The Carousel

Vingt Deux

"You don't have to take it seriously," she turned her head towards the window and bit her bottom lip.

"Take what seriously?"

"The whole bouquet and garter thing. I know you're not the marrying kind, so..."

"But you are," he said seriously.

"You don't have to do anything just because I want to do it," she sighed.

"I would only want to get married if I was marrying you."

"But I would feel bad if you did something you didn't really want to do."

"Hey, hey. I love you, babe. If we do get married, rest assured it's because I want to get married to you; I want to get tied to you forever, okay?"

"Okay," she said hesitantly.

"Ames, babe, if I had my way, I'd want to get through the rest of this life with you. I can't even imagine not having you by my side."

"It's just that, I believe that we get into relationships with marriage as the goal...obviously not right away, but I do imagine myself getting married to you. I don't want to pressure you, but I just want to be honest with you...that I do dream of getting to call you my husband one day."

"And imagining you as my wife is not so far fetched," he kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry if I'm being weird. I guess this wedding just affected me."

"The Carters stole a Miller; I gotta get a Carter for the Millers in exchange."

Ondine smiled at what she heard. Oh how she loved this man. Marriage or not, she felt that she would always love this man.

***

White Noise and Ondine were in the studio rehearsing songs for their upcoming tour. Ondine was a little bit nervous. This was the first time she played with the guys, and since they all had voted for her to be a part of their tour, she wanted to make sure she earned her spot. She had never played at a rock concert before. She was a classical pianist, after all. This was definitely a new challenge for her. Ben practiced with her one on one with his guitar and vocals for a bit to make sure she got the timing and sequencing right. After a couple of hours, the band went on a fifteen minute break.

"Am I doing okay, babe?" she asked Jared as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"You're doing great," he smiled at her.

"Okay, I just want to make you proud."

"I am. I'm so very proud of you. It's just the first day. Relax...." he went around her and massaged her shoulders for a bit.

She leaned the back of her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and clsoed her eyes. His massage was doing wonders for her tense back and shoulders. She opened her eyes when she heard the door to the break room open and heard Tommy's voice talking loudly to someone. She stood up straight and took another sip of her coffee.

"You know Jared. And that's Ames...she's going to be the keyboardist for White Noise this tour."

A tall man with dusty blond hair and aquamarine eyes walked over to her. He was wearing a denim chambray shirt and tan chinos, his guitar slung over his back. He walked over to her with a smile and held out his hand. He needed no introduction. She knew exactly who this man was.

"Hi, I'm..."

"Blake Hunter, I know!" she said enthusiastically. "I am such a fan!" she couldn't help but squeal a little bit.

Blake laughed. "Well, that's good to know."

"When Jared told me about who we were touring with, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity," she babbled on. Jared raised his eyebrows at her and she caught sight of what he did. "So much talent on this tour."

"Yeah, my girlfriend Ames here is talented herself," Jared butted in, emphasizing the word girlfriend. "She had just returned from Vienna. She's a concert pianist and played Beethoven over there."

"Oh, wow, that's amazing," Blake said to Ondine. "From Beethoven to White Noise, huh? That's a pretty broad spectrum."

"It's different, but I like the challenge."

"And touring with your boyfriend? Are you keeping tabs on him?" Blake joked.

"He knows I don't like groupies. I told him already," she laughed.

Jared put an arm around her waist and took her coffee cup from her, shaking his head before taking a sip. Ondine and Blake were already talking like they were old friends. He knew he had nothing to be jealous about, but he couldn't help it. He was very territorial when it came to Ondine.

"So Blake, I think you know my sister..." Jared asked the taller man. He just wanted to expose him, to not so subtly warn Ondine that this guy was bad news.

"Your sister?"

"Yeah, my sister. Emily Jane Miller ring any bells?" Jared told Blake pointedly.

"Oh, yes, Em J! She's your sister?" Blake asked in shock. "I recorded a song with her. Truly amazing voice. Too bad she doesn't want to pursue a career as a singer."

"Yeah, well, Em J loves what she does too much, planning weddings and all that stuff. In fact, she just recently got married to Aiden Carter...Ames' brother," he said, making sure to emphasize the word brother.

"Oh," Blake's face lost a bit of it's earlier brightness. "I've met Aiden a couple of times. He's a very lucky man to have landed Em J."

Ondine looked from her boyfriend to Blake and then back again somewhat confused. What was Jared doing? She could sense that he was tense from the way he held on to her waist. Was he jealous? Why? She knew she had to diffuse the situation and drag him away from this Blake guy.

"Um, I think I'm gonna use the restroom before we head back to rehearsal. Blake, it was nice to have met you...I'll see you around," she turned to Jared. "Jay, wanna show me where the little girl's room is?" she asked him although she knew perfectly well where it was located.

Jared nodded and reached for Ondine's hand. They left Blake with Tommy and walked down the corridor in the direction of the restrooms. She wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. She heard him sigh loudly.

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?"

"What was what all about?"

"Oh, Jay. You were sizing him up the whole time and asking all these questions...so what if Blake knows Em J and A?" she asked him.

"Babe, call me a jealous prick or whatever you want, but I'm just protecting you from him."

"Huh?"

"He had a thing for Em J. Your brother was pretty upset with Blake and the whole thing."

"I didn't know..."

"You weren't here when all that went down. He may look like an innocent face with his 'aw shucks' demeanor, but he's not as naive as he presents himself to be. I just want to protect what's mine."

"Babe, are you jealous?" she teased him.

"Of course I am. It's like Ben all over again, but this time, it's worse! Ben is my friend and we have this mutual respect, but Blake? He's not my friend," he huffed, his nostrils flaring. "I have to make sure he knows he's flirting with someone else's girlfriend."

Ondine hugged him around the waist with both arms "As sexy as I find your whole jealousy thing, you have nothing to worry about. And I would hardly call that flirting. It was me who was acting like a dork over there," she laughed at the memory. "I love you, babe."

"I love you, too."

"Smile now, okay?" she stood up on her tiptoes to give her boyfriend a peck on the lips. "Okay, I really gotta use the restroom. Be right back." she gave him another kiss before running inside the restroom.