“You guys don’t know a good deal when I literally bring it to your feet.”Lark shoved away from her keyboard and stomped to the door.
I flinched as it slammed shut behind her.
“Well.So there’s that.”Bailey sent me a sad little smile.
“Is it rude to assume she’s PMS-ing?”
“Who were those bands she rattled off?Have you heard of them?”
I shook my head.“No.One-hit wonders at best.Or maybe they were big a generation ago.But they’re definitely not hot now.”
Bailey groaned.“Tonight is going to be a shitshow.”
“It’s gonna be interesting, that’s for sure.I guess we should be pleasant to Joe Whoever, but we’re definitely not signing anything tonight.”
“For sure.”
“And apparently it’s just me and you to load up tonight.”
Bailey groaned even more dramatically than before.“We really need to hire a roadie.”
“Maybe Joe won’t mind hauling a few boxes for us.”
She laughed.“I’m sure.In exchange for our souls of course.”
My laughter joined hers as we got to work.
* * *
Lark had an attitude the whole time during setup.She huffed in annoyance when Bailey or I got near her.Like she had the right to be the offended one.Like Bailey and I hadn’t spent the better part of an hour loading up without her.
I was in real danger of getting dizzy with how hard I was rolling my eyes at her.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket.Cursing myself for not leaving it in the van, I pulled it out and looked at the screen.
Unknown:Are you working any time this week?
That was…weird… I couldn’t piece together who this message was from.Wrong number maybe?
Then my phone rang in my hand.Unknown number flashed on the screen.
I wanted to ignore the call, but Lark wasn’t the only one out here hustling for work for our band.So like a fool, I hit accept.
“Hello?”Plugging my other ear from the loud, boisterous bar sounds, I ran to the exit.“I’m sorry, it’s really loud here.Give me just a second.”
I ran past the bouncer at the door and into the quieter parking lot.
“Hello?Can you hear me now?”
Silence echoed down the line.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the screen.The call was still live, unknown number displayed at the top of the screen.
“Hello?I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.Hello?”
I waited for an answer, but when none came, I ended the call with a shrug and looked at the screen.When they didn’t immediately call back, I chalked it up to a failed scam and put my phone in the van like I should’ve earlier.
“Alice!”
