Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (20 page)

Like he said, all barriers were
gone.

That afternoon he told me he wanted to go buy
my grandmother a Christmas gift, to thank her for her kind
generosity and accepting him into their family no questions asked.
“I want to go to church with you tomorrow night,” he said, and the
earnest expression on his face just made me love him
more.

He selected a scarf and a hat for her to wear
while she ran her errands on foot. I completed the ensemble with a
locket which held a picture of my parents inside.

We wrapped our gifts together, and then spent
the night at home watching TV, cuddling with the cat and kissing in
front of the fire.

The next night we went to church and surprised
Grandma, his idea, and he even offered to sing for the
congregation, which meant he wasn’t there incognito. He stood at
the altar with his hair tied back, an ivory turtleneck sweater
(another gift from me) with a scarf casually slung around his
shoulder. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and my
heart filled to bursting with the love I felt inside. When he sang
“O Holy Night” a cappella by candlelight, there wasn’t a dry eye in
the house – including my grandmother.

The next morning I woke up to find the bed
empty. I slipped out from under the covers. There on the foot of
the bed was a beautiful blue satin robe. With a smile I put it on
and padded softly into the living room.

There were boxes of gifts underneath the tree,
and a breakfast set up on the coffee table in front. The best gift
was Vanni, in his pajama bottoms, sitting cross-legged on the floor
with his hair spilling all over his shoulders, as he cuddled Simon
in his lap.

“Merry Christmas, Andy,” he said as
I approached, and he pulled me down to get a Christmas
kiss.

I knelt next to him on the floor.
“What did you do?” I said as I referred to the gifts.

“What can I say? Santa thought you were a good
girl this year.”

I laughed as I reached for one. I felt like a
little kid as I tore into the paper. It was a locket, similar to
the one I bought for my grandmother. My eyes shot to his. “When did
you do this?”

“I’m a Ninja shopper,” he confessed. “Open
another one.”

A scarf, a cat toy for Simon, some opal
earrings – my birthstone – and finally a music box.

“Open it,” he said with a smile.

As I did I expected to hear “Wanting Her,” but
the tune was new and unfamiliar. Inside the box was a folded piece
of paper, written in his handwriting. As the music box played he
began to sing:

“I never thought I’d find someone whose heart
was my ideal, whose eyes could see into my soul, and teach me what
was real. She touched my hand, and kissed my lips and now I know
it’s true. No one before quite holds my heart the way that you now
do. I can’t promise more than this moment, girl, but please don’t
give up on me. You touched my hand and kissed my lips and set my
spirit free. No one can promise forever, it’s never ours to give.
If only for this moment, I know this much is true. If only for this
moment girl, I’m so in love with you.”

I was in tears as he finished, so
touched by his song, his voice, his words… his love.

Vanni was right. We couldn’t promise more than
the moment. But in that moment, all that I had, and all that I
felt, and all that I was belonged only to him.

Seattle, January 2009

Talia

I was relieved to get off of the
plane when we landed in Seattle, mostly to get away from all the
people on board. I never did really like crowds, and planes
especially are claustrophobic. I didn’t like the idea of breathing
in all that contained air, squished up next to strangers with their
fat, smelly bodies hanging over the armrests.

I collected my limited bags and used my new
cell phone to call my new Internet friend, Tawnie Eaton. I met her
on the DIB message board, and when I found out she was going to the
concert it seemed like a great idea to meet up with her and stay at
her place for the weekend while the band was in town.

Like me, she was introduced to the band by
winning tickets to see him in New York when they premiered his
video. Like me, she had the pleasure of being in the front row
while he serenaded his fans face to face. Like me, she felt that
instant connection that she could only share with someone who
understood. And so we had bonded quite a bit in phone calls and
emails that expressed our desire to get closer to this man who had
so powerfully touched our souls.

Unlike me she wasn’t married, so she felt she
was freer to explore something romantic with him than I was. I
didn’t say much when she pointed this out, figuring that even
though we were new best friends I didn’t need to share everything
about my plans for Giovanni. But if I felt the same bond, and I
knew in Vegas it was something he couldn’t possibly share with
anyone else but me, then our friendship would just have to
withstand his choosing me over her.

She was a pretty girl. She’d no doubt rebound
quickly.

In fact, that was another way we were quite
alike. We both had golden blond hair, although she kept hers cut
short whereas mine was full of wild curls. We both had blue eyes
and luckily shared the same size clothing.

This would help me because I wasn’t
allowed to shop for concert wear before the trip. Ben thought I had
gone to meet a friend only, not that I was going to spend money not
only to see the band but to go to another meet and greet after the
show.

It cost us a pretty penny, but
Tawnie and I figured that it would be worth it just to feel his
arms around us again, or get a close up look in those velvety brown
eyes.

So I covered the tickets with the cunning use
of money orders, telling Ben that we were paying for extra tests to
find out why we hadn’t yet been able to conceive. For her part she
bought the clothing, which included tight jeans and even tighter
concert tees. Our standard size 8 figures with the optimal 36-C cup
chests would no doubt get his attention.

Tawnie teased that we would probably look like
twins, but I was sure he’d be able to tell the
difference.

If we look that much alike maybe that was why
she felt the connection with him initially. He was waiting for me
all along.

Tawnie squealed when she saw me and ran over to
give me a big hug. It was like having a sister, and I can’t say I
minded. We had only been communicating about six weeks but already
we were as thick as thieves. We called each other Sis on the
website forum almost from the moment we met, adopting each other
out of our mutual interest. It was surprisingly easy to go from
being strangers to sharing our intimate life details over the
safety of the Internet. I almost worried how we would communicate
face to face.

But I didn’t have to worry. We both
had to fight to get a word in edgewise we were so excited about our
weekend together.

I could hardly contain my excitement as we
drove back to her apartment, and we giggled and squealed like
schoolgirls as we listened to the CD in the car, singing loud with
the windows down as we sailed down the freeway.

In just four hours, we’d be in the
front row, standing directly in front of Giovanni.

I could hardly wait.

We spent the next few hours doing each other’s
hair and makeup, and by 5:00 p.m. we were ready to hit the bar
around the corner from where she lived for a jumpstart on our
evening with happy hour drinks.

Two margaritas later and we were
back on the freeway, flying down the road toward the arts center
where the concert was being held.

The line was long when we got there, but no one
seemed to care. We sang songs and all the groupies, predominately
female, were talking loud and high on the idea of seeing Giovanni
perform live.

Without a shirt.

In leather pants.

The thought made me weak at the knees, so I
held onto Tawnie as tightly as she held onto me.

They began loading us in at 7:15 p.m., which
gave us about an hour until show time. It was the slowest hour of
our lives. Every time someone came out on stage the entire crowd
erupted, only to find out it was a roadie or stage hand.

Finally, at about 7:55 p.m., all the lights
dimmed and the spotlights that had been trained on the stage were
extinguished. I was so nervous I shook in my shoes, and held onto
Tawnie’s hand tightly.

At 8:00 p.m. a big screen scrolled
down and the musical instruments came alive with the first notes of
“Make It Happen.”

“You got something that you want?” Giovanni
screamed off stage. I screamed as loud as I could but my voice was
lost in the roar of the crowd. “I said – you got something that you
want?” Amazingly the roar got louder.

“HEY SEATTLE!” he sang/screamed into the mic
from somewhere on stage we couldn’t see. “You got something that
you want?”

“You know what you gotta do, don’t
you?”

The crowd was in a frenzy chanting, “Make it
happen! Make it happen!”

“You gotta MAKE IT HAPPEN!!”

With that the spotlight exploded on
stage as he jumped out of the shadows in his tight leather pants,
glistening bare torso and black leather cuffs on either wrist. He
launched into the song, racing around the stage like a Wildman,
singing to everyone in the front row and making us respond right
back.

When his eyes met mine during the
chorus and he made me sing it right back, I instantly knew that he
remembered me from Vegas. He remembered what he wrote on my CD. Our
connection was as strong as ever.

And it didn’t take a genius to know what it
meant when the next song was, “Baby, Say My Name.” He may have sung
some of that song to Tawnie, but I think he might have confused her
for me.

Several dancing girls in skimpy clothing joined
the guys on stage, climbing tall poles on either side of the band.
He interacted with them, allowing them to grind against him and
wind around his body like a snake, but I understood that was just
part of the act. There’s no way he could be attracted to those
girls. They were so skinny they looked like boys, and had tattoos
and piercings to boot.

I wasn’t especially threatened no matter how
sexually they danced.

A couple of songs later he slowed it down and
sat on the edge of the center stage, near us. “I gotta take a
moment and tell you about a special girl,” he said to someone in
the front row. “I wrote her a song,” he continued as he glanced
over at me. “I think about her when things get crazy.” He glanced
down at one of the rare men in the first row. “You know what I
mean, man? She brings peace to my soul.” He scanned the crowd. “I
don’t know where she is tonight. Is she out there, Seattle? Is she
thinking about me the way I’m thinking about her? Is she out there
standing lost in the crowd, thinking that no one will ever know how
beautiful she is?”

The girls all went crazy, hoping he
meant them. They were so silly.

“I just gotta take this moment… and tell you
about the girl I love.”

Yael played the piano that was standing off to
the side, something new brought to the band probably for this
important song. Giovanni hopped down in front of the stage, and
glided down the front row, touching every hand, and singing to
every person. “I never thought I’d find someone whose heart was my
ideal, whose eyes could see into my soul, and teach me what was
real. She touched my hand, and kissed my lips and now I know it’s
true. No one before quite holds my heart the way that you now do. I
can’t promise more than this moment, girl, but please don’t give up
on me. You touched my hand and kissed my lips and set my spirit
free. No one can promise forever, it’s not our give to give. If
only for this moment, I know this much is true. If only for this
moment girl, I’m so in love with you.”

When he touched my hand and soulfully sang how
I held his heart, I knew one indisputable fact.

I was going to have Giovanni
Carnevale.

After the concert the first row was loaded out
through a front exit and taken to a special section set up
backstage to meet the members of the band. I convinced Tawnie we
needed to hang back so we could get extra face time with him. She
agreed so we graciously let everyone else go first.

I just watched him from afar, falling ever more
in love with him by the minute. He answered every question in my
heart, and I knew that somehow he had recognized me, like our souls
were already mated. He understood what it was like to need someone
else to keep you sane. And maybe the reason I had so many problems
was because I settled for Ben when I should have waited for
Giovanni.

I hoped he would forgive me for
that.

By the time we were the only ones left I let
Tawnie go first and enjoy her flirty interaction with him. He
signed her shirt, he responded to her suggestive comments; he even
let her cop a feel. I just held back and smiled generously. I was
magnanimous like that. She could have him for a moment, even
possibly for a night.