"Whoo!" I exhaled with a giant grin, brushing my bangs back to cool off my face a little. We'd just finished In and Out of Love. There were still about four more songs left in the set and the crowd was ready for the next one.
Richie grinned back at me as I looked around at my band. He'd been waiting all night for the next song; he was finally getting to play the longer solo he'd been working on all tour and he was excited.
"I'm sweaty now!" I declared, shaking my hair back and forth, this way and that with a small chuckle, "Are you guys all shaken up yet?!" The crowd cheered in response. "I'm hot!" I shouted with a laugh.
Someone in the crowd shouted "Take your shirt off!"
I laughed, but ignored it, shaking my head a little as I looked down at one of the girls in the front row. I'd seen her at multiple shows, going all the way back to the first tour. She had messy hair like I did, but she seemed to manage it better. Hers was all tied up in a ponytail that looked like it was coming loose from all her dancing. I grinned at the sight of it.
"There's a girl up here who looks like she's got the disease!" I called out to the audience, pointing to the chick in front of me.
Right on cue, Richie sounded his guitar as David announced into his microphone, "Dr. Bon Jovi report to the emergency room please."
Another cheer went up from the people as they recognized the beginning of Social Disease. I glanced down at the girl in the front row, vaguely remembering her singing along to Runaway in London back when it was our only hit. She was tossing her loose ponytail about and dancing to the guitars with the girl next to her.
"You can read it in the papers!" I sang, running across the stage to find some other fans to pay attention to. There were still some sitting down about eight rows back. I wasn't having that. "In some places it comes in thirty two flavors," I continued, pointing at those people sitting down. "But you wouldn't tell no one your favorite, if you could."
The words rolled off my tongue without hesitation. I didn't even have to think about them. I'd sung all the songs so many times that the words and notes were all second nature. It was astonishing that I didn't get them jumbled up. I danced back to the other side of the stage to share a mic with Alec as he sang the harmonies to the pre-chorus.
I stepped away again as I started into the hook, trying not to let my mind wander back to that night that I'd gone back to Nina's apartment to find her dancing to that song. I couldn't help but think about it; the trick was trying not to let it show too much. Distracted by the thought of her bare body underneath my long fringed coat, I almost forgot to continue singing.
"Y'can't hide when infection starts," I rushed, trying to get back on time with the music, "Because love is a social disease!" I sang the line again with a slight laugh of embarrassment in spite of myself.
I shook the memory out of my head, looking up at the nosebleed seats and willing them to get the hell up and sing along as I went on with the second verse. I couldn't tell from the stage how many of them at the other end were standing, but I hated the idea of anyone sitting down at a rock concert. I tried to look around at all the different sections of the arena, but my eyes came back to that one fan right up in front.
"So you telephone your doctor just to see what pills to take!" Alec and I sang, "You know there's no prescription gonna wipe this one away!"
I did a spin before launching into the hook again. "You can't start a fire without a spark," I sang, "Well there's something that I guarantee." I pointed to that girl in the front row again. "You can't hide when infection starts because love is a social disease!" I looked up and shook my finger at the audience knowingly, as I sang, "Love is a social disease!" I spun in place, letting my coat fly out around me, then I repeated one last time, "Love is a social disease!" I motioned to the crowd, but looked back at my guitarist and said, "Show 'em Richie."
As Richie sauntered forward to play his solo, I reached a hand down to the girl in the front row with the crazy, messy ponytail. "Wanna dance?" I invited. She and her friend next to her freaked out for a half a second and then she took my hand.
I pulled her up onstage and the audience cheered. She tucked some of those loose strands of hair behind her ears as I gave her an approving once over. She had cut up one of the yellow Slippery shirts and tied it to make it look like the chick on the front of the tour program, coupling it with a pair of flatteringly fitted jeans and some good ole Converse sneakers. I pulled her toward me and gave her my signature smirk.
"What's your name, hunny?" I asked her.
"Ohmygod. I'm Emily. Ohmygod, ohmygod," she replied in a very English accent. It wasn't loose enough to be Australian, even though that's where we were. She had clearly been following the tour though, since I'd seen her before at most of the American and European shows. Though I'd never noticed her at the ones in Japan, oddly enough. Maybe it was because they sold out so quickly. "Oh!" her voice interjected, braking my train of thought, "But you can call me Em, if that's easier. Lots of people call me Em. But you can call me Emily too. Or rather. Whatever. You can call me whatever," she rambled as we danced together.
I glanced over at Tico, who was laughing at me. I couldn't even hear everything she was saying but that accent of hers made every word little word she vomited sound adorable. I put an arm around her waist and spun her away across the stage as Richie continued playing his extended solo.
Suddenly, Emily gasped as if she'd just remembered something. "You've got to have sex with me!" she declared. Surprise crossed my face before the confusion did. What did she mean I've "got to"? I blinked at her and then smiled a little, warily, considering that maybe she was making a joke. I'd heard a lot of bold attempts to fuck me, but none like that. Upon seeing my reaction, she quickly explained, "It's for research!"
Oh. There it was. Her statement was incomplete. It made sense now. I should have seen something like that coming, but I just didn't and it made me laugh. I'd never heard that one before, either. They'd try anything!
"What kind of research?" I challenged with a knowing chuckle as I pulled just a little closer.
"Oh, the very scientific kind," she assured me, despite the slight sarcasm in her voice. Her tone was sort of joking, like she was talking to a friend. For a moment, she didn't seem like the adoring fan I'd seen at every show. More like just another old pal from Sayreville.
I had almost forgotten about the song when I tuned back in. "Hold that thought," I mumbled to Emily, knowing that Richie was just about to go into the bridge; I couldn't stall anymore. I looked over at the guitarist as he finished his solo and took us into the bridge. Bringing my arm up from around Emily's waist to hug around her shoulders, I turned her toward the audience.
"She's so full of high-grade octane," I sang, trying to keep up the energy that Richie had built with that solo, "She could run a bullet train on 38 double D's!" I leaned my head closer to Emily's so that she could sing into my microphone too. She knew all the words, just like any front row fan should.
"Now you know for sure," Emily and I sang together, "She knows the cure to make any blind man see!"
I went on to sing the hook as I took Emily's hand and continued dancing with her. She was still singing, of course, even though nobody could hear her but me and maybe some of the jealous girls in the front row. She spun into my arms, dancing against me as I repeated the hook. At the end, I held the mic to her face and she said the last line.
"S'nothing a shot can't cure," she said into my microphone with that cute little accent of hers.
I grinned and held the mic up to my own lips. "That's right," I laughed. holding her up so that she didn't collapse from all the excitement. She giggled too, holding onto me.
"So that research," she suggested in a low tone. I didn't object when she grabbed hold of my coat to pull me closer. I probably wouldn't have objected if she'd grabbed my belt. Her eyes were hungry as they swept up to my face from wherever they'd been looking the moment before.
I smirked and leaned in to whisper, "How about a kiss, would that do?"
She nodded quickly, visibly reverting back to fangirl mode with wide eyes and a gleeful grin. "Yeah, that works, whatever. I'll take what I can ge-"
Wrapping an arm around her, I dipped her way back and literally crashed my lips into hers, knowing she'd keep rambling if I didn't act. Tico took this as his signal to end the song and the crowd cheered again. I couldn't be sure whether they were cheering about the end of the song or about the kiss. Either way, there was a lot of excitement all around.
For being so overwhelmed, Emily was actually a good kisser. The thought entered my head to invite her backstage with me, but some small, sensible part of my reminded me that Nina would be backstage after the show too. I'd always been so careful about groupies around her. I didn't really want to break that streak.
When I pulled away from her, Emily seemed a little dazed. I was used to that, though. I smirked again and helped her back onto her feet, motioning to the security personnel waiting off stage.
"Wooah," she giggled with a silly grin.
"I hope that helped your research," I snickered, motioning for her to exit the stage to the left, where one of the tour's security guys was waiting to escort her back to her seat the long way round. She giggled at me and nodded before turning around to watch where she was going.
David was entertaining the audience with an impromptu keyboard duet with the drums, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes drifted down to Emily's butt as she waltzed past Richie, giving him the same silly grin she'd given me. I had to admit it was a nice view.
When she got to the security guy, he looked over at me questioningly. Before I could think too hard, I nodded a little, making a fist over my chest and jerking it down twice like I was tugging on a lanyard. It was our signal for a backstage pass.
I could be careful.
I didn't wait to see him give her the pass, though. Instead, I turned back to the crowd with a cocky smirk. David eased out of his jam session as I brought my mic up to speak.
"That chick came all the way from England to see me!" I bragged, "You think she got what she came for?"
The audience cheered again. I could hear another woman in the audience scream "Kiss me Jon!" I laughed it off, just like I had before, and glanced down at the setlist that was taped to the stage. I hadn't even been paying attention to it with Emily up on stage with me. Of course that song was next.
"She wanted me so bad," I sighed. The noise swelled again in response as I ran a hand through my hair and went on, "You all want us so bad." Richie played the first few notes of the song and the audience knew what was coming. "We're wanted," I sang gently.
I held the mic out to the crowd and they finished, "Dead or alive!"
"Yeah!" I shouted as Richie and the rest of the band started into the intro.
We closed the night out with Runaway just to switch things up a little. I always liked to end the shows on a high note. Figuratively. My throat was starting to get a little sore from trying to hit those notes in Prayer. Not that a little scratchy throat was gonna bring me down. I'd had too much fun with that show. Sydney was such a great town.
Emily came prancing over to me, very excited about the little black card that hung from the lanyard around her neck. A white sticker had been stuck across the bottom and labeled 'Melbourne 9/5/87' to ensure that passes couldn't be stolen and reused for other shows. Reg had very unique handwriting. I'd always thought that anyone with enough skill to forge his handwriting or enough determination to hire someone who could almost deserved to see backstage.
Not that it was really relevant at the moment. Emily was rambling on about being backstage and how she only felt a little bad that her friend couldn't come with her. I put an arm around her shoulders and guided her back toward the hospitality room as she attempted to take it all in.
"You still interested in that research?" I mumbled to her, pulling her into the hospitality room with me. We were the only ones in there since the rest of the band had gone to change clothes, but it was only a matter of time before at least one of them, if not the whole group, came in here to grab some snacks for their hotel rooms.
Emily nodded, beaming at me. I leaned in and kissed her. She seemed a little surprised that it was happening now, but she kissed back nonetheless, bunching the material of my shirt in her hands and pulling herself closer to me.
I hadn't planned on doing anything with Emily, but I was frustrated. Between the anticipation of going public with Nina and all the stress of tour, all I'd wanted to do for the last week or so was fuck my girlfriend, especially after the other night on the beach. Unfortunatley, Reg had been watching me like a hawk since he'd caught me sneaking out of the hotel that night. Nina and I hadn't gotten to share a room much since and we hadn't fooled around in weeks. It was driving me crazy. I was running out of options.
Emily let out a quiet moan as I slipped my tongue into her mouth. She brought an arm up to rest around my shoulders. I leaned her back a little, almost like I'd done onstage, but not as deep. She giggled into the kiss as I brought her back up. One of my hands on her waist had just started wandering when we were interrupted.
"Maybe you could not eat her face where we eat our food?" David scoffed as he entered the room. His face was sort of disgusted, but also sort of amused. I glared over at him as the rest of the band followed him in. They each gave us an unconcerned glance, more interested in the snacks than what was going on in our little corner.
Emily giggled at David's comment. She was just excited that her favorite band had just walked in the room. Dropping her hand down to take mine, she tugged me over to the couch and armchairs where the rest of the band was cooling off and relaxing after the show. Begrudgingly, I followed along, but I would have much rather been just about anywhere else getting rid of my tension.
"You can come back to the hotel with us and finish your research there," I muttered in her ear as I stepped around her to plop down into one of the arm chairs. She gave me a giddy smile and started looking around for a place to sit. David had perched himself on one of the countertops. Richie was sitting on the couch next to my arm chair with Alec next to him, and Tico was at the fridge trying to decide if he wanted a beer.
With another smirk, I reached over and yanked Emily into my lap so we could make out again. My hand had just come to a rest on the inside of her knee and I hadn't even gotten a chance to kiss her again when Nina appeared in the doorway, looking down at some papers.
Shit! I'd been so consumed with the anticipation of getting off that Nina's customary post-show visitation had completely gone out of my mind. She glanced up very briefly, but more in David's direction than in mine, before looking back down at her papers and continuing into the room. I don't think she noticed Emily.
"You guys weren't in your dressing room, so I figured you might be in here," Nina explained, thumbing through her papers, "I actually had something I wanted to.." She trailed off as her gaze fell on me and the girl in my lap. Quickly she looked around the room at the rest of the band, presumably so that she didn't appear so thrown off by the sight of me with a groupie. Something I'd worked so hard to keep her from ever seeing.
It was difficult pretending that I didn't care how she reacted. I glanced at Emily and then back at Nina, who was very obviously avoiding eye contact as she tried to find her words.
"I, um, I-I can come back," she stuttered uncertainly, finally giving us another glance before looking over at David or just about anywhere else in the room awkwardly. She started to turn to leave, but I spoke up before she could get away.
"Wait!" I called, "You said you actually had notes tonight?" She never had any real notes for us. Most of the time our shows didn't have any problems to address, and even when they did, I usually knew the cause of them before Nina brought them up. I didn't know what she was talking about tonight, and that was important to me. "I wanna hear 'em!"
Emily waved her hand dismissively in Nina's direction. "Yeah, don't mind me!" she instructed, turning to me. Her voice was a little quieter when she added, "Jon's the only one who'll know I'm here." She pecked my cheek and started planting little kisses down my neck. If only she knew who that was standing by the door.
I frowned, leaning my head away from her a little. In any other situation, the kisses would have been well received, but it was just too uncomfortable with my girlfriend standing across the room from me. Nina looked down at her papers, seeming just as uncomfortable as I was. We were still a secret though, and single Jon wouldn't care what crew thought about him making out with groupies.
"Just make it quick," I suggested, motioning for Nina to carry on.
Nina looked back up and grimaced as if she'd forgotten Emily was there. Recovering her blank, unaffected expression, she did as told. "Right. Uh. Well that drums and keys thing was a little surprising," she sighed, looking back behind me at David with a slight nod, "Caught me off guard a bit. Uh, that wasn't because of a mic failure or anything, right?"
My eyes were glued to Nina but, "No, no," came David's voice. "We were just filling some space between songs while Jon played around with her," the pianist explained. Emily didn't seem at all bothered by the slight tone of disapproval in David's voice. In fact, I don't think she noticed it.
Nina looked back at me, and then down at the floor, nodding again. "Oh, okay," she said distractedly, "Uh, good. I just wanted to be sure." She looked up and around at the rest of the band with a tiny smile. "Didn't want another Japan incident."
Richie snorted a little as Alec, Tico, and David all broke into a chuckle. Nina was, of course, referring to the unplanned encore in Aomori and the drama that happened on the bus afterward. By now, it was a long-forgotten joke, but I was just too caught up in how awkward this whole situation was to even appreciate the reference, let alone enjoy the attention I was getting from the girl I'd invited backstage.
Nina finally looked back at me, her smile fading into that same unconcerned expression she'd had earlier. "Sometime when you're not so...uh.." She faded out for a minute, making a circular motion in the air in front of her like she was cleaning glass as she figured out how she wanted to word her thoughts. After a few seconds, she finished, "...occupied, I need to talk to you about a solo for Lemma."
"Does Lemma get to talk about a solo for Lemma?" David asked.
Nina scoffed in David's direction. "Well no, why would I need to talk to you?" she retorted sarcastically, "It's not like you'd be playing it."
I leaned my head a little further away from Emily and muttered, "Hold on, darlin'." She stopped nuzzling my neck and bit her lip, smiling too, as her face turned bright red in response to that pet name. I smirked a little at her reaction, but then turned my attention back to the sound girl. "Why can't we just do that now?" I asked her.
Nina looked surprised for a minute. Her eyebrows went up and her jaw dropped a little. It took me a minute to realize that what I was seeing wasn't surprise, but disbelief. Out of the corner of my eye, Emily's face was changing too. She seemed to be confused and maybe a little disappointed, but I couldn't tell without looking at her, which I wasn't going to do.
After a second or two of silent tension building, Richie spoke up. "Jon, you are neglecting this pretty British Betty!" he scolded, motioning to Emily. He gave her one of his dashing, playful smirks and waved her over in his direction. "Come on over here, sweetheart!" he invited.
If Emily had been disappointed, there was no sign of it on her face after Richie called her that. I could feel her eyes on me, probably gauging my response to Richie's invitations. I glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like she was my property; she could do whatever she wanted, but she wouldn't get what she wanted from me. I'd lost all interest as soon as I'd heard that awkward stutter out of Nina's mouth suggesting she come back later.
I shrugged at nodded toward the guitarist and Emily grinned. She jumped up from my lap and sank onto the couch next to Richie, who automatically put his arm around her shoulders. I could hear their mumbled conversation as I got up out of the chair as well.
"I'll give you the attention you deserve, hunny," Richie assured her quietly, "What's your name?"
In that flustered, fanatic tone she'd had onstage, Emily replied, "It's Em."
I stretched and nodded to Nina as I started toward the door. "Walk with me," I murmured, "Let's sort this thing out." I just barely caught Nina glancing back over at David and remembered that he'd wanted to be a part of this conversation too. I turned back to the pianist to find him preparing to hop off the counter. "She'll come back and talk to you later," I said to him. David scoffed, but settled back onto the counter again anyway. I looked at Nina and motioned for her to follow me. "Come on.."
It wasn't a long walk to the dressing room, but we still had to make it look like there was a reason we were walking together. We both knew that the conversation was nothing more than cover and that David probably wouldn't be getting a solo, all on its own, with just a couple months left to go before we went home.
"It's kinda late in the tour to be adding a random solo, don't you think?" I pointed out.
Even though it was just cover-talk, still Nina argued, "Well Richie played that extended solo for the first time tonight. What if Lemma's went in a song like that?"
I frowned over my shoulder at her. She didn't need to be so logically sound if the conversation we were having was just for show. She smiled a little at my annoyance, but didn't seem bothered by it in the least.
"If you wanted to plug the solo into a song to make it less random," she went on, "I'm sure Lemma would be able to figure out a great transition from any song you chose into a solo and just, y'know, grind."
Mmh, grind. Good word. I smirked at the thought of it as I stepped into the band's dressing room. Nina followed me in, going on about the solo possibilities so that it didn't look like she was just following me in to watch me change clothes. She sort of trailed off as she turned and closed the door behind her. She had barely gotten a chance to turn back around when I started talking.
"Nina, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Hey," she interrupted, "I said I was okay with groupies. We don't have to talk about it."
I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair nervously. I was mortified. Nina was staring at the floor and I was sweating. What was I supposed to say? I'd never meant for her to actually see me with someone else. I suddenly felt so dirty.
"Actually," she muttered, looking up at me "I know I said I was okay with groupies, but I'm not really so sure that I am." She shook her head slowly for a second. "I mean, I'm not stupid enough to think that it's never gonna happen, just because I say no, but I really really don't wanna know about it."
We stared at each other a moment. I couldn't say I blamed her. I still felt horrible that it had happened. Going over it again in my head, there were so many ways it could have been avoided. I could have taken Emily to a different room. I could have not given her a backstage pass in the first place. At the very least, I could have kept my head out of my pants and remembered the notes I'd asked Nina to bring me after every show. Oh God, those notes. Could have done that differently too.
I grimaced at myself and brought my hands up to rub my face. "God, I'm sorry," I groaned in embarrassment, "I really am. I shouldn't have given her the pass." I paused and let out a huff as I dropped my hands. "I definitely shouldn't have insisted you stay and give me those notes," I said, "I don't know what I was thinking!" Nina tossed her hands out to either side, shaking her head.
"I should have knocked!" She said urgently, bringing a hand in front of her in a 'please stop' gesture, "Really, though, we don't have to talk about this! I don't need to know when it happens. I don't--I-I don't want to think about it. Let's just forget it." Her eyes were pleading.
Apparently, I didn't trust my own eyes because I asked, "Are you sure?"
Nina nodded, stepping closer to me. "Yeah," she confirmed gently, wrapping her arms around my waist. I smiled a little at her pretty blue eyes. There was adoration there too, but not in a fanatic way. "I just," Nina went on with a sigh, leaning her head against my chest and letting me hug her back, "I know I can't stop it, but I don't wanna know. Same rule still stands. No babies, no diseases, no questions."
"Yes ma'am," I agreed, planting a kiss on her forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut and grimaced at myself again. I still felt bad, but now that I was holding her, I was getting all hot and bothered again. "I'm sorry you had to see that. All I've wanted to do this last week is rip your clothes off and make you scream for me," I grumbled into her hair.
She pulled away just enough to look up at me and shake her head slightly. "Baby, just tell me if you need it that bad," she instructed, with a hint of amusement. Her voice lowered seductively as she leaned in again, like she would kiss me. She stopped close to my face to speak. "I'm sure we could figure something out," she teased, You've just gotta be straight with me." I smirked at the thought that popped into my head as she gave me Eskimo kisses. She started to brush her lips against mine, but I, very stupidly, spoke before she could get there.
"I couldn't be anything but straight with you, Nina," I joked. Nina paused for a moment, her lips still just a hair away from mine, and then leaned away from me with an incredulous look. I could tell from the tight-lipped smile on her face, though, that she was amused. She shook her head and simply stared at me.
Then she nodded a little as she said, "That was cheesy."
"You love it," I countered.
"I love you," she returned without hesitation. She gave me a big-eyed look with a cute little smile, but the end of her statement was sort of hanging open.
I chuckled a little and nodded knowingly. "You love it," I repeated.
Nina had just let out a half-snicker when somebody knocked on the door. Her smile vanished as she looked over. Despite the visible nervousness on her face, she didn't move away from me with as much urgency as she used to. Even as I stuck my hands in my pockets, I couldn't help but smile at the new place our relationship had entered and how close we were to going public. It was still a month or two away, but I was ready for that last show. Just knowing that she was getting more open to it too made me want to take her right there on the floor.
"Come in," I called, in spite of myself, not even looking over at the door. Nina raised an eyebrow at me and crossed her arms as she turned to see who was at the door. I smiled a little more and followed her gaze.
David was already talking as he stepped through the door. "So it's really too late in the tour to be talking about a solo," he reasoned, waving his hand around in front of him. still holding onto the door, he stopped and looked up at me and then over at Nina before continuing. "Please tell me you're not considering making me do this," he said, looking back and forth between the two of us, "because I really don't want to."
Silence filled the room. Nina and I stared at David and he gazed back expectantly. After a couple long seconds, Nina started giggling quietly and then looked over at me. I smirked and raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. She shook her head and tightened the cross of her arms around herself.
"Don't worry," she assured David, "We won't be adding a new solo to the set this tour." David started to grin in approval when Nina shrugged and added, "Unless you just want to."
David's grin faded and he scoffed. "Woman, I just said I don't want to!" he mused, shaking his head. Even before the grin returned to his face, it was obvious by the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that he was just kidding around, like always. He winked and waved his hand at us dismissively as he stepped backward. "Carry on," he said as he shut the door behind him.
Nina was still giggling a little when she turned back to me. All I could do was smile a little. She was so cute and now that it was just us again, all I could think about was how long it had taken her to step away from me and everything I wanted to do to her. Especially as she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around my middle again.
"So my room tonight?" Nina suggested seductively, bringing me back to the moment and her knowing gaze, "I can makeup for ruining your evening plans, if you want."
How could I say no to that? "I'm in," I agreed with a smirk, "It may be later, though, so I can ditch Reg."
"No problem," Nina said in that same low voice, "I'm sure I'll be up all night." She scrunched her nose a little bit and leaned in to kiss me. I met her in the middle, eager to get the evening going early. She ran a hand up into my hair and nipped at my bottom lip teasingly. My eyes were still closed when she pulled away, mumbling something about getting back to work.
"See you later," she taunted as she stepped away. When I opened my eyes, she was grinning at me as she closed the door. I licked my lips in anticipation.
Yep, Sydney really was a great town.
YOU ARE READING
Not This Time
FanfictionNina Artelle loved everything about the 1980s. The hair, the clothes, the music, everything. So when her friend Matt claimed he had a time machine and could arrange a way for her to live in the 80s, of course she took the chance. However, time trave...
