From the Top - Chapter 12

Finally, the day arrived for Kat to move to school. I’d been ignoring it, enjoying the month or so we’d had together before she moved away, but I couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t happening. She had practice starting on Monday with the UNC swim team and wanted a day to be there beforehand, so she could get the lay of the land.

We decided to drive up Saturday morning so I could help her move in and say goodbye and still be back home by the time we had to play that night. I’d already missed two weekends the previous month going to Kat’s swim trials. I couldn’t cause us to lose more gigs, especially not with the added tension the band was under.

So we left early that morning and arrived at the parking lot for her dorm around noon, which theoretically gave me enough time to unload for a few hours before turning around and making the drive back home. Or at least, I thought it did when we left. Now that we’d arrived, I was much less sure. The place was a madhouse. Cars were everywhere, with people going in every direction, carrying boxes and mattresses and everything else under the sun.

Thankfully, Hanna had seen this coming and had pulled her car into a spot right out front the night before, holding it for us until we got there. There weren’t a lot of student passes for that lot, but she’d managed to convince Professor Cross to help by intervening with the administration office and getting her one of the coveted passes. I guess being the head of one of the school’s departments gave him a little weight he could throw around.

“You ready for this?” I said, nodding at the madness outside of the car.

“I think so. It’s not any worse than one of your shows, right?”

“I don’t know,” I said, joking.

That got a brief smile out of her, but I could see she was nervous. My shows might have been packed and full of people, but they were all focused on the entertainment in front of them. Here, it was sheer chaos.

“You’re going to do amazing,” I said, squeezing her hand. “This is the next step in your adventure.”

Before she could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Hanna must have parked close by and hustled back after clearing out of the spot for us because we’d only been sitting there a few minutes.

Hanna opened Kat’s door and said excitedly, “Why are you still in here? We’ve got so much to do!”

I think Hanna was more excited about Kat being here than Kat was. I knew Hanna had made friends, but she and Kat had gotten really close the last couple of years, they were more like sisters now. I think Hanna was already planning all the trouble they could get into.

“You two go ahead and go up, I’ll start carrying boxes,” I said as I got out of the car.

“Good, it’s why we allowed you to come along,” Hanna said, giving me a wink before grabbing Kat’s hand and dragging her into the building.

We’d visited Hanna here a couple of times, and she’d given us the low-down on move-in day, so I figured I’d be fine. I knew the doors, which normally needed a key card to get inside, were unlocked for move-in day.

I grabbed the first box out of my back seat and headed inside. I found Kat and Hanna inside their room, the pair discussing how they could decorate it, where to put what, and basically ignoring the delivery man, even though he was one’s best friend and the other’s boyfriend. I just shook my head and set the box down inside the door before turning and heading back to grab more. I was feeling ambitious, so I stacked two boxes this time, a heavy one with a lighter one on top, to try to shorten the number of trips I would need to make.

It was kind of a pain maneuvering up the steps, but I managed, or thought I had until I ran into two girls at the top of the stairs, blocking the hallway. I tried to maneuver the boxes around the two girls, but there wasn’t quite enough room.

“Excuse me,” I said politely. “Could I just squeeze by here?”

The girls glanced over at me, followed by the blond one looking me up and down, an expression on her face like I was the last meal on a desert island. It was a little unnerving. I suddenly had a new appreciation for what some women go through.

“Well, hello there,” she said, giving me a flirty smile. “We haven’t seen you around before. Do you go here?”

“I’m just helping my girlfriend move in,” I explained, gesturing with my head toward Kat and Hanna’s room down the hall, hitting the word girlfriend hard.

“I’m Tiffany,” the blonde said, breezing right over my response. “This is my friend Amanda. What’s your name?”

“Uhh, Charlie,” I said, trying to edge past them again, but Amanda shifted to block my path.

“Charlie, huh? That’s cute,” Tiffany said, edging closer.

“Thanks,” I muttered, shifting the boxes in my arms. My fingers were starting to cramp up.

“Are those heavy? They look heavy,” Amanda continued, placing a hand casually on my arm. “You’re pretty strong. You know, we’ve got some stuff we need to get moved in that’s just too heavy for us.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Did lines like that actually work on guys? I assumed they lived on this floor, and Kat would have to deal with them, so insulting them would probably not be helpful.

“Sorry, I’m just helping my girlfriend move in, then I have to get back home for a thing.”

I almost said a gig, but I somehow felt that might be throwing fuel on the fire and swerved at the last moment. I also hit girlfriend again, hoping this time they’d get the message.”

“Ohh, that’s too bad,” Tiffany said, putting on the most absurd pout I’d ever seen in my life. “There’s a party tonight, and I was really hoping you’d be there.”

Man, they just didn’t get the hint. I was searching for my next attempt to escape and get them to let me by when Kat appeared behind them.

“There you are,” she said. “I was wondering what was taking so long.”

Her appearance startled Tiffany and Amanda. They both stepped aside a little, giving Kat just enough room to slip past, between the boxes and the wall, and put an arm around my waist.

“Kat, this is Tiffany and Amanda,” I said. “They’re on your floor.”

“Hi!” Kat said brightly.

Though her tone was friendly, her grip on me tightened ever so slightly. She added, “Nice to meet you both.”

“You too,” Tiffany replied, her enthusiasm dimmed.

An awkward beat passed before Amanda jumped in, “We were just inviting your boyfriend to a party tonight. You should come too, it’s just down the hall, room three-twelve.”

“Great, I’ll try to stop by,” Kat said.

I knew she had no intention of going. Kat wasn’t much for big parties since she’d started her recovery, especially with people she didn’t know well. But I appreciated her attempt at friendliness. As great as all this was, however, my arms were starting to get tired. I’d picked too heavy of a box for the bottom one to be standing here, holding a long conversation.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Kat said, taking the top box from my aching arms.

“Thanks,” I said with relief. “It was nice to meet you.”

Tiffany and Amanda stepped further aside, no longer obstructing our path down the hall.

As we walked away, I heard Tiffany mutter to Amanda, “Of course he has a girlfriend.”

I shook my head, exhaling as I stepped into Kat and Hanna’s room. After setting down the boxes, I pulled Kat in for a quick kiss.

“My hero,” I joked.

Kat rolled her eyes but smiled. “Looked like you needed some rescuing.”

“I mean, I totally had the situation under control,” I said in mock offense.

“Oh definitely, I could see that,” Kat laughed before turning serious. “You know, if you wanted to go to the party, you could.”

“Nah, I’m good,” I said, shaking my head. “I’d much rather spend whatever time I have left here with you before I hit the road back home. Besides, I need to be back for the gig tonight. Lyla and Seth need the work, and I can’t leave them hanging.”

Kat smiled, putting a hand on my chest and said, “That’s a good answer. Though you could have left out the part about having to play tonight and just stuck with only wanting to spend time with me.”

“Noted,” I said, just shaking my head.

A few hours later, after what felt like a hundred trips up and down the stairs and dozens of times moving furniture here and there as the girls made up their minds, Kat and Hanna’s room was finally set up. Her sheets were on the bed, clothes hung in the closet, and books stacked on the desk.

My back ached from hauling all those boxes, but it was worth it to see Kat smiling as she looked around her new space. Hanna was chattering excitedly about all the things they would do together this year. I was happy Kat would have Hanna close by. Even with all the progress she’d made, I felt better knowing she had someone she could trust close at hand, just in case she had a backslide.

I’d delayed as long as I could, wanting to get every minute I could with her, but it was time for me to hit the road to get back home. As Kat walked me downstairs to my car, she was uncharacteristically quiet. When we reached the parking lot, I stopped next to my car and pulled her into my arms. There were fewer people around, most were already inside with their stuff, so we actually managed to have a quiet moment. Instead of looking up at me, though, she bit her lip and looked straight ahead, at my chest.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. Just … this is really happening, you know? I’m actually here, about to start college. I kept not thinking about you being gone, but …”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, hugging her close. “It’s a big change.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist, face pressed against my chest. “I’m scared I’ll freak out without you close by. What if I can’t handle it?”

“You’ll be amazing,” I assured her, squeezing her tightly. “Look how far you’ve come already. The old Kat would’ve been paralyzed just thinking about moving away and being on her own. But here you are, ready to take it on.”

Kat tilted her head up. “You really think I can do this?”

“I know you can.” I smoothed back her hair. “We’ll only be a few hours apart, not on the other side of the world. And you’ll have Hanna to keep you out of trouble.”

That got a small smile from her.

“Just remember what Dr. Rothstein said about focusing on what you can control. Do your best in your classes, keep up with your swimming, and take care of yourself. Call me anytime you need to talk. But don’t stress about what you can’t change. You’ve got this.”

Kat took a deep breath, standing up a little straighter, and said, “Okay.”

“Before you know it, you’ll be so busy with classes and practice you won’t have time to miss me.”

“Not possible,” Kat said, arms tightening around me again.

I ducked my head and kissed her, trying to convey just how much I would miss her too. Her lips were soft and familiar against mine, tasting like the cinnamon gum she’d been nervously chewing all day.

We stayed locked in that embrace until a car horn blared, making us jump apart. A kid was running across the parking lot, right in front of a car that was trying to pull in. Maybe our moment wasn’t as secluded as all that.

“I should get going if I want to make it back for the show tonight,” I said reluctantly, glancing at my watch.

Kat nodded, lip caught between her teeth again. “Drive safe. And call me when you get home, so I know you made it.”

“I will. And you text me if you need anything at all. Even if it’s just because your new roommate’s taste in music is terrible.”

That finally got a real laugh from Kat. She wrapped her arms around me one more time before letting me go. She stood on the curb as I got in my car and backed out. I gave her a wave and pulled away, feeling a little sad. I’d just found her and now she was... well, not gone, but not with me every day.

In spite of spending extra time with Kat, I still managed to get out a little ahead of schedule, pulling onto the freeway with more than enough time to get home in time for our show that night. When I saw the exit for Durham, a thought popped into my head. I had just enough time to make a detour.

The previous summer, we’d played one show, that Brent had set up for us, at this little hole-in-the-wall club. The show itself was okay, but I remember hearing something during the whole debacle around firing Brent about it not being one of the venues MAC used regularly. He’d apparently been getting some kind of side payment or extra cash for finding them talent since they were too small to have a relationship with any of the labels, even the smaller ones.

Seeing the sign for Durham had been what made them pop into my head, and I realized that they might actually be an option for us. Since they didn’t have any real relationship with MAC, there wasn’t a reason for them to turn us away, and if they were paying agents to find talent, then maybe they’d be open to setting up a new gig with a band that had played there before . True, they wouldn’t pay great, but they were fairly close, and we could stay with Hanna’s aunt, making the costs negligible.

One thing I definitely remembered was that they had no parking. I ended up a block and a half away using street parking. The area wasn’t great, but it was still just after noon, and I remembered that it didn’t get sketchy until after dark. Now that I was here, I wasn’t really sure how I was going to handle this since I hadn’t gone to pitch us in person before, always having Warren, Brent, or Willie set everything up.

It was made a little easier when the manager I remembered from the last time was right inside the entryway, talking to someone as I walked in the door. What was his name again? Roger? Ricky? No, Rex. That was it.

“Hi, Rex!” I said. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I played here last summer. Charlie Nelson, my band is the Wild Cats.”

Rex turned to look at me, his expression shifting from surprise to something like discomfort. “Ohh, yeah … I remember you.”

“Cool,” I said, plowing ahead in spite of the odd reaction. “Anyway, I was hoping you might have some open dates we could grab in the next couple of months. We’re looking to book some gigs in the area, and the show we did here was pretty successful, if I remember right.”

“Go ahead and take care of that,” he said to the girl he’d been talking to. “Uhh, yeah … geeze, I don’t know. We’re pretty booked up for a while.”

“Really?” I said, surprised. “I remember last year you were talking about how hard it had been to get talent. Are you sure you don’t want to double-check your books, see if there’s anything at all?”

“No, I’m already sure. We’re renovating soon, so the schedule’s tight these days,” Rex said. “I gotta get back to work here. Sorry, kid.”

“Wait,” I said, stopping him before he could disappear inside. “Did someone from MAC talk to you? Suggest you shouldn’t let us play?”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, sounding surprised. Although if his surprise was because of the my suggestion or because I knew about it, I didn’t know.

“Come on,” I pressed. “I know our last show here was good, and you guys are looking for bands willing to work at this size club. I didn’t think you guys did that much business with MAC anyway.”

“Look, I’m sorry, I really can’t talk about this,” he said, holding up his hands in a pleading gesture. “Do me a favor and just head out, okay? I gotta get back inside.”

Before I could argue further, he turned and hurried into the club, the door swinging shut behind him. I just stood there in the entryway, frustrated and disappointed. That all but confirmed MAC’s involvement, but again not so directly that we could do anything about it.

With a sigh, I turned and pushed my way out the door. I’d been so sure this would work, I thought as I walked down the sidewalk back towards where I’d parked. This place seemed just too small for MAC to bother with. They must really hate me, to go to the effort of reaching this far down.

Maybe MAC went back through everywhere I’d played, realized this might still an option for me, and tossed them some kind of work to get enough leverage to keep me out. This had to be costing them a lot, added on top of the money they’d had to pay for my settlement. It seemed excessive, even for their standards.

Now it was just another notation in a long line of disappointments.