Diary of a Rockstar

Chapter 5

"You're dragging me along to meet your wife for a lunch you're supposed to have with HER?"

"No, she's expecting you, actually. She wanted to meet you."

"Okay. I guess."

"Let's go," he grinned.  Jade sighed and pocketed her phone, climbing into the passenger's side.  Mike pulled out of the cul de sac and sped off down the road toward a traffic hold-up.

~*~

He held the door for her at the café they'd parked at.  She wasn't used to the politeness of anyone toward her.  She smiled a thank you at him, strained, and walked into the place, waiting for him.  Mike grinned and led the way through the tiny place toward a small table where a brunette woman was already sitting, staring out the window.  Jade studied her for a moment.  She was wearing a salmon colored sun dress and beige, dressy flip-flops.  Her brown hair was hanging lightly around her shoulders in slightly curled tendrils, a few of which were pulled up in a very loose half-pony.  She looked thoughtful.  Her chin was rested on her hand and she was staring out the window to her right.  Her left leg was rested lazily on top of her right, and the foot jangled slowly back and forth, up and down, in a sort of nervous movement.  It was in that few moments, studying her, that Jade realized why exactly Mike had wanted to marry her.  She was very pretty in her own distinct way.

Mike stepped up to the table and smiled at her.  She jumped out of her thoughts and then smiled up at him.

"Oh hey."  He gave her a grin and then bent to kiss her cheek lightly, resting his hand gently on the small of her back for a few moments.  Jade stood awkwardly behind Mike, almost feeling like she was intruding on a private moment.

"This is Jade."  Jade forced a fake smile.  Mike's wife looked at Jade and smiled widely, as if her face might stick that way.

"Hi! I'm Anna."  She stuck her small hand out and caught Jade's, shaking it.  Jade felt a slight warmth spread through her chest.  She almost wanted to give Anna a real smile.  She seemed like a genuinely beautiful person. 

"Shall we?" Mike motioned toward two extra seats at the table.  Jade nodded then and sat down lightly, feeling almost out of place in the area of wardrobe.  Anna looked very nice in her sundress.  Mike was wearing a white and blue pinstriped button down shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, and nice jeans.  Jade, on the other hand, sat limply between them at the round table in a black baby tee, baggy jeans, and a pair of skateboarding shoes.  Her ash blond hair hung stupidly in a messy ponytail, her side-swipe bangs hanging in her face.  Neither of her two hosts seemed to mind, however, and they smiled at her.  Anna took a deep breath and then looked at Jade hard, but almost lovingly.

"So, this is the girl that's been driving my husband nuts?"  Mike shot her a playfully angry glare.  Jade smirked up at her and then glanced back down at the table.  She wondered what exactly Mike had told Anna.  Did she know where all the scars on Jade's body had come from?  She thought about them one by one: the two long, brown and white ones on the back of her left hand; the one on her right arm, just beside the bed in her elbow; and the one on her right calf side, longer and wider than any of them.  She felt so out of place.  These two, as they conversed, seemed so perfect for each other and for life.  They seemed like they had nothing to worry about.  They helped people in natural disasters around the world.  They rebuilt homes for people.  They raised money.  They were just perfect people.  Why was she sitting here with them?  What did she have to offer?  She felt a sudden sense of loss and despair.  She wanted to go home, suddenly; to just wallow in her own sorrow, knowing that nothing she could ever do would go to the lengths that the two amazing people sitting to her left and right had.