Just a Positive Pregnancy Test - London Casey Page 0,5
for me.
He had a ring on every finger and with his slicked back hair and sneaky smile, he looked like he belonged in a mobster movie.
He grabbed my face and laughed. “You were great up there, Silas! Great up there! As good as the first time I ever saw you. We need you here every night. Look at this place! It’s sold out!”
He tried to put an arm around me but I stepped away.
He patted my back. “Go get a drink at the bar, Silas. It’s all on me. Everything is on me. Anything you want or need, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Lots of beautiful women out there, Silas. Lots were looking at you. I bet your night will be busy.”
I didn’t respond to that comment. There was no need to.
I walked through the backstage area and out to the bar.
It was getting more and more packed by the second from the people moving from the concert part to the bar looking for a drink.
A bartender at the corner nearest me pointed and nodded.
I nodded back.
A second later he had a beer bottle ready to go for me.
I would have preferred some whiskey, but oh well.
A drink was a drink.
After sneaking to the corner and grabbing the bottle of beer, I looked to my right.
At the back of some guy’s shirt.
I missed her…
I missed my Mila.
“Hey, don’t drink that yet.”
I turned my head and looked at Mila. “Excuse me?”
“We have to cheers each other.”
“Cheers each other? You’re kidding me, right?”
“Come on, Silas. This is a big deal for me. This is my first show. I did it! I got up on stage and sang!”
Mila was so damn happy, it almost made me feel sick.
Some people just woke up and shot rainbows out of their ass.
That was Mila.
And I was supposed to keep her out of trouble.
Which made sense.
Those big eyes of hers screamed innocence and a willingness to trust anyone with a half decent smile.
The road would eat her alive for sure without me around.
“Please?” she asked.
“Look, you can cheers yourself, okay?” I asked.
“Silas… please…”
She touched my wrist and then threw her bottom lip out.
“Are you pouting at me?” I asked.
“You’re damn right I am,” she said. “Are you going to listen to me now?”
I thought about everything Mickey told me about Mila. What he wanted me to do for her and with her. And the fact that we were helping each other. I needed to be on the road and so did she. We were going to somehow mesh together…
“Yeah, okay, let’s cheers each other,” I said.
“Finally,” Mila said. “I would like to say cheers… to a first show. For the chance to sing in front of people and not freak out and run off stage crying. And cheers to the one person who clapped.”
I smiled. “You really find the good in everything, huh?”
“Have to, Silas. What are you going to cheers to?”
“I’m going to cheers to this drink,” I said. “May it be the first of many, which will eventually drown your voice out.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” she said.
“Cheers, Mila,” I said.
“Cheers, Silas,” she said.
And we both started to drink.
“Cheers,” I whispered to nobody.
I took the first sip of beer and felt someone touch my shoulder.
I turned my head and saw two women standing behind me.
“It’s really you.”
“Probably not,” I said.
“It is,” the other woman said.
“I’m Willow,” the first said.
“I’m Jane,” the second said.
“Did you enjoy the show?” I asked.
“So much,” Willow said. “You’re so amazing. You should be playing bigger shows for sure.”
“I agree,” I said.
They both laughed.
“Um, can you take a picture with us?” Jane asked.
“Of course,” I said.
I pushed from the bar and had Willow on my left, Jane on my right. They each held out a phone and started to take pictures.
They were close. On purpose. Turning their bodies. Pressing their breasts against my sides.
All I could do was force a smile, knowing these pictures would end up on social media in minutes.
“Can you take one?” Willow asked.
“Sure,” I said.
I took her phone and stuck my arm out.
She both started to laugh and grabbed the front of my shirt.
I felt their hands. I knew their intentions.
Five seconds longer and one of their hands would start to move down.
In another time and place and goddamn universe, this would have been the dream.
That wasn’t now.
I broke away from their grasp and handed Willow her phone back.
“So, what’s going on tonight?” Jane asked. She bit her lip.