Childhood Friendships
Lifelong Connections
by Mistress Anna

Ric always managed to get a quick nap in flight, or so she thought. He might just shut his eyes so he didn’t have to make conversation, maybe she should try that one time to see if it works. She’d probably end up fidgeting and giving herself away. The flight was short and uneventful, thankfully. Nobody really had any time for mischief, which she considered a good thing. Some of the guys enjoyed being juvenile in confined spaces. Hmm, it’s a wonder she didn’t try to date all of them, since that seemed to be her flavor. Damn.  Get your shit together girl, lots of stuff on the plate today, time to worry later, she thought as she waited for her bags to be lifted down.

One of the nice things about traveling with the boys was that she didn’t have to carry any of her bags, if she didn’t want to. They’d just throw them over one of their shoulders, along with theirs and they were off. She was all for equality and letting women do the same work, blah, blah, blah, but when a friend just picks up your bags for you, you just accept it and say thanks. Since they were getting two cars, David had her stuff this time.

While they were loading their baggage into their respective cars, their lunch plans changed. Mr. Flair (damn, damn, I mean Ric, damn) wanted to go back to some restaurant that she didn’t have in her notes. So that meant they had to follow those two. That was never good. They liked to try and loose her, just for fun. Ric grinned at her as he explained how to get there and by the time he had said ‘turn left here, no, no I mean right’ a couple of times, she said to hell with it, we’ll follow. Hunter was anticipating an interesting trip too, she could tell by his smirk he was trying hard to hide. His headache looked like it was going away. David? Well he was quiet, probably thinking about stuff that was 3,000 miles away, like she was.

She plugged her phone in to charge in the car, knowing it was going to be used heavily until she could get David a new one, checked the time and started to follow the blue car. She knew he had that phone call-in to do and the only way it was gonna happen was while they were driving to shit knows where in Tucson for some famous wings or something?. They had a good cell signal so everything was fine. She had dug out her portable, since it had today’s notes on it, including the number for this interview. She flipped it on, while keeping one eye on the road and those crazy bastards driving in front of her in the blue car and handed both to David.

“It’s that time, here’s the guy’s name and a rough idea of the questions they’re gonna ask. I didn’t see any surprises, but you know the rules and how to deal with this shit better than me anyway.”

“Thanks”, he said quietly as he glanced at the small screen for the required info and started dialing. While waiting to be connected to the show she could see him go through a change and become Batista in posture and attitude. It didn’t matter than no one could see him; it was mostly about attitude anyway.

She was concentrating on following the boys in front, since it seemed to her they were driving in circles. How the hell could you get lost in Tucson? She only had half an ear listening to David during his interview. From his responses they weren’t asking any screwball questions yet. He laughed with them, told a few clean road stories, did a few voice overs for them and was done. That didn’t go too badly, considering, she thought. The she glanced over at him and saw him staring off into space. Oh boy. She knew how she felt, so could only imagine how he must have felt. She let the silence stretch for a while. There were many times they didn’t speak for hours, since both were solitary creatures, as she thought of them. They were comfortable with each other’s silence. Now was not a good time for that though.

“Do you think those assholes are just driving around in circles? I swear I have seen that exact same church 3 times now!”

“Huh?”

“That church with those same shitty cars in front! I have seen it at least three times now!”

“No, they wouldn’t do that…do you think?”

“I think they would and I think they are! Hang on, let me get besides those assholes so I can swear at ‘em,” Carrie said angrily behind the wheel.

“Watch the other cars, please!” He knew what she was like when she got pissed so he grabbed the handle above his window, just in case.

“I see ‘em. Okay, roll down your window. Now give ‘em both the finger from me! Hell, use both hands in case they’re so god damned blind they can’t see. That must be the case since we are driving around in circles!” The last part she shouted just to make sure they could hear her. They did because they both laughed their asses off at her and blew her kisses. Bastards.

The finally stopped screwing around and turned on to a new road and pulled into a parking lot. Jesus Christ, all this just to go to Hooters? What the fuck? Did Randy somehow sneak into the blue car? That was the kind of thing Slim Shady used to pull on her all the time. She only ever called him Slim, but it was short for Slim Shady in her mind. He had taken it upon himself at one lunch time stop to go so far as to buy her a lap dance. That hadn’t happened in a while, thankfully. The youngest member of Evolution was famous for his pranks on Carrie and the rest of the guys seemed to enjoy it almost as much as Randy did. She knew he was home rehabbing a shoulder injury and getting reacquainted with his hometown girlfriend, at least according to his emails. So, maybe he wasn’t the only one responsible for some of the shit she blamed on him. She’d have to ask him in her next email.

She looked back at the restaurant from the car, damn them. Yeah, they got me this time, she snarled to herself. Yeah, they do serve chicken wings alright, along with a large helping of silicone breasts as a side entertainment, she grimaced. She knew when she traveled with them they changed their entertainment now that Randy was home, thinking she’d rather not go to strip clubs, but they got her this time. She never asked them to change, they just did. I bet the strip clubs had better food. She did a quick scan of the menu realizing there wasn’t a damn thing on it she’d eat. Good thing she always kept some protein fucking bars with her. She was getting bitchier by the minute. Was it hormonal? She didn’t think so, but with her it was always a guessing game about timing.

“I’ll be in the car, catching up on stuff”, she said as she slid off the stool, bristling with irritation, water glass in hand. She dared one of the bimbos to try to take it from her.

Ric and Hunter smirked as they watched her go until they saw Dave’s face.

“What’s up, Big Man?”

“She still pissed at you for the phone?” Hunter didn’t think so; she usually wasn’t one to hold a grudge, unlike him. He was enjoying the floor show. Dave just shook his head and took a deep breath, not yet ready to talk about it. They all looked at the menu, watched the girls serve their customers and watched the customers watch the girls.

Once they’d ordered David growled, “One thing you guys did forget is she doesn’t eat meat, any meat. What’s on this fuckin’ menu? Everything is meat of some kind, nothing much else. Did you guys completely forget about her?” He knew he was being an asshole, but he couldn’t help it.

Surprised brown eyes surveyed him, realizing that wasn’t the only thing bugging him. He’d let it go for now. Dave was right, there wasn’t any vegetarian anything on the menu. They had forgotten and he felt shitty for it since she went out of her way to help. He’d owe her a huge apology for being such a thoughtless bastard, again. Nan was the only one who accused him of that, usually. Now he had been that to Evolution’s little sister and that was not part of the game. Ric was quiet, watching both men, seeing different emotions pass over both of them. He knew that they both prided themselves on being able to hide stuff like that. Unfortunately for them, he was able to see through the shit to all of it.

Carrie retreated to the car and her god forsaken protein bars. She had forgotten to eat one this morning, so she made sure to eat two of the damn things. Whoever made up the recipes for these things should be made to eat them, she thought. The first one almost succeeded in tasting like peanut butter and chocolate. The second one, she had no idea what it was supposed to taste like other than cardboard. She choked it down anyway, since there was still so much to do. Why did she do this to herself, she wondered. It seemed to her that she wasn’t happy unless she was up to her eyeballs in something. She wasn’t in the mood for deep introspection, so she turned the car on for the air conditioner and a chance to charge the phone some more. David had asked her to make a few calls for him today and now seemed a good a time as any. After ensuring that the radio guys had some passes and some goodies left for them, and the last visit of the day was still a go, she sat quietly for a moment or two. The more she sat and thought about it…yeah, she was going to have to call home and find out what was happening, even though she promised she wouldn’t. She better do it now, before David got back in the car. She dialed and waited, and waited. When no one answered by the fifth ring, she was starting to get worried. She knew if she dialed her cell, it wouldn’t be answered if her worries were true. It wouldn’t be allowed to be turned on. She disconnected and dialed the folks, no one answered there either. Shit, now she was getting worried. She dialed David’s mom next. She was rewarded by her cherry hello.

“Hi Mrs. Batista, this is Carrie. Is Kris there with the kids by any chance?”

“Carrie, I haven’t seen in you so long! How are you?” Carrie could imagine David’s diminutive mom deep into some gastronomic creation. She was always cooking something new and interesting. She always made a special effort for Carrie when she visited, since she was such a challenge.

“I’m fine; I’m on the road with David right now. I’m sorry I haven’t been by to visit recently, you make me feel like a daughter every time I do,” Carrie said honestly.

“Oh, thank you for saying that. What did you need dear?” Carrie could hear some interesting background noises. What was going on in that usually quiet house?

“I’m trying to track down Kris and the kids. Are they with you?” She was hoping they were, but afraid they weren’t.

“Yes and no”

“Pardon?” She could feel her finger stray to her hair and start to twist, something she only did in extreme situations.

“The kids are here, but Kris is not. She dropped them off with me a few hours ago, saying she was taking the little one to the hospital, doctors orders.”

Carrie could hear Liz singing some nameless tune in the background. She was always singing. She took a deep breath, pulled her hair back with her free hand and asked, “Did they say why she needed to take her to the hospital?”

“No, not that I recall. Just said they’d call me when they knew something. I got the feeling it might be a while. They brought the kids overnight bags,” her concern was evident in her voice.

“Louise, you said they. Who’s they?” She purposely took her fingers away from her hair; she knew it was a fright already, no need to make it worse.

“What? Oh, you’re folks were with her, they were driving.”

“Okay, thanks for the info. I’ll call later because I don’t know if I’ll hear the phone ring if you try.” She knew what a loud zoo it could be backstage sometimes, luckily so did Louise.

“Okay, I hope to have something to tell you. Give David my love, will you?”

“Of course I will, he’s eating lunch right now, but I won’t forget. Enjoy the kids today, I know how much you love having them over. Try not to let them con you into to cooking too much of their favorite Grandma food.”

“It’s too late for that,” she said with an embarrassed chuckle. “Besides it will keep me busy instead of just sitting and worrying.”

“I understand. Take care and I’ll call later today. Thanks, Louise.”

“Thank you for calling and I do hope to have something good to tell you, take care.”

She sat with the phone in her hand for a few minutes, not sure what to do with it. That was a first, she thought finally. Plug the damn thing back in for today’s activities and start praying. She looked at her watch and knew she’d have to go back in there to remind the guys of their tight schedule. They needed to leave shortly and she needed to return the damn water glass anyway.

She had made up her mind to go inside and just as she was walking in the door, the boys were walking out. She handed the glass to Hunter to hand to the hostess, if that was her function it was hard to tell, and turned around heading straight back to the car. She had so many things on her mind she didn’t realize that someone was trying to speak to her until he grabbed her arm. She found herself spun around looking directly at Hunter, with David and Mr., er um Ric behind him. All three looked like very contrite little boys, she thought. She didn’t understand why for a second, then remembered the dirty trick they had just played on her. Ah, now she was there with them.

“Look, Carrie. I’m really sorry about this place. I wasn’t thinking and forgot about the limited menu. I didn’t mean to have you eat in the car, that’s just bullshit,” Hunter said, irritation at himself showing.

With an evil thought in her head, she thought she’d try it.

“Bastard, “she said and managed to make her chin start to quiver and her eyes tear up. Problem was, it wasn’t too hard to do in her current state, none of it related to Hunter. Once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop. Her reaction was the last one any of them expected, she was always so unflappable. They’d never see her do this before. Yell at them, yes. Cry in front of them, never. None of them were prepared to handle her like this. It was definitely uncharted territory for any of them with her. Since Hunter had taken the lead on this, he took her in his arms and just held her and let her cry silently. The other two grown men stood by, with their hand in the pockets not knowing what else to do. It only lasted a few minutes and she was able to pull away, dried her eyes and apologized for breaking down.

“No apology needed. We should apologize to you probably 20 times every day, but we don’t. Sorry for your lunch and sorry for being insensitive assholes,” Hunter said simply.

“Does Nan know you hug cry babies,” she smiled through her quickly drying tears.

“Hell, I make her cry too, unfortunately. I don’t mean to, but I do. She’ll notice the suit, but won’t mind once I tell her who and me just being an asshole again” he was looking directly into her eyes and smiling at her, making sure she got the message.

“Hey, don’t we have to be someplace soon”, David asked, purposely breaking up the sappy moment.

“Yes, you have a signing to go to while these fuckers get to go to the gym so they can beat on you this evening.”

“Assholes,” he grumbled.

Hunter was halfway to their car when he turned around and said with a grin, “Yes we are!”

top
end
 

Web site questions or issues?  Try
All graphics, original fiction and site ©