The Hope That Starts

by Heidi Hutchinson

  The wind shook the bus again and Zelda swallowed, hoping she was the only one who noticed.

  “They came upon a fox who was crying on the side of the road. Steven asked what made the little girl fox, named Stacy, cry, and she told him it was because some mean squirrels had stolen her favorite pair of shoes—”

  “I didn't know foxes wore shoes,” Harrison interrupted her.

  “Girl ones do,” Zelda explained. “Now, shh.” He chuckled, his hand reaching out to rest on top of her folded ones.

  “So Steven and Bob went off to get Stacy's shoes back from the squirrels, who were known bullies. They found the squirrels a little ways away, laughing and getting ready to bury Stacy's favorite shoes. Psycho Bob started to scream and yell. He puffed himself up and started spitting. The squirrels were so startled that they dropped Stacy's shoes and ran away. Steven and Bob returned the shoes to the young fox, who was so happy she hugged them both.

  “'You must come to my garden. You can have your choice of any of the vegetables,' she said.

  “And that's why you never take what's not yours and you always help someone in need,” she finished the story, realizing how silly it was now that it was over.

  “I take it you made that story up for a much younger audience,” Harrison guessed, his thumb gently rubbing along her wrist.

  “Yeah, I was babysitting my cousins and I needed a quick lesson. It's very meaningful to kindergarteners.”

  Harrison chuckled and his hand slowly slid up her bare arm and around her waist again.

  “I'm gonna fall asleep now,” he whispered groggily. He shifted closer to her, bringing his soft beard back to the sensitive skin of her neck. “You're amazing,” he said, barely audible.

  She closed her eyes as his breathing turned steady and his weight sunk more fully into her. He was asleep. Mission accomplished.

  Zelda would be lying if she said she was uncomfortable in their newfound position. She would further be lying if she said it wasn't even better than her every dream come true. And it would only be the biggest lie in the known 'Verse if she said that falling sleeping with Harrison wrapped around her wasn't the single greatest moment of her life.

  ***

  The bus was moving again. That was the first thing Harrison became aware of a couple hours later. The second thing he became very aware of was Zelda's soft body fitting perfectly to his.

  She had turned sideways and was the perfect little spoon. He had ended up under the covers and one arm was wrapped around her fully, keeping her tight to his front. His lips were practically pressed to the back of her neck, her wild hair having been pushed above her head and out of the way. He'd probably done that himself. It seemed his body knew just what to do when it was around Zelda, no instructions required.

  He'd never slept in the same bed with a woman before.

  She smelled incredible; her vanilla scent was warm and inviting. He pressed his lips to the back of her neck, darting his tongue out for a taste, that's all he wanted. Just one small taste of her perfection.

  She stirred slightly, unconsciously pressing back against him in her sleep, her body wanting his in return. He held in a groan. She was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.

  Just like he knew that the bad weather was over and he should move back to his own bunk. The same way he knew what was happening at this moment went beyond innocent friendship.

  But he couldn't let her go. Not yet.

  Maybe not ever.

  The bus traveled on into the night, and Harrison went back to sleep. Completely ignoring his conscience. He could deal with that in the morning.

  Chapter 11

  I'm A Mess

  It turned out that Harrison's way of dealing with his conscience was to just... not. In fact, outright denial and avoidance seemed to be the order of the day.

  ***

  He woke up before Zelda and watched her peaceful face in the early rays of dawn. Her skin was smooth, creamy. Her dark lashes lay on her cheeks, hiding those brilliant green eyes. The soft snore that escaped her lips was more endearing than anything.

  Harrison felt a sharp pain in his chest.

  He could love her.

  He could love her like he'd never loved anyone or anything.

  He could lose his heart in her.

  Brushing a stray curl out of her face, he knew he could be happy with Zelda. For the rest of forever.

  Carefully, he raised himself above her sleeping body and exited the small bunk. He needed a minute to get his head together. He was thinking irrationally and it wasn't okay. Zelda was a real person, with real hopes and dreams. He had no right to take those things away from her, to get caught up in a feeling that would fade. In a hope that couldn't last.

  Running completely on autopilot, he changed his clothes, got his coffee and headed out the door. He was nearly to Zed and his escape to the gym when Sway caught up with him.

  “Dude!”

  Harrison glanced sideways at his friend, who was breathing heavy from his sprint from the bus.

  “We can't leave yet,” Zed announced when they were close enough to hear him. “Blake is on his way.”

  Harrison nodded and leaned his back against the door of the van to wait. Sway followed suit. They both stood silently, sipping their coffee in their to-go containers.

  Harrison let his mind focus on what day it was and therefore what muscle group he'd be working. Monday. That meant chest. Which was good because he felt tight in his chest and he could use a decent tearing apart.

  ***

  Zelda bounded down the steps, expecting to find her partner in crime at the coffee machine. The ridiculousness of their evening before was fresh in her mind.

  Her dreams had consisted of more Hobbit music and being rescued from a burning building.

  You would think that having a dream that involved the threat of burning alive would have caused more apprehension.

  Not for Zelda.

  In the dream she was only a little scared that the building might turn to complete ash before Harrison reached her. But she could see him coming for her. And she knew he would reach her in time. The building wasn't a huge loss. She had never liked it anyway.

  When she reached the kitchenette and found it empty, she felt her stomach wobble. Maybe everyone was still sleeping.

  She made her way to the Keurig to make herself some coffee and wait for the others to join her. Lifting the latch that contained the K-cup, she found a used one inside. It was still warm and three used ones were in the trashcan.

  “Huh,” she said out loud as she realized that not only were Sway and Harrison awake, but they'd already left.

  Shrugging it off, she made her coffee and got ready for the day.

  It was still going to be a great day.

  She could feel it.

  ***

  “You're going to have incredibly hairy babies,” Sway said, swiping his water bottle off of the ledge and taking a long drink.

  Harrison held the dumbbells over his chest as he paused his chest flyes. Blake stood behind his head, ready to assist if needed.

  “What?” Harrison asked.

  “You and Zelda,” Sway explained, with the slightest twitch of his lip.

  Harrison rolled his eyes and lowered the weights out to another deep flye and back up again. Sway needed to shut up. Instead, Sway straddled the weight bench next to him. Harrison looked up at the ceiling and repeated the move again.

  “I mean for real, that hair of hers mixed with the O'Neil bloodlines. Damn.” He whistled. Blake chuckled low in his throat. “You'll have to have a barber on retainer.”

  “We're just friends, Sway,” Harrison puffed.

  It had been going too well. Sway had kept his mouth shut for the entire morning. Harrison should have known it wouldn't last.

  “But the hairy kids would be worth it, I suppose,” Sway continued, as if Harrison hadn't said anything. “You could come back to your brand-new customized bus after a show, and she'd be in the k
ing-sized bed waiting for you.” Sway set his water bottle down and took his hair out of its short sweaty ponytail. “The kids will be in their Lord of the Rings or Star Wars-themed bunks, fast asleep after she'd told them a story with a moral to it. Their bellies full with some sort of wholesome sandwich. The perfect little family.”

  That sounded good. Really good. Too good.

  Harrison pulled the weights into his chest and sat up, sweat pouring down his face. “Would you let it go? We're just friends.”

  Sway looked at him flatly, no teasing in his expression. “No. You're not. There's no such thing as just friends. Friendship is the beginning of family.” Sway's eyes flicked up to Blake, who circled around to face Harrison with crossed arms.

  Harrison was surprised at their serious demeanor. He was used to getting ribbed by them. Luke and Mike were the adults of the group. Blake, Sway and Harrison had long been categorized as the children, the goof-offs. This was something new.

  “Sway's right, bud,” Blake said, his tone carrying the air of sibling authority.

  Harrison was already shaking his head. He stood up and replaced the weights on the rack. He stared down at the iron, his hands on his hips, as he tried to figure out why they were ambushing him.

  “We're just friends,” he repeated softly.

  “Friends is the most dangerous limbo to be in with a woman,” Blake said.

  Harrison took a deep breath and turned to face them again. “But I'm not like you guys. I'm always the friend. It's easy for chicks to see me that way.”

  Sway narrowed his eyes at him. “See? That's Kiley talking. She's got you so backwards about what a relationship should look like, you actually believe that you're not good enough for someone like Zelda.”

  “You're still screwing Kiley?” Blake asked in disgust.

  Harrison ground his teeth together. “It's none of your business.”

  “Nah, see, that's not how this works,” Blake shook his head. “I got to be the fuck-up for the first decade, now it's my turn to be the sage.”

  Harrison took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair, chuckling nervously. “This is weird.”

  “What's weird is you crawling into her bunk with her last night, laughing like lunatics, falling asleep together, and you acting like that's no big deal,” Sway said pointedly.

  “It's not a big deal!” Harrison snapped, knowing that he sounded like a belligerent teenager even as he said it. It was a good thing none of his sisters were around, or he'd get smacked on the back of the head.

  Sway must have been reading his mind. “I'll just mention it to Greta in a couple weeks, then. We'll see what she thinks.”

  “Go to hell,” Harrison declared flatly.

  Blake grinned, flashing his white teeth set off by his dark stubble.

  “I'll save you a seat,” Sway responded, unbothered.

  “Admit it,” Blake pressed, grin firmly in place.

  “Admit what?” Harrison asked, annoyed more than anything.

  “You like the nerd girl.”

  Harrison's smile was quick, completely giving himself away. “She is definitely something else,” he admitted.

  Blake tossed him a towel and they all started to move toward the locker room. “And she's not crazy.”

  “I wouldn't go that far,” Harrison corrected him with a wink.

  Blake barked out a laugh in response.

  Sway shook his head and replaced his ponytail. “One by one, they all fall down.”

  Blake clapped Sway on his shoulder. “Let's get Harrison through this one and then we'll work on you.”

  Harrison chuckled. Sway in love? That he would pay to see.

  ***

  While talking about it with his friends was easy —stress-relieving, actually— Harrison was back to being completely unsure about what to do at their present juncture. Talking about being with Zelda was very different than actually trying to make that a reality.

  So he decided to spend the entire day avoiding her. Which sucked, because she was really cool and he missed her. Right away. He'd think of a joke and want to share it with her, then remember he couldn't do that. Not yet. He had to figure out what to do next. Even though he had not one freaking clue.

  He had tuned his guitar to the point where he was just being finicky. But he knew that if he looked up, she would be right there. Okay, not, like, right in front of him. She was about thirty feet away on the other side of the stage taking pictures of Carl as he yelled about something involving contracts and blood pressure meds.

  Harrison was hyper-aware of her, though. He'd already made the mistake of having eye contact with her about twenty minutes ago. She gave him that stupid, goofy smile of hers and that sharp pain in his chest returned.

  And he liked it.

  But he was doing okay. He was sticking to his side, he was being vague and aloof, and his sister Greta would probably be calling him a stupid ass right about now. That was okay, he could live with that.

  Then Lucy Newton Diedrich had to make his life incredibly difficult.

  As the wife of one of his best friends, Harrison had the unfortunate obligation of not being able to kill her. Even though in the next few minutes, he actually imagined strangling her to death with her own hair.

  Lucy's band had already finished their sound check and they were supposed to be gone. But Lucy bounded across the stage and flashed Harrison a wide smile. He should have seen it for the trouble it was. Lucy, while appearing to be the picture of innocence, packed a wallop that could take down a Gundark. Or at least someone as tough as Blake Diedrich.

  In other words, Harrison was screwed.

  “I wanna see how this sounds to the rest of you. C'mere, Zeldy. Hey, Harrison,” Lucy called into the mic. “Edge it up for us if you feel so inclined.”

  Lucy had always been dangerously close to being the most dexterous person Harrison had ever seen on a six-string. This moment proved to be no exception. She had slowed the tempo of the song but it was still vaguely familiar as the notes began to filter through the equipment.

  Zelda joined her at the center mic and those crystal clear vocals pierced right to the heart of him.

  U2's “With or Without You.”

  Because Harrison needed one more thing to add to his ever-growing list of things he adored about this woman.

  It wasn't as cheesy as her last sound check take-over. It was more pure than that, but no less fun.

  And moving.

  This had always been one of those songs that would make Harrison pause whatever he was doing in his life and listen to it. It had that kind of power. It was well-written, well-orchestrated, and well sung. Even a poorly done cover was enough to put a smile on his face. But this was the opposite of poorly done. It was lovely.

  Zelda and Lucy were a duo he would have never imagined. Lucy's deep throaty soulful vocals paired with the clarity and cleanliness of Zelda's was... brilliant. Sharp, soul-piercing, earth-shattering.

  When the song wound down, he caught himself grinning at Zelda. And she was beaming a ray of sunlight directly at him. No wonder her parents called her Shiny.

  “What are you thinking right now?” Sway asked from by his side.

  “Have you ever hit a moment in your life where you knew that what you were looking at was what you had been looking for, but you didn't even know it?” Harrison responded instantly. Somewhere inside he'd just discovered what it was he saw when he was looking at Zelda.

  It was his future.

  Sway chuckled and walked away, like it was funny and simple to him. This moment of perfect lucidity that Harrison was having.

  Then Harrison's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out without thinking.

  He really should have left the phone on the bus.

  Kiley: Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

  Right.

  Because he and Kiley had planned to meet at his hotel when they got to Denver tomorrow. For the first time, she had agreed to meet him at his hotel instead of makin
g him come to see her. It was a step in the direction he'd been pushing for.

  It was time to have a different talk with Kiley.

  ***

  “I love the hotel stays,” Kendra confided to Zelda when the elevator doors closed.

  They'd arrived in Denver early that morning and Kendra had worked non-stop since parking to get everyone checked in and settled into their rooms. Zelda had documented the entire event with her Nikon.

  Kendra worked hard. Zelda was starting to put together a montage of footage and short videos as a “thank you” for her at the end of the tour. Kendra dealt with a lot of shit. Not that the band was rude or ungrateful, but by default their lives were difficult to manage. Kendra was an ace.

  Zelda leaned a shoulder against the mirrored wall of the elevator. “You need a break.”

  Kendra snorted. “Right. Like that's a possibility.” Her eyes stayed glued to the digital numbers counting up.

  “I mean it,” Zelda pressed. “There's no show until tomorrow. I already heard Carl tell you that you're off duty until then.”

  Kendra rolled her eyes in Zelda's direction as the elevator shuddered to a halt and the doors opened. “God, you're sweet,” she said cynically. She hefted her bag and led the way out of the lift, pausing to check the direction of the room numbers in the hallway. “But my job never stops,” she said over her shoulder.

  While the band got huge suites on the top floors, the rest of the crew either stayed on the bus or in standard rooms like the regular folk they were. Zed and Nick, Kendra's assistants, were sharing a room, and Kendra and Zelda were sharing one.

  Zelda followed the tiny powerhouse down the hall, lugging her suitcase behind her. She was looking forward to taking a much longer shower than usual.

  They stopped at their door, Room 515, and Kendra slid her key into the lock. The light turned green and they were in.