On My Bed Of Roses.

Part 11:" Bang a drunk"

The next morning, we were both tired and sleepy. We'd had that energy all night, but in the morning the pills effect  was  long gone. We all stepped  on the tour  bus to go to a different  city in Russia, and the boys , Doc and all the band crew were there .It was freezing cold that morning. We were all wearing warm clothes.
Richie had a nearly empty bottle of vodka in his hand. He looked drunk,was laughing with the guys and  talking whatever bullshit came to his head.

"Next time,let's move to a different room  Dave"  He said with a drunk tone of voice  - "I could not sleep at all last night. These two were messing  around the room and made a lot of  fucking noise. "

I just  laughed at his comment , but I did not appreciate his drinking habit lately .And neither did Jon. It was the same story every morning with him and on the tour bus , and we always ended up confronting each other for his ironic jokes.

"This girl screamed as if you were killing  her,Jon" Richie said, and joked about that with the crew.

Jon let out a slight nervous  chuckle and shook his head .

"C'mon Rich, say no more" said Jon"

Richie,when are you going to quit drinking?" I asked him all concerned.

"No fucking way, baby" he rudely answered. Jon got up to fill his bottle with water,  Richie followed him  to take another bottle of vodka.
"At least I'm not a junkie like you," Richie said to me  in a loud tone.

What the heck ?. Did he really mean to say that? How the hell Richie knew about my drug use. Jon must have told him about those pills we were taking?.

Jon turned round  to face Richie and gave him the stink eye. I could see the anger on his face. His stink eye made him  frown even more ,making his forehead lines more pronounced  and his hands were closed in a  fist.
Hey! did I say something wrong? Richie asked. It's fucking  true, bro. She is doing  drugs  just to be skinny. Bro,seriously, she needs your help!
Suddenly, Jon raised his fist and punched Richie on his face . He fell on the couch, put his hand on his cheek, and looked at  Jon with his eyes wide open and in complete shock.
"Don't you ever dare to talk shit about my wife,"  Jon complained in between teeth.
"Jon, Do you really want me to shut it down? Okay, I fucken will. I'm just trying to be honest.This girl needs help and I want you to find help for her"  Richie complained yelling.
"You screwed it up once, Richie. Don't do it again, goddammit. What the fuck do you want? Screw  my marriage with Stephanie? " Jon yelled back in anger.
I was in shock , I could not believe what was  going on there.. Jon  was shaking like a leaf. I grabbed  my face and covered my mouth.

"SHIT, JON!" Richie yelled . "do you really  fucking blame it on me again? It's not MY  fault that you and Diane broke up".

Jon just turned around to give him the stink eye again  but he did not answer. Instead, Jon walked towards the end of the bus and sat there placing his hand on his cheek.
Poor baby, he was very upset, and his hands were shaking. I stroked his face , kissed him and  calmed down a little bit .

"You should have not punched him ,babe" I said

"He  was messing with you,love" 
"He is drunk, sweetheart"

"He is always drunk"  Jon whispered.

From that moment on ,Jon and Richie's friendship turned sour .They only got to hang out  during concerts,  sound checks  and meetings with Doc. At  the end of  the year before performing in Japan, upon Doc's request, they were shooting some pictures together for  "RIP" magazine . No one knew about the tension between them ... but  later speculations were given  for  the pictures that came out in that magazine and the front cover. Both back to back , not facing each other .Jon was not even smiling  and standing steps away behind Richie's back .
The tension between them was quite seen on those pictures.
Their  friendship seemed to improve during the concert in Tokyo, but Jon had  told me they were both trying to fake it for the fans' sake. When in February 1990,  we went to South America (Brazil), I was somewhat convinced they both had overcame all that drama , as they were both laughing and joking again and they seemed to have a good time playing soccer  on the beach in Brazil  and  watching the Superbowl on TV. That made me smile at least , and  made me think they were back to normal.