“Uh huh . . . I see . . . is she okay?” I listened for a few more minutes to the person on the other end of the line, then nodded. “Okay . . . I know, thanks. Bye.” Once I’d hung up the phone, Elis was almost on top of me.
“What happened?” she demanded. I shook my head.
“He’s gone,” I said, sitting down on the couch. Elis’s eyes went wide and she sat down on the couch next to me.
“Is she okay?” I shrugged.
“Chris says she was crying at first, but now she’ll barely talk to anyone. When anyone asks her if she’s okay, she’ll just nod and leave the room.” The two of us were silent when the doorbell rang. Joey walked in a few seconds later and sat down next to Elis. He took a look at both of our faces and sighed.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?” We both nodded. “Man, are they okay?” We both shrugged.
“I dunno,” I said.
“She’ll make it through,” Elis said. “It’ll just take her a little while.”
“I’ve got some more news,” Joey said. “Usually, it’d be good, but I’m not sure if everyone’s up for it right now.”
“What is it?” Elis asked. He took her hand.
“A concert is scheduled for Monday,” he said. “It being Saturday and all, we have to practice tomorrow afternoon.” Elis and I groaned. After a few moments, Elis stood up.
“I’ll go tell the others,” she said. “We’ll all meet at my house at seven tonight, okay?” Both Joey and I nodded. Giving Joey a short kiss, she grabbed her keys and left.
“Yeah, my house, seven o’clock,” I said before hanging up on Mel. I had called everyone and told them to meet at my house later tonight. I had tried calling Chris to find out what was going on, but his cellphone had been turned off. I wasn’t about to call Josh’s house because I didn’t want to disturb them.
“Is everything okay?” I looked up to see Roxie descending the stair of our two level home. I shook my head. “What happened?”
“It’s Dave,” I said. Roxie’s eyes widened and she sat down next to me.
“Is he . . .” I nodded. Roxie sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. “I hope Alex’s is okay.”
“I’m sure she will be, but I just wish she’d come home.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see her again as much as JC does. I’d do anything to help her out with this.”
“Well, yeah, that, but I’m also getting tired of JC’s constant whining,” I joked. Roxie laughed.
“I’m sure she’ll be home soon,” she said. “We have to go to the funeral, too. We have to be there for her.”
“If Alex doesn’t tell us about it, I’m sure we’ll get a call from either Josh or Chris.”
“I hope so,” she said. “I really, really hope so.”