Chapter 30

Allegra wiped at the smudges of makeup under her eyes and felt silly.  There was no reason to get so flippin’ overwrought by a piece of electronic equipment.  But she knew that wasn’t the only thing that had her hiding in the ladies’ room.  Richie’s presence and gift had a bigger impact on her than she would’ve liked, but she refused to dwell on it.  There was no point, and she’d do better to ignore him and focus on the rest of the group, who had gone out of their way to make this a nice birthday.   

She scolded herself for being a drama queen and tossed the used tissue in the wastebasket.    With a final shake of her head to clear her thoughts,  she was ready to rejoin the party. 

Despite her stern self-talk, the first thing she noticed when she approached the table was the vacant space next to Matt – where Richie had been sitting.

“He had to go check on something before the show,”  Dot told her, noticing the look she cast at the empty chair.

Nodding, Allegra cleared her throat and pulled her chair close to the table.  Time was running short now until they needed to be at the venue, so she needed to make her little announcement while she had the chance.  Lifting her knife, she tapped it lightly against her water glass until the talking around the table stopped and attention was directed to her.

“I don’t know about Jesse, but I’ve had a great birthday thanks to you all.”  She looked at the boy and smiled at his grin and nod. 

“I want to tell you all how much I appreciate the lovely gifts tonight, and even more so how much I appreciate the gifts of who you are.”     Her eyes went around the group, meeting each one.  “I’ve gotten to know each of you, either a little more or for the first time, during my time as a part of The Circle tour.  There’s no greater group of people anywhere than the folks sitting around this table, and I truly believe that.  That’s why it’s so hard for me to look into your faces and tell you that I’m going back home to New Jersey.” 

There was murmuring amongst the men and several hard looks shot at Jon.  She laughed lightly at the assumption he was responsible and sniffled, keeping the tears at bay.  “It’s not his fault.  Jon and Richie have both made very generous job offers, that I wish I could accept, but can’t.  They’re just not me.  So I’ll go back to Jersey and find something that suits me a little better.”  She smiled at David, “That’s why the computer means so much to me.  I want to keep moving forward with it, and plan to take some classes to learn what I can.”

“When are you leaving, sweetheart?” Tico asked.

“I’m going home with Dot and the kids early in the morning.”

He circled the table to reach Allegra, pulling her up for a hug.  “Be safe, querida.  I hope you find what you’re looking for.  I’ll still be worrying about you, so check in from time to time, okay?”

Those damn tears started again and she tightened her grip on him, nodding into his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t hog the beautiful woman,”  David said loudly.  He pulled her from Tico’s embrace, turning her into his own arms.  “I’m gonna miss ya Legs – more than you realize.  You’ll come see us when we make it back east, won’t you?”

She nodded, wiping once again at her traitorous eyes.  Pulling away, she stood between the two men that had become brothers to her.  “I just love you guys.  David, I’m going to miss your crazy sense of humor, and Tico, I’ll miss your calm presence in the middle of the Jovi storm.  Let’s keep in touch okay?”

Jon interrupted the touching moment with, “Oh for fuck’s sake, she’s not dying, she’s going to Jersey – where you guys spend at least half the damn year anyway.  Can we go to work now?”

♪♪♪♪♪

Richie had been alone in his dressing room almost since the moment he arrived at KeyArena.  Upon checking in with his guitar tech, he found that the earlier problem had been resolved.  He still felt better having checked in, becase when it came to his ladies he couldn’t be too careful.

Maybe I should extend that philosophy to non-stringed ladies.

Which, of course, brought Allegra to mind. 

She hadn’t spoken to him all evening, except to thank him for the gift.  Of course, his late arrival and early departure hadn’t given her much opportunity.  That was kind of the idea behind it, to be honest.  He hadn’t wanted to risk dealing with her anger in such a public setting.  If she was going to be pissed at him, he’d rather it be someplace other than her family dinner.

Regardless, he still hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since he’d left the restaurant – hell, since she’d dropped that room key in his pocket.   She’d been gorgeous in that red dress last night, but tonight?  Well, tonight she was fuck-me hot in leather and chains.  He wondered for the hundredth time if he’d made a huge mistake by walking away from her enticing offer. 

Was that why Dot was busting his balls?  It didn’t seem likely that Allegra would’ve shared that information, but he couldn’t think of any other reasonable explanation.  And if that was the case, did it mean she wanted him to hook up with Allegra? 

There was a knock at the dressing room door.  “Ten minutes, Rich,”  Mike called out.

Looking down the set list one last time, he deliberately focused himself on the show ahead.   Jon would demand perfection tonight, and he wasn’t going to be the one to let his friend down.  Like he’d told Jon last week – this shit would still be here afterward.

He straightened his black, hip length military jacket, opened the door and met the guys in the hallway leading to the stage.  He grinned, loving the adrenaline pumping through them all.  This is what it was all about.  Going out on that stage and giving it every damn thing you had, hoping that the crowd would give it all back to you tenfold.

Richie loved his job.

“We’re going to pause after Blood,”  Jon announced as they approached the understage.  “Don’t go straight into Follow, just watch my lead.”  The intro piece started, and they all put their hands together in their traditional show of unity and support.  “Let’s go knock Seattle on its ass!”

They all took their places in the wings and hit the stage one by one, listening to the crowd go wild as Jon finally appeared at the center of the stage and took the mic.

“I can still remember… when I was just a kid…”

The adrenaline built within the band and the crowd throughout the song, leaving the fans cheering at the end.  Per Jon’s instructions, the band waited before moving into the next song, but didn’t stop playing.  The impromptu fill music resonated throughout the arena and they took in the crowd of over sixteen thousand, who were pumping their fists and calling at the tops of their lungs.

“Today is a special day for a couple of my family members,”  Jon all but yelled into the mic to be heard,  “because it’s their birthday.  Can you help me out and wish them a happy birthday?” On cue,  the crowd cheered. 

“Thank you!  Now this next song is off the new album, The Circle, so I was going to sing it anyway.”  He gave them his Jon Bon Jovi shit eating grin. “But I want to dedicate it to a very special birthday girl.”  He swung around to locate Allegra in the wings of the stage, dancing and swaying like any other fan, and pointed directly at her.  “This is for you, sweetheart.” 

Jon signaled for the intro, and she blew him a kiss, looking just a little surprised and confused.

“This one goes out to the man who mines for miracles,

This one goes out to the ones in need…”

Richie thought it an odd choice of song for Allegra, since she had always expressed a preference for their older tunes.  He looked back and forth between the cousins, taking special note when Jon sang the chorus directly to her.

“We weren’t born to follow

Come on and get up off your knees

When life is a bitter pill to swallow

You gotta hold on to what you believe”

Allegra swiped at her eyes as if she were crying, but there was a happy grin on her face that lit her from the inside out.  She turned and pulled Steph to her, dancing happily to the beat of the music, the light dancing across her chains and reflecting off of her boot hardware.

Like a magpie distracted by something shiny, Richie caught his first sight of the buckles and studs on her high heeled boots.  Damn, she was spectacular in those boots and ass hugging jeans that made her legs look a mile long. 

Needing to remove her from his sight so that he could concentrate on the job at hand, he swiveled and redirected his passion into the guitar solo and remainder of the song.

After the last lyrics were sung, Jon jogged back to hug her and speak something in her ear.  Richie could see her mouth the words ‘I love you’ before he returned to center stage, launching into Bad Name.   He was curious enough to make a mental note to ask Jon what that was all about.

Richie spent a fair amount of the next two hours trying to keep himself from looking at Allegra.  In reality, he probably only looked back at her two or three times, but he forced himself to stop far more often than that.  The last time he saw her, she had her hands raised over her head, causing her tank to lift and expose a strip of bare flesh above the waistband of her jeans. 

Maybe it was the adrenaline of the show combined with plain old desire that made it seem so intense, or maybe he was just tired of fighting it.  But at that moment, he decided that he had to have her, J0n and Tico both be damned.  Nothing else was getting her out of his head, and she was the one who had put it on the table.   He’d find her at the party and see if that offer was still open.

♪♪♪♪♪

Richie looked around the room, taking note of promoters, local DJs, the guys of Dashboard Confessional, Jon’s family, the band and a hundred other miscellaneous people.  None of which he had a desire to talk to, he thought, taking another drink of Diet Coke.  Now that the adrenaline surge had died down, he wasn’t quite as sure about tracking down Allegra to take her up on her offer.  He didn’t want to make a stupid mistake in listening to his dick.   Actually thinking those words made him laugh, sure that no good decisions had been made by listening to a dick at any point throughout history.   

That didn’t stop him from scanning the room again, hoping for a glimpse of a long ponytail and a black leather jacket.

 “She’s not here,” a voice came from beside his right shoulder.  Richie looked down to find Dot also looking over the room.  “Didn’t feel like socializing, so she went to her room.”  Her brown eyes connected with his.

Is she saying what I think she’s saying?  If she was, it would be all the encouragement Richie needed.  To be on the safe side, he played dumb.  “Who?”

“You really are an ass,” was the only answer he got before she walked away, shaking her head.

♪♪♪♪

Allegra stepped out of the shower, wrapping one towel around her wet hair and a second around her body.  Jon had given her a memorable last show, and she was still humming We Weren’t Born to Follow.  She knew she’d heard them play the song before, and was sure it had been in the rotation on her iPhone, but had never really listened to the lyrics until Jon was singing them to her.  Whether it was what he intended, she didn’t know, but her heart took it as a show of his support.  And it meant a lot.

She dried off her damp skin before slipping on her faithful Care Bear shirt and a pair of panties.  With a small yawn, she climbed up onto the bed, hairdryer in hand.  Her hair hung in wet clumps down her back, and she flicked the switch to start the warm air blowing through it, wondering how the after party was going.

Dinner had been hard enough, and she didn’t think she could go through the whole goodbye thing again tonight, so she had begged off.  Dot probably knew she didn’t want to have to deal with Richie, so she let it go without an argument.  

Allegra could at least think about the situation without becoming a basket case now, because denial was her new best friend.  It never happened, and until she had to face him, she could believe that.

She flipped her head upright after drying underside of her hair, and thought she heard a noise.  Moving the switch to the off position, she paused, listening. 

Someone was knocking at her door.

“Who is it?”  she called, knowing that everyone was at the after party.  It had barely started, so there was no way anybody had already left. 

There was no reply, so she got up and crossed over to the door.  “Who is it?” she repeated more loudly.

One heartbeat.  Two.  Then another knock.

Starting to get a little freaked out, Allegra stood on tiptoe and looked out the peephole.

What the hell?