We all laughed and hooted and slapped our knees in glee, yelling that he couldn't get out of it, he'd cussed and he knew it and we all knew it. He tossed the fiver at her, but Aubrey ignored it, and said he had to put it in the velvet bag himself as that was the penalty. This was going to be fun.

            She was making it fun. And she caught us instantly. "Actually." She said slowly. "You said it twice." She held up her hand as he was about to protest. "I'll give you this one break, you only have to pay once. But after this..." She waggled her eyebrows.

            "Gee Thanks." Jeff said and closed his eyes after putting the money in her little velvet bag. We were all choking back guffaws. It was great.

            "Well, when we get to Tijuana, are we like stuck at the venue? Can we go anywhere?" She was so tour illiterate, it was refreshing.

            "What do you want to do?" I asked her with interest.

            "Do we have time? Caz we're gonna get there like what? By nine a.m.?"

            "Yeah, we got stuff to set up and---"

            "You?" Her brows rose. "You have stuff to set up?"

            "No." I admitted, wondering where her little heart was about to take her. "Have you been to Tijuana before?" She can't have lived in So Cal any amount of time and not gone to Tijuana.

            "Chiclets." Ben said suddenly, looking up from his game.

            "I love Chiclets." Dylan attested as Aubrey took off his shoes and socks and began the pedi.

            "I've been to Tijuana lots of times." She said. "There are parts of it I want to go see again. But really--- I was thinking if we had access to a car or a van or something, not the bus, we could go down to Rosarita Beach, it's not that far."

            "You want to go to the beach? It's no different than our beach!" I laughed at her.

            "Then maybe you haven't been to the Baja Playas, big man." She challenged. "I think the beaches there are far more untouched and wild than anything in So Cal. But we don't have to go to the beach. Have you been to the open air markets?"

            "Yes, little lady." I mimicked her. "I have been to the open air markets. El Popo Market."

            She eyed me speculatively as she began massaging Dylan's feet and he relaxed against the seat with his eyes closed and his arms up behind his head, thus showing off his guns. I pursed my lips and looked away.

            Ben had been looking at his phone. "There's a cool museum near where we are performing. The Cultural Center."

            "I love Museums." Aubrey announced. "Wanna go?"

            I nodded. Hoping she meant just me and her, not the whole group. But I didn't hold out much hope. Unfortunately without their respective partners they only had each other and me.

            "Yeah. That sounds interesting. I haven't gotten out much the last few times. We have to be back fairly early but yeah, we can check it out. I'll tell Holli." He started calling her on his phone, or texting her--- I opened my eyes, he was texting her.

            "I brought a bag I can carry water for us. It's pretty warm out." Aubrey was saying.

            Dylan grunted a couple of times and then made this weird sound in his throat. I opened my eyes to see him pulling away from Aubrey.

            "You have---" She pulled his foot back to her, resting it in her lap, and pressing carefully on the arch. Dylan winced noticeably and tried once more to pull away, trying to push her hands off him. "Stop resisting! I think you have a cyst, or--- it could be a Plantar Fibroma, it's in the Aphasia. I'm not a podiatrist, but I think...." She was being very methodical as she probed it with her fingers, and Dylan was gripping his chair with white knuckles. We all leaned forward to see what was wrong. Aubrey closed her eyes and kept probing for a moment longer, I wasn't sure what for, but it was very interesting to watch her go into doctor mode.

            "You have a Plantar Fibroma, Dylan."

            "Is it serious?"

            "No. It can be painful. Have you noticed any pain before now?"

            "Sometimes. Certain shoes."

            She was nodding. "It isn't very big. How long have you noticed the pain?"

            "About a year."

            "Hm." She breathed rubbing his foot and ankle tenderly now. Then she slapped his calf. "I can take care of this."

            "What? What are you gonna do?"

            "She's gonna cut it out, idiot." Jeff joked.

            She glared at him. "I can write a prescription--- for steroid injections to shrink it, and do some reflexology on him every day, just a physical therapy type thing, to deliver anti-inflammatories to the area, Dylan, don't go getting your panties in a twist. We can have custom orthotics' made and delivered to you as well." She stood up and looked out the window. "We're in San Diego. Will Mack stop at a pharmacy if I ask him to? I am sure I can get drugs in Tijuana, but it will be easier here."

            "I want drugs." Mutt laughed. "Can you get me some drugs?"

            Aubrey dried her hands and pulled out her phone. In a moment she was talking a foreign language and not Spanish. We all glanced at each other and then started laughing and joking about having a doctor on board.  Aubrey went to the front of the bus, presumably to ask Mack about stopping in San Diego. Not all bus drivers liked to be interrupted, but Aubrey, being Aubrey wasn't worried about that. She was in doctor mode.

            She came back a moment later, and said it was arranged. She even said Mack was more than happy to pull over for her.

            Then she sat back down on the floor and finished the pedi on Dylan.

            "So, we have our yoga instructor, and our cosmetologist and now we have the doctor as well. Hey, doc, I got a pain right here, can you check it out?" Jeff was indicating his crotch. Fortunately Aubrey was preoccupied, and while the guys laughed rudely, I leaned up and punched him in the shoulder.

            "Knock it off." I whispered, with as meaningful a look in my eyes as I could.

            "Don't be a dick, man. I'm only kidding."

            "You don't be a dick, man." I said low, and then punched him again, softer, so he could get me back if he wanted. They all laughed, but they all took notice.

            Dylan was talking low about his Fibroma with Aubrey who had taken the whole thing very seriously. Dylan asked a lot of questions and nobody was paying any attention now. Ben went back to his game, Mutt put on the head phones, and Jeff got out his laptop. I got out mine as well, thinking it might be a good time to figure out this Fall into the Ocean song, Holli was up in arms about. How in the world had Zack Mann got it out there so quickly? He had to have major connections, and some balls the size of---- I stopped. Not to be rude, now, I reminded myself.

            Aubrey cleaned up her stuff and then sat back stretching, acting like the little sister we didn't have--- she was quiet and respectful, and useful and knowledgeable. I became involved in the song and it's metamorphosis until the bus pulled off the freeway and into a parking lot a few miles later. Aubrey patted Mutt's feet, wiped her hands and told us she'd be right back. Mack held the door for her, and talked to her with his big cheesy grin he saved for people he liked. I knew why. She was very likable.

*******