It wasn’t like Zach to raise his voice at all, so when Bree walked into the green room to see him so flustered, she could only imagine what Cat had said or done to make him that angry. “What’s going on?” Bree asked.
“Nothing,” Cat said, getting up and storming out of the room, glaring over her shoulder at Zach as she went.
Bree obviously didn’t believe that. “Are you okay, Zach?” she asked, taking the seat Cat had occupied a moment ago on a couch against the wall. Their other bandmates were talking about something else now, and she figured that was because they were all uncomfortable. Trent sat down in a chair, his phone in his hand, and she assumed he was pretending to be busy doing something rather than listening to her, though she couldn’t blame him if he was eavesdropping.
“I’m fine,” Zach said. “She just doesn’t know how to stay out of other people’s business.”
Knowing that to be true, Bree put her hand on his knee. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head, tempted to tell him that there were other band members who were thinking about getting rid of the keyboardist. She decided against it, hoping it would just blow over. She wanted to have someone else on hand to take Cat’s place before she just fired her, and she could see no good coming of talking about her behind her back. “Hey, what are your plans tomorrow?”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!” Bree insisted, trying to make her face as innocent as possible.
“Bree--I know that look. What did you do?”
A small grin pulled up the corners of her mouth. “Nothing--I just thought… Shawna seems nice. And pretty….
“Bree--” he exclaimed, shaking his head.
“What? She likes you.”
“Do I even want to know how you know that?” He folded his arms and continued to shake his head at her, but Bree could see amusement in his eyes as well.
“Look, I saw the way you two were talking to each other, and I figured you’d come up with a million excuses why you shouldn’t ask her out, so I invited her to go out with us tomorrow.”
“With us? Aren’t you and Trent going to be visiting the arch?”
‘Yeah, well… I didn’t tell her that. I figured she wouldn’t be there to see me anyway. Or… the two of you could come with us and leave the rest of the band to whatever they’re planning.”
“Or I could just take her to the zoo myself since I didn’t go today.”
“Exactly!” She figured he wasn’t serious, but she wanted to encourage that sort of thinking.
Zach rolled his eyes. “And she’s agreed to come with us?”
“Yep. I’ve got her number.” She wagged her eyebrows at him. When his face turned pink, she couldn’t help but smile. Her plan seemed to be working.
“You’re awful, Bree. Talk about not knowing how to keep out of other people’s business.”
The last comment stung a little, but they both knew this was different. She was helping the situation, not hurting it like Cat. “I’m the best,” Bree insisted, winking at him. “Whattaya say?”
“I say… hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk to her some more this evening, and I’ll let you know.”
She grinned and poked him in the arm with her elbow. “But you do like her, right?”
“I don’t know her!” he argued.
“But you think she’s purty?”
His face reddened even more. “Yeah, I think she’s purty.”
Bree giggled and patted him on the shoulder, having heard everything she needed to. “Great. Now, I guess I better go find Cat….” She didn’t want to, but they needed her, at least for now, until they could find someone to take her place….
***
Cat was coming out of the bathroom down the hall when Bree stepped out into the hallway. She was on the phone with someone, talking in a quick, hushed tone. It seemed odd to Bree, but she couldn’t make out what she was saying. When Cat saw her, the woman’s eyes bulged for a second, and she quickly hung up, shoving her phone in her pocket.
Deciding to ignore the odd occurrence, Bree asked, “Are you all right?” She did her best to make her voice sound concerned instead of angry. It was hard for her to feel sorry for the girl who constantly seemed to be stirring up trouble.
“I’m fine. I’m just tired of putting up with all of this bullshit,” she said folding her arms across her chest and shaking her head.
“What bullshit?” Bree asked, not sure what she was referring to.
“You don’t see it because no one acts the same when you’re around, but the guys in the band are all a bunch of douches.”
Bree raised an eyebrow at her, not sure how that could be possible. For the most part, they all seemed like perfect gentlemen to her. “What happened?”
“The second you walked out the door, they started talking about how hot that Shawna chick is. I told them they were a bunch of pigs, talking about her like she was a slab of meat. Zach tried to defend what they’d been saying. He said that’s not what they were doing, that I was overreacting. I told him to shut the hell up, and then we got into an argument about how he thinks I always try to run the show when you’re not around. He’s so full of shit. Now, I do hope he leaves the band. The sooner the better.”
Bree didn’t see the point in trying to explain to Cat that she’d rather have Zach in the band than the keyboardist, especially not when they were about to go out on stage and she needed Cat to have her head on straight. “I’m sorry that happened, Cat, but we all just need to calm down now, let things go, and get ready to go out on stage.”
“Yeah, that’s easy for you to say because you’re not the one they’re constantly harping on.” She rolled her eyes.
“You’re right, they don’t do that to me. And I haven’t seen them do it to you, so it’s hard for me to address it, but I can say something if you want me to.”
“Why? So they can all deny it and pretend like I’m just trying to cause drama? No thanks.”
“All right. I won’t say anything then, but if you change your mind, let me know.” Bree put her hands on Cat’s arms. “Are you going to be all right to play?”
“Yeah. I’ll… power through.” She shrugged and pulled away from Bree, and she let her go.
“Thanks, Cat. I appreciate you doing what’s best for the band.” She smiled and Cat nodded. Bree turned to go back into the green room to wait for Shawna to come and get them to report to the stage.
Cat came, too, but she went and sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, her arms still folded. She wouldn’t even look at any of the guys. Bree figured it was better to leave her alone than have her start arguing again.
The guys were over it, talking about something else. She sat down next to Zach, but her eyes were on Trent. He gave her a reassuring smile, and she concentrated on letting the frustration she was feeling toward Cat go so she’d be ready for the show. Nothing else mattered at the moment.