"Awe, is your Davey not answering your phone calls?" Abby teased from across the room.
"He's not." Eliza responded, frustrated. She'd called Dave three times that day, none of which he'd answered. Based on the night before, it was very concerning that he hadn't spoken to her.
"He's literally on tour in Europe, Liza. He's not going to be sitting in his hotel room all day."
Eliza knew she was right, and she knew that she had to lighten up. He was probably just busy. She continued on through her day without calling him. Although she wasn't making an attempt to reach him, it didn't mean that he didn't cloud her thoughts.
Once she'd made it back to her dorm room at the end of the night, Eliza decided that it was time to give Dave another call.
She dialed the number of the new hotel room that he was staying in, and put it up to her ear.
He didn't answer immediately, but when he did, Dave did not sound glad to be talking to her at all.
"Hey Eliza. Now's not a good time."
"Oh, I'm sorry." She was at a loss for words. She'd spent all day fantasizing about the moment that they'd speak again, and she never imagined their conversation going like this.
"I'll give you a call later, ok?" He said.
"Yeah sure that works."
"Bye." He said, hanging up the phone.
Eliza stood there in complete shock. The only thing that broke her silence was Abby talking to her from the other room.
"Geez, not even an I love you?" She questioned.
"Nope." Eliza managed to squeeze out.
"Maybe he was just busy."
"Maybe." Eliza tried not to panic. There were many explanations as to Dave's poor attitude. Truth be told, she had no idea what his life looked like right now. There were many things that could be upsetting him that she just didn't know about. She had to accept that she couldn't be as involved in his life as she used to be, and that she'd have to adjust to this new normal.
Eliza spent hours that night, trying to fall asleep, convincing herself that everything was going to be ok.
The next morning, Eliza awoke to the ringing of the phone on her wall. She ran over and answered it.
"Hey sweetheart, I'm so sorry about last night."
"It's alright." Eliza said, her voice still groggy from her sleep. "What happened?"
"Oh, it was nothing. Can you talk now?"
Completely ignoring the fact that Dave was not going to tell her what had made him act so strange towards her, she affirmed that she had time to talk.
After about forty minutes spent on the phone, Dave finally had to go.
"I'm so sorry sweetheart, I gotta go."
"That's alright. Thanks for talking to me."
"Absolutely. I love you."
"I love you, too." She stayed on the line until he hung up.
"Sounds like you've got your Davey back." Abby said, crawling out of bed.
"Yes, I do." Eliza said, proudly.
"Did he ever explain what happened yesterday?"
"Nope."
"Eliza, don't you think that's a little weird?"
"He just probably had a rough day and didn't wanna talk about it." Eliza shrugged, brushing her teeth.
"I don't know. If I were his girlfriend, I would be suspicious."
"Well, you're not his girlfriend. And Abby, I know you. You always like to assume the worst out of people. I'm not gonna let you get in my head about this one."
"Alright, it's whatever you think." Abby said, slightly frustrated. She knew that she didn't always give the best advice, but she had a strong feeling about this one.
Over the next few weeks, Dave and Eliza spoke about every other day on the phone. Their conversations were normal, and were spent discussing the tour or Eliza's bad professors or how much they missed each other. Although rare, the times still existed where Dave would answer extremely frustrated, or be too drunk to talk at all, and those would be handled by Franz.
"Should I start looking at flights for December?" Eliza asked one day on the phone.
"Do you still wanna come out?" Dave asked.
"Well, yeah. We've been planning this for months. Do you not want me to come over there?"
"No, of course I do. I just know it's expensive and college might be crazy around then."
"Ok. Well I will plan on it."
"Good." Dave said, sighing.
"Did he really try to talk you out of flying over there?" Abby questioned once they got off of the phone.
"No, he did not." Eliza said, firmly. She knew what Abby was getting at and she did not like it. "He was just making sure I still was able to."
"That's not what it sounded like."
"Stay out of my relationship, Abby."
"Fine, but don't come crying to me when shit hits the fan."
A few more weeks passed, and the moments where Dave was either too drunk to call or the calls were answered by Franz increased. One night in particular, Franz passed the phone to Pete because he was also "too tired to talk."
"Hey Eliza! How's it going?" He sounded more than thrilled to be talking to Eliza.
"Great. How are you?"
"Well, the tour's coming along amazingly."
After the two caught up some more, Eliza brought up the topic of flying out to him.
"Would it be weird if I flew out to be with you guys in December for a few weeks?"
"Nah dude! You gotta come out here! It'll be dope."
"Alright then." Eliza laughed. "If you want me to come, you best bet I'll be on that flight."
A few more weeks passed, and it was now mid November. Although she called wherever Dave was staying nearly every night, it seemed as though she was talking to Pete more nights than Dave. It seemed like Franz had passed on the phone answering duty when Dave was not around to Pete, but Eliza couldn't complain. She was just happy to be getting a play by play of the boys adventures on tour, even if it wasn't coming directly from Dave.
Whenever she brought up the topic of visiting the band to Dave, his response was always that the choice was hers. She also mentioned it to Pete, who always strongly encouraged her to come. Eliza had it in her head that she would go, as she would take any chance to hold Dave in her arms again that was given to her. She often spent her nights sleepless, thinking about how much easier it would be for her to sleep if Dave would be there next to her.
It was now early December, and her trip to Europe would be in a week. Dave still held the stance that the decision to come or to not was up to her, and Pete was practically begging her to come out.
One day while Eliza and Pete were talking on the phone, the topic of her visiting was once again brought up.
"You've gotta come out here. You said it would be in a week?" Pete asked.
Eliza began to respond, but stopped when she heard what seemed to be Franz talking in the background.
"Were you just telling her to come out here?" Franz said, angrily.
"Yeah man, we've been talking about it for a while. I thought it would be fun-" Pete was cut off by Franz, and Eliza practically shoved the phone into her ear to hear their conversation better.
"Are you a fucking idiot, Pete?" Franz was basically screaming. "Use your brain. Look around. She can't see this."
"Sorry, man. Just thought it would be good to see her again."
"Idiot! Do not let her come out here."
Eliza's breath was caught in her throat. What the hell was Franz talking about? Maybe he was just talking about how the band was being messy, and they would be embarrassed for her to see them like that?
Startled by Pete's voice speaking at her again, she dug the phone out of her ear.
"Hey Eliza. I gotta go."
"Alright. Talk to you soon?" She tried to say causally, as if she didn't just hear the conversation he just had with Franz.
"Of course. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.
Thanks to Franz's freak out, Eliza had just confirmed the fact that she would be flying out to see the band next week. Whatever was going on over there with them, she had to find out.