Diary of a Rockstar

Chapter 5

Chapter 5; Happy Birthday to Who?::

Sunlight burst through a bay window in the huge hotel room and landed on Jade's face.  She squinted and groaned, pulling her heavy white comforter over her head.  It couldn't be that late in the morning.  It hadn't felt like she'd even slept that long.  She pulled the blanket away from her face, furrowing her brow against the light, and rubbed her sleep-blemished eyes.  It took her a moment to remember that she wasn't in her own apartment.  She blinked at the room and then sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her neck.  She looked at the digital clock next to her on the bedside table: 11:02 am.  It felt so much earlier, which seemed odd to her because, in truth, it should feel later.  She was stuck on Evansville, Indiana time, after all.  She picked up her red phone and looked at the display.  One missed call and one voicemail message.  She called her voicemail box.

"Saturday, September 13," the cool female voice told her, "9:24 am."  The voice changed then.

"Hey, it's me," Mike's voice rang through her ear.

"You must still be out from the plane ride," he told her, "I was just calling to see if you wanted to have breakfast.  I'll just let you sleep.  Just go ahead and call me back whenever you're up and around and we'll find something to do.  The opening for the show isn't until about 8:00 tonight.  So, there's no rush.  Just call me.  I'll talk to you later.  Happy birthday."  The message ended and the cool female voice returned to her ear.

"To delete this message, press '7'.  To copy this message to another person--" the woman was cut off.  Jade pressed "9" and saved the message, leaving the voicemail menu.  She smiled sadly and looked down at her phone, checking the time it would be in Rochester, Indiana.  2:00 pm.  No one else had even text to wish her a happy birthday.  She took a deep breath and swung her legs off the bed.  Screw them then.  If they didn't want to take the time to make her feel appreciated, even on her birthday, she didn't care.  She was going to the make the best of her trip.  No one could take away the fun she was supposed to be having.  She trudged her way to the bathroom, starting the hot water in the shower, and stripped off her clothes.  She showered quickly, washing her hair, and then toweled off.  She stared at herself in the mirror.  She didn't like the way she looked anymore.  She used to be quite vibrant.  She was happy long ago.  It seemed like another lifetime when she had truly laughed and meant it.  She sighed and untangled her hair with a comb.

~*~

She yanked her iPod headphones out of her pocket by the cord.  It caught in her jeans pocket and she jerked on it hard.  She looked up suddenly and watched a blue sports car pull into the cul de sac parkway in front of the hotel.  A moment later, as she was stuffing the right earbud for her headphones into her ear, the door opened and she watched Mike step out.  Of course he'd have a car like this.  She wanted to roll her eyes.  He stepped away from the car and smiled at her.

"Hey." She smirked and nodded at him, deciding against the music she was going to listen to and pushed the iPod and headphones back into her pocket.

"Sleep well?" She nodded.

"Pretty well," she murmured at him.  He watched her eyes trail behind him, back to the car again.  He turned around and looked at it.

"Gawdy, mm?" She wondered what he'd meant by that.  He'd bought the car.  It was his fault if he was getting extra attention because of it.

"I had to rent this," he mumbled, "I wouldn't have gotten THIS flashy of a car, but this is the only hybrid they still had on the lot. Lot D at the airport obviously isn't too high security. Someone keyed the entire left front of my Lexus."  

"Oh." It was kind of sucky that someone would deface such a gorgeous vehicle.

"So, I'm stuck with this beast until Monday. You want to go have lunch? I'm supposed to meet my wife in a few minutes."