Back in the Saddle

Joe's Panic Attack

Annie

I put the car in park with a sigh.  Never have five days gone by more quickly (well, that I remember, at least).  The first goodbye was bad enough with Anthony.  Now we've got another one–just the two of us here in my Trans AM.

        "Be safe," I said pleadingly, thinking about his touring with the Joe Perry Project.

        He smiled sadly.  "I will.  I love you."

        "God, I hate this," I mutter.

        "You could always come with us," he offers.

        "Have you forgotten about the small child currently latched on to Tom?" I asked, giving a half smile.

        "He'd love it," Joe says.

        I roll my eyes.  "I just told you to be safe.  Put all of you in a room with him?  Steven'll have him injec–"

        Joe closes his eyes, holding up a hand.  "Please, don't give me a heart-attack right now."  He laughed, but he was kind of serious and it was more of a strangled plea for help.

        I smiled, like, Sorry.  He shook his head, undoubtedly thinking, What am I gonna do with you?  And then leaned in and kissed me deeply for quite a long time.  We hadn't said much to each other on the hour and a half drive to the hotel.  Yeah, instead of staying at a hotel in Worcester after their gig last night, he came home.  I was dropping him off before the second (and last) show in Worcester, and then they would leave for Philadelphia after that.

        "You wanna stay for the show?" he mumbled, forehead resting against on mine.

        Hell yeah!  But... "I can't," I said.  I looked out the window, over at Tom, Brad, and Joey, sitting on the ground in the hot summer sun, talking to Anthony.  I smiled.  "I've got a baseball practice to attend."

        Joe kisses me again.  "I love you," he repeats.

        He's gotta go.  He's opening the door.  I don't want him to go.  I kiss him back.  "I love you too."

        "I'll call when we get there; tonight if I can," he promises, kissing me one last time.

        I nod.  "Okay."

        He opens the door.  "We'll talk soon, sweets," he says, shutting the door slowly.

        "Good luck tonight," I say.  And then the door is shut, and he walks into the theater.

        I remove myself from the car with a sigh and head on over to Joey, Tom, and Brad.  "Hey, guys," I said kind of dully.  "Anthony, we gotta head out, man."

        Tom smiled, pulling me in for a hug.  "Aw, Annie," he said, "it'll be over before you know it."

        I smiled and said good luck and goodbye to Joey and Brad, after Tom, telling them to tell Steven I said hey.  And then Anthony and I headed back home for baseball practice.

—

Elaine

Now I've really gone and done it.

        If Louis finds out... Oh, God.

        But how could I resist?!  This is Steven Tyler from Aerosmith we're talking about here!

        Okay.  I suppose I should back up a bit...

        First off, I'm Elaine Benecevi, but I go by Lainey and nothing else, really.  I live with my boyfriend Louis a few minutes from where I work at the local coffee joint.  That's the first place in which I met Steven Tyler.  I also work at the hotel as a maid, also where I happened to run into Steven.