Rock Radio (19 page)

“If I didn’t want to be with you I wouldn’t be with you.”

“Are you with me just for the sex?”

“No,” he lied.

“That’s good to hear.”  She looked up at him with a smile.

He brushed her pigtail away from her face.  “Is it?”

“Yes, it is, because Jonny Rock, I’m starting to fall in love with you.”

Jonny returned to the stat
ion quickly.  It was nearly five o’clock.  He was gone too long.  He slipped in the employee entrance.

“Jonny,” Joel the guard said.

“Joel.”

Jonny rushed up to the studio, his heart racing.

Heather was falling in love with him.

He was in over his head.  Way over.

Dana was waiting for him in the studio reading a magazine.

“Oh, are you on the air now?”  She looked at her watch.

“Very funny Dana,” Jonny said running his fingers through his messy hair.  He was upset, tense and didn’t need her clever crap now.

“Jonny, I don’t know what you’re doing, but I don’t think it will end well.”

“Dana, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Why don’t I believe that?”

“I don’t know...maybe it’s because you’re so negative,” he snapped.

“Cool it Jonny, believe it or not, I’m looking out for you.”

“I’m under stress.”  He tapped his fingers on the console repeatedly.

She slammed the magazine down. 
“Obviously.”

“So what do you need?  Did you come in for a reason or just to break my balls?”

“What crawled up your butt and died?”

Jonny leaned over the console and took several deep breaths.

“I hope you’re counting to calm down, ‘cause I don’t deserve this Jonny.  I’m not the one bringing your world to an end.”

Jonny inhaled deeply.  “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Look...I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s going on, but I have a pretty good idea it involves Heather.  You better watch it, you could get in big trouble...and I don’t just mean with your wife.”

“Nothing’s going on,” he said tersely.

“Be careful Jonny.”

“So why
did
you come in Dana?  I assume you have something to tell me.  This clearly is not a social call.”
              “I’d appreciate if you’d drop the angry bit for a minute...I really need your advice.”

Jonny sat down on a stool and put his headphones on, pushing one side back so only one ear was covered.  “Talk to me.”

“Sam called me this weekend.  We got back together.”

He genuinely looked shocked.  “Come again?”

Dana breathed deeply.  “Sam called me...”

“No, I heard you, I just wasn’t sure I understood you.”

“He apologized, said how much he missed me and moved back in.”

“So why don’t you sound happy about it?  I thought this was what you wanted.”  Jonny flipped through his liner cards.  As long as he was back, he’d go live and take it off autopilot.

“I thought so too, but, I don’t know.  It doesn’t feel like I thought it would.”  Dana looked away.

“Sometimes what you think you want isn’t really what you do want.”

“That’s pretty deep.”

“He hurt you pretty bad.  That’s hard to erase.  Besides, I thought you were head over heels with the rock star.”

Dana looked up and snickered, “Joke was on me on that one.  He wasn’t who I thought he was.”  She felt a pang reliving the realization he never showed up to meet her.  “That’s just it, Sam is real.  We have a lot of history...we can have a future together.  He’s a good man, stable.”

“Good...stable...if I’m out of line, tell me, but you didn’t mention love.”

“I do love him,” she said defensively.

“Okay, then I support you.  If he truly makes yo
u happy then I’m happy for you.  You deserve some happiness.”

“Everyone d
oes.  Including you,” she said raising her eyebrows with a smile.

“Thanks for your benevolence.  Hang on song’s ending,” he waited for the last notes to play, “Hey kids, it’s Jonny Rock here with you on a beautiful afternoon.  I
’ve got new music from Soundgarden and Creed right after the break.  Don’t go anywhere.”  He pushed the button to fire the commercials and turned off the mic.  “So how’s everything else?”

“Here’s something weird.  It’s that chronic listener guy again.”

Jonny looked concerned.  “What’s wrong?”
              “Check this out.”  Dana pulled Larry’s card from where she’d stashed it in the back of the magazine.

Jonny read the card and studied the picture.  “He likes you Dana.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…I mean like genuinely afraid.  It’s different from anything I’d ever been sent by a listener before.  It’s creepy.”

“I think you’re reading too much into it.  He’s a listener who likes Dana Drew.  I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Really?  You don’t think he looks like a weirdo?”

Jonny looked at the dark curly haired man.  He was short and nondescript, save a prominent nose.  “He’s harmless.”

Dana took the picture from Jonny and scrutinized it.

“Seriously Dana I wouldn’t give you bad advice.”

“I guess...”

“Don’t worry about it.  Some of us have real things to be concerned about.” 
Like a jealous wife and a mistress who decided she’s in love with you.

“I just hope you know what you’re talking about.”

For once Jonny answered honestly.  “Me too.”

It was now five o’clock and Dana Drew hadn’t called.

So Larry called her at the station.

“WORR.”

“Dana Drew please,” he said breathlessly.

“Hold one minute.”

“Hey
, this is Dana Drew and I’m away from my desk.  Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.  Thanks.” 
Beep.

Her machine.

Damn it.

Larry hung up.  She was on the air in an hour.  He could call her then.  Then she had to answer.  She always answered when she was on the air.

The clock could not move any slower.

Larry watched each minute inch by letting his anger simmer.  Dana got his card but didn’t call.

He wrote her a poem.  Sent her a picture of them.

Together.

Couldn’t she see how much he loved her?

So much.

That hair.

Those lips.

Those eyes.

Larry took out his copy of the picture he sent her.  Dana was smiling.  Smiling out of the picture at him.  “I love you too, Larry,” he imagined her lips saying.

Larry knew he and Dana were going to get married.  Then his friends would be impressed with him.  After all, he’d be married to a star.  Dana Drew. 
No
, he corrected himself,
Dana Carter
.  Oh, his friend’s would all be jealous, all of them, especially the guys that called him Crazy Larry in high school.  The ones that beat him up after class and keyed his car.  Yes, they’d all be so envious that he got such a hot wife who was so famous.  He’d go back to his twenty-year high school reunion and they’d all stare at him as he made his big entrance.  He’d be the big man then.

He imagined Dana in a low cut black dress and himself in a fine Ita
lian suit.  He always heard the Italians made the best suits.

They’d walk into the reunion and everyone’s head would turn.  Kenny Miller who called him “loser” for four years would wet his pants with envy.  Farrah, Linda and Carrie who all turned him down for dates and then laughed at him when he showed up alone to senior prom would see what they missed out on.  His stupid brother Paul, “the doctor” who his mother and father thought walked on water, would finally respect him.  They’d all be sorry they ever called him a failure.

Oh, yes, Larry and Dana would soon be one.  Surely the card was enough for her to see that he was her soul mate.

The clock ticked six o’clock.  It was time to call.

The phone rang endlessly.  Finally she answered.

“Hi,
it’s Dana, what’s up.”

“Dana, it’s Larry.”

Oh God
, she thought,
Larry again.
  “Hi Larry.  I got your card today.”

Yes!  She got it.  She remembered.  She was so sweet.  “Did you like it?”

“It was very nice.”

Nice?  That wasn’t the response he wanted.  “You mean nice of me, but the card meant more to you, didn’t it Dana?”

She wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at.  “What do you mean Larry?”

“I mean you understood, right?  You feel the same way?”

“What way Larry?”

He got shy.  “You know...what I wrote in the poem...that we’re meant to be together.”

“Larry, we barely know each other,” she said with no emotion, trying to hide the fear she felt in the pit of her stomach.

His voice grew tense.  “That’s not true Dana, we’ve talked on the phone lots and lots.  We’re close friends.”

Dana realized this guy was one sandwich short of a picnic.  She wanted to get off the phone...now.  “Look, Larry, of course I’m your friend, and I appreciate the thought, but I have to go.”

“Why are you blowing me off Dana?  That’s not fair of you!”  This wasn’t how Larry envisioned the phone call.  Not at all.

“Larry I’m not blowing you off.  I can only spend so much time on the...”

He cut her off.  “But I’m different Dana.”  His voice was filled with anger.

“Larry, I really do have to go.  I’m at work now and I’m going on the air soon.”

“Dana I don’t think you’re being fair.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to go, bye.”  She hung up.

Larry heard the click, then the dial tone.  How could she have dismissed him like that?  And hung up on him?  He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.  Yes, he r
ationalized, she was at work, but he gave her his heart in that card.  There was no excuse for her reaction.  How could she blow him off?  She was no better than any of the others.  No better than Farrah, Linda, Carrie or The Bitch.

She
is
at work, he reminded himself.

Well, then
, he thought,
I’ll just have to contact her at home.

Cody and the band arrived in Orlando Monday afternoon with just enough time to stop at the local radio station to promote their appearance.  Alex brought his guitar to play an acoustic version of
All You Were
.

They walked in
to a hero’s welcome.  A group of fans were waiting for them outside the building of the radio station, cameras in hand.  Eric shuttled The Cody Blue Experience through the small crowd.  He’d done well by them, negotiating a deal with a major label for representation.  It was a good deal for Eric as well.  He maneuvered a clause that stated the band’s acceptance was contingent on Eric’s continued involvement with the group and a cut of the profits.

“We’ll be back,” he promised the small group of fans.  “They gotta go on the air.”

Cody, Harper, Alex and Bobby walked through the station.  They looked the part of rock stars.  Now that their album had been released more pressure was put on them for their appearance.  The label hired stylists to work with the guys.

It was hard work to dress like you didn’t care.

The once pudgy Alex had lost a lot of weight.  He tried to work out at every stop, keeping to a regimen of sit-ups and push-ups, though he still had a small amount of baby fat that the ladies found cute.  His once short brown hair was now shoulder length with blonde highlights.  He wore tight leather pants and a navy silk shirt.  Bobby, the tallest and skinniest of the group, was also the most aloof.  Success made him withdraw into himself.  He refused to color his hair or conform to a stylist’s idea of rock sheik.  He wore corduroy pants and a white gym t-shirt.  The clothes hung on his lanky body.  Harper embraced the rock star image the most.  He dyed his hair bright pink or dark green or iridescent blue, depending on his mood.  Today it was fire engine red.  He dressed in a black shirt and low fitting loose black jeans that he accented with a silver chain connected from his back pocket to his front belt loop.  As much as they all carried themselves with the rock star look, Cody was still the most attractive, the one the women went most wild for.  The stylists let him keep his trademark look of dark blue jeans and a white button down shirt.  Gold highlights were applied to the tips of his brown hair.  Muscular and lean with soulful eyes, Cody was a heartbreaker.

But it was his heart that had been broken.

Dana.

He couldn’t get her out of his head.

“Cody, Phillip Dover, Program Director, nice to meet you.”  A chunky blonde haired man walked over to them with a huge smile.