Not This Time

Jon: August 4, 1987

     "How're you feeling?" I muttered as soon as I saw the blue of Nina's eyes.
She groaned in protest at the sound of my voice. She pulled the covers up closer to her face to ward off my hand when I reached over to brush some of her hair back. I smirked. So much for affectionate gestures this morning, I guess.
     "Do you remember anything from last night?" I prompted. The covers moved a little, leading me to assume that Nina had shaken her head. Oh man. This was my chance. I grinned and chuckled a little. "You were all over Richie," I informed her, messing with her.
     "I was not," she denied from under the covers.
     I couldn't have grinned bigger if I tried. "Yeah, you were," I insisted, still teasing. She had no idea. "You told him you loved him," I said. I paused to let her respond, but all I got was a slightly disgruntled noise. "Should I be jealous?" I joked.
     Nina finally pushed the covers back and squinted at me. "Of course not," she scoffed, "Sambora's not even next in line."
     "Oh?" I snickered, raising an eyebrow at her.
     "If I wasn't with you, the next band member I'd go for would definitely be Lemma," she explained simply, as if it were common knowledge. She pulled the covers back up under her chin and got comfortable again as she added, "He's got magic fingers."
     I frowned. "And how would you know that?" I asked in a slightly accusatory tone.
     She didn't acknowledge my tone of voice, didn't even look at me when she answered, "He's a pianist, Rockstar, all pianists have magic fingers."
     "I can play piano," I offered.
     This time, Nina rolled to look over her shoulder at me. She had the faintest knowing smile on her face as she whispered, "I know." I smirked. She brought a hand up to her head with a pained expression. "So what actually did happen last night?" Nina grumbled, rubbing her face.
     "I'm serious," I snickered, "You were all over Richie." I paused, grinning at her grimace, and then added, "And David. And me. And anything with a pulse really." She glared at me. "You'll remember it all eventually," I assured her, "And I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it when you do."
     Nina grumbled a little and rolled back over, facing away from me. "I hope so," she sighed, "Now leave me alone."
     I leaned over and planted a quick kiss on her cheek, which produced an annoyed sound in response before she pulled the covers up around her face again. With another slight chuckle, I got up and pulled on some sweatpants. God, my legs were sore.
     I had to be at least mostly functioning before too long. Before the show last night, I'd invited the whole band to come hang out at my place, but after Nina was drugged, I didn't feel right leaving her to face the hangover all on her own. It wasn't her fault. So we'd decided to meet up here instead. The door closed with the softest sound I could manage as I stepped out of Nina's room and over toward the kitchen to make some wake up juice.
     Three hours and two cups of coffee later, somebody tapped the door. My head had started to hurt at some point. It must have been obvious on my face when I opened the door for Richie, because he snickered at me. I gave him a smug expression and started to lean on the door to close it when I heard the outer door close. I leaned through the doorway to find Alec on his way up the stairs.
     "Hey man," he called. My wince was so hard, I knew Alec could see it. I glanced over my shoulder at Nina's bedroom where she was still in bed trying to sleep off the hangover from last night. Alec nudged the door a little, bringing my attention back to him. "What's up?" he asked, full voice.
     "Dude," I hissed, "Not so loud!" I looked back at the room again as I stepped aside to let my bassist in the door. As he passed me, I could see his apologetic expression, though I could tell he was somewhat amused as he held his hand up over his mouth.
     I closed the door as quietly as I could and locked it. With yet another glance back at Nina's bedroom door, I crept across the room to the seat I'd been occupying before Richie had gotten here. There was a recap of last night's baseball game showing on the news. I really only had it on for background noise, after I saw who won.
     "How's she doing?" Alec asked quietly, nodding toward the door.
     I nodded as I sank into my place on the couch. "She's doing about as well as expected," I said, looking over at him with a shrug, "She hasn't been throwing up, so that's good." I smirked and shook my head. "I couldn't get her out of bed if I wanted to, though," I chuckled, "She's cranky."
     This seemed to amuse both Richie and Alec as much as it did me. Nina was adorable when she was cranky, but only because I knew she didn't mean to be that way and she would come apologizing to me for it later. I frowned at the television, picked up the remote, and started flipping through channels. I honestly hated watching television, but I knew if I put on music, I would want to play it too loud and it would disturb Nina.
     There was a soft knock at the door and we all looked over. It had to be Tico. David had told me already that he was going to spend time with his girlfriend instead of dropping by. Couldn't say I blamed him.
     "Somebody find something," I mumbled, tossing the remote toward my bandmates as I got up to answer the door. As I opened the door, Tico smirked at my tired expression and held out a bottle of Vernor's ginger ale. I didn't get why he was handing this to me.
     "It's for Nina. I've got another one, if you want it," Tico said, "But this should help with the nausea."
     I smirked too, and took the bottle. I wouldn't have ever thought Tico would know how X leaves its victims. I stepped out of his way so that he could get into the apartment. I could see his eyes wandering, admiring Nina's place. He went straight over and took my seat on the couch as I set the bottle of soda down on the little table next to Nina's front door.
     When I'd closed the door and gotten back over to everyone else, someone had settled on The Price Is Right. Bob Barker's face grinned at me from the television screen, but I looked away around the apartment, ignoring him. Richie spat something at the TV, drawing my attention for a second. When I realized that he was commenting on the price of an item on the game show, I snickered and shook my head, looking back over toward the windows.
     The memory of kissing down Nina's body popped into my mind and I closed my eyes, ignoring the slight twich in my pants. It amazed me how I could be so tired from last night and so wiped out, but somehow I could still get excited about reruns. I took a deep breath and pushed the thought from my mind. I'm sure someone would ask about it in no time, but for the moment, I was too hungover to maintain my mind on that one topic, even if it was incredibly hot.
     I glanced over at Nina's door again, wondering if she was still asleep. Then my eyes fell to her record player. The record Nina had put on last night was still there. We hadn't even flipped it. The needle was still sitting at the center of the record where it had landed upon finishing Side A. With a small groan, I pushed out of my seat and stepped over to her record player to put the album away.
     "You were listening to Slippery?" Richie scoffed, "Aren't you sick of it, yet?"
     I smirked over at him as I slid the album into its cover. "Nina put it on before I got home," I chuckled, "Apparently, she's not sick of it yet." The rest of my band snickered as I put the record back onto the shelf where Nina kept her collection. Then I just stood there. I had to admit, I was kind of restless. Part of me wished I hadn't asked the guys to come by. I kinda wanted to be in bed with Nina, sleeping off my headache.
     "How was last night, by the way?" Richie prompted. When I looked over at them, nobody was looking at me. After a minute, the guitarist looked over at me knowingly.
     My gaze drifted away for just a second as the memory of slipping my coat off of Nina's shoulders and tracing my fingers down her spine. I couldn't help but smile a little at the memory of what happened next. Then I blinked and looked back at them, another grin spreading across my face.
     "Well, maybe I should just say that it was wild," I snickered, crossing my arms, "She'd probably kill me if I told you anything else." Alec looked like he was about to protest when I held a hand up and spoke again quickly. "But let me just say," I added, pointing to various places and Nina's bedroom door, "There, there, in there, and in the shower."
     "I would have never thought Nina would fuck in the shower," Tico commented, setting his feet up on Nina's coffee table as I sank onto the arm of the couch, "She really does not seem the type. How did you convince her to do that?"
     I threw my hands up to either side of my head and shrugged. "I told her I was going to take a shower and she followed me in!" I recalled.
     Richie brought his hand up over his mouth, but I could tell he was grinning beneath it. Tico was smiling, but he shook his head, and Alec looked like he was trying to wrap his head around the idea. My gaze wandered again as I thought about it.
     "Well," I sighed, after having lived it again in my head, "To be precise, it wasn't in the shower." I shook my head, trying to remember the real details. "Technically speaking, it was on the bathroom counter," I corrected, "We tried in the shower and things did get really steamy, but it's..." I trailed off and then chuckled a little, glancing back for a second at the album that I'd just put away. Still laughing a little, I finished, "Let's just say Slippery When Wet is right."
     Richie started giggling that low laugh that he always did when he thought of something dirty. Pretty soon, Alec had joined Richie and I with that giggling. Tico, looking between the three of us with an amused grin, let out a full laugh at us. We weren't even laughing at my comment anymore. It was just funny that we'd all done that low giggle.
     Suddenly, without warning, there was thud against Nina's bedroom door. We all looked over and stopped laughing. I exchanged glances with Alec for a second and then turned back at the door with a sigh.
     "One second," I muttered, rising form the arm of the couch to make sure that Nina didn't need anything. When I opened the door and peeked into her room, there was a box of tissues laying on the floor a few feet away from me. I smiled a little and looked over at my girlfriend, who hadn't even bothered to get out of bed. I stepped into the room, picked up the box of tissues, and took them back to Nina's nightstand with a smirk. "Did you need something?" I asked as I put the tissues down.
     Nina groaned, "Stop being so loud out there! How can one man make so much noise?"
     "Richie, Tico, and Alec are here," I chuckled.
     "Well tell them to shut up," she complained.
     I smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Okay," I replied gently as she shied away from me, pulling her covers up closer to her face. I chuckled again at her and retreated into the living room without another word. I could feel the band's eyes on me, watching me close the door as quietly as I could. "We need to be quieter," I mumbled upon turning back to them.
     Richie put a finger over his grin with an understanding nod. Tico and Alec were both nodding too, but I could tell from the way Alec was looking over that he was about to say something. He smirked a little and leaned forward toward me.
     "Bet you were telling her that last night, weren't you?" he joked. I choked on a laugh and turned away from them. I knew that if I saw Richie laughing at that comment, it would just make me start too. I shook my head as I turned back to Alec.
     "Fuck off, man," I snickered.
     "You're glad you went to that party, though, huh?" he went on with a knowing tone.
     "Or the afterparty?" Richie added childishly. We all chuckled at him and I nodded to both. It was a really great night. The party would have been fun regardless, but I knew there wouldn't have been the fun afterwards if I hadn't gone.
     I smirked to myself at the memory of that dance she'd done on that coffee table and the smell of the wine in her hair. "Yeah. I mean, I'm not glad that Nina got drugged or anything," I said, looking back at them, "But I'm glad I went. I don't think I would have been able to keep up with her if I hadn't taken that half-tab." With a deep breath, I shook my head again slowly and brought my hands up to rub my face. "I feel like shit right now, but," I trailed off, a grin spreading across my face as I thought about that last time before we went to sleep. I couldn't help but chuckle a little as I finished, "damn, it was worth it."
     "Yeah, I bet it was," Richie snickered. I stifled a laugh at the same time that Alec broke into another fit of giggles. Tico was clearly amused, even though he rolled his eyes.
     I shook my head as I returned to my seat on the arm of the couch. "I'd better not tell you anymore, though," I mused, "She really will kill me if she finds out I've told you as much as I have."
     "Lame," Alec scoffed, but it was obvious by his cheesy grin that he was just messing with me. Richie grinned too and shook his head, both of them looking back at the TV.
     There was a moment of silence that passed between the four of us after that as we all watched the show. Contestants on The Price is Right were spinning the wheel and calling shout-outs over all the cheering and that incessant beeping that the wheel always made. Thankfully, whoever had chosen the program hadn't turned the volume up ridiculously loud.
     "Hey Jon," Tico said. I looked over at him and he glanced back at me. "How's it going with Nina? You gonna marry her?"
     The question brought all other eyes in the room to me, suddenly very curious. I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it. Marrying her, that is. The problem was that, even if I asked, she would probably tell me no. Our whole relationship was a secret. If kissing her on New Year's could have potentially exposed it, marrying her definitely would.
     I must have been quiet too long, because Tico added, "I mean, if taking X to keep your woman satisfied isn't love, I don't know what love is."
     We all stifled another round of laughter at the comment and I shook my head. I smiled sort of sadly with an uncertain shrug. "Honestly, I could see it," I admitted in answer to his question, "I could really see spending the rest of my life with her, but there's two reasons that won't happen anytime soon." I paused and glanced at the door to Nina's bedroom for a split second before I continued, "One, I'm not ready to be married right now. The thought of that doesn't really excite me. Two, Nina still insists that we stay a secret. I'm not completely sure why."
     "That sucks," Alec muttered, "Why don't you talk to her about it?"
     "I've tried! She keeps avoiding the subject!" I sighed, "I don't know why she doesn't want to talk about it. It's an important conversation that needs to be had!"
     "Yeah, man," Richie agreed.
     Nobody said anything else after that. I didn't really want to get angry about it because I wanted to take care of Nina right now and I knew I wouldn't be able to do as good a job of it if I was mad at her.
     "...this and a brand new car!" Bob Barker announced on the television as the camera panned away to a shiny silver Chevy. I looked over at Nina's bedroom door for a minute as the rest of the guys watched the show.
     My mind was still pondering how long Nina was going to keep up her game of Keep The World Clueless. After all that drama with Matt, I'd kind of assumed that he was the real reason she was keeping us a secret; so that Matt wouldn't find out. Now that he knew and had left us alone, I didn't see why we couldn't just come out with it.
     I honestly wasn't sure how much longer I was willing to put up with it. I was definitely going to have to get to the bottom of things. I couldn't let her secrets control everything. It was killing me.