Accidental Groupie: A Sweet Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  Not to mention her take no prisoners approach to life. What she'd done with that wannabe paparazzi in the lingerie store was nothing short of amazing. I still couldn't believe she'd been that bold, but it had been an amazing sight to behold.

  She’d fulfilled the fantasy of every famous person who ever had a camera thrust in their face. She’d crossed the line that we weren’t supposed to because it usually generated bad press even though the person with the camera was the real asshole most of the time.

  "So did you ever think you'd be doing this?" she asked.

  Walking along a canal on a peaceful night with this beautiful woman I’d worried I was on the verge of losing this morning when she wasn’t there upon waking?

  "Not really…"

  "Really? You wanted to be doing something other than the rock gig by the time you were this old?"

  I blinked and realized we'd been talking about completely different things. I was walking along trying to woo her rather than just trying to get her in bed, but she was wondering how I felt being back in the band after so many years.

  "When they started talking about the reunion tour I thought they were crazy, to be honest," I said.

  She looked up at me, her eyes twinkling in the light from a street lamp hanging out over the canal. "Really? Because I thought it was pretty ridiculous when Alice told me about it!"

  I laughed. It was easy to laugh with her. Everything seemed to come easy with her, and not in the way that girls I was with were usually easy, if you catch my drift.

  "I have to agree. We were ancient history even if we were pretty popular once upon a time. I wasn't sure people would even still pay for us to get up on stage and do our thing."

  Jessica winked. "I was impressed none of you were coming out with a walker!"

  "Hey now. We’re not that old. Remember I'm only about seven years older than you."

  “Y’know one thing I never understood was that name. Sleepwalker.”

  “Oh yeah? Would you believe me if I told you that was actually a huge mystery and I’ve never told anyone exactly where the name came from?”

  “I’d believe you’re capable of doing something like that, but I wouldn’t believe you’d actually done it,” Jessica said.

  “You’d better believe it. I’ve never really told anyone what the name meant.”

  “Right. So what does it mean?”

  I looked over to her and winked. “A lady has to keep some secrets, doesn’t she?”

  “Huh,” she said. “And here I figured it was just talking about how you felt like you were sleepwalking through life before you realized who you really were and came out.”

  I stopped. Stunned. She took a couple more steps before she realized she was moving but I wasn’t. Her hand tugged at mine and she turned to fix me with a curious look.

  “Wha… That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “How did you?”

  “Are you serious? Your fans must be dumber than I thought if no one’s ever figured that out!”

  I shook my head. “Actually a couple of people have figured it out. It’s just that they were talking about it online so they never got to see my expression when I heard their theory.”

  “It’s a cute name, but it is a bit obvious,” she said.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Even when she was hitting me with what felt like strange psychic abilities. Sure other people had figured that out before, but I’d never had it happen so quickly right in front of me. Usually it was interviewers or fans hitting me with a long line of potential questions.

  “So why did the group break up anyways?”

  And the hits kept coming. I very nearly stumbled. That was the last question I wanted to talk about. It happened ten years ago and the pain was still fresh. The band breaking up around me. Losing the desire to write anything new. The joy of thinking I might finally have something real. The pain of having it all ripped away.

  “Let’s not get into that right now, Jessica.”

  It was something I’d have to come clean about someday if we were going to have a relationship, but that story seemed like at least third date material. Way too heavy for tonight.

  She looked down at the water and then back up to me. We continued strolling in silence for a moment. I figured she had more questions, but I'd let her ask them in her own good time. I was more than content just being out here next to her.

  "What was it like? Getting so famous so young. I just can't imagine…"

  I took a deep breath. I let it out in a long slow sigh.

  What was it like? Well, it screwed me up for the better part of a decade. I felt like I'd only recently started to get my life under control, and then this new tour came along and it was like the universe was giving me one big middle finger reminding me what I didn’t have while also throwing the same temptations at me that screwed me up in the first place.

  Of course I wasn’t going to tell her any of that. I didn't want to go with the whole poor little rich girl routine. Poor famous rich girl, for that matter. Something told me she wasn't going to have any sympathy even if there was some truth to it in my case. We'd all gotten too famous way too young, and it did a number on me.

  "I don't know," I said. That seemed safe enough. "This is the life I've known for so long that it's hard to imagine any other life, you know?"

  She sighed. "I guess I can sympathize with that. You get stuck in a rut and before you know it years have gone by."

  I grinned and reached out to hold her other hand. Looked down into her eyes. "What are you talking about? Didn't you just get out of college? You haven't had enough time to have regrets!"

  "You don't seem old enough to have many regrets either, you know," she said.

  I shrugged. "Fair enough, but you'd be surprised."

  "So what would you have done if you didn't become a super famous singer?"

  "I don't know," I said. "Music and singing was always sort of my dream, I just didn't expect to get into a situation where I'd be the front woman for an international pop sensation!"

  She grinned. "Well you're certainly modest, but seriously. If it wasn't for the whole superstar thing, what would you be doing?"

  More questions when all I wanted to do was sweep her off her feet and have my way with her right here. My body was screaming in frustration. I was so close to her. Close enough that I would just have to take another step forward and I’d feel her delicious body against mine. But I resisted my more animalistic urges and gave her question serious consideration. And finally I shrugged and grinned.

  "Can you keep a secret?"

  “That depends. What kind of secret are we talking about? Who killed Kennedy?"

  I laughed. "No. Just the secret of what I'd probably be doing if it hadn't been for the whole pop star thing. I've never told anybody. Not even those stupid magazines. Made up all the stuff I told them on the spot."

  “Interesting,” Jessica purred. “Did Gareth do the same thing? Alice would be very disappointed to hear that. She memorized all that bullshit.”

  She moved forward and then there it was. She was pressing against me. Oh fuck. God she felt so incredible.

  She stared up at me, her eyes lidded, her mouth open ever so slightly. There was pure desire in her eyes, and it was turning me on so much. I wanted to take her now, only that probably wouldn't be a good idea. No, this location was entirely too public. Entirely too exposed.

  All it would take was one person with a camera and our little tryst would be on the front of every gossip site in the world. It didn't matter that most of those gossip sites considered me to be a has-been, even with the most recent tour. No, all they’d care about was someone who was marginally famous once upon a time was caught doing something salacious in public and got caught on camera.

  Such was my life.

  "Fine," she said. "I think I could keep a secret."

  "Band teacher," I said.

  She blinked. And then she started giggling. "What?"

  "I always wanted to
be a band teacher. You know, going to marching competitions, all that stuff? Maybe it's because it was right around that time in my life that I was plucked out of the normal world and into… you know, but for whatever reason I always felt safe and secure thinking back to those days. And I'd want to help give a similar experience to other kids."

  She searched my eyes for a moment and grinned. "You're serious."

  "Totally," I said. "I've never told anyone about that though. You're the first."

  And then she surprised me. She leaned up on her tiptoes, causing her breasts to brush against me. Her lips brushed against mine. It was a brief kiss, but it was hotter than any make out session.

  Okay, so maybe that wasn’t entirely correct. It was hotter than, say, a makeout session I'd had with other girls. She definitely put to shame anything I'd ever had with the string of groupies I'd been with over the years.

  "Damn," I said.

  "Damn yourself," she said.

  And in that moment I realized something. I realized that I was absolutely right in thinking the girls who settled down were absolutely right and I was absolutely wrong. All those years of chasing random girls, and what I really needed was this. Someone I could share my life with. Someone I felt comfortable enough to share my secrets with. Not someone who was a just a random one night stand, no matter how much fun those had been.

  Jessica stared up at me and I was really feeling the moment as we were lost in one another’s eyes. She blinked and the moment wavered. A smile started to cross her face. That quickly turned into a huge grin. Then she was laughing, shaking her head, and the moment was gone completely.

  "What?" I asked.

  She reached up and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's just so ridiculous!"

  "Hey! I was pretty good at the drums before I left high school band to become an international pop sensation!"

  She fixed her eyes on mine. "You were really in band?"

  "What can I say? Music has always been my thing. How else d’you think I got this rocking body? Those drums aren't light when you're marching you know."

  She shook her head again. "Ivy Thompson, band geek. I can't believe it."

  I shrugged. "Look at any of our biographies. You might be able to still find a couple of dusty books in the back of some forgotten county library somewhere where they don’t have a budget to replace books more than every twenty years."

  "I might do that," she said. "I’ll look for you next to the biography of the Beatles. Do they have pictures of you in your band geek get up? Because I'd really like to see that!"

  "Hell, you don't even have to go for the books for that. You can probably just find it online if you do a search. I know there was a site about twelve years ago that dug those pictures up and had a field day with it."

  "Well that’s nice to know at least," she said.

  "What's that?"

  Jessica pulled her hands away from mine and started walking again. I paused for a second to admire the view as she moved in that dress before I went to follow her. "At least if you were in high school band I know music really had to be in your heart. That you weren't doing it for the checks or the girls or anything like that."

  I raised my eyebrows. Now probably wasn’t the best time to mention that the paychecks and the girls certainly hadn’t hurt once I really got into the swing of things with Sleepwalker. Better to say something a little safer.

  "You'd be surprised. Band girls could get pretty freaky! They were also about the only ones who were willing to do a bit of experimenting in the back of buses, if you catch my drift."

  Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best response. That still made it sound like I was all about bedding girls and I was throwing my former fellow band geeks under the bus. I’d had some pretty fun times in the back of a bus on the way back from band trips before Sleepwalker pulled me out of high school prematurely.

  "Oh trust me I know," she said. "I may or may not have been in band myself."

  Both of my eyebrows went up at that. I grinned as I took her arm and mine and we continued walking along. "Really now? And what did you play? Clarinet? Flute?"

  "That's for me to know and you to find out if you're a good girl," she said. "But I can at least back up your assertion about how crazy band girls could get. The back of one of those buses is how I figured out, well, you know…"

  I mulled that over and thought about some of the good times I’d had, though it had never been with a girl as gorgeous as Jessica. That was sending new thoughts running through my head. "So you're a band girl…"

  It was one hell of an oblique way to get at the question I'd been wondering all night long. Everything had gone so well, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about last night. That had been some of the best goddamned sex of my life! And I was very much hoping for a repeat performance, but had no idea if there was a chance in hell of it happening considering how she felt about me. Considering how she felt about my profession.

  "You're right, you know," Jessica said.

  "I am?"

  "Us band girls could get pretty wild. You might even be able to find out for yourself just how wild we can get if you can manage to swing a hotel room tonight."

  I grinned and took her by the arm, practically dragging her back up to the road to get a cab. How hard could it be to get a hotel room downtown this time of night? Especially with the kind of money I could throw around?

  I’d pay whatever it took. I needed to have Jessica and I needed to have her now. And I needed to have her before she realized how crazy she was acting and decided to pull another disappearing act!

  24: Explosive

  I gasped as I fell back against the bed. Damn had that been intense! I reveled in the sensation of knowing that I just had an experience that would be the envy of women all around the country, but for the moment she was mine. All mine.

  And they couldn't have her.

  I blinked. I was surprised to feel that possessive streak, but there it was. Everything was so right about this moment. Everything was perfect. And I was starting to come to peace with the fact, finally, that she was who she was and I didn’t care. As long as I had the woman that’s all that mattered. All that rock star stuff I could figure out later.

  As long as she wanted to figure it out with me. That was still the big question, wasn’t it? Was all of this a ruse or was this the real thing? It sure as hell felt like the real thing to me, but I guess my opinion wasn’t the one that really mattered. No, the one that mattered was Ivy. Was she going to stay now that she’d gotten her repeat performance?

  Strangely enough I still felt at peace despite that worry. I wasn’t feeling any of the panic from the night before. It was a subtle but important shift, and it felt good. Really good.

  Ivy rolled out of the lavish bed, though I’d expect nothing short of lavish considering what she was paying for this ridiculous suite, and I sighed in disappointment. I know we were done with the fun for now, but I really would have been happy if she’d stayed there for a little longer. I was enjoying the cuddling almost as much as I’d enjoyed everything else.

  She stared down at me, a goddess in her full glory, and grinned. God I must’ve looked like a hot mess. It was a wonder she was grinning at me like that, but I took that grin as a positive sign. She wasn’t giving me her card and calling me a cab or anything. Then she got an apprehensive look on her face and I felt terror shooting through me.

  No. No! It wasn’t fair. I get all used to the idea of being with Ivy. I make peace with who she is and the fact that she’s head over heels for me, and it’s at that moment that she decides to let the other shoe drop! It wasn’t fair!

  Though I suppose I deserved it just a little for bailing on her the night before when things were going so well. Why would she trust me when I’d already demonstrated I couldn’t be trusted? She opened her mouth and I squeezed my eyes shut, dreading the inevitable.

  Damn it. It figures this would happen just when I’d finally decided I m
ight be okay with Sleepwalker after all these years.

  “So I could really use a shower after all that. You okay hanging here for a few?”

  I blushed, and probably not for the reasons she was thinking. I was such an idiot, operating on a hair trigger like that. Thinking that for some reason things were going to go to hell. Of course she just needed to go clean up. I grinned and prayed that the blush wasn’t too obvious.

  “Of course. Go ahead and have your fun,” I said.

  Ivy stood and made her way towards the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and raised an eyebrow. Going for a full shower? That was a bold move. Particularly when I was waiting out here and ready for her to come back for round two. I needed more of Ivy Thompson and the groupie experience!

  Her head popped out from the bathroom. “What would you say to joining me in here?”

  I grinned. That was more like it!

  “Give me a minute and I’ll be there.”

  Her head disappeared back into the bathroom and I sat there wondering what the hell was wrong with me. Give me a minute and I’ll be in there? Wasn’t I the one who was just thinking how much I needed another round with her and here it was in the offing and I was making some lame attempt at still playing hard to get like an idiot.

  I was about to hop up and go to join her, dignity be damned, when a buzz pulled my attention away from the shower. I looked over and realized her phone had fallen out of her pants. It’s not like I was trying to spy on her messages or anything. I couldn’t really help it. I was just glancing down at the screen and the text was big enough that I could clearly see the message that popped up.

  I didn’t like what I read.

  “How’s the date night going? Hurry up and get that groupie out of your system. We need to go!”

  I didn’t like the name I was seeing attached to that message either. Gareth. The asshole who’d seduced Alice and then left her high and dry, though it seemed like she expected that from the way she’d talked about him on the ride home from the concert in the wee hours of the morning earlier today.