Chapter Sixteen
“Earth to Melanie, come in Mel.”
I really wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings as I was still very much in a daze after last night’s confessional in the ladies room. Was I that dumb to not see what everyone else had been seeing all along?
“Mel, are you all right?”
I gazed up at Sara as she was treating me to lunch today.
She looked so perplexed and worried about me not saying a word.
I took me a sip of ice tea first so I could form this question right. “Let me ask you a question here and I honestly want a truthful answer, alright?”
“Of course.” Sara nodded her head.
“Am I stupid?”
“Yes!” She laughed.
“Well damn woman, you could have thought about it first before answering the dang question.”
“You asked and I answered and yes, you are stupid sometimes, why you ask me?”
“But why do you think I’m stupid?”
“It all depends on level of stupid you can get as far as what topic in your life you are talking about?”
“Love.”
“Yes, you are really stupid in that field.” She smirked.
I rolled my eyes at her comment. “Remind me to never ask you anymore questions ever again.”
“Oh come on, listen I know it wasn’t the answer you wanted to hear but it’s the truth. Anyways, why are you asking me this?”
“Just been doing some thinking since last night.”
“When you went out with Anthony? I mean from what you told me it seems like you guys had a good time.” That’s when she saw the look on my face because I didn’t tell her the whole story…and now, she knew it. “What else happened?”
“Here you go ladies, club sandwich with potato salad and a kosher dill pickle on the side.” The waiter sat the plate in front of me when I raised my hand as he put down Sara’s plate with her Cobb Salad.
Then before I could even get my sandwich to my mouth I heard her say, “Don’t even put that sandwich in your mouth because you have something to tell me about last night!”
“Well, if you must know, I ran into your future mother in law last night.”
“What!” Her eyes rounded at me.
I literally almost fell out the chair laughing from the look on her face and then after a minute I calmed myself and explained, “When I went to the exhibit, I was introduced to a woman name Ashley who was the artist who had done the pictures and everything and I later found out that she was Momo’s mom. She was a very beautiful woman too, and I could see him in her face for sure. So when I went to the bathroom, she was in there and she told me something that kind of caught me off guard. She told me that Anthony had fallen in love with me.”
That’s when she started laughing, so much to the point where her head went back. Once she had calmed herself down a bit she replied, “I knew that this was going to happen because when we went to his place for that jam session of his, I swear he was eye balling you the entire night. He was very observant when you were talking with other guys. Even Charles told me that when you guys went out on the terrace, how he looked at you while you talked. He had a ringside seat to watch everything. So yeah Ms. Taylor, he’s in love with you.”
“He invited me to come and listen to him play over at this club called The Rocket.”
“Oh man, that place is a very happening place to be. So are you going?”
“Yeah, and so are you. I’m going to call Charles and see if he wants to go as well.”
When Sara said The Rocket was the place to be she wasn’t lying. The place was packed and hopping with people dancing, drinking, talking and walking around the club. I had never been here but of course, I was always up for a new adventure. I just hated that Charles didn’t get to come with Sara and me as he came down with a cold.
“Why don’t we go to the bar and grab a drink!” Sara shouted as we held hands to make sure we didn’t split up within the crowd. It took us a few pushes and snapping at a few people who wouldn’t move at all to be able to get to the bar as she ordered us both beers.
Looking around, I couldn’t see the stage but I could hear the band playing as well as someone singing. “I’m going to check out the band!” I shouted towards her while scanning over the crowd as I was figuring out how I was going to get up towards the front to see even the band. Usually, in a club, it takes me a few minutes to figure out how to get from point A to point B and often times I was able to do just that.
“Wait for me woman. You know I can’t find you in all of this mess,” Sara shouted before handing me my beer.
“Hold onto my hand and I’ll get us to the front!” And with that we began our excursion through the unknown crowd of wasted, gyrating and loud people. Of course, people were pushing us and I know my foot got stepped on once or twice but I trudged on as I got a few words from folks I pushed out of the way but then I could see the ‘horizon’....
Well, not really the horizon but the stage, you get what I’m saying here.
Then there was the band, singing and playing their hearts out during the set. I saw Anthony playing his bass while singing on the mic. He looked like he belonged up there with his dark blue jeans and a white wife beater shirt that hugged his chest and showed off those muscular arms nicely even though I could see that he was sweating up a storm underneath the lights. But when he got on the mic, I could hear his strong voice flow from the mic and through the speakers that were above me. I stood there, closed my eyes while his voice went through me, hitting every nerve within my body, making me hot at first but sending shivers through me.
“Hey!”
I looked over seeing Sara smiling at me.
“Are you okay over there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I continued listening while clapping and singing along in my head as he finally saw me, giving me a wink and that killer smile of his.
It was about ten minutes before they finished their set and that’s when he made a B line towards me, giving me a hug as the heat from his body along with the sweat seemed to become a part of me. Someone else would have pushed him away but I didn’t, I enjoyed how he felt in my arms. “Now I finally got the chance to hear you sing!” I laughed.
“I know, how did I do?”
“You were amazing, we just got in a few minutes ago, and I had to come up front because you can’t see from way back there whose playing. But you guys were on fire.” All I could do was smile at him, I don’t think I had smiled this much with him before but tonight, it just felt different.
“Listen, I’m going to get me some water and a towel before we do another set, stay here and I’ll be right back.” He left us.
Sara poked me with her elbow. “You can now wipe your mouth off because you are slobbering all over yourself.”
“Will you shut up?” I laughed.
All the while, Sara continued to poke me.
“Stop it woman before you make my side sore.”
“Listen, I’m going to give you some quick advice before he comes back. You have the perfect opportunity to tell him how you feel that is if you feel anything for him, which I know you do have some feeling for him. Then see how it goes and let it go.”
I knew Sara was right. I mean, if I was going to go for it, I might as well go and try now. I had to find out exactly how he felt and I still really wondered if he had the same feelings that I had started to feel. Just then, I spotted him.
Anthony kept coming through the crowd while girls were trying their best to talk to him and gain his attention. But he would say a few words and make his way again, towards me and Sara. “I was going to ask if you wanted something to drink but I see you already have something.”
“Yeah, Sara got us a beer.” I looked around and that’s when the same group of girls that had tried to stop him before came over.
“Tony, are you going to play that song of yours you were telling us about?” said the redhead wearing a skimpy dress.
“Oh yes, we’ve been dying to hear it,” a blonde with a very squeaky voice added.
Then even though I was hearing this voice for the first time, it kind of irritated me and made me wonder if that was really her actual voice or whether she was just making it up.
Anthony looked at me, giving me a smile and asked, “You want to hear my song?”
“Hell yeah, I want to hear it are you crazy?”
Anthony beamed at me, but only looked at me and not anyone else. “Alright ladies, I’ll get back up there and sing it.”
They started squealing and clapping as he went through the crowd and made it up to the stage once more, as the rest of the guys came up, grabbing their instruments. Then Anthony said something to them before grabbing the mic. “How’s everybody out there tonight!”
The question was met by shouts and hollering from the crowd as both Sara and I joined in.
“This is a song that I had been working on for the past few weeks when I suddenly got a bit of writer’s block but inspiration came my way and I kept on going. I hope you guys like it.” Then he counted down and eventually, a soft melody rippled out from his acoustic guitar as the drummer played right along.
It started off so beautiful but when I heard Anthony start to sing, my God his voice went right through me and I found my chest starting to get heavy. It was as if I was having a problem with trying to breathe. His voice sounded so rich and soothing and seemed to pervade throughout the club as I continued to listen and watch him sing. Then he looked over at me and began to sing, smiling in between as I found myself feeling uncomfortable at that moment. But it really got uncomfortable for me when I heard him sing one of the verses from the song…
It was all because of you that my dreams are coming true.
I had never blushed before in my life but I could feel it coming up along my cheeks as I coughed.
Now, Sara moved in and said to my ear, “If that’s not the answer to your questions I don’t know what the hell is.”
I didn’t bother looking at her. No, I continued listening to him as he sang his heart out, I could tell it in his voice that this song meant the world to him and he was bringing this from within. The fact that the song he was singing was actually for me and about me had begun to sink in too. It had to have been about me, why he would look right at me like this if it wasn’t about me? When he concluded his song, everybody in the place erupted in applause, shouts and screams as he got on the mic and said, “Thanks everyone, listen, I want to get someone up here if she will get up here on stage and sing for us. She’s an up and coming singer who one of these days, you will be grabbing her CD’s and going to her concerts. But you will all say that you heard her here first!” He pointed right at me motioned for me to come up there.
I kept shaking my head no. I knew he was crazy. He had to have been crazy to think I would get up there in front of everyone. Mind you, any other time I would have been happy to have gotten up there on stage and sing but I wasn’t ready…I really didn’t feel up to doing any singing.
Then yes, he was persistent as he called out my name, “Come on Mel, come on up here, and sing for us!”
Now, the crowd started to chant my name and I knew that I had to go on ahead and get the damn thing over with. So I made my way towards the stage as he went to help me get up.
Looking over the crowd, I glanced over at him and said, “I swear I am going to kill you for this.”
He only laughed it off and put his hand over the mic to talk to me, “Do you remember that song on your demo that you sang? I think it was the one that you wrote. I want you to sing that one for me.”
“Sure, I’ll do it since you got me up here and all.”
“That’s my girl.”
I froze. Well, this was a first because he never called me ‘his girl’ before. He went to the band, telling them something while I adjusted the mic, looking out at Sara who was pointing and sticking her tongue out at me. I honestly couldn’t help but shake my head at her.
“Let’s give a hand for Ms. Melanie Taylor!” Anthony then handed me the mic.
I looked back at the band and nodded as the music started to swell around me, putting me in some sort of cocoon, encasing me as I began singing in front of everyone. I had always felt so at ease when I sang into a mic. I would look out into the crowd as some of the people were either listening or dancing to my song. I enjoyed it so much that the more I sang the more relaxed I got. So once I’d started, I really got into it, having everyone in the crowd dancing and clapping as I found myself joining in on another song after the first.
When I was done with that song, everyone was cheering and clapping as I went and thanked all of the guys and Anthony.
He gave me a hug and then helped me back down off the stage as some of the people around me were congratulating me and saying things like, “You were amazing, I love your voice.” Or, “I will so be buying your CD when it comes out!” I would either say thank you or just shake hands and give them a smile.
When I finally joined Sara, she gave me a hug and smiled a big Cheshire cat smile. “You were awesome! Oh, my God and the chemistry between you two is HOT!” She gave me another hug.
It made me laugh when she said our chemistry was hot together. It was true and I think I was through with denying it now.
Soon, the lights dimmed down while the crowd started to holler and shout as the band started to play a slow song.
Then instead of Anthony singing, he came down from the stage and towards me. Moving through the crowd, he came up to me and said the three words I never thought he would ask me, “Dance with me?”
I just stared at him because honestly, this had to been some dream or something and I wasn’t about to wake up. When did this all start? He was acting so different from all the time we had been friends and doing the demo.
Then Sara brought me back to reality with a swift nudge to the ribs.
So, I took his hand and we moved off deeper into the crowd that were congregating on the dance floor. I had never felt as comfortable at that moment until he took me in his arms, he really held me, not like how when you get one of those quick hugs from someone and it would only last no longer than a minute. But when he took me into his arms and held my back to where I could feel myself being pressed up against his chest. That hard sweaty chest of his while those blue eyes of his danced when they gazed at me. “You know I plan on killing you for getting me up there, I was not expecting to be singing in front of a crowd.”
“You need to try that more often you know? You have such a wonderful voice Mel.” He put my arms around his neck as I entwined my fingers.
All I could do was look into those eyes of his, staring at him just completely mesmerized me. I don’t know if it was just his eyes or maybe it was the way the lights played around his head that hypnotized me but I couldn’t stop looking at him as his hands roamed along my back while we swayed to the music.
“What is that perfume you are wearing?” he asked me.
“Oh, it’s some white musk I got from the Body Shop. Do you like it?”
“I love it, I’ve been meaning to ask you what it was, but I thought you would think I was nosy.”
“I don’t think it’s nosy to ask.” I smiled then felt embarrassed, so I glanced away for just a moment but then went back to staring at his smiling face.
Then immediately, his expression went back to one of deep thought. He bit his lower lip like he was contemplating something to say but just couldn’t get the words out which was odd. This was a man that could carry on a conversation for hours on end but right now, he was totally tongue tied. “Well, like I was about to say, it smells amazing on you and your smile tonight just brightened up the stage as well as your face. It makes me want to smile every time I see you.”
I was taken aback by his compliment and it warmed me to hear him say something so beautiful. So I gave him a kiss on the cheek which quickly turned into a full blown kiss by him. It started off innocently with lips softly touching mine but he was the one who deepened it with his tongue. My God, that tongue of his tasted my own and I heard him moan a bit, caressing my cheek as our kiss intensified. But eventually, he slowly stopped and I opened my eyes to see his smiling face again and we continued dancing.