Cowboy Diaries - a Jon Bon Jovi fan fiction

14: Wild In The Streets

13. November 1991, California, USA

Richie's POV

The last months of my life had been pretty empty, boring even. I didn't really know how to go on since I finished promoting my solo album and the tour that came with that. Jon wouldn't talk to me much and since a while I had lost every contact to him. 

So I didn't know if the band was over, even if we had agreed earlier that this wouldn't be the case. And now I didn't really know what to do with my life.

Yes, I had money enough for a while. I could just lay there on the beach and do nothing. But I was a musician, the guitar was my passion. And to be honest I by now missed standing on the stage with Bon Jovi. 

I didn't want to be a solo artist, I noticed that now. As fun and as fulfilling it was for me, I just missed the brotherhood. I was a person that needed company. I had talked with Tico and Dave but actually they were enjoying their lives quite well. 

Tico with his passion for painting and David had gotten a bit into musicals now so he was writing for one at the moment. But I didn't know what to do. Playing guitar was all I ever wanted, and I wanted  to do it with Jon.

But he just wouldn't talk to me. Again. I thought we had been over that by now. But all I got to know is that he was on a kind of motorcycle trip and for this time wanted no contact. I for a part wished that he had asked me to come with him, I think it would've been fun and it would've also been better for him because I knew the moods he got into when he was alone for so long.

But he still seemed to be in this self-finding phase. I never thought much about it, I think I had just evolved naturally and felt no need for any drastic changes in my life. But Jon talked about it all the time, when I actually got to talk to him. That he didn't like how other people saw him, that the person he saw was not him and all that kind of stuff. That he wanted to cut off his hair, change his clothes and start to write more serious songs, that he didn't want to play our old songs anymore...

But honestly I was quite scared where this was leading to. I didn't want to play in a boring pop band in suits, talking about politics. I just wanted to be the guitarist in a rock band. But I noticed this times were over. 

And I think Jon did that too, he's always been very aware of such things. A new genre of music seemed to develop. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana was playing constantly on the radio.

It was just such a big contrast to the 80s rock sound we identified with. And now we stood in front of a decision: did we want to continue with our own way, but with the risk of losing our audience, or did we sell ourselves to the business and just go with the flow? 

In my heart the answer was clear, but society didn't work like that. And without our fans we were nothing.

A way happier part of the day awaited me in the evening. I was invited to an award show, one event relating to my solo album. 

And there she stood. The most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I've seen her before, but today she just had a different energy for me. And, most importantly: she was single, not with Tommy Lee anymore. 

Yes, I was talking about Heather Locklear. Now she even looked at me with that heart melting smile. Shit. I really thought I was in love.

I've never been shy with women and after a few drinks everything just worked fine. But I still noticed that this was different. I didn't just want her.