Falling Asleep On A Stranger

Chapter 4:

Tony:

I couldn’t believe I was sitting here pouring my heart out to this 16 year old stranger sitting to my left. As we talked, I couldn’t keep myself from sneaking glances at her. She was beautiful, and the gloomy state that she was in when she talked about her life made her look somehow older and even prettier. What was I thinking? She’s merely 16, I’m 28. How am I looking at this girl, who is 11 years younger than me, right now and finding her attractive in her denim shorts and gray Love Before Glory shirt. Not to state that she wasn’t just physically attractive, but the way she looked out for me without knowing anything about me is intriguing. I couldn’t even get over the fact that she was so easy to talk to and she seemed so mature.

“Yeah, I guess even the tough situations in life give you positive results sometimes.” I said as she told me about her parents’ divorce. “Yes. I remember my dad moved out almost 7 years ago and I rarely see him now, but in a way, that situation made me stronger.” Jenna tried to force a smile, but I could tell it was difficult. A kid growing up without a proper father around is hard, I know from experience.

“Did you come alone tonight Jenna?” I asked. She looked up at me and seemed a bit relieved by the change of topic. “No, actually I came with two of my friends, but I left them in the meet and greet line when I came over here. I actually think they should be done by now. We were pretty far along in the line.” She pulled out her phone from her pocket. “I don’t have any messages from them, so they must have found something to do.” She continued. I looked at her, “In that case, do you want to go for a walk?” “Sure that sounds good.” She smiled at me.

I stood up and offered her my hand so she could do the same. She took my hand and I helped her to her feet. My watch read 12:47 a.m. It was late and the meet and greet would be over soon.

We walked silently for a while. I noticed that the night was getting cold and I saw Jenna shiver slightly from the corner of my eyes. “Would you like to wear my jacket Jenna? You seem a bit cold.” She laughed such a sweet laugh and shook her head. “I’m okay, thank you.” I nodded. After a couple of more steps I noticed her shiver again and I chuckled. I slid off my jacket and placed it around her shoulders. She let me, then smiled at me and thanked me.

“You know, you probably shouldn’t be going around handing your jackets to strangers. I mean, I have Tony Perry’s jacket now. I think I’m just going to run away and keep it. Maybe even sell it on eBay.” She said and the image that made in my mind made me laugh, truly laugh, for the first time since Steph’s phone call. I barely knew this girl but it was so easy to be around her.

“So do you live around here?” I was honestly curious. Jenna smiled and looked up at me, “Actually, I just moved to San Diego about a month ago. My family happened to find a house near the venue and we settled in. Of course I was beyond happy knowing I’d be so close to the venue and I would be having something to do almost every night. So far I’ve been coming with my brother to watch some local bands play.” I could see the way her eyes lit up whenever she smiled. I grinned at the thought. God, Tony what is wrong with you? “Where did you guys move from?” I don’t know why I was digging so much into her life, maybe it was the fact that I didn’t feel like talking about mine. And I had a feeling that she knew that already and wasn’t asking questions. “We lived about two hours south from here in a small town, right on the border with Mexico.” I kicked a rock as we walked, trying to find something else to do other than stare at her like an idiot. “Oh really, so do you speak Spanish?” I was already pretty sure she did but I asked anyway. “Si, señor.” She nodded and laughed. “Spanish is my first language. Spoken in my home when my mom’s husband isn’t around because he doesn’t understand it.” I chuckled at the thought. “So you’re mom is married to a man who does not speak your primary language. That’s interesting.” She nodded. “Yupp, it means I can talk shit about him in Spanish when he pisses me off and he won’t understand.” She whispered although we were the only two people walking down the street. I laughed and looked up at her. “Gosh, you’re evil.” She laughed, “I’m only kidding Tony. I don’t do that.” I didn’t know how to answer so I simply smiled and shook my head slightly.

“How about you? Do you live far from the venue?” she questioned me and I pointed at the large tour bus, still visible from where we stood. “No, my homes right there. Behind the venue.” I laughed. Oh God, that was a lame joke. She laughed anyway, either out of pity for my bad joke or because she truly found it funny. I hoped it was the latter. “I meant when you aren’t on tour and not living in a bus with who knows how many bromances going on.” “Oh well, I’m not sure I should reveal my secret lair then. We might end up with a bad case of stalker.” I said jokingly. Jenna faked a gasp. “What? You don’t want me to be your personal stalker? Damn, I thought that was where this was going. I’ll go find some other cute guy to stalk then.” She turned around to head the way we came from and I laughed. I took a hold of her upper arm before she could move. “You’re not going to find a cuter guy to stalk, you know? I mean, look at me.” I winked at her and she laughed. “You know, Mr. Conceited, you might be right on that note.” I smiled. “Anyway, you’re fun to talk to. I’m not losing that to some other dude. I found you first!” What the hell was I saying? Was I really hitting on a sixteen year old girl? “Technically, it was me who found you, sir.” She crossed her arms with a smirk on her face. God, she was cute. “Okay true, but still. I wouldn’t mind having a stalker who is awesome to talk to.” I joked. She was laughing as she turned back around to continue our walk. “Hell, one in a million, right here.” She pointed at herself. “Oh well, look who’s conceited now!” I couldn’t help but notice the way she felt so comfortable around me. Most people freak out and can’t keep up a conversation with me because I’m a rock star, but she didn’t seem to care about that. And I liked it.

I could tell I was grinning like a fool by the way she looked at me. “What are you so happy about?” she asked. I chuckled and shrugged. “It’s just, you seem to be really comfortable talking to me while most people only freak out and keep saying ‘Oh my gosh, Tony. You’re so awesome’ and ‘I can’t believe I’m meeting you.’” I said trying my best to sound like a young girl. She was outright laughing now. “Well first of all, you make a really bad girl impersonation. And well, apparently you seem to only talk to obsessed fan girls.” “Was it really that bad?” I asked, laughing nervously. She nodded. Great, now she thinks I’m an idiot. “Don’t worry though. I’m freaking out on the inside. I just tend not to show it around rock stars because they really are just people. I feel like they have enough fan girls telling them how amazingly hot they are already.” She chuckled. Every time she did that or smiled her eyes would scrunch up a bit, and it made her look adorable. She seemed just like any other teenage girl, but she acted completely different. “Well you’re right. I do have enough fan girls already telling me how amazingly hot I am.” I said fanning myself with my hand. I don’t know why I kept trying so hard to make her laugh. I just knew that I liked seeing that smile.