Normal Life
Chapter 8
By: Bella
"Tristen!" Benji yelled into the phone, excited to hear his wife's voice.
"Benj?" she replied sleepily, sitting up quickly in her bunk and bumping her forehead. "Fuck. What's wrong?"
"I miss you," he said, in pain. It was an emotional pain that made him physically ache. He felt incomplete without his family, and was even more terrified of feeling this way forever after his dream.
"Baby, I miss you too," she said, yawning. "I miss you every minute."
"We can't do this, Trissy. It's not working. We aren't doing this anymore," he said, dead serious.
"It's a little too late, hun," Tristen said, knowing what he was talking about.
"I can't stand this, you can't stand this. We need to do something," he said frustrated.
"Benj, trust me, if there was a way to avoid our current situation we would be together right now. But the fact of the matter is that there isn't, and as much as it hurts we just have to bear it," she said, trying to be the voice of reason. She wanted so badly to just stop touring and be with her husband and daughter like a family again, but she knew she couldn't. She had a commitment.
"We can be together! One of us will just have to stop touring right now. There will be plenty of opportunities later to tour together," he said.
"You're not being reasonable," she said, exhausted. "We've made commitments, we've signed contracts, we've cost people a lot of money, and established a bond with our bands. It's not that simple."
"They'll understand," he said. She sighed.
"Fine. So you're going to tell the guys tomorrow that you guys need to quit the tour and reschedule?" she asked.
"Well, we haven't discussed this yet. Why me? You could do it just as easily as I could," he replied.
"Well, this was your idea, was it not?" she said.
"Why am I getting the feeling that you don't want to be with me?" he said, panicking.
"I love you! Of course I want to be with you, babe, but I don't think that you're thinking clearly right now. It's the middle of the night, we should discuss this tomorrow when we're both more awake," she tried to convince him.
"I'm thinking as fucking clear as glass right now," he said angrily. "Do you or don't you want to really be together?"
"Look, I told you that I love you and I miss you and of course I would love nothing more than to be with you right now but it's just not possible. And you suggesting that I just up and leave this tour behind is unjustified and stupid," she responded, getting angry as well. "I hate this just as much as you do, but you're not thinking responsibly."
The baby woke up from the crib that had replaced the bunk across from Tristen's.
"Benji, I have to go. We'll discuss this in the morning."
"Fine," he said, hanging up. He was now even more upset and knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.
---
"Hello, nice to meet you," Tristen greeted a interviewer for a magazine that she had never heard of before.
"Good morning," the interviewer replied as she sat down in front of him. They were in a small cafe across from the hotel that she would be staying in that night. The man looked to be in his mid to late twenties and had a British accent. He wore a casual yet much more professional looking outfit than she was used to, a polo shirt and khakis. He was tall, had light brown hair, and had the most surprising blue eyes she had ever seen.
"Shall we begin?" he asked, pushing his tape recorder closer to her and uncapping his pen.
"Sure," she said, taking a bite out of her cinnamon roll. She couldn't resist ordering it, along with coffee, before she sat down to do yet another interview answering the same questions she was used to being asked daily.
"May I just start by saying that you look absolutely stunning," he said, giving her a charming smile. She blushed.
"Thank you," she replied.
"How long ago was your daughter born?"
"She'll be seven months next week."
"Do you find it difficult to balance a family and a tour?"
"Yes, very."
"How is your marriage? I know that your husband's band is on a tour as well."
She paused, thinking about the night before, and looked down. "It's fine. It's difficult being away from each other, but we're making it work."
"It must be hard knowing that your husband is around girls who will gladly throw themselves at him every night, is it not?"
"Could we talk about my music and not my husband, please?"
"Whatever you like. I just think I'd be worried if my spouse were away from me for an extended period of time surrounded by people who adore her, but I guess that's just my opinion." She just sat there blankly looking at him, unenthusiastic about his fixation with her marital insecurities and hoping that he would get the point and move on.
"Anyway, what do you say we continue our little chat in the park across the street?" he suggested, pointing out the window. "We're supposed to meet the photographer there in about 15 minutes anyway. She thought some pictures with a sort of nature theme might be interesting. Personally, I think she's ridiculous, but whatever."
"OK, let's go," Tristen said with a laugh.
---
"Hello?" Tristen heard a female voice answer Benji's cell phone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've called the wrong number," she replied.
"Wait! Is this Tristen? It's me, Jackie."
"Oh, hey Jackie! How are you? Did I accidentally call Joel?"
"No, this is Benji's phone. He left it here in the dressing room and asked me to answer it while he did a sound check because he's expecting some sort of performance confirmation this afternoon."
"Oh, OK. What are you doing there? I didn't know you were traveling with the guys."
"Yeah, Joel asked me to come along for a bit because I had vacation time coming up, and I thought it sounded like fun."
Joel and Jackie had been dating for months now and had oddly become inseparable. Tristen had met her several times, and liked her a lot. They had gotten over their uncomfortable little meeting at the jewelry store and came to be quite fond of each other. Joel was smitten by her, even though most people thought they looked like the most unlikely couple. She worked at a gym just 10 minutes from the neighborhood that both Benji and Tristen lived in, as well as Joel.
"That's great! Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah, it's pretty fun. Unfortunately, it's just for a week and then I head back, but it's nice to be with Joel, things are better than ever!"
"That's so great! Well, I better let you go so that the call Benj is waiting for can get through. Will you tell him I called when he gets back?"
"Yep! Do you guys have a show tonight?"
"Nope, so Adah and I are just gonna hang around the hotel and watch tv the rest of the day, so tell him he can just call whenever."
"OK, well, it was nice talking to you."
"You too. Hey, when we get back to California in a few months we'll have to do lunch or something!"
"Yeah, sounds great."
"OK, talk to you later."
"Bye!"
---
A few weeks later Benji was in a supermarket buying Tristen a birthday card. He wouldn't be with her on her birthday, which was the following week, but he would be seeing her the weekend before so he thought he'd give it to her then and tell her to open it on her birthday. He was excited about seeing her and the baby again. It would be the first time in nearly a month.
They had many long talks on the phone over the past few weeks, and had finally come to an agreement. They were both on North American tours, Tristen's would last another month and a half, and Benji's would last a little over another two months. They had found a few blocks of time during the next month and a half when they both had the same couple of days off, so they decided they would meet in whatever city was about half way at that time and spend the day or two, or how ever long they had, with each other. Each time they would switch turns taking Adah back with them. Tristen had finally agreed to let Benji bottle feed her, and her fellow band mates and roadies were happy to be able to sleep in peace when it was Benji's turn. After Tristen's tour was finished, she and Adah would join Benji on the remainder of his tour.
Benji looked for the shortest line in the few cash registers that were open, and then got in it. He browsed through the magazines on the rack as he waited line and found one that had a small picture of Tristen on the top left corner. Under it read, "Pacifica rocker on marriage, music, and … Madonna?"
He laughed, picking up the magazine. He knew all about her Madonna obsession. She had been a Madonna fan since she was young, and he had seen pictures of her dressed up like her idol. She owned every album, knew the words to every song, and had seen her in concert numerous times. It was something he just didn't understand.
"This should be interesting," he thought as he moved up in line to pay for the card and magazine. Little did he know how unsettling the article would make him feel.