Anna was excited to broker an introduction between Prince and Noelle because she remembered that Prince was briefly mentioned in Noelle's book.
She approached Noelle with much praise, "This was wonderful, truly. I so wish more could have been here to see you. Our darn Minnesota polar vortex just had to make it difficult."
"No worries Anna, the small group was fun and they asked great questions." Noelle said appreciatively.
"I want you to meet a Minnesota native that you might recognize from chapt-." Anna said while turning around, her eyes now darting quickly, searching the store to locate Prince.
"Shoot!" Anna declared.
"Is something wrong?" Noelle asked.
"Uh...uhm...no. Just uhm...I was just looking for an avid reader that comes in." Shaking her head while still scanning the store she mumbled, "He is a damn unicorn."
Noelle was perplexed by Anna's unicorn reference but chose to giggle and not ask.
Her handsome agent Brad interuppted, "Noelle we'd better get going, I got us on an earlier flight hoping to get out of town before they start canceling flights."
"Oh ok, thanks for thinking of it."
The two women said their goodbyes while he continued to pack up their belongings.
Prince sat in his car thinking of how to remedy the problem of being charged with shoplifting. If he went back in the store to pay, surely Anna would snag him to make a fuss of not only his cat-like departure, but the fact he neglected to pay for Noelle's book. That would be too embarassing and he's too shy to survive that.
The truth is, Prince had grown shy with women after Manuela and didn't find the chase of sweet young things very appealing. Their immaturity that was once cute to him now made him feel like a silly old man. Prince wanted to have an actual conversation about the pharaohs of Egypt, civil rights issues that still plagued America and God. You need a history to speak intelligently in these topics and young ones didn't have that breadth of life yet.
He pondered lots of things these days...his relevancy in the music industry and his lack of attraction to younger women. Perhaps his major contribution to music had already happened administratively, the SLAVE era permitting artists to own their masters.
Maybe...just maybe his overall satisfaction has changed with age necessitating him to pursue a different avenue in music, and in turn, evolve his taste in women.
Neither here nor there, he had become a bit of a recluse when it came to meeting new people and especially so when it came to meeting beautiful women.
Upon arriving back to Paisley, he decided to leave Anna a voicemail, "Hey Anna...Prince here...say I'm sorry I had to break away so quick. I wanted to let you know I accidentally left with Noelle's book in hand without paying. I apologize and please look for a check from me. I'll be sure to put it to your attention on the envelope. Have a good weekend."
Prince didn't give Anna a reason for his quick departure as most people know he can be a bit aloof. It's not a myth, him being a bit mysterious.
Tossing Noelle's book onto his bed and keys on the dresser, he decided to take a hot bath to warm his bones from the night's snappy chill.
Half the battle of a good bath is acquiring just the right temperature, which Prince happened to have a knack for, as least that's what many of the women in his life had shared through the years.
With a press of a wall button, music with a seductive sway piped in through the corner speakers of the bathroom as he washed his face clean of the makeup which had only enhanced his already beautiful features. The water felt good splashing on his face helping to warm him after the wintery excursion.
Naked, placing his hands behind his head, he did a few pelvic thrusts to the beat of the music while traveling back to the bed to grab Noelle's book.
"You still got the moves Nelson." Shaking his tush and swiveling his hips to unwind after the unexpected stressful evening.
Returning to the bathtub, he eased himself down into the steamy water that not only felt good on his cold, aching bones, but warmed his skin giving him a feel that could only be described as a tingling numbness.
A handtowel on the edge of the tub spot dried his hands well enough to pick up the book.
Slipping down further in the water, he read the book's dedication.
To the man I have yet to meet.
A fermata is a long interval of silence in a piece of music...
Someday...when I finally hear a beautiful melody...I'll realize I was waiting for you.
4EVER my love,
Noelle
"Damn." He said aloud with a small smile while rereading her words that resonated because of the musical reference.
Turning the page...
Chapter 1
Noelle didn't waste any time to grab her readers' attention. Skimming the page, Prince was more than intrigued by the partial recount of a sexual experience.
"Gently taking my wrists, he pinned them above my head and locked them in his one hand while is lips tenderly pecked.
"You are mine," he evoked in a breath as his hands roamed down my belly and onto the small patch of well landscaped hair.
My chest was heaving, mind in a thick fog and my core anxiously awaited his touch. Easing further between my thighs the tip of his finger slowly entered me as my eyes edged shut.
I'm undone, delirious.
"Make me yours." I whispered.
He was everywhere, but the only place I longed for him to be was tucked away deep inside me.
Jonathan was my first love and he was my first everything...I was 24."
Prince shyly smiled, "Virgin until 24 huh? That's my good girl."
Catching what he had just said, Prince was angry, pursing his lips and hurling the book across the room having it hit the wall and land in front of the bathroom door.
More than a bit irritated with his possessive my statement, he busily washed himself, dried off and moisturized while occasionally catching Noelle's book in his peripheral vision.
The fragrant smell of lavender weighed heavily in the humid air after his steamy bath, leaving him feeling a bit sleepy.
Black silk pajamas clung to his moisturized skin as he slipped into bed pressing on his eyes with his index finger and thumb avoiding the pages that kept staring at him from afar.
Turning his body away from the bathroom door, he fell into a hard sleep only to wake up with Noelle's book in plain view upon opening his eyes.
Once again turning way to the wall, his eyelids blinked heavily until sleep captured him once again.
When he woke in the morning, just as before, the book was in his view beckoning him to read.
After using the bathroom, he snatched the book off the floor taking it back to bed with him.
Flipping through a couple of chapters, purposefully not reading it in order, his eyes scanned the page.
"Like most first crushes the relationship ended...but let me first tell you about the beginning.
It was the spring of 1984 and my father was suddenly transfered to Toronto Canada to set up his company's new brokerage office.
Blake Darren was the epitome of what many girls were attracted to in the 80s. He was preppy, a star athlete and a major academic, a rare mix of the full package handsome with brawn and brain.
Since I transferred in the spring, it was hard to fit in being new at the end of the school year so I got a job at a candy store at the mall to avoid the social challenges.
I didn't think I was on Blake's radar, but later he told me I caught his eye on my very first day standing on the school steps. Considering who he was in the school social chain, I was more than flattered.
We were fast friends, which evolved a little to hanging out the entire summer together. I was busy working and going to summer school to catch up on a math class that kept me from progressing to my junior year due to my family's move friom the States.
Truthfully, working took up most of my time. My parents had money but instilled a strong work ethic and were clear you make your own way in life.
When Blake left for college in the fall, my life got a little more quiet socially until I kicked it up a bit more with some fellow retail employees I had already been hanging out with occasionally after work.
Marissa worked at The Limited.
Polly at Merle Norman Cosmetics.
Shelby at Payless Shoes.
One night after work the four of us went out to a local burger joint and Marissa was looking at the entertainment section of the newspaper.
Marissa, who turned out later to be my college roomate and BFF, was the prettiest mixed raced girl I had ever seen. Her skin was a shade darker than butterscotch and her features reminded me of a Disney princess, exotic yet innocent.
Boys were always sniffing around her, but she paid them no mind as she had goals, medical school. Marissa never talked about a boy...until...that night at the burger place when she was reading the entertainment section...
"My man...MY MAN is coming!!!!" She shouted hysterically.
The whole restaurant turned to look at Marissa who was fanning herself with a stack of napkins.
"Uh...oooh shiiiiiit! Uh oh oh we are all going to this concert!!!! I heard if you throw your panties up on stage he'll set them on the stage prop steps for when he does the Darling Nikki number. HE IS GONNA HAVE MY PANNIES!!!"
Prince's mouth dropped open at his reference, but continued to read as fast as he could.
We were all giggling and telling Marissa to quiet down as patrons started to laugh at her display.
"Who is coming?" I asked as I saw all the other girls get bug-eyed and start howling amazed that I didn't know who who was. "Who? Who?" I kept imploring them.
"Pfft stop Noelle you're sounding like an old barn owl. Prince and the mother fing Revolution that's who. Haven't you seen Purple Rain?" Marissa scolded arrogantly.
Prince abruptly sat up in his bed upon reading the reference to Purple Rain and began to fluff his pillows.
"Do you know who Prince is?" Marissa asked accusingly like I was the last moron on earth.
"I think I've heard of him." Embarassed beyond belief. My father's job, us moving from New York to Toronto, me transitioning to another school and dealing with not fitting in...I just wasn't paying much attention to pop culture.
Marissa frantically paged through the newspaper. "Purple Rain is playing in 20 minutes, we are goin. Come on now."
Scrambling for dollars to pay for our burgers, we high tailed it out of the joint and made our way down to the theater.
We got a discount for working at the mall and so Marissa paid for my ticket. "My treat, I'm opening your eyes to the finest man in the world."
It was funny to hear Marissa speak this way after never hearing a peep about a boy for the past eight or so months that I had known her.
We no more got in the theater and the lights dimmed. Marissa and I were busy chomping on a shared popcorn.
When the movie started...it was a bunch of flash scenes, the first was a silhouette of Prince, backlit and holding his guitar.
"That's mother fing him. That's my baby. Oh lawd." Marissa squealed.
Flashes and loud music was pounding through the theater as an eye popped up, with eyeliner...
Then I saw him, a close up of that gorgeous face, his tongue licking his fingers with a seductive stare into the camera...you definitely know the one.
That movie, well it did things to me. Namely it had me thinking about love and sex for what felt like the first time, even though it wasn't. It awakened something in me. Not to mention, it made me want to be Appolonia. That love scene where he obviously slipped underneath her g-string and slid his finger across her you know, well I wanted it to be me. My hand squeezed the popcorn bag so hard that corn popped out of the bag and flew everywhere.
"Damnit Noelle what's wrong with you wasting my popcorn?" Marissa hollered too loudly being shushed by other theater goers.
"Noelle's got it bad for your man Marissa!" Polly said giggly as an usher came and asked if everything was ok with us.
Prince was smiling so big that his nose was a bit wrinkled. It wasn't pushing it to say he more than tickled at reading how enamoured Noelle was with him.
Shelby assured the usher we were fine and that we'd be more quiet.
Scrunching down into my seat, I watch, amazed at his gorgeousness.
When it came to that scene with Prince down her g-string, I was so damn turned on. I found myself talking out loud whispering, "Damn...what he look'in for?"
The girls all laughed at me, but that was the first time I had ever experienced those kinds of feelings... and boy, were they ever strong."
Prince giggled to himself trying toenvision these four, high school junior girls in the theater sexually charge over the movie that catapulted him into stardom...but he was also anxious to continue reading as he hoped Noelle might share more about what she thought of him.
"The tour came to Toronto at the Maple Leaf Gardens and the four of us were decked out in purple dresses hoping to get noticed by Prince.
Polly's dad worked for Camelot Music so he was able to get us front row tickets and Marissa was more than appreciative. No lie, I was too.
We all got something out of that night.
Shelby made out with a guy from school that happened to be sitting a couple seats down from us. Prince had that affect on you, making you more sexually amorous.
Polly took some great photos of Prince with a camera she snuck in. Eventually, we made a poster of this one photo, his eyes wide, ruffled shirt tucked in but completely unbuttoned, chest hair fully apparent with a couple of chains and a cross flying, tight paisley pants with the buttons up the sides, right hand to his ear begging the crowd he wanted to hear 'em and left hand holding onto that guitar.
We promised one another that no matter how old we got, or who we married we would still hang this poster in our bedroom somewhere. We visit one another frequently, and to this day, that poster hangs immortalizing that memorable concert and year in our lives.
Marissa took her panties, or I should say pannies, off right there and slingshot them up on stage. He appreciatively winked at her and set them on the stairs for the Darling Nikki set. She loves telling that story to this day, especially to her husband and teenage kids.
Me...I just fell in love that night.
Oh...and what happened to Blake? Well...when I relayed the Prince concert story to him and how crazy about him I was...Blake thought us girls were crazy.
With a jealous tone Blake said, "He's short and wears makeup, he has to be gay."
I snapped back, "Well at least he isn't what you are."
"What's that?" Blake asked.
"Lonely!"
Needless to say, I never saw Blake again."
Prince was chuckling hard at the diss Noelle threw at Blake. "That story alone was worth shoplifting that book." Prince said aloud with a laugh while smiling smuggly and tossing her book onto his nightstand.
Walking into his closet, he selected a warm sweater and pull on knit pants to brave another chilly day.
Sitting in his office, Prince was sure to make out a check to Barnes and Noble before addressing other administrative items.
He kept thinking about Noelle's book in between his busy work. A smile would creep on his face every time he thought of her words.
One might say he behaved like a man that was a bit smitten, but he'd never admit it. As far as he was concerned, he was done with women and solely focusing on getting his music groove back. A relationship is the last thing he needed or wanted, but that wouldn't stop him from reading her book.
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
Noelle and her agent Bradley made their flight and it was a good thing they did because the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport was closed 90 minutes later.
There were few things Noelle splurged on in life, but one of them was first class airfare. If she could afford it, she always sat in first class. Thankfully though, this was on her publisher's dime do she didn't have to think about it.
Bradley was going over her itinerary upon her return. Your European signing tour starts the end of the week when you get back, we can head to Spain the week of December 8th..."
"Bradley I can't jump right into the European tour right away. I need to be home a week."
"What?" Bradley said confused.
"I told you this from the beginning. I have some clients I need to see and then the 10th I promised The Shakespeare Company that I'd come back since they had so many people they had to turn away. It would have to start the week of the 15th and I want to be home for Christmas so please don't have me in another country alone for the holidays."
"Well you wouldn't be alone, you know I'm traveling with you.
"I don't want to be away from my family."
"Well I'll talk with the powers that be at the publisher and share your feelings. I can't guarantee they'll go along with it. With the time of year, this is a great opportunity to tap the market of those still searching for love. Plus you know your book makes a great Chanukah or Christmas gift."
Noelle didn't even want to think about being away during the holidays. Maybe she could fly home if she was close by...like London is such a short flight to Paris. She couldn't remember the schedule they proposed and the stress of trying to get to the airport in the bitter cold and snow not knowing if their flight would be canceled was still ever present.
Nope Noelle just wanted to fall asleep for the next eight and a half hours. She wanted to think of nothing, except maybe her own warm bed when she arrived home. Living out of hotels, no matter how nice they are, gets old.
Happy Sunday purple lovelies! 💜💜💋💋