by Nora Crystal
“So I should take some royalty deal over staying true to my music,” I said as I stormed out of the kitchen.
“Yes!” Manse called after me. I growled as I headed off to find Jean. She would understand what I was talking about.
“The songs won’t be the same if someone else sings them,” Jean said as I explained the offer to her. “You wrote the songs, you should sing them.” I knew she would understand. I was laying with my head on her lap, as I stretched out on my private couch. We had been spending most of our time in the mansion in this little hideaway. Manse and Philly had the place booked with parties throughout the months that I was supposed to be on tour.
Normally I would have just gone out there and partied, but I really didn’t want to share Jean with anyone. I just wanted to have her spend all of her time with me. We watched TV and I worked on new songs. Jean had even found a tablet that I didn’t know that I owned and started studying for her finals. It sounded boring when I tried to explain it, but it just didn’t matter what we were doing. Every part of my life was better because she was a part of it.
“You’ll get the next one,” Jean said as I got off the phone with another guitarist. I was still trying to put together a backup band, for my solo tour, but no one wanted to work with me. Gil said he had one ready, but I really didn’t want to work with him.
“He said I pissed in his ear back when he was my roadie,” I said as I sat down on the couch again. “I didn’t even remember him being my roadie, so I guess his story checks out. It makes it official though, I have pissed off, or pissed on every musician in LA.” I was sort of ashamed, but that was a pretty neat little record to hold. “I guess I’m going to have to call Gil if I want to give this solo act a try.”
“As soon as they hear the songs, the main label will welcome you back with open arms.” Jean put her arms around me as she snuggled into my chest. I kissed the top of her head. She was wearing one of my old t-shirts and some boxers, and I couldn’t believe how sexy it was.
I looked at her and I suddenly realized that real life was coming back. I was going to figure it out and hit the road eventually. Sooner than that, Jean was going to need to head to back to school. The week was going by way too fast. I needed to make sure that I made every second count.
"Can I take you out?" I asked. It felt weird to ask. We had been making out and spending every waking minute together, but we had never been on a real date.
"Can you really go out?" Jean asked.
“Well, no actually,” I said as I thought about it, “But I do have a little place that I know that will be able to keep the rabble in check.”
“More wine, Madame?” Philly asked. He ignored Jean’s slashing motion and filled her cup anyway. Manse brought in our plates and then they shut the doors. I started to cut my steak when I realized that Jean wasn’t moving.
“This doesn’t count you know,” Jean teased. “You can’t take me out, inside of your own house. It doesn’t count.” Jean smiled and started peeling the skin off of her chicken.
“But, you’ve never been to this part of the house before,” I said. “It has to count for something, I mean cooking a meal for a woman in your home counts as a date.” I was thinking about it. Actually dating was not something that I did all that often. I had definitely seen this on TV though. Men or women inviting someone over to their house for dinner, and none of those people had an authentic looking Parisian café room to serve that meal in.
“Manse cooked, you are just eating with me,” Jean said as she took a second to look around the room. “I am glad that you showed me this room though, I think I’m going to eat here more often.” She smiled at me with her eyes. It drove me crazy whenever it happened. There was something about her happiness that just made me feel warm inside.
I waited patiently for her to finish her chicken. I watched as she cut each piece into a tiny strip and then slipped it in her mouth. Her bits of chicken weren’t even bites. It was like she was a baby bird. She had to have smaller bites or she would choke or something.
“What are you doing?”
“Sorry, I was just watching you eat, are you done?” I asked as she set down her fork. She nodded and turned a little red. I clapped and the lights dimmed, an instrumental smooth jazz song came on. This romantic setting was also designed by the previous owner of the house. For a little bit of romance before the bondage started. I had never bothered to bring a woman here before.
I held out my hand and we moved into a clear space on the floor and started to dance. “This has to count now, right?” I joked. Jean only looked up and smiled. She put her finger on my lips and then put her head on my shoulder. We continued to move around the small opening in the tables. I could feel her body pressed against mine.
She looked up into my eyes and we kissed as he continued to waltz. I had my hands on her hips and I lifted her into the air as we kissed. I wrapped my arms around her and carried her out of the room. We were kissing and touching as we walked down the hall to my room.
Ch. 11 – Jean
I was nervous as we got into his bedroom. In the café room I had been caught up in the lighting, and the music, but when I saw the bed suddenly it occurred to me, “This is my childhood best friend.” The bond between us was so true and pure, The world stool still for a moment as I thought about what this would mean for us.
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Travis said as he laid me down on the bed. He brushed my hair off of my face. I nodded to him and he kissed me again. I loved the feeling of his lips on mine. Travis lifted my shirt over my head and tossed it behind him. I could feel butterflies in my stomach, but I had never wanted anything more.
I pulled Travis’ shirt over his head and ran my hands along his smooth chest. Travis started to kiss my neck and I could feel sparks of sensation moving all around my body. My neck had always driven me crazy. It was hard to think at all while his lips were there. When he moved down from my neck I realized that my bra was already gone. I could feel his tongue circling my sensitive areola and I could feel them growing hard under his deft touch.
I was so caught up in what was happening to my breasts that I barely noticed my shorts sliding off. Travis slid a hand between my legs. He raked his fingers down my inner thighs. “Ahhh!” I moaned as a finger ran along the edge of my outer lips, and then slide easily inside. I was so wet that the finger moved gracefully inside without any resistance.
The first finger was followed by a second and then a third. As Travis pinched and sucked on my nipples. I could feel the pressure building up inside of me. That’s when Travis’ thumb pressed against my clit and I threw my head back, “Oh God! Ummmmm!” It felt like every muscle in my body suddenly flexed and then went limp as pleasure surged through my body.
Travis laid down on the bed beside me and I snuggled onto his shoulder. I took a minute to breathe and enjoy the feeling of his strong arms around me. I closed my eyes and imagined the waves of sensation as they swirled around my body, in time with the beating of my heart. I took another deep breath and pushed myself up on my elbow to look into Travis’ eyes.
“We don’t have to do anything,” Travis reassured me. “It is enough for me to just be here with you.”
“But you’re a rock star, don’t you want to have sex with every girl that comes your way?” I teased.
“It’s not a question of me wanting it,” Travis said as he ran a finger along the edge of my face. I followed the gentle pull of his finger toward his lips and we kissed again. This time I kissed his neck and down his chest. I slid off the bed and pulled down his skinny jeans. Looking at his cock I wasn’t sure for a minute if I could fit it inside. I ran my tongue along the length of his manhood and then around the edges on the head.
I opened my mouth wide and let the head slip inside of my mouth. I worked my way down, going further with every stroke. I could hear Travis telling me how much he loved it, but he was using too many words, and I was focused on how much harder he wa
s getting inside my mouth. I could feel him starting to throb, when Travis pulled me right off of my feet and set me down right on top of him.
I used my hand to guide him inside of me. I could feel my insides stretching to allow his girth to pass. The stretch felt so good. I tried to be cool for a minute. I had seen some porno movies, where the girl was on top and she looked like a champion bull rider. I don’t know how I looked technique wise, but it felt amazing.
Travis rocked us back and then flung himself forward and we were standing. He was holding me in the air. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he continued to thrust himself deep inside of me. I threw my head back again as I rocked my hips in time with his thrusts.
Travis turned and laid me down on the bed. I was right on the edge and he was standing over me. Both my legs were over his shoulders as he slid slowly all the way in, and then pulled all the way out, until the head was just resting against the edge of my labia. The long slow strokes were driving me crazy. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sensation.
Soon his thrusts became shorter and quicker. I could feel a small burst of energy every time he crashed into my crotch. I could feel Travis start to throb again. He grabbed the back of my neck and kissed me as I felt him climax. The throbbing, the sweating, the kissing, it was all suddenly too much for me and I climaxed for the second time. We collapsed in a pile on the bed. We were still kissing and touching as he laid back on the pillows.
I woke up to the sound of guitar strings strumming. I looked over to see Travis sitting back on his pillow on the bed with his guitar. He had a pad of paper beside him and he was taking down the chords after every couple notes.
“What are you playing?” I asked as I got up on one elbow and watched his hands gliding along the strings. There was something about the way he played the guitar. He was so focused, it almost seemed like he was in a different world.
“I was watching you sleep and I started to hear a song playing in my head.” Travis looked over at me and smiled. “There was just something about the way that you looked. It was so peaceful.”
I could feel myself blush as I listened to him play. I had watched him do this a million times when we were kids. He was always writing some song about his lunch, or how much he hated his teacher. I remembered sitting with him for hours as he wrote songs.
“I haven’t been able to write songs like this in years,” Travis said as he wrote the chord underneath the words that he had sketched out on the pad. I pulled myself over onto his lap and tried to read the pad that lay on the other side of his legs. ‘Watching Dreams,’ he had written at the top of the page. It was the most beautiful song I had ever heard about watching someone sleep.
It was three in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to watch him write. I could see his lips moving as he worked out the chords on the guitar. I didn’t say a word. It was so neat to watch him going through this. It looked exactly as it had a decade ago when he was writing songs on the roof of our apartment building.
He wrote a last letter ‘A’ on the page and then he set his guitar down beside the bed. “Steak and eggs?” He asked. I was really hungry, but I wanted porridge with brown sugar. Manse brought it to the room and we ate in bed.
“I don’t think we’ve even been outside this house in days,” I said. I wasn’t complaining, it’s not like I’m outdoorsy. I had gone months without going outside back at school.
“I have tennis courts, three pools, and a Jacuzzi,” Travis was having trouble thinking of all of the different things that he had in his spacious yard. “There’s the beach volley ball court, and if all else fails I guess we could go out. Is this your first time in LA?” The question threw me for a second. I had almost forgotten that we were in LA, and it was my first time in LA “Well, then I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t show you the attractions.”
“I don’t really care about the attractions, I’m not a very good tourist,” I admitted. I was not good at getting out and getting seeing the attractions. I had been on entire vacations and never left the resort, but Travis was insistent.
“You will love these attractions,” he declared. We finished our breakfasts and then went out to the pools. I had never even noticed the pools before, and I hadn’t realized that everything behind the house was a part of Travis’ property. I assumed that some of it belonged to his neighbors. We swam in all three pools and then warmed up in the hot tub. It was only 7 am when we went in to get ready.
Ch. 12 – Travis
“Hey, it’s Spiderman,” I pointed out as we got out at our first stop. The man in the cheap looking costume waved and I nodded at him. I was worried that a full wave would be seen as an invitation to conversation. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, let alone the guy in the full on Spiderman outfit. We were making the first stop on our tour. It was the most touristy thing you could do in LA.
“This is just a sidewalk with a lot of writing on it,” Jean said as we walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I had never been into the touristy part of LA. This was my first time ever going near this sidewalk.
“Yeah, I can’t say I get the appeal,” I said as a bus stopped and a thousand cameras flashed at the same time. I suddenly remembered the reason that I never did any of the touristy things in this city. In retrospect I don’t know why I thought that a baseball cap was going to be enough of a disguise to go walking in public.
“Don’t you get tired of that?” Jean asked. I took a minute to try and blink my sight back into existence. I was glad we had decided to do this in the middle of the day, if it had happened at night I might actually be blind.
“There’s really nothing I can do about it,” I said, still rubbing my eyes. “People just get this way around celebrities.” I felt Jean grab my hand and pull me back to the car. I could hear her talking to the limo driver for a minute, but it was so hushed I couldn’t tell what she was saying. “Where are we going?”
“I just need you to trust me on this one.” Jean had a devilish smile on her face. I could tell I wasn’t going to like this one bit.
We stopped in front of a costume store. I started to protest and the Jean pulled me into the store kicking and screaming. “I don’t need a costume,” I argued. “I don’t really wear costumes.”
“And I don’t usually have my picture taken by every passerby, but I am dealing with that for you.” Jean pulled a mask down over my face. I was surprised how comfortable it felt. I looked in the mirror and realized what had inspired this trip. I was wearing a Spiderman costume. “You look perfect.”
We left the store as Spiderman and Wonder Woman and we hit all of the sights that we had talked about seeing. I had never seen LA like this before. Nobody knew who I was and nobody bothered me for an autograph.
I had never noticed the shops and places along the sunset strip. I had walked down the street millions of times, but as a rock star and not a normal person certainly never as Spiderman. “Do you think we could sit down and order lunch like this?” Jean asked. It was getting later and we hadn’t eaten anything in hours.
I had been trying to be normal, but what was the point of staying hungry. I called Manse and had him pick us up in the limo. We drove out to the beach and had a superhero picnic. I had rolled the cloth mask enough to eat, but there were too many people for me to show my face completely. “So how do you live like this?” Jean asked. “Is it always this bad?”
“I don’t usually go out without it being a part of a planned tour.” I thought about my life over the past few years. I had gone out places here and there. Things weren’t always as bad as they were today. “I don’t know, it could be just the day. There are more Travis fans out today.”
“Well, it’s probably because of the tour cancellation and all the puking videos that have gone viral,” Manse said. I hadn’t realized that he had stayed behind me. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard him talking.
“What do you mean?” I asked as I fought to stop choking. I had been trying to drink a coke whe
n Manse decided to scare the crap out of me. I looked up after a minute of silence. Manse was afraid to talk. It had to be bad.
“I thought Gil would’ve kept you in the loop,” Manse explained. He was already trying to distance himself from this news. “The bands reuniting and explosive separation are major news right now. You are a hit again. I assumed it was all a part of the plan.”
I realized that I hadn’t made it clear enough to Gil that I hated him and I hadn’t told him that I would no longer work with him. “Who took the puking videos?” I asked as I tried to figure this all out.
“Everyone who was watching your show had a camera out and they were snapping photos and taking videos.” Manse explained as though I was the dumbest person alive for needing an explanation. I was aware of this new reality of the modern concert goer. This new animal that way over paid for tickets and then watched the concert through a tiny screen instead of looking at the live show that was going on in front of them.
Manse pulled up YouTube search with 30 different versions of my explosion on stage. “They really got it from every angle.” I said as I watched a few of the videos. I felt hurt, but I also felt like I didn’t have the right to be hurt. This was after all, all part of the plan. Gil had run most of this by me and he couldn’t be held responsible for what people put on the internet.
“Just don’t even worry about it,” Jean said as she passed the phone back to Manse and sent my cook away. She wrapped her arms around me and started trying to comfort me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said as I thought about what this could mean. Gil and I had talked about how big this was going to get, but this was much bigger. My face was all over the place. “I have to get out there. This is the time, I should be out on the road, striking while people still give a damn about who I am.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jean didn’t sound as excited as I did. “You need to get out there.” I looked at her and I knew what she was going to say next. “I have to get back to school anyway. The break ends in a few days.” I had been dreading those words and yet now I had brought it all on myself.
