Why can’t I take Moonlit Park with me? All these trees. This bench. Wrap them up and stuff them into the trucks. And Liam. I can smuggle Liam on bus two as a roadie. Now that would be a killer story for Adriana.
“At least you made it through one, whole school year.” Liam tries to make me feel better.
I grin and nod but can’t speak. I’m going to miss this boy. I mean, really miss him.
“What am I supposed to do without you for five months?” he asks, holding my waist with one hand and sliding his other along my ponytail.
“I dunno. Think of me?” I tilt my face up and stare into those baby blues. He’s killing me. Take a mental picture of him, Desert. Freeze it. Just like that.
“What if I wanna fly in to a show and surprise you? Will I find you with someone else?”
Right! “Not unless he’s your long-lost twin who came to surprise me first!”
He smiles and leans down to kiss me. I have to make this one last….
The next day Becca stands there, watching the crew load bus one. It’s rumbling and hissing, and I never realize how much I miss the smell of bus exhaust until we start a new tour. I know, I know…weird. And Becca looks like she wants to tag along too.
“I said good-bye to him last night.” I grab my pillow from a stack of suitcases. “Believe me, it wasn’t easy.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him for you,” she says, pushing her hair behind her ears.
“That’s okay. We agreed to stay friends. I can’t ask him to wait for me while I’m gone, Beck. If he’s not with someone else by the time I get back, then maybe we’ll hook up again. But I do love him. I told him that.”
She smiles her sad smile and looks away.
“Oh! I can’t believe I almost forgot.”
“What?” she says.
“Here, hold this a second.” I give her my backpack, my pillow, and my iPod. I run off to bus two and pull a flight case out of the luggage compartment.
Becca sees me coming back and smiles…none of that sorry, pained stuff but a real, big grin across her face.
I stand the guitar case on its edge in front of her. “J. C. left early this morning,” I say. “He said to give you this. It’s a Martin. Don’t ask me which model.”
Her eyes totally light up as she opens the latches to take a peek inside. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“I kid you not. It’s yours.”
She stands and rings her arm around me, pressing her cheek against mine, almost dropping my player in the process. “Thank you so much! I can’t believe him! Tell him I say thanks!”
“I’ll do that.” I love seeing her get all goofy like a little kid.
“So the last show is in Miami?” She lets go and hands me back my stuff.
“Yep. November tenth.”
“Well, then…I guess we’ll see you there.” She smirks kind of awkward, and I know what she means. This is the real good-bye now. Becca’s eyes are all shiny.
Augh! I hate this. “Hey, stop it. I’ll be back. And I’ll be calling and e-mailing you guys all the time. Trust me.” I pull out an envelope from my backpack’s outer pocket and hand it to her.
“What’s this?” she asks, flipping it over in her hands.
“For the Miami show. For you and Liam. Two backstage passes.”
She nods, and we hug real hard for the last time. I turn around and step onto the bus. At the top step I look at Becca again, her rotten sneakers, the guitar at her feet. “Later.”
She flashes me a peace sign.