Under the Elms

The Beautiful Experience

Sofia took Valentine’s day off, thinking it would be romantic to spend the day with Prince since it was their first Valentine’s day together. He said he had a special surprise for her on Sunday night, and she knew his concert wouldn’t start until at least midnight. She couldn’t wait for the school year to be over. She could feel distance growing between her and Prince due to her now ridiculous schedule. She knew how special what they had was, and she didn’t want to jeopardize it.

Sunday night, Prince spent a lot of time making sure the concert venue was exactly right. The performance was being filmed for a special showing on VH1, one that would be interspersed with scenes that would make it more like a movie. That left Sofia at loose ends, waiting for a special surprise that didn’t seem to be coming. Finally the doors opened, and the fans crowded in. The concert was amazing. ‘You don’t need to sing backup tonight, mama, just hang backstage and be there so I can get some loving between sets.’ He poured a little more port into his coffee mug, and took it with him out to the stage.

Sofia loved watching her man perform. He didn’t spend as much time with her backstage as he’d promised, but she knew how laser focused he became when he was performing. He had port waiting backstage, as well as onstage. Sofia had never seen him drink so much alcohol.

‘Come out front for this last song, mama,’ he exclaimed, holding her tightly by the upper arms and pulling her in for an intense kiss. Breaking it off almost as soon as he'd kissed her, he continued. ‘It has so much energy, I want to see you jumping up and down for it. Be sure and come backstage right after so we can spend every minute together.’ Prince was bouncing on his heels, he was so excited.

Sofia dutifully went down and placed herself front row center, assisted by the great guys in security. She loved the song, and did find herself jumping up and down, much as Mayte was while hanging onto Tommy as he played the keytar. She was glad she didn’t have to wear combat boots, though.

Her heart stopped at the end of the song, when Prince took yet another drink of port, sang the final chorus, and pulled Mayte to him for a very long kiss. The crowd went wild, since he’d never done that with any woman onstage since his earliest tours. They took it to be a message that she was his girl. She acted like she was completely surprised, not even putting her hands on him. Then he took her by the hand and led her offstage.

Sofia didn’t know what to think. Her heart broke watching her man, or who she thought was her man, kissing another woman. In public. In front of hundreds of fans. In front of her. Security led her backstage, where Prince stood beaming. Mayte was standing beside and a little behind him, smiling uncertainly.

‘What did you think?’ he asked, walking toward her, reaching out for her, taking her hand.

‘I loved everything until you kissed Mayte like that,’ Sofia replied baldly. ‘You said you didn’t want me up there, or that could have been me, which makes a lot more sense to me, given that I’m your girlfriend, the person who is giving up her career in three months. Frankly, I hope that wasn’t your surprise.’

‘Mama, that was just acting,’ he replied. ‘Mayte and I planned it Thursday night about 3:30.’

‘While I was asleep due to my job. You could have clued me in on Friday night or Saturday, or even this afternoon. I would have loved to have been up there with you, being the woman you showed the world was yours. Just hearing you planned this when I was unavailable and then didn’t share it with me makes it hurt even more.’

‘Well, if you feel that way about it, maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t walk out on your job.’ Prince immediately became defensive at being called out for disrespecting his girl. It had been so hard not getting to spend time with her.