Page 65 of The Girl with No Name
“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”
The sky is a brilliant shade of purple to the west. The clouds are all matted together with different shades of violet, pink, and orange. It looks like something out of a painting.
I slow my stride and let Luna walk in front of me. For a moment, and for God knows what reason—well, probably the drugs—Luna’s appearance transforms in front of me. She’s is an elderly woman.
She’s seventy, eighty years old, and we’re walking through a concert together. I picture her with gray and white hair, still as gorgeous, easing into the later years of her life with grace.
Okay who am I kidding? This hasgot to bethe drugs.
She stops and looks at me over her shoulder. “You okay there?”
I snap out of my hallucination. “Oh, uh, yeah. Fine. These drugs are really something. How are we going to get backstage? Any ideas?”
“Luckily getting backstage is something I’m well versed in.” I continue following her until we hit the gate where therealsecurity detail—not Charlie Dunn—is blocking entry. “Follow my lead,” she says, grabbing me by the hand.
Okay. We’re holding hands now. My heart hammers as we approach the gate.
There are two buff guys in black T-shirts that readsecurity.
“Yeah?” the bald one says, crossing his arms as we approach.
Luna breaks down crying. “We lost our backstage passes. My boyfriend got them for our anniversary. He’s so pissed, and he’s going to break up with me if we don’t get backstage.”
“Nice try.” The guy chuckles. “Not the first time I heard that one tonight. Probably won’t be the last.”
Just then, I notice someone beyond the gate. It’s our favorite trucker-hat-wearing guy again. Shit. What the hell is his name? I sift back through my alcohol-soaked memories of last night. “Luuuuuke!” I yell. Definitely not his name.
But it works. He turns and waves.Bingo. “You have backstage passes too?” he asks as he approaches.
I nod vigorously. “We do, but we lost ’em.”
“Frankie, let these kind folks through.” He nods to the non-bald guard, then leans in and winks. “Old high school buddies of mine. They don’t need no papers.”
A little reluctantly, the guard moves aside and lets us through.
Once we’re inside, Luna wraps CC in a big hug, and I scan the area with the new mission: find the Red Lemons.
“You came through back there,” Luna tells me once we’re safely out of earshot of security. “Nice.”
“You too. Good idea with the crying.”
“I tried.”
“First boss of side quest, defeated!” I announce, slanting my eyes back toward the security guard who let us in.
She laughs. “Go, us! Now, how the hell are we going to get on stage with the Red Lemons?”
“I thought you said you had a plan,” I counter.
“To get past security! Not to actually get on stage with them,” she says.
“Also, ‘get on stage with’? We have to do more than that. We have to convince them to let us sing a songasthe Red Lemons.”
She shakes her head. “And then the plan is Dunn will make sure Randy’s distracted the rest of the show somehow?”
“I guess. You can sing, right? I mean, I heard you singing along to some tunes on the way here in the car.”
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never sung in front of thousands of people, that’s for sure.”