A Rock & Roll Romance

Chapter Five

"So are you enjoying yourself so far?" "Yeah it's been amazing, and you're all so nice. So much for the rock and roll stereotype." Meghan said as Tommy handed her a large mug of coffee, they were sat on the couch in the living area talking in hushed tones. "Ha well we are just ordinary guys. Your uncle has good taste in pals what can I say?" Tommy smirked before taking a sip. "He sure does." "So what's next for you Miss Goddard?" "Oh god I don't know. I used to have this great plan you know. I was gonna be a hotshot lawyer, had this great life ahead of me but now actually I find just plodding along is going ok." "Well I'll say, I've seen some of your stuff it looks ace. Will you do some videos tonight for my Instagram?" "Sure thing. I would love to, thank you!" "It should be me thanking you!!" Meghan smiled as she finished her drink, this tour was really boosting her self esteem. Being liked for being her was a new sensation but one she adored.

Later on that morning the buses had pulled over at a service station, the group were feeling a tad cooped up so all wandered off. Sean and Travis fast approached Johnny who instantly lit up being off the bus, his trade mark hat on his head, with tinted glasses shielding his eyes. He had only muttered the words "Morning and How did you sleep" so far. Alice had reminded his niece that Johnny was most definitely not a morning person. They grabbed fresh barista style coffee with some form of breakfast before enjoying the morning sunshine besides the bus, awaiting the drivers to be ready to resume the journey.

"I forgot to mention your Aunt called last night. She's coming over for the festival next week, you said Alex might join? Shall I get her to converse with him about flights?" Alice approached handing over a bottle of water. "Oh amazing, yes that was his plan. I need to speak to him. I guess we will have to schedule it when we are in the hotels." "Yes that's what Sheryl is doing. Can't see her mucking in with the boys on board can you?" "I did.." Meghan said giggling "Yeah but don't tell her I said this.. you're far cooler." He smirked before wandering off.

Meghan was just about to board the bus when she heard "So did you find out what causes one to do a bad thing?" A smooth seductive voice said. She turned and was met by Johnny smiling. His cigarette was between his lips and he slowly removed it waiting for her answer. Meghan's eyes widened. What did he mean? "Your book?" He questioned tilting his head. "Oh!! No, not yet. But something isn't right... I'm starting to doubt everyone now!" She smiled and he nodded. "The joy of a good book! Sorry for being grumpy, I'm really not a morning person doll." "No me neither usually." "Usually?" "Well most mornings at home I get up and run, that starts the day right but the days I don't plan to run, I'm useless at waking up." She giggled.

Much later on, the band had arrived at their destination and were all quite lethargic and fatigued, the band immediately headed to their dressing rooms to relax before sound check leaving Meghan twiddling her thumbs. She found herself wandering and ended up on the stage. She sat on the edge of it with her legs dangling, and snapped a photo, added an arty filter and tagged her location to keep her followers up to date. As she finished posting her phone rang.
"Hey darling."
"Alex, hi!"
"God don't talk so loud.. I'm hanging."
"What did you do?"
"We shot some pool and ended up at the dingiest bar until the early hours."
"Sounds about right."
"How's things on the road?"
"Yeah it's ok, Uncle Alice let me onto the band bus to sleep so I wasn't in too much discomfort."
"Ahh.. so you are getting special treatment. What happened to little miss I wanna be treated like the staff?"
"Alex he insisted."
"And I'm sure you didn't put up a fight?"
"Actually I did, anyway. Aunt Sheryl is flying out next week for the festival. Are you sure you wanna come?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me know deets."
"Well she will be flying from Phoenix."
"Ah ok. Well why doesn't she come to here and I'll fly with her?"
"Yeah I'll text her and see."
"I can't wait to see you baby."
"Me neither, I've missed you."
"I've missed you more, I hope we can spend some alone time together."
"Alex I will be working, this isn't a vacation."
"I know I know. I just wanna see my girl."
"Ok.. look I'll message you when I've spoken with Sheryl yeah?"
"Yeah you do that, I'm gonna head to the gym and sweat this shit out of me"
"Ok. Have fun."
"Oh darling I will now I know I'll be seeing you next week."
"Love you."
"Love you too"

Meghan hung up the phone and started swinging her legs like a child, she began humming a song from the night before and then broke into quiet song. She didn't have an awful voice but certainly wasn't a confident performer.

"It doesn't pay to try,
All the smart boys know why,
It doesn't mean I didn't try,
I just never know why.
Feel so cold and all alone,
Cause baby, you're not at home.
And when I'm home
Big deal, I'm still alone.
... Feel so restless, I am,
Beat my head against a pole
Try to knock some sense,
Down in my bones.
And even though they don't show,
The scars aren't so old
And when they go,
They let you know
... You can't put your arms around a memory
You can't put your arms around a memory
You can't put your arms around a memory
Don't try, don't try"

"Wow doll, you've got quite the voice." She heard from behind her. "Oh Johnny. Sorry I didn't know you were there." She smiled, standing and brushing her hands on her jeans, she spotted he had changed into a ripped pair of jeans, black boots, a black shirt, and a bandana was holding his hair out his face. He had a guitar round his back too. "I'll leave you to rehearse." She said slowly making her way to the wings. "No don't leave doll, you can practice with me if you want?" "Practice?" She questioned. "Yeah practice. Come on sing that song again and I'll play acoustic." "Oh Johnny I couldn't." "You can, I promise. Try it." Meghan smiled and moved to the centre stage where Johnny was setting up a microphone stand already for her. She could feel her cheeks blushing as he did so.

An hour later, Meghan had sung three songs from the set list whilst Johnny played and harmonised with her. He gently guided and advised her and soon she was nailing them. They had just finished the last song, when the rest of the band emerged on the stage for the sound check. "She's got the voice of an Angel Alice!" Johnny said approaching his bandmate, "I'll say! She just won't accept it or do anything with it!" Alice said before grabbing a microphone and testing it. Megan made her way down to the seats, picked one and grabbed her phone hoping to capture some raw footage of the rehearsal.

As the concert that night begun, Meghan went live on her social media accounts and published a reel from the recent shows, it gained instant traction and by the end of the evening her followers had grown significantly, she was proud of her work and how much it had been shared by fans already but couldn't help but feel deflated that people only followed her for the band, still it was better than nothing.

The Hollywood Vampires began their encore, Meghan was stood in the wings, and began singing along. Even though she heard these songs every night, she loved it, she adored the music and especially loved seeing the guys having fun doing what they loved. They bowed and waved to the crowd as Sean rushed past her with handfuls of guitar picks, she saw how he, Johnny and Tommy began throwing them into the crowd. The audience was going wild, Johnny stood up straight to wave to the crowd that were higher in the stadium and caught her eye, he smiled and beckoned her out. After she shook her head twice, he wandered over and handed a large pile of guitar picks to her that were sat on top of an amp, "Throw as many as you can" he said as she began to do as instructed. Many of audience members were yelling and waving at her as she did so, and when she threw the final one to a young girl off to the side who was avoiding being crushed she smiled and waved. She saw Johnny was about to throw Alice's baton into the crowd and quickly captured it on video before retiring to the wings once more.

She reviewed the video she captured and sent it to Gina, knowing she might want it for his personal Instagram profile before checking her messages. She had a WhatsApp text from Alex.

Flights booked babydoll. One week today and you'll be in my arms. Your Aunt says you're in the same hotel for three days before moving on, so I'll come visit and then swing by London for a work trip. Maybe when you're back in the UK I can fly in for longer? Love you x x x x

That sounds amazing. Can't wait, let me know your travel times, love you more x x x