Backstage

by Mandy Bee

  I walked over to one of the cases and gasped. They have the most beautiful silver butterfly necklace. The wings are lined in small diamonds, and there is a blue sapphire at the heart of the butterfly. I’m still staring at it when both woman walk over to me. I look up at Rachael and smile.

  “I think she found something she likes.” She jokes with the sales lady. I asked her how much the necklace was, when she pulled it out and showed it to me I knew I had to have it.

  “$1,200, but I could knock off 10%.” She smiles at me, crap that’s a lot of money.

  “I need to call Chris first.” I tell Rachael and walk over to the door.

  “Hey, you still shopping?” Chris answers.

  “Um, yeah. Chris you know how you told me that if there was something expensive that I wanted I needed to clear it with you before buying it?”

  “You’re not buying a car are you?” He laughs, I can hear the others in the background.

  “No! I’m at……please don’t freak out on me but I’m at Tiffany’s, you know the jewelry store, and there is a wonderful butterfly necklace with diamonds and a sapphire that I really want but it costs $1,200. The sales lady said she could take off 10% but it will still be over $1,000.” I know I’m talking a mile a minute but this is all new to me.

  “Flower do you like the necklace?” He asks.

  “Yes, I love it but I have never spent that much money on one thing before.” I’m fighting with myself.

  “Buy it.” Chris says, I can’t hear the others anymore so I guess he walked out of the room.

  “Really? Are you sure!?” I’m ready to do the happy dance!

  “Yes, I’m sure. I can hear how excited you are, I can’t remember the last time you got this excited about buying something. Maybe Rachael needs to fly down here more often and take you shopping.”

  “I don’t know about that, but thank you Chris! We’ll be home soon. Love you!” I hang up after he tells me he loves me too.

  I walk calmly back over to Rachael and tell her everything Chris said. The sales lady takes my card and rings me up. I just got my first piece of jewelry from Tiffany’s! When I signed the bill I saw that I was right, it was still over $1,000 but so worth it.

  As we pull into the drive way, Rachael takes my hand in hers, stopping me from getting out of the car. “Flower, I just wanted to tell you how happy I am for you and Justin. I can see how much you two care for each other. I can also see how much you care for his band members, his brothers. They listen to you, they respect you, and I love seeing that. I guess I just wanted to say thank you.”

  “I care for Justin very much, and the boys as well. They are my family. There is nothing to thank me for.” I’m trying not to cry.

  “Oh but there is, you turned a drunken rock band around. I knew how they behaved, and they knew I would kill them if they tried to get Justin to do any of that. I will not have him drinking, not after seeing how the older ones acted. But then you came in, they stopped getting bad press, the drinking parties stopped, and it was because they didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “I don’t think it was because of me.” Was it?

  “Justin told me about the other night at the strip club, and I was so proud of you. You showed no fear in marching in there and getting them out. That band needed you, they just didn’t know it. Now I see Scot and Dave healthy and happy, it’s wonderful. I didn’t know this until about a month ago, but John was the one who drank the most. He planed the after parties and he keep the others just as drunk as he was.” Her face falls when she talks about her oldest son.

  “I’m sorry about all that happened with John. It is still hard for Justin to talk about, he does here and there but it hurts him.” I squeeze her hand.

  “The best thing Justin ever did for his band was fire his brother. John will never understand that but its true.” She whips a tear away then shakes her head. “Enough of the sad stuff.” She reaches in the backseat for her purse then pulls out a small blue Tiffany’s box! “This is for you, for saving not only my son, but his brothers too.”

  I open the box and there is a pair of white pearl earrings. I start to cry. “Thank you!” I choke out. We hear a knock on the window and look over at Justin standing there looking confused. We both start laughing.

  We gave everyone their gifts as soon as we walked in the door. It was like Christmas morning. Guy loved his dog tags, after hugging me and Rachael he hugged his brother and told him he would never take them off. To say Frank loved his cuff links is an understatement. He thanked us over and over again, then showed them to everyone one at a time, then took a picture and uploaded it to Facebook, Twitter, and a few other sites.

  Scot joked about all that he would put in his keyboard holder. Dave locked all his new stuff up in his guitar case, joking that no one better touch it. Chris went and put the drum covers on his drum set but I told him they were for the tour not for the house set.

  Rachael and I both watched Justin open his microphone. He studied it at first, reading the box over and over, then taking it out and testing the weight in his hand. When he finally looked up at us he had tears in his eyes. I rushed over to hug him.

  “Don’t you like it?” I whispered to him.

  “I love it! How could I not?” He is holding back the tears.

  Rachael moves everyone to the back patio after giving Mike his new boots, which of course he loved. The boys started the grill and had most of the food ready when we got home. All I had to do was get the drinks ready.

  I’m laying in one of the lounge chairs watching Mike, Guy, Scot, and Frank toss a football around. Dave and Chris are cooking the steaks while Justin and Rachael set the table inside. I have nothing to do, and I’m enjoying it. Then the doorbell rings, everything stops, we all look at each other. We know everyone is already here so who could be at the door?

  “I’ll get it!” Chris yells but I stop him.

  “Oh no you don’t! If that’s one of your bimbo’s I’m not letting them anywhere near you!” I run to the door making sure to get there before him. I open the door and my blood starts to boil, there stands Tammy. Why can’t this bitch take a hint? I feel two sets of hands on my shoulders. Justin is on my left and Chris is on my right.

  “Leave now!” Chris barks at her making her jump, I have to hold back a giggle.

  “I would like to talk to Flower, just for a minute please.” She acts like she has been crying.

  “Do you really think we are going to let you be alone with her?” Justin snaps at her.

  “It’s okay boys, she knows how fast I can break a rib. If she tries anything I’ll just show her what other bones I know how to break.”

  “Are you sure?” Chris whispers to me. I just nod and watch them take a few steps back.

  “Talk!” I snap at Tammy.

  “Look, I know you hate me and that’s fine, you have every right to hate me. You just don’t understand how much I love Chris. He was my first and only true love. Yes we had some problems, but I thought if we could just talk and work things out everything would be okay. I should have never said what I did about your mom, and how we played house and stuff. I guess I’m just asking you to forgive me. Then maybe in time Chris will too. You will never understand what I feel for your brother, he is the only man who I ever truly loved.” She has tears in her eyes but I can’t tell if they are real or not.

  “Tammy, I don’t know why you are here. Thank you for your apology about my mom. But when it comes to Chris, that is his shit to deal with. No I don’t like you, you are a pushy little slut. You tried to blackmail your way into our lives and I can’t forgive you for that. If you truly loved Chris you would have never said a word about our mother, our parents are off limits to everyone.” I have to take a breath to calm myself down.

  “I know and I’m sorry about that, but I am in love with him. Just seeing him sends my stomach into butterfly fits. I remember how we use to sit outside and he would hold me close.”

  “And how you snuck into ou
r house for a booty call.” I say cutting her off.

  “It wasn’t like that!” She screams at me. “I love him damn it! I’m trying to be nice here why can’t you see that?”

  “Because when I look at you I see the woman who talked crap about me to my face. I see the woman who I have had to throw out of my house three times already. And I see the slut from the strip club who tried to talk crap about me there too. But my band brothers wouldn’t let you, would they? They are here today too, want me to go get Scot so you two can ‘talk’ again?” I smirk at her.

  “No,” She says quietly. “I am sorry Flower, I hope in time you can find it in your heart forgive me. Thank you for talking to me.”

  Just the way she looked like she had been beaten down about killed me, I don’t know why but it just did. I was hard on her, and yes she deserved it but looking at her like that ripped my heart out. As she turned I reached for her arm, she gasped when I touched her. This made me laugh.

  “Don’t you want to talk to Chris?” I ask her. Her face lit up.

  “Really? You would let me?”

  “Sure, but only if you promise to chill out. I don’t want to hear any more crap about me coming out of your mouth. I don’t want you upsetting him, and I don’t want you showing up here without notice ever again. I can’t stop you and Chris from being friends, or whatever, but I can stop you from popping in on us. So don’t push me. Today you guys can talk out here, but not for too long, we have guests.”

  “Thank you.” She whispers trying to hold back her tears. I roll my eyes and walk back in the house, she stayed were she was, smart girl. I walk up to Chris and lay it all out on the table for him.

  “Chris, she wants to talk to you. She said she was sorry and some other shit but I don’t want to get into it now. She is still in love with you, so be nice. I told her off then almost sent her packing. But didn’t have the heart too, I told her she had to cut the crap talking, and that she couldn’t just pop in on us whenever she wanted. She had to give us a little notice before she came by. I think you two need to talk about what happened. But don’t take to long, or I’ll send one of your brothers to get you.” He just nods in shock and walks outside to talk to her.

  “What the hell? You are letting them talk?” Justin asks.

  “Yup.” I sigh and lay my head on his chest when he wraps me in his arms. “Don’t get me wrong, I still hate her but something tells me she hates what she did to us more. I don’t want to think about all this right now, if he is not back in here in ten minutes send Scot out to get him. She is scared of Scot.” I giggle as we walk into the dinning room.

  “Are you okay?” Rachael comes and hugs me. Everyone is already sitting down waiting on us.

  “I’m fine, it’s a long story.”

  “They told us already,” Mike said “I can’t believe she would have the guts to come back after all she did.”

  “She is in love with Chris, and I think she realized that what she said about her having to play mother to me because mine wasn’t there was a kill switch for her. But she looked broken, like she had lost the only good thing in her life.” I let out a sigh and shake my head.

  “Come on lets eat.” Justin says and pulls my chair out for me.

  “Scot I’m sending you after Chris if he is not back here in a few minutes.” I smile at him.

  “Fine by me, I would love to scare the crap out of her again!” Dave, Scot, Justin and I start laughing, everyone else just stares at us. I guess when the boys told them about Tammy they left out the part about the strip club. I know Rachael knows about it but she didn’t give anything away. I wonder how much Mike knows about our life, Justin tells his mom almost everything but does he tell his dad too?

  Chris walks in five minutes later, I can see he is upset so I ask to talk to him for a minute. We walk to my room and shut the door. Before we start talking I give him a big hug and tell him I love him.

  “So, are you okay?” I ask as we sat down on the bed.

  “Yeah, she told me everything she told you. She is still in love with me and would like us to work on a friendship. I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea. That after what she said about you I didn’t think I could forgive her. She begged me to think about it, telling that she was sorry about everything and how she couldn’t live without me in her life. I didn’t know what to do. She looked so…….”

  “Broken?”

  “Yeah broken, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. So I said that after the tour I would think about a friendship but nothing more. She agreed to that and promised not to come over without calling first. She went to hug me but pulled back, I guess she was scared I wouldn’t want to hug her. I pull her to me and just holding her reminded me of what we used to have.” He sounds so lost.

  “Chris, do you love Tammy?”

  “No, I don’t love her. Not like that anyways. When we were together, and happy, it was great. But for me it was just sex for the longest time, she never talked about being in love. Now thinking back on everything I should have seen it.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for this, I won’t let you. Chris she made this mess and it will take a long time for her to clean it up. I don’t care if you guys want to be friends or even get back together, I won’t like it but I can’t stop it. But none of this matters right now, what matters is if you have feelings for her. Do you?” I grab his face in my hands and make him look at me.

  “I don’t know, I can’t answer that right now.” He sighs and hugs me. “You don’t know how proud I am of you. You went out there and handled her without killing her. Then you felt sorry for her and basically told her she was welcomed back here.” He laughs at me.

  “Whatever, as long as she follows the rules we won’t have any problems. But we have guests that need us. So lets put her to the side for now and go enjoy our last night at home, with our family.” I kiss his cheek and we walk back into the dinning room.

  Everyone is laughing and joking, just seeing everyone happy makes me happy. Justin pulls my chair out for me again then tucks my hair behind my ear. We lock eyes for a few seconds and just smile at each other. Even with Tammy showing up I am in a good mood. I’m with my family, and I have to greatest boyfriend ever.

  “Hey Flower, when am I going to see this necklace that you fell in love with?” Chris asked as we all headed into the living room after dinner.

  “What necklace?” Justin asks me looking puzzled. I didn’t tell anyone about it when we got home, and I haven’t shown anyone the earrings Rachael got me either.

  “I’ll go get it, Rachael will you come with me please?” She smiles and follows me to my room. I get both boxes from the suit case I had put them in.

  “Why did you need me to come with you?” She asked walking around my room.

  “Is it okay if I show them the earrings you got me? I mean if you wouldn’t want me too I’ll understand.” I’m getting nervous again.

  “I would love for you to show them off, I’m just glad you like them. But I must warn you, Justin and Mike may say something about it, but don’t listen to them.” She giggles and grabs my hand as we walk back to the living room.

  Since Chris paid for it, I walk over to him first and open my necklace box. His eyes light up when he sees it.

  “It’s perfect.” He whispers.

  “Rachael surprised me with these.” I say and open the earrings box. Chris looks over at her and mouths ‘Thank You’.

  We pass around my jewelry for everyone to see. Mike said something to Rachael about why she picked pearls and not diamonds. Justin said he would buy me the matching necklace but I told him he better not. Knowing him he will have it ordered before we go to bed.

  Getting nine people to the airport by 10am was one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do. Thank God Rachael was there to help me. I ended up pouring cold water on Dave, Scot and Chris to wake their asses up. They played video games till 3am knowing we had to get up by 7am so everyone could eat and get ready.


  Once at the airport we all say goodbye with a few tears here and there. Everyone promised to come back soon. Luckily for us we are taking Justin’s jet to New York, so no waiting in long lines and all that for us. When we board the jet I curl up in one of the over sized chairs and try to get comfortable. Justin comes and sits next to me but I end up on his lap, yeah I didn’t fight him much on this. I snuggle close to him and smiled when Chris handed me a blanket, he knows I like to sleep when we fly.

  WE ARE STAYING at the same condo we stayed at last time we were in New York. This time they gave Justin and I the master bedroom. I’m starting to think that Justin and I are the mom and dad of this family and the others are the crazy kids. I sent the boys out for dinner, I needed some alone time. I took a long hot bubble bath, I painted my toes, and I even gave myself a facial.

  I’m lying in bed reading when I hear the boys come in. I hear Chris yelling for me but before I can answer they all bust into my room.

  “Band meeting!” Justin barks. Oh shit, what happened?

  “What’s going on?” I ask while they all pile onto the bed.

  “Someone hold her hands I’m not letting her hit me.” Dave says but isn’t laughing. Justin takes one hand and Chris the other, shit this is bad.

  “Flower, we need to talk.” Chris says, his voice is telling me he is worried.

  “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!” I scream at them.

  “Show her!” Justin says and Dave hands him his phone.

  Without the use of my hands, Justin has to hold up the phone so I can see it. There is a picture of us in the tabloids again, this picture is from the night we went to the opera. I look great, I shrug and look at them. He scrolls down and there is another picture of me but it is from yesterday, it is of me and Rachael at Tiffany’s. He scrolls down so I can read the headlines. Drummer’s Sister Cashes In On Rich Boyfriend.