Chapter 56 - We Made A Memory

"When, what?  Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here.”  His lips are firmly planted on hers.  He doesn’t care who might see, or what anyone has to say about it.  How did you do this?” 

 

He lifts his guitar off of him and hands it to his tech.  As soon as the guitar is gone, she’s in his arms again and he kisses her face.  “I got a call last night from Richie.  He told me you were sad and that you needed me to come hold your hand.”

“Richie?  Really?  He said that?”  she’s still in his arms, he’s not letting her go.  “Who gives a shit, you’re here.”  He kisses her again.

Behind him he can hear, “Let’s go, let’s go.” And that catches his attention.  He takes her by the hand and says, “That is for us.  We have to go.”  He leads her backstage through a couple of door out to a waiting car.

“What’s the rush?” she asks, as she lets him lead the way.

“The plane is waiting.”

“Oh!” she smiles.  “We’re being rushed off to a waiting plane?  Cool.”

They have their own private car, as they jump in Monica is surprised that they are alone.  But Jon, with all of his cockiness says, “I always have my own car.”

“You better start being nicer to Richie.  He made all of this possible, and I don’t know how he pulled it off cause he was pretty drunk.”

“Did he tell you about the blonde that he threw at me?”

“Yes.”
“Did he tell you how I kicked them all out?”

“Yes, he did.  And he apologized to me for doing that to you.  I think he started to cry at one point, but it was hard to tell.”

Jon sat there and just looked at her.  He can’t believe that she’s there with him, he can touch her, kiss her and love on her.

The band was surprised to see her when she showed up at the airport with Jon.  Alec was the only one that had anything to say about it.  “Why is she on the road with us?”

Walking to his seat on the plane, Richie smacks him on the back of the head and says, “Because he’s the boss, that’s why.”

“Fuck you, man.”  Alec snaps back at Richie. 

Everyone says hello to Monica and she says hi to the guys.  They all prepare for takeoff.  Next stop:  Morocco.

Jon and Monica sit in the front of the plane.  That way they wouldn’t be disturbed when anyone had to go to the bathroom.  Jon has missed her that much.  He even told everyone to leave them alone.  It was a long flight and they were going to snuggle.  Everyone is settled, winding down from an amazing show and preparing for a long flight. 

Jon can tell that Monica is pretty tired.  She tells him, “I feel like I time warped."

"I bet."  

"How long is this flight?"  She asks, resting her head on his shoulder. 

"It's long." he kisses the top of her head.  "Get comfortable, try to get some sleep."

"I'm not sleepy."

"Me either.  I am still in shock that you flew all the way to South Africa to see me."

"Richie said you needed me."

"I do."  He squeezes her leg, "Did you eat at all?"

"A little bit on the flight."

He looks back and he can see that the flight attendant is still buckled in her jump seat.  "As soon as we're at cruising altitude, I'll get you something."

"I can wait for you to eat."

"Then we're eating as soon as she's unbuckled.  I'm starving."

 

She sits there and looks at him, she loves the sparkle that she sees in his eyes and the happiness that she hears in his voice.  She felt so comfortable with him, more than she ever has with anyone else.  He makes her heart skip a beat and when she pictures her future, she sees no one but him. 

"You were amazing tonight." she says as she takes his hand, lacing her fingers with his.  "You're pretty amazing up there on that stage."

"You think so?"

"Never ending energy and you look great in spandex pants."

He blushes a little, "How much of the show did you see?  I don't even know when you got there." he wonders.  He can't believe that Richie pulled this off without someone tattling on him. 

"I think I missed the first half.  As they were bringing me back stage, you were going back out on stage.  I just missed you."

Playing with her fingers, he confesses, "When I seen you, I thought I had lost my mind."

"It's really me."

"And Richie did this on his own?" that raises question.  He can't believe that someone in his 'employ' would keep this all from him. 

Monica wiggles sideways in her seat, throwing her legs over Jon's.  "I had to meet some guy named Doc at Newark.  Who is he?"

Jon could not believe what he had just heard.  "Doc was involved in this?"

"Who is Doc?" she asks, again.

Jon looks back over his seat, looking to see what Richie was doing.  As soon as the seatbelt light goes off, Jon will be getting to the bottom of this.  "He's that guy that wants to sign us when we get back.  That L.A. manager I told you about."

"Oh." she says under her breath.  "I didn't like him."

"Why?"

"I got a weird feeling from him, nothing specific."

They made small talk and pointless chit chat to pass the time on the long flight to Morocco.  Going from one end of a continent takes some time.  They had some fried chicken with salad and soda pop for their dinner.  As soon as the band ate, they all passed out.  Jon and Monica were 'alone' with only the flight attendant puttering about.

Jon lifts up the arm rest that was between him and puts his arm around Monica, drawing her to him.  With a peck on the head, he tells you "You need to sleep."  He pulls her over, so she can rest her head on his lap.  "Come on, lay down."

"Where are you going to sleep?  Or HOW are you going to sleep?" she asks.  "Why don't you lay down, you have to be exhausted."

"I'm good, you and the baby need to rest, come on lay down." was that the daddy coming out of him?  He was tired, but he didn't want to miss a thing.  He wants her to rest, and he'll rest once she's resting.

Monica puts her feet on the wall that's in front of them, scoots down and says, "I'll sleep like this."  Grabbing his coat and using it for a blanket.

"Babe, you are not sleeping like that."

Monica rolls her head and looks at him, "Try this, it stretches the legs." And she laughs.

Jon smiles at her, still in shock that she's with him.  "Have you ever been to Morocco?"

"No, have you?"

"No, but I hear it's beautiful." he tells her. 

Monica remembered a question that she wanted to ask him, "Hey, why are you going from Cape Town to Morocco.  Seems a little out of the way, for one show."

"It's a music festival.  A pretty big deal I guess, but I have no idea." he admits, "But it's Morocco and I'm getting paid to go."

Jon can tell that Monica is getting sleepy, she fidgets when she's tired and she has a pattern.  It starts with a yawn, and then her eyes itch and then she gets really restless.  She's been rubbing her eyes for about the last 5 minutes, so he grabs her legs and pulls them over on him.  Bunching up his sweatshirt, he tucks that behind her head for a pillow and says, "You lost this one.  Get some rest.  It's going to be a long day, if you don't."

 

She smiles at him, "If we lay on our sides, we can lay here together."  He looked at what she was saying and tucked himself in behind her.  The seats were three wide, so they had room, just not plenty of room.  With his arm under her head and the other one resting on her belly, he holds her in his arms until she falls asleep.  Jon lays there, keeping her close - planning his as chewing for Richie.