I sat poised with my camera, aiming it straight at Luke, calm, collected, and ready to do some actual work. It had been days since Roger and I last spoke...if you could call what we did "speaking". My jaw had ached for awhile, but it was fading, and I was able to chew without pain again. But the fact of the matter was that I wasn't thinking about getting any information from Luke. I was concerned with where Roger was. What he was doing. How angry he was.

"Hey...we gonna do this or what?" Luke's voice rang in my ears for a moment before I responded.

"Oh...yeah..." I leaned back on the small counter, the bus shaking my balance (and my camera, dammit) for a moment. Regaining composure, I got a shot of the road whizzing past Luke as I spoke.

"So...how did you get into this?" I asked, zooming in for a tighter shot. Luke's eyes wandered around and settled on the camera. I waved my hand, motioning for him not to look directly into the lens. That wasn't the shot I wanted.

"Into music? Into the band?" He asked, looking casually at my wiggling fingers.

"Either or...both if you have the time..." He had the time, we had an hour till Providence. He shrugged and leaned back.

"Been playing bass all my life...since I was little. Was in a few bands back in Berkley before I moved to LA. Stompers, The Batterleys...never heard of them, have you..." He laughed as I shook my head no. "Didn't think so...well, those were the guys I started with."

My attention faded and I found myself droning out a few empty questions with very little feeling. My focus is on the eerie twanging I hear from the hall of bunks. Roger is in his bunk (above mine) and tuning his guitar with precision. Why am I acting like I'm so afraid of him?

He stirs, walking out of the hall, and past me with an evil glare.

That's why, you chicken shit. I sighed, leaning against the counter again. "Okay..." I said, flicking off my camera. "Thanks for your time..." I watched as Roger locked himself in the back room. It made me fume how calm he was about this all.

"Mark...is something wrong?" Luke asked, looking at me as though I had grown a third eye.

"No...what made you think that?" I asked defensively, sitting on the small padded bench.

"Because you just cut me off in the middle of my answer to your question." He said flatly. I gritted my teeth. I'm such an idiot sometimes...

"Oh...sorry..." I answered.

"Did you and Roger get into a brawl or something?" Luke leaned back, taking a sip of the coffee that sat in front of him.

"A brawl? Like took out our switchblades and had a rumble?" I asked. "What is this, Grease?"

"No, I mean, like a fight." He answered, giving me another look.

"Sort of." I lied. There was no 'sort of' with this fight. It was a fight. A big one. A painful one.

"Over what?" Gee, this kid was inquisitive.

"Old...unresolved things..." I evaded answering this as best I could manage. Luke saw right through me.

"His old girlfriend, right? Or how he left all his old friends? I've heard them all. I like to call them Roger's Soap Opera Stories." He rolled his eyes. That annoyed me slightly and I grumbled something incoherent.

"A lot of things..." I sighed, pushing at my glasses and rewinding the film in my camera.

"Maybe you should...you know, resolve it with him. You have two more weeks on the road with him, you can't go around giving each other death glares and the cold shoulder. Trust me, I've tried. You can't live with people you don't trust." Luke lectured.

"I trust him." I insisted childishly.

"Then talk to him, moron..." He teased. I rolled my eyes.

"It isn't that easy with Roger." I informed. This guy hadn't known Roger as long as I had. I knew more about him...

"Roger's done a lot of changing since he left New York, Mark. You can't deny that. You can't pretend that he's the same, weak kid you knew."

Ouch.

"You can't act like he doesn't know what he's doing without your guidance. Because he does. He's managed for years now."

Double ouch. I sighed heavily and stood.

"Well..." I paused. I didn't have a decent retort, and anything I said would make me sound like a bumbling moron. Not a big change from the norm, but I wouldn't want to risk saying something more moronic than the shit that usually comes out of my mouth.

"Well?" Luke asked, looking up at me expectantly. I growled, putting my camera down and marching into the hall, my eyes searching for Roger.