Chapter 19
“Gen,” a voice whispered. “Gen, wake up.”
Whoever it was, was shaking her as she faced away from her morning assailant. “What?” she grumbled, her face still buried in her pillow.
“Gen,” he said again, this time placing his hand on her shoulder. “Gennie, your camera guy is waiting for you. You gotta get up.”
She groaned audibly as she rolled over to face him. “What did you say?” Her outstretched arm fumbled for her glasses, which he reached for and handed to her. It was John and when she put on her specs she saw that he had that perfect morning dishevelment that she found so endearing. He was wearing his gray pajama pants and one of his trademark undershirts. ‘How many women wish they could wake up to this?’ she wondered.
He reached to turn up the dim light slowly, not wanting to shock her, though there was already a small stream of sunlight coming in through the doorway. “I said Jack is waiting for you. You gotta go talk to him.”
Gen wished he would talk to her all day with that gravelly, low morning voice. It didn’t matter what he said. He could read the stock reports for all she cared, just as long as he never stopped talking. She found herself just staring at him, at his tattoos as if she were in a dream. He must have noticed.
“Gen, darlin’, wake up!” He got in her face this time. He pulled on her arms, sitting her up. Realizing this wasn’t a dream; she became a bit more alert. “Babe, ya gotta go outside. He’s waiting for you. Get up.” He pulled a t-shirt off a pile of clothes on the floor and handed it to her. “Here, put this on. It’s chilly this morning.” In her drowsy state, she wasn’t paying much attention so he helped pull it over her skimpy camisole top. He peeled back the blankets and swung her legs around so she was sitting up. “God, are you drugged or something? You’re worse than my sisters!” He looked around trying to find her stuff in the dim light. “Where are your shoes?” he mumbled to himself. He found a pair of sandals that would do in a pinch and put them on her feet. Standing with his arms crossed, sighing and giving her a look of utter disbelief, “How the hell late did you stay up? Jesus!” he exclaimed.
Still groggy, she stood up beside him. “Where are we?” she asked.
“We’re just outside of Kansas City. We made a stop and Jack asked to speak to you.”
She nodded sleepily. “Ok,” and started to make her way to the exit. “What time is it?”
“It’s 6:30. Don’t be too long. We hafta be somewhere by 8:15.” He walked along behind her. “Gen, don’t forget to ask him about your day off tomorrow. He’s much more easy goin’ than the other guy.”
Yawning, she nodded and waived him off behind her with one hand as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the other. She stepped out the door to realize that she was at a McDonalds in a truck stop somewhere north of the city. The place was filled with truck drivers and early morning commuters beginning their day with their first hit of caffeine and the occasional McMuffin. Upon seeing Jack give her the once-over as she approached him standing outside the restaurant door, she looked at herself in the reflection on the windows. She shook her head; her hair was a mess, there were sheet wrinkles pressed into her face and she was basically still in her pj’s with a concert shirt that read in big, bold letters ‘GOO’ that John had thrown over the top. A quick look at her shoes revealed that he’d put some strappy black sandals on her feet. Fortunately, they had fairly low heels, cause if they’d been any higher, she probably would’ve tried to gore him with them- she looked ridiculous! She threw up her arms in surrender, “Oh well, he meant well,” she sighed.
“Don’t tell me you had another rough night? You’re gonna have to pace yourself. You’re only half way through,” Jack grinned.
A shiver ran down her spine. “No rough night. I just woke up literally five minutes ago.”
“Y’get dressed in your sleep?” he laughed.
“No. I had help. Says a lot doesn’t it? Men really know nothing,” she said with a hint of mock disgust.
His eyebrows rose halfway up his forehead. “A man dressed you! That does say a lot!”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Jack, don’t fuck with me right now. I’m tired. Now, what do you want?”
“A couple of things. First, we’ve gotta get more footage today. Yesterday was a bust, thanks to your beery boozy fun the night before.”
“Ok.”
“And then I talked to the studio and they want you to do an interview with the guys at the end. We’ll need to find time to do this, OK? Preferably near the end of your sentence. I wanted to tell you now so you had some time to think of some questions and also, to clear a time to meet with them to do this. You think you can get them to agree to it?”
“I think so.”
“Cool. Then find a time, probably in Chicago where we can do it. Sound good?”
“Sure. Can I go back to bed now?”
“Yeah, go on. But I’m tellin’ you, we gotta see more of you today. You’re going with them to the radio thing at 8:30 so don’t get too comfy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she hollered as she started back to the bus. But before she got there, she was met by Johnny, who stepped out barefooted, now wearing faded jeans and a t-shirt, bearing a wad of cash in his hand. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s get breakfast!” And he stepped gingerly through the parking lot.
“Arrgh!” she groaned. She realized she was not going to get back to sleep.
They ordered enough to feed a small army. The whole time they were waiting the girl at the counter kept looking at John. She’d seen him walk in from the bus and knew he had to be someone, she just couldn’t figure out who. Gen figured she must have no clue because if the giant ‘GOO’ on her shirt didn’t give it away, nothing would. They were prepared to leave with their order when John stopped short at the door, cocked his head to the side and, noticing that there were few people sitting in the dining area turned to Gen, “I never get to eat here anymore, c’mon.” He looked excited.
A dubious look crossed her face, “You never get to eat at McDonalds? Is that bad?” He confounded her, but she followed him anyway.
He figured she wouldn’t understand. How could she? She could walk into any McDonalds anywhere in the country and no one would give her a second look. That luxury wasn’t his, if it could be called a luxury. This would be one of the many things she would have to learn about him, and get used to if she was to spend any time with him, which he hoped she wanted to do. He chose a booth in the back of the restaurant and, tossing the bags on the table, sat down. “You have no idea how much I miss things like this,” he said as he bit into his McMuffin.
She shrugged as she dug her breakfast biscuit from the bag. “Guess I never thought about it. But we’d better eat quick, I have a feeling someone’s waiting on their food.” She smiled at him so obviously enjoying one of life’s little pleasures.
“They can wait.”
He had a gorgeous smile and Gennie hated to tear her eyes from this beautiful creature before her in order to do something so mundane as eat a sausage and egg biscuit. She wondered how this day would be different for her, knowing what Robby had told her last night. Would he act any differently? Should she? She ate slowly and contemplated all that life had to offer her at this particular moment in time.
“What did he say about tomorrow?”
She broke free from her groggy pondering, “Sorry, what?”
“Tomorrow…St Louis. You did ask him about giving you the day off, didn’t you? I’ve been thinking about it. You need to do your own thing when you’re in your hometown.”
He’d been thinking about her hometown? Wow. A week ago she would’ve been happy to know he’d remembered her name! “You know, I forgot. I’ll ask him later.” A grim expression emerged on her face, “I don’t think he’ll go for it, though. I think they’re kinda pissed that I slept all day yesterday.”
John shrugged. “Fuck ‘em. You’ll get your day off.”
A small smile appeared, but she wasn’t entirely convinced.
As he finished his breakfast, a look of satisfaction came over him, not necessarily satisfaction with his meal but with the fact that, for seven short minutes, he was an ordinary guy eating an ordinary meal with a girl he hoped could see him for the ordinary person he was inside. He scooted from his bench, “Ya ready?” He reached over to grab the bags as Gennie slid to the end of her seat. They both straightened up at the same moment and stood facing each other for a brief instant before they turned to walk out. It was an instant just long enough for him to plant a quick kiss on her lips. As they walked back to the bus, he could tell that he’d taken her by surprise, but he was delighted that the kiss had been mutual, however short. She’d kissed him back and that made him smile.