*****
Lasting Impression
Chapter 10
Written By: J
*****

The early afternoon was taking its toll on him as his eyes were drooping from reading his book. After the success of their first concert, they were back on the bus driving to Little Rock, Arkansas for day two of the tour. He turned over and his bare foot kicked something in the corner of his bunk. The contents of the manila envelope were spilled onto the bunk. A small corked glass bottle filled with sand, a certificate, and a 3X4-inch card embossed in silver and gold, and a small note.The small note flitted onto the ground of the bus as Joey was passing by with a chocolate pudding cup in his hand. He picked it up to read and shoved a spoonful of chocolatey goodness into his mouth.

Dear Lance,

I can't believe you never told me your birthday was coming up! I had to find out from one of those teen magazines and no, I wasn't looking at it because you were in it! The big 2-1, eh? I hope you didn't get drunk off your butt and wake up with a horrendous hangover. Although, that would have been funny to see. :) You were kind of a challenge gift wise since you can basically buy anything you want so I had to whip up something. I hope you like it. "A friend is a gift you give yourself." The quote is pretty much on the money so the best gift I could think of was my friendship to you.
Smiles &Hugs-Jayla

P.S. Here's my pager and cell phone number if you need to reach me. ###-####
& (###) ###-####

Joey had a devilish look in his eyes. 'What else is Scoop hiding from us?' He pulled back the curtain to Lance's bunk and noticed that he was sleeping. There were items spread across his bunk and Joey took it upon himself to sift through it. The certificate looking paper turned out to be a wish that she would grant to Lance just as long as it was reasonable. She put her signature on it for proof. He picked up the small glass jar containing sand and examined it, then shook it. He chuckled to himself and read the card.

Impressions
By Ryan Jennings

A lifetime can be likened to a lonely beach of sand.
a stranger makes a mark one day, an imprint of a hand.
As time goes by the beach once clear is now a cluttered field
of memories and keepsakes of the ones that we hold dear.
Time does its best to wash away remembrances of those -
the ones we never meant to meet - the ones we never chose.
But as through some odd twist of fate these are the ones we cherish.
The time we spend with these such friends, will never, ever perish.

Joey grabbed the note and ran to get his cell phone. He set down his half eaten snack and punched in the phone number waiting for it to pick up. Jayla groaned when her cell phone rang. Her cell phone had been set to play Ring 4, which happened to be the theme to the Lone Ranger. She dug it out of her purse at it began to get close to the part where she would inevitably have to say 'hi ho Silver, away.' She pressed the send button quickly to receive the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jayla. How are you today?"

"I'm just fine. How are you, Stranger?"

"That totally sounds like a pick-up line. I should play with that one. Can I?"

"Whatever makes you happy."

"Speaking of making people happy- what's with you and my man Lance?"

"That can be taken in 3 ways. One of course being that Lance is dating a guy, two- you just have a really deep voice or 3 you just meant your friend but it came out all wrong."

"I'll take C, Regis. Final answer."

"Ah okay. Just making sure- I don't want to be a relationship wrecker or anything."

"Oh that's nice. So- really what's with you and Lance?"

"Lance and I are doing things like they do on the Discovery Channel." Joey choked. He sputtered a few minutes and then caught his breath. "Well, that was an interesting mental picture-THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!"

"I have a thing for mammals, what can I say? Hey- you're the one that called me, here!"

"You're the one that he's keeping secret!"

"Oh please- you think it's your business?"

"Uhm- lemme think.... YES! I mean he is the shy innocent one." Jayla smiled into her phone. She almost couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. This was the most ridiculous position she'd ever found herself in. Talking on the phone with a man that was on another bus- being lectured for doing something they hadn't done but, she'd only joked about to pull his chain or being a total moron. Ah she loved irony. If they only knew. "Believe me- he's not that innocent."

Joe dropped the phone and threw it across the room onto the couch. "NOT BRITNEY!!!"

Steve walked in and started chuckling. "Problems Joe?"

"Lance's girl is ..... is... she's quoting Britney!!"

Steve's ears perked up like a dog. "Lance has a girl?" Jayla listening on the other end groaned. Idiots!

The loud commotion caused Lance to hit his head on the roof of his bunk. 'That's gonna leave a mark.' He withdrew the curtain and stepped out of the enclosed space. Joey and Steve were busy arguing about something. He walked to the front of the bus to break up the fight.

"You ask him!"

"No, you ask him! He's your band mate!"

"Fine! Lance, are you dating Britney?"

"What?! Joe, I think you hit your head way too many times."

"Oh, wait. That came out wrong. Your girlfriend is quoting her."

"My what?"

"I said, YOUR GIRLFRIEND."

"I don't have a girlfriend!"

"Riiight and I'm not Italian. If I remember correctly, her name is Jayla."

The color in his face drained to a pale white. "How did you find out about her?"

Joey held up the note, "I think you should be more careful where you put your things. She's on the phone if you want to talk to her." He said picking up the phone that was lying on the couch.

"Say goodbye, Joe."

"Goodbye, Joe," he said into the phone and hung up.

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