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Toby Gray was trying to figure out what was wrong with Nick.  The young singer had changed his mood and his attitude a number of times over the past week.  It seemed to be more than just mood swings, but Nick wouldn’t talk about it.  Toby knew that once they got out on tour, he would become Nick’s confidant and get all the inside scoop but, at the moment, Nick didn’t know him well enough, wasn’t dependent enough on him yet.

Nick had been positively euphoric on Monday.  He’d made the change to his song over Tom’s objections.  And it had turned out that he was right.  Everyone could see that.  Then Nick kicked it into overdrive and started changing everything.  Toby had watched from the conversation area where he was briefing his new assistant, Gustavo Deloro.

Gus Deloro was very impressed with his new boss, and also a little intimidated.  Toby had a pile of file folders in front of him.  He handed Gus the first one – a list of the entire crew, complete with pictures and pertinent information...one page for each crew member.  Toby would handle Nick personally, of course, he told Gus, but would work closely with him to handle the others.

“The pages are numbered,” said Toby, “in descending order of importance.  Requests will be honored according to that order.” 

Gus flipped to the back of the folder – poor Jimmy Long, a lowly stage hand.  Gus hoped Jimmy was self-sufficient; he wouldn’t be getting too much from them.

“This is a shopping list,” continued Toby, handing Gus another folder.  “We’ll co-ordinate this every day.  If someone requests something, fill in the name of the person and the item, and be sure to mark down the time of the request.” 

I know, I know…” he said, holding up a hand to Gus’ raised eyebrows.  “It sounds like overkill, but trust me, we are the ones who’ll get blamed if stuff doesn’t happen the way they like.  We’re just covering our ass with that one.”

There were more checklists and instructions.  Gus figured he’d be doing as much paperwork as “assisting”.  Toby handed over another folder.  This one had a page for each city on the tour. 

“I’ll be giving you updates for this one as we go,” he explained.  “This is all the clubs, restaurants, tourist spots, etc. for each city.  Shopping, that kind of stuff.  It saves a lot of aggravation for us if we can make suggestions, point them in the right direction.”

Gus nodded solemnly.

“But remember,” added Toby, “we’re not pimps.  There are some things we’re not responsible for.  Although,” he laughed, “never run out of condoms!”

Gus gathered up the folders and wondered if Toby was always such a pedantic prig.  He hoped not.  He really wanted this job.  It was a chance to prove himself a little and have fun doing it.  He was thankful that Cousin Rafe had got him this job, instead of some boring office thing. 

Gus cautioned himself to stop thinking of Rafe as Cousin Rafe.  Rafe had told him that he was never, Rafe had said it three times, never, never, never to let on that they were related or even knew each other.  Gus would lose the job immediately if he slipped up.  And Gus couldn’t afford to slip up again.

“Do you have any questions so far?” asked Toby and then held up his hand, forestalling any that there might have been.  He heard Nick say, get off the stage, and he turned to watch.  He did not look back at Gus until the song was over. 

Gus watched Nick and the musicians, but he also watched Toby and he wondered why the PA’s eyes narrowed when Nick walked over to the woman – something Jones, Gus thought – and sang with her.

Toby joined in the applause half-heartedly when the song ended and then turned back to Gus.  “Sorry, where were we?  Oh, yeah, any questions?”

Hundreds, thought Gus.  “No, nothing yet, Mr. Gray,” he said aloud.

“Call me Toby, Gus,”  Toby extended his hand, and Gus shook it.  “I think we’ll make a good team.  And we have to.  We’re the glue that holds it all together.  Out there on tour, we’re the last line of defence.”

Gus smiled and nodded, but he wondered if maybe Toby didn’t have an inflated opinion of his own importance.  Time would tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday had been a different story, thought Toby, reflecting on the changes in Nick.  Toby had been giving more information to Gus, orienting him, trying to get him to know people, quizzing him a little to see if he’d studied the information the night before.  He had, Toby was pleased to learn. 

Then Rafe came storming in, and he and Nick had the fight…about the video, Toby thought.  He tried to listen to the argument but not look like he was listening.  The musicians packed up their stuff and very obviously turned their back on the discussion.  The crew just disappeared.  God knows where they went.  Smart of them, Toby thought.  Just get the hell out of Dodge.

Toby couldn’t decide who had won the argument.  Both men were very angry when it was over, but both walked away as if they had won.  They both showed up at the meeting on Wednesday, though.  Toby volunteered to go with Nick, saying he wanted to go over some things and they could do it in the car.  Nick agreed, seemed relieved, in fact, thought Toby.  Having an ally or something.  This pleased Toby.  This was exactly the way he wanted Nick to think of him.

Toby sat outside the meeting, working his phone and his file folders.  He couldn’t hear much through the door, but he only heard voices raised once.  He thought it was Nick’s voice, but he couldn’t be sure.  And when Nick came out of the meeting, he was all smiles.  Rafe Ariando was a completely different story.  He was not happy at all.

Thursday, Nick was a different person again.  But this time only with the woman.  Toby didn’t know if the others had noticed.  She had, Toby knew that.  Toby wondered if her feelings were hurt.  Nick was ignoring her; well, not really ignoring her, just…it was hard to pin down…it was like he was suddenly uncomfortable with her.  He didn’t walk over to her to sing any more, and he didn’t have any private conversations with her.  By Friday, he’d loosened up a little, but he was still different.  Toby wondered what had happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What had happened was Rafe Ariando.  He had called Nick in for a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.  Just you, me and Tom, he told him.  It’s not a big deal, and we’re not going to fight.  We’re just going to go over some things, make sure we’re on the same page.  Rafe was positively affable with Nick. 

“I was just a little blindsided by the whole video thing,” he explained to Nick.  “You know me, I’m a detail person.  I like things worked out in advance, no changes.  So maybe we need to go over a few things, just to make sure I know what you’re thinking…in case you want any changes made.”

Nick was surprised by the change in Rafe.  If he had known what the word ‘obsequious’ meant, he would have used it to describe the older man.  Instead, he thought of it as ‘kiss ass’.  Nick liked the new Rafe, but he didn’t trust him any more than he trusted the old one. 

They met late Wednesday afternoon, and as far as Nick could see, it was a complete waste of time.  He showed up late on purpose, just to see if that would piss Rafe off.  He knew Rafe hated that.  But Rafe didn’t mention it, just ushered him into a chair and offered him a bottle of water.  The things Rafe talked about were piddling things, stuff that had been settled months ago. 

Rafe gave Nick an update on the album.  It was ready for release in a month.  Once they got the title, everything fell into place.  Alias Me would be released first as a single, then the video and then the album.  No big news there.  Maybe Rafe was just burying the hatchet or something.  Nick began to relax.  Maybe Rafe was starting to get it – that Nick was the boss here, not him.

Then Rafe talked about the musicians, wanting an appraisal from Nick.  Nick figured Rafe wanted him to tell him how good they were, that Rafe had indeed hired the best.  That wasn’t hard for Nick to say.  He believed it.  Yes, Blaine was a wizard on the drums; Nick wished he could play that well.  And Rashad, yeah, he played the bass like it was part of him.  Tofu Sandoval?  Good choice there, great keys guy and funny dude, to boot.  And Melody Jones?  Yeah, she was great.  She could really play that guitar.

“So there’s no problem there for you, what with…?”  Rafe made circles in the air with his hands.

“Her private gigs?  Nah, that’s fine,” said Nick, with a shrug.

“No, I meant…”  Rafe hesitated.

Nick tilted his head sideways.  Meant what?

Rafe pursed his lips and then said, “Well, because she’s gay.”

Tom’s head snapped up. 

Nick didn’t notice that, though.  His eyes were glued to Rafe.  “She’s what?!”

“She’s gay.”

Nick turned to Tom.  “Is she?”

Tom had recovered his equilibrium somewhat and followed Rafe’s lead.  “You got a problem with that, Nick?”

“No, no, I…”  Nick was speechless.  He didn’t think he’d ever met a gay woman before.  He’d had lots of gay guys come on to him, though.  He looked back at Rafe.  “But…I never…no one said… do people know?”

“I think people know; well, in fact, I’m sure they do.  But they respect her.  They don’t talk about it.  It’s her business.”  Then Rafe paused.  “Can you respect her, Nick?  Can you not talk about it?”

Nick thought about it for a minute.  “Yeah, sure, it’s her business.  Does she have a…a…?”

Tom helped him out.  “Significant other?”   

Nick nodded.  Yeah, he guessed that was the right word for it.

“She did,” said Rafe, “a long-term one.  But they broke up.  Not too long ago.  Maybe that’s why she decided to come out on the road.”

Nick nodded, turning it over in his head.  Gay, huh?  You wouldn’t know it to look at her.  Maybe the hair…

Rafe wrapped up the meeting and sent a bemused Nick on his way.  He had barely closed the door behind him when Tom exploded.

“What the fuck was that?  Mel’s not gay…is she?”  Tom had actually wondered if Rafe and Mel had…

Rafe laughed.  “No, she’s not.  But who cares?  Remember, he was the one that was worried about having a girl around.  It answers his concerns…and ours too.  He won’t worry about her coming onto him, and he won’t come onto her.  He’ll treat her like one of the guys because he thinks she is.  What can it hurt?”

Tom thought it could hurt in a big way if it wasn’t kept a secret, but he knew better than to argue with Rafe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick wasn’t even sure how he made it home.  His mind certainly wasn’t on his driving.  Melody Jones was gay.  Nick wondered how he felt about that.  He was pissed that, once again, he was the last to know something.  But then again, it wouldn’t have been right to bring that up, would it?  Meet Melody, she’s gay.  Hi, pleased to meet you!  Want to arm wrestle?

Nick laughed to himself and then sobered.  You’d better knock that off, he said.  No offensive comments.  Pretend you don’t know, that’s the ticket.  Just treat her like one of the guys, like you’ve been doing.  Only maybe you’d better stop admiring her chest when you think she’s not looking.  She might not like that.

Nick thought about it off and on all night.  He was fascinated by it.  Should he have been able to tell?  She didn’t look butch or whatever the word was.  Call me Mel.  He remembered that from the first meeting.  That was kind of masculine.  And she had a good firm handshake.  Or maybe she was…like…the other half or whatever…the girl in the relationship.  Or did they even do it that way?  Nick wished there was someone he could ask.  But he couldn’t.  He had to respect her and not talk to anyone about it.  Because if Rafe found out he’d blabbed…

And then Nick got mad at Rafe.  Was this some kind of test?  To see if he could keep his mouth shut?  Why did Rafe tell him that anyway?  Shit, he would have been better off not knowing.  But then again, he might have said something inadvertently.

What about Carly Hyndman?  Was she gay?  Nick had actually heard rumors about that.  And who was this significant other that was so recently departed from the scene?

The next morning, Nick found that he couldn’t look at Mel.  He was afraid that he would stare, trying to spot some sign that he had missed.  So he ignored her for the most part.  And, when they sang Alias Me, he sang the last bit to the ‘audience’. 

That would be better, he guessed, during the shows and stuff.  If all these people who knew her were supposedly coming to the show, it would look dumb if they sang it to each other.  Although when you thought about the words, it kind of made sense.  Aw crap!  Nick wished he was better at stuff like this.

Friday was better.  Nick found he could smile at Melody and talk to her without watching every word, in case he said something wrong.  When he relaxed, everyone relaxed.  And Rafe didn’t show his ugly face, so that made everything okay. 

At the end of the day, Nick issued his usual invite to the crew, and this time, Melody accepted.  Nick had a feeling that Rashad had something to do with that, but he wasn’t sure.  Mel sat with Rashad and a couple of the stage crew in a booth at the back of the bar. 

Nick circulated and wished everyone a good weekend, thanked them all for their good work.  He felt very grown up about it.  He didn’t feel like he was being…well, like Rafe…he meant it sincerely.  Nick was just getting to Melody’s group when she and Rashad stood up.  Nick knew that Rashad never stayed long…wanted to get home to the wife and kids. 

“Have a good weekend, you guys!” said Nick, walking up to them.

“Thanks, Nick.  You too!” said Rashad.

Melody nodded her agreement to that.  “Thanks for the drink.”

“Any time.  Got a gig tonight?”  Nick was reluctant to let her go for some reason.

“Nope, not tonight…or this weekend.  It’s housecleaning weekend…and laundry.  I can’t wait to go on tour and get my laundry done for me.”

“Yeah,” said Nick, who had never done his own laundry in his life.  “I’m not good at tidying up after myself.”

“I hate housework,” confided Melody.  “You know what I need, a wife!  Someone to do all that.  Right, Rashad?”

Rashad laughed.  “You all just say that to Keshia’s face, Girl, and watch what happens!  You all just tell her that laundry and housework are her jobs.  You all just go ahead.  I’ll stand by to pick up the pieces.”

Melody and Nick laughed along with him, and the two guitarists waved their farewells and left.  And Nick’s final impression as he headed into the weekend was that Melody Jones wanted a wife.