Chapter Text
“I’m pissed off that Mom and Doug had to leave. They just got here and Mom promised all this fun stuff. I mean, I like living with my Dads, but this summer was supposed to be the best ever,” Alma pouted, glancing to see if Sara would react to her curseword.
Mom and Doug had dumped her off with Dads two days ago to go to California. Grandmother always got sick at the worst times, like she was trying to ruin her life on purpose. So, Mom and Doug left her with Dads and she was stuck in the city for the summer instead of going to Toronto for her birthday and doing all the fun stuff they had planned. Her whole summer was going to suck.
Sara sighed loudly, then looked up from her guitar. “I get it, Alma. You had plans. But we’re here for lessons…”
“Mom and Doug promised we would go to Toronto. There’s a big amusement park there and a zoo with pygmy marmosets for Louis and Mom was going to take me to a concert. Alanis Morissette. I can’t believe I miss my first real concert all because Grandmother is sick again,” Alma huffed, slumping in her chair. Two nights ago Ed had tucked her in to bed and hugged her, telling her he was sorry her plans had changed but he would do his best to make the summer good for her. Nothing could make this better.
“Then go to a concert here,” Sara said, snapping her back to the present while placing her guitar back in its stand and looking at her like she was an alien.
“Yeah, right. Which concert?” Alma grumbled.
“Come with me,” Sara said, grabbing her by the hand and leading her out of the lesson room and to the cash register.
“Here. This came in this afternoon,” Sara said pointing at the purple poster hanging on the counter.
Alma bent down and stared at the brightly colored poster. Three yellow words stood out from the others. “Fall Out Boy,” she whispered to herself.
“Beach Bunny and Sincere Engineer, too. They’re Chicago bands with women in the lead. You could learn a lot by watching them,” Sara said.
Alma turned her head quickly. “You really think so?” she asked excitedly.
“Since you aren’t paying attention to your lesson today…” Sara said, picking at her nail polish.
Alma turned back to the poster and ran her finger over the top left corner. “Fall Out Boy…”
“Dad, get out of the car right now!” Alma shouted at Ed, tossing her guitar case in the back seat.
“What? Does Sara need to…”
“No, I have to show you something. Come onnnn,” she whined. Why did he always take so long? She was sure his ‘bad knee’ wasn’t as bad as he said.
“Alright, what..”
“Look Dad! LOOK!” she shouted, pointing at the poster in the window of the music shop.
“Riot Fest?” he asked.
“FALL OUT BOY!” she shouted. “Dad, come on. You know I’m missing my very first concert with Mom and Doug in Toronto and Sara said there’s Chicago bands and I can learn from them.” She did her best to look as encouraging as she could.
Ed rubbed his hand through his beard. “I used to go to Riot Fest a few years back. Saw Rob Zombie,” he said, tapping the window over the name. “Good show.”
This was good. It was a starting point. “So, do you think we can go?” she asked hopefully.
“I don’t know, Rockstar. A music festival is a lot different from a concert in a stadium. And this is all day for three days straight…” he said, still staring at the poster.
“But I’m nine now, almost ten. Mom said I’m old enough for a concert. And you know how much I love Fall Out Boy. I know the words to almost all their songs and I can play ‘This Ain’t a Scene.’ Please Dad…Please say we can go.” She held her hands folded together in front of her chest.
“I don’t know…”
“Dad, it’s the only thing I’ll ask for my birthday. I love you and I want to go with you to Riot Fest. You’ll make it so much fun and you know so much about music and all the bands and it will be the best time. We’ll make so many memories. Please say you’ll take me,” she pleaded, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tight.
Ed sighed his big sigh, the one where he made a weird squeak at the end. He turned to her and walked her back to the car. He went around to the passenger side and opened the door. It was cool he let her sit in the front seat even though Dad never did. He shut the door and walked around and got in the driver’s seat. He sat quietly, gripping the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. He didn’t get the keys out, he didn’t move, he almost didn’t even blink. He was making her nervous, but she thought the best thing was to let him sit and do…whatever this is.
Finally he took a deep breath, looked at her and said, “Alma, I think you might be right. But let me talk to your Dad about it by myself. I’ll see what I can do but you need to let me do it in my own way, ok?” He had a strange look on his face…not mad or happy or sad…just strange.
She reached out and rested her hand on his right hand, still gripping on the steering wheel. “Thank you, Dad. I love you.”
“No promises, mind you. I’ll see what I can do but whatever he says, we have to abide by it, right?” he asked, looking very serious.
“Right. Whatever Dad says, goes,” she said seriously.
He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “Ok. I’ll talk to him tonight.”
He put the keys in the ignition, then asked his phone to call Francisco. When the voice answered, Ed asked him for a chef’s special for four, plus a Manchego tosta, four cremas, and a cava. She knew he had already planned to make nasi lemak for dinner tonight so ordering take out must be part of his big plan. Francisco commented that Ed must be in the doghouse but he didn’t even laugh at that. She wasn’t surprised when Ed turned off to head north instead of heading straight home. Whatever he was up to, she hoped it worked.
Alma tiptoed across the carpeted floor and very carefully eased the door open. She looked toward Louis’ room, but his door was closed and everything was quiet. She took a deep breath and moved toward the staircase. She slowly lowered herself to sit on the top step, then bumped down step by step until she could hear the voices in the dining room.
“I just don’t know…” her Dad fretted.
“Stede, love…it was incredible. She said she wanted to make memories with me and learn from me. I can’t tell you what that felt like. I had to sit for a minute just to let it all sink in.”
There was a long pause. They were probably hugging or kissing or something.
Then Ed started talking again, quieter this time. “Stede, I just looked at this girl…at my daughter…and here she was telling me how she wanted to be like me. She wants to do this thing I used to do…she wants me to be the one to take her. Fuck, if you had told me two years ago I would have a daughter and she would be asking me to take her to her first music festival I would have thought you were drunk. But today…”
There was another pause. Probably more kissing.
“You’ll be careful?”
Oh shit! Was Dad actually going to agree to this?
“Of course. You and Alma and Louis are my whole world. I’ll do anything for my girl. She’ll be completely fine.”
“And you’re sure it’s safe? It’s not going to be some wild drug-fueled orgy or something?”
“Stede, it’s a community music festival that ends at 10:00 at night. We’ll take the L and I’ll make sure she wears sunscreen and gets food and drinks plenty of water and only goes in the smaller mosh pits.”
She almost laughed when Ed said that and her Dad’s shocked reaction was so him.
“Love, I promise, it’s safe, it’s fun, and we’ll both have a good time.”
“I suppose I can’t say no. It means so much to you and her Mom was supposed to take her to a concert this summer. She’s been just heartbroken about missing it.”
“This will be fun for both of us, I promise. And I’ll make her birthday gift a shopping trip to get everything she’ll need. Can’t have her going to a punk fest dressed in all that pink and purple you put her in.”
She could hear her Dads laugh together a little.
“I love you, Stede. Thank you. This is as much a gift for me as it is for her. Fuck, it means so much to me.”
There was another long pause before Dad said, “Come on, Ed. Let’s go upstairs and you can thank me properly.”
Her heart started pounding and she scrambled to crawl up the steps and rush back to her room. She shut the door carefully, jumped into bed and pulled the blankets up over her head.
She heard her door push open and Dad whispered, “No, she’s asleep. Must have been a noise from outside.”
She heard them go up the stairs and she sat up, squeezing her pillow to her chest. This was better than going to a concert. She’s going to a music festival. She was going to Riot Fest with her Dad.