A Rock & Roll Romance

Chapter One

Being on tour was beyond exciting for Johnny, he had worked hard to get this moment, and air-boot or not he planned to enjoy every second. His guys were extremely supportive when he told them he was going to have to reschedule the American dates. His French doctor insisted that he rested for a week or two at least before using the boot which meant the US dates were now on the back end as opposed to the beginning.

It was the first night of being on the road, and him and Tommy were acting like the adolescents they really were, whilst Alice, Sheryl, Joe and Billie were trying to work out dinner plans. Their initial reservations had been messed up and therefore they were all now gathered in a hotel bar awaiting somebody to take control. Johnny was rolling a cigarette and chuckling with Tommy when he heard his bandmate say "Meg! Over here!" Alice smiled and stood as a beautiful brunette approached. "Hey Uncle Alice." "Hey poppet, how's your room? Have you got everything you need?" "Yeah I'm all set. I just wanted to grab some food." "Come join us darling." Sheryl stood and hugged the woman. "Guys I'm not sure if you've met, this is my niece Meghan Goddard. She's coming on the tour with us as a bit of social media managing and sharing and all that jazz." "Not quite Jazz Alice, more rock right?" The pretty brunette said putting an arm around her uncle lovingly. The group greeted the woman and introduced themselves before she began small talk with her aunt. "Now I know I'm gonna be around for a lot of the dates darling but are you sure you're gonna be ok?" "I promise I'll be fine, look I can't even come down to the bar without Alice greeting me so..." she giggled before excusing herself to get a drink. She turned back to face the group "can I get anyone anything?" Most shook their heads before Tommy said "Whiskey sour? Two of them if possible. It looks like John here is out too." She nodded and smiled before heading to the bar.

"What did you do that for? I don't need a young student buying my drinks!" Johnny said in hushed tones to his pal, "oh please? She's Alice's family he's probably set up a tab or something." "Still I don't like it, you know I don't think women should do the spending.." Tommy rolled his eyes before nudging his mate "John chill it's ok I'll reimburse her if it's worrying you so much." Their conversation was interrupted by the woman in question returning with three glasses in her hand. She looked like she could do the walk with her eyes closed. Gently placing the glasses down in front of the guys Johnny said "Wow you made that look easy.." "Well you know back in the day I worked in bars. Had to pay the bills some way..." she giggled before sipping her drink. "You went for whiskey sour too?" Tommy said. "Sure did. I like it, reminds me of home." "And where is home?" Johnny asked sipping his own. "Well I was born in Atlanta. Lived in Chicago for a bit but right now I'm in Nashville." "Wow.. and that's your job social media?" Tommy asked. "Ha, it wasn't... it's a long story I don't wanna bore you guys." "Hey some say we are boring old guys who just play guitars.." the group giggled before Meghan's phone rang and she excused herself from the table to take the call.

Sean entered the bar flanked by Travis and discreetly approached Johnny, the former whispered some briefing into his ear whilst Travis fairly obviously eyed up Meghan. "Who's the bit of skirt boss?" He said quiet enough that the rest of the table didn't hear but Johnny did. "Oh she's Alice's niece. Hands off Trav..." "I know I know, besides I haven't got time for that on this tour. I'm not as young as I once was." "Ha, well she's coming on the tour.." "Ok that changes things...." "Travis keep it in your pants Jesus." Johnny said sipping his drink. "Sir you can't deny she's fucking hot. I mean look!" "Yes ok she's hot" "I think it's the effortless rock chic look, those tight black skinny jeans, the leather jacket. Jesus I need to get laid." "I'll say. Go occupy yourself, we ain't going anywhere anytime soon." Johnny smirked whilst admiring the woman across the room. Their eyes met for a second before Meghan continued her conversation and wandered off again.

A good few hours later, the group hadn't moved from their spot in the bar. Those that were hungry ordered bar snacks and those that were drinking continued. Alice and Joe being tea-total just watched the carnage unfold. "Oh stop... that's not fair." Meghan said slightly tipsy, she had ended up on a small stall in between Johnny and Tommy and had been handed another whiskey sour. She had lost track of how many she had drank already. "Come on she doesn't want it." Johnny said from beside her lighting up. "No no. I won't turn down good booze I'll manage it." She said smirking. "Meghan..." Sheryl said from across the table. "Auntie Sheryl I promise I've done worse and remember what we said what goes on tour stays on tour. Technically I'm working anyway.." "you've not taken one photo, what content are you hoping to capture? Your hangover tomorrow?" Sheryl giggled before Meghan took a sip before saying "It will be fine don't worry!" "Honestly I don't know where she gets her drinking skills from." Alice smirked sipping his drink. "She's proving her worth aren't you Meg? It's gonna be a long 8 weeks for her if she can't handle her booze." Tommy said slapping her on the back making her smile.

Much later on, everyone seemed to have abandoned the whiskey sour drinkers, and the trio remained at the large table laughing and joking with one another. "So how on earth did you end up on tour with your uncle?" "Oh wow, what a question." "You see.. I was, well I am a sort of Make up artist so he originally offered me a spot doing that but then things changed and you all bought your own or something so now I'm collecting content." She hiccuped slightly as she finished the sentence. "A Make Up Artist?" Johnny questioned. "Yeah but I'm not a bimbo. I do actually have a degree.. I just, well things worked out differently than they should have." "God I know that feeling." "Did I ever tell you about the one when a skeleton walks into a bar?" Tommy smirked from beside them clearly not listening to the actual conversation. Meghan continued "but look at you now. You're selling out stadiums, I hear most people booked the meet and greets just to meet you." "Oh stop. Surely not." "Well that's what Twitter says..." "Oh yeah and that's so reliable?" "Not always but it's good for people like me, nobodies. I used it a lot during the trial." "My trial?" Johnny questioned. "Yeah. You know to gather verified sources, find out information, talk to people like me who were on the right side of the roaring rapids." "Wow. Thank you." "Don't thank me, I was standing up for the right thing." Johnny smiled sweetly. "So what was your big plan?" "I studied Law. I was in training as a paralegal but then Covid hit and I got let go, so I went back to bar work when things reopened, needed to repay the bills, but when everything was closed again I ended up posting a few videos on TikTok and insta, got a fair few followers, did a make up course virtually to keep myself from going insane and ended up a qualified artist. I was getting paid so well from endorsements and influencing that I didn't want to risk quitting and trying to find another law job." "Wow.. seriously? That kinda thing works?" "Yeah, I mean I'm not your usual influencer, I only ever promote products that I genuinely use or recommend so that limits my income but other than that yeah it works." Johnny hadn't realised how close he had got to the woman during their conversation he was now more or less inches away from her face. "And your story, your new chapter is just beginning." She practically whispered. "God I hope so. In lockdown it felt like the end you know, rock bottom's basement. I had no where to turn but I got through it with a lot of help from a dear friend." "Johnny you should be very proud, you've come so far and achieved so much." He shrugged before looking into her eyes. "You should be too. It takes a lot for somebody to get back on their feet after a knock back. Well done." The atmosphere had rapidly changed in the room as Johnny looked at her soft plump pink lips and she admired his gorgeous eyes. She could see why so many women around the world would sell a kidney to be in his company, he was charming, handsome , funny. As she thought this he lent in close almost as if he was about to kiss her and for a second she considered it before pulling back.

"Johnny, I have a boyfriend."