“And you're too antisocial..." He pointed and, earnestly, asked, "Be kind to the other fans." He was really in love with her, but he was too grateful for his fans to turn a blind eye if the girl was rude to anyone for free.
Raising her hands in a gesture of surrender, Lissa saw him positioned behind a banner with the logos of his tour and the new CD.
"Kindness is my last name..." She still saw him roll his eyes, before leaning against a hidden corner of the room as far away as possible.
“Ready?” Arthur questioned his friend and when he received a positive nod, he headed for the door and warned the security guards that the fans could begin to enter, one at a time.
The first fan was a short girl, wearing a T-shirt with the image of Gabriel stamped. She entered the room accompanied by the bodyguard who stood next to the singer. For a second, she stood there, prostrate staring at the singer as if she didn’t think she was face to face with him, but when Voss smiled at her and beckoned her, she ran to him and hugged him, crying.
Melissa watched the scene, feeling even more of a fraud. That girl was a fan, a real fan. She deserved to be in her place... At the thought, the girl squirmed, uncomfortable. No! She didn’t want anyone in her place, especially if that person had access to everything she had in the last days. Leaning back against the wall, she thought of the smiles the singer was giving to her, the way he talked to her, the hugs and, of course, the kisses. She, definitely, didn’t want anyone in her place.
The meetings didn’t last long, no more than two minutes at most for each fan, but Gabriel knew how to make those minutes unforgettable. He gave smiles and sympathy, so different from Melissa that didn’t move a single inch from her place, practically clinging to the wall. He smiled, hugged, landed for the photos, received presents and, in some cases, granted autographs and answered quick questions. All without complaining or showing tiredness. It was fascinating and very annoying. He was perfect, as Angela always said. And Lissa was completely inadequate for him.
When the last fan left, she sighed with relief. If she had to witness another tight hug, she would vomit.
"For someone with worms’ phobia, you hug and kiss very easily..." she commented sulkily, as Gabriel called her to the dressing room.
The singer stared at her blankly.
"They clean their hands with alcohol before entering..." he replied, half embarrassed.
Melissa stopped in the middle of the corridor, making the bodyguard accompanying them almost run over her.
Gabriel shrugged, visibly embarrassed. His phobia was known and understood by his fans, so he didn’t think about the hygienic procedures that allowed him to have contact with them, but having Melissa's shocked gaze on him, he wished he didn’t need them.
Retrieved from the new information, Lissa smiled wryly.
"You know..." She said softly as they walked again. "I never wiped my hands with alcohol before I talked to you.”
It was true, Gabriel pondered with a smile as they reached the dressing room and entered, once again alone.
"Even more before I kiss you." He turned to her and stared at her, with that special way to look. He was too ready to kiss her again.
"Actually..." She started with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Sometimes I hadn’t even brushed my teeth.”
Gabriel made a grimace of disgust that the girl found particularly funny and charming.
"It’s funny," he replied. "I don’t give a shit about it." He lied.
Before she could understand what she had heard, he was already kissing her. Or at least, trying.
“Damn it!” He whispered and moved his lips away from hers, a second after he had started the kiss. "You brushed your teeth today?"
She laughed heartily. She thought about saying no, just to provoke him, but it was a phobia... She would not be so bad.
"So romantic, Gabriel Voss," she said with a laugh. "Yes. I brushed my teeth today. 3 times.
“Great!” The singer answered and then kissed her.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - SHE WILL BE LOVED
“Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile
And she will be loved”[17]
G abriel Voss was incredible on stage, but this was information that Melissa was unwilling to share with anyone, even if she was secretly astonished at how the singer managed to dominate the entire stage, play the guitar, sing and interact with the audience. He was relentless and although Lissa wasn’t a great fan, she had to admit that he had a beautiful and powerful voice and that the music was really good.
“So, do you enjoy it?” The singer approached the corner of the stage where Melissa was standing, watching the show of the best place possible... The dream of any fan. Angela would love the many videos her friend was recording for her.
Stopping the record for a moment, Lissa nodded sheepishly, and though she felt ridiculous. She couldn’t help noticing how Gabriel looked even more handsome, with his black shirt draped over his body from sweat, his hair stuck to his forehead... A Rockstar, really.
He just smiled at her and returned to the center of the stage, after picking up one of the many guitars he wore that night.
Unconsciously, the girl sighed when she saw the singer stand in front of the microphone and strum a few notes.
"He's incredible, is not he?" Arthur commented, gaining a look from Lissa.
"Yeah..." She shook her head, trying to get back to normal. “He rocks!”
He was so good that she couldn’t take her eyes off him for the rest of the show, or remember to photograph anything.
She didn’t know the songs so she didn’t sing as everyone, but it was good, so she could just focus on the performance of the singer. It was a great thing that she was hiding in a dark corner of the stage, with only Arthur at her side, so she could chuckle softly at the jokes that Gabriel inevitably told between one song and another and melted whenever he looked at her and smiled. And he always looked at her and although he didn’t speak directly to her, sometimes she had the impression that they were for her a few phrases, by the way he looked at her.
"You could at least disguise it" Arthur complained as the singer again approached him and Lissa during a guitarist's solo. “Some fan can notice and they will be curious to know what is so interesting in this corner of the stage.”
Melissa ignored the exchange of information between them and offered a bottle of mineral water to the singer who accepted promptly, leaving the girl almost hypnotized to see him take the bottle to his lips and suck all the liquid in one go.
"Take a picture, Arth..." Gabe decided to ignore his friend's remark, but it was hard to disguise. It was the first show that Melissa watched... If he could, he wished to stop singing just to watch her. He wanted to see all the reactions of her. “For my Instagram.”
Before Arthur could answer anything, the singer pulled Lissa into a hug.
“Smile, babe...” He spoke in her ear at the exact moment she opened her mouth to complain. The affectionate form with which he called her made her shut up, just as she made a timid smile emerge, just in time to be captured by the camera of the singer's cell phone.
"You're completely sweaty..." She pushed him away a second later.
"The next song is for you..." He spoke softly, before pulling away, letting her push him away. “Sing with me.”
She almost blurted out that she would not know the lyrics of any song... But he didn’t wait for her to respond and when he returned to the stage, the first chords made her eyes widen.
"What do you think if we try something new today, Texas?" He said into the microphone. "This song... It's special..." He looked back at Melissa's gaze and smiled as she shook her head. "It hasn’t gone out of my head since I touched it for someone special..." Melissa heard Arthur cursing at her side, but eventually giggled at the singer's gaze. He was crazy. And she was even more to enjoy it. "Then I'll play it again tonight for you who are special too."
Just voice an
d guitar, as he did on Christmas morning and, although she had thousands of people watching the same thing with her, when the first part of Everything went out of Gabriel Voss lips, Melissa forgot where she was and she wanted to approach him as she had done that night and watching him sing very closely. Maybe she had stepped up to the singer as she felt Arthur's hand grip her arm and hold her in place.
As she couldn’t overcome the distance between them, she did as Gabe had requested and sang with him.
A chorus of fans also joined the voice of the singer, but when he returned to look at his guest of honor and saw her singing, it seemed that the show was theirs. She was complicated, arrogant and frustrating, but she was fascinating too. Gabriel Voss didn’t know how he had gotten into this mess, but seeing her singing to him, because that's what she did, he realized there was something there in the air that only they could feel, like an invisible string entwining them in front of thousands of people who had no idea they were watching more than just a cover. Gabe knew that the loop wire that was permanent, strong... and always would pull him.
Five or six songs were played before the show was closed, but Melissa was still under the influence of Everything. The girl felt ridiculous for that, but even trying to avoid it, she couldn’t help thinking that this song would ever remember Clark and Lana anymore, now she would only make her think of Gabriel Voss. Maybe that's why she had thrown herself into his arms in the moment the singer left the stage. She don’t care about the band and staff surrounding them or the sweat that ran down his face and arms.
She didn’t kiss him, nor did he try to kiss her. It was just an amazing hug shared by both, intense enough to make the singer close his eyes and squeeze the girl closer to him.
“Thanks!” She whispered in his ear. “It was amazing!!”
She wasn’t thanking him for the show, for the tour or for him singing for her, but for the peace he brought, which flooded her whenever she allowed herself to be where she was at that moment: in his arms.
In a way, he knew that the thanks had more significates than all the people around could have guessed. He didn’t say anything because he didn’t know what to say, so he just moved it away, looked to the green eyes, smiled and turned it in the air, making the girl laugh with pleasure, and for a moment she forgot her past, the cuts, the constant pain and everything else.
"I'll sing for you again..." He commented softly, just for her to hear, when they finished the hug, ignorant of the euphoria around the successful show. “Every show, every day”.
Melissa shrugged, feigning indifference, but deep down she was excited. A song for her, every day, flooding her with something good, taking all the mud inside her... Maybe this way she could fulfill what she indirectly promised to Angela, after all no thought about blades, cuts and death when Gabriel sang to her like that.
"I'm going to love it," she answered honestly, before turning away to let him receive the compliment of the musicians accompanying him.
Yeah... maybe this tour was better than she imagined. It could even be the turning point in her life.
♬
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Angela exclaimed for perhaps a thousandth time, causing Melissa to stifle a laugh as she looked around the lobby of the hotel where she was comfortably accommodated waiting for Gabriel and all his staff to go on their way. "He's so hot..." Her friend's sighing statement made Lissa turn her attention to the screen of her notebook and focus on the dreamy image of her best friend.
God save the internet that allowed her to see her friend and listen to her. It was almost as if they were side by side.
"Ang, you've said that a thousand times... Can you stop sighing about Gabriel and give me a little attention? You don’t seem to have missed me.”
Angela looked up to the webcam for just a moment and smiled, shyly.
"Sorry, Lissa, but I've seen your face a million times... But it's Gabriel, the Rockstar, Voss's first exclusive video, that I see. My gosh! Nothing, ever, will overcome this... Did you see how he said it would be amazing to meet one day? Whoa...”
"Of course, I saw" Melissa interrupted her friend's hysteria. “I was the one who recorded the video... Well, since you're going to keep sighing like a little girl in love and ignore me, could you at least change the video? I sent several of the tonight’s show…”
“I've already watched the videos of the show... A benefit show by Gabriel Voss? It's all over the internet..." Angela focused her attention on her friend for a moment and whispered. "And about the show tonight, come on, tell me who the special person is... "
“What?” Lissa pretended not to understand the question.
“The special person for whom Gabriel sang Everything... He was perfect during the performance, he sang with so much feeling. I bet even you liked it...”
“Yeah... until he sang well, but no one surpasses Lifehouse.” The girl tried to shake her head, but she could feel her face warm with embarrassment. And although Angela was her best friend and confidante, she wasn’t ready to tell her about the kisses and the whirlwind of feelings that Gabriel Voss brought on her.
"That's relative..." Ang rolled her eyes. "But it doesn’t matter which version of the song is best. What I really want to know is who he sang to. In fact, me and the whole world, we want to know. Lissa, tell me... I promise I will not tell anyone.”
“I don’t know, Angela!” Melissa snorted in exasperation. "How do I know?"
“Well, you are there near him and I bet the special person is also too or he wouldn’t sing like he sang...”
"He sang like every singer sings, Angela.”
"No... It was different. It had a different emotion... You don’t realize because you’re not a fan, but the whole fandon are trying to find out who the special person that makes Gabriel sigh like that. Bet that's a new girlfriend...”
Unable to help, Melissa laughed at her friend's absurd assumption. Angela looked at her quizzically.
"It's not a girlfriend.”
“Oh yes? So, you know who it is... Tell me...”
"Angela, I don’t know who it is.” Melissa bit her lower lip before continuing. She hated to lie to her friend, but she could already imagine Angela’s reaction in case she found out what was going on between her and Voss. "But it's like you said, I'm here, and if he had a girlfriend I would have seen, would not I? I mean, he spent the day doing interviews and then had the Meet & Greet and the show... There was no one there apart from his team”
"Well, she may not even have seen the show, but"
"But, nothing ..."Lissa interrupted her best friend's fanciful speech. “In a little while you will end up creating a fanfic[18] with a non-existent couple. Seriously, Ang, it is already being too fangirl.”
It was Angela's turn to chuckle.
"Melissa Bittencourt, you don’t understand romance."
"You're right..." Lissa agreed when she realized her smile died and her good humor dwindled. How could she understand anything of romance with her past?
“Lissa, I...”
"It’s okay, Ang. Soon the team appears and I'll have to disconnect, so will you or will not watch the videos I recorded for you straight from the stage?”
“From the stage?” Angela screamed excitedly, causing Melissa to push away the headset she wore. “Oh my gosh! I'm so jealous of you...”
Lissa struggled to block the customary grudge that had gripped her back inside and smiled again as she watched her friend's dreamy expressions. She never had anyone who really admired, so she might never be able to understand that kind of fascination the friend felt for the singer. But she liked to see how a simple video, a "hi" and a song could make Angela contagiously happy. She doesn’t understand her friend's passion for Gabriel Voss, but she was a bit proud of herself for getting the videos... She wished she could do even more.
“Ang?” Lissa called after a while. "Is the tour going to go through Seattle?"
Angela paused the video she watched and rolled her eyes.
"
You didn’t read anything I told you to do, did you? No show scheduled in Seattle..."Angela's excited smile died. "But there's going to be a show in Portland in May... It's close enough for you to come visit me. It will be the last show before the tour goes to Asia, you’ll probably have a few days off...”
"Of course, I'm going to visit you..." Melissa promised cheerfully, but she was actually thinking of something even better. If Gabriel agreed, they could take Angela to the show... It was a flight of less than 50 minutes and if she was not well enough to fly, they could drive... No more than 3 hours. That was it! If she had the days off, they could get Angela and...”
“What's it?” Angela asked, bringing her friend back into the conversation.
“Nothing!” Lissa replied. "I was just thinking it would be great if it was already May. I miss you.”
"I miss you, too," Angela replied, seemingly unaware that her friend was hiding something. "It's all so boring here without you..."
“It's your fault for getting stolen...”
"I think, in a deep down you're liking this stolen."
“Oh yes? And why do you think so?”
"Oh, you had a smile on the last photo that Gabe posted... You never smile at the photos, you hate being photographed. Or hated...”
"I still hate it, but it's part of the package #1 fan on tour with the idol. "Melissa's angry tone made Angela laugh for a moment.
"Tell me the truth, is it being that bad? I know I put you in this, but I wanted it to be fun and... Wait, Gabriel posted something new on Instagram...”
“Really? Are you really going to ignore me to see what he posted? Angela!” Lissa complained indignantly. “And, how do you know he posted something or not? Hey, I'm here, damn it!!”
“Lissa, my friend, you need to upgrade yourself... Twitter, okay? Just “like” someone and you receive an alert whenever a person posts something, and how the posts of his Instagram are interconnected to twitter ...
"That sounds like a chase..." Melissa sank into the couch she was in. “Seriously, it's kind of scary.”
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