Pt. 2
They could have sat there in each others arms for hours watching that sunset. Too bad it only lasted twenty minutes. Josh sat on the blanket strumming away on his guitar, while Niki danced around the small fire they had made. She danced herself dizzy before she sat down on the blanket with him. She watched as he played a few notes. She started humming her own song.
“Strumming my pain with his fingers,” she softly sang, “singing my life with his words.” He looked up from his guitar. “Killing me softly with his song. Killing me softly…with his song. Telling my whole life with his words. Killing me softly with his song.” Josh fell in love with her voice before he physically saw her.
~Flashback~
He had a few minutes to kill before heading to the venue for sound check, so he sat in a dark corner of the lobby. He heard the ding of the elevator and kept his head down in the fear of being recognized. That’s when he heard this beautiful sound. The voice of a soulful angel. By the time he looked up to see who it was coming from, all he saw was his bodyguard, Lonnie, standing in front of him.
“Did you see her, man?” He stood up looking around the large man.
“Who you talkin’ ‘bout, C?” Lonnie waited for him to look up at him, but he never did.
“The one that was just singing. Dude, I need to find her.” He finally looked up at the guard.
“Oh, you mean the girl in the green and white zip up sweater.” JC shrugged. “Yeah, she was heading outside.”
“Thanks.” He tried to go around the rather large man, but stooped.
“Whoa there, man. Where do you think you’re going? Not out that door.” Lonnie pointed towards the main door. “I don’t think so.”
“But I need to find her. Will you please find her for me,” he asked with pleading eyes.
The guard put a hand on JC’s shoulder and said, “Yeah, C. I’ll find her for you.”
~End of Flashback~
“Josh, baby, are you alright?” She her hand over his knee.
“Huh?” He snapped out of his daze.
“You look like you were somewhere else.” She moved closer to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I was just thinking about…” He turned and looked at her the same way he did the very first time. He smiled inwardly just as he did then.
“What were you thinking about?”
He simply answered, “The first time I saw you.”
“I remember that.”
“Well, it was only like four or five months ago.” He put down his guitar and motioned her closer to him. “Come here, you.”
She made her way into his arms where she could feel the warmth. “Mmm…that feels nice,” she said.
“Hey, you’re freezing.” He rubbed his hands over her arms in an attempt to warm them.
“I’ll be fine. I wanna hear about when you first saw me.” She looked up at him. “I wanna know what you were thinking when you saw me that first time.”
Josh pulled the blanket up around them and kissed Niki’s temple. She snuggled in as close as she could to him. He took a deep breathe and closed his eyes. He envisioned when he saw her singing the underlay during ‘100 Ways’ with her friend. He knew it was her by the description that Lonnie gave him.
“Well, you know it was in Chicago, but you don’t know when, right?” He felt her head when she nodded. “During the first show and ‘100 Ways’, I was directly in front of you and your friend when I did the underlay instead of the part that everyone knows. The whole place was surprisingly quiet. I looked into the crowd, that when I saw the two of you still keeping up with me. Work for word.”
“It was funny to look up and see the look on your face.” She giggled. “Your eyes got wide and you looked tongue-tied. It was cute.” She shivered against him.
“You’re still cold?”
“Don’t go changing the subject. Besides, I’m fine. I wanna hear more.”
“Maybe we should head home.” He prepares himself to stand and to pull her up with him.
“No. I said I’m fine. And this is suppose to be romantic remember?” She winked at him. “Now, if you will get on with it, please”
“Okay. Okay.” He took a deep breathe before continuing. He closed his eyes and saw her outline in the extremely dim light of the Foundation Room. “The next time I saw you was during the meet and greet. You were standing next to Q trying to explain something to him. Your friend made her way to me. I signed her ticket stub quickly. My eyes led me back to you.”
“Oh yeah. Camera problems that night,” she got out just before a yawn. She was exhausted. They both were. He decided that if she shivered, yawned, or a combination of the two, they were packing it up and going home. He didn’t tell her this of course. Didn’t want to argue on her last night.
“Ok,” he continued. “You walked right over to me and stuck out your hand before saying, ’hey’ in that soft voice of yours. I looked at you and was like, ‘WOW!’.” She giggled. He rubbed her arms. “I put my arm around your shoulder and leaned into you. I wanted to tell you that you smelled wonderful, but as soon as the flash went off, you moved.”
“I told you that I brought my own pen and you said that I was smart for doing that,” she laughed.
“Hey,” he breathed into her neck. “Who’s telling this? Me or you?” His warmth tickled the hairs on her neck making her squirm in his grasp. “That’s what I thought.” He kissed down her neck and back up her jaw line before making contact with her lips. He was the first to break the kiss when he glimpse of something zipping through the sky. “Did you see that, baby? A shooting star! Make a wish!”
Niki closed her eyes and started the chant, “Starlight, Star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may. I wish I might have to wish I wish for tonight.”
"You are too cute, you know that?” He lightly kissed her again. “So what did you wish for?”
She turned and looked at him, and then said, “I can’t tell you my wish, silly. If I do that, it might not come true.”
“I knew that.” The cheesy grin spread across his face. All she could do was laugh. “Now, where was I?” He paused. “That’s right…the pen thing. Well, you were smart, girl. Not everyone brings a pen. You handed me the cd liner. My fingers brushed across yours sending out an electric shock. Did you feel it? It was that moment that I knew it was meant to be.” He intertwined his fingers with hers bringing them up to his lips and kissed the back of his hand.
She let out a sigh before replying, “To be honest, I thought it was my imagination.”
“Is it still your imagination?”
“Nope, this is a dream come true.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear.” He felt her body fighting to hold back a yawn, but it escaped. “How about we finish the talk on the way home?" He gently rubbed her arms. “Come on, baby. Let’s go”
“No. I want you to finish out here under the stars.”
“Under the stars? What?”
“Yeah, I’m starting to see the romance in it all.”
“Okay, but if you fall asleep,” he warned. “You may wake up regretting it.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“Fall asleep and you’ll find out,” he replied with a wicked grin.
“Whatever. Just get back to it already.” She was getting tired, but didn’t want to fall asleep just yet.
“Fine. Just remember what I said, okay?” She nodded. “Umm…okay. I signed the liner, but I could feel your eyes on me the whole time. When I looked up, my vision was locked on your soft brown eyes. I’ve been mesmerized by them ever since.”
“Aww…Josh, that’s so sweet.”
“Mmm hmm…” was all that came from him as he nibbled on her earlobe.
“Ooo…that feels good, baby, but,” she got out. “Focus on the story for right now. Please.”
“Sorry, but your ear just got in the way of my mouth,” he chuckled.
“Yeah right.” She slapped at his leg before rubbing the very spot she had just hit. “Now, go on.” She inched away from his month a bit so he could actually talk.
“We must have zoned out ‘cause all I remember after that was hearing Lonnie holler, ‘NEXT TWO!’.” He giggled. “I handed you back the liner. You were able to say thank you just as your friend grabbed you by the arm and handed you the camera. I wondered if I would ever see you again. It all happened too fast.” He let out a sigh.
“Yeah, I remember telling my friend that Lonnie rushed the sistas,” she laughed. “We looked at the picture just after we went through the door. I didn’t look at the liner ‘til a couple of days later. Okay, so maybe it was a week later. The point is I looked, right?” She looked up at him from her reclined position against his chest with love in her eyes.
“Yeah, and I’m glad you looked too,” he smiled. “I’m not gonna let you just walk out of my life again.” He held her tight as he listened to the waves of the ocean and she stared at the stars in the sky.
~Flashback~
“Dude, why’d you do that?” said a half dazed JC.
“What are you talkin’ about, C?” Lonnie said without looking over his shoulder at him.
“You know what I’m talkin’ about,” he paused. “The girl. Why did you rush her out?”
“Man, you were standing there in a daze, and you still had another twenty people to go.” The guard lead him to the elevator that would lead him to the backstage area. “I didn’t want to make you look anymore obvious than you already were, C.”
“Thanks I guess. I just hope she looked at the liner,” he mumbled.
“What did you put in the liner?” Lonnie looked over at JC when he didn’t answer right away. “C?”
“Well, I…umm,” he stumbled over his words as he absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck. “I wrote my cell number in it.”
“Way to go, C. Just pray she doesn’t lose it. Okay?” Lonnie lightly chuckled.
~End of Flashback~
He felt Niki relax against him more. That brought him back to reality. He knew that she had fallen asleep. He moved from behind her and gently laid her on the blanket. He gathered their belongings up and took them to the jeep. He came back with a bottle of water to put the fire out with. After discarding the bottle, he looked down at his sleeping girlfriend. She had not changed positions since he moved from behind her. He bent down and scooped her up, blanket and all. Somehow, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Where are we going?” she asked in her sleep.
We’re going home, angel.” He kissed her right above the eye. “Now go back to sleep.”
“But I wanna see the sunrise,” she mumbled.
“Shh…it hasn’t come out yet.” When she didn’t answer, he knew that she was once again asleep. He had already planned on staying ‘til sunrise, but didn’t tell Niki. When he came to the truck before, he adjusted the backseat and folded down the front passenger seat over to put his feet on. When he reached the truck, he put the sleeping beauty on the backseat. He, then, went around to the driver’s side and climbed in the back with her locking the door once he was settled. He covered himself with the extra blanket from the back before pulling Niki down on his lap. She pulled her legs up on the seat just like she did at his house. He knew she was now comfortable and not waking up anytime soon. He pulled the blanket up to her shoulders and slides a hand under the blanket and onto her back which he rubbed until he fell asleep.
