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Thank god for the bodyguard. The minute I stepped out of
the
limousine, I was surrounded by a mob. When they saw AJ following
me,
the screaming started. The bodyguard began shoving people out
of the way
as AJ put a hand on my back. “Just go,” he hissed in my ear.
“Don’t stop,
just get into the hotel.”
The girls were screaming his name, reaching out, touching both
him
and me. I felt someone grab at my t-shirt and turned around to
find a
couple of them glaring at me. I turned back around and rushed
in the
revolving door.
I started to breathe a sigh of relief once we were inside, but
AJ still
steered me through the lobby. “We’re not done yet,” he said.
I looked to the lounge to see another horde of females getting
up
from couches and chairs. “How do they get in here?” I wondered.
“They get rooms in the hotel. Don’t ask me how they find
out
where we are. Sometimes I wish we could just rent out the entire
hotel,
keep it all to ourselves for once.”
The lounge crowd was on top of us in seconds. Voices came
from
everywhere. “Hi, AJ!! ... Can you sign this for me? ... Do you
remember
me, you met me last time ... Who is this with you? ... Can I get a
picture
with you? ... Can you stop for a minute?”
AJ held up a hand. “Hi, guys ... I can’t stop now, we just
got here.
I’ll come back down later, promise, okay?” With that, and a ‘hello’
to
someone he actually recognized, he pushed me towards the elevator and
away from the crowd.
Once we were on the elevator, he smiled at me. “You okay?”
“Yeah ... that was kind of wild. You know, I’ve been in
a crowd
like that -- when I was in high school, my friend dragged me out to
see Bon
Jovi, and we ended up at the hotel after the show -- but I never thought
I’d
be on the other end of it.”
“For the first ... I don’t know, the first couple of years we
were
famous, over in Europe and in Canada, I used to stop and pretty much
talk
to everyone. It was just so cool that everyone recognized me,
you know,
and wanted to be near me ... now, though, it’s still cool, but I’ve
gotta have
some time to myself. You know what I mean?”
“I think so ... god, there were so many people out there!
How could
you ever stop and sign autographs and talk to them all?”
“That’s just it,” he agreed, as the elevator opened. “I
can’t. I wish I
could sometimes, but I can’t. Besides ... being perfectly honest,
some of
those people out there are really strange. They’ve built this
huge ideal of
what I’m supposed to be, and I don’t know how they want me to act.
They
get kind of pissy when you’re not the dream they thought you were.”
I thought about that as we entered the hotel room. Well,
actually,
hotel suite. With every step, it was sinking into my thick skull
just how
un-normal AJ’s life was. Yet, when we talked, we ended up on
the same
level. It was an interesting paradox ... suddenly, I laughed
silently at
myself. Paradox. That was a Steve and Heather word.
I didn’t even know
if I was using it in the right context, which would have bugged them
to no
end. Of course, they wouldn’t have actually *told* me what it
meant -- they
would have just rolled their eyes to each other and talked over me,
like I
wasn’t even there. That was the way they did things.
I flopped on a couch and looked at AJ. “So ... do you have
a concert
tonight?”
“Nope, this is our night off. What do you want to do?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know ... I’ve never been to New York
before.
What’s fun to do? Good places to go?”
He sat down beside me. “Lots of stuff, but the problem is,
wherever
we go, we’ll end up with a mob of people like the one downstairs.”
“Oh ...” I frowned. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“But, still, that’s my problem. I’m not going to spoil your
fun
because of it. Hey ...” Suddenly, he smiled at me.
“Why don’t we go out
to dinner, maybe go dancing? Something really nice ... you know,
like a
date? We’ve been going at this relationship thing kind of backwards.”
The word ‘relationship’ froze me a bit, but I smiled back at him.
“That sounds nice ... but, I don’t have anything to wear! All
I grabbed out
of my apartment was jeans and stuff ... I didn’t plan on going anywhere
really nice.”
“Not a problem -- there are some killer shops across the street.
Wanna go shopping?”
A voice from the doorway interrupted us. “You’re not going
anywhere, AJ, immediately, anyway.”
We whirled around. An older woman stood there, leaning against
the doorway, regarding us with a mixture of interest and annoyance.
I
wondered who she was for only a split second before I heard AJ speak.
“Um, hi, Mom. I didn’t know you were coming up here.”
“I wasn’t planning on it ... but ...” She shrugged, and
walked across
the room. She looked at me. “I don’t think we’ve met yet
...”
“Mom, this is Tori -- Victoria Reynolds. Tori, this is my
mom,
Denise.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, somewhat nervously. This did
not look
like a woman I wanted to cross ... and, at the moment, she looked like
she
had some issues with her son, and perhaps me.
“Likewise,” Denise said. “Tori, is it? I don’t mean
to be rude,
please, but may I have a few minutes with AJ?”
“Oh, yes, absolutely. I was just going across the street, anyway ...”
As I walked for the door, AJ got up and grabbed my shoulder.
“It’s
okay,” he said in a low voice, as his mother walked to the other side
of the
room. “I’ll see you in a few, all right?”
“Okay ... good luck.”
“Thanks ... I think I might need it.” He gave me a half
smile, then
turned back. I exited the room as quickly as possible.
A short time later, I was enclosed in a dressing room, staring
at
myself in the mirror. I’d entered the stylish boutique on a whim
-- they sold
the kind of clothes that looked good on anorexic models, not on regular
people like me. But, the temptation to just *try* a dress or
two had been
too great ... at least I could tell Sarah I’d been there.
Imagine my surprise when I’d actually found a dress that fit ...
and
looked good on me. I gaped at my reflection. The dress
was black, with
dark blue flowers imprinted on it ... it was sleeveless, and fell to
just above
my knees, with a slit up the left side. I’d matched it with a
pair of strappy
black heels that the saleswoman had insisted would be ‘darling’ with
it --
she’d had good taste. If I would actually comb my hair out, and
put on new
makeup ... it was amazing. Maybe I’d go back to Kansas City and
wear this
dress in front of Steve and Heather. That’d show him what he’d
lost.
I laughed out loud, likely scaring the saleswoman waiting outside.
Yes, this dress was definitely worth the dent it would put in my cash
supply,
if only for the self esteem boost. Besides ... I could definitely
imagine AJ
taking it off of me ... that is, if his mother hadn’t killed or maimed
him
while I was gone.
I slid out of the dress and handed it out the door. “Box
it up -- I’ll
take it.” It was time to go back to the hotel and see what the
damage was.
