Chapter 5

Alex woke lazily from a deep slumber, remembering the greatest dream. With her eyes still closed to the bright light of the morning she arched her back and raised her arms over her head in a long luxurious feline like stretch. She felt a pair of eyes on her and slowly opened her own to see Lanie sitting on the edge of the bed, her face resting in her hands, her elbows on her knees.

“Mmmm...” Alex gave a long yawn and stretched again “What time is it? Why are you up so early?”

“Early? Al it’s three in the afternoon!” Lanie was the only one that got away with calling her Al

“Now dish girl...I’m waiting”

While Lanie was talking, Alex’s hand had moved to touch the cause of the unfamiliar weight at her throat and found there a pendant. She looked down to see a diamond studded platinum superman symbol, only this one contained the Bon Jovi SS rather than the single S of Superman. Realisation slowly dawned. Fuck! It was real.

Lanie grilled Alex for the next two hours. She told her friend about the boat and the dance and the kiss, of how Jon had been so sweet and considerate. She told her that he wasn’t happy to send her home in the car alone, that he had travelled with her cradled in his arms for the half hour drive and how upon leaving her he had removed the pendant from his own neck and placed it on hers making sure that she understood the significance of the gesture.

“Alex, baby, I want you to understand something here” he had said “That isn’t a trinket I give to every girl I meet. I need you to believe that. In fact there a very few in existence, they are given only to the members of the inner circle, only the band, our families, Doc our manager, Obie our engineer and few other very loyal crew members have these. I want you to have it. It’s the only piece of me I can give you right now and I need to know that you won’t forget me because I will never forget you or this night.”

Of course Alex had accepted the chain and all that it implied. She could safely say that her heart belonged to this man from the moment he smiled at her from the stage. She assured him that it would not be possible to forget him. That his image, his smell, his touch had been emblazoned on her brain. Jon assured her that he would write. That while he knew a relationship would be impossible, on so many levels, he still needed to know that she was going to be ok. Time had run out. They shared one last kiss and said their goodbyes. Alex had run into the house, unable to look back for fear that she would run to him and never let him go. And as Alex disappeared behind the closing door, Jon resignedly slumped down into the back seat of the limousine that still held her warmth, and wondered how she had captured is heart in just a few short hours.

As she spoke, the realisation of the situation had finally dawned on Alex. He was Jon Fucking Bon Jovi for Christ sake. She struggled to reconcile her feelings. Of course she was pleased, well, that was hardly the right word, ecstatic, that she had met him. But she almost wished she hadn’t, because with the joy of having gotten to know him came the knowledge that she would never see him again, unless he was on a stage, and she was one of the thousands of faces below.

Alex had tried desperately to get tickets for another Sydney show. Unfortunately the only tickets available were being sold by scalpers at ten times their face value. As a student that was an expense she could not afford and she wouldn’t ask her parents, they worked too hard for the little money they had, to be asked to pay for a concert ticket. She was sure if she had of asked Jon, he would have been more than happy to provide them for her but she didn’t want or need his charity. Besides they had agreed that their ‘relationship’, for want of a better word, could go no further. It had already progressed further than it should.

Jon arrived back at the hotel a short time later to find Richie waiting for him in his suite. The two had been nearly inseparable since the formation of the band, four years before. They were closer than brothers and always there to offer support and an opinion regardless of whether or not it was a popular one. From the disapproving scowl beginning to form on his friends face, Jon could see that this was going to be one of those times they may have to agree to disagree.

“Where the fuck you been man. The press went berserk!” He started “Doc had to do some serious shit spinning to cover for ya” annoyance in his voice. It was unlike Jon to be so irresponsible.

Jon dropped onto the couch and proceeded to give Richie a run down of the night’s events. They had no secrets. What happened on the road, stayed on the road! No one, not even wives or girlfriends, were privy to the secrets of the brotherhood. He spoke of the connection he felt with this amazing young woman and of their common interests. Jon told Richie about their cruise around the harbour, the dancing, and the kiss and of giving her his pendant.

At that point Richie had stopped him, an incredulous look on his face “You did what? Bro, what were you thinking. The chick’s just sixteen. You’ve known her all of ten hours and you gave her your pendant?” he continued “We’ll probably see her on the news later today. My date with Jon Bon Jovi! Fuck what a mess! What will Dot think about this? Remember her? You were totally fucked when she left you and you’ve just started to get it together again.” Richie stopped and shook his head.

“Rich, it ain’t like that! She ain’t like that! I know how old she is AND I know that there is no future but I needed her to know she wasn’t some one night stand. She won’t take advantage Man, I know she won’t. Fuck! SHE turned ME down! Not to brag man, but do you how long it’s been since that’s happened? I have ‘em all chasing me, from the cradle to the grave. But not her Rich! I’m tellin’ ya man she’s different.” He went on. “She didn’t ask for anything, not a photo, nothing, she didn’t even get an autograph.”

Jon fell silent. “She really got under your skin, didn’t she man?” It was a statement more than a question. Richie knew the answer before the words left Jon’s lips.
“You have no idea bro, no idea!” He sighed.