The Prince of Punk Rock (44 page)

Alyssa laughed.
 
For a long
time.
 
“That was the last thing I ever
expected to hear!”

“It was just once.”

“Does Tommy know?”

“Yeah.
 
He was there.
 
I would never do anything behind Tommy’s
back.”

“Was he mad?”

“No.
 
It was his idea.” Jessi
leaned closer and lowered her voice to a whisper.
 
“I can’t stop thinking about it.
 
Sometimes, when we’re in bed together,
visions of that night just pop into my head.
 
It drives me crazy.”

Surprise and disbelief were blatantly displayed on Alyssa’s face.
 
“Do you and Angel fool around?”

“No.
 
We make out a little.
 
But that’s it.
 
I want to do more.
  
I’m just afraid he’s not going to be into
it.
 
I’d be really embarrassed if he
recoiled in disgust if I touched him.”

“He’s not interested in girls.
 
I’m stunned that he slept with you in the first place.”

“I know. I was surprised, too.
 
I
gave him a blow job, too.
 
Once.
 
Awhile ago.”

“Did he like it?”

“Kind of.
 
I think . . . well . .
. not really.
 
I don’t know.”

“What did he say after you had sex?
 
What was his reaction?”

Jessi pursed her lips together.
 
“He said it was OK, but it wasn’t his thing.”

“I think there’s your answer, right there.”

Jessi sighed and sat back.
 
She
was determined to figure out a way to make Angel want to sleep with her.
 
She had to think of a way to make him
attracted to her, short of cross-dressing and strapping on a dildo.
 
She dug the heel of her boot into the
grass-covered ground as she tried to think of something to make Angel
interested in her sexually.
 
Something
that he liked to do.
 
Maybe, if she let
him—

Someone was calling Jessi’s name.
 
She turned toward the direction of the anonymous voice, but there were
too many people to identify who it belonged to.
 
“Who
is
that?”

“Oh, it’s those two girls from The Quadrangle.” Alyssa pointed into the
crowd.
 
“Audra and Kira.”

Jessi turned her head.
 
“Where?”

They ran to Jessi and both hugged her at the same time. “We’re so
happy for Angel. I can’t wait to see him on the big stage.  That’s where
he belongs.
 
He has such a beautiful
voice.”  Audra closed her eyes and smiled. “I can’t wait to hear him sing
outdoors.”

“He’s going to be so happy that you girls are here.
 
I’ll tell him as soon as I see him, just as
soon as we finish handing out these flyers.”
 
She fanned the stack of papers.

“What flyers?” Kira took one and read it.

“We’re trying to get people to go to the main stage, so there’s a big
crowd when Immortal Angel plays.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?  We’ll help.” Kira grabbed a large stack
of flyers and handed half of them to Audra.

“Really? You will? You don’t mind?”

“Of course not.
 
We’d do anything
for Angel.”

“Your two little girlfriends are here, Angel.  And they came to
our rescue.” Jessi sat on the couch in the band’s dressing room, took off her
boots and rubbed her feet.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Audra and Kira, from The Quadrangle.
 
They helped us hand out the last of the flyers.”

Tommy sat next to Jessi, took her feet in his hands and started to
massage them.
 
It felt like
paradise.
 
She leaned her head back and
mouthed a silent, “I love you”.

“You really handed out all those flyers?” Tommy’s fingers were kneading
deep into the arch of her foot.

“Yeah, and we met a lot of people too.
 
Some guys wanted to take pictures with us, so I made sure I posed so
they could see Immortal Angel written on my butt.
 
They won’t forget the name of the band.”

“That’s my wife,” Tommy boasted, “always prostituting herself for the
sake of the band.”

Jessi admired their first real dressing room.
 
It was small, but it had a bathroom and there
was large supply of non-alcoholic drinks and finger foods.
 
“This is nice. What’s been going on back
here?
 
What’d I miss?”

“Nothing.
 
We’re just waiting for
our set.
 
What’s going on outside?”

“It’s packed.
 
Did you check out
the stage?”

Tommy shook his head.

“Don’t you want to see what it’s like?”

“Not really.
 
I want the
excitement of surprise when I go out there for the first time.”

“Well, I do!”
 
Jessi shoved her
feet back into her boots and zipped them up.
 
“You really don’t want to come with me?”

“I told you, I want to wait.
 
Besides, we’re going on in 20 minutes.”

Jessi passed a lot of people in the corridor that led to the
stage.
 
She thought she would run into
some big name stars but, so far, everyone looked like they were involved in
either the lighting, or sound, or some other behind the scenes task.

As soon as she saw a glimpse of the stage in the distance, she felt a
rush of excitement.
 
She thought someone
would stop her, but they barely noticed her, and she proceeded until she was at
the curtain on the side of the stage.
 
People were setting up amplifiers, adjusting lights and checking the
microphones.
 
She looked at the equipment
and instruments on the stage that silently waited for their owners to bring
them to life.
 
She broke out into a smile
when she saw the rack that held two of Tommy’s guitars.
 
He had his Les Paul with him. He always
carried that on stage himself.
 
Damien’s
bass guitars were at the other end of the stage, and Jimmy’s drum set sat in
the middle.
 
The center bass drum proudly
announced “Immortal Angel”, and its logo, to the audience. A stage hand picked
up Tommy’s Fender and tuned it.
 
No one
ever tuned Tommy’s guitars before.
 
It
felt like a dream.

“You must be with Immortal Angel,” one of the stage hands said,
glancing at the name written across her chest.

She nodded quietly, expecting to be sent on her way.

“Go ahead,” he motioned his hand toward the stage.
 
“Check it out.”

She realized that he thought she was part of the band, not
with
the band.
 
She was about to correct him,
but her feet had other plans.
 
They
walked right out onto the stage in the middle of production.
 
She shielded her eyes from the sun’s glare,
and looked out into the crowd.

There was already a large audience waiting for the show to start.
 
One by one, they slowly started turning their
heads toward the stage.
 
She heard a
bunch of whistles and howls coming from the audience.
 
She suddenly realized that she was standing
center stage, in her black leather miniskirt, studded bustier and fishnet
stockings, wearing five inch heels.
 
The
catcalls were for her.
 
Her face exploded
into a huge grin as she absorbed the attention.
 
Someone started shouting her name.
 
It was a male voice, but she couldn’t pinpoint it, so she stepped closer
to the front of the stage.
 
She looked
down and Audra and Kira were right in the front of her.

The male voice called her name again.
 
“Who
is
that?”
 
She looked
further back into the crowd.
 
Audra
pointed to the side and behind her, and Jessi scanned the faces in the
distance.
 
It was a group of guys she
recognized from The Quadrangle.
 
She
didn’t know their names, but there were at every show.
 
She waved and called to them, but she knew
they couldn’t hear her.

Someone handed her a microphone.
 
“Here, use this.”

She stared at it in her hand, and looked at it from all angles, as if
it were the first time she saw a microphone.
 
Then she screamed into it. “
America
Rocks!”
 
She couldn’t believe she really just screamed
into the microphone.
 
She felt stupid for
a second, but the crowd answered with a load roar.
 
The adrenaline they projected ran through her
veins like a drug, and she was comfortable and confident on stage.

The microphone was now her best friend.
 
“Are you ready for the show? Are you ready to see Immortal Angel? Are
you ready to see the best fuckin’ kick ass punk rock band on the underground
scene?”
 
She wasn’t waiting for the
audience to respond.
 
Her heart was
beating so fast, and she just kept throwing out questions, getting everyone
riled up. “How many of you have seen Immortal Angel before?
 
How many fans do we have here?
 
I see a few.
 
Who else?”
 
Some people were
clapping, but not many.
 
“Come on.”
 
She waved her hand in the air.
 
“There’s got to be more of you here.”
 
She scanned the crowd. Most of the people who
were clapping were fans that she recognized from the bar scene.
 
“That’s it?
  
The rest of you never heard Immortal Angel before?”
 
The majority of people were shaking their heads.
 
Most of them were people she met earlier in
the day when she and Alyssa were handing out flyers.
 
They were just random people, gathering to
listen to new music, and Jessi wanted to make sure they all knew the name of
the band.
 
“Well, you newbies, who’ve
never seen Immortal Angel before, are going to be blown away, because they are
fuckin’ awesome!”

The crowd was cheering and Jessi felt euphoric.
 
It was a high that she never felt before, and
she was stone cold sober.
 
“What’s the
name of the band that’s going to blow you away?”
 
They shouted back “Immortal Angel”, but the
response wasn’t as enthusiastic as she had hoped. “OK.
 
I’m going to ask you again.
 
She turned around, bent her knees a little
and popped her butt out so everyone could read the name of the band on the back
of her skirt.
  
She pointed to it and
looked at the audience over her shoulder. “What’s the name of the band?”
 
It sounded like the whole crowd screamed back
this time.
 
“That’s more like it!
 
And don’t forget to come meet the band and
pick up a CD and a shirt at merch booth number four!
 
Enjoy the show!”

She must have been on stage for ten minutes talking to the crowd, and
the reality of it just hit her.
 
Angel
was going to be furious.
 
Record label
executive were here.
 
But the crowd loved
her, she reasoned, and their reaction was amazing.
 
She was still reeling from the exhilaration
of it all.

Jessi didn’t get ten feet off the stage when she ran smack into Angel,
Tommy, Damien and Jimmy, ready to go on.
 
Their faces were a mixture of disbelief and shock. They stared at her
with wide eyes and mouths agape.
 
They
obviously heard the whole thing.