Chapter 134

Megan told me that she had a date for me for Friday night, but she didn’t say who it was. She’d been with Lori Johns earlier so I assumed that it was her, but I was in bed with Nell, waiting for a call from Kristen right now. I decided to wait until tomorrow to talk with Megan about who it was.

The phone beside the bed rang just before midnight. Nell picked it up and said, “Hi, Kristen.”

She winked at me and said, “No, we’re in the living room. We were waiting for your call. Hang on and I’ll put you on speaker.”

She pushed a button on the phone and I said, “Hi, Kris.”

She answered, “Hi, Baby, I miss you.”

“I miss you too, how is the tour going?”

“It’s going great. Did Mom or Amy tell you what the band did?”

“No, what?”

“Remember when we negotiated the deal with the band to call our group ‘Kristen and The Rival Gang’ and they said okay?”

“Yes?”

“We wondered why they gave in so easily. Well, they had been doing everything on their own. They did their own advertising, bookings, and even the negotiations with the venues. They asked if Stone could take over as soon as they found that we could get along together. It turned out that’s what they wanted all along. So now the whole group is part of Stone, and thanks to Mom, we have been going crazy with bookings. We’re scheduled to appear on the German version of the ‘Tonight Show’ tomorrow and we’re going to Munich for eight days next week. We go to Stuttgart for two shows after that, and we go to Loraine, France, four days later where we’re the featured act in an outdoor theater where they are expecting ten thousand people. I’m really excited.”

“Wow, that sounds fantastic, but what about you? How are you feeling? Are you getting enough rest?”

“I actually am. Amy and Mom constantly check on me, and Rocky watches over me like a mother hen.”

“And he doesn’t get in the way?”

“Of what?”

“Of like, you know, umm, meeting people.”

“You mean guys?”

“Uh-huh.”

She chuckled, “Relax, Lover, there are no guys.”

“Why not? You must have plenty of opportunities.”

“Sure I do, I get notes, flowers, and offers of all kinds after almost every show.”

“What do you do about it?”

“Rocky handles the people who somehow get to my dressing room or show up at our hotel. We just ignore the rest if we can, but a few have come from some pretty influential people and we refer them to Stone. They get a nice note from the office telling them that I’m not available. A lot of things can affect this business. Scheduling problems, last minute weather changes, and equipment failures are just a few. Add unscrupulous venue owners, over enthusiastic fans, and the occasional stalker, and things can get pretty stressful. Rocky doesn’t let things like that get out of hand. He handles it without me even knowing about it most times, and he makes sure I eat well and get enough sleep in the meantime. He not only keeps his eye on me, he also makes sure the that guys are okay as well.”

“I thought the Rival Gang was all older guys?”

“They are, but they listen to him.”

“That sounds a little odd.”

“It actually isn’t. Most acts that spend a lot of time on the road have road managers who take care of things like that, but Rocky does a lot more for both the guys and me, especially me. He’s devoted to my dad and he’s like another father to me, but let’s get down to business, what’s with the call?”

“Well, a lot has changed. I’m dropping out of school. I’m going full time with Burgers and I’m also doing some other things.”

“Wow, that IS news. When did that happen?”

“It was just decided and the reason for this call is about a couple of things that could concern you. How would you feel about telling people that we are together?”

“I already tell everybody that I have a boyfriend and I say that it’s you when they ask who it is.”

“What about that thing you talked about where you and Jack Hedden were going to be seen together?”

“That was an idea that Jack’s people came up with. I told Amy about it and she said that the exposure would be good for both of us. He has a Rocketman movie coming out at the end of next month and the premiere is going to be in Rome. His co-star is Maria Antonelli, and her husband is the movie’s backer. It was going to be leaked that she and Jack had a thing going on between them, but her husband is in the Italian government and he said no. They then said that it should be Jack and me when he found out that I was going to be over here.”

Nell broke in with, “Can you cancel it, Kristen?”

“Sure, nothing was firmed up. Why?”

“Pete’s career is about to takeoff. He’s going to be hitting the talk show circuit pretty soon and we need someone to tie him with, but that person needs to be squeaky clean. You fit that image and that’s how we are going to present Pete.”

“So what do you want me to do, should I tell people we are dating or that we’re married?”

“Let’s keep it a mystery. We’ll leak some hints, but just say that you don’t discuss your personal life if people question you, and we’ll do the same.”

“I have a better idea, how about if Pete and I get married!”

Nell blinked and her mouth dropped open, so I stepped in and said, “C’mon, Kris, we talked about this.”

Kristen immediately countered with, “All right, all right, I thought that I’d give it a shot. Yeah, I see where you’re going with this and it sounds like a good idea, but you said there were a couple of things that you wanted to talk about. What’s the other thing?”

I answered, “Do you remember Cindy Haynes from school?”

“I don’t think so ... wait a minute. Is she that skinny girl who worked in the admin office? Why, what’s going on with her?”

“She’s going to be travelling with me.”

“What’s she going to be doing?”

“She’s going to help me with scheduling and stuff. I didn’t want you to find out and think that I was trying to hide her from you.”

“Why should I be concerned about that mousy little thing? She’d probably pee her pants if you ever made a move on her.”

“You shouldn’t be concerned, but I wanted to let you know.”

There was a noise of another phone in the background. She said, “Hang on,” answered it, said “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes,” then she said to us, “I have a busy morning. So how shall we proceed with the Pete and me, thing?”

Nell said, “I’ll let you know when we start leaking the rumors.”

There was a noise of someone knocking on a door, and Kristen said, “That’s Rocky, I gotta get ready. Pete, Della e-mailed me what happened at the wedding and that you’re going to bring her to LA tomorrow. Would you e-mail me about what’s going on?”

“Sure, I’ll write you about it after I pick her up tomorrow.”

There was another knock on a door, and she yelled, “Here I come,” and she said, bye, Nell; bye, Pete, I love you.”

I answered, “I love you too,” and I hung up. I glanced at Nell and she didn’t seem upset, so I said, “I, uhh...”

She held her hand up to stop me and said, “I know, Dear, it’s okay, but what’s the deal with Cindy; she’s not a skinny little mouse?”

“Well, she used to be. Amy and Erin took her under their wing. They showed her how to eat, how to dress, and turned her into what she is today.”

Nell started laughing and shaking her head. I finally asked, “What?”

“Wait until Kristen finds out what that mousy little girl is like now. She’s gonna have a fit, but enough about that. You, young man, are in bed with me and I’m horny. Are you gonna do something about that?” I did.

I was supposed to be at Brandy’s house at eight o’clock in the morning but knew that it could take as much as forty-five minutes to get there with rush hour traffic, I so I set the alarm for six thirty.

Nell and I had a great night. Things had gotten pretty physical, and it was two o’clock before we got to sleep, so it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed when the alarm went off.

The alarm woke Nell too, but her flight wasn’t until later, so she went back to sleep after a quick kiss.

A long hot shower woke me up most of the way and I started for the kitchen to get some juice after I got dressed. I heard the blender running when I got close and I snuck out of the house rather than face Megan and one of those evil breakfast drinks.

Brandy was sitting on the front porch drinking coffee when I got to her place. I got out of the car, nodded toward her cup, and asked, “You got any more of that?” when I got close to her.

She said, “I thought you didn’t like coffee,” with a little smile.

“I don’t, but I think that I need something to get my heart started this morning.”

She smiled, “Nell kept you up late last night, eh?”

I nodded, “Something like that.”

Grinning, she said, “Well, a hard man is good to find,” and she headed for the house.

she surprisingly almost immediately came back carrying two large insulated mugs.

She handed one to me, and said, “Megan called. She said that you might need this. Let’s go.”

She added, “She also said that she saved your protein drink for you,” on our way to the car.

Traffic was light once we got out of LA, so I set the cruise control and said to Brandy, “So, are you excited, worried, or what?”

“I’m excited, but I’m not worried.”

“You’re not worried that caring for a pregnant girl might be a handful?”

She was quiet for a while before she answered, “It’s something that I want to do, Pete.”

“This sounds like a big step. Are you sure that you and Della are going to be able to get along with each other?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Is Della as sure about this as you are?”

“Yes, she is, Pete.”

I sighed, “Okay, but...”

She put her hand on my arm and said, “I know that you’re concerned about her. Don’t be. I give you my word that she’ll be okay.”

“How about her family, are they okay with it?”

“Her mom and dad are resigned to the fact that she wants to get away somewhere, so they have no choice. The big problem has been her sister, Desiree.”

“Desi can be a handful. Have you talked to her?”

“I tried, but she won’t talk to me.”

“What’s her problem?”

“Della says that they’ve gotten close lately, and I think that she feels abandoned.”

“What about the twins?”

“They’re fine with it. They’re excited because she’s going to be in LA. I told them that they could come and stay with us for a few days as soon as we get settled in. They want to do it before school starts.”

We drove in silence until I turned onto to the road that leads to Cantil, then I asked, “Would you, umm, mind if I sort of kept track of you and her?”

She darted her head at me and frowned, so I asked, “What?”

She looked serious and she said, “Pull off the road when you can. I want to make a phone call.”

There was a gas station ahead on the right and there was a sign advertising snacks when I pulled into the parking lot.

Brandy said, “Can you excuse me a minute, Pete, how about getting us some more coffee?”

I had to use the bathroom anyway, and I got our coffee and a package of mini-donuts after I finished. I could see that she was still on the phone when I got outside, so I stopped and waited.

She waved for me to join her when she saw me standing there.

She asked, “How far are we from her house?” when I got into the car.

“We’re only about ten minutes away.”

She said into the phone, “We’ll be there shortly, but I want to talk with him for a few minutes.”

She closed the phone and said, “That was Della. I owe you an apology. Della wanted you to be around from the beginning. You’re her only connection with her family, and she said that she needed you, but I told her that she would need to get away from any part of her former life for a while in order for her to get her head straight. I didn’t realize how important you are to her however.”

“I don’t understand. I haven’t had that much contact with her since I left Cantil. The only time that I’ve really talked to her is when Kristen and I went there to find her.”

“She told me what happened. She says that you showed up in time to save her life again.”

“I didn’t save her life, all I did was...”

She interrupted, “She says that you did, but she told Kristen that she loved her instead of thanking you.”

“Well, she was upset.”

“Yes, she was. She still is. She’s upset about a lot of things.”

“Do you think that you can help her?”

“I know that I can. This is not new territory; I’ve dealt with this kind of thing before, but I’ve never been this close to anyone and I have to admit that I’m concerned.”

“How can you feel so close to her when you’ve only known her for a few days?”

“We have a connection so strong that I can’t describe it. We both felt it the minute we met.”

“Does she know about your past?”

“She knows everything. I told her things about me that I’ve never told anyone, not even Nell. She and I have talked nearly nonstop since I left Cantil. I told her about my life and she told me about hers.”

“Did she mention what a grouch she was when we moved to Cantil last year?”

“Yes, and she said that her whole life changed when you showed up. She told me how you and your family used to come to visit and how she always had a crush on you, but she was fat then and had an attitude because of it, and the attitude lasted even after she lost the weight. She said that she still had the attitude when you showed up last year and she told me some of the things that you did to help her get over it.”

“Like what?”

“Like risking your life to save her, forcing her to go dancing with you, a lot of other things, and that brings up something that I’d like to know. How do you feel about Della now?”

It took me a second to gather my thoughts before I said, “Della is special to me. I was crazy about her at one time, and I thought that she felt the same about me, but things seemed to change when someone else came into my life and Della insisted that I’d be better off with someone else when it happened.”

“It was a girl named Samantha, wasn’t it?”

“Uh huh.”

“There was also someone besides her, wasn’t there?”

I knew who she meant, but I asked, “Who do you mean?”

“You had something going on with your aunt!”

“I didn’t know that she knew about that.”

“She knew all about it, Desiree told her, and I understand you also had some things going on with her.”

I looked down, “I-I guess so.”

She chuckled, “Don’t be embarrassed, I’ve done things that were a lot worse than that.”

“But why did she insist that Sam was the one for me instead of her?”

“The simple answer is that she didn’t feel she was right for you. The reason why she felt that way is a big part of where her problem lies and it’s complicated.”

“Part of it is because she thinks she’s a lesbian, isn’t it.”

Brandy looked serious when she said, “I wanted to have this conversation with Della present, but maybe we should talk about some of it now. I know you think that she’s pretty messed up right now. Well, she is. I want to help her and you need to be a part of it.”

“What do I need to do?”

“You can help her by being her friend, but you have to be very careful. She might want more from you than that at some point, especially in the beginning. I’m going to ask you not to encourage her unless that’s what you really want. It could really cause problems for her if you do and you don’t follow through.”

“I-I do care for her, but not that way.”

“That’s what I thought, but she will need you, so try to make yourself available as much as you can. She only has two friends aside from her sister, Desiree, from what she tells me, you and Kristen Baker, and you know how she feels about her.”

“So she is a lesbian?”

“Maybe she is, but being confused about her sexuality is only part of her problem. She told me what happened the time that you, Kristen, and she were together in your aunt’s bedroom.”

“You guys even talked about that?”

“We talked about everything as I said.”

“And you think that you can help her, eh?”

“I know that I can, as I mentioned, it’s a subject I’m familiar with.”

“Nell told me that you lecture at the Gay and Lesbian Center.”

“Yes, I do, but I also have a workshop where I talk with women about other problems.”

I was thinking about what she was saying and I guess that I took too long because she finally asked, “What are you thinking?”

“I was, umm...”

“You were thinking about the first time you saw me, weren’t you?”

“I, uhh ... yes I was.”

“I did some really stupid things in Las Vegas that night. The worse thing I did was to get drunk and take a bunch of pills from a guy I didn’t know. They turned out to be a homegrown version of ecstasy that had been stepped on with God knows what.”