The Hope That Starts

by Heidi Hutchinson

  Zelda dropped her bag and then flopped belly down on one of the queen-sized beds.

  “Okay, you get settled,” Kendra said, already bossing her. “I'm going to go back downstairs and make sure there aren't any messages and that our security has their floor covered.”

  Zelda rolled her body to face the assistant, bracing her head in her hand and her elbow on the bed. Kendra was scanning her phone and the room at the same time. Always aware, always on duty.

  “How old are you?” Zelda asked.

  Kendra's head jerked at the question and her hazel eyes slid to Zelda's. “Twenty-four.”

  Zelda grinned. “You go do what you have to do. Then we're going to have some fun.”

  Kendra rolled her eyes. “Always. I get paired up with these idealists,” she grumbled under her breath.

  Zelda snatched a pillow off the bed and threw it at Kendra, who chuckled as she batted it away.

  “I'll be back in a bit,” Kendra said, pointing her finger at Zelda. “Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone.”

  Zelda got out her own phone and texted Lucy and Lenny. She hadn't had a girls' night in forever and it was about time to change that. Besides, she had a feeling the other girls would agree that Kendra needed to have a little bit of fun for once.

  ***

  Lenny looked down at the novel-length text she got from Zelda and started laughing.

  “What?” Luke asked, his fingers trailing through Lenny's hair.

  They'd been in the same position for the entire hour they'd been alone in their room. Being off of the bus was always so nice. Lenny loved the nights they could be in a hotel.

  “Zelda wants to do a girls' night to get Kendra to relax,” she summarized. “But I have to get you to agree to keep the band in line so there are no surprises.”

  Luke “hmphed” pleasantly under her head. “I can do that. Kendra needs to take her ponytail out for an hour or two.”

  Lenny pinched his abs and he flinched. “You and your theories about women's hairstyles.”

  “I'm not wrong,” he stated flatly. “Chicks with tight hair tend to have tight attitudes.”

  “Shut it,” Lenny scolded.

  “Make me.” Luke tugged her hair so her head tipped back and she could see that face she adored right before he crushed his lips to hers.

  ***

  “I'm in the bar at the hotel. Just hangin' with Blake. Call me when you get here.” Harrison hung up his cell and tried not to frown as he stared at his Dr. Pepper.

  “Why not just tell her what room you're in?” Blake asked.

  Harrison let out a half-groan, half-sigh. “Because I want to actually talk to her for a minute.”

  Blake's eyebrows arched and his mouth twisted in a badly hidden smirk.

  “Don't think you know everything,” Harrison said dryly.

  Blake brought his Coke to his lips and shrugged.

  Harrison turned in the booth they were occupying and watched a group of women go bananas over some guy in a cowboy hat. “Who's that?”

  Blake set his glass down and looked that direction. “A male model or something. I heard some women talking in the bathroom.”

  Harrison's wide eyes flew back to Blake's. “The bathroom?”

  Blake shrugged. “I was in the right one. I think they were a bit mixed up.”

  Harrison watched the loud ladies some more. “Too many margaritas.”

  “Probably.”

  Harrison was wondering if Kiley was going to even show. Was it wrong that he kind of didn't want her to? If she bailed on him, then that would make this whole thing easier. He'd be able to walk away without any guilt.

  “What are the girls up to tonight?” he asked, knowing that Luke had basically demanded that the band be in his room playing poker in thirty minutes or there would be hell to pay. Even if Harrison had plans with Kiley, he was supposed to at least check in.

  “Something goofy, more than likely,” Blake answered. His tone made Harrison look where his vision was directed and he saw the bar employees setting up a microphone and in the corner of the dance floor.

  “This looks suspicious,” Harrison mumbled. Blake grunted in agreement.

  It didn't take long before the troublemakers presented themselves.

  Lenny, Lucy, and Zelda entered first. Kendra stomped along behind them. They were dressed down. Relaxed. Jeans, t-shirts, their hair down. Even Kendra's.

  “I don't think I have ever seen Kendra's hair out of that ponytail,” Blake remarked, echoing Harrison's thoughts.

  Lucy spotted them and waved.

  “Why do I get the feeling they're getting ready to cause a riot?” Blake said through a grin.

  “Just be glad Clarke's not here yet, or Greta for that matter,” Mike said as he slid into the booth.

  Harrison nodded in agreement. The last thing they needed was for all the girls to get together in an unsupervised location. While the women believed that the rock stars were the troublemakers, they knew better. It was the wild in their women that attracted them in the first place.

  “Did Papa Bear send you to find us?” Blake asked Mike, who nodded with his eyes still pointed at the girls' activities.

  “Yeah, although I might want to stay for the opening act.”

  ***

  The plan was pretty simple. Mostly Lenny talked the hotel into letting them have a Taylor Swift dance party in the bar. Lenny was very persuasive. Zelda decided she might be in love with Lenny.

  They saw Blake, Harrison, and Mike in a booth when they came downstairs. But it was girls' night. So the boys were going to have to find their own fun.

  “Red” was up first. The best part was the microphone. They all took turns singing lead. Kendra needed this like Zelda didn't even know. She confessed on the ride down in the elevator that she and her boyfriend Chad were taking a break. It was tense right now.

  And if Taylor Swift wasn't the remedy for a heartache, then Zelda had no business being a woman and should just turn in her card now.

  Predictably, the other women in the bar joined them shortly and their energy gained strength. The guys were giving them their space though, which was pretty decent considering it was obvious Blake wanted to be much closer to his woman.

  Zelda kinda wished they would join them.

  She hadn't really talked to Harrison much since the night they had spent together in her bunk. He was still being sweet, polite, awesome, and adorable. But he was also very, very far away at the moment. Zelda missed him.

  The song switched to “I Knew You Were Trouble” and Kendra really let out some of her frustration. She got on top of a chair and shook her booty while singing very loudly. Zelda, never one to leave a sister to go it alone, got right up there with her.

  Needless to say, they became very popular very quickly. Zelda decided she could do this all night. There was not one shameful bone in her body.

  And then it happened.

  The fangirl took over and pushed any small little bit of sensibility that Zelda possessed to the back of her mind. The song switched to “Sparks Fly” and she sang her little stupid fangirl heart out.

  Right. At. Harrison.

  She didn't care what it looked like, she didn't care who saw. She had a singular desire and that was for Harrison to see her and hear her and fall madly in love with her.

  Because she was already gone.

  Then he stood up and he was walking towards her slowly and she kept right on singing. The rest of the room fell away and nothing else mattered. She wanted him to know, mostly because she had just figured it out for herself and she wanted to scream it.

  It was new.

  She'd never felt anything like this before. When she looked at Harrison, it all became so incredibly clear.

  It was fireworks, and lightning, and banners waving, and people cheering, and it was more than she could handle and she wanted to share it. She wanted to share it with him.

  Then time stopped. The song ended and the next one started.
r />   “Shake it Off.”

  The girls were tugging her back to the dance floor. She smiled bravely and decided to sing this one just as intensely.

  Because a petite, perfectly behaved straight-haired blonde in a red dress that showed off her no-need-to-be-airbrushed legs had wrapped herself around Harrison and he had turned her out of the bar. His arm around her waist, his head dipped to her ear.

  Kiley.

  Yep.

  Zelda was a lot of things.

  But she was not Kiley.

  She wasn't anything like Kiley.

  ***

  “I guess I'll call you later then?” Kiley asked after Harrison had opened the door to her cab.

  He gave her as warm a smile as he could manage and nodded. “Yeah, you can call me.”

  She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and fixed her beautiful frown on him. She didn't understand. But she had been reasonable, and for that he was thankful.

  She'd shown up in the bar and instead of taking her upstairs like she was expecting, he pulled her into a secluded alcove and gently explained to her he wanted to back off of their arrangement. He still wanted to be her friend if that was something she was all right with. But the physical nature of their relationship was over.

  “I suppose I expected this eventually,” she conceded, looking down at the street briefly, then back up. “I'm going to miss you.”

  “It's not goodbye, Kiley,” he whispered. “It's just not what it was. We can still be friends.”

  She nodded, gave him a small smile and then took in a deep breath. Pushing up on her toes she touched his cheek with a kiss. “See you around.”

  “See ya,” he said. The cab closed after her gorgeous legs were inside and he watched the car drive away. She was a very beautiful woman, but she wasn't what he wanted.

  That was easier than he thought it would be. Now he had to do the hard part.

  Risk it all on a girl who could do far more damage to him than anyone he'd ever met in his life.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way back into the hotel, through the lobby and to the elevator. The music was still blaring from the bar, but he couldn't go back there. Not yet. Not after he had probably misinterpreted that little solo act.

  He really needed to stop thinking that everything was about him.

  It was just... Zelda's face had looked so incredibly... exquisite. And sincere.

  But now was not the time to figure that out. Now it was time to play poker and get some sleep.

  And hopefully come up with a decent plan of action for tomorrow.

  Chapter 12

  Kiss Quick

  “Ugh... Can you have a fun hangover?” Kendra groaned as she slapped at her cell phone while the alarm went off.

  Zelda grinned and buried her face deeper into her pillows to stifle the giggle that erupted from her hoarse throat.

  “And if you say 'epic' one more time, I'm going to kill you,” Kendra added, and Zelda laughed into her pillow.

  Kendra with her hair down was a whole new animal.

  They'd partied all night. No need for alcohol; they were fueled by a late night candy run and way too many Shirley Temples. The bartender kept giving them extra cherries. So they took a few selfies with him.

  Then Lenny convinced the hotel night manager to open the pool just for them. Not to be bothered to change into swimsuits, they jumped into it in their bras and panties. They swam for a while and worked up an appetite. So Lucy suggested a 24-hour diner she had seen when they'd driven into town. Putting on their dry clothes over their wet undergarments, they hailed a cab and headed into town.

  Dipping their fried food into milkshakes, they told stories about exes, and then crank called Chad—Kendra's off-again drummer playboy boyfriend.

  The giggling was nonstop. So was the dancing.

  They didn't make their way back to their hotel rooms until nearly four in the morning. Luke had met them in the hallway. His expression was a gorgeous mixture of amusement and disappointment. Blake was grinning flat-out.

  “God help us when we get to California,” Blake said, sliding his arm around Lucy's waist as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

  Luke tipped his chin up at him while Lenny's arms encircled his waist and she rested her head heavily on his chest, a happy smile on her tired face. “All those checks we wrote in our youth,” he said rationally.

  “It's come time to pay up,” Blake agreed with a nod.

  “Please,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes. “We didn't break any laws, we didn't drink, and we didn't make any hospital visits. We ate too much sugar. That's all you got on us.”

  Blake's face dipped close to hers as he pulled her body flush to his. “Mm, too much sugar, huh?”

  Lucy grabbed him by the back of the neck and smiled. “Uh-huh.”

  Kendra tugged on Zelda's arm. “When they start making out, that's our cue to leave.”

  The sugar crash was instantaneous when they hit their beds.

  And now it was time to go back to work.

  “Okay,” Kendra said. Zelda rolled over to look at her. She was sitting up and rubbing her hands over her face. “I'm going to need a shower and coffee at the bare minimum.”

  “I'll go downstairs and get you something to take the edge off,” Zelda offered.

  Kendra slid her eyes to look at her. “You're a bad influence.”

  Zelda laughed and flopped back into the pillows. “I can live with that.”

  Kendra headed to the shower and Zelda didn't even put on socks. She grabbed the room key off of the dresser and decided against looking at herself in the mirror before leaving. It wasn't like she'd be able to really fix whatever Tribble-like atrocity had sprouted on her head last night. Honestly, she was lucky she was wearing pants.

  She smiled at a middle-aged couple in the hallway, who did a double-take of her appearance, and got onto the elevator. The lobby wasn't exactly bustling, but it was busy enough that no one really paid her any attention. Except for the concierge, who smiled at her bare feet.

  “I will take two of the biggest size you have of white chocolate mochas,” she ordered at the Starbucks that she was ever-so-thankful was located right across from the elevators. “And like four of those giant chocolate chip cookies,” she added.

  “Breakfast of champions,” a voice she'd know anywhere said behind her.

  She had actually put that whole episode of her singing her heart out to Harrison and him leaving with Kiley last night out of her mind... for the most part. She had been with her girls, she had fun. She'd deal with Harrison later.

  Apparently it was later.

  Bracing herself to come face-to-face with Harrison and his perfect counterpart Kiley, she turned around with a pleasant smile. But frowned when she saw he was alone. He was in jeans and a gray henley, his eyes staring down at her feet. She wiggled her toes reflexively and he grinned up at her.

  “My sister goes everywhere barefoot,” he said.

  Oh, good, I remind him of his sister. Kill me now. And because Zelda had always been the coolest of the cool kids, she blurted out exactly what was on her mind. “Where's Kiley?”

  His eyes narrowed and his mouth grew small. Well, he wasn't happy with that question. “How—?” He broke off and tilted his head to the side.

  “Here you go,” the barista said, plunking down the two cups on the counter.

  “I saw you leave with her last night,” Zelda said casually and turned around. She smiled at the barista and looped the paper bag over her wrist before picking up the two coffees. Turning back to Harrison, she was surprised by the scowl on his face. “What?”

  “Hey!” Lenny greeted them with a wide smile. She tipped her head to Zelda's drinks. “A little hair of the dog?”

  Zelda laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

  Lenny turned to Harrison, who was still staring hot daggers into Zelda. “Hey, Harry, where's Kiley?”

  Harrison’s head whipped around to Lenny so fast, Zelda was su
re he hurt his neck. “What?”

  Lenny made a show of looking around the small coffee shop. “Yeah, we all saw her with you last night. Where is she?”

  Harrison was not happy. He actually looked kind of angry. It was a look that Zelda wasn't familiar with, so she wasn't sure how to respond. Was Kiley really that big of a secret? Then maybe she shouldn't have worn a stoplight-red dress last night for all to see.

  “She's not here,” Harrison finally said, but it came out all huffy.

  Lenny tilted her head and nodded in the way people do when they feel pity for someone. “I heard she does that.”

  “Does what?” Zelda asked. If someone could shove one of those cookies in Zelda's mouth right about now, that would be great.

  Harrison's face was turning an interesting shade of red, actually kind of a burnt cayenne color.

  Lenny dropped her voice. “She doesn't stay the night after... you know.” Then she shrugged.

  Zelda nodded and swallowed hard. That was way more than she needed to know. She really didn't need to know that not only was she not good enough for Harrison, but she wasn't even good enough to be his booty call.

  “Kiley and I are done,” Harrison declared forcefully. He planted his feet hip-width apart and crossed his arms over his chest. “I sent her away last night.”

  Lenny's face brightened and she touched his shoulder. “That's great! So what does that mean?”

  Zelda wasn't sure what her face looked like, probably pretty freaking hopeful because Lenny stepped to her side and looped an arm through hers. Harrison didn't take his eyes off of Zelda and she felt hot. But maybe that was the coffee she was still holding.

  “Yes, what does that mean?” Zelda asked when there had been no answer initially forthcoming.

  Harrison chewed on his bottom lip, his frown severe. “I don't know yet. She's still a friend of mine.”

  Oh.

  So he wasn't actually done done with her. He was just taking a break.

  Boys could be so stupid.

  Zelda plastered her smile back on. “I better get this to Kendra or she'll send me to a dimension made entirely of shrimp. And I really hate shellfish, so...”

  “I've seen that one!” Lenny declared exuberantly while pointing an excited finger at Zelda.