14 - A Friend in Need

Despite the comfort of the luxurious bed, Lilah was having a hard time getting to sleep.  She kept replaying the entire day, evening and night with him in her head, and getting more fidgety with each run through.  Days were not long enough to kiss Anthony Bongiovi.  He was a-ma-zing with his mouth!  If he did nothing but kiss her, she could die quite happily. 

It almost made her think this whole thing might work out.  Mightn’t it?  This insane notion that had come to her through a bizarre flash of medication-induced clarity last July?  It might actually have been a real honest-to-God sign, like she kept telling herself it was. 

Lying here all alone in the dark and holding all this excitement and uncertainty inside was going to have her busting a blood vessel.  She had to talk to somebody.  Checking the clock and finding that it was one in the morning, she gratefully saw that the timing was right to talk to more than one somebody. 

 While Joanna wasn’t happy about the dinner or motorcycle jaunt with Tony, Lilah knew at least a couple of people who – while they might not get why she was happy about her evening – would at least be happy for her.

Fetching her glasses from the nightstand and plopping them on her nose, she flicked on the lamp.  As her laptop fired up, she chose to start with Angel first.  Her reaction would probably be the most fun.

July 3, 2011

TO:  aussie_angel

FROM: misslilahjane

Hi, hi, hi my angel-food-cake friend!  How’s tomorrow looking in the land down under?  Should I carry an umbrella?  Oh.  Wait.  It’s after midnight here, so I guess it’s today already.  Hmm.  Whatever.

Angelic Beauty, I had the craziest thing happen to me yesterday and, even though I know you won’t be jealous, I think you’ll still be excited for me.   Or at least toss a couple of !!!! in there to make me think you are??

You knew all about the Q&A and me basically asking Jon if I could go backstage with Tony.  I had no idea when/if/how I would hear from him, or which show I would be allowed to do that at.

Anyway… I was checking into the new hotel and guess who I ran into?  Anthony Bongiovi!  Talk about Fate!  And – you’re not gonna believe this part – he asked if I wanted to take a ride on his Harley out into the Irish countryside!  I said yes after much deliberation – you know how I am.  Motorcycles are SCARY!  But he made it not so bad.  He took me to what he called an ‘enchanted forest’, which was really the coolest tree tunnel I’ve ever seen.  He’s soooo nice!  I mean, I kind of knew he would be, but to have it proven was pretty awesome.

And THEN, before we left to come back to the hotel, he invited me to DINNER!  The pub we went to had the BEST food, and this INCREDIBLE boozy cheesecake.  It was OMG good!  After that, he asked me to have a drink with him in the hotel bar!!  (yes, THREE invitations from him in one day!!)  That was fun.  I got a couple of my fruity drinks and he ordered me extra umbrellas for them.  I got a TEENY bit tipsy and I know he had to have too, even though he didn’t act it.  The man can put away whiskey, I’m telling you! 

But I liked the taste.  TMI??

No details, but, yes, that means exactly what you think it means.  HE KISSED ME!  I’m still kind of on cloud 9 over it, as a matter of fact.  Of course he then said it wasn’t a good idea and backed away, but – get ready for this, you’re not gonna believe it – I kissed HIM again after that!  And he told me to call him when I got to Turkey. 

I was just dying to tell somebody who would *squee* with me for a little bit.  Jo wasn’t much impressed BEFORE I went on the date.  I haven’t gotten up the nerve to talk to her since. 

Okay, I’ve rattled on long enough.  I’ll let you go.  Thanks for listening Angel-with-a-crooked-halo (*squee*!)

!!!!!!!!! 

She could always count on her girlfriend down under for an overzealous bout of enthusiasm, and that was what Lilah needed.  Someone who would respond to her news with lots of exclamation points.  

But she also wanted to hear from her level-headed friend.  The response to this email might not invoke all the warm fuzzies as Angel's, but Morgan wasn’t about warm fuzzies.  That was perfectly fine, because she didn’t expect Lilah to be warm and fuzzy either.

She and Morgan shared the luxury of friendship without pretense.  They could truly be themselves with each other and no apology was  necessary.  Ninety percent of the time that meant they were snarky bitches, but it was good they had each other to take it out on.  No defenseless animals were harmed in the name of snark.

July 3, 2011

TO:  Morgan_Prince

FROM: misslilahjane

Hey!  New twist to my story.  No, I didn’t land JBJ instead of the ‘ugly duckling’ brother.  I couldn’t do that to you, nor would I want to.  :P

Checked into the Four Seasons today and ran into a bad boy who offered to take me for a ride on his bike.  Yep.  TBJ.  He took me out into the countryside to this little patch of woods.  No we didn’t have sex.  Get your mind out of the gutter.  You’re taking the fun out of this for me and you haven’t even replied yet!  Jeez.

Then he invited me to dinner, and after dinner we had drinks in the hotel bar.  Long story short…  He kissed me.  REALLY kissed me, and it was HOT!  No, we still didn’t have sex!  I’m not that kind of girl and you know it.  *shrug*  Actually, I guess he’s not that kind of guy either.  He said “this isn’t a good idea”.  I have no idea what possessed me, but I found enough gumption to kiss him one more time before he left me at my hotel door. 

Holy crap.  He kissed me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get to sleep.  Email me back if you’re not busy!!!

xoxo

Lilah impatiently clicked on the link to send her message.  Then, without pause, she then clicked the one that would refresh her inbox.   

Come on girls, one of you is surely out there putting your life on hold, just waiting for my psychotic middle-of-the-night email.  Come on…  HA!

Morgan’s came through first, probably because Angel was still hyperventilating and blatantly abusing the ! button on her Mac.  

July 2, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM: Morgan_Prince

WTF???  Have you lost your mind completely?  You don't even KNOW this guy and you're running off to Neverland on the back of his motorcycle????  Please tell me you wore a helmet!  LGJ!  Look what happens when I'm not with you!

Okay, now that I've given you the proper scolding...

WTF????  Good kisser???  Details, girlfriend!  I want the tiny details.  NOW!

One of her favorite things about Morgan was that they could spend hours emailing back and forth a sentence at a time.  Yes, it would be more efficient to gather their thoughts and do it all in one long message, but that just wasn’t how they rolled.  More often than not, she and Lilah both got trigger-happy on the send button and ended up going back to add another comment or question after their first instinctual response.  It was not unusual for then to require three emails in order to sufficiently answer one. 

Lilah immediately hit ‘reply’ and started tapping away.  First she blew off Morgan’s safety concerns.  If he wasn’t a stand-up guy there would have been stories abounding in the Jovi world.  These women loved to talk of their brushes with fame and they hated to be brushed off.  His reputation would've been long ago sullied if he were a jerk.

Then, she broke down and gave Morgan the same details Angel had gotten.  It was a lady-like, modest amount of information that didn’t feel too much like kissing and telling.  

She closed with: 

What am I supposed to do now, M?  Wait almost a week and call him when I get to Istanbul, like he said?  Or do I  - *gulp* - try and call him before then?  I don’t wanna screw up my chance to get backstage by pestering the hell out of him.

By the time she pushed it through the electronic superhighway to Oregon, Angel’s response was showing as a new unread item in her inbox.  Opening the much longer message, Lilah grinned.  In the area of unwavering support, the wonder girl from down under did not disappoint…

July 3, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM: aussie_angel

Gasp!  WHAT??

First of all, you got on the back of a Harley?  Who are you and what have you done with my Lilah??

Second of all...SQUEE!!!!!  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You had dinner with Tony??  And drinks?  You??  With extra umbrellas??  AND THEN HE KISSED YOU???  Double squee!!!!! *heart palpitations*  Tony!  Kissed!  You!! OMG!  I'm so over-the-moon happy I can't stand it!  :D

I always knew he would be a nice guy.  He's got that calm, cool-cat thing going on.  Seems so down to earth and  clearly he's "friendly". *wink* 

I need more details on the 'enchanted forest' - it sounds so romantic!  Talk about a fairy tale date!  And, boozy cheesecake?  Need more details on THAT too!  You know me and my sweet tooth.  ;)

I'm laughing that you like the taste of whiskey lips!  Who knew?! *wiggles eyebrows*

My most proud moment is that YOU kissed him again!!!  OMG!  Where did that nerve come from?  Actually, who gives a fat rat's ass?  I'm just so glad that you kissed him.  You!  Kissed!  TBJ!!!!!! *goosies*  :D

You HAVE to email me from Turkey as soon as you call him.  Promise me!

Enjoy cloud 9 and call Jo.  She won't believe this story!

You've made my day, Lovely Lilah.  You so deserve this!

!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya, girl!

~A~

Lilah's grin stayed wide, her eyes crinkled behind the lenses of her glasses.  Yep.  Angel knew how to make her smile. She fired off a quick thank you and waited impatiently for Morgan’s words of wisdom to zoom back across the Atlantic.

July 2, 2011

TO:  misslilahjane

FROM: Morgan_Prince

Call him!  Blow him!  Backstage pass will take care of itself! 

Seriously,  call him!  Then you can decide if ya still wanna blow him.  Don't forget birth control and floss;)

The outrageousness that was classically Morgan had Lilah's chest, necks and cheeks flaming with embarrassment.  She placed an open palm over her face and shook her head, left completely speechless. 

So much for ‘wisdom’.