Songbird by Jamie Campbell Page A

didn’t notice how strange I was acting during our pancakes, just went on about the itinerary and guest requests I had received. It seemed like my promotions team were doing a good job of drumming up publicity for the concerts.
    Forest sat at the other end of the bus . He had his ear buds in and was lost in his own world as he read a book. Every part of his body language said to leave him alone. Even his fellow band mates were staying away.
    Perhaps it was just a hangover, maybe he was just nursing the after effects of the alcohol. As much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn’t. I had made him angry and now he was upset with me. I needed to fix it and I needed to do it soon.
    The next week passed by in a blur. We did shows every night with little incident. During the day we travelled from town to town and I would do interviews if time permitted. It became so busy that I didn’t get a chance to talk with Forest. Which kind of seemed like a good thing. We hadn’t had any more late night meetings – probably because the pace was making everyone exhausted – and we could speak to each other without arguing.
    That week didn’t help me come to a decision about Forest but it felt like I didn’t have to anymore. We were friends, it was comfortable, we could get through the entire tour like that. I was certain we had turned a corner.
    For the first time since we started the tour, everyone was getting a full afternoon off. We were in Washington D.C. and the stage was quite elaborate at the venue. It was going to take the crew extra time to set up so I had a whole night off to myself. The tour bus had been abuzz with everyone’s plans. Mostly they involved doing laundry and going out to dinner.
    I didn’t want to waste my free time, it was too hard to come by. I had plans to see the sights and I wasn’t going to be disappointed.
    We were droppe d off at the hotel with our ticket to freedom. I passed Forest in the corridor, he didn’t seem to be with his band mates. “What are you doing this afternoon?” I asked, trying to make conversation but also genuinely curious about what he had planned.
    “I was thinking of checking out a museum or something. What about you?”
    “I’m going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I’m kind of a nerd for space stuff,” I confessed. The sad fact was that it was true. Give me a rocket or a spacesuit and I’d spend hours imagining all the cool things it had done. If that got out to the media, I would never hear the end of it.
    “That’s where I wanted to go. Do you feel like some company?” He looked at me with those dark brown eyes and there was no way I could refuse.
    “Do you promise to keep my secret?”
    “Of course. I’m a bit of a science nerd myself.”
    Forest, a science nerd? I didn’t see it. Although, he would look extremely sexy in some dark rimmed glasses – Superman style. “Let’s go then.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    C hapter Nine
     
     
    W e caught a cab to the museum. Most of the tourists were already inside so the queue was only small. Within minutes we were wandering around the huge rooms of the Smithsonian museum, our eyes boggling out of our heads.
    The place was amazing to say the least. A real spaceship hung from the roof in all its glory. I tried to contain my excitement but the eight year old inside that salivated over that stuff kept managing to escape.
    “I can’t believe I’m standing in the middle of a real rocket,” I gasped, touching the walls to make sure it was real. “This thing has been to space.”
    Forest laughed. “Do you want a photo?” I nodded eagerly and handed over my iPhone. I stood in the spaceship like I was an astronaut just hanging a round. Forest snapped some pics. They wouldn’t make it onto Twitter but would be included in my private collection. “Your turn.”
    I did the same for Forest, he hammed it up for the camera. I thought I may have found a guy that was even nerdier than myself. I was seeing a