Chapter 46

While it was great spending all of Thanksgiving with Hanna, her mother, and Kat, it was also kind of a bummer. It was the first major holiday I’d spent without Mom, and I really missed her. I knew she was sitting in the trailer, eating the meal she’d made for both of us, and I knew it was probably her worst Thanksgiving ever. It took all of my willpower to not cross over the creek and join her, but I needed to stay strong. If I let her back into my life without her making any changes, she would just let things slide, hoping it would all get better on its own.

I hadn’t realized how much she disconnected from her problems, although it was probably helpful when Dad was in full-on terror mode and might have even been some kind of trauma response. While it was helpful for dealing with him, ignoring or running from her problems wasn’t healthy. She needed to fix the root of her problems, and the only way she was going to do that was if she was forced to. So I stayed at the Phillips.

Hanna and Kat could tell how crappy I felt, and both were really sweet the whole day, which was really nice. Thankfully, Friday was booked solid, so I would be totally distracted. We had a show booked for eight AM in a mall in Atlanta, playing at a food court while people went insane shopping for what, as far as I could tell, were mediocre deals. I didn’t even know people still went to malls, let alone paid bands to come play at them, but I guess old people still needed to shop and had trouble breaking their habits. It was a different kind of show for us, but Warren, who showed up halfway through, had banners for us with our name and socials, so maybe we’d get some new fans who we’d never reach playing our regular shows.

It was weird, though. Normally, I fed off the audience and they gave me that energy right back, in a kind of symbiotic relationship. Now, it felt like I was playing to the void. It honestly felt more like practice than an actual gig. Occasionally, someone would stop by the stage and listen, and we got a few kids who were dragged along by their parents and decided they’d rather watch us play than fight through the crowds, but it still felt a little like playing into the void. While I didn’t love it, the check Warren showed me when we finished was enough that I’d do another one of these in a heartbeat. They paid a lot more than any club we’d ever played at. Maybe clubs thought, since bands could sell merch or whatever, that they didn’t have to pay as much or maybe they made that much less money than the mall, but even with the label taking their cut and splitting it four ways, I still made more at this one show than we would make in an entire weekend playing at the Blue Ridge.

The best part was that that was only the morning show. Warren had really outdone himself and we played a decent-sized club that night. We still had no merch, but we set up a table and sold CDs, which Warren even covered while we were on stage. With the show he’d gotten us in Athens, Georgia on Saturday night, this was one of the most profitable weeks we’d had ... ever. We made more than we did on tour, even with merch sales, since all of the venues were larger and we’d had CDs to sell.

“Sorry I couldn’t get you a show tomorrow,” Warren said as he, amazingly, helped us pack up after our Saturday show.

“You’re kidding, right?” I said. “We’ve made a killing this week. Hell, yesterday we played two shows in one day. We sold through most of the CDs you brought, so that’s going to make Kent happy. You really have come back with a bang.”

“No kidding,” Lyla said. “We’ve really missed you the last couple of months. I just wish we’d had you with us this summer. The only gig we played on tour that beat any of the stuff you’ve set up was opening for House of Grace, and Charlie was the one who set that up. Imagine the killing we could have made if you’d been booking us shows.”

“Well, you’ve got Christmas and next summer. I guess I need to really pull out all the stops, huh.”

“You’ve got a reputation to live up to now,” Seth said, slapping him on the back as he walked past.

That was the other thing I liked about Warren. While we weren’t buddy-buddy or anything, he was a lot more sociable with us than Brent ever was, and I could never imagine Brent helping us pack up after a show.

We crashed at a hotel that night and were home before lunch on Sunday, so at least I got the last part of the holiday weekend off. I’d hoped for a relaxing last day before we had to go back to school, but instead, there was a car I didn’t recognize in front of the house and I heard yelling from inside as I walked up to the door. It sounded like Kat’s voice, and I broke into a run, the last few steps, pushing open the front door, and then screeching to a halt before I ran into Kat, who had her finger in the face of some guy I’d never seen in my life with Hanna off to one side looking really upset.

She’d clearly just been yelling at him, although they all stopped to look at me as I burst through the front door.

“Charlie, get this mother f•©ker out of here,” Kat said, just about as angry as I’d ever seen her, still pointing at the unknown guy.

“What?”

“Charlie, tell Kat she’s being unreasonable,” Hanna said.

“What?”

“She can’t just make Troy leave because she doesn’t like him,” Hanna said.

“Wait. Someone needs to explain what the hell is going on.”

The guy, who I assumed was Troy, looked like he didn’t want to be the one to explain. Weirdly, he almost looked amused by the whole situation of two girls yelling across him.

“She brought this guy home on Friday, and he’s a complete f•©king tool. He’s been leering at me ever since he got here.”

“He has not,” Hanna said. “That’s just your overactive imagination.”

“I didn’t imagine his hand on my ass ten minutes ago. What are you even doing with this douche?”

The douche in question smiled slightly when she mentioned his hand on her ass, which all but proved to me that he’d done it. He hadn’t said a word, yet, and I was already getting really bad vibes from him.

“He bumped into you. Look, I didn’t say shit when you tried to hook Charlie up with every bar skank on the east coast. But I bring a guy I like home, and you get all jealous.”

“Jealous? Of him?”

“Hold on. Hold on. You’re Troy, right?” I said to the douche.

“Yeah. Troy Pearson. Phi Kappa Delta,” he said, sticking out his hand.

Jesus, I did hate him. I didn’t know much about college life, but I knew enough to know anyone who would introduce themselves by the fraternity they were in, especially to people who didn’t go to their school, was indeed a tool.

“I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it’s probably best if you head back to Chapel Hill,” I said, shaking his hand. “I’m not trying to throw you out, but since you came up after her, I’m guessing you and Hanna will have to drive back in separate cars anyways, right? She’ll have to leave soon if she’s going to get back tonight anyway, but it’ll give us a chance to calm everyone down and figure this out before she goes, and you’ll see each other tonight. You get it, right?”

He looked back at Hanna, who still looked pissed, shrugged, and said, “Sure, kid. See ya later, babe.”

He just turned and walked out the door, giving another little smirk as he looked back at Hanna and Kat before shutting the door behind him.

“I f•©king hate that guy,” Kat said.

“You don’t even know him. He’s a good guy and I like him. What do you know about good guys, anyway? You were with Aaron for almost a year,” Hanna said.