Page 26 of Hero on the Road
Then we’d gotten to the van, parked it under one of the streetlights so we’d be able to see, and done our best to make the back area a decent bedroom.
It had been nearly impossible. There was plenty of room for us to lay down but the presence of the wheel wells had meant the space was narrower than we’d expected. Olivia and I had been right next to each other, breathing the same air and running into each other if we rolled over. I didn’t know how she’d felt about it but I’d been hyper aware of how close she was, my mind playing through the memory of the one night we’d spend together again and again.
I’d finally turned to face the side of the van out of sheer self-preservation.
When I opened my eyes to see sunlight streaming through the windows, I breathed a sigh of relief. And then I remembered where we were and what we were doing, and I realized that there was a way to get this done.
Last night things had seemed hopeless. We were stuck here without money or friends and had just spent what we had on clothes and sleeping bags, plus a little bit of food. But Danny had texted and told me he’d deposited some money in my bank account, which meant we could have breakfast in a real restaurant, and as long as we were doing that...
I had some plans I wanted to discuss with Olivia.
“Are you up?” I whispered over my shoulder.
“Are you kidding? I barely slept. We definitely need to add air mattress to our list of wishes,” she whispered back.
I turned over, grinning. “We’ll get one before we leave. Danny put some money in my account. Then let’s get breakfast. I have a plan.”
* * *
“We need to get back to Great Falls within a month, and from what I can tell it’s only around 400 for the route we’re using for the tour. That’s doable. We hit our stops along the way, no problem, and in the meantime we do some sight seeing.”
She cocked her head in doubt. “And what’re we going to do for money? Do you have any?”
“Not really. Most of my deposit went to my dad’s medical bills.”
“And Danny’s not exactly going to be keen to keep depositing in your account.”
“You’re probably right. But that’s the next part of my plan. We’ll need extra money, but we’re our own traveling show. We have guitars and the tiny amp. We just make extra appearances on the side. Play for change. Play in small venues when they’re available. We’ll get enough money for gas and food, I’m sure of it. And in the meantime we’ll be building a fan base.”
Her mouth quirked. “A fan base of people who saw us play on street corners? That doesn’t exactly seem like people who’ll care.”
“What are you talking about? It’s intimate. It’s personal. They’ll definitely remember us when we come back through here. I bet people’ll eat it up.”
Now her face turned thoughtful. “And we’ll be making money for things like hotel rooms?”
I pointed a finger at her and gave her finger guns. “Exactly. Hotel rooms. Swanky restaurants. Diamond necklaces. We’ll have it all. Hell, we even have press following us already.”
And that part was no lie. The blogger we met yesterday—God, was it only yesterday?—had shown up again this morning, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and like he definitely hadn’t spent the night in a van that smelled like cherry soda. He’d wanted to interview Olivia and had sullenly agreed to include me in the interview, saying that he was going to put it up on his blog right away. He’d also said he was going to follow us on the road—which I was sure had more to do with Olivia than with me—and document our travels.
Our own personal blogger. What more could we want?
“Except,” Olivia said quickly, “that we’ll have to get other people to agree to let us perform. Is that allowed? Are we allowed to do non-label appearances while we’re on the road under their umbrella?”
I leaned forward and took her hand. “Olivia, they’re not even paying for anything. Sure, we’re here as representatives of the label, but they aren’t paying for our gas or hotel or food. So I don’t think they can really say anything about anything.”
I wasn’t sure that was the truth. They were the label and of course they could say anything about anything.
But they’d have to actually call us to do that. And the minute they were on the phone, I was going to give them a piece of my mind for having left us out here in the middle of nowhere without any support.
Personally, I didn’t think they’d risk it.
CHAPTER15
Olivia
The first show in Cascade was amazing. We came screeching into town two hours before curtain, thanks to an extra-long breakfast date that included not only an interview with Colin Cravers but also a planning session where we laid out what towns we’d stop in on the way to our next actual tour dates. I’d been present for the planning session but hadn’t jumped right into it the way Connor had. Something had seemed wrong to me. Like we were breaking a rule we didn’t realize we were breaking or something. I’d wished time and again for a copy of our agreement with Atomic—or a better memory, because I knew I’d read the thing but couldn’t remember more than scattered pieces. I wanted to know whether we were allowed to do what we were about to do.
Or if that was one more thing that might cost us the contracts we were working so hard for.
