The journalist nodded in agreement, before returning to focus on Lissa.
“Melissa, it's the dream of every fan to meet your idol and spend so much time with him is even better...”
"Yes... It has been wonderful ..." She began her rehearsed response, but was interrupted.
“Tell the other fans how is to sleep together...”
"It's not funny..." Gabriel held up a hand, pointing to the interviewer, in a clear warning that the journalist was over the edge.
“What?” The reporter laughed. "Don’t look at me like that. No self-respecting rockstar would walk up and down with such a beautiful girl without taking her to bed...”
“Okay. I think we have enough.” Arthur interceded.
"Tell me, Melissa..." The man continued. "You look like a bad girl. I bet you lets him give you some slaps in the..."
Before Lissa could process what she had just heard, Gabriel had already got up and, catching everyone by surprise, hit the journalist's face with a punch.
“Gabriel!” Arthur tried to hold his friend when the singer tried to hit another punch.
“Motherfucker!” The singer raged and continued to try to hit the interviewer. “I'll beat the crap out of you.”
Arthur called for the security guards as Melissa watched the scene with a mixture of panic and disbelief.
“Get this asshole out of here.” The assistant shouted at the security guards. “Gabriel, that's enough!”
Taking a deep breath, Lissa tried to control the tremors in her legs and stood up. Unsure, she approached Gabriel and squeezed one of the singer's arms.
“Gabe?” She called with a deep voice. “Don’t do that...”
Focused on Gabriel, she couldn’t see when the security guards pulled the journalist out of the room, effortlessly, since the man was stunned by the rocker's attack.
“I want this shit magazine out of all the interviews going forward.” He raged at Arthur. "And you're going to keep Melissa away from these interviews."
“Okay, okay.” The assistant tried to appease him. "He came to catch you, but you lost your temper. Damn it, Gabriel! This is going to be a scandal.”
“Fuck the scandal!” Voss tried to stifle the anger that burned in his chest without success.
"Gabe..." Melissa called again. She was terrified of the singer's reaction and, at the same time, amazed. He'd exploded, in a way she'd never imagined possible, to defend her. “It's okay...”
"No. It's not okay!" He kicked the armchair where the journalist was sitting away."I want to kick that son of a bitch's ass."
As talk didn’t seem to calm the rocker, Lissa pulled him by the t-shirt closer to her and slipped into his arms. She was shaking and very close to starting to hyperventilate.
Gabriel fell silent the moment he felt Mel's small body cling to his. Automatically, he wrapped the girl in a hug. When he felt her wince, he tightened his grip.
"That guy was an asshole..." She said, her voice muffled against his chest. "But it's not worth kick his ass. You already put him out... That's enough. Thank you!”
He pulled back a little and made her look into his eyes. He wanted to kiss her, to hug her again, to hide her from the world, but he did not do anything he wanted, just pressed his face to hers and forced himself to calm down.
"Cancel the shit out of the pictures" He spoke again after a while, his voice returning to normal.
Arthur watched in astonishment as the singer held Melissa's hand and headed for the door.
“Are you crazy? I cannot cancel like that…”
“Arthur, cancel the photos.” He repeated stiffly before opening the door.
Melissa cast one last glance at the personal assistant and whispered.
"I'll make him change his mind."
She didn’t know if she was capable of it, but as she followed the singer into his bedroom, she was determined to try. She had already caused enough problems in one day. The least she could do was stop Gabriel from making things even worse.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - BE SOMEBODY
“Once the time is counting down
it's impossible to stop it[23]”
M elissa entered the room quietly, just after a furious Gabriel entered in the room like a hurricane. Slowly, she closed the door, preventing the bodyguards who followed them from peeking.
She didn’t say anything, she just watched the singer as he walked around the room as if he didn’t know what to do next, then slipped into the bathroom. She could hear the water running, then she deduced that he was washing his face or any other nonsense that people insist on doing to try to calm down. It wouldn’t work, she knew. After all she was an expert at searching for something that could dispel nervousness.
Voss returned to the room with face and hair wet, she could see the drops of water dripping on his black jacket before he pulled off his coat and threw it on the bed.
"Arthur should have let me kick his ass." He growled irritably.
Lissa watched him closely. She was angry, too capable of kicking the damn journalist's balls, but she still felt a small smile playing on her lips.
No one had ever defended her before and she well had needed a good protection. Gabriel was the first. And maybe it was the only one.
"Well..." She left her place at the door and hugged him from behind. "Who knew you know how to kick someone's ass? I'm impressed!”
"No jokes, Melissa". He turned to look at her, and although he still felt the anger inside him, his eyes and his tone of voice softened. "He couldn’t have insinuated what he implied.”
"I'll bet he was not the first, and now he certainly will not be the last. And, Arthur is right, we're not being discreet. Anyway, it's not the first time I've heard any offenses. I will survive.”
"You know I'll never hit you, don’t you?" He let out what had bothered him. He knew nothing about Lissa's past, but he could see the signs, read between the lines... So, he knew the girl had a history of violence. "Unless, of course, you want..." He blinked, trying to relax.
Melissa pushed him away, but laughed at the joke attempt.
"If you try to get your hands on me, Voss, I’ll cut your balls out. I have knives ready for service.” When she realized what she had just said, she felt herself losing air and quickly turned her back on the singer.
Holy shit! She couldn’t think beside him, especially when she was deeply touched by the guy's gesture.
Luckily, Gabriel understood the speech as an amusing reprimand.
Raising his hands, he said:
"We will die a virgin."
Melissa would have laughed at the falsely shocked face in front of her, but she had lost her temper by the indirectly mentioning her cuts.
“I’m not virgin”. She answered seriously. "Much less you. So, we don’t take that risk. Besides, it's not like we have anything.”
Gabriel suppressed the urge to shout at her. He would never be able to understand Lissa's drastic mood changes. In one moment she was making jokes, laughing and being affectionate, and in the next second, she was all seriousness and rudeness.
“Whatever”.
The ringing of the singer's cell phone interrupted anything else they wanted to do.
“Damn it!” He looked at the display and silenced it. "My mother... I bet the story has spread.”
“Fantastic!” Melissa felt her irritation increase. "I'm going to my room to get dressed, and call Angela before she finds out about this shit on the internet. It's good to hurry up, I don’t want your babysitter complaining in my ear because you decided to be a star and not attend that photo-session.”
“I told him to cancel...”
"But he will not..." She replied, ready to leave the room. "Then we'd better settle down. And it's good that you're in a good mood, all smiling and nice as ever, because I'm going to be in a bad mood.”
Gabriel didn’t have time to respond as Melissa left the room without looking back.
♫
Lissa stared at the mirror in
the large bathroom in her bedroom. She was almost ready for the damn photoshoot and then they would go to the show and they still have a New Year's Eve cocktail party that would be forced to attend. For all that, she had been trying to hold herself since she'd left Gabriel's room. But standing in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection, the girl felt an almost suffocating need to cry.
The makeup and hairstyle Lorys had made were beautiful. And it reminded her of when life was almost perfect. A clean makeup, as the makeup artist called, was simple, making her look even younger and innocent, and the hair, although black, partially arrested, helped assemble the sweet image she used to have before having them constantly dyed hair. And her heart smashed.
She hated the result of production. She argued and tried to make the makeup artist change his mind and listen to her, and she was almost able to when Arthur came to warn her that they were late and enthusiastically approved the image of the young woman.
She resigned herself and, with annoying strides, headed for the bathroom to change.
The black lace dress was handsome and, although too feminine, pleased the girl. The problem was that it was hidden under the white overcoat, that looked more like a second dress. The cloth was thick, warm, and uncomfortably immaculate, as Melissa's soul would never be again.
She looked away from the reflection before she punched the mirror, broke it, and consequently used one of the glasses to cut herself. Her thighs and legs were covered by thick stockings and her wrists weren’t in sight, but by looking at the fabric that covered her arms, she could still see the scars on her mind and everything that brought her to the first cut.
She was dressed as old Melissa, looking like a princess. The problem is that she would never feel that way again. That lively girl, who was constantly in search of attention had died and she was still in mourning.
She wanted her black clothes back and heavy makeup. It was like her armor and she felt relatively safe when she wore it.
“Doll, do you need some help? Arthur is in cramps with the delay.” Lorys's voice sounded through the door as she was startled by an involuntary sob that she had let loose and realized that tears were streaming down her face.
“Damn it! Damn it!” She grunted and tried to stop more tears from flowing, just as she tried to wipe the traces off her face. Failed. “What the fuck!”
“Melissa?” Lorys voice gave way to Arthur and she knew that if she took another minute to get out of that bathroom, then it would be Gabriel's voice and if she heard it, she was quite capable of running and playing in the singer's arms, crying like a little girl.
"All right..." she replied and took a deep breath, but she still unable to control her tears. “I'm leaving now”.
Her hands were trembling when she opened the door. She kept her head down, even though she knew she would have to look at them sometime.
“Thanks God!” Arthur exclaimed and grabbed one of the girl's hands, intending to take her out of the room.
Lissa put her hand away as if she were being burned. It was a spontaneous and natural reaction, but it was always strange. She could have tried to disguise and let out some biting comment, but she couldn’t, and just cried more.
Of all possible hours to have a depressive crisis, that was the worst of them all.
“Melissa?” The assistant called her. "Mel, what is it?" He continued when he realized she was crying.
The damn nickname back. She hated that word, hated her reactions, hated mostly for still being alive to feel it over and over again.
"Oh no, doll..." Lorys led her to the bed and she sat on the edge of the mattress. “No tears, please. I'm sentimental and I'm going to end up crying with you. Not to mention that it will end up ruining my art”.
She nodded in agreement, practicing the futile breathing exercise they had taught her when they forced some treatment. She wished she had one of the many medicines that they take and put it out of her mind.
She hated the remedies too, but she preferred to have them deal with the look Arthur and Lorys had given him, probably imagining that she was crazy for crying for no apparent reason.
Thanks God Gabriel was nowhere to be found. She didn’t want to see him.
"Here..." The assistant handed her a bottle of mineral water and she forced herself to take a sip. “It's all right”. He went on, feeling rather strange as he tried to comfort her. He was not good at such things. "The guy was an idiot and I'm making sure he gets so burned in the middle that he's never going to interview anyone. I know he was an asshole, but he does not deserve your tears, my dear.”
Melissa looked at him for a second, surprised by his affectionate tone and for him believe she was crying because of the clueless interviewer.
"All right" She said hoarsely. "You're right, it's just..." She couldn’t say, not without explaining what it was, who had become. Then she fell silent and ran her hand over her face in anger.
"No, no, no. None of this”. Lorys stopped her from continuing and wore a towelette to try to dry her tears.
"Do you want me to call Gabriel?" Arthur offered and that was what made Melissa realize that she should even be pathetic to make the assistant forget the delay and discretion for a moment.
“No!” She denied promptly. “We are late”.
"Five more minutes will not kill anyone." He answered with an uncertain smile.
“I’m ok!” She stood and shook her head. “My cell phone, did anyone see my cell phone?”
Lorys handed her the device lying on the bed. Leaving the two men, the girl called her safe harbor. She didn’t want to talk about what she felt, she just wanted to hear the friendly voice.
“Lissa?” Angela answered on the third ring. “Damn it! Everyone is commenting, and no one knows for sure what happened. But it has already appeared in some portals that Gabriel assaulted a journalist. They even invented it until he was under the influence of drugs, do you? And you have a lot of nasty comments..." Ang's voice sounded dispirited. "They're insinuating that he got tired of the role of a good boy and that today's episode is the beginning of his career breakdown. Damn tabloids!”
Melissa leaned her forehead against the window glass and looked down at the bustling street below. She always caused problems.
“Lissa?” Angela called after a few seconds, wondering if her friend was still silent. “You’re all right?”
"Yes." Melissa forced herself to respond. She couldn’t fail, for Angela and now for Gabriel. She had to go outside and pretend to be the perfect fan. He deserved the sacrifice after he got into that mess for her. “I just called to see how you are.”
“Are you sure? Your voice is strange" She was, and that was why Lissa cleared her throat and decided to put up with it until the end of the day, went back to the bed, sat down, and waved Lorys to fix her ruined makeup.
"Things are going to be kind of crazy," she said as the makeup artist reopened his suitcase. "I’ll have a lot of appointments and... I don’t know if I’ll going to be able to talk to you later or tomorrow and we'd talked so fast, just telling you about the interviews..." She paused to breathe. “I just wanted to wish you a happy new year...”
“No! You better take the time to talk to me later. I will want to know everything about the show and the fireworks and of course you will be in Times Square, Lissa. You'll see the ball fall... You need to tell me what it's like.”
"Just as it is every year, Ang. We've seen it a million times on television”
"Oh, don’t be so boring..." Angela scolded. "And improve that mood. Just for today, Lissa, can you be kind and friendly? Please, it's going to be crazy for Gabriel. Be gentle, just today.”
“It's all right.” The girl agreed, and since she still felt the cake in her throat, she decided to close the call before the tears came back. “I have to go. They dressed me like a little Barbie... I hated it! So, I can’t promise that I will be kind. But I'll try, for you.”
“It's something”. Angela laughed. “I look forward to seein
g you on TV. My mother will watch with me.”
“OK... I really have to go. I'm late and Gabriel's nanny is staring at me as if this would cause the apocalypse.”
Arthur rolled his eyes. She was back in black humor.
“Five minutes, Lorys”. He demanded. “I hate delays!”
Lorys needed 15 minutes and followed Melissa out of the room complaining that she had spoiled her work of art and that Arthur had not given her enough time to produce another.
"But don’t worry," he told her as they stepped out onto a side porch facing up to more security guards and cars. "You're still beautiful."
Lorys blew her a kiss before moving on to one of the cars, and Melissa watched as her bodyguard opened the car door before her. He knew that Gabriel was already inside, so she took a deep breath and did what she knew best: to pretend everything was fine.
“Wow!” The singer exclaimed as she sat down beside him. “You look beautiful. More than beautiful, you look fantastic...”
Lissa glared at him.
"I mean, you're always beautiful, you were perfect in the interviews, but now you're ..."
“Beautiful!” She rolled her eyes. “OK. You've already said that.”
“We can go?” Arthur turned to the two of them, from his seat next to Gabriel's personal bodyguard. “Are you alright?” She asked Melissa directly.
“I'm great!” She leaned back. “Oh! I’m so excited for tonight ...”
Gabriel giggled and squeezed her knee, making her look at him quizzically.
"It'll be more fun than you think."
“Sure”.
“OK...” Arthur spoke again when the car was set in motion. "We will not answer any questions about what happened this afternoon. I’ll release a note just before the show, so the performance will steal the attention and the subject will cool. So, it's good that you make a wonderful show.” He pointed at Gabriel. "And you..." Melissa sighed. “Smile, show some happiness, excitement. It’s the best moment of your life and we want the world to know that.”
“Of course!” She agreed. The best moment of her life... to the hell! But as far as she was concerned, the world would think so. “It will an incredible New Year!”
Broken Angel (English Edition) Page 20