Heart Of A Star

Chapter Nine - Natalie

I made my way into my empty hotel room. My mind was numb, and my heart was heavy as I opened my dresser drawers. I held up my blue bikini, wrinkled my nose at it, then dropped it back into the drawer. I didn't feel like swimming. I didn't feel like being in a crowd right now. And I sure as hell didn't feel like pretending right now either.

So I slid on a pair of denim shorts and a tank top instead of my bathing suit. I pulled back the curls that Rachel had labored over into a loose ponytail, and traded the cute black slinky heels for the comfort of a pair of flip flops.

I tapped the screen on my cell phone and located Sammi's number, praying that she picked up, although my hopes weren't very high. The night before the concert began she would most likely be busy with a million things to do. I tried not to be upset when I got her voicemail, and left her a message anyway. It was probably crazy of me to think that she'd have time to squeeze in a drink.

I flopped down on the bed and flipped through some of the channels on television. Nothing was appealing to me in the slightest. My mind kept wandering back to the kiss. What was I thinking? Was I even thinking at all? I had let my emotions get the best of me, overcloud my thoughts and my rationale. But it felt so damn good...

My mind was racing fast, and I was barely aware when the cell phone buzzed on the table next to me. Relief escaped my lips in a single word, "Sammi!"

"Natalie! You're here, I take it?" It never sounded so good to hear her voice, even with the loud music in the background behind her. This was typical for Sammi. If she wasn't promoting a concert tour, she was with the band, who were usually partying when they weren't playing or practicing.

I simply laughed a relieved, happy laugh. "I'm here. Hey, I'm sure you're probably busy right now, but I was hoping maybe we could meet for a drink?"

"I can sneak a way for a while. In fact, I've heard this hotel has a great bar if you want to meet me there in about ten minutes."

And exactly ten minutes later I was walking into the hotel bar. It was located on the first floor, down a long winding hallway, past the Grand Ballroom, which I didn't know the hotel had, as well as the office that professionally coordinated the wedding plans for the hotel, and a room entitled "The Parkway on Bel Air". I literally missed the bar the first two times that I walked through the marble floored hallways, but on my last circle through, I found the plaque on the wall that simply read, "W.G. Bristol Bar Room".

The bar itself was very dimly lit, but I found Sammi sitting casually on a bar stool, already sipping her martini with the utmost class in her skinny jeans and well-filled grey halter-top. Her red hair that had once been long and flowing, was now cut short in a sleek, professional-style ponytail. Her eyes were boldly splashed with bright green shadow in a cat-like pattern and matched her halter-top with exact precision. She wore trendy black Lafont frames to complete her look. And the moment she saw me, she set her drink down, stood up very casually, and smiled as she pulled me into a hug.

"God, you're so grown up and beautiful!" She told me. When she finally pulled away, she had tears in her eyes that she had to lift her glasses to dab away with a bar napkin.

"It's only been three years. I couldn't have grown up that much..."

I ran my hand over her ponytail and laughed, "Last time I saw you, your hair was so long..."

Sammi laughed too. "I had to! These boys give me no time to do my damn job let alone my hair anymore. I thought it was tough when they first started out, but it only gets worse with age..."

I sat down on the bar stool next to hers. "I hear ya." I had cut my own hair shoulder-short just about two years ago, and kept it that way ever since.