Page 41 of Make Me Laugh

“Nice seeing you again, Franceska,” I hear Enzo say as he leans out and yanks me by the arm. “If you don’t get in the bloody RV, you’re going to be the first one dead.”

I stumble up the steps clumsily, clobbering the shit out my shin while Enzo shuts the door with a bang, flopping down into the passenger’s seat.

Joey points at Kell. “Who's he?”

Thankfully, Enzo answers, because I’m struggling not to upchuck the contents of my stomach from the pain in my leg—which is only water and coffee at this point.

“Kell, Jo. Jo, Kell.” Enzo motions between the two as Kell puts the van in gear. “He covers merch sales and drives us around, because I told West he had to do more than work three hours a night four days a week if we’re paying him.”

“Hi, Jo.” Kell waves, his dark blue eyes standing out against his brown skin in the rearview mirror. He doesn’t take a breath in between flipping Enzo off, and saying, “I drive because we’re too afraid to let you after you drove down the wrong side of the⁠—”

“It was one time, five years ago!” Enzo cuts him off.

I inhale a sharp breath and hobble over to the horseshoe shaped dinette we chose to leave in for a makeshift workspace. Plopping down, I scoot to the middle, patting the bench to my right where I leave Joey's bag.

She’s still standing, eyes bouncing between Enzo and Kell like she’s trying to figure out their dynamic.

Do they hate each other?

Do they always act like this?

“You’ll get used to it.” I shrug, rubbing my shin where a lump starts to swell. Oh yeah, that’s going to be a gnarly bruise.

The second Joey's seated she brings her laptop out of its bag. She glances at me, pulling out a physical planner next. “You gonna make it?”

I grunt and take one more deep breath now that I no longer feel the urge to barf. “I’ll manage.”

“Good. Also, there’s no way in hell I’m sleeping up there.” She points to the bunk above the driver’s seat. “I’m claustrophobic.”

“Kell, you’ve got a new bed.” I raise my voice to make sure he can hear me over the calmer conversation he and Enzo are having now.

He gives us a thumbs up, always cool with whatever.

“We have a couple bunks in the back. Enzo’s a giant, so he gets the queen bed.”

Enzo spins the chair around on its swivel to face us, locking it into place as Kell merges onto the highway. “I would be a gentleman and give you the bed for the weekend, but I literally can’t fit in the bunks.”

I have a hard time in my bunk, but we don’t sleep in the camper every night. If we have more than two shows in a place, we’ll splurge on a couple hotel rooms, but this saves us so much money.

“You can have my bunk. I’ll take Kell’s,” I tell her, finally relaxing into the bench. “Don’t worry,” I say before she gets the chance to say anything. “Sheets are clean.”

I watch as she nods, looking down the hall where she can only see the end of Enzo’s bed from her seat. “Good.” She turns to her computer, typing something I can’t see. “What time’s the show tonight?” she asks, looking from the screen to me.

“Opener’s on at 7:30,” Enzo answers because I never have a fucking clue where I’m supposed to be or when I’m supposed to be there. I should… I know I should, but he’s taken over all that, and I’m spoiled. I’ll admit it.

I don’t know what I’ll do when he decides it’s time to go back to his real life and job in London.

But you know what? That’s not my problem right now. I’ll figure it out later.

“I’m assuming there's a sound check?” She types some more, nails clicking against the keys.

I lean over the table, looking at the screen upside down. “Yep, usually a couple hours before they open the doors.”

Joey flicks me on the top of the head, prompting me to look up instead of sitting like I know she wants.

I’m close enough to watch her scan my face with her hypnotic eyes. My body begs me to lean forward and kiss her in front of my friends, pretending they’re not even here… but I can’t.

I told her I could do this.