Wait until the music's over

18. Panicky and Grumpy

"Yeah... I was so tired... I fell into the arms of Morpheus in five minutes I think!" Meg explains laughing, without looking at me in the eyes.

"Nothing else?"

"What else?"

"I don't know, maybe some problems, maybe something's happening and..."

"What? No, not at all! Everything's fine!" she still doesn't look at me and keeps struggling with the pizza box, the meal she bought for us.

"Meg, please, don't give me no bullshit! Not you! If you know something about Jerry, just talk!" I blurt out without an apparent reason.

"Jerry? Why Jerry? Jerry's got nothing to do with it..."

"No?"

"No, I don't... Ugh, ok, I was angry because a girl at beauty school told me Mike's dating another chick. That's all. I know, I shouldn't be, it's pointless and doesn't make sense. Now tell me this thing about Jerry, what's wrong?" Meg reveals everything and counterattacks: now I'm the one who'll have to come clean.

Shit.

"Well ehm it's does make sense, I mean, you and Mike have had a thing for a long time, you can't erase a relationship just like that, it's a..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's natural, being jealous it's natural even though I'm the one who decided to break up with him and bla bla. Now tell me what the fuck is happening with Jerry" Meg unfortunately interrupts me when I'm right at the beginning of my consolatory speech.

"Nothing" I coyly answer.

"Angie..."

"Nothing's happening, really. How can something happen if we don't even talk? To have something happening you have to be in touch with someone, talk, interact. Well, we don't! I don't even know if he's dead or alive, so nothing moves, everything's fine and calm, dead calm! A big nothing's happening!" I reply hysterically.

"When did you last talk to him?" she asks after a long sigh, resuming to set the table. Well, set is a big word, let's say throw two dishes and two napkins on the table.

"Thursday"

"Mmm and they left the next day, didn't they?"

"Yes"

"And they had the show yesterday, right?"

"Right"

"Ok, so don't you think that Jerry may have been just a little busy lately?" she asks me while I'm biting a slice of pizza. I hate her rhetoric questions, my pizza's excellent though.

"He may be. But it just never happened before, he always finds the time to call me, at least a couple of minutes just to say hi"

"Maybe he hasn't found these two minutes yet. I bet he'll call you before tonight, wanna bet?"

"I don't make bets, I'm not called Stone or Jeff" I answer with a smile, loosening up a little.

"Come on, don't worry, Jerry adores you and as soon as he has the time you'll be the first person he'll call"

"The first one... maybe not the only one, not the only girl"

"Angie! What the fuck are you talking about?" Meg asks upset letting her slice of pizza fall into the box.

"I don't know, it's just... it doesn't add up"

"I told you, when you're on tour you can really have no time and..."

"It's not for the tour, he was strange before leaving also. He was distant... and cold, since that morning"

"Which morning? When he slept here?" Meg asks chewing.