Spring, Month 4

Olivia was late. But it wasn't her fault. She blamed the airlines for delaying her flight and leaving her stuck at LAX, missing rehearsal and the ceremony. She would be lucky if she made it to the reception.

Olivia could hear the frustration in her band mate's voices when she called to tell them, forcing them to rehearse without her, running through the setlist with them over the phone, pacing back and forth in front of a large glass window that looked out onto the tarmac.

Her mom was right on time. Molly was a school teacher. Had been for years. She knew how to be on time. The car was idling by the curb when Olivia came racing out of the airport, backpack slung over her shoulder, guitar case tight in hand. If she had brought any more luggage with her, Olivia would have left it at the airport to be dealt with later. She was already running late enough.

Olivia didn't notice that her mom had grabbed the wrong dress as she changed in the car. She was too busy trying to pin up her hair in what was a halfhearted attempt at a bun at the same time while her mom sped out of the city heading north. Olivia only had a small handful of nice formal dresses in her bedroom closet at her mom's house and only two of them were purple. Molly had grabbed the wrong purple one.

Ignoring the shorter length of the dress and the tightness in her chest, Olivia slipped on her flats and grabbed her guitar case from the back, unbuckling before Molly could even come to a complete stop. She called out "Good luck!" but Olivia didn't hear it as she was running across the parking lot to the band waiting for her at the back door of the church.

It was raining and she ducked her head to keep the damage to her already poor make-up job minimal. It had been seventy-five degrees when she left LA and Boston was sporting a chill forty-two and a rainstorm, otherwise known as spring in New England. The weather did not help her band's mood.

Conner greeted her with a "You're late!"

"No duh!"

Olivia pushed past Conner and entered the familiar hallways of her church. She didn't bother to look back to see whether or not the three of them had followed her as she pushed through the crowded kitchen, passing by the wedding cake and hurried across the church's transformed cafeteria to climb up on the small stage.

The rest of their equipment was already set up and all Olivia had to do was plug in her guitar and she was ready to go. Conner grabbed his electric guitar and took his spot behind the second microphone, glaring at Olivia while he did so. Jeanette took her spot behind the drums, blowing her straight bangs out of her face out of pure habit. Woody was the only one who greeted Olivia before taking his spot behind the keyboard.

"Glad you made it, Liv. Just in time, too. Conner owes me five bucks. He thought you would bail."

"Well, she almost did," Conner made sure to clarify.

"Nice dress," Jeanette snorted.

Olivia slung her strap around her shoulders, talking to her guitar.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Potentially Problematic reunites!"

All at once, Woody, Olivia, and Conner turned to Jeanette at the same time and answered 'No!' to her horrible band name suggestion.

"I'm just saying, just because you moved out to LA and you're a big shot now and you've got a record deal and whatever doesn't mean you can just skip practice and show up literally seconds beforewe're supposede to play."

"Conner, dude. Chill. It wasn't her fault."

"Thanks, Woody."

Olivia didn't have time to address Conner as the wedding coordinator sped through the swinging doors that led from the sanctuary and gave them sign "They're coming!"

"What song did they want to come in to again?" Olivia whispered over her shoulder at Woody. She could hear Conner scoff just before he started in on the first chord.

Woody quickly whispered back, following Conner's lead, "Let's Get Married."

It took Olivia half a measure to remember the chord progression and the words and was belting out through the weak in-house speaker system by the time the bride and groom appeared through the swinging doors to the cheers of the whole crowd.

They made it through the first dance, the father/daughter, mother/son dances with minor glitches, their old rhythm coming back to them the longer they were on stage together. Even Conner could tell that they had crushed it by the time they took their first break to let everyone sit and eat before the dancing began.

Dani appeared at the side of the stage with a water bottle for Olivia, her camera slung over her neck. Olivia drank half the bottle before nodding towards the camera.

"You didn't tell me Michelle hired you to do photos."

"Hired is a loose term. They paid a professional for the ceremony and all the family photos. She asked me to do the reception since I was the only person she knew with a camera. Well, the second person she knew with a camera. Her college friend, Mia, was out of town. She's paying me twenty bucks and a free dinner."

Olivia led the band climbing off the stage and moving over to the side of the room.

"How much are we getting paid, Liv?"

"We're getting a free dinner."

"You know, some of us have to pay rent," Conner said.

Dani leaned over to half-whisper into Olivia's ear.

"What's his problem?"

Olivia shook her head in a plea to not get her started.

"I'm serious." Conner had already gotten started and had lots to say. "We can't do thesekindsd of gigs for free. Some of us have bills and rent and stuff like that. We all can't live it up in LA on someone else's bill."

"Yo! Dude! Chill!"

Olivia had to block Dani before she could move any closer to Conner.

"Dani. Don't. Conner, I'm sorry I was late. Seriously. I thought I had enough time. I didn't even have to come back for this but I wanted to because I committed. And it's Michelle and Will! Of course we would play their wedding for nothing. We've all known them since we were kids. And they're broker than you so consider it charity, okay?"

"How is it going in LA?"

Woody never bothered to try and ease the tension that always seemed to rear it's head between Olivia and Conner when they hit a problem. But his easy-going manner was infectious.

"Good. Busy and a little crazy but good."

"You got high-profile celebrity friends now?" Woody was laughing when he asked it but Jeanette seemed too eager for an answer.

"No. Not really. I mean, I have to go to thosekindsd of parties but they're terribly boring. All people do is talk about themselves."

"What about you and that Jones kid?" Conner asked.

"Jayden? I mean, we're friends, maybe I'm not even totally sure. We have the same manager so we end up getting put together for a bunch of different events."

"So you haven't completely forgotten us," Jeanette said.

"Of course not! Are you guys worried about that?" Olivia made eye contact with each of them and saw that a small part of them was, whether or not they admitted it to themselves.

"Come on, guys. It's me! I'm still me! Besides, you're my back-up band. I'm gonna need you guys when I go on the road."

"What?!"

The same surprised and shocked expression spread across the three of them. Olivia laughed, letting out a well of tension as she did so. She felt on even footing with them for the first time since she had arrived. Whatever barrier time and distance had put up between them dissipated in their surprise and eagerness.

"Liv, are you serious?" Woody asked.

Olivia nodded. Even Conner managed a smile.

"You're kidding," he said.

Olivia shook her head.

"The album comes out this summer and I'm heading out on the road almost immediately after. I don't have time to audition a new band so I asked Jon if I could bring you guys with me. He said it was a sweet idea, a hometown girl bringing her high school friends on tour as her back-up band. It's a whole thing now."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Conner asked.

"I was gonna tell you at rehearsal. I was super bummed I missed it. I didn't want to do it in the middle of a job but I leave tomorrow morning so I figured now was better than ever."

Dani reappeared. Somewhere in their conversation, she had slunk off to take photos of people eating.

"Time for you guys to head back onstage. People are starting to get restless."

Jeanette leaned forward, placing her hand, palm-down, in the middle of their circle, encouraging the others to do the same.

"Mostly Harmless on three! One! Two!"

"NO!"

"Okay. Olivia Keller's Back-Up Band, Name TBD, on three! One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The jumble of words for Jeanette's ridiculous names sent them all into fits of laughter that they tried to squelch as they climbed back on stage and started playing music again. People slowly migrated out on to the dance floor and soon Olivia and her band had every young person in the room dancing.

Almost everyone she knew from high school was there. Michelle and Will had been homecoming king and queen. She had been Class President and he had been ASB representative for their class, both every year throughout high school. They had been together since they were twelve and Olivia had met them the first day of kindergarten.

It was a small community and it seemed everyone was there, dancing, having fun, mingling, in the very room several of them had attended Sunday school, played dodge ball during youth group, helped set up Christmas banquets, where they had all grown up.

Olivia caught a few of her old high school acquaintances, glancing at her, some even pointing and whispering to each other as they did. Olivia ignored their stares and played on. It was only when Dani appeared at the edge of the stages and was hissing at her to get her attention that Olivia focused on something other than putting on a good show.

Olivia stepped back from the mic, letting Conner take over lead vocals and mouthed 'What?' to Dani. Dani jerked her head so hard Olivia was afraid she would wretch her neck. But when she looked in the direction her sister was indicating, she saw the reason why.

Her heart first stopped beating, then her lungs seized, and then her entire being fell out of the bottom of her stomach, leaving her frozen and lifeless on the stage. Olivia slid her guitar off her shoulders and placed it in its case, all one fluid motion, commanding Conner in a hurried whisper to take over.

Olivia didn't wait to catch his response, see his reaction, or even hear whether or not he had taken over for lead vocals. She hopped off the stage and hurried along the perimeter of the crowd towards the door where JJ Jones, in a neat, obviously very expensive suit, stood talking to the new bride and groom, attracting a larger crowd with every second.

"Hey! Killer!"

"Olivia! Did you do this?"

Michelle's face was already glowing from the events of the day but her wide eyes seemed on the verge of tears, hopefully from excitement. She was smiling and her cheeks were red so Olivia guessed she wasn't mad.

"What? Do what?"

In one smooth move, Jayden wound his arm around Olivia's waist and pulled her in tight. The gesture set cameras in their direction.

"I came to congratulate the bride and groom! Keller told me you were a big fan so I figured I'd stop by, say hi, get to meet Reeve's family, her friends, check out her hometown! You know, that kind of stuff."

Olivia caught Jayden's wink as he smiled down at her. Her training from LA started kicking in.

"Right! Of course! I totally forgot. I'm sorry, Michelle. I would have told you!"

"Oh don't worry about me! This is the best surprise ever! Please! Stay, enjoy the party. We have lots of food and cake. Thank you so much for coming!"

"Of course! Anything for a fan!"

It took fifteen minutes to get Jayden away from the crowd. It was only once he had taken pictures with Michelle and Will and several others of their friends that Olivia could lead him to the edge of the room.

"What are you doing here?"

Olivia's words came out rushed and tense in a tight whisper.

"I was in town for a thing. Jon wanted me to stop by. I found out this morning. I would have given you a heads up but your phone was off."

Olivia had never turned it back on after landing.

"Nice dress by the way. Very... middle school formal. I like it."

Olivia looked down at her dress and tried pulling the hem down. He wasn't far off. It was her sophomore year formal dress and one of the few dresses she currently owned that wasn't designer and therefore wouldn't come close to outshining Michelle.

Of course Jayden looked the part of the star of the show in his perfectly tailored suit.

"Nice shindig. Who are your friends? Where is your family? I still have a job to do and I have to leave in..." Jayden checked what was surely a very expensive watch. "Half an hour."

"Well, my only real friends here are the wedding band. You probably don't want to meet Dani. And my mom's not here."

"Okay, then. That makes my job easier. Let's go dance. That should be enough."

Jayden led her without waiting for her permission. He twirled her around as soon as he found the center of the dance floor and as if by magic, or because it was the next song on the setlist, Conner and the band started playing a slow song.

Jayden swayed her back and worth underneath the web of Christmas lights that had been strung across the ceiling. Conner was glaring at her from up onstage but Olivia was too preoccupied with the thought of Jayden, here, at this wedding, with almost every single person she had ever known growing up, watching them as they moved slowly in time to the music.

"My friend's opening a bar in the city tonight. He asked that I be there. Wanna come with me?"

"I can't. I said I'd stay behind and clean up. Besides, I promised the band I would take them out for pizza after this was all over to say sorry for being late."

"How cute."

Olivia didn't hear condescension in his voice but felt there should have been some.

"Do you want to, I don't know, maybe, stick around? I'm sure the band would love to meet you."

"I appreciate the invite. But I'm good. I've got to go to this thing. I'll see you in LA, yeah?'

And with that, he dipped her, waited a beat to make sure everyone had seen and then set her right again. With everyone's eyes on them, he leaned in and planted a slow kiss on her cheek.

"I'll see you later, Killer."

"Bye, Jayden."

And with that, he disappeared through the crowd.

Olivia walked back onto the stage and played out the rest of the show in a daze, trying to piece together exactly what just happened.

There were a million questions burning in her friends' eyes but she ignored them as long as she could. All through the rest of their set and through clean-up. They kept at it but Olivia ignored them. They finally beat her down seated around a table at the local pizza joint, the best-dressed group in the joint.

"It's nothing, guys. I swear. We're just friends."

"Yeah. I bet that guy's a total loser anyway. Oli's way to good for him."

Dani spoke around a mouthful of pizza.

"He's freaking JJ Jones! I don't think that counts as loser!"

"Do you have a crush on him, Jeanette?"

Jeanette slapped Woody on the arm, who then pretended to be hurt.

"He's a colleague if he's anything," Olivia tried to clarify.

"That's one hell of a colleague," Conner said, smirking as the table laughed with him.

They finally dropped the subject but it took Olivia offering up the subject of a tour that summer that finally got them off of it. A small part of her wished she had gone with Jayden.