by Newbiel
"I will soon." She said before stopping and kissing him savagely in the middle of the street.
"I'm going to miss this." She sighed huskily once they ended the kiss to breath.
"Come on, let's eat." Nathaniel said.
"Where are you taking me?" She asked.
"That french restaurant that you like on 114th street."
"The food is good there but it's seeing you talk in french to the owner that is very enticing." She said, her eyes flashing.
"You are one to talk with your flawless italian accent." Nathaniel laughed.
"Well, I did go on vacation there for a month. I can as well flaunt it." She laughed back.
"If someone can flaunt it, it's definitely you Madie." Nathaniel answered truthfully.
It was true, she was wearing slim black jeans, a blue top with a white blazer and looking gorgeous in it as it displayed her amazing form quite nicely for everyone to see. Nathaniel was used by now to see other men looking at her with admirative or lustful glances as he was often doing the same thing.
"Nath, we are already together, no need to compliment me even if it's still pleasant to hear."
"I aim to please." Nathaniel said cheekily.
"That you do. By the way did you hear that the coach of the football team has been fired and three of our senior players expelled? For various reasons like bullying, beating and stalking. Carl was among those that had been expelled." Madison said, looking at Nathaniel with attention.
Nathaniel did know he had been in touch with Joshua since his audition with the dean about the incident as the administration still insisted to conduct a thorough investigation about the event. He had even helped a little because he had a good relationship with Joshua and wanted to continue that way. It was always helpful to have friends in high places.
"Yes, I did hear." Nathaniel answered noncommittally.
"One of my sisters is working part time in the administration building and she heard your name being pronounced more than a couple times. Admit it Nath, you had a hand in this." Madison insisted.
"Yes, I did. I was asked by the dean to keep quiet about it but since you seem to know, I will tell you. Your friend Carl was not happy about our last encounter so he spouted a bunch of lies to protect himself and had his friend the coach help him get out of his predicament. Too bad for him, I had recorded the entire event and used it to uncover what the coach was doing. Let's just say that I have a problem with people of power using their position to do despicable things so I followed the story through." Nathaniel shrugged making Madison who was looking at him with round eyes shake her head.
"You know, you are like a modern day knight in shining armor." She finally said, kissing him deeply in front of the restaurant.
"Yeah, now your knight will have a lot of enemies knowing that I basically ruined the chance of our school to make it to the playoff without even mentioning the members of the team who are going to want to have words with me." Nathaniel said sarcastically.
"I don't think so. We sorority girls are wild but we are also loyal. All my sisters like you and every time you are in the house you are talking to us with respect and kindness, it does count for something. We will not tell everyone about this." Madison smiled brightly, dazzling him for a moment.
"Thanks for that. Let's go inside, I'm starting to get hungry." Nathaniel said before taking her hand in his and leading her inside."
*****
Two hours later, Madison and Nathaniel were leaving each other as Madison had classes and he had an appointment that he could not miss. After a few dozen long kisses, they had difficulty letting go of each other because it was the last time that they would be separated until monday. It was a long time until they finally had the resolve to separate with red faces after all the kissing.
He was walking for twenty minutes now when he finally found himself in front of the place he was looking for. It was a little pub not far from the Lyndon tower and the favorite place of the security agent of the building to cool off after a long day. In one of the booths he quickly spotted Amal and Jean waiting from him, a glass of beer in front of them. Sliding onto the opposite side of the table, he got right to the point.
"Everything went well last night?" Nathaniel asked, keeping everything that he said vaguely because they were in a public place.
"Yes, all happened like you said it would." Amal answered, taking a sip of his beer.
"Good, glad to hear it. Did you put the rest of the equipment where I said?"
"Yes, the material is waiting for you." Jean said.
"I love it when a plan comes together." Nathaniel said with a smile, getting up and leaving the pub. The two bodyguards with their mouths still half open just looking at him leave.
Chapter 95: :
New York. Madison Square Garden. 01/11/2012. 23:20.
"You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me…
Ohhhooo yeahhhh ohhooooo
But we are never ever ever ever getting back together…
Ever….."
The song finished as Taylor and her dancers made a small bow in front of thousands of a very enthusiastic public, the lights turning off on the stage, hiding the artist going backstage to change their outfit. Once Taylor arrived there she was immediately taken in charge by two makeup artists, wiping off the sweat on her face and fixing her makeup. One girl gave her a new dress to change into, all of it done swiftly with practiced movements. After a month of touring, everyone on the tour knew what to do by now.
Taking her new clothes, Taylor started changing immediately, her manager coming to meet with her.
"Everything is going splendidly, two more songs and this is the end of the tour so enjoy yourself Taylor." Dan said with a big smile on his face.
He was her manager since she had started music and was touring with a radio station back then. Now they knew and appreciated each other quite well and had a good friendship.
"Don't worry, I will Dan." She answered, smiling and looking around her seemingly searching for something. Noticing the look, Dan spoke again.
"Your friend is still not here, I don't believe he will come." He sighed.
"You don't know him like I do, if he says he will come, he will come Dan. Maybe something happened, did you look at my phone?" Taylor said hopefully.
"Yes, I did like you asked. No calls. I'm sorry Taylor, maybe you were wrong about that kid."
It was in that moment that the producer called in her earpiece, saying it was time to go back on stage. Since they were recording the whole event tonight, they had a team of cameramen around the stage and a production department on the side of the square. Hearing that with his helmet, Dan stopped talking and straightened Taylors clothes before pushing her on the stage again before shouting something to her, smiling.
"Have fun Taylor!!"
Not sensing anything weird about that, Taylor walked back onto the stage, a light following her the whole way, the audience cheering for her.
"So how are you doing New York?" Taylor shouted into her hand microphone, eliciting new cheers from the audience making Taylor smile. "You know you are the best public in the world, right?" Taylor said again, eliciting cheers even louder than before coming from the voices of fifteen thousand people.
It was at this exact moment that all the lights on the stage abruptly cut off, plunging Taylor in complete darkness. Surprised by the sudden event Taylor did not even have time to think before the producer immediately started speaking into her earpiece.
"It seems we have an electrical problem on the stage, just reassure the public that it will be ok. We are working on it."
Even if the situation was kind of unlucky, Taylor did not lose her cool. Since the start of the tour and with her experience as a singer she could deal with it easily. Moving to the edge of the scene for the audience to see her as the light in the audience was still lit, albeit dimly.
"We have a little problem with the light, don't worry it will be fixed soon." She said
to the audience.
She kept talking to the public when she received troubling news on her earpiece.
"Taylor, one of our technicians got electrocuted, he is being evacuated by the paramedic right now. It's all because of the rain earlier, it soaked everything. We need to halt the concert temporarily to give us the time to fix this without risk for our guys." The producer said in a concerned voice.
Taylor wanted to talk to the producer directly but she could not. Their radio was set up to permit him to talk to her but she could not answer, unless with her mic but in that case the whole place would hear her. Even if she was not happy to announce the news to the audience, she had no other choice taking into consideration that one of her crew members had already been hurt in the process of fixing the problem.
She was going to speak into the microphone when she heard a musical note resound in the stadium. Following that note, a melody started to come alive inside Madison Square Garden, a melody really familiar to Taylor.
"What's going on here?" She asked no one in particular even if her voice was captured by the hand microphone.
A huge laughter answered her in her earpiece before the stage behind her was lit by a single spotlight, showing a young blond man playing piano. The audience was cheering even if only a few thousand people present here recognize who he was, Taylor included.
"Come on! Really?" She shouted, angrily walking in his direction.
"Everybody, I present to you Nathaniel Lyndon." Taylor said, shocking herself out of her surprise and remembering that she was in front of thousands of people.
Nathaniel playing piano, made a nod with his head to the public who cheered, the face of Nathaniel appearing on the huge screen on top of the stage.
"It's so short of lifeeee…." The pure voice of Nathaniel started to sing, a number of musicians starting to be lightened up as well on the stage.
As the song was upping in intensity, the voice of Taylor finally joined Nathaniel's, creating a beautiful atmosphere inside Madison Square Garden.
"Too stubborn to die…
… Too loved to say goodbye…
… Naive enough to fly…
… Strong enough to cry…"
Until the song finally ended, their voice merging with each other, the public completely dazed.
"Strong enough… to cry…"
It was a few seconds before the audience came back to their senses and started to give a thunderous applause and cheer. Nathaniel got to his feet and hugged a still emotional Taylor, making the cheer go even louder. They finally let go of each other and gave a bow to the public before leaving the stage. He was arriving backstage when he was hit on the shoulder by Taylors tiny fist.
"That was not cool!" She shouted, making Nathaniel laugh.
"It was so funny looking at your face when you realized what was happening." He laughed even more.
In that moment, two men arrived with smiling expressions on their faces.
"You two you are on my radar as well! You told me we have a technician in the hospital! That was horrible having to keep a smiling expression on my face the whole time!" Taylor shouted some more. Nathaniel just fist bumped with Taylors manager and the producer who he had talked to quite often the last few days to organize everything.
After that, they kept talking as the concert was over. Dan had successfully organized the show to confuse Taylor and made her believe she had still two more songs to sing as it was not the case.
Two hours later they were separating as Taylor was going back to her apartment in the city to sleep as she was exhausted. Nathaniel then exited the Madison Square Garden by the back door, alone. There were a lot of fans waiting here to sign autographs with Taylor, he just dodged them easily and kept walking home. It was then that a limo just stopped itself near him.
He was curious to know who wanted to talk with him when the window descended and the face of an old sophisticated lady appeared.
"Grandma?" Nathaniel said, surprised.
"Hello dear, happy to see me?" She smiled mischievously.
"Of course, I'm always happy to see you. What are you doing here?" He asked. It was around midnight and he was not walking in a big street to go back home. It was even the kind of street that people would choose to avoid in the night. Nathaniel just did not care about that and was not scared by street thugs.
"This is a kidnapping dear. Your grandfather is going overseas for work and your mothers are busy working too, I will be alone in Hampton again. What an old lady needs to do to have her lovely grandson with her this weekend to keep her company?"
"You just need to ask grandma." Nathaniel answered smiling. Since he had nothing particular to do this weekend, going to the beach sounded really great to him right now.
"Hop in then." She opened the door for him.
Chapter 96: :
Hampton. 03/11/2012.08:30.
"Dear you know you could sleep in a little, take it easy on the weekend. I know how much you are busy in NY" His grandmother said when Nathaniel entered her home after his morning run.
Since the weather was turning colder, Nathaniel had run in sweatpants and sweater. The good side was since he had a lot of clothes here he did not have to take anything from his home and they had simply driven here after he had been picked up from the street. His grandmother had made sure that he had plenty of clothes in his room here, in fact he had so much clothes here that he could wear one different attire everyday and not worry about washing them for at least three months.
"I did grandma. I love it here, the sea air kind of appeases me. I love New York, don't get me wrong but I think when I'm older, I would live near water." Nathaniel said.
Taking his sweater off while he was talking and showing his perfect musculature for everyone to see. A couple of maids nearby could not resist the temptation to gawk, mesmerized. Diane looks at them with a knowing smile before clearing her throat.
"Ladies, the room is clean, you can go back somewhere else." Diane said, taking them off their perusing before going to work in another room.
"Grandma?" Nathaniel asked, curious to know why she made the maid leaves.
"They were not very polite gawking at you like that. I'm glad to hear that you like it there, that means I will not have to kidnap you again in the future?" She asked, smiling.
"Of course, I'm sorry grandma that I do not talk often. I'm kind of doing my own thing sometimes and end up not giving people that deserve it my attention."
"Yes, I can see that. You are like your grandfather. He told me by the way that he was impressed with your way of dealing with unpleasant people."
"I'm not sure if he phrased it like that." Nathaniel said with a knowing look.
"Well, he did not say it in so many words but I have been married to that particular man for more than forty years. I know what is going on in his mind. I was going to the market this morning to buy fresh food, I like it too when I get some air and it's good for my legs. I need to be escorted by strong men to take my bags of grossery. Usually I bring some of our security guards but since you are here, I was hoping that you will be my escort."
"Don't say anymore grandma, let me shower, put some clothes on and I will walk with you there." Nathaniel said, running to the first floor, making Diane smile pleasantly.
A half hour later, they were both inside the farmers market, walking between the stands. One of the security guards had driven them here and was waiting in the car while they were shopping. It had taken some convincing to get him to stay in the car. He usually had hard instruction against leaving Diane alone and Nathaniel had to be firm with him to convince him to not follow them. The grandmother and grandson pair just wanted to shop alone without anyone following them and Nathaniel knew he was enough to keep both of them safe.
"What are you thinking about these watermelons dear?" Diane asked, giving him a fruit.
"They look good grandma and I will be happy to eat them." Nathaniel answered.
It was true that in NY he did not
eat healthily and rarely ate any fruits. It was a bad habit that he had and he needed to stop doing it soon because he needed to reinforce his body if he wanted to use his soul power to reinforce his muscles without permanent damage to himself. He was thinking about taking some of the fruits that he bought with his grandmother home to eat them there.
Paying what they owe, Diane and Nathaniel kept walking together. Nathaniel could see that his grandmother was a regular here as each of the sellers were familiar with her and engaged easily into a conversation.
"So, Mary told me that you have a girlfriend now?" Diane said.
"Not really, nothing serious so far. We just want to have fun." Nathaniel answered.
"Ah, young people these days." She shook her head, disappointed. "Is she from a good family at least?"
"Grandma." Nathaniel sighed.
"What? I just want to see my only grandson with a girl that deserves him." Diane defended.
"Yes, I know grandma but don't worry about it alright? Like I said, it's not that serious between us."
"Alright, I will trust you for now. Can you go to that stand and bring me a couple of lemons? I need to rest my legs a little."
"Of course, I will be right back." Nathaniel said, walking in the direction of that stand.
Diane did not even have the time to sit when she spotted someone that she knew walking stand by a stand like she was doing.
"Victoria?" Diane called.
Hearing the call, the woman's head turned in the direction the voice was coming from and saw who was calling her. Excusing herself from the vendor, she walked in the direction of Diane and the two women kissed each other's cheek.
"Hello Diane, good surprise to see you here."
"Yes likewise. I do not get to see you here often."
"It's true but it is a weekend special for us. Are you here all by yourself?" Victoria asked, looking around Diane.
"No, I'm being escorted by my lovely grandson." She answered, turning where Nathaniel was. "Nathaniel, dear. Can you come here please?"
Hearing the call, Nathaniel urged himself to pay for the lemon fast and walked to his grandmother. She was talking with a woman around forty years old. She had brown hair, green eyes and was quite pretty. He could see that the woman had undergone some esthetic surgery on her nose but still her face was really familiar to Nathaniel.