Little Doves & Bonafide Heroes ~ Archie Cruz

Little Dove, Pt. 1

"Not until I do," I joked, happy that things were going smoothly so far.

"Whatever," he said with a laugh. "So, are you guys gonna hang out back here for a bit? Or are you going to the side stage area?" he asked me, knowing that was where I usually hung out to take pictures.

"I'm not sure," I replied, looking at Archie, who shrugged. "We'll probably wander around for a bit, but side stage is likely."

"Alright, well cool. If I see Taime, I'll tell him that you're around," he said with a smile.

"Thanks, Brent. We'll get out of your hair," I said, pulling Archie behind me.

"It was awesome meeting you," he called back. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, man," Brent said, closing his door as we made our way down the hall.

"So, you know all of them?" Archie asked me, his eyes shining with childlike excitement.

"Yeah, I do," I said nervously.

"That's so fuckin' cool. How did you meet them?"

"Um, my mom knew them back in the day."

"Did she introduce you to them?"

"Sort of."

"That's awesome."

"Yeah, she was pretty cool," I said as I let him to the bar.

°°°°°°

"You see," my father began as he announced the next song, "I didn't think I'd have kids or any of that, and for about thirty years, I was right, but a while back, I found out that I have a beautiful daughter, so now it's a little different when we play this song. This one's called, 'Pulling Weeds,'" he said, and Brent's guitar began right on queue.

"He has a daughter? Whaaat?" Archie asked, yelling to be heard over the music.

"Apparently so," I said, pretending to know nothing.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Archie, but I wanted us to have a relationship built off of us, not those surrounding us. I didn't think that he was the kind of guy to change after learning more about a person, but I didn't want to risk anything, after all, I had learned that you really never know who someone really is until they fuck you over.

That wasn't what I wanted; I wanted us to be a happy couple- if that was a mutual interest. I wanted everything to work out, but everything had to be natural, not forced. I hoped that he would be the guy that was like, 'oh, he's your dad? That's cool,' and be able to move on rather than freaking out and trying to get closer to my dad than to me (because I had already been through that once).

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Archie take a drink of beer, the bottle in his left hand, and his right resting on my waist as we swayed to the music. Every once in a while, I could feel him grind against my ass, which wasn't a problem for me; I wasn't sad about it. I knew the reality was that if he did the right things, we would have a problem on our hands... well, in his hands... okay, his pants, but at the moment, we were fine.

"What are we going to do after this?" I asked him as held me close to him so that I wouldn't fall as a pair of drunk girls tried to slide past us.

"I don't know, but I might come up with an idea or two after," he said.

"I think I like the sound of that."

All too soon, 'Pulling Weeds' was over, and I heard the familiar introduction to their song 'Little Dove,' which was one of my all time favorites.

"I'm your door to door lover, I'm your cyclone pacifier," my dad sang out in his traditional nasally, raspy voice.

"I'm your cheap trick honey, and my baby's my bionic liar," I sang along, watching as Brent and Greg played, standing beside each other, which was awesome considering how long it had been since the last time that they played.

After I had been drinking at the beginning of the show, I had loosened up quite a bit, and by now the alcohol was rushing through my system. I wasn't drunk, but I was really in the groove.

"You know, his song could be about you- if you were that kind of girl," he shouted over the music, placing his hands on my waist once again as I leaned back against him.

After hearing that, I laughed harder than I had expected to, but I was relieved when I could hear that he was laughing, too.

"Trust me, that song isn't about me by any means," I said, imagining what kind of woman my dad must have written that song about back in the day.

"Well, just saying," he said with a shrug. "Blow my whistle, rock me little dove!" he sang along as we swayed to the groove of the music.

"This is a better last minute date idea that anything I could have thought of," Archie purred into my ear.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it, too," I said with a smile, giggling as he kissed my neck. "I think they only have a few songs left, though."

"Well, let's enjoy it, then."

And enjoy it we did. Most of the time, my eyes were locked on my father as he worked his way across the stage, dominating it without a problem. He looked so cool up there; for the first time in years, he was full of energy, and he was running around like he was 25 again; he seemed to be taking better care of himself lately, and judging by the fact the he hadn't been lighting a fresh cigarette every two songs, it was paying off.

Warning: the next part will be smutty... Just an FYI.

-H