The Good Life

Chapter 21

“So you just slept together?” Jamario asked him.

“Yeah. Straight up sleep over style.” Bruno told him.

“That’s respectable, dog.” he responded.

“Well, I try. She’s different. She knows so much about people, things, the world. I learn so much from her. And she never does anything twice, except or maybe wear her running shoes and eat beans and cheese tacos. I can’t live without knowing what she’s going to do next. And if that means just sleeping next to her, then I’ll just sleep next to her.”

“Fair enough, dude.” his band mate responded to him.

It was 2:30 at the Gibson Amphitheater where the group was getting ready for sound check.

“She’ll be here at 4. You’ve met her before. Remember, the hat stealer?”

“Oh shit! She was hot.”

**

Marla sat at her dresser putting on her signature black eyeliner. Fiona sat on the other side of her hoping to make a similar impression on any one person that evening. Marla swiped on a cherry lipstick, a light blush, tan eye shadow and filled her eyebrows before putting on a white skirt and a black tank top. She slipped on the same red Betsey Johnson heels that she met Bruno in as she grabbed an overnight bag packed with clothes for work the next day and headed out the door with Fiona who was wearing jeans and yellow t-shirt with a black sweater over, along with pink flip-flops.

As the girls entered the building all they could hear was music. It was clear that they were doing a sound check. It was an all out concert in the front of the stage when they walked toward the stage. She saw a sound tech playing with things that she couldn’t understand. He waved at her – Bruno had told all of them at she was coming.

Fiona started flirting with a security guard as Marla took a seat in the middle of the arena to listen to them play Runaway Baby. It was like a free concert – all to herself. Bruno looked at her the whole time. He loved the way she reacted to his emotions and his music. He also adored that she didn’t want him for his music, that the music just came along with him. She repeated that endlessly. It was just a bonus. “Let’s stop there y’all. The others we’ll keep the same as we did in Boulder. And we know exactly where to go during JTWYA?” His band nodded as he headed over toward the middle of the arena to her.

“How are you feeling?” He sat down in the plastic chair next to her.

“I’m a little sore, but I’m fabulous now that you’re sitting next to me.” she nudged him playfully. He pushed her back.

“Ouch. That hurt. You’re so strong, Marla.”

“How do you do this every night, Bru? It’s so crazy.”

“It is crazy. It’s crazy in the same way to take care of those kids and their parents and people you’ve never met in Japan. And talk people you will never see again into donating millions of dollars to the people you help. I could never do that. I think what you do is crazy. I don’t know how you do what you do.”

“It takes practice, Bruno.” she told him.

**

By 9:00 PM Fiona and Marla were sitting in the 3rd row on the floor of the arena. They were in the middle of teeny boppers, screaming mothers and sullen boyfriends who wondered why their girlfriends swooned while they held hands. Bruno came on to loud screams, singing The Other Side. He continued singing and she melted. She had absolutely no idea that he was hiding that from her. Or that she hadn’t realized that that was who she was dating. “Oh my god.” she leaned over to Bruno’s older sister.

“Lucky girl.” she laughed at Marla’s reaction.

“I had no idea. Like no idea.” Marla told her.

“No one does.” she turned to Marla.

Marla swooned like every other girl at the concert for the rest of the night. She was embarrassed by the way she felt. It was ridiculous that she felt that way. Oh my god. He’s yours. Stop thinking that he’s some out of this world…oh Mars…untouchable celebrity. You already know what’s coming. What he’s going to sing. And don’t forget you’re going to do unreal things to him later tonight. He doesn’t even know. She tried to calm herself down, but the swooning didn’t stop – especially when Phil started the intro for Our First Time. Bruno stayed put in the middle of the stage, but he looked over to her seat and smiled his signature dimple smile right at her. She put her hand over her heart for him and fake fainted. He tried not to laugh, but there was an audible laugh as he started to sing the song to all the swooning girls.

The part of the concert she had heard during sound check had ended. She was utterly confused because she felt as though she had heard everything. She checked everything off in her head. Even though she knew he wasn’t going to sing everything she had heard him ever sing…there were things that were just for the two of them…she knew the concert wasn’t anywhere near done. And then those most incredibly cheesy words came…

“Grab ‘em real tight …I’ll be that special someone…” and then he went on musing about how he liked finding a girl to sing to. She had heard about this from Fiona. Fiona had googled live performances of the song endlessly. She knew it was coming. But, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Bruno’s sister nudged Marla’s side. Amidst all the screaming and yelling, Bruno stared right into her eyes and mouthed “Tell me your middle name.” He put the microphone next to her and asked her what her name was. She could feel her face get red. He had sung her so many songs, so many times in those few months, but none in front of this many people. She wanted it to stop. She wanted to hide behind his sister and Fiona. From all the attention. Everything was quiet. He took her hand and squeezed it the same way he had the night before. He moved the microphone from his hand and got really close to her ear. “I won’t let go.” he whispered.”

“Kate.” she said into the microphone.

“Kate, this is for you.” he smiled at her, squeezed her hand so tight that she could hardly breathe and opened his mouth.

“Holy cow…” Marla breathed as he walked toward the other end of the stage. The lights went down as he thanked Los Angeles for a wonderful concert.

“Don’t move.” Both his sister and Fiona told Marla.

“I won’t.” Marla told them.

The lights slowly came on as he came out again in the dark singing Talking to the Moon. He sat down on the edge of the stage near her again. He reached out and squeezed her hand and then went back to the middle of the stage and sat down near all the other screaming girls. She followed his every single step.