Chapter 24: Chapter 24
Getting on the bus to ride to the theater with the band was uncomfortable for Trent, to say the least. Not only did he and Zach have to come face to face and not punch each other, Cat was there, too. Bree’s revelation that Cat was stirring things up, trying to encourage Bree to see Zach on the side, made him want to shake the woman. He was raised to keep his angry hands off of female, though. Lucky for her. Everything she did on the short ride to the venue was annoying--the way she folded her arms, the way she smiled, the way she laughed. He tried to ignore the woman, but it was difficult, and he found himself glowering at her more than he did Zach.
They arrived at the theater, and Trent expected some stagehand to come out to show them inside, but what they got was quite the opposite.
A tall blonde woman in a jean skirt and cowboy boots stood outside with a clipboard in her hands. Even though Trent was completely committed to Bree, he had to admit this woman was gorgeous. “Howdy, y’all,” she said. “I’m Shawna Cray, and I’m here to make sure y’all have everything you need. We’re so happy to have you here.”
Trent looked at the faces of the other men and could see each of them taking her in. But he didn’t miss the expression on Zach’s face. He appeared to be every bit the smitten kitten when it came to Miss Shawna.
Trying to hide a smile, Trent waited until everyone else was off the bus before he and Bree exited, hand in hand.
“There she is! The star of our show. It is so nice to meet you in person, Miss Matthews,” Shawna said with a sweet smile.
“Thank you so much,” Bree said. She was obviously flattered and slightly embarrassed at the compliment.
“If y'all will follow me, I’ll show you backstage.” Shawna led the way, and the band fell into place behind her while the road hands began to unload their equipment and get things set up.
As they walked toward the back door of the theater, Trent pulled Bree a little bit away from the others. “Did you see that?”
“See what? Her? Yeah, she’s gorgeous. I don’t think you’re supposed to point that out to me, though.”
He thought she was only half joking. “No, Zach. He seems to like her. Maybe Shawna could be the girl who catches his attention and gets him to forget about you. Maybe you can encourage him to ask her out, and then he’ll stay in the band.”
Her eyebrows perked up at the suggestion. “Do you think that could work? She lives so far away from us.”
“I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot. Hell, maybe she plays the keyboard. Two birds with one stone!”
“Now what are the chances of that?” Bree asked, one hand on her hip. They were almost to the door, so both of them slowed down slightly to finish their conversation before they were inside with everyone else.
“Not good, but when it comes to fate, who needs chances? If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen, right?” Trent argued.
She definitely couldn’t argue with that. He was standing there holding her hand, wasn’t he?
***
Shawna was a beautiful girl, and she was super nice, too. Bree watched the way she interacted with all of her bandmates, particularly the guys, and while she was polite to all of them, it seemed like she paid especially close attention to Zach. Bree tried not to watch them too closely because she didn’t want it to be obvious that she was going to try to see if Zach might be interested in the other girl, but it made her heart beat harder in her chest to see him flirting with her, even if it was all innocent and sweet.
“If y’all wanna hang out here for a while, I’ll be back in a bit,” Shawna said, leaving them in a comfortable green room while she went to do whatever else she had to do. The band members found seats in the comfy, plush couches and chairs, a few of them grabbing complimentary bottles of water or a snack off the well-appointed table in the middle of the room.
“Well,” Cat said, “ain’t she cute.” She made her usual accent much thicker than usual.
“She’s adorable.” Bree wasn’t trying to be sarcastic, the way she assumed Cat was.
“I would’ve used the word hot,” Chase said with a shrug. “But I think she only has eyes for Zach anyway.” He gave the guitarist a playful shove in the arm, and Zach bounced to the side a bit, shaking his head.
“Whatever man,” Zach said, but he was beginning to blush.
“She did!” Griffin agreed. “The hot cowgirl thinks you’re sexy, man. Better jump on that before she comes to her senses.”
“She does not. She was just being nice,” Zach insisted. He glanced in Bree’s direction, and she couldn’t help but smile at him. It was clear he thought Shawna was cute, too.
She wished she could think of a reason to get up and go find Shawna so she could speak to her in private, but there was a bathroom in the green room with them, and she couldn’t come up with any other reason to get up.
Trent could, though. “I’m going to go see how difficult it is to get to the front row from here. You did save me a seat there, didn’t you?” he said to Bree, teasing her.
“I may have asked them to save a seat for a VIP,” she replied, smiling back at him.
“Come with me?” Trent was already up, offering her his hand.
She hopped up off of the comfortable couch she’d been reclining on and went with him, thankful he was wise enough to come up with a solution to get them out of the room. Now, if they could just find Shawna.
Locating the woman wasn’t that difficult either. She was standing over by the stage, talking to the crew as they brought in the equipment. “What are we going to do?” Bree asked, tugging on Trent’s arm. “We can’t just go up to her and ask if she likes Zach.”
“Why not? That’s how we used to do it in high school.”
She giggled. “This isn’t high school, silly.”
“With Cat around, it seems like it is,” he muttered.
By then, Shawna had spotted them and was heading over anyway, her brow crinkled in concern. “Is everything okay, Ms. Matthews? Did you need something?”
“Everything is fine,” Bree assured her with a smile. She glanced back toward the green room, making sure no one had followed them and was listening. “We just… uh….” Try as she might, Bree couldn’t figure out how to say what she was thinking.
“So Zach’s hot, right?” Trent asked, making Bree sputter and then start laughing. It sounded so funny coming out of his mouth.
Shawna was so confused, Bree felt sorry for her. “Uhm, Zach? The guitar player? Yeah, I guess so….”
“Cool. You know, he’s not seeing anyone right now, but you’re just his type.” Trent had a smirk on his face that Shawna likely found confusing as she tried to puzzle through his meaning.
Letting out a sigh, Bree said, “Shawna, would you like to hang out with us all tomorrow? Before the show?”
“Oh? You want me to come hang out with you because you think that your guitar player is interested in me?”
Bree and Trent both answered at the same time. She said, “No,” while he said, “Yes.” Bree poked him in the ribs with her elbow.
“No, that’s not the only reason,” Bree insisted. “You just seem like a fun person, that’s all.”
A sheepish smile came across Shawna’s face as she realized Bree’s answer should’ve also been yes. “Well, I don’t have anything planned for tomorrow, but… are you sure?”
“Positive,” Bree said, already pulling her phone out of the pocket of her jean jacket. “Can I have your number?”
“Sure.” Shawna gave it to her, and Bree typed it into her phone.
“Awesome. I’ll text you in the morning.” She patted Shawna on the arm, and then the two of them headed off to do what they’d actually set out to do. It became fairly apparent that it wouldn’t be hard for Trent to get to his seat. They paused over by the stairs, and she asked, “Do you think she’ll actually come?”
“I think so,” he replied. “But you and I aren’t planning on going with them tomorrow, right? Do you even know what they had planned?”
“No idea,” she admitted. With a shrug, she said, “We’ll figure it out.”
Laughing, Trent spun her around a few times in a sort of triumphant dance that they’d potentially found a solution to her problem, and then they headed back to the green room.
Bree’s smile melted away when she opened the door and heard the argument going on between Cat and Zach. She let out a groan--something had to give!