Page 90 of Your Rhythm
22On Top of the World || Imagine Dragons
KAY
I rollout of bed late one Sunday morning to find a message from Matt, asking me if I have a passport. I’m still rubbing sleep out of my eyes as I text back to say that I do. I try to work out what time zone he’s in, but my brain needs breakfast or at least a cup of coffee before it can handle any math.
Was last night’s show Berlin or Brussels?
I can’t even keep up with what country he’s in anymore.
He’s done a good job at checking in with me in the two months he’s been away, better than I even expected. I was willing to give him some space and maybe put off actually getting together until the Euro-Tour wrapped up, but he wouldn’t have it. Since the night of the Metropolis show, I’ve been an Official Sherbrooke Station Girlfriend.
I also threatened to kick Matt in the nuts when he tried calling me that.
I have time to brush my teeth and pop a bagel in the toaster before his reply pings on my phone.
Good. I didn’t even think to ask before I bought the tickets.
“Tickets?” I shout, one hand clutching a tub of cream cheese.
I don’t have a chance to ask what he means before an email forwarded from Air Canada pops up on my screen. I open the message and scan through the details.
He bought me a flight to London.
I press the video call button and hope that if I glare at my phone hard enough he’ll pick up. After some weird crackling noises, the glitchy black dots jumping around on the screen morph into the shape of his pixilated face.
“Guten tag!” he exclaims
So it was Berlin. I don’t offer him a good morning in reply.
“Matt, you can’t afford to fly me toLondon.”
“Correct,” he answers cheerfully, “but I’m doing it anyways. I want you to come see us play. It’s our biggest venue on the tour.”
He looks so excited I can’t stay mad, but I do my best at pretending.
“I do have a job, you know. I can’t just leave the country whenever I feel like it.”
“Tell Marie-France you’re writing another story about us. You can put it in the international news section.”
“No offence, Matt, but I don’t think I’m ever writing a story about you guys again.”
She won’t like the idea, but now that I think about it, I probably could score at least a few days off from Marie-France. The spike in distribution my article got forLa Gareconvinced the Powers That Be to give her an extension for turning the paper around, as well as permission to hire a bunch of digital media specialists. We’re expanding our web presence and might even start producing videos, which, byLa Garestandards, is like jumping light years into the future.
Marie-France wanted to promote me to assistant editor, but I turned the offer down. I’ve been looking for a spot at a magazine again, something music or at least arts related. Working on the Sherbrooke Station article reminded me how much I miss really putting time into my stories. I’m done with having to scrounge around for something new every day. I want to go deeper than that with my work.
“Salut, Kay!”
JP’s face appears in front of Matt’s. From the background noise and the way they keep bumping up and down, I can tell they’re on the tour bus.
“Salut, JP.?a va?”
“Ouais. Am I interrupting your hot phone sex? You can keep going if you want.”
I shake my head. “You pervert.”
Matt shoves him out of the frame.
“You will come though, right?”
