17

It was probably two days before I even saw Emma again. I can’t say that I didn’t look for her, because I did. I wanted to see her again. I wanted to know if she really liked the concert and if I’d done something to scare her off. I didn’t want our spur of the moment friendship that we’d sparked in Chicago to suddenly fade away when we went to a new city.

I also didn’t want to turn into some weird asshole stalker either. So instead of asking Skinner if he knew where his roommate was in some friendly bit of conversation, I hit up all of the roadies I could find and asked them about Emma. Yeah, I said I didn’t want to be a stalker, not that I didn’t actually end up being one.

The hard part though, was that no one really knew much about Emma. One person after another looked at me with blank expressions as they ran the name Emma through their memory banks and usually came up with nothing. I knew she worked for the tour, but apparently not many of the other people working the tour knew she was there. Kind of like how before the rainy night in Chicago I’d barely known she existed.

Leave it up to fate to step in and pull strings for me just when I was about to play the ‘woe is me’ game and give up on my search for Emma. The hotel we’d booked had changed its smoking rules after we’d booked the tour, and by the time we got there, the entire building was smoke-free. This meant middle of the night trips outside to smoke unless we wanted to piss off the hotel and end up paying some serious cleaning bills to get the smell out of the rooms once we were done. I personally opted to go outside.

As usual, we’d occupied the top floor of the hotel and thankfully there was an outdoor balcony area on our floor so that instead of having to go all the way to the main floor then risk having to smoke with weird scary fans who teetered on the stalking fence, we just had to walk down our private floor to the private balcony and puff our cigs there.

It was probably about midnight when I made my way out there. We’d done one hell of a show that night and I was freshly showered and ready to kill a few cigarettes before either ordering room service or dragging Marcus out to find an all night restaurant like Denny’s. I like Denny’s, a lot.

I stepped onto the balcony and lit my cigarette as I walked to the edge and leaned on the thick stone wall keeping the balcony enclosed. I looked down at the city below and my mind drifted here and there wondering what people were doing with their lives. I was also quite aware of the fact that we’d moved further south in the country again and even at midnight, the weather was much more suited to my personal tastes than Chicago had been. Wearing just a long sleeved tee shirt and blue jeans I was perfectly fine without needing any other layers as the wind gently blew around the balcony.

It wasn’t until I’d finished my cigarette and began looking for somewhere to put the butt that I realized I wasn’t alone.

“Holy shit…” I laughed after jumping when I saw Emma sitting quietly in a chair on the balcony smoking her own cig.

“Hello to you too…” she said with a chuckle. “There’s an empty coffee can over here that we’re all using for butts.”

“Cool…” I said and walked over to put my cigarette out and toss it into the can. I then sat down in the chair across from Emma. “I’ve been looking for you for two days, and the minute I stop looking, I find you…”

Emma smiled, “Some people would say that means you shouldn’t have been looking for me.”

“Yeah, that or it says that I’m a really shitty investigator and looked for you in all of the wrong places.” I smiled at her and lit up another cigarette. “So what have you been up to?”

“Just working and hanging out mostly…”

“Hanging with Skinner?”

“Nah… he’s been busy trying to fuck everything that moves on this tour. I’ve been sticking to myself.”

“Did I do something to freak you out?” I blurted it out and couldn’t stop it from coming out. Damn mouth.

“What?” she asked.

“In Chicago, did I… I dunno, did I do something stupid to scare you away? Cause if I did, I’m really sorry. I totally didn’t mean to. I just thought you were an interesting chick and that maybe we could hang out or something cause we seem to get along okay.” I sounded like a fucking dweeb. Real smooth, AJ.

“Why would you think that you scared me away?”

“You didn’t meet me for dinner that night after the concert and then no matter where I looked for the next few days, I couldn’t find you. I just can’t help but think that you… well, you don’t want to be around me. And you know, if that’s the case, I can respect that… I just didn’t think it was the case, but now I don’t know. You know, what the case is… and stuff.” Have I mentioned that I ramble when I’m nervous? Damn, damn mouth.

I watched Emma as a slight smile slid across her face and then she looked down at the pack of cigarettes that were sitting on the arm of the wooden chair she was sitting in. She sighed and shook her head, “I kind of don’t know what to tell you…” She paused again and took a long drag on her cigarette before going on, always looking out over the city instead of at me. “I admit, I was sort of avoiding you. Sorta. Not because you freak me out or I don’t like you. Cause I do like you. You’re a cool guy, and you make me laugh which is sometimes a really hard thing to do. I just…” She sighed again and finally looked at me, “Have you eaten?”

I laughed at the placement of her question in the middle of what seemed like was a confessional kind of conversation. “Uh, no… I was gunna go find something after this…” I said and held up my cigarette.

“Rumor has it, there’s a Denny’s at the end of this block. Wanna go have dinner and talk about this there? Cause if we stay here, I’m going to end up smoking this whole pack and I really shouldn’t do that.”

She smiled an adorable sort of goofy smile at me and I nodded, “Denny’s it is…” I got up and then offered her my hand to help her out of her seat. Always the gentleman, yes I am.

We finished off the cigarettes that we’d been working on, disposed of the butts in the Sanka can and then on our way to the elevators banged on Marcus’ door letting him know that he wasn’t off the hook for the night just yet.