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Limbo

Lies Of Omission

RACHEL:

I pick up the tray of sweet rolls that Susan has set out as she pulls a hash-brown casserole from the oven and carries it to the dining room. I follow her and set the tray on the table, then dash back to grab a bowl of fruit, which goes next to the rolls. The guys have started making their way downstairs, and seating themselves at the table, with Ash and Jinxx being the last to arrive.

"Sorry I took so long," Jinxx says. "I was on the phone with Alice, and I sort of lost track of time."

"Don't worry about it, I just took the casserole out, so nobody is actually late," Susan responds.

Ash doesn't say anything as he reaches for his coffee mug, but I see him stifle a yawn, and the worry I've been feeling for the past couple of days creeps back in. For some reason, he's been having trouble sleeping, waking up at least once during the night, and restless when he does sleep. I can tell that something is bothering him, but when I ask him about it, he says that everything is fine, and tells me not to worry. It doesn't really do any good to tell me this, but I obviously can't force him to discuss it if he doesn't want to, so I don't push.

Andy's phone rings, and he pulls it out to check the caller ID, then lays it on the table and hits the speaker button. "Hey, Blasko! What's up?"

Their manager's voice booms from the phone, saying, "Just checkin' in, guys. Do you have your set list locked down for tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, it's all taken care of, dude, we're all set. And it's only a little over twenty miles away, so since we don't go on 'til seven, we could leave here at five thirty and have plenty of time to get ready," Andy informs him, which results in a rather rude noise from the speaker.

"Maybe you could, but don't. I know how you guys are about getting sidetracked or losing shit, so don't cut it that close."

They reassure him that they'll be on time, and after a chatting for a couple more minutes, Andy ends the call. They go back to their breakfast, and I start wondering if this is what Ash has been stressing about. There is a music festival in Edmonton tomorrow, sort of the Canadian version of Warped Tour, and it got dropped in their laps earlier this week, when the organizer was trying to find another act, and heard that they were in the area.

As I understand it, one of the original co-headliners had to drop out when their singer had a four-wheeler accident, and they managed to get a replacement band, who was available for all of the dates except this one. So the festival people called Blasko, and he talked them into taking the gig, even though it was pretty short notice. They don't have to worry about setting up, or techs, or anything like that, because it's all being provided, they basically just have to show up and play. But I also know that they've been off the road for awhile, and really aren't getting the chance to rehearse or anything because of the time crunch. Andy was sort of mildly freaking out right after they agreed to it, so maybe that's what's bothering Ash. And if it is, then he should hopefully get back to normal after tomorrow night.

My attention is pulled back to the conversation by Susan inquiring, "So are you going to the studio again today, Rachel?"

"No, not today. They have magazine people coming today, and since it seems to basically be a crapshoot as to who can see me and who can't, it's better not to chance it."

CC chuckles, and replies, "Yeah, we don't want them to think they're losing their minds before they interview us."

Jinxx puts down his fork and interjects, "Y'know, that just gave me an idea. Why don't we bring her with tomorrow? If this one works anything like the other festivals, it'll be semi-controlled chaos, so it's not too likely that anyone will pay much attention to one extra person."

"And if somebody does notice anything odd, they'll probably just chalk it up to being drunk, or contact high from all the weed that seems to show up at these things," Jake adds.

Ash takes another gulp of coffee and looks at me. "Yeah, I can carry the amulet in my pocket, so we don't have to worry about someone asking questions about it. That should work, if you stay sidestage, and don't wander off. And if there's a problem with that, then Susan or Charlie can hang onto it while we're onstage. And maybe we can go a little earlier and let you check out one or two of the other bands, how does that sound?"

"It sounds like a blast! Do you know who else is playing?"

They pull up a copy of the schedule, and I see that another band I used to listen to a lot is two slots before them, so we plan on leaving early enough to catch their set. Then they finish eating, and Ash leaves the necklace on the table before they head out for the day.

After the guys are gone, Charlie goes out to the garage, and I write out a shopping list for Susan while she does the dishes. Then, when the kitchen is back in order, she goes to change, and gets ready to go into town. As she gets ready to leave, Charlie pops back in and asks her to pick up something for his repair project while she's out, and then goes back to whatever he's doing.

I make my usual circuit of the house, making sure that nobody has left anything open or turned on, then sit in the window for a bit until she comes back from shopping. I go back down and help her put the groceries and stuff away, then keep her company while she changes the beds and does laundry, and sit with her in the living room, reading a book while she works on her needlepoint.

Later in the afternoon, we finally hear tires crunching in the driveway. I peek out the window, and I'm a little confused when I only see two of the three cars they've rented. Then the door opens, and everyone comes piling in, except Ash.

Before I can say anything, Susan looks up and says, "Hi guys, how was your day? Where's Ashley?"

"He decided that he wanted to hang in town for awhile, so I rode back with CC and Jake," Bob informs her. "He said that he won't be too late getting back, since they have the show tomorrow, so you don't have to worry about him waking you guys up at the ass-crack of dawn."

CC bolts up the stairs, and a few seconds later, we all hear him say, "Well, shit!"

He thumps back down the stairs, and Jake asks, "What's the problem, C?"

"I forgot to stop at the store when we were in town, and I'm out of Monster. I'm gonna have to go back and get some."

As he goes to grab a set of keys, Charlie wanders in, and inquires, "Is my stuff still in the car, babe?"

Susan claps her hand to her forehead and groans, "Oh, no! I'm sorry, hon, I totally forgot!"

He looks slightly exasperated, and CC quickly says, "No worries, man. I have to run back to town anyway, so if you wanna write down what you need and give me some money, I'll pick it up for you. Do any of you guys wanna go along?"

They all decline, so after he gets the money from Charlie, he heads for the door again, but then pauses, and doubles back to the dining room. Picking the necklace up, he dangles it from his fingers and asks, "Would you like to come along, Rachel? You haven't gotten to go out for a couple of days, so how about keeping me company on my Monster run?"

Of course I instantly agree, and follow him out to the car. He tells me about their day at the studio as he drives, and I follow him into the hardware store when he stops to get Charlie's tool. Then we go back to the car, and drive to the IGA. He gets about halfway out of the car, then stops, and turns to give me a somewhat apprehensive look. "Okay, what's the problem, dude?" I ask.

"Ummm, I kind of just remembered something," he rather reluctantly says. "You should probably stay out here while I go get my stuff. The first time we stopped here, we found out that your tall friend's mom works here, and since there's no way to know if she could see you..."

"Crap, you're right! I totally forgot that Geri works here. Yeah, just leave the necklace here, I'm not going to take a chance of upsetting that poor woman any more than she already has been. I'll be right here when you get back."

He dashes into the store, and is back fairly quickly, loaded down with a couple of cases of Monster and a bag of snack foods. As he puts them into the backseat, I say, "I honestly don't see why you like those things so much. I tried one once, and it tasted like sock sweat."

He starts laughing, and replies, "Oh, a couple of the flavors are pretty bad, I have to agree, but these are decent. And they're even better if you can toss 'em into a mixed drink."

"I'll take your word for it, dude."

We pull back into traffic, and start back toward the house, but as we're waiting at a red light, CC suddenly honks the horn and says, "There's Ash!"

I turn my head, and I'm caught totally off guard when I see him crossing a restaurant parking lot with his arm around a petite, rather busty blonde. He apparently didn't notice CC's attempt to get his attention, because he doesn't even glance our way before they enter the building.

Trying to sound casual, I ask, "Who was that with him, do you know?"

As he moves past the intersection, he says, "Oh, that's Melissa, she's one of the hostesses at the cafe. Nice enough girl, but sort of an airhead. She came with him when we went clubbing last week, so apparently he's decided that it wasn't annoying enough to keep him from asking for a second date."

I force myself to keep up the conversation on the drive back, but I excuse myself at the earliest opportunity and go upstairs to think. Ash told me about their bar run, but made no mention of taking a girl along, which is basically lying by omission. And after spending almost eighteen years listening to my father and his gaggle of ass-kissers, I hate liars more than almost anything else I can think of.

Obviously, I have no real claim on Ash, especially since I'm dead and he isn't, but he says that we're friends, and friends should be honest with each other. So I make a decision to confront him about that lack of honesty. Not tonight, of course, since they have the show tomorrow, and he doesn't need to lose any more sleep than he already has. It would be unfair to the guys and the fans if he's off his game tomorrow. But at some point before we leave tomorrow, I'm going to ask for an explanation of why he seems to feel that he can't be honest with me.

For now, though, I'll just sit here, wait for him to come back, then try to help him rest up for the show when he does. And hope that he's not in the mood for anything else tonight, because even as confused and conflicted as I am right now, I'm not sure I have it in me to turn him away.







Notes

Comments

Awesome chapter as always! Have you got Wattpad figured out yet? :)

Merelan Merelan
7/12/19

Okay cool, we'll see how things go.

Merelan Merelan
7/11/19

@Merelan
Hey there, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I had some family stuff I had to do. I'm still having difficulties with getting myself set up on Wattpad, so I'm gonna try making a completely new email account through some other server, in case the site is just incompatible with Yahoo, and see if that works. If not, I may just let Annie start posting my books on her account, but I'll get them over there before long, one way or the other. I'll be posting a new chapter here tomorrow, so the wait is almost over. Thanx for your patience, and I'll keep you posted on the Wattpad situation. :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
7/11/19

@Merelan
Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that I kept a separate tab open to my own books, or I probably wouldn't have been able to update at all. And she told me that you'd contacted her, so now I know who you are on Wattpad. I've been having some issues with getting an account started, so I don't know if it's an issue with my email account, or username or what, but I'm hoping to get a friend who works with computers to come by and help me sometime this week. So I'll definitely drop you a message when I get everything up and running. Thanx! :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
6/26/19

Awesome chapter as always! This site is pulling a Titanic - I can click on the other tabs like new, updated, etc., but it's showing the stories from ~6 years ago to ~3 years ago. Nothing else. I'm on Wattpad now, I sent a message to Star Elf, so I look forward to seeing you there! :)

Merelan Merelan
6/26/19