Chapter 54 - That's Who I Am

 

The Monsters of Rock tour is turning out to be a blast for the 5 boys from New Jersey.  They are seeing places that they normally wouldn’t; they are meeting people that they had only dreamed of.  They were on a sky rocket to the top and loving it the whole way up.

 Jon and Monica were in a 3 day game of phone tag.  The time zones are messing with both of them, but the biggest problem is the exhaustion that Jon is feeling.  He's been giving 150% of himself every night and with the road diet, he's draining himself and he's starting to feel the effects.  He really thinks that he's lonely and just wants to go home.  His band on the other hand is another story.  They kick ass at their shows and party like rock stars after, and it's catching up to them as well.  One more week and they are on their plane to go home.  All are looking forward to it. 

Jon tires to call Monica one more time before he heads to the stadium in Cape Town, to play for a sold out crowd.  Dialing her number, he crosses his fingers and says Please let her be home, please let her be home.  

Two rings and she answers the phone, "Hello?" 

"Finally." 

"Oh my God, is that you babe?" she laughs at her tone, thankful to hear his voice.  "Where are you?" 

"We're in South Africa.  How are you, how's the baby?" 

Monica was in the kitchen making herself breakfast, since she just got out of bed.  Jon can hear her making coffee, "We're good, really good." 

"What have you been up to?" 

"Well, last night I had dinner with your parents." 

"You did?" he's a little shocked by that, he figured his mom would wait until he got home to visit with Monica. 

"Yes, she stopped by yesterday on her way to her hairdresser and invited me over." 

"Did she mention the baby?" 

Monica laughs, "No, she didn't.  But she kept looking down at my belly.  It was cute.  She was so excited; you should have seen her face." 

Jon is sitting on his hotel bed and he can picture his mother looking at Monica's belly and biting her tongue.  "That had to have been hard for her."

 

"I miss you, Jon." 

"Babe, I miss you too.  I can't wait to get home and hold you!" 

"I just want you home." She says, “Does that make me sound selfish?” 

Jon smiles and when he talks Monica can hear it, “If it makes you selfish, than I guess we’re both selfish.” 

“How long are you in Cape Town?” she inquires, it seems that she has lost a little bit of short term memory or she’s just overloaded, she doesn’t remember what he told her. 

“Show tonight, tomorrow off and then another show – here in Cape Town.  Then we’re off to Morocco for a night, Spain for a night and then we’re headed home.”  

Monica is a little jealous, “Lucky.  I have always wanted to go to Spain.  We’ll have to go someday.” 

“I’m excited to see it, and Morocco.  I’ve heard that both places are unbelievable.  But don’t worry, we’ll be travelling the world together” he tells her with all the confidence in the world. He knows that they are going to hit it big and it’s going to happen soon. 

“Oh that reminds me, your video is being aired here today at 3:00.  I am so excited; I know your fans are going to love it.” 

“Today?  Really?”  That makes Jon smile.  It’s just another avenue to reach the fame that he’s after.  Monica did a great job with the video, even though the guys were a little bummed that they were hardly in it – but Monica was catering to the masses, and the masses want Jon right now.  “I hope it gets received well, it’s a little dark, but I guess the song is too.” 

“You are super sexy in that video.  I love the no shirt scene, I’m glad we rehearsed it.” 

“The rehearsal part was nice, especially in the bedroom.”

Monica laughs at that, “I see you left those pants here, I washed them yesterday.” 

“No reason for them to be on the road, they are my “Monica come hither” pants.” 

“Keep it up and I’ll be c.u.m……subject change please.” 

He gets serious and asks her, “What have you been doing to stay busy?  Are you eating right?” 

“I took a couple of shifts at the store and have been doing some small photography jobs.  Other than that, I and baby have been taking it easy.” 

“How was it at the mansion?” They have had very limited talk time over the last several days, he wants to hear all about the place he has always dreamt of going.  He knows she had a great time, but that’s really all that she had time to tell him. 

“It was an experience.” 

“Good, I know – tell me.  Talk to me, I need to hear your voice.  Tell me everything.” 

With a mouth full of Grape Nuts she starts to tell him, “I was there to take pictures, but once word got out that I was your girlfriend, they treated me a little different, the girls did, anyway.” 

“How so?” he’s curious, why would the bunnies treat her different? 

“Once they knew I was your girlfriend they treated me like I was one of them, not like an employee.  That was kind of nice, to be one of them.” 

“I’m surprised they knew who I was.” 

“You’re pretty big out here.  In fact, that had your album playing throughout the mansion.  So, for me – I could hear you and that was nice.” 

“What’s Hugh like?” 

Monica giggles, “He’s a big flirt, a really big flirt but he’s one of the nicest people I have ever met.  So polite and so accommodating.” 

“That’s good, I’m happy that you’re happy with your experience.” 

“Babe, he was so accommodating that when he heard of my peanut allergy, he had anything that did or could have containing peanuts removed from the mansion and had signs placed on all the entry doors.”  

Jon stands up and starts to pace, he knows that his time is running short and he feels a little bad that he’s making her cereal go soggy.  “No shit?” 

“And oh yeah, I told him you guys would play his birthday party.  I hope that doesn’t piss you off?” she admits, truthfully hoping that he doesn’t get mad.  She’s not his agent, or even part of management but she thought that was an opportunity that he wouldn’t want to miss. 

“When is his birthday?”  His pace quickens, hoping that it’s not just a few days away.  The guys needed to get home and regroup, look at what they have done and where they are going.  “Not too soon, I hope?”

 

“April 9^th, I think he said.  I told him that you’d call once you came home.” 

“Okay, cool.  What are you doing with your day?” he asks her, wanting to change the subject from him, back to her.   

“When I get off the phone, I‘m going to my parents to pick up my mom.  She wants to go shopping for baby clothes.”  Jon can hear the excitement in her voice, Monica loved to shop and he’s thinking baby clothes shopping is like opening Pandora’s Box for a pregnant woman.  

“Where ya going?” 

“Into the city.” 

Laughing, he says “you have fun with that.” 

“Smart ass, you know I’m looking forward to baby clothes shopping with you.  Mom wants to get me the essential things.  Onesies, sleepers and blankets.  She said we could pick out clothes when we know what we’re going to have.” 

“Are we finding out before it’s here?” that got his attention; it wasn’t a discussion that they had. 

“I didn’t plan on it; do you want to find out?” 

“No.  I want the surprise when it gets here.” 

“Then we’re going to have to buy green and yellow clothes, no blues or pinks.”

 

“Green is my favorite color.” 

“I know…” she’s cut off by a loud banging in the background on Jon’s end. 

“Shit, I gotta go babe.  The car must be here, I’m sorry.” Hanging up the phone and disconnecting that connection is the last thing that he wants to do right now, but the show must go on and they both know that. 

“Go babe; try to call when you can.  I have nothing planned after shopping today with mom, so I’ll be home.” 

He’s pouting now, a little bit.  “Ok, I’ll try.  If I don’t talk to you, I’ll be home in just a few days.” 

“Jon.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you more.” 

The line goes dead and he stands there for a few seconds, frozen I time.  Hearing her voice was what he really needed, but he didn’t think that it would make him miss her even more.  He thought he missed her as much as possible, but the way she says his name, the way she says I love you made his heart sink even lower.   

With his head hung like a sad puppy, he grabs what he needs to take to the show and meets the guys downstairs.  When he walked out the door he was blown away by the amount of fans that waited for them to come out.  Teenage girls screaming their names, holding up signs that he doesn’t take the time to read.  He hops into the car and pulls the door closed behind him.  This is the first time that they have had to crawl at a snail’s pace to get through a crowd.  Banging on the windows and the car, the guys can feel it shaking. 

“I hope they don’t break a window.”  Alec says as he’s sticking his tongue out and making rude hand gestures to the girls that only wanted a touch, a hello or maybe a wink.  They eventually make their way through the crowd and get to the stadium just in time for sound check.  The place was already packed to the rafters and the roar you could feel in your chest.  The guys did their sound check, stood on stage and talked about the enormity of the crowd.  This is the most people that they have ever played for in one night.  Tico says, “It looks like a million faces.  People as far as we can see.” 

‘I hope the next show is just as good.”  David says as he spins in a circle, seeing fans all the way around.  “People pay for an obstructed view?  That’s crazy.”  They each still had one ear piece in, so when they were told by engineering to get off the stage, they all followed his direction and went backstage to their dressing room. 

Jon plops down on the couch and Richie can see that he’s bummed.  “What’s up?” he asks his buddy. 

“Nothing.  I’m just ready to go home.” He confesses to his band mates, his brothers.  “I miss Monica.” 

“You what?” Alec blurts out.  “You miss a chick.  You’re crazy.” 

“Fuck you.” Jon snaps back.  “I’m glad I’m not a ho bag like you.” 

“I’m glad I’m not tied to a ball and chain.  Man, you can’t have a girlfriend in this business, there are chicks everywhere and they want you.  Why take yourself out of the game so soon.” 

“You wouldn’t understand.” 

“I understand that you think you can be faithful, why don’t you cut her loose now before you break her heart.  You know you’re going to.” 

David hated to hear Alec talk like that.  He’s known Jon the longest and he knows that Jon would never hurt Monica on purpose.   He knows that he loves her, and he can understand that he misses her.  “Hey Alec, shut up!” 

“Jon needs you to fight his battles?” Alec barks. 

“No, I think you’re being an asshole and I’m sick of hearing you talk like that.  We have a show to do, let’s get some good vibes going.” 

Richie, being the man that he is, asks his band mates, “How many titty flashes do you think that ALEC is going to get tonight?” The guys laugh, knowing that Alec was the only one that cared about that. 

“Who gives a shit?  Let’s see if we can get this place shaking –let’s have them begging us to come back next tour.  Let’s blow the fucking roof off of this place.” Tico says with passion, tapping his drumsticks on the wall with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.   

“There is no roof.”  Jon mumbles. 

Tico laughs, “You know what I mean.” 

The show was a huge success.  The stadium people had a fireworks display that went off at the end of the show. The guys got to see a few of them as they were being taken back to the hotel.  They were full of energy and wanting to have some fun, well the 4 of them did.  Jon just wanted to go to his room and make these days fly by.  He needed to go home. 

Richie, Dave, Tico and Alec got cleaned up and went out for a night on the town.  They didn’t have a show tomorrow, so they could deal with a hangover, they were having some fun while in South Africa.  Jon took a shower and climbed in bed.  He watched a little of this and a little of that, since there wasn’t much on.  Eventually he fell asleep, letting the exhaustion take over.  He lost the fight.