19 - Today's the Day

He was not a fan of the Middle East.  Yeah, they were still officially on the European side of Turkey, but it was close enough, making this the show he’d been dreading - up until a week ago.  Now... maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. 

Leaning a shoulder against the semi-trailer’s cargo door, Tony crossed one ankle over the other and stole another glance at his watch.  Eleven o’clock. 

You told her before five.  That’s six hours away.  Stop looking at the time.

Exhaling, he watched sweaty guys unloading equipment and positioning it with an effortless confidence that was borne of experience.  They damn well should be doing it with confidence.  After the first hundred shows, they should be capable of doing this in their sleep.

“Supervising again, I see,” Mike Rew remarked, sidling up to him with a mocking elbow to the ribs. 

Exhaling a cloud of smoke as Mike lit his own cigarette, Tony didn’t bother exerting the energy it would take to turn and look at his friend.  “Fuck you.”

“Oh wait.”  The freckle-faced man let the cigarette dangle from his lips and put a shielding hand over his eyes.  Following Tony’s gaze and peering in the distance – toward the stadium’s rear entrance – he spoke as if he’d received divine intervention.  “You’re not supervising.  You’re eagerly awaiting the girl who’s hot for teacher.”

It had been a ‘fortunate’ coincidence that Mike’s connecting flight from London had arrived in Istanbul a mere ten minutes before Tony's plane had hit the tarmac.  It enabled them to share a taxi to the hotel, grab a drink and catch up on the last week. 

Much to Tony’s chagrin, most of that catching up had consisted of Mike giving him shit about Lilah.  It started the minute he slid into the car at the airport.

“Was that the broad from Dublin?  The half a porkchop one?  Were you thanking her for ‘services rendered’?”

He already felt like a heel for dodging the girl for almost a week, and he didn’t even have a good reason for doing it.  Jon’s negative take on her had stuck like a burr in Tony’s side, and, seeing as Tony wouldn’t give up any details about his date with Lilah, Dorothea was on the same damn bandwagon.   Unconsciously taking his brother and sister-in-law’s opinions to heart was his only excuse for ignoring her calls, and it was a piss-poor one.

Lilah’s reaction hadn’t made him feel any better about himself.   All she did was look him in the eye and offer him an easy out – because she sensed something wasn’t cool.  It was the kick in the pants he’d needed to remind him that Jon and Dorothea hadn’t met Lilah.  They didn’t know a damn thing about her.

Tony did, and he felt like a putz for letting them cloud his judgment and not trusting her.  Whatever she was after, it wasn’t the family fortune.

The brief kiss was his unspoken apology for being a dick, but he saw no reason to share that with Rew.  Instead he offered explicit instructions as to where he could stick his dirty, disrespectful mind and told him that Lilah was coming to take a look at his video setup and maybe learn a thing or two.   

Hence, Mike’s comment about Lilah being “the girl who’s hot for teacher”.

“Fuck you.”

“Aw, come on, man.”  He angled around so that he and Tony were facing one another.  “You know it’s turnin’ your crank to catch your own little piece of the fan adoration that goes with this circus.  Hell, I know it makes me swagger a little when they yell my name.”

“Nope.  Not me.”  Tony flicked incinerated tobacco ash outside the trailer, intently watching the bits of gray drift toward the ground before slowly shaking his head.  “I hate that shit.  I’d rather be background noise.  The only women I want yelling my name are the ones I pick up in a club far, far away from wherever Bon Jovi is playing.  Keeps things simpler.”

Mike’s eyes narrowed behind the glare of his black, horn-rimmed glasses.  “I know you’ve had a number done on you before.  More than once.  It makes me almost believe that crock of shit.  But I saw the goofy-ass smile that you tried to keep hidden at the airport yesterday.  You got a thing for Lilah Jovi Fan.”

Divine intervention in the form of a crackling walkie-talkie spared Tony from having to either consider the truth of Mike’s observation, or respond to it.

“TBJ,” his brother Matt’s voice echoed from the unit hanging off of Tony’s cargo shorts.  “I’m at the back gate.  Did you put a Lilah somebody on the guest list?”

Detaching the handheld from his pocket, Tony brought it to his mouth and depressed the button to speak. “Yeah, so?  What’s the problem?”

“She’s here and, since you didn't tell me specifically, I wanted to confirm.  That and she’s gonna need an escort.”

“For Chrissake…”  His exasperated mutter was lost in Mike’s pealing laughter.

“See?  Even Li'l Jovi knows she’s a big deal.  TBJ adds somebody to the guest list and it’s a national fucking event with Jovi Secret Service.”

In the interest of efficiency Tony was going to have to get “Fuck You” put on a t-shirt.  Or, better yet, change his “Have You Hugged a Roadie Today?” shirt to read “Have you Punched a Roadie Today?”

For now, he flicked away the used cigarette butt and glared coldly at Mike before offering his brother a grumbled, “On my way.”

“Hey, don’t be givin’ me that watered-down stink eye,” Rew ordered with a grin as Tony began to descend the ramp out of the truck.  “If you didn’t hide your sex life like a damn hermit, we wouldn’t be so interested.”

“She’s here under Jon’s orders,” Tony threw over his shoulder along with a Jersey salute.  “I just get stuck with her.”  

Tony should have kept his mouth shut, the same way he always did when Mike started ragging on him, because as soon as the words were out, he regretted them.  It wasn’t how he really felt. Besides, getting a reaction to his ribbing was only going to encourage the backline crew chief to keep on with his particular brand of torture.

A fact that was proven when he called, “Stuck to your face, you mean.”

That he managed to stifle a response to, by kicking himself in the ass and mentally writing Lilah an IOU for another apology.  He wasn’t stuck with her.   As a matter of fact, rather than feeling stuck, he was looking forward to seeing her again. 

Tony was also curious as to what her behavior would be like today.  Now that she was fulfilling her mission, what was going to happen? 

Should be an interesting day.

Approaching the gate, he immediately spotted her standing off to the side and frowned.  Her body language wasn’t right.  She had her arms clasped tightly around her waist and was staring at the ground, the shiny fall of chocolatey hair hiding her face.  She was almost… cowering?

What the hell?

A few yards away from her, at the gate’s opening, was Matt and another security guy.  His six-foot-three brother was perfectly suited to security detail from a physical perspective, towering over the other guy.  Like Lilah, his arms were crossed, but with biceps bulging in arrogant defiance.

“Matty,” he demanded in a low voice.  Lilah’s head popped up when she heard footsteps, and Tony held out a single finger, indicating that he would be right with her.  “Wanna tell me what the hell is going on?  What did you say to her?”

Matt’s forehead wrinkled with perplexity, vacant blue eyes clueless as to what Tony was talking about.  “Nothing.  I asked her to hang out and wait a minute until you could get here.”

“No Super Cop shit?”

“No.” 

The question had clearly pissed Matt off, but it hadn’t been unreasonable in Tony’s mind.  Baby brother took his job a little too seriously sometimes. 

“Who is she?”

That was a good question.  Tony wasn’t entirely sure how to answer it.  She was a fan, but she wasn’t just a fan.  He thought of her as more than that.  A friend, maybe?  That didn’t feel quite right either. 

“She’s sitting backstage with me tonight.  Come on, I’ll introduce you, so you don’t have her cuffed and stuffed at any point throughout the day.”

“Prick,” Matt muttered petulantly, but followed Tony to the spot beside the fence where Lilah stood staring into the distance.

“Bluegrass.”

The quiet greeting had her head swiveling around with a demure smile.  “Hi, Tony.  How are ya?” she inquired politely, fingering the camera strap draped over her shoulder.

Tony noticed two things right off the bat.  One, she didn’t look good.  Pale, drawn and wary, the sparkle was gone from her eyes.  Even yesterday, when she’d been ticked at him, there had been a spark of life dancing in them.  There was none of that now. 

The second thing was her clothes.  With the sun beating down on her, she was wearing a turtleneck under another shirt.  Winter clothes in a Middle Eastern summer while preparing to spend the hottest part of the day amid a bunch of heat-generating equipment.  That was crazy, especially when he’d very specifically told her to dress cool. 

Maybe she was sick?

There had to be some kind of explanation and, when they were alone, he was going to ask – whether it was any of his business or not. 

 

“Lilah, you probably recognize his ugly mug, but this is my brother Matt.  Matty, this is Lilah Bennett from Kentucky.”

“Hi, Matt.  It’s nice to meet you.” 

“Hey.  How ya doin’?”  His brother readily accepted Lilah’s offer of a handshake, but when his fingers closed over the scars, they immediately opened again.  Subtly glancing at her hand, he no doubt wondered what caused the odd assortment. 

 

Welcome to the club.

To Lilah he asked, “You got your badge?”

With a nod, she lifted the laminate from where it swung against her torso.  

“Alright then.  Later, Matt.”  Tony touched his fingertips to the small of her back, guiding her through the gate.  “Let’s go check things out, and you can tell me why the hell you’re dressed like Nanook of the North.”