In no time, I found my new friend Carter, the TCC merch guy, sitting outside of the trailer surrounded by a huge pile of boxes. Clenching a clipboard, he shot me a tight smile, scratching at one of the legs of the knee-length cutoff skinny jeans he’d put on that day.

“Still busy?” I asked, looking at the cardboard boxes that had been waiting outside when the bus had rolled in an hour ago.

Carter let out this long sigh straight from his belly. His normally passive face was clearly exasperated. Even his ponytail was limp. We’d gotten to know each other over the hours of free time we shared at the merch tables. He wasn’t much of a talker unless you prodded him, but he was hardworking and kind. Mostly though, when the people I usually spent time with were louder than howler monkeys, I really enjoyed his company. “I’m only halfway done with inventory, and I need to get it all done before the show.” He shot me a flat look that drew his lip piercing tight. “By myself.”

I grimaced, knowing all too well how frustrated he got with The Cloud Collision guys. They all basically left him on his own to do everything. According to Carter, it was pretty normal for bands at their level to feel entitled to do that, but I still pointed at him and said “ha” when he’d first told me. It was occasions like those that made me appreciate playing the sister card on Eli.

“I was going to get food, but I can help you if you want,” I almost told him how I’d wanted him to go with me, but what was the point in rubbing the situation in? The poor guy was stuck working outside in a trailer with next to zero air circulation, counting T-shirts. That sucked.

The corners of his mouth tilted up just enough in what could be considered a sad, resigned smile. “Don’t worry about it. I can get it done; go get something to eat,” he said.

I didn’t think he was trying to do reverse psychology on me, but I’d spent too much time with people who did. “Are you sure?”

He nodded.

“Are you really, really sure?”

Carter’s smile tilted up a little more. “I’m positive.”

I felt bad but… “Want me to bring you something?” I offered.

His brown eyes lit up and he finally smiled, suddenly forgetting how irritated he’d been a minute before. “Please.” He began fishing through his back pocket for his wallet. Handing me a twenty-dollar bill, he paused and made a thoughtful face. “Who’s going with you?”

Even though we’d only met two weeks ago, apparently he was going to worry about me. I liked it. “No one. My brother’s busy, and I can’t wait any longer if I want to get back here before doors open. I’ll just walk somewhere close by, no big deal.”

“Gaby.” Carter’s long face was already telling me he thought my idea was terrible. He was only twenty-one, but he was such a mature guy, he seemed older.

“Yes?”

He shook his head. “This isn’t the best side of town. Find someone to go with you,” he insisted.

“There’s no one.” There wasn’t. The guys were more than likely about to start soundchecking.

Carter scratched at his chin, he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days and though he wasn’t capable of growing in a beard—his words, not mine—he had some stubble going on. “TCC isn’t doing anything. They’re around here somewhere.”

I almost crossed my eyes. “I don’t want to bother them. Honest. I can go by myself.”

Just as he opened his mouth to argue, someone cut in.

“Where do you want to go?” The voice I’d come to recognize as Sacha’s, from our handful of conversations and from listening to him talk to the audience every night over the last fourteen days, floated through the air.