Not This Time

Jon: September 24, 1983

     I stepped out of the entrance tunnel and carefully rested my guitar against the barricade railing. I bounced on my toes a little bit, partially out of nerves, and partially out of excitement. Helping the roadies load the stage was a pretty good warm up as far as stretching went, and I'd just finished warming up my voice in the dressing room. I took a deep breath, stretched, and leaned against the tunnel wall.
     Then I looked up at the stage.
     From the entrance tunnel, I watched ZZ Top's audio tech as she taped down some monitor cables. It surprised me to see her here at all, let alone working. She seemed at home on the stage, unfazed by the cries of the tape she was ripping off the roll to hold the cords down. I'd never known she had any experience with concerts. Maybe it could have given us some common ground on which to start a conversation.
     Richie stepped up behind me with his guitar in hand, headed for the stage. He stopped next to me, surveying the stage and arena before us. I didn't look at him; I was too busy wondering how much I didn't know about Nina. He followed my gaze to the stage, then looked back at me.
     "What are you staring at?" he muttered.
     "That's her," I replied, still watching her as she moved on to the next monitor, "The girl I told you about."
     He grinned. "Oh," he snickered, looking back at her. He raised an eyebrow. "So you saved her life, right?"
     I finally looked over at him, but with an unamused expression. He knew that's not what happened. Leave it to Richie to find a way to twist the story around and make it more dramatic than it was.
     "You know you could totally use that to your advantage," he hinted, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. I smirked, but shook my head.
     "I'm gonna wait until I'm out of town to start making bad decisions," I retorted, crossing my arms, "That way it's less likely to get back to Dotty. She's gonna be at the show tonight."
     He rolled his eyes and faced the stage again. "That is not a bad decision," he mumbled, watching Nina make sure the monitors were even on both sides. He looked at me, shaking his head. "You only live once, Jon, and she's hot. If you're not going to, I will." I frowned at him, but he went on anyway. "Besides, it's not like you're married."
     I was just about to express my pity for his future wife when the rest of the band came waltzing around the corner. We both turned to look when Tico called out to us.
     "What's going on?" he asked once they'd reached where we were standing.
     Richie shrugged casually. "Just talking about the girl Jon took that black eye for," he told them, pointing over his shoulder at Nina. I brought a hand up and rubbed my face, grateful that the painful bruising around my eye had finally faded. The band all looked over and I could tell they were buzzing with questions.
     "Did she ever find out what happened?" David asked.
     I shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? I haven't seen her since," I said, "Hell, I don't even know what happened to those freaks." I looked over at her and then down at the floor.
     "Dude!" David replied, "Don't you think she'll want to thank you?"
     "Yeah, why don't you go over there and tell her it was you?" Alec asked.
     I looked up at him like he was crazy, but when I around the circle, everyone else seemed to be silently asking the same question.
     "It's not important," I scoffed, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter. I don't know her. She doesn't know me."
     "She don't know," David tsked jokingly.
     "She don't see you?" Richie offered with a grin.
     "She don't care?" Tico added.
     I frowned around the group at my friends. "Come on, guys."
     "She can't hear you?" Alec joined in.
     David looked at Alec in false surprise. "Can't hear?"
     "Cannot help you, huh?" Richie laughed, patting me on the back.
     "Not if she can't hear," David muttered, shaking his head.
     They all laughed at that. I wasn't as amused. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at them. They all knew I hated that song. It was really poppy. Plus it was the only song on the album that I didn't help write. Ironically enough, it described the awkward, one-sided relationship I had with Nina almost to a tee. As if I needed another reminder of my guilty interest in another woman.
     "Come on, Jon," Richie said, elbowing me, "We're just kidding."
     "Yeah," David agreed, "I mean, she's the sound girl, right? She's gotta be able to hear!"
     I smirked and shook my head again. David laughed at me and I shoved him away. Our joking was interrupted by one of ZZ Top's roadies. He asked us where the instruments we'd be playing tonight were.
     "We need to get them tuned and set. The lead tech wants to run a check," he told us. Richie handed his guitar over to the tech while David explained that his keyboards should be arriving any minute. The guy nodded and turned to Alec as the bassist motioned for him to follow, walking away to retrieve his bass.
     I looked back at the stage, but Nina wasn't there anymore. David and Tico climbed the stairs onto the stage as David's keyboards were being set up onstage from the other side. The drumset that the label had ordered for tour was already out there with all the proper mics set up on it.
     Arms crossed, I stared at my guitar. Richie smirked at me and followed David and Tico up onto stage. It was almost time. If Nina wanted to run a check, that meant there was only about an hour and a half left until we went on.
     This was what I'd been dreaming of since I was a kid. I stepped over and picked up my guitar. There looked to be a guitar stand on the stage that I could use, but I wasn't sure it wasn't Richie's. When I stepped up onto stage, my eyes instinctively scanned the seats. There were so many, unlike any venues I'd really played as of yet. I looked across the arena at the soundboard just in time to see Nina handing something small off to one of her helpers. I watched her call to him and toss a roll of tape his way as well before he hurried through the seats toward the stage.
     Alec and the first roadie stepped onto stage right around the same time that Nina's helper hopped the barricade. The guy set the tape and a wireless transmitter up on the stage.
     "Anything I can help with, man?" I offered as the crewman hoisted himself onto the stage. He looked up at me and shook his head.
     "Don't pass out before the show starts," he chuckled wryly. I couldn't stop the frown before it spread across my face. The crewman picked up my guitar and inspected it before plugging in the transmitter. "This guitar does get used, right?" he asked, looking up at me as hooked the transmitter pack onto my guitar strap.
     "I do play, yeah," I answered, probably a little snarkier than I should have. That was the attitude I was getting from him, and I didn't like it.
     "I meant tonight, kid," he scoffed, "Will the guitar be used tonight?"
     I shrugged. "I dunno," I said, "Depends on how it goes."
     He stood up and raised an eyebrow at me. "Make sure it's tuned then," he told me, shoving the guitar into my hands, "I don't remember seeing Ted check it." He looked like he was going to give me some more unwanted advice when Nina's voice cut into our conversation, taking us both by surprise.
     "Jack," her voice barked over the loudspeaker, "Leave him alone and get that shit taped below." Jack looked across the arena to her for a minute, begrudgingly, before turning back to me. He took a breath to say something when Nina's voice stopped him again. "Now."
     Jack frowned at me and retreated to the stairs muttering something about taking orders from a woman. I exchanged glances with Richie and put my guitar strap over my shoulder so I could make sure, for the third time, that my guitar was in tune.
     The night flew by. When we went on, the crowd was chanting ZZ Top, ZZ Top. By the time we left that stage, we'd won them over. Doc, our manager, greeted us at the tunnel entrance with two thumbs up.
     "You guys were great!" he cheered, patting David and Richie on the back. I took a drink from the water bottle I'd carried off stage with me, grinning at the manager as he fell into stride with us. We were so full of energy, and so tired as well. I'd never felt more alive in all my life.
     "How'd it sound?" I asked Doc as we all stepped into our dressing room and spread out a little. Doc gave me a smirk like he knew something and nodded.
     "It sounded great," he assured me, "So great in fact, that I've got some news."
     I plopped down in a chair and leaned my head back as I listened. I'd jumped around so much on that stage that I was sweaty and only now catching my breath. My adrenaline was still up. Doc tapped my shoulder, but was looking around the room when I looked up at him.
     "How would you guys like to work with your own audio tech for this tour?" he asked.
     "I thought we were using Scorpions' tech," Alec said. I brought my water up to take another drink.
     "We were going to," Doc confirmed, "But tonight, the woman running sound volunteered."
     I nearly choked on my drink. I sat up and coughed, bringing pretty much all attention to me. Doc patted my back, trying to help, but I waved him away.
     "Sorry," I coughed, "Wrong pipe. Go on."
     I could feel Richie staring at me. When I looked up, the guitarist had a knowing look. I frowned at him and leaned back in my chair.
     "I thought she was ZZ Top's tech," Richie said, "She's not touring with them?"
     Doc shook his head. "She's just filling in for their normal guy," he explained, "Just for tonight's show. What did you think of her?"
     "We didn't really meet her," I told him with a shrug, "She's got a weird sound check technique. I've never done check like that before."
     "Yeah," Tico agreed with a chuckle.
     "She seemed pretty down to business, though," I added, "I like that."
     Almost as soon as I said that, there was a knock at the door. Doc shouted for whoever it was to come in and one of Top's roadies opened the door.
     "Uh," he said awkwardly, "The engineer said to give these to you guys and to tell you she's sorry she's not delivering them personally." The guy held out a few little slips of paper. Doc nodded and took the papers. No sooner had Doc's eyes fallen to the papers in his hand than the roadie disappeared through the door again.
     "Keys," Doc read. He held the slip of paper out to David. He held another out to Alec. "Bass." He held one out to Tico as he said, "Drums." One to Richie. "Lead Guitar." The last slip of paper, he held out to me. "Vocals."
     I leaned forward and reached for the little slip of paper.
     "They're notes!" Richie exclaimed.
     I glanced at him and unfolded my slip of paper. I fought the urge to smile at the curvy little handwriting on the paper. The letters spelled out little tips like, 'don't forget your water' and 'watch where you're swinging that stand'. I could only imagine what she'd written for the other guys.
     "Cheeky," David snickered, though it was clear he wasn't offended. I smirked. I liked that she gave us feedback. I looked around the room at the band. Alec seemed interested in something Nina wrote.
     "She told me she thinks you've got a lot of potential," Doc told us, "Said she could see you guys hittin' it big." I grinned. It was always great to hear when somebody said that. Especially when that somebody wasn't someone you were related to.
     There was a knock on the door and Doc yelled once again for whoever it was to come in. This time Dorothea stuck her head through and smiled at us. I jumped up to greet her as she opened the door wider and threw me a rock n' roll hand sign.
     "You guys absolutely rocked!" she squealed as I stepped over to her. Doc patted my back on his way out the door and waved to the rest of the guys before closing the door behind him. Dorothea threw her arms around me and I picked her up, spinning her around.
     "There's Top," Richie pointed out. The fans could be heard through the door and down the tunnel, screaming for their favorite band. Dorothea gave me a peck on the lips and I threw my arm over her shoulders as I turned us both back toward the band.
     "Boys, someday soon, that's gonna be us," I announced, holding up my water bottle in a toast. We all cheered. Dorothea clapped. I couldn't wait for tour.