The next couple of days were basically spent sitting in front of my piano. My meeting with Jack was productive and put my mind at ease. Everything Ashley and Alyssa said when we met was true. The contract they gave me to look over was straight forward and there were no tricks to it. It gave me a lot of peace of mind that they aren't out to get me and I added another check to the list of reasons why I should do this.
The only person who I haven't really talked to yet was Thea. I wanted to get her opinion about it because her's was the most important. Yes Pat's does have a lot of weight but I want this relationship to work out with Thea and I want her blessing to go.
We haven't seen much of each other the past couple of days. Thea has picked up some extra shifts and has been training more to prepare for her first days as a sergeant. But today she is off and we are going to go out on a lunch date later so I can talk to her about the offer.
Speaking of my girlfriend Thea knocked on my front door. I smiled and stood from the piano bench to answer the door. Thea is wearing a black long sleeve shirt under a black winter coat with a knitted green beanie on her head. Her blonde hair is down framing her face in perfect waves and it me an extra second to greet her.
"Hi beautiful." I said and smiled pulling her in for a kiss.
"Hello to you too, are you ready to go?" Thea asked after she pulled away.
"When you are." I said and closed the door behind me.
Today the weather wasn't too cold so I decided to skip the winter boots for grey combat boots with jeans and green flannel over a white long sleeve shirt. Thea held open the passenger door for me and I hopped into her truck. She drove us to the diner and I was happy to see that there wasn't that many people inside so we were able to grab a table right away.
"So there is something I wanted us to talk about." I said and skimmed the menu.
"What's that?" Thea asked looking up from her menu.
"I met with Jack about the contract from Ashley and Astralwerks. It's a fair contract. Actually it's a really good one that basically allows me to do whatever I want within reason. I wanted to talk to you about me going on tour with her." I said trying to ease into this.
"So that sounds like a good thing with the contract. What about the tour?" Thea asked.
Before I could answer her the waitress came over and took our orders. There is no easy way for me to talk about the tour so I'm just going to have to rip it off like a band-aid.
"I think I want to go on the tour but I wanted to talk to you about it. It's a 30 show North America tour with an open option to extend to tour Europe with her later this summer. I would have to leave for LA in three weeks to get everything prepared. The tour would run all of April and May and I would be home the first week of June. I wanted to know what you thought about that." I said laying out everything I knew so far.
I've spoken to Alyssa over the phone a few times the last couple of days. Mostly it was to get to know how her and see if I liked her and if we meshed together. I needed to know if I could trust her and if we could work well together. From what I learned from our conversations we seemed to be on the same page when it comes to things and I'm most likely going to hire her as my manager. We also talked about the tour and I asked a bit more about going to Europe if things go well during the North American run.
"Ash, you know that I have told you that people deserve to hear you music. This tour will unlock everything you always wanted when it comes to your music career. I'm not going to stand in the way of you going on tour. Yes I am going to miss you but we have phones and I can come out for some shows when I string a few off days together." Thea said and gave me a smile.
"You're okay with me going?" I asked still not believing her.
"Yes Ashlyn, I want you to go. I would never stand in your way. You owe it to yourself to see what you can do with your music. I told you that your words deserved to be heard. This is the best way to do that." Thea said and took my hand in hers.
I gave Thea a smile and leaned over the table to give her a kiss. Thea smiled as I pulled away and she followed me to give me another kiss. When we pulled away I held tight to Thea's hand and only let go when the waitress came over with our food. After we finished our food I paid for lunch and Thea surprised me by taking us to the pond for some skating. Both of us ended up chasing each other around like little kids and only got off the ice after Thea hit a divot and went flying. The rest of the night was spent on the floor of my living room in front of the fire.
The next morning I called Alyssa and told her I would take the tour spot and was excited to see them soon. We set up a conference call with her label to go over some details about questions I had when I came to the album part of the contract. After that we set up more meetings for stage and merch design along with holding auditions for my backing band. Alyssa actually set up auditions here in Boston for band members and a call back for when I get to LA.
My time at home got more productive as I got closer to leaving for tour. Most of my days were spent finishing songs and starting to make a line up for my set list. Thea and Pat were my audience for those nights and we made them fun. I didn't have a lot of time to put everything together and I knew that I needed to put out some of my new music before the first shows to get a feel if my old fans would like my new stuff.
Along with that I held auditions for my backing band members. I needed a new guitarist since Eli is playing for Ashley, bass player and drummer. I was able to find a drummer without a problem. Diego is in his early 30's and when he isn't playing drums he is usually on a beach somewhere. He mainly tours with artists for backing bands and came very well recommended. I liked him right away because he actually helped me piece together the drums for a song of mine that I had writers block on.
As for my guitar and bass players, I found a few people I liked but nothing about them really stood out. So there will be second round of auditions in LA and they are going to need to learn the songs fast.
Before I knew it I was getting dressed for Thea's promotion ceremony. I went for the business casual look today with a white t-shirt tucked into my black dress pants and a navy blue blazer. I added a silver layered necklace and black heeled boots to complete the look before I left my house to drive to Thea's. From Thea's house we would go to the station.
As I pulled up in her driveway I could see Thea running back and forth inside her house looking for something. I smiled at her and got inside to see what she was looking for.
"Babe?" I yelled trying to get her attention.
"I can't find my hat!" Thea yelled as she ran back into her bedroom. I chuckled and followed after her to find her ripping apart her closet.
I sighed and walked over to her bed to make it and as I pulled the covers back I found her hat tucked underneath her comforter.
"Thea." I said and sat on the bed with her hat on.
"I need to find my hat Ashlyn." Thea said still looking through her closet.
"Themis, come out here, now." I growled.
Thea came out of her closet with a scowl on her face and looked at me. She was about to say something when her eyes registered that I was wearing her hat. I raised my eyebrow at her as watched as she calmed down a little. Thea came over to me and bent down to kiss me. Our kiss was a bit rough and ended with me biting her lip and pulling away.
"We are going to be late." I said looking over her shoulder at the clock on her desk.
Thea didn't say anything but double checked her uniform in the mirror before holding out her hand for me to take. I gave her a smile and took her hand. We left her house and got into my car and drove to headquarters. When we arrived Thea held my hand and pulled me through the front doors and down the halls to find the meeting room.
Just before we walked inside I pulled Thea to a stop. She looked at me and I raised my eyebrow at her. Thea looked me over again and then her eyes widened when she saw I was still wearing her hat. She took it from my head and put it on her own. I made sure it was straight and gave her a kiss on the cheek before she ran off to join her fellow officers who were also getting promoted today.
I walked into the meeting room which looked like a small auditorium and found a seat in the middle of the room. There were a bunch of other families sitting around me as we waited for the ceremony to start. As I walked in I was able to grab two booklets that gave the run down the ceremony.
I barely had time to read through the booklet before the ceremony started. Looks like we were barely on time. Chief Rory welcomed us all the to ceremony and talked us through the whole thing. First he promoted the new detectives and next were the sergeants. Thea's new gold hat badge caught the light on her way in and I smiled so hard. I know she is so excited for this and I'm so proud of her for working this hard to get here.
Rory continued to talk and handed out everyone's new chest badge. I would pin it to her uniform after the official closure of the ceremony. I watched as the rest of the officers getting promoted get there new badges and Rory brought the ceremony to a close and release his officers to their families. I stood from my chair and found Thea walking towards me. I was able to meet her half way and she picked me up in her arms and spin me around.
Once she put me down I gave her a searing kiss and smiled. When we pulled away from each other Thea gave me her new badge. With shaky hands I pinned it to her uniform and gave her another kiss. It wasn't long before we were interrupted by a few of her fellow officers pulling her away to take some pictures. I became their photographer for a little bit as all of her friends gather together to take pictures. We were also able to get Chief Rory in a picture with all of them. Towards the end I was able to get a few pictures of Thea and I together and they made me smile.
As people were starting to clear out of the auditorium Thea told me that a few of her friends planned on going out to get dinner together and she wanted me to join them. I agreed and we all left the station to meet at Brixx, the local bar slash restaurant. When we got there Thea took off her uniform jacket and hat and left them in my car before we walked in.
The night together was fun. I got to get to know a lot of her co-workers better and it help me put my mind at ease to know that they all have her back. My biggest fear of me leaving for tour was that I would get a phone call saying that she was hurt or worse. I chugged the rest of my beer to shake that thought away.
Unlike a lot of her friends, Thea and I didn't get super drunk. It took us a while for us to find an out because at this point I just wanted to rip Thea's uniform off and have my way with her. Finally we found it and needless to say we took it right away. We barely made it to her front door before we were trying to take each other's clothes off.
Picture in the chapter is of Diego Boneta who plays Diego Reyes, Ashlyns drummer.