Thanks for your patience, and your kind words. Not my best work, but it is forward progress. Hope you enjoy it!
Richie leisurely strolled toward the beach area where
he’d watched the sun rise for the past two mornings. He couldn’t sleep, so he figured he may as
well get a head start on Allegra.
Seating himself Indian-style on the sand, his mind tried
to wrap itself around her. She wasn’t
what he’d thought. Even with her
aversion to him, she’d been thoughtful in arranging for Ava to come over. It could have easily been an uncomfortable
position for him in the couples’ setting. He’d been surprised that she didn’t choose to
let it be uncomfortable. Instead, she
created a positive situation for everyone involved.
Of course, the way she looked last night, he wouldn’t
have minded being HER date. He had kept
quiet while the other guys had gone on about her appearance, but he was no less
stunned. And she seemed to not realize
how incredible she’d looked. In his
experience, all women knew the power of their beauty and used it for all its
worth. But Allegra had seemed a little
put off at the attention - as if she didn’t believe that she deserved the
compliments.
Jon was going to have to give up more info on this girl,
because her contradictions were starting to screw with Richie’s head.
It had been another long night for Allegra. After Jon left, she hadn’t been able to get
her mind to settle down enough to sleep.
He’d made her start to question herself. What was she actually trying to
accomplish by being here? Was it just a
way to delay the current reality of her life?
Did she subconsciously hope to get a moral pass, wanting to live out the
clichéd self-indulgent rock band lifestyle?
So far she still didn’t have any answers.
Lost in her thoughts, she made her way toward the beach
for what had become her morning ritual.
She was going to miss it when they left for Seattle in a couple of
day. She had a feeling the sunrise
wouldn’t be nearly as spectacular there.
If she could see it at all with all the rain Seattle was famous for.
Almost to her spot on the beach, she noticed the still
dark shadow of a person. Slowing her
pace, she was a little hesitant about approaching until a familiar voice said “Morning
darlin’.” It was Richie.
She slowly and quietly released the pent up breath she
hadn’t realized she was holding. Sliding
off her sandals, she folded her legs under her and settled on the sand next to
him. “She kick you out early?”
“SHE is Ava, smartass, and she’s still asleep. Casey’s with her.”
“Mm.”
Irritation pricked at him. Damn I’m getting tired of
this. Why can’t we be civil to each
other? “So where’d you disappear to
last night?”
“What difference does it make?” she all but demanded. Had Jon told him about the visit to her room
last night? Was she going to have to
deal with this again?
“Jesus, would you relax?
I was just going to say that you left before I got a chance to thank
you.”
“Oh.” She felt
silly now. What was it about this man
that set her on edge? “I wasn’t feeling well
and went to my room.”
“Better now?”
A lift of the shoulder was her only answer.
Richie bent his knees up and draped his arms around
them. “Allegra…”
She didn’t bother to respond, scooping sand in her hand
and letting it sift back through her fingers.
He sighed and went on anyway, his voice impassive. “Listen
darlin’, as long as I know you’re sitting out here in the dark by yourself
every morning, I’m going to keep coming.
It would be easier if we could become friends, but if you don’t want to
do that I can sit here and not say anything.
It’s your call. I’d just like to
know what to expect.”
All of her animosity drained in that instant. Crap! She dumped the last grains of sand out of her
palm as her mind flipped through the last few days. From the moment they’d met, she had done
nothing but antagonize Richie. And looking
back, she didn’t even really know why. Was
it because he hadn’t had the right expression on his face when they first met? Or a possible wrong assumption that he had
some type of smug attitude? She just
knew he had rubbed her the wrong way.
But, in all honesty, he’d done nothing out of the way.
Groaning, she dropped to lie flat on the sand, positioning
the upper half of her body behind him. She
took in the few stars that were left in the sky, as though they would supply
her with the right words. At least
I can’t see his face. Maybe that will
make this easier…
Softly she began, “I owe you an apology.” Still struggling with the proper phrasing, it
took her a moment to continue. “My
behavior and attitude toward you have been childish – not to mention rude. I’m ashamed of myself, because I really do
consider myself a people person.” She
paused. “Dot mentioned that you’re
usually pretty easygoing too?” She
glanced over to find him looking at her over his shoulder, nodding. “So that means there’s no justifiable reason the
two of us can’t get along. Right?” She finally turned her head to fully meet his
gaze.
He momentarily considered disagreeing just for the sake
of disagreeing, but he could see that she was being sincere. “Of course.
And thanks for the apology, but I don’t think it was necessary. I know that you’re not entirely to blame here,
and willingly admit that my ego needs a check once in a while.” A teasing grin claimed his face. “Thanks for taking care of that for me.” She petulantly stuck out her tongue and his
gut clenched unexpectedly.
“What do you say we just start over?” he offered.
Turning his body toward her, he extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Jon’s friend Richie.”
Propping herself up on one elbow, she reached out with
her other hand to grasp his with an amused smile. “Hi Richie, I’m Jon’s cousin
Allegra.”
When she would’ve pulled away, he drew her closer,
placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
An unexpected jolt shot through her at the contact. His eyes connected with hers in the
semidarkness. “It’s a pleasure to meet
you, Allegra.”
She cleared her throat uncomfortably and took back her
hand, sitting upright. “So is Ava
staying for the show tonight?”
He looked at her thoughtfully before answering. “Nah.
A friend of hers is having a party at home and she wants to get back in
time for it, so she’s leaving early this afternoon. Seeing one of Dad’s shows doesn’t rate high
on the list of things a pre-teen girl wants to do. But thank you again for bringing her out
here.”
“It was no big deal.
I’m glad you both enjoyed your time together.”
“It WAS a big deal,” he disagreed. “ You’re still new to most of us, and I can’t
imagine what kind of hoops you must’ve jumped through to get in touch with
Heather. AND I know how difficult
Heather can be, so you must have been amazing to get her to agree that quickly. It was a lot of work, and I want you to know
that it meant a lot to me to have Ava there last night.”
“Well, in that case -
you’re welcome.” She smiled at
him, and received a dimpled grin in return.
“Will you be at the show tonight?”
“I’m not sure. I
have to make the dinner preparations and since the ladies are here, it’s a
little bigger event.”
“Have you ever been to one of our shows?”
“No,” she admitted.
“Then come. I’ll
make sure Jon puts some of the early stuff in the set list for you. Besides, you might actually like it,” he
teased.
“You never know. I
just might.” Allegra looked out over the
horizon, surprised to see that the sun had made its grand entrance while they’d
been talking. “But for now, I’ve got to
get moving.” She propelled herself to
her feet and picked up her sandals. “If
I don’t see you before, have a good show.”
He looked up at her and winked. “Thanks darlin’. Enjoy your day.”
That afternoon Jon looked up, surprised, as Richie entered
his dressing room, arriving for the afternoon sound check almost an hour
early. His axe man was never late, but
he firmly believed that showing up early was just wasted time. “Hey man.
What are you doing here so early?”
Richie patted him on the back and shrugged carelessly,
grabbing a seat next to him on the sofa.
“Ava just left, and there was nothing better going on so I just thought
I’d head on over. Besides, I wanted to
ask you about the set list tonight.”
Laughing, Jon said, “That’s always something you’ve been
happy to leave up to me. Since when do
you give two shits about what goes on the set list?”
“I still don’t care what’s on it,” he affirmed, fiddling
with a magazine on the coffee table. “But
I was talking to Allegra this morning and told her I’d ask you to put some of
the older stuff in tonight.” He tossed
the magazine aside and leaned back into the couch. “She’s never been to one of our shows, so I
told her to come.”
“I must have heard you wrong.” Disbelief was evident in Jon’s voice. “You actually had a conversation with Allegra? How the hell did that happen? And you said this morning – as in before
noon. Who are you and what have you done
with Richie Sambora?” His tone was
teasing, but he was only half kidding.
The guitarist was infamous for never getting up while the letters a.m. were
still needed to describe the time.
Richie’s face flushed slightly and he bristled. “I was up late, not early and it’s your
fault, asshole. She’s been sitting on
the beach by herself watching the sunrise the last few mornings. You’re the one that asked me to watch out for
her.”
They’d been friends too long for Jon to let it go at
that. “So you’ve been watching the
sunrise with her every morning since we got here?”
“Technically,” Richie muttered.
“What the fuck does technically mean? Isn’t that like being a little pregnant? Either you have or you haven’t.” A thought occurred to him, and his eyes
narrowed. “Unless you’ve been busy doing
things that distracted you from watching the sun rise. Are you screwing around with her?” he asked
incredulously. Throwing his hands up in
the air, he spoke more to himself than the man sitting next to him. “Jesus, who knew she was going to be sleeping
with everybody on the fucking tour?”
That got Richie’s undivided attention in a hurry. He grabbed Jon’s arm and forced him to meet
his eyes. “First of all, NO I’m not
screwing around with her. Secondly, what
the hell do you mean she’s sleeping with everybody?”
Jon pulled away, obviously regretting his words. “Forget it.
I’m an idiot.” He looked Richie
in the eyes again though. “Look at me
and tell me you’re really not screwing around with her though. Man up and be honest.”
He lightly smacked his frontman in the back of the head,
exasperated. “Listen dumbfuck, you asked
me to help you keep an eye out for her. I know you well enough to understand that wasn’t
secret code for ‘boink my cousin if you get a chance’.”
The phrase ‘sleeping with everybody on the tour’
continued to echo through Richie’s mind.
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
For some reason he couldn’t let it go, even knowing that the other man
had obviously not meant to say anything, and that it wasn’t any of his
business.
Dragging his fingers through already messy hair, Jon
looked at the floor. He pondered how much to tell Rich, as he moved
to rest his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands between his knees. “It’s nothing. I went to check on her last night and she was
with a guy. It surprised me, was
all. I overreacted. I told you she’s like a little sister to me.”
“Who was it?”
Richie’s tone was strange, and it prompted Jon to study
him speculatively, before purposefully stalling, “It isn’t important who it was.”
“You said it was one of our people. I’d like to know who – especially since I’m
on guard dog duty.”
Jon was afraid he would regret this. Allegra would have his head if she knew he was
sharing information about her personal life. “Montana.
But keep that to yourself.”
Much to his surprise, Richie simply nodded once and went
on as though they hadn’t sidetracked into a whole different topic. “So what’s on the set list for tonight?”
Even though he was startled at the abrupt change of
subject, Jon elected to go with it for now.
“I thought we’d open with Blood, do Superman and a couple others off the
new album. Allegra likes Roulette, so we’ll
put it in. Maybe Shot Through the
Heart? Oh, and Diamond Ring as our
duet. Anything else you want in there?”
Richie had only half-listed and wasn’t looking at
Jon. “Nah. Sounds good, Bro.” He stood up and rubbed his palms down his
thighs. “I’m gonna go get warmed
up. See you on stage,” he said as he
made toward the door.
“Yeah.” Jon
watched his friend’s retreating back, still a little bewildered at the last ten
minutes. I can’t wait to hit the stage.
At least everything there makes sense.
5 comments:
That was good. Don't be ashamed of it. I can't wait for your next post. How often do you think you will post?
Great chapter! Have been enjoying this story and looking forward to more soon!
Finally progress!
Jon, she might be your cousin and has had a very "sheltered" live up to now... but she is a grown woman. Trust her to make the right choices!
don't worry another great chapter and we are patient take your time
Really loving this story!! :) PLZ keep the chapters coming! ...at a fast rate possibly?? maybe? ;) lol
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