Chapter 22 - It's all part of the game

 

How do you end a great night like this, other than walking a gorgeous woman to her door and kissing her good night.  After he kisses her, she asks, "Do you want to come in?"  

He slides his hand down her arm and takes her hand.  She has a smile that lights up her whole face and he could look at it for days.  "I would love to, but I think I should get home."  He says, with a lump in his throat.  He would love to come in, he would love to spend the night - but he likes her.  He really doesn't want to jump into anything, specially after the scare he had with Liz.  Jon wants to get to know Monica, before they become intimate.  With her face in his hands, he kisses her and whispers, "Good night."

She can't do anything but stand there.  He kisses like she has never been kissed and has a way with his whisper.  She can only nod.  As he walks away, he lets her hand drop slowly and says, "I'll call you." 

Monica  watches him saunter away and she thinks to herself, Damn he's got a nice ass.  Jon looks back and gives her a wave, he gets in his car and pulls away.  Monica goes back inside and immediately gets on the phone.  She has to talk to Richie, she needs to know more about this guy that's stealing her heart, fast.

 
It rings and rings, Monica walks to her kitchen window and looks over at Richie's house.  She sees that there are lights on and that his parents car is gone.  It keeps ringing so she hangs up and heads out the door.  As she gets closer to Richie's, she hears why no one answered the phone.  Richie is in the basement practicing the new Bon Jovi songs, trying to give each of them a spin of his own.  She bee bops down the basement stairs and is greeted with a big smile and nothing more.  Richie is in the middle of a solo and won't stop to sat hi.  Alec is there, drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette and he says 'Hi."

"Hi Alec." Monica smiles at him.

Alec nods toward Richie and tells her, "He's been trying to get this right all night long.  I tell him that it's perfect and he don't believe me, tell him it's perfect."

Monica listens to what Richie is playing and she has no idea if it's perfect or not.  It's not a song that she has ever heard.  "Sounds pretty good.  What is it?"

"One of Jon's songs, it's called Shot Through The Heart.  It's a great song and Richie has the licks down pat, but he thinks they can be better." Alec pokes fun at the perfectionist, wishing he had drive like Richie.  Alec was a guy that played in bands, he was never looked at as a serious musician.

Richie finishes the song and sets his guitar down and walks to the fridge and grabs a beer, looking at Monica, "Do you want one?"

She shook her head yes and he grabbed two beers.  Handing her her beer, he can see the look on her face.  They were neighbors for so long that he looked at her like a little sister and the two of them were quite close.  He remembers that she had a date with Jon, but he's not sure if he wants to know how it went, although he can see that she's beaming from ear to ear.  "Okay, spit it out, how was your date?"

"Oh my God Richie, he played with the Boss.  It was amazing.  We went to the Pony and Bruce showed up for an impromptu show.  He played some of Bruce's new material.  It was amazing!"

"No shit, he got to play with THE BOSS?"  Richie is happy for Jon, and a little jealous.  "How does that even happen?"

"He remembers Jon from work, and he had heard that Jon played on Bowie's new album.  Jon kicked ass, and he looked so good on stage." Monica is telling Richie like it had happened to her, that she was pulled on stage to play.  She was also thrilled that she was there to see it for Jon, with Jon.

"What else did you guys do?  Where is he?" Richie asks her.

Monica sits on the couch and says, "He wanted to call it a night. So he walked me to my door, kissed me good night and left me hanging."  She exhales heavily and makes what really happened sound even more dramatic than it was.  "Can you believe that?  He kissed me good night and left."

"What did you want him to do?"

"Before or after he kissed me?"

Richie laughs and takes the bait, "After."

"Well, I don't normally kiss and tell, but I can tell you, that if he had agreed to come in - he would have been late for whatever he has in the morning."  She laughs at herself, not caring what she just sounded like.  She was attracted to Jon, like she's never been attracted to anyone before.

"Why didn't you tell him that?" Alec blurts in.

Monica turns her head to look at him, a little irritated that he's jumping into the conversation that she was having with her big brother Richie.  "I'm really not that kind of girl, I talk a good game."

Richie butts in and says, "Yeah, why didn't you tell him?  I'm sure he would have loved the distraction."

Monica nods her head, agreeing with the distraction part because she knew that Richie was referring to Liz and the whole pregnancy bullshit.  "I'm glad that he's passed that.  That stupid bitch anyway."  She takes a big swig of her beer.  "He said he's call me, do you think he will?"

Alec answers her with his thoughts, "He will.  Jon is a good man.  When is the real question."  with a chuckle, he gets up and gets himself another beer.

Richie pats Monica's leg and tells her, "He'll call you, if he doesn't see you first.  I'm sure he'll be here tomorrow at some point."

Monica smiles at the thought of that.  She really wanted to see him again, and she wanted it to be soon.  And it was a bonus for her if she was able to watch them practice.  He was super sexy when he played his guitar and sang.

"I'm going home.  I need my beauty sleep."  She sets her beer on the footlocker that was in front of the couch and popped up.  "I'll see you suckers tomorrow."  And she was up the stairs and out of there. 

When she gets to the sidewalk, she sees Jon's car parked back in front of her house.  That excited her, making her hop home a little faster.  She sees that he's not in the car, but he's on her front porch, sitting on the stairs smoking a cigarette.  She gets up to him and says, "Hey."

"Hi."

She smiles at him and asks, "What are you doing here?  How long have you been here?"

"I came to see you, I didn't like the way that we left things.  I was hoping we could have a do over."  He stands up and they are now face to face. "I've only been here a few minutes.  When you didn't answer the door, I figured you ran to Richie's, so I thought I would wait."

She leans in and kisses him, shocking him that she made the first move.  "I'm glad you came back."  her arms go around his neck and his hands find her waist.  He pulls her to him and the two of them start to make out right on her front walk. 

A few minutes was all she needed to take his hand and lead him into the house.  With him right behind her, he needs her to know that, "I came back for another kiss goodnight, but this will do."

Over her shoulder she looks at him and says, "I don't care why you're here, I"m just glad that you are."  She stops at the foot of her bed.  With her hands on his shoulders, she directs Jon to where she wants him to be and applies gentle pressure, telling him to sit down.  He sits at the foot of her bed.

He had left his jean jacket in the car, leaving him with just his button up on.  Monica kneels in front of him and starts to unbutton his shirt.