Heart Of A Star

Chapter Five - Natalie

The car erupted into cheers when we crossed the border from Arkansas to Texas. "Fuck yeah!" Josh shouted, "Do you guys realize we're that much closer to fourteen fucking rows away from the greatest band of all time?"

"After the Beatles." I reminded him.

I could feel their hot stares, especially Ray-Ray's, who I was surprised had not all-out swerved into the opposite lane. "What?" I contended, "I'm from London! I'd be a hypocrite to my country and people if I was not a Beatles fan." Which for the record was the truth. I often contended that I had been born twenty years too late. I'd have given my left arm to see Lennon live. Yet I'd take 7 Year Coma, in Lennon's absence.

As a young child, I had often aspired to play the guitar like John Lennon. Of course, I had been taught by who I considered to be the best guitar teacher (other than Lennon, perhaps) in the world. From the time I was a young girl in London, I had a guitar in my hands. It was never something that I had gone without for long in my life, as my first guitar had made its way from London to the States, then as I grew old enough to earn allowance, I had saved enough for the first guitar I'd ever purchased with my own money.

"So I heard that JT Porter was considering a solo career." Josh threw out there, rather nonchalantly. Josh loved to argue, and he knew that the words that he had just uttered were pure blasphemy in present company. The sly smile on his face showed it too.

I often wondered how it was that Josh and Ray-Ray lived together without killing each other sometimes, especially when Josh came out with comments like that. I hadn't realized that my mouth had opened and words had just started pouring out until it was too late. "You know that's never going to happen. JT depends on Rylan's musical direction to create his songs. He's also too grateful and loyal to the band."

It was that very moment that Ray-Ray hit the brakes. Maybe not as hard as he would have if traffic in front of him had come to a stand-still, but I could tell he had that urge to no longer concentrate on the road, as he was staring at me in disbelief more than he was looking at the blacktop in front of him. "Who are you?"

I shrugged it off good-naturedly. "I've been reading a bit in preparation for our trip." Suppressing the smile that was fighting its way through my teeth, I fought not to look over at Ray-Ray. I already knew that his dark brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion, as they always were when he was the slight bit thrown off or confused. The wheels inside his head were turning full speed right now, and I loved it. I loved every second of it. Casually, I pressed my finger against the black button on door, lowering the window, and letting in the warm breeze and Texan air. I slid my hand out of the open window, allowing my fingers to fight the eighty-mile an hour breeze that blew through them.

As we pulled up to the Elyad Suites, just about twenty-five miles north of the center of Dallas, I found myself surprisingly impressed. Before us stood a colossal white stone building with a grand entranceway and eight stairs surrounding the glass doors leading the way into the lobby. Inside, orange-red marble and thick Brazilian Rosewood wrapped its way throughout the room before us. Abstract ivory carved statues of mythical creatures tapered the walkway to the solid marble welcome desk. Behind it, an anorexic thin woman in a cotton stretch seersucker blazer, with blonde hair pulled tightly behind her head, forcing a smile at us.

I had to find the humor in it all, a group of six twenty-something's, with me, their spokeswoman, in sweat-garb left over from a nasty hangover, approaching the front desk and claiming, "Reservation for Winters."

My friends were in tired awe, and with the "Guest Services Specialist" practically in repulsion, I leaned my head on my elbow on the exotic marble counter, just thinking about the crisp white sheets that I was about to slip into. Her eyes lit up slightly as she looked me over not once, but twice, then back at the computer. A smile quickly curled her lips and she slid a printed receipt my way. "Please sign here, Ms. Winters. There will be complimentary room service, on the house, throughout your stay at Elyad Suites. Also, you and your guests will have a personal concierge service throughout your stay at our establishment. Please feel free to ring them, anytime day or night. Would you like to select your breakfast menu tonight before bed, or would you prefer to have breakfast in our private dining hall in the morning?"