radiantbaby | harder to be a gentleman, part six

for all of you hanging on....
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Key Member: jack, of course
Synopsis: girl meets boy backstage
Rating: i suppose an R, nothing bad
Genre: drama, romance?

I wanted to cry about it, but really, what could I do? He was a “rock star” after all. I could only imagine how many people he’d done such things to. I went to sleep soon after I got inside, not even managing to take off my clothes before passing out on the bed.

The next two days passed without much excitement, in fact I was locked somewhat in a bit of a melancholy trance over what was soon to be known, amongst my dearest friends, as the “Jack Incident.”

“You are so much better than that anyway, you would have just been a groupie to him,” they said.

I wish I could have believed them. I found myself playing our conversation over and over in my head. What did he mean by it all? Everything seemed to be going so well and then it was like someone had pulled a switch and it all ended.

I tried to stare at the numbers before me, analyzing the latest inventory records of my releases and attempting to make sure that everything had been properly distributed for the month. My heart wasn’t in it, though. I could barely even concentrate.

The phone rang and startled me. I grabbed it quickly and practically barked, “Hello?”

There was only silence on the other end.

“Hell-ooo?” I asked a bit louder, looking at the caller ID pad for a number, but only saw “Unavailable.”

“I’m. Hanging. Up. Now…” I announced and began to put the phone back on the cradle.

“Wait!” I heard from the receiver and put it back against my ear. “Mickey?”

It was Jack.

“Yes.” I was trying to sound as curt as I could. How dare he even call me?

“Mickey, its Jack.”

“I know who you are,” I replied, still in a flat, curt tone.

“Mickey…I’m sorry.”

“Jack, I am very busy. You have already apologized. Let’s just let sleeping dogs lie, yeah?”

“But I…have to see you,” he exhaled heavily, obviously smoking.

“See me? No thanks.”

“Please Mickey” he pleaded, his voice now shallow and delicate. Still, though I felt a pang of pity, I also smiled to myself that he sounded almost pathetic.

“Why?”

“Just, please, we need to talk.”

“We are talking.”

He groaned, “In person, Mickey.”

“Where are you anyway?”

“San Francisco.”

“And how, pray tell, do you expect me to go across the US to see you in San Francisco? Do you expect me to just drop everything and run to you at your beckoned call?”

Not that I wouldn’t have, but I felt like making him work a little for giving me two hellish days.

“I will pay for it, I will pay for everything. I just really need to see you.”

“I really am a bit busy, Jack. I am trying to run a label here.”

“How…how about this weekend?” he stammered. “We’ll be in L.A. all weekend. We could visit Venice, I know how much you like Venice.”

I paused. It was do-able and, besides, he had certainly piqued my curiosity with his insistence.

“Okay, I can get free on Friday morning, but I will need to be back by Monday morning at the latest. I have a few meetings that afternoon.”

He sighed a deep sigh that sounded like relief. “Thank you, Mickey. Thank you.”

* * *

What was I doing?

It all began to hit me as the plane began its descent onto the runway of LAX. My friends had scolded me for going and I knew that I was never going to hear the end of it.

“He has a girlfriend you know,” Cheryl had said.

“Yeah, Marcie Bolen. She’s in the Von Bondies,” added Zoe.

“I think I remember her, redhead?” I asked.

“Yeah,” they both replied in unison.

“Well, I don’t know. You guys are probably making this out to be more than it is,” I’d said, waving them off.

“We’ll see,” said Zoe.

Yes, we all shall see, I thought, finally exiting the plane and making my way towards baggage claim to meet Jack.