Page 23 of Rock Me

"Just this morning."

So it couldn’t have been her I heard last night. And the chance that I'm going crazy increases a bit.

"Okay, Mr. Petrescu, get some rest. You've got a big day," Toni says, patting my right wrist cast gently. "You excited?"

"To be able to scratch my own butt after today? More than you know."

"Uh huh, I'll be glad to not have to be the one doing it as well. I'll come get you when it's time, hun."

"Thanks, Toni. I'll be right here."

She walks over to the door. "Door open or closed?'

I lay back, listening to the faint strum of the ukulele.

"Open, please. As open as possible."

"You got it." I think I see a twitch at the corners of Toni's mouth but she leaves before I can call her on it.

It takes a while for my ears to adjust to the quiet again, but when it does, I can hear the ukulele much more clearly. It's a simple tune she's playing now, sad and somber.

I close my eyes and let it lull me into sleep.

***

Three hours later and there's nothing sad and somber about the noise surrounding me right now. There are eight other people in the room, but it sounds like we're in the middle of a fish market. Yelling and laughing and items being thrown from one side of the room to the other.

It's lunch time, and the circus has come to visit. My three bandmates, their three respective partners, Dennis, our manager and Hailey, his daughter and our PR rep. It’s so loud I’m sure the guy in the coma in the next room can hear us.

"Jez, Jez! Catch!" A soft, plush pig sails across the room and knocks me on the side of my head, for the third time today.

Marius doubles over in laughter at his joke.

"You know, you better get those in, because in half an hour, you're not going to be able to do that anymore, and boy, my revenge is going to be sweet."

"I'm not afraid of you," he says. But he clearly is. He moves over to hide behind his girlfriend Anca, my little sister. She holds out her arms, as if in defense of him.

"Don't worry, Marius! I'll save you from Jezzy."

"Anca," I say, "Do you want me to tell Marius what happened when you were six and ate too much pizza at Euro Disney?"

She immediately drops her arms down and goes to sit in one of the chairs. "Marius, you're on your own."

I grin at her and she pokes her tongue out at me.

I'm glad to see her. She's made this trip from Romania especially to be here today. I know it's been hard for her these last few months, being so far away from me when I’m holed up here, but she has her own life, one where she's happy and finding purpose doing what she's doing. I watch Marius go over and lay a soft kiss on the top of her head, and I think I'm finally used to seeing them together. Not that I don't still secretly tell him every few weeks that if he ever hurts her, I’ll rip his balls off.

"Hey, watcha thinking about?" Cadence asks, pulling a chair to sit by the bed. Cadence is Sebastian's fiancée and a collaborator on our last two albums.

"About Marius’s balls," I tell her, honestly.

"Sure,” she nods, “I mean, I guess it's your turn. I thought about them yesterday," she jokes.

"Wha?" Sebastian yells out, from his perch on the end of my bed as he flicks through the channels on the TV.

"It's okay, babycakes, it's your turn tomorrow." She reaches out and pats him on the back before turning back to me.

"You ready for today?"