sharp breath.

“Tickets to the concert tomorrow? And meet-and-greet passes?” she said, wide-eyed.

“Jealous?” Gina asked, smiling.

“Maybe a small part of me,” Melissa said.

“Well don't be,” Gina said. “Who do ya think the second ticket's for?”

“Oh no,” Mel said, shaking her head and shoving the tickets back towards her coworker.

“Ya just said you were jealous!” Gina said.

“I said a small part of me was jealous – maybe,” Mel said. “A sliver of envy doesn't equate to me agreeing to go.”

“Ya gotta,” Gina said. “Ya gotta talk to him, Mel.”

“First of all, I don't 'gotta' do anything. Second of all, I work tomorrow night, and there's no way Vic'll--”

“How stupid do ya think I am?” Gina asked. “I ordered the tickets a month ago and requested off for both of us after I got the confirmation email.”

“There's...absolutely no way Derek will let me go,” Mel said, stuttering.

“That's why you're gonna lie ta him.”

Mel's eyebrows raised.

“Or more appropriately, that's why I'm gonna lie ta him,” Gina said with a smile. “Jason has a poker game tomorrow night with the boys. He already invited Derek ta join 'im. He was reluctant at first, but he was persuaded by the idea of all the alcohol.”

“He'll never fall for it,” Mel said.

“Already did,” Gina said. “Game starts at seven. The boys always say they're gonna go 'til midnight, but one in the morning comes around and they're all still there, tryin' ta win back their money. He'll be occupied 'til two in the mornin', darlin'.”

“He's never gonna let me go out alone.”

“He thinks you're workin', hon,” Gina said with a smile. “You ain't goin' out.”

“Gina, he's gonna check my paycheck,” Mel said. “When he sees I didn't make any money for that time...”

“Who said ya weren't makin' any money for that time off?”

Melissa's eyebrows knit in confusion. “But...”

“I think Vic pulled that armadilla outta her rear-end,” Gina said, winking. “She's doin' ya a favor – just don't expect too many 'a those, ya know.”

Mel felt her nerves kick in. “Gina, I just don't think I can...”

“Did I forget ta show ya who's the special guest at the show?”

Gina pushed the tickets back toward Mel.

“No way,” Mel said, looking back down at the tickets. “Celine Dion?”

“Ya can push yourself as far away from Chris as ya can manage,” Gina said, “but can ya really push yourself away from Celine Dion? 'Cause, isn't she one 'a your favorite singers?”

Mel smiled. “No, I guess I can't.”

“I thought so,” Gina said. She gathered the tickets up, putting them back in the envelope. “Leave the house in your uniform an' meet me here at the diner at four. Ya can change inta your concert clothes here. Wear somethin' pretty – you know, for meetin' Celine Dion an' all.”

“Right,” Mel said. “For meetin' Celine Dion an' all.”

“Concert starts at seven – but Jason's pickin' up Derek at six, just in case.”

Mel nodded, watching Gina scoot out of the booth.

“Gotta get ta work 'fore Vic decides she's had enough 'a bein' nice for the week.”

“Hey, Gina?”

Gina stopped, looking back at Mel.

“I'm sorry about the other day, yelling at you,” Mel said. “I just--”

“Aww darlin',” Gina said. “Don't worry 'bout it. We're good. I got three older brothers. I've been getting' yelled at worse than that my whole life.”

Melissa chuckled as Gina smiled at her before turning and walking toward the back, her hoop earrings swinging against her cheeks.

She picked up her fork, taking another bite of her salad, but that was when the nerves kicked in. As she swallowed, she could feel the flutter in her stomach. It was one thing to have tickets to the concert, and another to have meet-and-greet passes, and entirely another to know that she would get the chance to meet Celine Dion.

But somehow, it was far more intimidating to know that at some point in the night, she would be in the same room as Chris. She knew she may have to come face-to-face to him as well, if she had no choice – and Gina would almost certainly give her no choice.

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“Been around the world, don't speak the language...But your booty don't need explaining...All I really need to understand is...When you talk dirty to me...”

Adeline watched the people on the dance floor, moving and swaying to one of her favorite songs. She lifted the margarita glass to her lips, letting the slushy ice of the frozen strawberry drink hit her lips and slide smoothly down her throat. It made her shiver slightly, feeling goosebumps cover her shoulders, only wearing a black, backless halter top.

“Where should we look next?” she asked, turning her head to look at Stephanie seated in the booth across from her.

Stephanie only shrugged, pulling the toothpick out of her martini and putting the speared green olive in her mouth.

“Alright, the silent treatment has officially graduated high school,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It's old. Are you ever going to talk to me again?”

“I'm not giving you the silent treatment,” Stephanie said, pulling the toothpick out of her mouth, the olive still in place. “If I was giving you the silent treatment, you'd know I was giving you the silent treatment because you wouldn't have heard my beautiful voice echo through your ears once in three days.”

“'Yes', 'no', and 'hold your panties, I'm in the shower' aren't conversation with you,” Addy said. “They're you just being...your ever-present, lovely self.”

“Have you ever noticed how chauvinistic this song is?” Stephanie asked, pointing a finger to the ceiling. “I mean, it's all about fucking foreign women. It's gross. And yet...you can't help but like it.”

“Okay?” Adeline said.

“We had a conversation,” Stephanie said. “There. Problem solved.”

“You know, you're sort of like a toddler,” Addy said, smiling slightly. “Only you're worse – toddlers have no concept of sarcasm and it's easy to outwit them. You can actually be sarcastic and childish, yet form a crafty argument at the same time. And I would know – 'cause I have a toddler.”

Stephanie only lifted the glass to her lips, taking a sip of the clear alcohol.

“Are you jealous?” Addy said.

Stephanie smiled, wiping a drop of alcohol from the corner of her lips. “Jealous? What exactly would I be jealous of again? I want to answer honestly.”

“That I'm dragging you all over Little Rock looking for my best friend,” Addy said. “My best friend that isn't you. That I'm spending all this time and energy looking for someone that I've spent more time with in the past two years than I have with you.”

Stephanie chuckled. “No. Just...no. I'm not jealous.”

“Seems odd, since you've been against this whole thing from the beginning. And since you've been angry the whole trip.”

“Angry? No,” Stephanie said, leaning up slightly. “Jealous? No. Worried about you? Uh, yeah. You're chasing a ghost and you refuse to let it go. It's on the edge of becoming ridiculous.”

“It's ridiculous to search for a missing person?” Addy asked.

“It's ridiculous to search for a missing person who probably went missing for a reason,” Stephanie said. “For a good reason. Who probably wouldn't have gone unless some small part of her actually wanted to. Who probably doesn't want to be found. We've searched every diner, big and small, in this whole damn town and not one person has even heard of Mel. How do we even know she's here, Addy? She could be in fucking Alaska for all we know.”

“No one runs without a reason,” Addy said. “But usually that reason compels you to run towards comfort. And nothing provides comfort like home.”

“So...that must be what compelled Mel to leave Arkansas and run to New York in the first place, right?” Stephanie said. “No family, no friends, no ties...wait, I know! She must have lived in the apartment across from Lance in a previous life and her subconscious told her to run there for comfort!”

“Snark isn't a good look for you, as usual,” Addy said. “She did run toward comfort. She ran toward the comfort of a huge city with millions of people where it'd be close to impossible for her ex-boyfriend to find her.”

“And yet,” Stephanie said, holding her glass to her lips, “he did.”

“If he can find her in a city with a population of over eight million people, we can find her in a city with under two-hundred thousand,” Addy said.

“Well, good luck with that,” Stephanie said, placing her glass back on the table after taking a sip. “You've got less than a day left. It's already nine, the boys will be on the road in three hours, Lance will be checking into his hotel room by five AM, you don't want him to know what you've been up to the past four days, and there's probably a couple mile stretch of the city you haven't covered at least. You'd better get to work. But me? I'm gonna go dance.”

Adeline watched Stephanie scoot out of the booth.

“You're welcome to join me if you'd like,” Stephanie said. “Fun. It does a body good.”

Adeline pursed her lips as she watched Stephanie walk away toward the dance floor, finding a place in the crowd, lifting her arms to slip in between dancing clubbers. She was narrowing her eyes and reaching for her drink when her cell phone went off, vibrating against the table.

“Hello?” she answered, raising her voice to be heard above the music.

“Hey, I only have a minute, we're between sets,” Lance said. “Where are you at?”

“Some nightclub,” she said, plugging a finger in her ear to hear better. “Discovery something? Steph dragged me.”

“Sounds good.”

She could hear his breath labored, and could see him in her mind's eye, wiping the dripping sweat off his face and taking a long swig out of a water bottle backstage.

“You were right,” he said. “You did need a few days away from the madness. Drunk yet?”

She smiled. “Why?”

“The thought of you out there, just a little tipsy, dancing like you do...”

His voice trailed, and she could almost hear the smile in his voice.

“Might be enough to get me through the rest of this show until I can see you,” he finished.

“I'm not drunk yet,” she said, picking up her glass. “But I'm getting there.”

“Gotta get back to the show,” he said. “Get drunk, Addy. Dance. Have some fun.”

“I'm just about to,” she said. “Good luck with the rest of the show.”

She hung up the phone, knowing he wouldn't say goodbye because he needed to rush back to the stage. She lifted her glass to her lips, taking a long sip, cleaning the rest of the glass before pushing it to the center of the table and scooting herself out of the booth.

“Thought you were opposed to fun?” Stephanie yelled as Addy maneuvered through the crowd of clubbers toward her.

“You wanted me to have fun,” Addy yelled. “Now shut up and dance with me.”

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Friday, April 25, 2014

“Heard you had fun last night.”

Adeline looked up from her coffee at Joey, sitting across from her, smirking.

“Maybe an iota,” she whispered, holding her fingers up a couple centimeters from each other. “Can you lower your voice a little?”

“Hey party girl!”

Adeline winced as Justin yelled in her ear, smiling as he slipped into the seat next to her.

“Ow,” she said.

“First pot, then drunken nightclub debauchery,” he said, shaking his head. “Tisk, tisk. Joe, our good girl's gone bad.”

“How do you know there was any debauchery involved?” she asked, her voice still low, accounting for her pounding head.

Justin only smiled, before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his phone, fiddling with it for a moment, before turning it and placing it in front of her face.

“Watch Addy prove that that last shot was a really bad idea,” Stephanie said, from the video playing on his phone screen.

She heard some rustling and a light voice asking another club-goer if he would hold the phone for her, before she saw the two of them come back on the screen.

“Tell me what ya drank, tell me what ya think...come on Steph, show me what ya got!”

Adeline closed her eyes, watching herself dancing and grinding to the music of “Bottoms Up” in the background, grabbing Stephanie's hand before pulling them together to dance.

“Oh God,” she said. “I don't do that. It's her fault.”

Stephanie, who sat next to Joey with a plate of eggs and pancakes, looked up to see Addy pointing at her.

“I sure as hell didn't pour those last four Jello shots down your throat,” she said. “Don't blame me because you're a chronic idiot when you're drunk.”

“You know,” Justin said, “I think my favorite part is when 'Hot In Herre' starts playing and you literally try to start taking your clothes off.”

“Please tell me someone stopped me,” Addy said.

“I stopped you before security could,” Stephanie said. “You're welcome.”

Adeline sighed in relief, but then paused.

“How'd you get the video?” she asked Justin.

Justin only smiled, turning his head to look at Stephanie. Adeline turned to look, and hearing the silence, Stephanie looked up.

“What?” she said. “Lance said don't get arrested. He didn't say anything about sending out the video if you nearly got arrested.”

“Thank God my vacation is over,” Adeline said sarcastically, holding her aching head. “I almost missed you guys.”

“Shape up, soldier,” Justin said, patting Addy on the back. “It'd be a shame if you got the chance to meet Celine Dion and you missed it because you were hurling in the toilet.”

Adeline groaned. “Charming.”

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“You all ready, darlin'?”

Melissa looked up in the bathroom mirror, glancing at Gina behind her. She smoothed down scoop-neck navy blue dress, loosening the fabric sash from her sick stomach.

“I can't do this,” she said.

“Yeah, ya can,” Gina said, pulling the skin-tight fabric of her short black dress down slightly. She lifted a hand, gingerly fixing a stray piece of hair back into the bun of her curly hair. “Ya just go in, say 'Hey, Chris, long time no see,' and ask for an autograph like nothin's changed.”

“It's like a hundred degrees in here,” Mel said, feeling the anxiety making her sweat. “How are you even considering wearing that dress without dying in it?”

“'Cause I ain't as nervous as you,” Gina responded with a smile. “And I'm hopin' that even though the first Southern fried dumplin' is happily married and accounted for...the other Southern fried dumplin' ain't.”

Mel noticed the corner of Gina's mouth turn up in a smile.

“Come on, let's go,” she said, grabbing Mel by the arm and pulling her toward the bathroom door. “'Fore you lose the last nerve you've got.”