Born Too Late [Elvis Presley]

Chapter 4: One Year Later

Los Angeles,
The night before Penny's 19th birthday

Penny Jones

It feels strange being back in L.A. I grew up here, and I lived here with my father until we moved to Memphis, so a part of me feels like this city is still my home because it was for so many years, but another part of me feels like this city is my mother, whom I miss more than words could ever describe. Being here only makes me miss her more because everything reminds me of her. All of my memories with my mother were made here. I feel her with me all the time, but more so when I'm in Los Angeles.

I released my newest song Born Too Late one week ago, and it's about Elvis. For the past year, I've convinced myself that I no longer care about Elvis or crave his attention, but I was wrong. After seeing a picture of him in the tabloids kissing a beautiful brunette - one of his co-stars, I believe - I realised that I'm not over him. In fact, I'm far from it, so I wrote Born Too Late that night.

Jonny, my boyfriend of almost one year - our anniversary is in three days - isn't happy with me, to say the least. He knows the song Born Too Late isn't about him. How could it be? He's only a few years older than me. When I asked him if he'd like to come to watch me perform my new song on The Ed Sullivan Show, he said, "and watch my girlfriend sing a song about another man? Thanks, Penny, but I'll pass." And so, he's back at our hotel room right now.

It's partly my fault, and partly Jonny's, but a relationship that turned out sweet and loving is now far from that. Apart from the fact that all we do is argue, Jonny has been cheating on me for at least a couple of months, maybe longer. Maybe I deserve this for longing after another man while being in a relationship, but it doesn't make being cheated on any less humiliating. Jonny doesn't know that I know, he thinks he has me fooled.

Men are stupid.

If being cheated on wasn't embarrassing enough, being forced to stay with a man who's cheating on you certainly is. My manager says it's best for me to keep the image up that I have a boyfriend to make me more appealing to men, because "they always want what they can't have." So she told me to stay with Jonny for now.

I stand backstage in my little pink dress, twirling a strand of my now slightly lighter blonde hair, thanks to the bleach, as I wait for Ed Sullivan to announce me. "This young woman changed the game with her hit song Something's Got A Hold On Me," I hear Ed announce, and the audience erupts into cheers. "Ladies and gentleman, performing her newest hit single Born Too Late, Penny Jones!" The audience cheer so loud as I walk out onto the stage, it's almost deafening. I smile, waving to the crowd. The almost blinding, cool white spotlight shines on me, following me with every step I take, stilling once I reach the centre of the stage. The cheering begins to die down as I take hold of the microphone on the microphone stand in front of me, and the band behind me begin playing my song.

"Born too late for you to notice me. To you, I'm just a kid that you won't date," I sing with both hands on the microphone, gently swaying my hips from side to side, eliciting whistles from the audience. I look directly into the camera as I sing, "why was I born too late?"

"I see you walk with another, I wish it could be me. I long to hold and kiss you, but I know it can never be," I pause for a couple of seconds, standing still and looking straight into the camera as I sing, "born too late for you to care now my heart cries, because your heart just couldn't wait."