Page 29 of A Way Out
“We’re in LA,” Travis explained when she asked. “There are famous people everywhere, and fans and groupies searching for them all the time.”
“Plus, Travis really was famous for a minute,” Oz quipped.
Travis rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like six years ago. Fans have short memories when you aren’t putting out music regularly.”
“That’s good to know,” Maria said. They’d need to put out albums on a steady basis. And how famous had Travis been? Could his new band use that to their advantage?
“I didn’t eat breakfast,” Travis said. “Y’all want to join me at that restaurant over there?”
“Definitely,” Cash said, patting his stomach.
The restaurant was right across from their gate. Oz and Maria had already eaten but went with them anyway. Travis ordered a burger and a beer, even though it was just after eight in the morning.
“We’re in an airport,” he said. “Time of day has no meaning here.”
Cash ordered a quesadilla and a beer.
“I’ll have one too,” Oz said. “Just the beer.”
Maria had never ordered a cocktail before noon in her life. Actually, prior to arriving at Holly’s house last weekend, she’d not ever had a drink before five p.m. She cleared her throat. “Do you have mimosas? And a chocolate milk for my daughter?”
“You got it,” the server said before hurrying off to put in their orders.
The guys chatted like the old friends they were—no, scratch that. “You’ve only known each other for five months?” she asked incredulously.
Oz used his beer to point at Travis. “I’ve known of him since he played in Dog Daze. But then he disappeared off the face of the earth?—”
“Just stepped away from the music scene for a few years,” Travis explained.
“And then about six months before Lacey and Parker showed up in LA to form Demigoddess Revival, I started noticing Travis, playing here and there in bars, filling in for other bands’ drummers,” Oz added.
Travis shrugged. “I missed it.”
“So, yeah, we’ve only been working together since January.”
“That’s amazing,” Maria said, sipping at her fizzy drink. Mimosas were delicious. “You all mesh so well together.”
“That’s part of why we’re convinced we’re going to make it,” Oz said. “Although, early on, we almost broke up before we even got started, because Parker and Lacey meshed a little too well.”
Travis’s lip curled, like he tasted something sour.
Parker and Lacey were a couple, so what did he mean?
“I didn’t want their thing to ruin the band,” Travis clarified. “That’s what I was worried about. Interpersonal relationships within the band rarely work out.”
“He knows from personal experience,” Oz said.
“Also, just look at the tabloids. Every time someone within a band dates, they end up breaking up, and it usually screws up the entire band’s dynamic.”
Her sister Holly was about the marry the drummer from her own band. No one seemed concerned that it wasn’t going to work out. Then again, everyone believed they’d been dating for nearly as long as their band had been around.
“Are you still worried?” Maria asked.
Travis took a swig of his beer and gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Nah. They’re good together. But I still maintain that it isn’t a good thing. Normally.”
It was obvious Travis had a chip on his shoulder, and she did not want to get him riled up about something that wasn’t worth riling up over.
Although would he be upset if she and Oz got together? Or was it different because she wasn’t in the band?
