The Bird and the Bee
Chapter Two
Antonio had been in three shows before this one. He had learned so little, even by keeping his head down and strumming. Lovina had been right about one thing; he just played the guitar. That's all he did, and that's all he would ever do.
The show was going great. Biggest one yet, but Lovina did seem a little deflated when she wasn't singing. What concerned him the most was that when he was tuning the guitar, there was dead time.
Lovina still had time to spare, but they had raced through all of their songs that the crowd was getting restless. No wonder, ending with a fast and loud song never works anymore. He tested his strings once more, biting his lip when she finished her song and the crowd remained, cheering and waiting for another.
Just play the guitar? Okay, he'd just play the guitar.
She stood with her breath in her throat, remembering that she was small and outnumbered for the first time in the last hour or so, dangerously close to losing her stride and freezing on the spot.
There was a chilling and empty silence, on the stage, and restless muttering below. Panicked, she put her fingers to the keys and could think of nothing to play.
There were no words as she felt at the gentle guitar coming from behind her. He was buying her time to pick something to play.
He walked onto the stage, anxious, but ready.
"Tell me when will you be mine?" (1) He sang, just to get her started.
She was Italian, he thought, but did he get that right? She should know this one.
"Tell me 'quando, quando, quando,'?" Antonio stepped over to her piano, locking her eyes.
"We can share a love divine... but please don't make me wait again,"
She looked back at him uncertainly, but pressed her fingers to the keys and started to play, softly, just to accompany him until she was surer, feeling the audience prepare for the growing song.
"When will you say yes to me?" She sang, nodding over the piano to tell him to keep singing.
"When will you say yes to me?"
He sang back, easing her into the chords with a slow start.
"Tell me Quando, Quando, Quando?"
He could tell he wasn't going to get in much trouble for this one, just easing an old song into the Italian venue that seemed to sway and sing under their breaths.
Nice. Brownie point jackpot.
"Dimmi, quando, quando, quando?"
She echoed, sliding into a relaxed tempo and easing out of her anxious frown, almost letting herself smile when she heard the patrons breath a collected, contented sigh, and try to restraining themselves from singing, too.
He looked over her piano, seeing a small curve of her lips. Double nice. Antonio, you are too good with that ladi— oh—
"You mean happiness to me," He continued, a bit of a nervous-caught-in-the-act smile on his face. Woops.
Lovina's smile faltered as she replied, shooting him a sneaky glare to tell him to focus. Being on-stage, she got rid of that look quickly as they sang together,
"Oh, my love, please tell me when..."
They managed to keep it going well, and although it wasn't impressive, particularly, she could not fault his voice very much. The rest of the band joined in softly a little later through the next verse, the audience still nodding along at their tables and mouthing the words.
Antonio managed to keep the pace steady; something his teacher would have been extremely proud of since he had a habit of rushing through like it was 'The Flight of The Bumblebee', which he was proud to say that he could strum on the guitar.
"And then darling tell me~ when." He began the ending, looking at her to make sure she was ready. "Oh my darling, tell me when."
Lovina caught his eye to tell him to prepare for the finish, slowing the piano and building her voice just slightly for the big finish, not to overdo it, just to round it all off. She nodded at him to invite him to take the harmony.
"Oh, my darling, tell, me... when...?"
"Ooh,"
He finished as his eyebrows moved with the last final strum as if to say, 'you can thank me later'. He dropped his guitar to his side, bowing and motioning to Lovina to have the audience clap and scream at her, but not taking the time to bow for himself. He walked off slowly, smiling as if he had just scored a goal.
Lovina glanced at him as he fell back into the background, smiling properly now, as she always did at the end of a performance, but now it was so much easier, taking her bow and soaking in every clap and cheer, so she could remember the feeling the next time she didn't want to go on stage.
After a few moments of beaming and bowing, she could take her exit, Antonio stood at the side of the stage. "Thank you," She breathed, practically deflating in relief, putting a hand to her chest in sincerity over the pleased muttering of the crowd. "Thank you, that was..."
Antonio's shoulder's risen sheepishly, as if to say 'I know, I know!' Lovina looked happier than she did on stage, at least. Moreover, it made Antonio wonder why she ever wanted to sing alone in the first place if she hated doing so.
"No problem, I'm glad help out a fallen song-bird any time." He leaned against the side of the stage, sitting on his stool until he had to help lift the instruments into the trucks, idly sipping his water.
She was happier, yes, but still above such things as packing the truck. She carried her microphone stand over, and a few wires, but she'd be damned if she shuffled over with an amplifier or a drum.
Retreating back to sit against a table and check her phone, she frowned at the missed calls and texts from her boyfriend, asking her if she was finished yet, asking her when she'd meet with him. She had the displeasure of having the phone ring in her hand, feeling the need to answer it.
He had just gotten his guitar all packed up for the bus when he saw the look on her face as she looked through her phone. "Uh oh," He drawled out. "Looks like tough times for Tonio." A fellow roadie laughed and elbowed him in the side, giving him more loads to carry. "If her lover met me I'd get a lariat around my neck," He hissed to the drummer, who had referred to himself as Scooter, who was walking beside him.
Lovina had flicked her phone open, cut off before she could even begin to speak with slurred demands as to why she had ignored his calls.
"You knew I was busy tonight!" She argued. He cut in again, asking when she'd be home. She shot up off the table in a fit of rage. "I'm not going to be coming home, that's why you were supposed to be here, Gil!" She hissed, trying to keep the volume of her voice down and failing quite spectacularly.
Antonio bustled out of the backstage area to stack each case into the truck.
Shit, he knew he'd be dragged into the conversation if he stayed around longer, since Lovina was one to throw people under the bus.
No joke; apparently, according to the techies, last time she got furious at someone, she threw him under the tour bus. Once the call was out and Lovina was a shut-in again, he'd turn on the charms one last time for the evening.
Lovina had the phone clenched in her hand, pacing furiously. "I did tell you, I told you for days, and you went out and got fucking drunk— don't tell me you're not drunk!" She gave him a second to speak, a bad choice, because it gave her a chance to let her emotions catch her, feeling breathless and betrayed, her eyes stinging. "You don't, if you did, you'd be here... no, don't bother phoning me, and I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear from you, I don't want to think about you at all, you selfish son of a bitch!" She hung up and turned away from the people standing around, dabbing at her eyes again. They weren't over. They did this weekly, they were never over...
Antonio came back to grab the few remaining heavy loads, watching as Lovina crippled over to a fold out chair, her hands fluttering up to her face.
"Ay..." He moaned quietly, going out back again. "Ay, Dios. There are no good-willed men anymore, nope, nope. None at all, how he makes a woman cry..." He shook his head in disgust, watching, as the few remaining loads were carried in. "Unforgivable." He said, a little louder than he had hoped.
"Mind your own fucking business!" She snapped, wiping her face and standing up, taking a few strides to shout at him. She needed to yell at someone. "You don't know anything about us!"
He turned to her direction, his hands on his hips.
"I don't?" He inquired, looking down to see the phone clenched tighter than a boa in her hand. "Well, from your composure it's quite simple you obviously had a fight with him, and from overhearing from the back door, he abandoned you to a glass of cheap bear. You, of all people,"
He took the stool by its rung and carried it back to where he found it.
"I'm just saying you don't deserve it. It's unforgivable of him."
She watched him, crossing her arms and trying to be aloof. "We do this all the time," she told him, shrugging with a transparent smirk. "We'll be fine by tomorrow."
Antonio nodded, unconvinced but satisfied. "Nice, I love relationships that involve betrayal and lies." He muttered, shrugging on his coat. "See you on the bus, then."
She seethed as she went to pick up her bag and coat, pausing at the door to turn around and have the last word. "I don't need you to pity me. Just play the guitar."
He almost laughed. Last time she said that, he disobeyed her almighty orders and went ahead and saved her entire reputation. He could only imagine what would happen next. "Sounds great," He agreed, hopping on board the long bus and making a beeline straight for his catacomb bunk.
Lovina glared at his back and watched him disappear out the back door. She shook her head stubbornly and went into the little dressing room to throw her coat on and pick up her bag, stopping at the mirror on the way past and clearing away any makeup that wasn't quite in place after her... tiff. Just a tiff. She went to the bus with her head held high, sitting down on whatever cushioned ledge was closest; be it bed or chair.
Antonio pulled back his curtain, not even bothering to converse with the other bandies and techies.
Next stop, France. Oh how nice, he could pay a visit to a studying-abroad friend.
He yanked the curtain back, not minding if he was still in his coat and concert-clothes, since he had just been told to play the guitar and nothing else.
She unbuttoned her coat and looked to the curtain that separated the bus, considering just spending the night in the chair up front so she didn't have to talk to anyone. Oh, it wouldn't make any difference, she realized, sinking forlornly in her seat. She barely talked to anyone anyway.
Moreover, he very seriously doubted anyone would be knocking- or ripping back the red curtains on his bunk tonight. Everyone seemed to have gained a little bit of respect for him, but the others didn't talk to him close to at all. He got rather lonely in this job, from the five days they've been on the road. At least he had a good connection with abroad friends. The only problem was good reception and Wi-Fi.
At least he had snacks, like mixed nut containers full to the brim. The peanuts in there wouldn't do, so he'd have to find a way to safely deal with them…
Whether or not she wanted to talk, Lovina would have to get changed and slot herself into a bunk. She sighed and gathered up her things to go throw to the bathroom... the problem with sharing a tour bus with mainly males, was that she always had to wait for the bathroom to be free to get changed. With a sour expression on her face, she drew back the curtain and walked into Antonio, glaring at him and shuffling past without apology.
Antonio shook his head and sighed, deciding since no one on this bloody bus knew Spanish he could let whatever he had in him out.
"Tardé una hora en conocerte y sólo un día en enamorarme. Pero me llevará toda una vida poder olvidarte." He spoke her way, climbing up into his bunk. "G'night, bird," Antonio called, drawing back the curtain.
She looked back to him and met his eye, softening only slightly when he smiled at her. "You still have your clothes on," she muttered, in a tone that might have been affectionate for his hopelessness if she hadn't been so fed up with everything, stepping into the tiny bathroom with her bag in hand to change.
"I don't care anymore," He huffed, curling over and closing his eyes once he had heard the creek of the bathroom door and the soft sound of clothes hitting the floor.
Really, she didn't deserve such pain. How nice would her sound be if she eased all burdens off her shoulder? He wondered.
In addition, he had found a way to deal with the peanut problem; he tossed them up into the bunk above him. No one slept there, he was positive.
She changed quickly, hit with fatigue as soon as she realized how close bed actually was. Throwing on a pair of loose cotton trousers and a top, and wiping off her make up, she made her way back out, stopping for a second at Antonio's bed.
He didn't move. Damn, that guy slept like a log...
"G'night," she finally replied, climbing up and rolling into the bunk above him.
Antonio was rather surprised, having a bunk below the glorious Lovina, who had stuck her face in Antonio's curtained off bunk and whispered a good night that shook him out of his daze.
Yeah, good night, hope you enjoy your peanut bed, he thought regretfully, shoving the canister under the sheets and down to the foot of his bed. He didn't like peanuts, and for a damn good reason. Just cashews, and that mixed nut can had a lot of peanuts.
Lovina slipped into the sheets and wriggled down to find salty little fuckers invading her personal space. She put a hand into the sheets, mealy and a little greasy, and pulled out a little handful of peanuts.
"What the hell?" She asked aloud, sitting up as best she could and opening her curtain to let more light in. To make space, she swung her legs over to in front of Antonio's bunk, flipping the cover up and groaning, swatting the nuts onto the floor.
What kind of cheap laugh was this? Who would cover someone's bed in fucking peanuts?
Antonio made a rather audible choking sound, but if he was ever going to get her to like him, he—
Had. To. Stay. Calm.
He rolled over onto his bed, face in the pillow and his coat hood stuck up. No, he wasn't going to laugh. No, no, no. He was not going to laugh. Not even if there was a chance that she blamed him for the flying nuts.
Maybe now she'd have the nuts to dump her boyfriend.
She scowled and pulled his curtain back with her foot, balancing precariously to nudge his shoulder with her toe. "What the fuck are you laughing at?" She demanded.
Oh, he wasn't laughing. His face had grown red from the lack of air in this pillow and the shakes in his chest. Antonio stilled himself, waiting for her next move. He slept like a bear he'd be fine.
She waited for a reply, able to hear the bunk creak slightly under his silent giggling fit. "Fine," she hissed, jumping out of the bed and drawing his curtain back on him, almost pulling it off the rail, she did so with such force. "Apparently my night wasn't fucking bad enough for you," she muttered, going in search of another free bunk.
"Ay," He moaned, sitting up in his and grabbing her by the back of her shirt. "Take mine, take mine," He yanked her back and got out, turning her shoulders the other way. "No peanuts in there, I promise."
Now what was he going to do about his peanut allergy, he didn't know. He'd sleep in the living area of the bus in the front. Perfect.
She shook her head and forced his hands off of her shoulders, staring at the wall behind him or his feet, just not his face. "Why are you trying to annoy me?" She asked, shrugging. "Why couldn't you just let me go to bed?"
"I didn't know you'd be making your nest up there. My bad," He shrugged, grabbing his bag from at the end of the bunk and tromping down the hall, drawing back the curtain. "Night, bird," He stressed, as in, 'I'm not saying it again'.
He had his good night early, she'd be damned if he was getting another one. After a second to glare at the curtain, Lovina climbed into the bunk and settled down. It was already warmed, and smelled good; too... she relaxed back easily, more easily than she would have thought.
Antonio settled his small duffle bag of clothes and snacks at the top of the sofa in the area where only the moon shined in from the sky above, painting the road and the spring scenery a shade of blue.
"Huh," He mumbled, settling himself to look at the sky until he fell asleep without as much as a toe to the shoulder or a cashew in the ear.
It was definitely not the best first night with the lead singer, but it would do.
(1) Quando, Quando, Quando - Michael Buble ft. Nelly Furtado.