DreamOutLoud13
Blue Crack Addict
I've been busy, and I haven't really been writing, and I'm currently quite frustrated with my lack of productivity. Luckily though, this fic is finished, so the rest of it will get posted without delay.
I just wish I could get some work done on any of my unfinished projects
Words of encouragement por favor?
And while we're at it... chapter 10:
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The next morning, Adam had been awoken entirely too early in the morning by Edge. He stumbled from his bed and straight to the shower. Afterward, he was feeling much more awake and was able to pack away the last of his possessions for the coming trip. By the time he finished with that, Edge had procured a luggage cart, which he’d parked in the hallway. Adam and Edge loaded their suitcases onto it and then went next door to Larry and Bono’s room.
In there, it was like a tornado had hit. Larry had his suitcase packed, but Bono’s lay open on the floor, clothing spilling from it in all directions. Larry was sitting on one bed tying his shoe. Bono was nowhere to be found.
“Jesus. Didn’t he pack last night?” Edge asked.
“He did. But this morning he decided he had to wear his Joy Division t-shirt, and didn’t stop unloading his suitcase until he’d found it. He’s in the shower now.”
Adam rolled his eyes, but Edge simply sank down to the floor and began throwing Bono’s clothes back into the suitcase. “We really don’t have time for this.” He said, turning to Larry. “Go tell him to hurry up.” Larry went to do so, while Adam knelt down to help Edge pack up Bono’s things. Eventually Bono was showered and dressed with his things all packed away, and the four of them were able to make it downstairs for a quick breakfast before hitting the road.
Now the trip was halfway over, and Adam sat at a small table on the tour bus, across from Larry who was writing a letter. Edge was seated near the front of the bus, and Bono was hidden away in his bunk, doing god know’s what. Adam glanced out the window absentmindedly. The scenery wasn’t much to look at, just trees and the occasional billboard advertising a roadside eatery.
Adam had taken the card bearing Heather’s phone number from his wallet and now he balanced it on one corner between his fingertip and the tabletop, flicking it with his other hand, and making it rotate on its axis. Watching the card spin and thinking about Heather kept Adam mildly entertained until Bono stumbled from his bunk and up the aisle. He almost passed Adam without incident, but suddenly stopped in his tracks and plucked the card from Adam’s hands. Adam steeled himself for whatever comment was coming, but Bono simply glanced at both sides of the card, before handing it back to Adam, disinterested, and moving on toward the front of the bus where he seated himself beside Edge and asked the question most hated by all long-suffering travelers: “Are we there yet?”
Meanwhile, Heather was taking advantage of the weekday morning by calling those prospective employers she’d found in the past days’ classifieds. It was tedious and repetitive work, but it needed to be done as soon as possible, if she hoped to secure a new job before the bills began piling up. Heather kept a weary eye on the clock while she worked. Adam was supposed to call her as soon as he got to his hotel room, which he’d guessed would be shortly before lunch. Heather wanted to make sure she didn’t tie up the phone any time after eleven. Heather hoped that with her moral boosted by a long conversation with Adam, she’d be able to find the mental energy to spend her afternoon trekking across the city and handing in her resume to some of the businesses she’d been phoning.
The too-long morning drive was over, and now Adam was finally in his hotel room. This time around, he was sharing with Larry. Adam picked a bed, deposited his suitcase unceremoniously upon it and took out his wallet. He stuck his fingers inside it to pull out the card bearing Heather’s number, but the card was not there.
Perplexed, Adam held the wallet open all the way and peaked inside, but all he found there was monochromatic American money, mixed in with the random Irish pound. Laying the wallet on the bed, Adam checked all the pockets of his jeans, but the card was not there either. He picked the wallet back up and began checking the other pockets, pulling out his driver’s license, a photo of his family, and other assorted rick-rack. He even found a couple of other girls’ phone numbers, but not Heather’s. Finally his wallet was empty, its contents spread across the slightly-ugly hotel bedspread. Adam stood staring at them. Finally Larry seemed to notice what was happening and looked up.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find Heather’s number. I was supposed to call her.”
“Maybe you left it on the bus. You were playing with it.”
“That’s right!” Adam said, brightening up immediately. He began stuffing everything back into his wallet. Everything, that is, except the other girls’ phone numbers. These he tossed into the wastebasket beside the hotel room’s dresser. He couldn’t remember who those girls were, but was certain they could never compare to Heather.
Adam told Larry he’d be back in a bit and headed out the door and down the hall to the lift. When the elevator reached the ground floor of the hotel, Adam was pleased to run into their bus driver Jack.
“Hey Jack, I need the bus keys. I think I left something on board.”
“Alright.” Jack said, digging the jangly keys from his pocket. “I got a great parking space, right behind the building.”
“Cool.” Adam said, taking the keys. “I’ll bring these back to you when I’m done.”
Adam’s last trek through the hotel involved going down a narrow corridor probably rarely seen by the hotel’s guests, but once he’d made his way through a nondescript back exit, and stepped blinking into the sunlight, he saw that Jack had been completely right. The bus was parked not more than twenty feet from the door.
Adam unlocked the door and climbed aboard the empty bus. His first glance around told him that the card was not on the table, its surface was completely bare. Still, he looked under it and around it, to no avail. A sort of angry panic was beginning to come over Adam. He quickly rushed from one end of the bus to the other, searching every area of it that he’d parked his bum near since the last time he knew he’d had the card, but he found neither hide nor hair of it.
Finally defeated, Adam climbed back off of the bus and locked the door behind him. The card could be anywhere. For all he knew, he’d lost it while digging in his wallet for quarters to play Space Invaders at a truck stop some forty miles back.
Upstairs, he glumly handed the keys back to Jack, who asked him if he’d found what he was looking for. Adam shook his head and turned away. When he got back to his hotel room, he found that Bono and Edge had drifted over from theirs.
“Did you find it?” Larry asked.
“Find what?” Bono asked, ever curious.
“Heather’s number. And no, I didn’t.” Adam said and walked silently over to his bed, but once there, he let out a frustrated cry of anger and punched his pillow. “How am I supposed to get a hold of her now? She’s waiting for my call. I should’ve just kept the fucking thing in my wallet.”
Heather was, in fact, waiting for the call, and growing more anxious by the minute. She was telling herself that anything could’ve come up, Adam’s life was hardly routine. But when the clock rolled around to 1 o’clock and he still hadn’t called, the doubtful, panicking voice inside her head began to wonder if he’d forgotten about her, wondered if perhaps he’d already found some other girl. Telling her that she didn’t really know him that well, and that for all she knew, he could have a girl like her in every city. Maybe that was why he had so many bracelets.
Heather made no more phone calls that afternoon, for fear of tying up the line in case he tried to call, but she achingly wanted to call Jenny, just so she could have some reassurance. However, Heather forced herself to wait, and not just for fear of tying up the line. She didn’t want to call Jenny at work. The last thing she needed was to spill her fears to Jenny only to receive her robotic business-likes replies because the boss was standing near.
When the work day was done, and she knew Jenny would be home, and she’d still received no call from Adam, Heather could wait no longer. She picked up the phone and dialed Jenny’s home number. The voice that answered was not Jenny’s but one Heather knew well.
“Hello, you’ve reached the home of Jenny Martin. She can’t come to the phone right now, because she’s being taken hostage by a dashing insurance salesman.”
“Steve!” Jenny called out scoldingly in the background, although she was laughing. Heather echoed her, minus the laughter.
“Steve. It’s Heather. Put Jenny on, it’s important.”
“As you wish, madam.” He said and then she heard him speaking to Jenny in the background. “It’s Heather, she says it’s important.”
“Heather? What’s up?” Jenny asked when she got on the line.
“Adam never called me.”
“What?” Jenny asked and then Heather heard a muffled sound and Jenny was shouting at Steve. “Steven! Get off me! Sorry Heather, Steve’s feeling frisky.”
“I’d noticed.” Heather said miserably.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“He was supposed to call me when he got to the hotel. That should’ve been before lunch, but I still haven’t heard from him.”
“Oh Heather.” Jenny said, in her usual sympathetic way. “It could be anything though. Maybe something came up.”
“Oh believe me, I’ve already been over all of those arguments in my head. I’m sure something did come up, but of course, my mind is running wild with the awful possibility that maybe he just doesn’t care about me.”
“Of course he does! I saw the way he was with you. Something had to have come up.”
“I’m trying to make myself believe that.” Heather said. “I just miss him so much. Hell, for all I know, he’s trying to call me right now.”
“Do you want me to let you go?”
Heather sighed. “I suppose you’d better. Besides, I’m sure Steve wants your attention.”
“Oh, you know I’d pick you over Steve any day.”
“Hey!” Steve shouted in protest.
“I know, but pick him anyway. Just be glad you’ve got him with you.” Heather said. After hanging up, she wandered into her dim bedroom. She hadn’t made the bed that day, and among the pale, crumpled sheets was a single burst of colour, the scarf Adam had given her. Heather lay down, clutched it to her chest, and wondered where Adam was and if he was thinking about her.
Adam was, of course, thinking about Heather. He’d been extremely angry with himself all afternoon and was missing her terribly. He felt like a jerk for not keeping his promise to her, and had no idea how to rectify it. He knew where she lived, and could’ve found her building if he were in her city, but he wasn’t and didn’t know her exact address, nor had he memorized her phone number. He had no way of getting in touch with her, and could only wonder how long it would be before she decided to call either of the numbers he had given her, in order to get a message to him.
He knew he should probably call home and let his family know that if Heather called, they should by all means get her phone number, but he didn’t have to look at the clock to know that it was way too late in Ireland at the moment to be calling home. It would have to wait until the morning. Meanwhile, Adam had an entire evening to spend annoyed and alone, with no real distractions. For once, on his night off, Adam was wishing they had a show to play. At least then he’d have a distraction from his own thoughts. Edge and Larry (and to a lesser extent, Bono) did their best to cheer him up, but it was not enough.
Things really weren’t much better the next morning, but at least Adam had the show and the natural high it provided to look forward to that evening. After lunch, Adam glanced at the bedside clock in the hotel room and calculated that it was early evening in Ireland. He picked up the phone, and after fumbling for far too long with the long-distance codes, he heard his parents’ phone ringing in his ear from all the way across the ocean. After several rings, his eleven year old brother Sebastian answered.
“Hey kiddo!” Adam said, instantly cheered by the familiar voice on the other end.
“Adam!” Sebastian shouted with genuine excitement. “You usually don’t call until Wednesdays!” He said, referring to Adam’s usual weekly call home.
“Well, I just decided to shake things up a bit, I guess. Listen, are mum and dad around?”
“Nope. Dad’s down the pub, and mum’s taking some kind of class. Dunno what for, but Jamie’s mum’s in it too, and he says it’s just an excuse for ladies to get together and gossip.”
Adam chuckled. “Jamie may be right. Which one is he, the ginger one?”
“Aye.”
“Right, well, I need you to take a message for me.”
“Sure thing.”
“If an American girl called Heather calls for me, you have to get her phone number. I lost it.”
“An American girl, eh? Is she hot stuff?”
“Sebastian!” Adam said scoldingly. “You don’t say things like that about women. It’s disrespectful.”
“Oh please, like I haven’t heard how you and your mates carry on.”
“Fine, when you grow some chest hair, you can say whatever you want.”
Sebastian laughed. “It’s a deal then.”
“Alright.” Adam said, feeling better already. He and his baby brother chatted a while longer, before Adam had to end the conversation in order to call Principle and give them the same message about Heather, albeit with less banter. It was already after business hours, but Adam knew he’d be able to find someone there to take his message.
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You know, they say that when you write, and create characters, you have complete control over their lives, and are thus their god.
I tend to put my people through hell. I am a mean god
And only one more chapter left! BUT. It may not really be over after that
</cryptic>
I just wish I could get some work done on any of my unfinished projects
Words of encouragement por favor?And while we're at it... chapter 10:
---------
The next morning, Adam had been awoken entirely too early in the morning by Edge. He stumbled from his bed and straight to the shower. Afterward, he was feeling much more awake and was able to pack away the last of his possessions for the coming trip. By the time he finished with that, Edge had procured a luggage cart, which he’d parked in the hallway. Adam and Edge loaded their suitcases onto it and then went next door to Larry and Bono’s room.
In there, it was like a tornado had hit. Larry had his suitcase packed, but Bono’s lay open on the floor, clothing spilling from it in all directions. Larry was sitting on one bed tying his shoe. Bono was nowhere to be found.
“Jesus. Didn’t he pack last night?” Edge asked.
“He did. But this morning he decided he had to wear his Joy Division t-shirt, and didn’t stop unloading his suitcase until he’d found it. He’s in the shower now.”
Adam rolled his eyes, but Edge simply sank down to the floor and began throwing Bono’s clothes back into the suitcase. “We really don’t have time for this.” He said, turning to Larry. “Go tell him to hurry up.” Larry went to do so, while Adam knelt down to help Edge pack up Bono’s things. Eventually Bono was showered and dressed with his things all packed away, and the four of them were able to make it downstairs for a quick breakfast before hitting the road.
Now the trip was halfway over, and Adam sat at a small table on the tour bus, across from Larry who was writing a letter. Edge was seated near the front of the bus, and Bono was hidden away in his bunk, doing god know’s what. Adam glanced out the window absentmindedly. The scenery wasn’t much to look at, just trees and the occasional billboard advertising a roadside eatery.
Adam had taken the card bearing Heather’s phone number from his wallet and now he balanced it on one corner between his fingertip and the tabletop, flicking it with his other hand, and making it rotate on its axis. Watching the card spin and thinking about Heather kept Adam mildly entertained until Bono stumbled from his bunk and up the aisle. He almost passed Adam without incident, but suddenly stopped in his tracks and plucked the card from Adam’s hands. Adam steeled himself for whatever comment was coming, but Bono simply glanced at both sides of the card, before handing it back to Adam, disinterested, and moving on toward the front of the bus where he seated himself beside Edge and asked the question most hated by all long-suffering travelers: “Are we there yet?”
Meanwhile, Heather was taking advantage of the weekday morning by calling those prospective employers she’d found in the past days’ classifieds. It was tedious and repetitive work, but it needed to be done as soon as possible, if she hoped to secure a new job before the bills began piling up. Heather kept a weary eye on the clock while she worked. Adam was supposed to call her as soon as he got to his hotel room, which he’d guessed would be shortly before lunch. Heather wanted to make sure she didn’t tie up the phone any time after eleven. Heather hoped that with her moral boosted by a long conversation with Adam, she’d be able to find the mental energy to spend her afternoon trekking across the city and handing in her resume to some of the businesses she’d been phoning.
The too-long morning drive was over, and now Adam was finally in his hotel room. This time around, he was sharing with Larry. Adam picked a bed, deposited his suitcase unceremoniously upon it and took out his wallet. He stuck his fingers inside it to pull out the card bearing Heather’s number, but the card was not there.
Perplexed, Adam held the wallet open all the way and peaked inside, but all he found there was monochromatic American money, mixed in with the random Irish pound. Laying the wallet on the bed, Adam checked all the pockets of his jeans, but the card was not there either. He picked the wallet back up and began checking the other pockets, pulling out his driver’s license, a photo of his family, and other assorted rick-rack. He even found a couple of other girls’ phone numbers, but not Heather’s. Finally his wallet was empty, its contents spread across the slightly-ugly hotel bedspread. Adam stood staring at them. Finally Larry seemed to notice what was happening and looked up.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find Heather’s number. I was supposed to call her.”
“Maybe you left it on the bus. You were playing with it.”
“That’s right!” Adam said, brightening up immediately. He began stuffing everything back into his wallet. Everything, that is, except the other girls’ phone numbers. These he tossed into the wastebasket beside the hotel room’s dresser. He couldn’t remember who those girls were, but was certain they could never compare to Heather.
Adam told Larry he’d be back in a bit and headed out the door and down the hall to the lift. When the elevator reached the ground floor of the hotel, Adam was pleased to run into their bus driver Jack.
“Hey Jack, I need the bus keys. I think I left something on board.”
“Alright.” Jack said, digging the jangly keys from his pocket. “I got a great parking space, right behind the building.”
“Cool.” Adam said, taking the keys. “I’ll bring these back to you when I’m done.”
Adam’s last trek through the hotel involved going down a narrow corridor probably rarely seen by the hotel’s guests, but once he’d made his way through a nondescript back exit, and stepped blinking into the sunlight, he saw that Jack had been completely right. The bus was parked not more than twenty feet from the door.
Adam unlocked the door and climbed aboard the empty bus. His first glance around told him that the card was not on the table, its surface was completely bare. Still, he looked under it and around it, to no avail. A sort of angry panic was beginning to come over Adam. He quickly rushed from one end of the bus to the other, searching every area of it that he’d parked his bum near since the last time he knew he’d had the card, but he found neither hide nor hair of it.
Finally defeated, Adam climbed back off of the bus and locked the door behind him. The card could be anywhere. For all he knew, he’d lost it while digging in his wallet for quarters to play Space Invaders at a truck stop some forty miles back.
Upstairs, he glumly handed the keys back to Jack, who asked him if he’d found what he was looking for. Adam shook his head and turned away. When he got back to his hotel room, he found that Bono and Edge had drifted over from theirs.
“Did you find it?” Larry asked.
“Find what?” Bono asked, ever curious.
“Heather’s number. And no, I didn’t.” Adam said and walked silently over to his bed, but once there, he let out a frustrated cry of anger and punched his pillow. “How am I supposed to get a hold of her now? She’s waiting for my call. I should’ve just kept the fucking thing in my wallet.”
Heather was, in fact, waiting for the call, and growing more anxious by the minute. She was telling herself that anything could’ve come up, Adam’s life was hardly routine. But when the clock rolled around to 1 o’clock and he still hadn’t called, the doubtful, panicking voice inside her head began to wonder if he’d forgotten about her, wondered if perhaps he’d already found some other girl. Telling her that she didn’t really know him that well, and that for all she knew, he could have a girl like her in every city. Maybe that was why he had so many bracelets.
Heather made no more phone calls that afternoon, for fear of tying up the line in case he tried to call, but she achingly wanted to call Jenny, just so she could have some reassurance. However, Heather forced herself to wait, and not just for fear of tying up the line. She didn’t want to call Jenny at work. The last thing she needed was to spill her fears to Jenny only to receive her robotic business-likes replies because the boss was standing near.
When the work day was done, and she knew Jenny would be home, and she’d still received no call from Adam, Heather could wait no longer. She picked up the phone and dialed Jenny’s home number. The voice that answered was not Jenny’s but one Heather knew well.
“Hello, you’ve reached the home of Jenny Martin. She can’t come to the phone right now, because she’s being taken hostage by a dashing insurance salesman.”
“Steve!” Jenny called out scoldingly in the background, although she was laughing. Heather echoed her, minus the laughter.
“Steve. It’s Heather. Put Jenny on, it’s important.”
“As you wish, madam.” He said and then she heard him speaking to Jenny in the background. “It’s Heather, she says it’s important.”
“Heather? What’s up?” Jenny asked when she got on the line.
“Adam never called me.”
“What?” Jenny asked and then Heather heard a muffled sound and Jenny was shouting at Steve. “Steven! Get off me! Sorry Heather, Steve’s feeling frisky.”
“I’d noticed.” Heather said miserably.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“He was supposed to call me when he got to the hotel. That should’ve been before lunch, but I still haven’t heard from him.”
“Oh Heather.” Jenny said, in her usual sympathetic way. “It could be anything though. Maybe something came up.”
“Oh believe me, I’ve already been over all of those arguments in my head. I’m sure something did come up, but of course, my mind is running wild with the awful possibility that maybe he just doesn’t care about me.”
“Of course he does! I saw the way he was with you. Something had to have come up.”
“I’m trying to make myself believe that.” Heather said. “I just miss him so much. Hell, for all I know, he’s trying to call me right now.”
“Do you want me to let you go?”
Heather sighed. “I suppose you’d better. Besides, I’m sure Steve wants your attention.”
“Oh, you know I’d pick you over Steve any day.”
“Hey!” Steve shouted in protest.
“I know, but pick him anyway. Just be glad you’ve got him with you.” Heather said. After hanging up, she wandered into her dim bedroom. She hadn’t made the bed that day, and among the pale, crumpled sheets was a single burst of colour, the scarf Adam had given her. Heather lay down, clutched it to her chest, and wondered where Adam was and if he was thinking about her.
Adam was, of course, thinking about Heather. He’d been extremely angry with himself all afternoon and was missing her terribly. He felt like a jerk for not keeping his promise to her, and had no idea how to rectify it. He knew where she lived, and could’ve found her building if he were in her city, but he wasn’t and didn’t know her exact address, nor had he memorized her phone number. He had no way of getting in touch with her, and could only wonder how long it would be before she decided to call either of the numbers he had given her, in order to get a message to him.
He knew he should probably call home and let his family know that if Heather called, they should by all means get her phone number, but he didn’t have to look at the clock to know that it was way too late in Ireland at the moment to be calling home. It would have to wait until the morning. Meanwhile, Adam had an entire evening to spend annoyed and alone, with no real distractions. For once, on his night off, Adam was wishing they had a show to play. At least then he’d have a distraction from his own thoughts. Edge and Larry (and to a lesser extent, Bono) did their best to cheer him up, but it was not enough.
Things really weren’t much better the next morning, but at least Adam had the show and the natural high it provided to look forward to that evening. After lunch, Adam glanced at the bedside clock in the hotel room and calculated that it was early evening in Ireland. He picked up the phone, and after fumbling for far too long with the long-distance codes, he heard his parents’ phone ringing in his ear from all the way across the ocean. After several rings, his eleven year old brother Sebastian answered.
“Hey kiddo!” Adam said, instantly cheered by the familiar voice on the other end.
“Adam!” Sebastian shouted with genuine excitement. “You usually don’t call until Wednesdays!” He said, referring to Adam’s usual weekly call home.
“Well, I just decided to shake things up a bit, I guess. Listen, are mum and dad around?”
“Nope. Dad’s down the pub, and mum’s taking some kind of class. Dunno what for, but Jamie’s mum’s in it too, and he says it’s just an excuse for ladies to get together and gossip.”
Adam chuckled. “Jamie may be right. Which one is he, the ginger one?”
“Aye.”
“Right, well, I need you to take a message for me.”
“Sure thing.”
“If an American girl called Heather calls for me, you have to get her phone number. I lost it.”
“An American girl, eh? Is she hot stuff?”
“Sebastian!” Adam said scoldingly. “You don’t say things like that about women. It’s disrespectful.”
“Oh please, like I haven’t heard how you and your mates carry on.”
“Fine, when you grow some chest hair, you can say whatever you want.”
Sebastian laughed. “It’s a deal then.”
“Alright.” Adam said, feeling better already. He and his baby brother chatted a while longer, before Adam had to end the conversation in order to call Principle and give them the same message about Heather, albeit with less banter. It was already after business hours, but Adam knew he’d be able to find someone there to take his message.
---------
You know, they say that when you write, and create characters, you have complete control over their lives, and are thus their god.
I tend to put my people through hell. I am a mean god
And only one more chapter left! BUT. It may not really be over after that
</cryptic>
*cheerleading pom-pom dance* 
I started reading, then wondering where the hell chapter 9 was.... 
I totally missed it!
aww poor guys!
