The Complete Groupie Trilogy (20 page)

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

I knelt next to him on the floor. “What did you do?” I s
aid 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 bo
dies 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 lo
ok 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 wo
uld 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 wh
ere 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 indi
sputable fact.

I was go
ing 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.

I was going to have him forever. I had no doubt in my mind about that.

He gave me a great big hug when he turned to face me, and I felt myself dissolve into his strong chest that was now covered by a DIB t-shirt not unlike what Tawnie and I wore.

“T
hank you for the song,” I said.

“Which one?” he asked.

I just laughed. So he couldn’t show the world yet it was for me. That was okay.

I held up my CD that had his autograph saying, “Make it Happen.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, as if he suddenly remembered. “Absolutely. Words to live by,” he winked and gave me another hug.

Tawnie, who wasn’t quite as generous as I was, leaned in with her hand on his shoulder. “So what do you guys have planned after the show? There’s a really nice bar by my house if you want to check it out.”

“That’s so sweet but we have to make an early night of it. I have to preserve my voice. We still have two more shows to do. Are you ladies going to be there?” he asked, as if he really wanted us to say yes. We both nodded our enthusiastic response.

I couldn’t afford a meet and greet for those shows, but we would definitely be there.

And I knew that each time he sang his new song, he would be thinking of me.