Chapter Nine

At sound check, Richie was in a better frame of mind. He had spoken with Ava and they had remade their plans, his headache had subsided and there were no serious problems with the gear set up.

Jon wasn’t usually wrong when it came to his best friend. He knew Richie had been keeping his distance from the ladies this tour. On stage he was the flirt he had always been, the perfect performer, but that was all. He would retreat to his hotel room as soon as he was able to get away. Watching as Richie tuned his guitar, Jon just nodded to himself ‘yep, no doubt about it bro, you need to have some fun’ suddenly Jon no longer worried about sending Halle the tickets.

Halle had forgiven Megan for the date from hell and brought her along to the concert. She had so far left out the fact that they had back stage passes and still wouldn’t reveal the source of her connections on getting the tickets or about her breakfast guests that morning.

They made their way to their seats. “Holy hell Halle, you have some great connections there babe” Megan said looking back at the sea of people behind them. “I have never been front row at a concert before.”

“Me either. It’s so exciting” Halle replied.

Just then, the arena dimmed and the stage fell under spotlights. Dave and Tico took their positions followed by Hugh and Lorenza. When Richie took the stage, Halle held her breath and the crowd cheered louder. He looked amazing, the epitome of a rock star, black leather pants, scuffed boots, a purple shirt that was unbuttoned enough to see his chest, crosses dangling from his neck and of course a hat. Not the Stetson but it still looked good.

The crowd seemed to explode when Jon ran onstage. Halle was quite shocked at the crowd’s reaction, but once he came to the front of the stage she could see why. The man was hot; hell hot didn’t even begin to describe him. Tight black jeans, brown open shirt and a stage presence that seemed unequal to anything she had seen before. It was certainly where he belonged. He kicked straight into the first song and didn’t slow down for the rest of the night.

During Keep The Faith Jon came across in front of Halle and pointed to her smiling, Megan just about shot up on stage with him, she was beside herself.

“Did you see that Hal? He sang to you, oh my god I want that man.”

Halle laughed at her friend. “I think there’s probably thousands of women here that want him too.”

“Yeah, yeah I know, but let me have my little fantasies.”

Megan and Halle were dancing along to the music, having a great time. Jon came over their way a few times shooting them his famous panty dropping smile. Halle knew he was making a point about her previous ego remark, but laughed it off anyway. Richie hadn’t even acknowledged her and she wondered if he had even noticed she was there.

When Richie took the mic for the next song, Halle could tell he noticed her. She smiled and winked at him, but he simply smiled and moved on like she was any other fan in the audience.

Richie had scanned the front row, typical mutton done up as lamb, wearing shit their daughters couldn’t get away with. Then his eyes fell on her. Halle. ‘Fuck,’ Richie thought, ‘Jon had to be behind this, those seats were his to give out, son of a bitch, I’m gonna kill him’. Richie smiled his recognition and began his song.

I was walkin’ around
Just a face in the crowd
Tryin’ to keep myself outta the rain
Saw a vagabond king
Wearin’ a styrofoam crown
Wonderin’ if I might end up the same

Halle was mesmerized. She had tears in her eyes, but she didn’t even notice. His voice was smoky and so sexy. ‘I am so going to need a panty change when I’m done here’ she thought to herself.

Richie found himself turning his gaze back to Halle. The way she was staring at him, taking in everything he was singing, left him feeling warmth he had been without for so long. He kept his gaze on her as he sang; she looked fantastic, her long hair hung loose around her shoulders. Her black halter top had a deep enough V that Richie greatly appreciated from his vantage point. Her denim mini skirt was barely there it was so short and her long legs ended in a pair of black western style boots. ‘Now that’s an outfit.’ She was swaying along to his words, head to head with her friend who was cute enough with her strawberry blonde hair and slim figure. ‘Fuck, I’m screwed’ he thought. She was down to earth and hadn’t swooned over them at all that morning; she seemed intelligent and smokin’ hot to boot. Sounded like a package deal to him. He finished his song, took his bow and sent her a wink and his pick.

Halle caught the pick easily and mouthed ‘thank you’ to him. Giving her another wink he left the stage.

“What the hell was that all about?” Megan asked.

“What do you mean?” Halle replied as innocently as possible.

“Well, that almost looked like you knew each other.”

Halle was saved from having to explain herself by Jon’s voice, this time coming from a small stage at the side of the arena.

After the last encore was done, Halle sat back in her seat as everyone started filing out.

“C’mon girl, get up, the train leaves in ten minutes, move it” Megan said pulling Halle to her feet.

Looking mischievously at Megan, Halle said “well…what if I said we have a party to go to.”