An Angel's Fix Pt. 08

Ashley's fears of her dad being disappointed in her were abated when they cruised through breakfast without him mentioning the first thing about her and Jasmine. Instead, he satisfied their curiosities by relating what he could about his brief (at least in glacial government terms) mission. He regaled the lighter moments of his crews' antics, and Ashley learned something new about her father. At home, he was always the strict commander with her. At least, that was how she remembered her childhood until just now. Listening to his stories, she realized that, yes, he wanted the best out of her, just as he did with the crews under him. But also, there were times he played in his own way, understated of course. The video he made was a great example. Ashley wondered why it was much easier to remember bad and tense events than good happy ones.

A couple of hours later found her on the sofa, watching her dad tinker with her favorite toy, the interactive windows. With a heavy sigh, she reached under her and pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her shorts. She was hosting the cast party downstairs in the club she rented for the afternoon, and she wanted to get this conversation out of the way before that all started.

"Remember, Daddy, you gotta say Molly's name before the command," she hinted while the line trilled the ringing of her dialed call. "Hey Reena? It's Ashley," she said into her phone as soon as the ringing stopped.

"Hey yourself, kiddo! How are you?"

Ashley's eyes darkened as the melodic voice and the 'kiddo' bit reminded her that maybe Matt was right after all in pitching Reena and company harder than herself. But the sour taste was all her, and not intended towards Reena. She managed to keep her voice pleasant while picking her way through the small talk. "So, I've got a problem I was hoping you could help me with," she said, getting to the heart of the call.

"Yeah, Julip said something about Kim calling for you. I've been meaning to call you back." Reena's voice hinted that issues were at play.

"Julip?"

Reena snickered. "Yeah, my agent. DON'T get me started."

Ashley couldn't help a single chuckle. "Well, anyway, I have painted myself into a corner, it seems. I agreed to do Catholic's prom before asking my band, and now they've said no. I was hoping y'all could do the gig for me. It didn't pay all that much, but I'll add to their payment."

"No."

"No? Oh wow! I'll pay you triple what they were going to pay. Plus lodging, food, whatever you want. I don't want to disappoint my old school, and y'all are the closest thing to me being there. Please?" Ashley had said this in a single breath, and her dad turned around to see if she was blue yet.

Reena laughed. "Ashley, slow down! I already discussed it with the rest of the band, and we decided not to sub for you."

Ashley was confused. How could such a light and happy voice be giving her a flat refusal. "Oh. Okay. I guess y'all really do have something going on that day then?"

Reena decided to end Ashley's misery. It was cruel to play the girl, but so much fun. "Ashley, sweetie, you don't understand. We decided under no circumstances would we play in your place..."

"You're right, I don't understand," Ashley grumped. "You're voice is dripping of candy, but your words are saying I can't have any."

It took Reena a few seconds to control her giggling. "Sweetie, we won't play FOR you, we want to play WITH you."

"Wait. What?"

"I'm sorry Julip was rude with Kim." Reena's voice seemed to gag around the name. "He's been instructed to only accept big ticket offers."

"He? You told him to get rid of everything but money truckloads?"

"Heh. Like I said, don't get me started. That fairy princess was given to me by Matt to keep us on track, and he answers only to Matt. Look, he let it slip the other day that Kim was calling, and I wanted to call you to see what it was about, but there's always another show or fan day or something. So, I'm sorry I didn't get with you sooner."

Ashley sighed and slumped back into the sofa in relief. "You're fine. I'm just glad you're willing to do this for..."

"With!"

"Fine! WITH me. So I guess I'll send you a check for about ten grand on Monday."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I promised you triple, plus travel, hotel, food..."

"Honey, you don't owe us a dime," Reena asserted. "Having fun again for once will be payment enough."

They spent the next few minutes firming up details, and Ashley felt like a plateful of bricks had just disappeared from her lap.

The cast party was much fun, and even though Ashley was freshly impaired by crutches and an ACE bandage, she brushed off the comments about her injury and moved about the cliques with much the same ease she did while on stage. The lighting crew members gave out "Dead Stick" awards to the cast, based on humorous and usually small errors noticed by only the crew. Even Ashley got one of the broken twigs for making Greg tweak his back while dragging her around on the last night. The cast, in turn, handed out "Dead Bulb" awards to the crew for silly mistakes like slow color gel changes, or casting the spot light in the wrong area. Ashley gave one to the entire crew for their parts in hiding her parents from her. A thread of conversation, and string of events later, Ashley found herself on the club stage being handed her guitar. She spent the last hour or so of the party playing for, and singing with, the cast and crew a combination of favorite show tunes and popular current hits.

* * *

The next few weeks helped buoy Ashley's delicate spirits. After the low of what she still felt was a failure of a tour, she knew in her heart that she triumphed with the musical. Now, she was getting recognized by random students who walked past her on campus. Many actually acknowledged her with a "Hey Ashley!" Some called her "Christine." The relief of having a band to play with for her commitment teamed with the recognition to help pull her mood further and further away from the red line of depression. Even though finals were next week, Ashley was comfortable with the material, and that allowed her to look forward to seeing her old bandmates again.

She met them early afternoon in the Officers Club ballroom on the Navy base. Squealing abounded when the two groups of friends approached each other. Introductions were made, mostly for the benefit of Julip, who had tagged along with the Trail Springs band.

"Kim," Ashley addressed sweetly. "Why don't you run Julip up to McDonald's and get us some burgers?"

"Sure thing, Ashley."

"And Kim?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"It'll take a bit to get set up. Maybe y'all could take some time to compare notes," Ashley added with a wink.

"Understood."

Kim led her counterpart agent to her car, and Ashley was surprised Reena breathed a sigh. "How long do I have?" she asked.

Ashley smiled. "Kim got the hint, and she'll make sure they have lunch and trade schedules and such before they even order our stuff."

"You sure?"

Ashley just looked at her.

A look of dismay washed over Reena's face. "Right. You actually trust and like the people you work with."

"Hmph. Not always," Ashley said while thinking of the Pinheads. She checked if Jim, Mike, and Paul were okay with letting her and Reena catch up. They were, and she steered the band leader towards the outside.

"Hey, Ashley. About what I said on the phone before. I'm sorry if I offended you."

Ashley fretted. "What would have offended me?"

Reena sighed through her nose to gather the nerves for her apology. "What I said about Julip being the fairy princess. It occurred to me after we hung up that wasn't a nice thing to say, especially since you..." Her teeth cut the sentence in half when she realized she was about to make a similar error.

Ashley tried but couldn't come up with the unspoken words. "Especially since I...what?"

"Don't make me say it," Reena whined.

"Say WHAT, exactly?"

"You know. Like how you are with Jasmine and Kim." She caught the cloud of embarrassed anger washing over Ashley's face, and rushed to save her own. "No. No no! I don't think ill of you for any of that! I don't have anything against gay people. It's just with Julip..." She trailed off, having run out of words to express her true thoughts.

Ashley helped her out. "There's gay people, and then there's obnoxious."

Reena's face regained a good deal of light. "EXACTLY! He doesn't tone it down for ANYTHING."

"I'm not gay." Ashley said almost to herself.

Reena stammered, hoping her mouth would somehow come up with an appropriate response. It failed.

"I'm not gay," Ashley restated with a sigh. "I don't even consider myself bi. I don't feel I fit any category except 'Ashley.' Look, I'm not an advocate of that lifestyle. Should same sex partners get tax breaks and benefits if they record their lifetime commitment to each other with the government? Sure! But, should they call it 'marriage?' Absolutely not!"

Reena was a little surprised at Ashley's answer, but amused as well. "So, I take it you don't go to 'their' secret meetings?"

"Don't even have a sticker for my truck," Ashley confirmed. Then she moved toward the intended subject and asked, "What's going on? I thought y'all were the great and wonderful Trail Springs! You know, hottest group to race up the charts their first time out?"

Reena frowned. "Well, it hasn't been all bubblegum and candy corn." She paused. "That's not true, bubblegum songs are definitely there."

Ashley listened while her former employee laid out her troubles, beginning with the flamboyant spy named Julip. Some things echoed thoughts about their label that nagged the broom closet of Ashley's mind. Others startled her, like Trail Springs being dictated EXACTLY what to wear while on stage. The most irksome tidbit was that Reena was hearing rumors that Matt wanted to start replacing her band members for more 'pretty' poster boys.

The conversation turned to Ashley's experiences, and Reena suddenly didn't feel so alone in her qualms. Everything she had heard about the Pinheads tour was positive, so it concerned her that Ashley didn't have the same take.

"The numbers are okay," Ashley had said. "But, I don't know. It's just not..."

"Fun," Reena joined her in finishing the sentence.

They returned to the ballroom and found the principal and several starstruck volunteer students chatting it up with the friends they left inside. The two singers joined for a bit and then decided it was best to start working. The first step was a sound check, and before they could discuss who would adjust the sound board, Jasmine was already there. They ran through two songs, one from each artist, to give Jasmine enough sample to tweak levels to her satisfaction. One of the girls present offered to man the board for the dance, and Jasmine showed her how to turn the mics on and how to switch over to the cd and mp3 players.

Before a playlist was about to be worked out, Kim and Julip returned with the sandwiches, and then Kim told Ashley she was going to leave. Ashley asked why, but Kim just shrugged, saying she wanted to spend some time with "Joe and the girls."

"Besides," she said, "You dumped HIM on me for the afternoon, so now it's your turn to deal with that panty-wearing freak."

"He wears panties?" Ashley asked.

"There's no way I'd get friendly enough to find out - by interrogation or visual confirmation. But I'd bet $100 that he does." Kim lowered her voice. "He's more a rat than he is an agent. I was tapdancing his not-so-veiled information mining the whole time. Reena, I'd watch my back with him. As for the guys in your band, tell them not to drop the soap when he's within a mile."

Reena chuckled slightly. "I have a suspicion they shower with their underwear on when we're on tour. Even if their rooms are deadbolted. Thanks for the time with Ashley, Kim."

Kim nodded. "Y'all needed it, I figured. But, y'all owe me for his annoyance." Her eyes flicked to Ashley. "Both of you."

Kim, Jasmine, Jill, and Joe sat around a table at a shack of a seafood restaurant not too far from the base. It wasn't much to look at, the atmosphere consisting of more plywood than anything else, but the food was delicious.

"So, I've been thinking about Ashley's birthday," Kim announced while gathering a little more of her salad onto her fork.

Jill snorted blatant contempt. "Ashley's birthday? That's not until the second half of summer. Why not Jazz's, or Joe's, or your own?"

Kim shrank back from the unexpected quip, but found she could hold her own. "Or yours?" Jill just frowned at her own salad. Kim continued, "Actually, this could be for all of us, if you'd hear me out."

"Hmph."

Kim shot a look across the table. "WHAT, Jill? What is wrong with you today?"

"Well, we drive from Tally for Ashley today, and we'll have to drive back tomorrow for finals. So, the first thought in that pretty head of yours is 'what can we do for Ashley's birthday?!' Just mind your and Ashley's own damn business."

"Jill!" She jumped at Joe's brash tone, but he continued. "Maybe you want to go outside and have a cigarette."

"Or four," Jasmine snickered. It was cut short by Joe's watch-it look. She sighed. "Kim, what do you want to do for Ashley's birthday?"

"Well, I've been tracking the download sales statistics, and an interesting trend caught my eye. Would you believe that over the last few weeks, Europe is outpacing here in downloading her songs?"

"Europe?" Jill perked up.

"Oh, I don't know if I like where this is going." Joe's voice was low and apprehensive.

"Well." Kim's bubble was deflating. "Anyway, I pitched my idea of Ashley spending a few weeks to hit the major city clubs over there to Matt, and he likes it."

Joe dropped his fork. "I figured. Kim, that would be fun if we wouldn't be dragging around those three 20 somethings posing as 13 year olds."

"Maybe we could get her a new band," Jasmine chuckled. "That would be a bit more realistic."

Kim cleared her throat to get back their attention. "I know there were problems. I was there to see it, remember? Besides, the Pinheads have decided not to tour this summer."

That snapped all the attention to her now. "What?!" Joe almost bellowed, forcing himself to keep quieter than he wanted to be in the crowded and confined space. "It's like they're trying to force Ashley out so they can get her forfeit fee!"

Kim held her hand up. "I'm on that already, Joe. I've been talking to Jon, and he's agreed to have Ashley perform with them on their tour over there."

"And Matt agreed," Joe said incredulously.

"Well, not until I threatened him with claiming breach of contract since Ashley is mandated to either record or perform when not in scheduled classes. I reminded him it was a two-way street, and could not benefit the company on their whim. Not touring would harm her income."

Joe had an admiring grin. "Atta girl!"

"So we're going to Europe?" Jill had turned positively cheerful now.

Jasmine put her brakes on the parade. "So, how do you propose we get her over there? Nail her in a crate with some food and water and tell her we'll see her in a week? Boat's about the only way to get her across the ocean, 'cause she won't fly, remember?"

"I thought we could rent Carter's plane. It has more than enough range to get from New York to London."

"Kim, Ashley's not going to fly. She just won't."

Joe added, "Jasmine's right. She's sworn to me that she wouldn't fly anything. Commercial or private."

"Her dad's working on something." Kim said this as if that was the final answer.

Jasmine started giggling which turned into outright laughter.

"What's so funny?" Kim asked.

"Just a visual floated through my head when you said that," Jasmine said around her giggles. "I pictured Commander wrapping Ash in canvas, sliding her down the barrel of a gun on his ship, then him turning to me and saying, 'I'm still working on it, but I'm pretty sure this'll get her across the pond!'"

They stared at her, mocking her insanity with silence until one by one, starting with Kim, each snorted the held laughter. Every snort resulted in new giggles until the happy infection forced a substantial delay in eating their entrees' arrivals.

"Thanks, Jazz, I really needed that!" Kim dabbed a napkin at the corner of her laughter-filled eye. "Seriously, though, if I can get Ash to fly..." She spiked her eyes at the new snort that erupted next to her. "...on a PLANE, Jazz. If she'll fly, what do y'all think?"

Jill tilted her head in thought. "I'd go. It would be a nice 20th birthday present to ourselves."

The others nodded in agreement.

They returned to the officers club and found Ashley singing, dancing, and generally looking like she was having the time of her life. Joe's heart flipped when he saw the light had returned to her eyes. Jasmine's did, too. Ashley swapped roles once again, grabbing her violin for the final song of the night. Reena took lead and rocked out the hard country song that put her band on the map. Ashley was brilliant in her accompaniment and gained appreciative grins from the rest of the band.

Ashley put her two cases into her truck and turned to lean against the side of her red beast. "Oh God, that was FUN!" she exclaimed to Reena and crew. She leaned her head back until it thudded against the side of her cab. "THAT is what it should feel like."

Reena came up and hugged her sister artist. "I totally agree."

Ashley sighed in her friend's arms. "How come I feel I do my best on events I don't get paid for? Or barely get paid." She shook the thought out of her head. "Sorry for making Julip keep track of the requests." Ashley's grin showed she was insincere.

Reena laughed. "Thanks for that. It's been the only work he's actually done for me." She stepped back out of Ashley's arms. "Not even that. He did it for you." A thought passed over her face, but she discarded it almost immediately.

Ashley smiled. "Thanks, Reena, for helping me out tonight. I think the kids were still giddy when we finished that a big name like Trail Springs played their prom."

"Ashley, they loved you more."

"I went to school with them." Ashley affected a smug smile. "They're supposed to love me more."

Reena's face turned darker with serious thought. "Ashley, you're good. Actually, you're amazing. If school weren't an issue, you'd be higher than we are. Great things are coming to you, you'll see." Then with more than a hint of sadness, she turned and left.

* * *

Summer was proving to be boring, even with the state-required summer course Ashley had picked, knowing that there would be no gigs scheduled for her. Matt seeming okay with her band's refusal to work over the summer made her seethe, but when she'd approached Kim about it, the response always was, "I'm on it." She didn't doubt her friend, but it was frustrating. She played weddings on a couple of weekends for small money, but mostly as a favor to her home parish. Joe had left with Jasmine and Jill on an errand shortly after breakfast, and Ashley passed the time by going on a run. The others had not returned even after she finished her shower. Cindy and Doug had some sort of event to go to on the base, so with just her and Kim in the house, Ashley curled up on the sofa to kill time through a book. Just as she got into the story, and the pages were replaced with scenes from her imagination, Kim plopped down next to her, shattering her trance.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Where?" Ashley tried to sound pleasant, but being yanked from her fantasy showed in her voice.

"Surprise. Come on, what are you going to do? Sit on your ass all day?"

Ashley raised an eyebrow. "I had planned on having my ass on a stage all summer."

Kim ducked as if the jab were a physical one. "Easy, tiger. I'm working on that. In fact, this is part of it."