I bolted to attention so hard I thought my head would snap off. Danielle was full of surprises, including the ridiculous notion that I was going to bag her soon-to-be ex husband. I laughed and stared at her with wide-open eyes. "Yeah, that'll be the day."

Now it was Danielle's turn to be surprised. "Wait! You two haven't hooked up?"

"Hell no! He stays far away from me."

Danielle squinted at me for a few seconds then got up and wandered toward the back of the bus. "Charlie? Where are you?"

Buck poked his head out of his cubicle and growled at her. "What do you want?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Oh never mind. Have a good show tomorrow." She gave him a wave of her hand, then turned away. When she got back to the living room, she blew a kiss to Gabe, and they waved at each other. Then she gave me a hug. "Nice to meet you. Can you do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure."

She pulled an envelope from her purse and handed it to me. "Give this to Charlie." Before I could protest that I was the last person on this bus to deliver anything to Buck, she had climbed down the steps and left.

I headed toward Buck's cubicle to deliver the letter and get it over with, but I heard him muttering and cursing at Danielle. Now was not a good time, and I was a little looped from the pot so I didn't want to confront him. I stashed the letter in my cubicle and went back to the living room.

Sitting with Gabe, I decided to learn more of Danielle's story. I knew he'd tell me the truth. "So did she have any part in the band's break up?"

"No." Gabe shook his head. "The band died because it had a narrow demographic. We were known as the rocking sixteen year olds, young and full of energy. We quickly became the latest teen heartthrob band, especially among other sixteen year olds." He gave me a tight grin. "Like you."

Gabe took a long breath. "But for some reason, we only connected with teenagers. Older people couldn't care less about us. That's why we died. We didn't have broad-enough appeal."

"That makes sense, but what about Danielle?"

"The Buck and Danielle story had little to do with our breakup. We didn't care about his love life. But she did break his heart. She couldn't handle all the negative media attention-who could? It ruined her, and she took him down with it."

"Good thing I'm leaving soon."




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