by Owen Andrews
“This would be the same woman who claimed that you got her pregnant ten years ago only to find out once she had the child that it wasn’t yours?” floozy reporter asked.
I leaned forward with sudden interest. This was a new wrinkle to the Grant Thompson story that I wasn’t previously aware of. He’d had a girl he dated? That he thought he got pregnant and then it turned out it wasn’t his? Now that was a chewy bit of gossip that I hadn’t latched onto because the only Twenty Promises related information I’d allowed myself in the past two months was mooning over those aforementioned posters and daydreaming about the magical twenty-four hours we’d shared and what might have happened to keep it from blowing up in my face.
“What’s she talking about, Kayla?”
Only Kayla didn’t have a chance to answer. Grant was shaking his head but he still had that grin on his face. I was amazed that he could think about an experience that must’ve been extremely painful for him and laugh like that. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I spent nine months thinking a child was going to be mine and then it turned out it wasn’t, though admittedly for something like that to happen to me I’d have to be in some sort of nightmare scifi/horror scenario or something considering I was the one carrying a kid, but still. It seemed like one hell of a nightmare scenario even if Grant wasn’t the one actually carrying the kid.
I wondered how the hell a girl could do that to him. My eyes narrowed and my fingers were flexing without me even realizing it. It was like I was preparing to claw the eyes out of some girl I didn’t even know.
Weird. I forced myself to unclench my hands from the old fashioned catwoman claws, but it took some doing.
“Yeah, it was none other than. I guess she’s still so self-absorbed that she thinks everything I do is about her. Truth be told I’ve spent the past ten years or so trying to forget about her. She really screwed me up. Really screwed the band up,” Grant said.
“So can you tell us any more about who this mysterious Mia is? Word on the street is you haven’t dated much since that incident. Has that changed? Is the great Grant Thompson, the most eligible rock god bachelor in the world, finally spoken for?”
Traffic Floozy was leaning forward and she even licked her lips as she said that! Talk about unprofessional. Talk about really acting the floozy part! I couldn’t believe they even let this girl on camera when her only qualifications were looking good in a low cut top and a short dress. It was obvious she was drooling all over Grant. Why didn’t the station manager or whoever the hell was controlling things step in and put a stop to this ridiculous behavior?
“Well I wish I could say I was spoken for,” Grant said. “But I’m afraid that this song’s namesake doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
Traffic Floozy’s eyes went wide. “Wait, so you’re actually finally going to say something about the girl you wrote the song about? You’ve been mysteriously quiet about it this whole time.”
Grant leaned back and took a deep breath. Let it out. I tried not to focus on how hot his chest looked as it expanded almost to the point of sending buttons flying off of his shirt. I tried not to think about how incredible that chest had looked while he was hovering over me pumping his shaft inside me over and over while my breasts bounced under every thrust…
“Mia! Pay attention!”
I snapped out of my reverie and smiled at Kayla. A good thing she could tell when I wasn’t paying attention, because I suddenly didn’t want to miss a moment of this interview. I also had to shift on the couch just a little because I was starting to get flustered.
“Well I didn’t need to come clean about who the song was about because I figured it would be painfully obvious to everyone who was in the know exactly what the song was about.”
“But it isn’t?”
Grant shrugged and sighed. “Let’s just say that song was a desperate cry and an apology all wrapped up into one, but I don’t think it’s being heard by the person who needs to hear it even though the rest of the fucking world loves it.”
Traffic Floozy had a moment of panic as she looked around. “Grant, you can’t say that on the air!”
“Then delay me or something love, because I’m going to say whatever the fuck I want on here. You can bill me for the fucking fine later.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The look on her face was so delicious. The look on his face was so mischievous. It was obvious he was enjoying himself, and I couldn’t help but enjoy the moment right along with him. Particularly since it was a moment that came at the expense of Traffic Floozy. It suddenly occurred to me that he knew all along that she was trying her best to flirt with him and not doing a very good job of it. This must be his way of getting a little dig back at her.
“Anyways. Everyone in the world loves the fucking song, but unfortunately Mia seems to be ignoring it. At least she’s ignoring my texts. That’s why I decided to come on this local news circus. I’m hoping that even if she isn’t paying attention to her text messages she’ll see this broadcast. Or her friends will. What the fuck ever. I’m desperate at this point.”
“Well I guess you’re hearing this now,” Kayla said. She nudged me in the ribs with her elbow. “See what a good friend I am pulling you in here to see that someone’s been trying to get ahold of you? Good thing I blocked his number, huh?”
“You didn’t block his number,” I said.
“What do you mean? Of course I did?”
“Nope. I’ve still been getting his texts.”
“And you’ve just been ignoring them?”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I’m still pissed off about how things went down.”
“But what about the interview? What about all that stuff about the girl who broke his heart? I didn’t realize you’re the first girl he’s actually gotten with since… you know.”
“Actually, I don’t know.”
And I didn’t get a chance for Kayla to tell me either because Grant’s voice pulled me back to the TV. Mainly because it sounded like he was calling me out directly.
“Mia, if you’re out there then this is for you and just for you. I’ve made some terrible mistakes with women over the years and I don’t want you to be one of them. If you come to the concert tonight there’ll be tickets waiting for you and your friend.”
He grinned and laughed just a little. “I think Blake might enjoy seeing you again, Kayla. Believe it or not he hasn’t been up to his usual adventures ever since that night. You know what I’m talking about.”
For a moment I had a hard time hearing anything because Kayla was squealing and kicking her feet against the couch. I put a finger to my ears but it was too late. By the time she was done shrieking my ears were ringing up a storm.
I glanced back at the TV but they were back to the anchor desk where they were chatting about the concert that night and trying to pretend that Grant Thompson hadn’t just gotten a couple of nice FCC fines levied against the station while at the same time using an interview as an excuse to pick up a girl. I wondered if Traffic Floozy still felt like a serious journalist now, but I didn’t have much time to think about it because Kayla was pawing at me and looking like a little kid who desperately wanted mommy to buy her a toy.
I knew what she wanted, and to be honest there was a part of me that wanted it too even though I was still reluctant. Sure I got distracted by the sexy with Grant, but there was still the matter of everything he’d said that night. Of that text he got from this Blake guy who was supposedly so eager to see Kayla. How could we know whether or not this was all just more lines designed to get us to the concert so they could get in our pants and leave us behind like they did last time?
Then again I was the one who technically did the leaving last time. I was the one who’d been ignoring his text messages and on a couple of occasions even his phone calls. At the end of the day which one of us was it who was making the bad decisions here? The man was on local television pouring his heart out to the local metro area and I w
as sitting here thinking about whether or not I wanted to go see him after he did that?
Even if it did just turn out to be another ploy, something I wasn’t discounting entirely because fool me once and all that, all checking it out would mean is maybe losing a night at a concert. I could get out my earplugs and deal with that. And if it turned out that he was sincere with the whole apology thing…
Well, probably best not to think about that. Not until I was actually at the arena.
“We’re going to a concert tonight, aren’t we?”
“You bet your ass we are!” Kayla said.
I turned to her and grinned. “Looks like it’s time to break out the bottom drawer again!”
31
Mia
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” I asked.
Kayla shrugged. “I figured you would’ve looked Grant up. Done your research. Figured out just how fucked up his past was thanks to trusting a groupie.”
I sighed and leaned back against the cab. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this changed everything, but it certainly painted Grant in a new light. I had no idea that he’d been in a relationship with a girl he met on tour. A girl he stood beside for nine months because he thought he’d knocked her up in a moment of passion in the back of his bus and wanted to do right by her. A woman who’d ultimately betrayed him when the kid popped out and it turned out it wasn’t even Grant’s.
And we’re not even talking about the sort of scenario where the baby comes out and it’s a different color or anything dramatic like that. It definitely wasn’t the sort of situation you’d see on daytime TV or read about in some scandalous article your great aunt Mildred forwarded in an email. No, there were plenty of pictures on fansites that depicted a happy Grant standing in the hospital with what he thought was his new baby daughter. Pictures from before his manager insisted on a paternity test before Grant signed any birth certificate and it turned out whoops, mommy was trying to use someone else’s baby as an anchor to connect her self to Grant in a more permanent manner.
Talk about a sordid story. It really made my heart go out to him. It also made me wonder if maybe he’d been a little more sincere than I gave him credit for when we were together. I’d assumed he was a womanizer and all that stuff about wanting to settle down was just part of the array of tools he deployed to get into unsuspecting or naive girls’ pants, but knowing the back story made me wonder if there wasn’t more to it.
It made me wonder if I hadn’t made a terrible mistake by completely abandoning him. Twice.
“Kayla, in the future I want you to be right behind me whispering any relevant Twenty Promises information in my ear at all times. I want you to remember that when it comes to this band I know absolutely nothing, and I need someone there to translate and fill me in on relevant info that will keep me from making a complete ass of myself. Again.”
Kayla nodded. “Got it. So do you think that was true what he said about Blake pining for me all this time? He never tried to get in touch with me or anything.”
I shook my head. “I just don’t know. I don’t know what to think about anything that comes out of Grant Thompson’s mouth, but I’m going to find out one way or another tonight.”
The cab pulled up to the arena, nothing but the biggest for Twenty Promises. Especially now that they were riding high on the strength of this new single, “Mia’s Song,” that I hadn’t even heard in its entirety yet. Sure Kayla had tried to play it for me when we were getting ready in the apartment, but I nipped that one right in the bud. If I was going to hear this song then I wanted to hear it for the first time in person with him playing it.
That seemed only fair considering he wrote the damn thing about me.
As we pulled up to the arena I looked out at the crowd gathering and I felt the hair starting to stand up on the back of my neck. There was a crowd gathered there and they were all holding up signs. Those girls definitely hadn’t been there at the last concert. At least they hadn’t been there when I walked in, though to be fair I’d arrived a little late because I was busy having a dinner date with the man who ended up being the lead singer for the damned band, but I was pretty sure Kayla would’ve said something about an angry crowd like this if they were there before.
“That’s new,” Kayla said.
Okay, so they were definitely new. And what did their signs say? I stepped out of the cab and got a good look. And immediately wanted to turn right back around and hop into the cab but it was too late. The guy was already speeding off. I guess Kayla took it upon herself to pay him.
The signs were all about me. “Where are you Mia?” “Who is Mia?” “We know you’re here!” “You can’t have Grant!”
Okay, so those signs were definitely going from a little crazy to downright hostile. It was enough that I didn’t want to go through the crowd. I was suddenly terrified. All of the crazy visions I had of women at one of these concerts ripping me apart were suddenly hitting me again, and it was all I could do not to turn and go running. Of course the movement would probably draw their attention which would be even worse.
“Well there’s something you don’t see every day,” Kayla said.
The crazies were milling around in front of the arena entrance. Milling around right in front of the Will-Call ticket booth. Damn it. Grant mentioned that he was leaving tickets for me, so of course I would have to go to the ticket booth to get my tickets. And of course the craziest of his fans would be picketing that booth in an attempt to keep me from getting into the concert and having a chance with Grant. I’m sure in their crazy minds preventing me from making it to the concert was also preventing me from getting in the way of whatever fantasy world relationship they’d constructed for themselves.
“We’re going to have to find another way in,” I said. “I don’t care if it’s talking to security or something, but there’s no way I’m going near that crowd of women.”
“I think you’re being crazy Mia,” Kayla said. “It’s not like they know what you look like or anything. How could they?”
“There she is!”
A girl was pointing at me with her mouth wide open screaming and it was hard not to make a comparison to a cheesy old zombie movie or that one about the pod aliens taking over the world. As she screamed all the other girls staring turned to look and then they were moving towards me en masse.
I didn’t stop to think. I just grabbed Kayla by the arm and then we were sprinting. I wasn’t sure where we were sprinting to, I just knew we needed to get the hell away from that crowd of crazy concert goers before they really and truly ripped us to shreds. I needed to get in there to see Grant, damn it, and I wasn’t going to let a bunch of girls who merely fantasized about getting with him ruin my chances of maybe actually getting with him again.
We ran up the steps towards the arena. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Maybe I was still trying to get as close to Grant as possible. I needed to at least hear him out. I needed to know if I’d made a terrible mistake by turning him away.
Meanwhile behind us there was a giant cry being taken up. It seemed that the crazies were forming the core of the group chasing me, but once other girls realized what was going on they were starting to chase after me as well. Yeah, I could definitely see a girl who faked a pregnancy, or I guess it would be more accurate to say she tried to fake the paternity of her pregnancy, would come from a group of these nutters.
We reached the entrance when we were barred by a ticket holder of all things. She stood there with a scowl on her face.
“No ticket, you’re not coming in,” she said.
“Are you serious? Those women are chasing me!”
The girl looked over my shoulder and then back at me. And she smiled. No, what she did wasn’t a smile. That was a full on grin. A big wide grin that said she knew exactly what she was doing by quite literally leaving me to the wolves. She must be a fan too. She must have her own fantasies about Grant that were never going to come true, but at the very
least she could make sure they also didn’t come true for the one girl near this arena who had a chance.
Damn. Twenty Promises fans really were crazy. I’d had a taste with Kayla, but it was nothing compared to how deep this insane rabbit hole could actually go!
I turned to the crowd. I figured this was it. I figured this was the way I was going to die. It would probably make the news tonight. The world finally finds out who “Mia” from “Mia’s Song” is after she’s ripped to shreds by some crazy Twenty Promises fans. Talk about a headline. Traffic Floozy would probably be all about it considering how she was hanging all over Grant earlier during that interview.
I suppose in a way it was appropriate. Ripped apart by the very people I’d looked down on for so many years right when I was on the verge of maybe joining their ranks, depending on how tonight went. I guess I knew how tonight was going to go now, though, and it was going to be with either me in a morgue or a hospital room. Maybe both depending on how bad the beating was and how long it took for the killing blow to do its work.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard Kayla let out a terrified shriek. I felt something slam into me. From the side.
Huh. That was odd. There was that crazy ticket bitch behind me keeping me from getting into the arena and relative safety. There were the crazy wannabe groupie bitches in front of me acting like some sort of horny zombie horde that was out for eliminating the perceived competition rather than going for my brains.
There shouldn’t have been anyone off to the side unless maybe one of the girls had decided to pull a flanking maneuver to keep me from escaping. Not that I figured an angry mob had that sort of thinking ability. Besides, some of the girls in that angry mob had been beasts, but they definitely didn’t look strong enough to lift me up and carry me like a football player running a touchdown.
I opened my eyes. The pavement was flying past me underneath in a blur and the disappointed cries of that crazy crowd was coming from somewhere behind me and to the right. Definitely not where I was expecting. I was expecting them right on top of me starting the beating or the ripping or whatever it was they were planning. I knew it didn’t seem like it was going to be particularly pleasant.