+Intent13-15+

Win didn’t get back to her room until five AM, yawning profusely. She’d listened to AJ talk all about his life. Everything from his father walking out when he was just a child, to his stay in the rehab clinics for alcohol and cocaine. She couldn’t believe how much he’d been through, with his mother, his grandmother, even just the guys in the band. He did seem a bit bitter, and she couldn’t blame him, he often got sarcastic, and a little mean when he spoke about these things, but when she would put a hand over his, he would soften and not eat at himself so much.

AJ found himself at fault for most of the problems he had had in his life, all them except his father. He hated him with such a passion that Win felt a little nervous when he started talking about him, watching his fists open and clench, his jaw go stiff when he ground his teeth. Tonight he’d worn his glasses, but she was not going to be the one to remove them, that was his business now.

The one thing that Win noticed that AJ never really smiled, unless he laughed, his face remained stiff and never really betrayed his emotion. Win was glad tonight for the glasses, as she would not have wanted to look into AJ’s eyes as he spoke about his father.

He asked to kiss her again, but Win was not ready to fork that over. She’d rushed things to fast with other guys before, falling in love with their kisses before falling in love with them. She didn’t want to take that chance on AJ, he’d been too nice to her.

Thinking on AJ, Win fell into a shallow sleep, dreaming that they were still sitting at the pool talking.

Two hours later at seven AM, the phone rang shrilly. Win jumped up and looked around feeling as though she should have been sitting at the pool. Realizing that the phone was ringing she picked it up.

“Wake up call for room four thirteen, have a good morning.” Win hung the phone back up and groaned.

“Oh no,” she moaned rubbing her face into her hands. Jen was also groaning as she pulled herself out of bed and sat there looking at the floor for a moment.

“Damn I hate early morning rehearsals!” She yelled punching her pillow.

“God, it is too early for this,” Win replied yawning.

“What time is it?”

“Seven, oh my head hurts!” Win whined grabbing her bag from beside the bed and fishing out some aspirin. She found the bottle and popped three in her mouth, swallowing them dry. She sat a moment, trying to remember where she was, and remembered meeting AJ that night.

“What time did you get in?” Win asked, noticing that she had to wash her clothes tonight.

“Two, I’m gonna be burnt!”

“Try five, I’m going to die.”

“Five o’clock? This morning, as in only two hours ago?” Jen asked.

“Yeah, I can’t do this anymore, I need some sleep!” Win changed her clothes and then she and Jen yawned their way down to breakfast to meet some other crewmembers. Don, Taylor and the other three security guards Evan, Ray and Stew, were sitting at one end of the table. Jen and Win took seat with them. Brian and Brianna waved to Win as she sat down and she sleepily waved back.

“Late night?” Daemon asked as Win poured herself coffee, her chin leaning on her propped up hand.

“Late morning, I didn’t get to sleep till five.”

“Uh oh, somebody’s been getting busy!” Taylor cackled doing a little dance in his seat.

“N-n-no, I wasn’t,” Win replied yawning so loud her jaw hurt after she yawned.

“What did you do to our man last night Senorita!” Howie asked, slapping Win on the back so hard she spit out her coffee. He plopped down in the seat next to her grinning.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Howie replied rubbing the spot on her back where he had hit.

“What are you talking about?” Win asked muffled by her napkin as she wiped the coffee off her face.

“You must have given him some work out,” Howie said pointing down to the end of the table where she saw mass of black hair slumped over the table.

“Oh my,” Win giggled.

“You wore him out.” Howie laughed.

“He wishes,” Win replied taking a sip of her coffee.

“So Dae, what time do you think we could possibly get done today?” Howie asked, way too perky for they morning.

“I’d say by noon, that way AJ can get some rest before the concert and we can all check out before five. Which I might add, Win, you do not have to check in or out anyone anymore. Red is the stage manager, he gives you jobs that pertain to the stage only, not running errands for just any body, or cleaning out vans. I want you at that concert tonight, I want you to help with take down. You should know how to do it already, he’s just trying to make you look like an ass because he wants a promotion. He’s not getting it. If he gives you any more trouble, speak to me, directly to me. Okay?” he was not mean as he spoke, in fact he was sincere and apologetic.

“I don’t mind doing other jobs Dae, really.”

“It’s not your place, and let me also remind you, you are not the go around for the guys either, you don’t have to go run and help them when they call. They each have their own assistants.”

“Brian didn’t call me, Red told me to go,” Win said sitting up.

“What? Red told you?” Daemon asked looking down at the other end of the table where Brian sat. He sat thinking a moment and then motioned to Brian to come to him.

“Hey Bri, did you call Win yesterday to help you look for that ring?” Daemon asked.

“No, I called Red cause my assistant had to fly home for an emergency, and Kevin’s had gone with Red to the venue. I asked Red to send Aaron back to the hotel, but Win showed up a few minutes later.”

“That son of a bitch. He’s deliberately fucking people over. He’s trying to make Win look over eager by sending her all over the place to do everything except what she’s supposed to be doing.” Red said angrily.

“Oh so you have noticed how the stage manager sends his assistant to do everything except set up the stage?” Brian asked with narrowed eyes.

“I’ve had enough of this. All right Win, I’m gonna take care of this, this isn’t your fault, it’s mine, for allowing that ass on the tour. Excuse me, I’ll see you all at the venue in an hour.” Daemon nodded to everyone and jumped up from the table, marching through to the lobby.

Though breakfast had turned out interesting enough, Win should have realized Dae’s anger at Red for treating Win the way he did, and manipulating everyone else would only turn into anger aimed towards her. Red made her pay dearly for his mistakes, taking her around the stage, with Daemon watching from the audience, showing her the various equipment and every once in a while screaming at her as he asked her to make an adjustment here or there. Finally Red got so fed up with her he walked off the stage yelling about inferior help. Gina, one of the other stage crew, took over showing her the ropes of the stage and what she would be doing that night with the take down.

Win started getting to know all the stage crew better, and she found that she got along with almost everyone save Red and one woman who turned out to be his girlfriend. As rehearsal began, Gina took Win to the side of the stage so she could watch the guys perform one of their songs.

“You were the person we were missing, what we’ve need is someone to watch the performances so that if there is any malfunctions we can know about it right away. The other night the friggen stage lights went out and nobody realized it till one of the guys told us. That was one friggen fiasco that I would not like to repeat. Here is your walkie-talkie, and your headset. This is just a basic run through for today because we want to work out all the kinks before we do another show. It’s been a month already.” Gina was nice and didn’t mind showing Win all the little tricks that made things easy. Win was supposed to be in charge of the lights, making sure that things went as they were supposed to, but since she was so far behind, she tagged along with Gina until she learned enough.

“All right Ben, give us ‘Just want you to know’” Win heard as the guys walked out onto the stage.

“Guys, I want you to do it all out, we gotta adjust the sound, so don’t stop no matter what okay?” Win heard through her headset. It was Daemon watching from the audience.

The music started playing and as Win watched from the side of the stage, they guys began to sing. They were really good, Win was astonished by their performance as they each belted out their levels of the song. She couldn’t get over how wonderful their voices blended together. Kevin’s voice was solid, ageless and held tone beautifully. Brian’s was light, airy and changed notes with superior skill. AJ’s voice was dynamic, just as powerful singing loud and soft, he could make his voice smooth or rough as he dictated. Nick’s voice added to the blend a unique quality, an accented voice that was unmistakable. Howie’s falsetto was incredible and convincing, he could sing the highest of notes without error in pitch or sound quality.

Win had a wonderful time at rehearsal, finally learning how to do something besides running errands was fun to her. Even though she was tired she was happy.

They broke for lunch at noon, but Win went back to her room to sleep. She was so tired that she fell on top of the comforter and didn’t wake up again until five. She went down to dinner with her stomach rumbling and sat down beside Kevin.

“Hey sleepy head, what’s going on?” Kevin asked.

“Not much, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to the concert tonight though, I really enjoyed your performance this morning.” Win replied doling potatoes onto her plate.

“Thank you very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I’m looking forward to the concert tonight, I finally get to do something useful.”

“Yeah, since now you’ll be doing something related to the stage, considering your boss is the stage manager.” Kevin replied laughing.

“I know,” Win replied before a pair of large arms wrapped themselves around her neck and a scratchy mustache tickled her cheek when two lips kissed her cheek.

“Now this is the reason I got up!” AJ growled squeezing Win.

“So you finally decided to get up?” Kevin asked as AJ sat down and scooted closer to Win.

“I had a good reason.” AJ replied clearing his throat and grabbing some food in front of him.

“Win was just telling me how much she enjoyed our performance this morning.” Kevin started.

“Oh really now, why would that be?” AJ asked, Win couldn’t figure on his expression since he was wearing his sunglasses again, and just shrugged.

“You all have great voices, it was really nice to listen to, I haven’t heard good music since I quit the choir.”

“You were in a choir?” AJ asked.

“Yeah, a church choir, there was one right down the road from the house I lived in growing up. They always sang such beautiful songs, so one day I joined.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in God?” AJ asked again skeptical.

“I don’t but some of the most beautiful music ever written was about God, it’s not like I was forced to stay and go to mass or anything. I just showed up on Sundays, and I sang.”

“Very sneaky, you coming out here, gonna try a weasel a record deal!” Kevin laughed pushing her over.

“Me? Please, that’ll happen the day that Jack wakes up, puts on tap shoes and dances around the corner! Besides, I couldn’t do this, running back and forth, people in your face all the time, it’d get annoying, really quick.”

“So you any good?” AJ asked. Win held up her hand and wobbled it.

“So, so. I did a couple solos at church, but I’m not stellar, not any where as good as you guys.”

“Come on, sing something for me,” AJ said.

“No, not now.” Win replied firmly.

“Oh come on Win, we want to hear you,” Kevin started, giving her puppy eyes.

“Nope, nothing doing, we can do karaoke one night, that’s when I’ll do it.”

“Eat up, eat up, concert in two hours, I want everyone over there by six!” Daemon said walking in rubbing his hands together with a grin on his face.

“You all ready?” he asked sitting down and grabbing a potato from AJ’s plate.

“As we’ll ever be.” Kevin replied.

“Did you know Win here can sing?” AJ asked.

“Oh really now, any good?” Daemon asked, his mouth full of potato.

“No, I’m not. But I promise I’ll do karaoke at the next place that has it and humiliate myself for your entertainment.” Win said nodding her head.

“That’s sporting of you,” Howie said as he plopped down at the table in front of her.

“So you sing?” he asked lifting his eyebrows as he leaned forward.

“Oh my god! Would you all just give me a break!” Win exclaimed turning red and burying her head in her hands as she started laughing, the rest of the table burst into laughter as well.

You brought it up,” AJ said. Win sat up and leaned her head on her hand as she laughed.

“Daemon, just remind me not to speak, at all!”