Friday, June 13, 2008

Chapter 10

Keira woke up the next morning and immediately felt guilty that she hadn’t gone to Rob’s apartment last night. It was 9:30 AM on a Sunday, so she knew she could probably still find him at home. She got out of bed and took a quick shower, then dressed, dried her hair, and put on a small amount of makeup – just enough to look more alive than she felt at the moment. She walked the two blocks to Starbucks, bought a couple of coffees, and headed straight to Rob’s apartment. When she got there, she used her key to let herself in.

“Rob?” she called, setting the coffee down on his kitchen counter. He didn’t answer. Hearing the sound of running water, she realized that he was in the shower. She sat down on his couch to wait, leafing through yesterday’s newspaper, which she found on his coffee table.

Rob soon emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. When he saw her, he grinned. “Hi, baby. Did you have fun last night?”

She stood up and walked over to him, kissing him tenderly on the lips. “Thank you for the flowers,” she said. He slipped his right hand into her hair and pulled her toward him for another kiss, holding the towel up with his left hand. As their kiss deepened, she felt him grow hard beneath the thin cover, and she slowly pulled away. “I brought you a coffee,” she said.

He was tempted to start kissing her again, but he knew her well enough to know when she wasn’t in the mood. The problem was, she was never in the mood these days.

“Thanks,” he said, trying not to sound dejected. He went into his bedroom and threw on some jeans, then went to the kitchen to pick up his coffee. “So was it a fun night?” he asked again.

“Yeah, it was. You know how it is – it's impossible to not have a good time when Molly's around.”

“She does make things interesting.” Rob sipped his coffee, hesitated. “So…any plans tonight?”

Keira knew it was a loaded question, and she knew what her answer had to be if she wanted to avoid a fight. His patience with her was wearing thin. “Well, today I need to get some writing done, but tonight I’m free, if you want to do something. Maybe we could rent a movie?”

She could actually see some of the tension leave his shoulders. He smiled. “Sounds good to me. My place or yours?”

“We can decide later. I’ll call you around 5:00?” she asked. He nodded and reached for her, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

“Now go get to work,” he said, releasing her.

*****
Keira sat in front of her computer and tried to get in the mood to write. She knew where she wanted her story to go, but every time she typed a paragraph, she re-read it and instantly hated it. After 45 minutes, she pushed her seat back and sighed in frustration. This just wasn’t working.

Before she had time to think about what she was doing, she closed her word processing program and accessed the internet. There was one person on her mind right now, and after years of avoiding him, she suddenly felt a deep need to see everything she’d missed. She went to YouTube and typed in “Bon Jovi”.

The search returned nearly 84,000 videos. Keira put a hand over her mouth and sat back, momentarily stunned. She knew that he was famous. She knew that the band was larger than life. So why was this so shocking to her?

She spent the next 2 ½ hours watching Bon Jovi videos. She watched live performances, interviews, and music videos, both old and new. There were even a few fan-created videos that were tributes to Jon and Dorothea, and consisted of nothing but photos of the couple set to music. She forced herself to watch those. They looked so happy together. She was fascinated by everything she saw, but there was one clip that truly broke her heart: the video for Wanted Dead or Alive. She couldn’t believe how exhausted the guys in the band looked. Richie and Jon, especially, looked like they were barely hanging on. Keira was captivated by the part during Richie’s guitar solo when the girl in the front row ran her hand down Jon’s tassled leg. The girl looked completely awestruck, as though she was touching God himself. Something about that really bothered Keira, and she thought, for crying out loud, he’s just a PERSON. It honestly scared her a little bit. How many people were there in this world who would do anything for this man, when in reality, he was just a singer in a band?? Overwhelmed and feeling slightly discouraged with human nature in general, Keira shut down her computer and stood up. This is why he wants old friends in his life, said the voice in her head, the one that hadn’t shut up all day yesterday. She shrugged it off and went to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

*****

Around 3:30 PM, the phone rang. Checking the caller ID screen, Keira picked it up and said, “Hi, Molly.”

“Richie hasn’t called me yet. That’s bad, isn’t it?”

Keira groaned. “Molly, it hasn’t even been a full day yet. If he’d already called you, you’d think he was desperate.”

Molly considered this for a minute. “Ok, Keira, you’re probably right, but I don’t know…do you think he will call me? I know I shouldn’t care so much, but he’s just so cute and funny. I’ve had a crush on him since, like, 1986. It would really suck if he didn't call me."

Keira sighed, sitting down hard on her couch. “You know what, Molly?” she said, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “He’s just a guy. Just a person, like you and me.”

There was a long pause, and she heard Molly suck in a deep breath. “Thank you, Keira. You always put things in perspective for me. You're absolutely right: he is just a guy. A hot, sexy, smart, funny, talented, very, very rich guy -- but, just a guy. If it's meant to be, it will be. And if it's not meant to be, there are plenty of other hot, sexy, smart, funny, talented, and very very rich fish in the sea." With that, Molly sighed dramatically and said, "Call me later." She hung up, leaving Keira chuckling to herself.

*****
Around 5:00 PM, Keira called Rob to finalize their plans for the evening. He suggested ordering a pizza for dinner and spending the night at her place, and she said that sounded fine with her. They ate dinner and then, snuggled up together, watched the movie “I am Legend”. When it ended they headed for her bedroom and climbed into bed together, making love in such a familiar way that it was almost routine.

2 comments:

Sunstreaked said...

Not good that Rob and Keira are in such a rut after only two years. If she was once the beloved of Jon, how tame and lame must life with Rob seem? Never gonna work sweetie, never settle.

Anonymous said...

I loved the part about sitting for 2 1/2 hours watching You Tube! I think we've all been there, done that! LOL Loved her reaction to the Wanted video also. The exhaustion is so evident there, I just loved her reaction to it. Great story. Keep the chapters coming please!