Roses in the Sand (6 page)

“I told you I wouldn’t forget about our coffee date,” Johanna said. “I was just nervous that you weren’t going to show up.”

“Oh my God, you were amazing!” Lily squealed as she ran over to Johanna. “What makes you think that I wasn’t going to show up? Was it because of the surprise?”

“Yeah, I was worried about that. Since you are here now…surprise!” Johanna waved her hands in the air. “It’s me! Johanna Villanueva! I hope I didn’t scare you off or anything.”

“I cannot believe it!” She exclaimed. “You are Johanna Villanueva of Black Widow’s Kiss! You are the Johanna Villanueva! I’ve been roaming around with you for the past few days and I didn’t even realize it! This is just so funny and unreal for me!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. I thought you would have figured it out on your own.” Johanna said. “That, and I’ve bad luck with people who find out my identity. It’s even worse when they find out that I’m gay. I’ve dealt with a lot of horrible comments and bullying from all ends of the spectrum. People have stopped listening to our music solely because I’m gay. They claim that I’m ruining lives,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m asking you, how does one’s sexuality ruin lives?”

“I don’t know. There are some ignorant people out there,” Lily said. “I just don’t know how I didn’t figure this out.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t. You got your chance to know me, which most people don’t get.”

“I suspected you were someone famous but I hadn't figured out who,” Lily said. “I should have known from looking at your pictures. Those pink streaks were very familiar.”

“Yeah, that’s one good thing about being a drummer of a band. No one really pays that much attention to you. You still get all the glory of being in a band, but without worrying about the bad parts of fame. Of course, that is true unless you do something terrible to get you in the news.”

“Have you done anything terrible?”

“Oh, no! Worst thing I’ve ever done is get wasted. I’ve gotten drunk in pretty much every country there is. That’s not something to be proud of though.”

Lily kissed Johanna and didn’t seem to care about the leather and studs that were lying around in the room. Gone was the disguise of plain old Johanna and here was Johanna Villanueva, the rock star. She was the one that Lily wanted to give everything to. She could feel her damp skin pressing against Johanna’s warm brown body. Johanna had her hands around Lily’s waist and pulled her close to her.

“Am I inspiring you yet?” She whispered.

“You are my inspiration and then some,” Lily whispered back. “Seriously, Jo, I have never had anyone like you in my life. I don’t care about the rock star that you are underneath. I care about you and everything that you are. All I want to care about is you.”

“You are way too sweet, Lily,” Johanna whispered. “You care too much about someone you barely know.”

“I know enough about you to love you,” Lily said. “Shouldn’t that be all?”

“You fall in love so easily.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.”

“It could be if you’re not careful with your heart,” Johanna warned. “You don’t want to give it away to the wrong person.”

Lily smiled coyly at her, playing around with her maroon hair. “Are you saying that you’re the wrong person? It’s too bad. I’m already head over heels for you. If that’s all wrong, then I don’t want to be right. I don’t want the right person when I already know it’s you.”

“Oh, you like playing with fire! I like that too!” Johanna clapped her hands. “We could go anywhere you want to go, you know. I’m in a band. I’ve been all over the world.”

“Where’s your favorite place?”

“I think it’s a tie between Florence and Istanbul. Both of those cities are just gorgeous with a lot of culture. I also really liked Prague, Kuala Lumpur, and Cape Town. There are various places that I’ve been to. I can take you to each one.”

“I would like that,” Lily was captivated by all this, but she also knew that she had to be realistic. “I can’t just leave my work though. You are a rock star, but I’m nothing. At the end of the day, I really don’t have the charms that you have.”

“Come on, you are charming! You charmed me,” Johanna reminded her. “You would be set for life, Lily. If you came with me and the band, you would get to see things most people only dream of seeing. You would travel all over the world. Above all, you would be with me. We would be living the life of luxury forever. Even if we hit a bumpy road, we’d always have each other. Think about it, Lily. Think about all the good stuff that could come with this.”

“I’m thinking! I’m thinking!” Lily held up her hands. “It’s a lot to take in, Jo. I knew you worked in the industry, but to be Black Widow’s Kiss drummer? That was something I had not expected. I guess I am a lucky girl.”

“You are very lucky,” Johanna gave her a kiss. “No girl could ever fill these shoes that you have, Lily. No girl could ever satisfy me the way you do. Seeing you out in the audience made me want to play the best I’ve ever played. It made me want to be the best drummer anyone has ever seen.”

“I make you feel like that?”

“Always. You’ve made me feel that way ever since I laid eyes on you.”

“You’re being too kind.”

“I’m being serious. You’re perfect for me, Lily. I’ve never met a woman quite like you.”

“I’ve never met anyone like you either,” Lily said. “You have changed my life around.”

“I don’t know how I could have done that. I’m just a rock star with rock and roll dreams. At least, that’s what I had until you came along. Now all I want to dream about is you.”

“I haunt your dreams? That’s so sweet of you. If it’s any consolation, you’re constantly in my dreams as well,” she whispered in Johanna’s ear. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you ever since we met. I don’t know if I’m supposed to or not.”

“I just want you to like me for who I am, Lily. It’s true that I’m a rocker, but I’m also a human being. I just want someone to treat me like a person. I want you to love me for me, not what you want me to be.”

“I do,” Lily nodded. “I see you as Johanna, the same person I met only a few days ago. You’re the same person that I had chicken and cashews and eggrolls with. We even ate some crab legs together. You told me you were a rock star. I just failed to figure out that you played with Black Widow’s Kiss. I also failed to tell you that I happen to be a fan of the drummer,” she laughed out loud over that. “I failed at so many things here!”

“You’re only a fan of me because you know I’m the drummer. If I was the lead singer, you’d be a fan of me for that.”

“That’s true. I’d be a fan of anything you were. If you picked up garbage from the streets, I’d be a fan of that as well,” she agreed. “You would probably do better than most people out there who pick garbage.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Johanna agreed. “Come on. Are you sure you’re okay with having a rock star girlfriend? It could be overwhelming. You might get tired of it. It might drive you wild.”

“I could never get tired of you. I’m a big girl. I can handle more than you realize,” Lily said. “It just depends if you can handle someone like me.”

Johanna chuckled. “That will be no problem.”

Chapter 9

Even though she had been born in a wealthy family, Johanna never cared for the dinner parties or the boring meetings that people had. What she wanted was the rock star life. She wanted to go behind the scenes of every band and see what they did backstage. She wanted to hang out with bandmates, drink alcohol, and just have a good time with them. She ditched the fancy dresses and the balls for leather jackets and heavy vodka. Although she was very careful about her drinking, she always preferred beer to wine. This was life for her. This was what she lived for.

Of course, now she had Lily in her life. She didn’t know when Lily would leave, but for now she was going to enjoy every second they had. She was going to love Lily and make her feel loved at every hour. She was going to hold her girlfriend and never let go until it was time to say goodbye. It made her feel bad that Lily would soon be leaving because they needed to be together. The only person she ever wanted in her life didn’t live here. She wasn’t a rock star, but it could be easy to turn her into one. She thought about Lily’s thick maroon curls, bright green eyes, and the sweet smile that was on her face. Anytime she saw Lily’s body, she wanted to scoop her girlfriend up and spin her around. More than anything, she wanted to take Lily to the bedroom and have a lot of good times in there.

“I could dress you up like the perfect rock star girlfriend,” Johanna said. “I’ve got a ton of studs and leather that I could put you in. No one would ever know who you were. If you want, we can go and get your tongue pierced in the process.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Lily held up her hands. “I don’t think I’m ready to have needles in my body yet. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’m ready for leather and studs either. Can I just be the girlfriend on the side that brings you to reality?”

“You’ll bring me to reality, but not to ecstasy?  You wound me, Lily!”

“Of course I plan to bring you to ecstasy! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t do that?” Lily teased her. She held out her hands. “Would you care to dance, my lady?”

“I would be delighted, dear,” Johanna put her hand in Lily’s palm and Lily led her to the middle of the room. The two of them began to sway back and forth to the music. Lily rested her head on Johanna’s leather-clad shoulder, ignoring all the studs that were on it. Those studs felt nice.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Johanna asked as Lily shifted her head around to get comfortable. “I’ll take the jacket off if you want. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“You aren’t hurting me. You are probably the only person in the world that doesn’t hurt me,” Lily said, kissing Johanna’s neck. She put a few more kisses on it before leading her way up to Johanna’s lips. “Oh, you are wearing my favorite lipstick. Mmm, strawberry.”

“It’s not strawberry. It’s Luscious Lilac.”

“Does it really matter? It makes your lips delicious.”

“Now you want to eat my lips?”

“I want to kiss them again and again and again.” To make her point, Lily did kiss her more than once. Johanna soon felt herself smothered by Lily’s lips, but in a good way. This was the kind of feeling she wanted. She wanted to feel loved.

“I think love you. I know I love you,” she murmured.

“Either you think it or you know it, Lily. It can’t be both,” Johanna said.

“Well, I know it for sure. Call me crazy, call me fast but I’m certain of this.”

“That’s good because I love you. I love everything about you,” Johanna murmured. “If I could, I would keep you with me forever.”

“We can still be together forever. Come back home with me,” Lily suggested. “If you’re tired of the rock and roll lifestyle, then we can move in together. You can be with me.”

“Oh, Lily, I wish I could do that. The thing is that I’m a rock and roll chick. I have been that way for a long time. I’m the kind of the girl that likes the parties and the loud music and the screaming fans. I like being surrounded by this stuff. I don’t know if I could get used to a quiet life.”

“I’m sure you could. If you want to be with me, you’d do whatever you wanted for me, right?”

“I’d do anything for you, Lily.”

“Then try to live a quiet life for me,” she suggested. “Try living one with me.”

“I don’t know if I can. I’m so deep in rock and roll that I don’t think I’ll ever know what a quiet life is like. I can’t give up the band because they need me. It will take them months to find a drummer to replace me. Even still, I don’t think anyone would ever have my skills. I hate to brag, but I worked hard to get where I am today. I put a lot of sweat, blood, and tears into it.”

“I believe you. I also think you could use a break from the rock and roll world. Not a long break, but just a few days with me. We could have a good time together. We’d really get to see if we’re compatible together or not. Right now, we’re enjoying each other because we aren’t living together. If we lived together, we’d see more about ourselves.”

“I don’t need to see more of you, Lily. I know how I feel just from looking at you now,” Johanna said. “I know you would never disappoint me.”

“Are you sure about that? I’m not perfect. I’ve got a lot of flaws and I try my best to cover them up. I’m a terrible liar, I take too long to get ready, and I have an obsession with Lush cosmetics.”

“So? I’m also a terrible liar, I hog the bathroom every morning, and I have a hard time letting go of things. I can assure you that I’m not perfect either,” Johanna assured her. “You can ask the band. I take too long in the bathroom just to get ready.”