Comet! (an Ell Donsaii story #5 ) (18 page)

***

Ell pulled her little Chevy truck into the parking lot at
Emma’s apartment complex.
She was dressed as “Belle” and when Emma got i
n
her eyes widened. “
Another
‘secret identity?’”

Ell blushed
as the car pulled
away
, “Hey, you didn’t like going out with me as ‘Ellen!’”

“
I
was OK with it. You were the one who
was so dowdy you
had to have Aunt Emma find a ‘wingman’ to dance with you!”

“Well this is my ‘Belle’ identity. It’s the one I use when I go to my Astronomy and Biology classes.”

“You’re going to class?
” she frowned,
“
O
nline?”

“UNC. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings
. I like to attend the actual classes on campus
. That’s why I’m late those mornings.”

“Hah, I just figured you were a lazy boss.”

Ell
glared at her
. “
No
!
I’m just trying to better my uneducated self so that I can keep with all my PhD waving friends.”

Emma snorted, “Yeah, right.
” She reached for Ell’s cheek, “You’ve got some lumps in
that
makeup you need to smooth out.”

Ell dodged Emma’s finger, “It’s supposed to be lumpy. It’s supposed to look like I’m trying to cover up a bad complexion.”

Emma barked a laugh, “You must be kidding!”

“Anyway, I met the band’s lead singer as “Belle,’ so if I’m going to go support him I want to go as someone he knows.

“Wait a minute! Is this the band that was playing at the Cat’s Cradle the night you got all up in the news as ‘Ell’?”

Embarrassed,
Ell shrugged, “Yeah.”

“So then, doesn’t he know you as ‘Ell’?”

“
He knows
who
‘Ell’ is. But
‘
Belle
’
is
a friend. H
e use
d to be in my Astronomy class and t
hat’s where I met him as Belle. He invited me to a party at his place last semester
and
I first heard his band
there
.
When I was at the Cat’s Cradle I had to keep reminding myself that he didn’t know me
...
I mean he didn’t know ‘Ell.’ It was kinda weird.
”

“So why do you wear ‘fat pants’ when you’re dressed as ‘Belle’?”

“
Well
I’ve got to look
different than I do as ‘Ell.’ And l
ast
semester
I wore regular pants but then at the party at Gordon’s house
one of the guys
got in a fight over me. I decided th
is
platinum hair was attracting too much attention and
thought that if
‘put on some weight’ this summer
it might not be such a problem
.”

“You must be the first girl in history who thinks she looks
too
good!”

“I don’t! I don’t think ‘Ell’ looks all that great but people sure
do
act
bizarre
around her. I think
it’s
just because
Ell’s
a little
bit famous as ‘that Olympic gymnast
’
girl.
”

“Trust me girl.
Everyone
wants to look as good as you do
when you’re
Ell. Famous has nothing to do with it.”

“I think you’re crazy. But
,
anyway, I can’t go out in public as Ell, people act too
weird
.”

Ell and Emma
drove up to
the “
Lincoln
.”
Ell
looked
over at the parking
deck
as they pulled
up
and
her little
truck dropped them off
.
She could see t
he small SUV that
her security team usually took, parked
up
on
second
row.
She and Emma got out and went
to the entrance. While they were waiting to check in and get wrist bands Emma said, “Hey, I like this song!”

Ell grinned, “Good, I think you’ll like more of their songs.
I think m
ost of them are pretty great.
I need a Coke!
”

Just inside the door, Ell spotted Joe Chan dancing at the edge of the dance floor. Well, calling it “dancing” was doing
him
a
charity
. Grinning she walked up behind him and bumped into him. “Oops. Sorry!” she shouted to be heard over the music, “Hey! You’re handsome! Can I be your
friendly girl
?”

“Belle!” Joe beamed at her.
“You stole my line!”
His fac
e
morphed to a frown
, “I thought I was already your boyfriend?”

Ell grinned at him, “You’re my ‘friendly boy,’ remember?”

“Is that better than ‘boyfriend’?”

Ell tilted her head, “Could be.”

“Hey,
Gordon’s
playing, did you know?”

Ell glanced at the stage where Gordon was singing. “Kinda hard to miss.”

Joe stepped back to look at her. “
Hey, y
ou’ve been putting on weight!”

Ell punched him
lightly on
the shoulder, “Hey
yourself!
Y
ou’re
supposed to pretend you do
n’t notice! I might have to fire you from
your
position
as
my ‘friendly boy.’”

Joe shrugged
. He didn’t look the least bit
embarrassed
, “Let’s dance.” He
moved
one step farther onto the dance floor, took a wide stance and began moving jerkily in
a fashion that somewhat
approximated the rhythm of the music.

Ell glanced guiltily around for Emma but she wasn’t to be seen. She stepped out on the floor
with Joe
and started dancing
freestyle
.
By the time
the song finished, Emma had returned with drinks for both of them. Ell pulled Joe off the dance
floor, “Joe Chan
, this is my friend Emma.” She turned to Emma, “Joe
knows the band.” She raised her eyebrows.

Emma
smiled at him
, “If I’d known
that,
I’d have brought him a drink.”

Joe smiled broadly, “Don’t need to do that! I’m alcohol dehy
… dehy
drogen
…
ase deficient,
” he waggled his eyebrows, “know what that means?”

Emma shook her head.

“Means I’m a
cheap
drunk. You can start taking advantage of me now! No need to ply me with
any
more
drinks
than the one I had already
.”

Ell punched him
on
the arm again, “Some kinda ‘friendly boy’ you turn out to be.
Are you
trying to put the moves on my friend?!”

Joe looked
balefully
at Ell, “
She
might promote me to actual ‘boyfriend.
’
” He draped an arm loosely around Emma’s shoulders, “I
like
Emma
.” He looked at Emma out of the corner of his eye.
She’s
pretty
.”

Ell laughed, “Here,
Joe,
have my Coke. I’ll get another while Emma’s stealing my ‘friendly boy’ from me.”

Joe took
the
Coke and
Ell
headed to the bar.
She
wave
d
down a bartender
for a Coke
. A deep voice next to her said, “Belle?”

Ell looked up to see Vic
,
the guy who’d
been
drunk and
started the fight at Gordon’s party. “Vic?” she said apprehensively.

Vic winced at her tone. “I a
m
so
embarrassed and
sorry about how I
acted
at Gordon’s party. I’m a
‘bag of ass’
when I’m drunk.” He lifted his cup
and
slanted
a glance at it
, “Root beer.”

Ell grinned
up
at him, “Good to hear.
”
She
raised
her Coke
at him, winked,
and headed back to the floor.

Emma and Joe were dancing when Ell got back to that area.
Ell had to smile
at
Joe’s enthusia
s
m
. He didn’
t let his poor coordination from
the drink he’d had, nor his
complete lack of rhythm
,
nor his lack of knowledge regarding dance styles or steps
interfere
at all
with his joyful exuberance on the dance floor.
Ell
felt a touch on her shoulder and looked up to see Vic standing just behind her. She raised her eyebrows at him.

Vic
pointed
his chin
toward the dance floor
. “Dance?”

Ell shrugged and led Vic out onto the floor. Like the other people in the bar Vic started swaying and shuffling his feet in time to the music. Ell matched his steps but found herself longi
ng for the more exciting dances
that people had done at “Tres Locos” out in
Las Vegas
. Or even the club she and Emma had gone out to here in
Raleigh
. No one in the
Lincoln
was line dancing or even touching each other while they were dancing. In fact, she realized, a lot of the people were dancing by themselves, not with partners
at all
.
Vic did have rhythm, though Joe still looked like he was having more fun than anyone else in the bar. Ell glanced at Emma who was grinning at Joe’s antics.

The band took a break and Joe immediately said, “Emma,
Belle
, let me take you back to the dressing room.” He looked at Emma, “I’ve got to introduce Emma to the band.”
H
e narrowed his eyes at Vic, “Vic? Are you sober?”

Vic nodded and held out his root beer for Joe to smell.

Joe sniffed, then said, “Belle, do you think he’s sober? Gordon doesn’t want him around if he’s been drinking.”

“Yeah,
” Ell shrugged,
“
he’s OK tonight.”

Joe
studied Vic a moment longer but then
led the way backstage through a
side
door. Ell pictured bouncers ready to stop them or ask for passes, but apparently that wasn’t a problem in a small venue like this. They walked up a few stairs and found Gordon and his band reclined on some
beat up
furniture in a
shabby
little
side
room.

“Belle!” Gordon got up and threw his arms around her for a big hug. Then he tense
d. “Vic,” he said darkly, “Y
ou sober?”

Elle looked back at Vic. He had his hands up as if in surrender. “Root beer only. Gordon. I’m stayin’ clean from now on.”

Gordon grinned at him, “Good, see that you do.” He looked around, “How are you guys liking our sound?”

“Great!” Ell, Emma and Joe chorused.

Gordon lifted his chin at
the frowning
Vic, “Come on Vic, out with it.”

Vic dropped his eyes to the floor, “Too much reverb. It‘s making your sound muddy.”

Gordon looked concerned. The drummer said, “That’s bullshit. It sounds great in my monitors.”

Gordon turned to
the drummer
, “Vic really knows his sound. L
et’s l
isten to him. W
ell, listen to him w
hen he’s sober,” Gordon grinned at Vic, “he
could
be a lot of help.
” Gordon turned back to Vic,
“But I agree, it does sound good in our monitors
. What do you mean ‘muddy’
?”