Chapter 2 - The Intruder

I knew something was wrong the moment I opened the door to my bedroom. The scent of lavender and sandalwood was definitely lingering inside my bedroom. It was almost comforting if only I was not certain that someone is inside my room.

This is nothing knew to me. I had a lot of experiences with girls managing to get around security and find their way inside my trailer. Eversince the band started to get noticed, especially on social media, break-ins like this were already too common for me. It was a mix of the weird and crazy, thank God nothing dangerous so far.

But this time its different.

Instead of the usual girl on top of my bed with their boobs hanging out, or the occassional courageous ones who lays nude on my bed, this particular visitor hid herself from me. There was even one time where a girl was actually cooking for me. 

I wanted to confront her. I already assumed it was a her. But out of habit, I had to call my Mom first. The intruder seems harmless and my security is just outside, one call away. I was excited to finally have two weeks off from touring. Ever since one of the singles from Cat Panda went viral, it became nonstop for the band. I am very much thankful for the blessing but right now all I can think of is rest.

Not that I am complaining but as an artist, it was really a dream come true to be where the band is right now. Every artist shared the same dream that my band mates and I have. But I was starting to miss my Mom. I worry a lot about him. Eversince my Dad died, it was just the two of us. But she has always been so supportive. She wanted me to follow my dreams.

And this is my two weeks vacation with her. I could finally catch up with her in person, and not on skype or my phone.

It was quite disappointing that Mom was unable to be with me for those two weeks. We initially planned to stay at our cabin to avoid the paparazzi in my childhood home. But with Aunt Lisa discovering that her husband was cheating, she needed my Mom more than I do.

“You can come out now.” I said a bit loudly as to not worry my security outside.

There was a moment of silence.

“Come on now, I won’t be mad. It’s hot inside the cabinet. Please come out now so I can rest.” He made sure that his voice was calm. He didn’t want to scare of his fans. He wanted this life and this is just one of the many consequences that came with the fame.

Slowly, the cabinet door slid opened.

The girl had a hard time getting out of the cramped corner of his cabinet. I am guessing she’s around 5’ 7”. She raised her hands like how criminals do when the police had finally caught up to them.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean you any harm,” she timidly said.

I almost laughed. How could she harm a 6’ 2” muscular guy like him.

“So what do you need?” I said instead. Again, I tried to keep my voice as cool and relaxed as possible.

“I had to hid earlier and your trailer happens to be open.” She said as she slowly walked towards where the door to the rest of the trailer was. “I’ll be leaving now. I did not mean to bother you in any way.”

Confused, I stood up and went to the door. This was new for me. I’m used to using a bit of force to remove a fan inside my trailer. Didn’t she recognize me? That was a bit ostentatious of me. He moved back to where the cabinet door was, I could see worry on her face.

“Relax.” I said, now I was raising my hands like a criminal too.

“Can we put down our hands and talk please.” I chuckled a bit after realizing how weird we seemed to have looked like with our hands raised like that.

“I am Seven and this is my trailer. What’s your name?”

She seemed to have given it a thought for a while and then answered. “Jenny.”

“Hi Jenny.” I said, smiling. “So again, why are you here inside my trailer.”

She looked at her feet a she unconsciously fumbled and played with her fingers.

“Listen, this sounds absurd but I just have to get awat from here.” She answered.

“Why, did you do something wrong?”

“No. I just had to get away from this place. I need to go as far as I can.”

“I don’t get it. Its the Coachelle. Why ran away from this place?” I had to ask.

I was certain that she was thinking of the right words to say. Or maybe creating a story of sorts. But she already caught my curiosity.

“Listen, just tell me why you are here and then I could help you get out of this place.” I said.

She looked at me, her eyes seemed to glistened.

“Really?” I could sense how articulate she was.

“Really.” I said. I was certain of it.

“Ok.” She took a deep breath.

“So, I need to get away, as far as I can. My father wants to ship me off to Italy to marry the son of his potential business partner. I certainly do not want to marry unless its for love, so my best friend helped me to change earlier and escape my body guards to get away and hide up until my father decides that marrying me off to someone is something I would not allow to happen.” She pause to catch her breath.

“As I was trying to get out of this place, one of my bodyguards saw me, or I think he saw me so I ran and ran and found myself in this parking area. I had to hid so I could regroup and try to get outside once the sun is down. I tried several other trailers but this one was the first one I found unlocked so I hid myself inside.”

“And you happen to found yourself inside the trailer of Cat Panda’s lead singer?” I knew I didn’t had to brag but her story seems to be absurd.

“Whose Cat Panda?” She said, one of her eyebrows raised.

I chuckled and was surprised with what I said next. “Fine. I’ll help you get out.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I replied. 

I heard her stomach grumble. “Come outside, I’ll make you a sandwich.”

“What time is it?” She asked as she stepped outside my bedroom. 

“About 9pm in the evening.” I answered as I grabbed the mayo and tuna from the refrigerator.  “Tuna sandwich?” I asked. She nodded.

“Go grab a seat. This should take a while.”

She sat there, parting the window slides a bit and looking outside. She seemed nervous. She almost jumped when Thomas entered the trailer.

“Relax, Thomas is my security.” I placed the plate with the cut tuna sandwiches on the table. “Thomas, this is Jenny. Jenny Thomas.” Thomas gave her a nod. She smiled awkwardly.

“Eat.” We are about to leave.

“Thank you.” She said before grabbing the sandwich. “How about you?” 

“I am full.” 

She was looking at the window and then chewing on her sandwich as the trailer started to move. In less than 10 minutes we were already outside the venue.

She stood up. “Thanks. Again, I am sorry.” gather her backpack, I saw the Fiji water bottle tucked on the side.

“Sorry, I took one.” She saw where I was looking. 

Jenny started to unbutton her bag and grabbed 20 bucks. “Here, for the water and sandwich. Again, I am sorry.” She said, leaving the 20 on the table and turning her back on me. 

I was about to pull her hand to stop her but my fingers caught on her hair which fell on the floor. She was wearing a wig.

She stumbled a bit, worried that her disguise was exposed. She grabbed the wig and secured it neatly back to her head.

“Wait, are you in danger? You are really running away, area you?” I felt worried.

“I already told you earlier. You thought I was lying?” There was dismay in her voice.

“Wait, I remember your face.” It was shown earlier on the screens as a missing person. “You had a different hair color.”

She stood there, waiting for whatever I was about to say.

“Your name isn’t Jenny.” I was trying to call the face that was shown in the screens after our set. I remember that face because I was thinking whoever requested that to be flashed on the 85-feet tall screen earlier had the connections and the money to do so.

“You’re Genevive Anders!” I said.

She ran towards me and covered my mouth. “Shhhhh” They might here you.

It was then that I noticed that we are still not outside and Thomas was being held by the security at the gates.

We both kept quiet to hear the conversation. Her hands still covering my mouth as if I was about to scream and reveal her.

“Hi Sir, sorry to bother you but we are doing a quick inspection. There has been a missing girl.” The man outside stopped talking for a bit. “Here is a picture.”

“Sorry dude, haven’t saw that chick.” Thoma casually replied.

“Can we do a quick check inside?” 

Thomas hasn’t answer yet but I heard the door opening. I grabbed Jenny by her waist and pushed her back to where my bedroom door was and kissed her. I have been meaning to fix the main door’s lock.

Jenny didn’t move, probably surprised. But I felt her body stiffened when a man spoke from the door.

“Sorry man,” It said.

I looked back and pretended to look a bit irritated. “Knocking would be nice” I told him and started to kiss Jenny to cover her face again.

“Sorry again,” the man said as he quickly closed the door.

“This one is good to go.” He shouted a bit.

I continued kissing Jenny. She didn’t moved and somehow I felt that she was kissing back. Or maybe it was my imagination. Nevertheless, I was already breathless when I let her go after I heard the man thanks Thomas and the trailer started moving again.