He Told Me To Walk This Way

Crazy

I looked over at Steven who was either breathing hard or hardly breathing. Both of which would have been acceptable responses to having been acknowledged by your idol. In either case, he was walking toward everyone else, and I could tell by how hard he was squeezing my hand that he was excited and nervous. When we were standing in front of the Stones and Angela, Steven held out his hand and said awkwardly, "H-hullo Mr. Jagger." He shifted in his tight outfit, as if it was very uncomfortable now that he was in the presence of Mick Jagger.

Mick Jagger looked sarcastically appalled at Steven's formality. "Call me Mick, please. We'll be sharin' a stage; might as well get to liking one another."

Steven simply said, "Yessir." I'd never seen him so timid. Remembering himself and what he had planned only moments ago, he said, "This is my girl, er, fiancée, Ginger." He put his arm around my waist.

I held my hand out. I have to admit, I was nervous, but only to a certain extent and that was measured only by the amount that one feels when they meet any celebrity. While I liked the Stones' music, I was in no way as much of a fan as Steven was. "Hello Mister...excuse me, Mick." He took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips.

"A pleasure." I blushed. Steven's grip on my hip tightened; he was feeling jealous.

After being introduced to the rest of the band members, who I discovered were just as nice as the lead singer, a backstage staff member took Angela and me aside and asked us if we wanted to wait backstage while they played, or if we wanted to watch. Both Angela and I recognized that this was a very important milestone in Aerosmith's career and decided to watch.

Everything seemed like it was going perfectly. For a while. It started off well: Steven and Mick hit off pretty quickly and were talking while preparing to play.

"I love your music, man. I've been so inspired by you."

Mick didn't look surprised. "I can tell. But I ain't mad. It's not like you're singin' the same as me. The way ya look though, you gotta admit, there's a similarity there."

Steven smiled. "There is. You know, when I was a kid in Yonkers, they would call me 'Nigger Lips'." He laughed.

"They didn't!" Mick scoffed. "Never happened to me, but I, uh, always got on with the girls well."

"Yeah, my mom would just tell me, 'All the better to kiss the girls with'. I guess she was right." Steven answered, looking to me.

"She's real pretty." Mick commented. I suddenly wished I wasn't hearing their conversation, but of course, I didn't want to be rude and get up in the middle of everything. Him saying that made embarrassed me. "And she looks pretty young."

"She's eighteen. And we're...I've...we're engaged, is what I mean."

Mick looked surprised. I suppose it was a little bit odd that a rock star had already committed himself to someone when he was still so young. I guess being a man-whore sort of went with the territory of being a rock star, and Steven was breaking that 'law' for me. I was in no way upset by that.

Twenty minutes later Aerosmith was on the dark stage and there were hundreds of people in the audience practically screaming. Fans shouted for the Stones. Steven was practically hyperventilating but never let his cool expression fall. He calmed himself by checking that the amps were plugged in and hassling Joe about his guitar, yet again. Joe looked annoyed and wasn't paying much attention to what Steven had to say. He was focused on the crowd.

When Steven refused to leave him alone Joe said, "Dude, its fine." He pulled his guitar from Steven's hands.

"I just wanna make sure, okay?" Steven whispered.