Tall Girl Blues [Elvis]

Chapter 9 - Bad Timing

I saw him. As I was walking away, I saw that tall blonde guy, and he stood a foot taller than all the men. I couldn't believe my eyes. My heart took a nosedive when I saw him walking in the direction of the crowd in the main part of town where Joan said hi to the girls.

He was going to meet Deanne. Was that why he came? I had been in this town for almost two weeks, and I would've noticed a guy that tall... He most likely saw that article in the paper and came to meet another tall person.

Dammit. What horrible timing. So much for talking with Deanne. I wanted to fully confess to her, but a woman I had proposed to in the past, and kissed not just for a movie, showed up. The same with a guy that Deanne probably dreamed of meeting—a guy taller than her, who wasn't that much older than her, from the looks of it, and was handsome to boot.

"You saw that guy, right, Elvis?" the Colonel asked me as we headed to the boxing ring and passed people of the crew as we walked more into town.

"Yeah, I saw 'im."

"You don't sound happy."

"I just... wow, this is insane. Joan comes back, and that guy shows up out of the blue. He and Deanne will probably appear in the paper."

"Throws a wrench into you new plans with her, huh? Well, good thing, since I don't want you with that girl. She's a nice girl, yeah, but... it's not good for your image. You two were a little too close the other night."

I let out a hefty, irritated breath. Image this, image that. I never minded it before, but now... "Nothin' happened, as much as I wanted it to. In fact, I wanted to talk to 'er today about it all, how I really feel about her, but this happens. I'm tickled to see Joan, but..."

I huffed, and the Colonel patted my shoulder. He could see how annoyed I was. "Hey, it's for the best. Just let that girl go. You don't need more women. It was good of Carry and I to stop things between you and Joan."

I stopped, which made him stop as well. This was news to me! I saw him wince, like he wanted to keep that fact hidden. "Wait, Colonel... you and Joan's manager corroborated to make Joan reject me?"

He ran a hand down his face, and my heart plummeted farther. I shook my head in disbelief and continued walking, and for the first time in a while, I was furious with my manager.

"Elvis, c'mon, you know why that had to happen."

I continued cantering on, and he kept up with me. "Yeah, because I had two other girls. You could'a told me, Colonel."

"Neither me or Carry wanted you to be a couple. We knew that you two became close while filming Blue Hawaii, and I especially knew that you wanted to pop the question to her, so Carry convinced Joan to reject you."

I stopped, and suddenly it all made sense. I stared at my manager's hazel eyes, appalled. "Wait... convinced her to? As in... she was in love with me and wanted to accept me?"

"You of all people should know the answer to that. Why do you think you were so baffled when she told you and the press she was in love with someone else? It was plain to see that she loved you, but I just didn't want it to happen between the two of you and neither did her manager."

My eyes stung, and the fresh mountain air that smelled of wood and dying leaves suddenly became suffocating. I leaned against a random pine tree trunk. "And she made 'er not say a word to me."

"Yes."

I shook my head, not wanting to believe all this. "Why... Colonel..."

"I know. But it was for the best."