Incidental Happenstance (20 page)

             “Nope, you don’t need to remind me about that, but…” she pulled off her engagement ring and dropped it into her wallet, zipping it in. “That’s helpful!” Tia shook her finger at Lexi, scolding her.

            “Don’t rain on my parade, Tia! This would be a once-in-a-lifetime shot, and if the offer is out there, I’m taking it. Wait til you see him up close—he’s even hotter in person!”

            “Maybe you should let me have him then,” Tia teased, “since you already have someone and I’m all alone in this world.”

            “Sorry,” she smiled, “he’s already tagged me.”

            “I swear, if you do anything to embarrass yourself, or embarrass me, I’m going to have to beat you,” Tia stated.

            “Fine—I’ll keep the girls tucked away. But I’ll do what I have to do if it means I might get to meet Dylan Miller live and in person! Besides, you’ll be going out with your new cowboy and his band, so I’ll have him all to myself. How’d it go with the cowboy, anyway?” she asked, changing the subject.

            “I wouldn’t call him a cowboy, exactly,” Tia mused. “In fact, I wouldn’t call him a cowboy at all, and neither would you, if you gave him a chance.” She smiled. “But we had such an awesome day. I really like him, Lex.”

            “That’s great, honey. You know I really do want you to be happy right? Wait a minute,” she said, looking over Tia’s shoulder, “isn’t that—holy shit, it’s that the actress who was in that one movie, what’s her name?”

            Tia turned. “Penelope Valentine,” she replied, and she watched Penelope’s scowl with amusement as she was led to her fourth row seats. Tia tossed her the friendliest smile she could muster and threw her a little wave.
Groupie, indeed
, she thought.
I was making out with him while you were unsuccessfully hunting him down.  

            “Shit, we have better seats than her!” Lexi exclaimed. “She looks pissed!”

            “I’m sure she’s used to getting the extra star treatment. It’s pretty obvious that the seats
my
Dylan arranged for us aren’t part of the regular seating chart.” She turned to look at Lexi. “You know, my Dylan, the one you refuse to meet. The one I really really like.”

            But Lexi was too preoccupied by the hateful looks being shot at them by the Hollywood hotshot. Never in a million years did she think she’d upstage a megastar! “Wow, she really does look downright livid,” she said. “She’s still staring right at us.”

            Before Tia could reply, the lights dimmed, and the band stepped out onto the stage. The audience was immediately on its feet, roaring and whistling for the start of the show. Tia was full of energy and emotion, and couldn’t wait to see how it would play out with Lexi. Dylan strutted to the front of the stage and addressed his adoring fans.

            “Good evening Chicaaag-o!” he howled into the mike. The crowd answered with a deafening roar. “It’s always good to be in this beautiful city…” he turned and looked down at Tia  €…full of beautiful people! I hope you are having a good evening so far!” They pounded into the intro for
Seepage,
and the crowd roared their approval. 

            “See!!” Lexi yelled over the crowd. “What did I tell you? Did you see that? He’s looking right at me! Damn, he is so hot! I told you he’s even better looking up close!” She reached out her hand toward the stage. “God, I could almost touch him right now!”

            “How do you know he wasn’t looking at me that time?” Tia questioned. “I’m pretty sure he was looking at me.”

            “You weren’t even here when he came out with Outcast! It was like he was looking for me in the crowd!”

            “We’ll see,” Tia said knowingly, but the song was kicking into high gear, and they lost themselves in the music. 

                The more I look the more I see/ Both the left and right are the enemy/

You think you are but you’re not free/ Time to open up your eyes…

Dylan was amazing. It was like seeing him in an entirely new light. He was still the rock-god persona, but, tonight at least, he belonged to her. She tried not to imagine what it might be like a year from now, seeing him on tour again from the middle of the second pavilion, wondering about what could have been and having him totally inaccessible to her. Would she join the pathetic throngs of women outside the stage entrance hours before the show, begging to be allowed backstage? Would she ever see him again after this weekend, or even this night? But, if there was one thing she learned from losing Nick, it was that you had to make every moment, every second, count, and she was determined to do that until she said goodbye to him and he was nothing more than an incredibly sweet memory.

            As the notes from the first song faded out, Dylan looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back and cheered with the rest of the crowd as Dylan strummed the opening chords of
Into the Blue
, another of Tia’s requests.

            She turned to Lexi. “I think they might sing
Pull You Up
tonight—I just have a feeling,” she said.

            “Yeah, I wish!” she yelled over the crowd. “But it’s not going to happen—sorry honey. You know they’ve never played that one live. Ever.” Tia worked to hide her own smirk. Dylan hadn’t told her that he would definitely play it; in fact he’d said ‘no promises’ again; but she was pretty sure that he would. It was written in the raised eyebrows when the rest of the guys read the set list Dylan handed them after dinner. She was thinking that he wanted to surprise her with it.

            They danced and swayed with the music, and now the guy who’d been trying to dance with Lexi was vying for her attention, as well. She ignored him and kept her focus on Dylan, who was wowing the crowd with his incredibly versatile voice and raw passion for the music. Lexi was working really hard to get his attention, and Tia could see the laugh behind his eyes. He still didn’t know that she’d kept him a secret, or that Lexi had no idea that he was the reason she was in the first row. Soon, though, all would be revealed, and she couldn’t wait to see the look on Lexi’s face when she figured it out.

            When
Into the Blue
faded off, Dylan stepped up to the mike and addressed the crowd. “Thank you very much Chica-go!” he crooned. “This next song is very special to me,” he said over the crowd noise, “but we’ve never played it live, so bear with me, OK?” The crowd responded as if he’d just agreed to play at their private parties. “Last night, in your beautiful city, a beautiful woman taught me a lesson about moving on,” he continued. He hesitated for just a moment as the crowd quieted. “I haven’t played this song in a very long time and never for an audience—so I might be kind of rusty—but tonight, the time has finally come. This night is for you, Tia, beautiful girl—and for you, Chicago.” He strummed the first notes of
I’ll
Pull You Up
on his guitar, and the crowd went absolutely ballistic.

            He smiled down at Tia, and she returned it with a blown kiss.

            Lexi stood stunned; slack jawed, as the pieces of the puzzle came together in her mind.
I met him at Last Stop…his name is Dylan…he’s in a band…he has connections with the management of the venue…he’s only in town a couple days…I’m spending the day with him…I’ll be there before InHap hits the stage…I can just see you dancing right now, trying to get the band’s attention…

            Her jaw remained unhinged as she watched the exchange between her best friend and the man on the stage. Dylan Miller. Their eyes were locked on each other, and he was singing right to her as if no one else existed at the moment—as if there weren’t fifty thousand other people in the stadium. She was stunned, to say the least, and missed most of the song as she watched her friend, obviously hypnotized and rightfully so, at the intimate words being sung right to her. When the song finally ended and Dylan had strummed the last note on his guitar, Lexi watched Tia bow to him, blow a kiss, wipe a tear from her cheek, and mouth a thank you at him. He bowed back to her, and then to the crowd as he soaked up the adulation that was due him after such a spectacular and unexpected performance.

            It took Lexi another moment before she finally regained some of her composure and she was able to comprehend what she’d just seen. Dylan Miller had just sung to her best friend from the stage, and it was a song he’d never sung before in concert. He was her cowboy.

            Tia didn’t see the shove coming, so when Lexi hit her, she bumped into the dancer guy full force. When she turned to face Lexi, she could see the comprehension on her face.

            “What the fuck!?” she yelled. “Dylan Miller?” She paused to catch her breath. “Dylan fucking Miller? That’s who you met last night, are you kidding me??”

            The look on her face was priceless, and Tia was instantly glad she hadn’t told her sooner.  She would remember that stunned expression forever, and laugh every time she recalled it. She smiled back sweetly at Lexi and merely shrugged her shoulders.

            “You met Dylan Miller—last night—at that dump, and then you neglected to tell me about it?”

            Tia smiled at her mischievously and tipped her head, raising her eyebrows. “It was just so much more fun watching you discover it for yourself!”

            “You’re such a bitch!” She shoved her again. “I can’t believe yo!”

            Tia saw Dylan’s look of concern as he looked down on their exchange and she smiled to reassure him it was OK. “Well,” she said with a sly grin, “I told you he was looking at me!”

            Lexi’s mouth couldn’t seem to remember how to close, but Tia said, “You can yell at me later. Right now, I have an entire InHap concert dedicated to me, and I plan to enjoy it.” 

            “Thank you very much,” Dylan said to the crowd with his eyes locked on Tia’s. “I know it’s kind of rusty, but it felt good to get it out.”

            The crowd exploded in another round of adoring applause, and Bo started hammering out the beat for the next number, which began with a long sax intro. Lexi turned back to her, her mouth still hanging open.

            “I can’t believe…”

            “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either,” Tia exploded, unable to keep her calm composure a minute longer and jumping up and down, exclaiming, “He’s such a great guy Lex! He’s open, and honest, and genuine…”

            “You met Dylan Miller. At
Last Stop
.” It was more of a statement than a question.

            “Yeah, I did,” she said, grinning.

            “Holy shit.” She spoke the words slowly, reverently.

            “You can say that again,” Tia teased. “You know, though, it’s really too bad that you absolutely refuse to come out with us after the show, and that nothing I could say would change your mind. Because I wouldn’t want you to feel like a third wheel, or anything, or be stuck with the rest of the band while I get to know my ‘cowboy.’” She pulled the laminated “All Access” pass out of her bag and dangled it in front of Lexi. “I wonder how much I could get for this backstage pass, since you positively won’t be joining us for Bo’s party?” she said with a sardonic grin. “I bet your little dancing partner would pay big bucks for it.” She pulled it out of Lexi’s grab radius. “Think I could get a few hundred bucks? I didn’t get Bo a present, so I could use the money for that…”

            “To hell with that!” she yelled. “Oh my God—you’re diabolical! You obviously knew all along that I would go!” she said, grabbing it from Tia’s hand and turning it over in her hand. “Holy crap,” she said reverently. “All access. This thing is like gold!”

            “It is. And, of course I knew without a doubt that you’d go out with us—I won’t even make you beg on your knees in front of all these people—but for that you’ll owe me big! However,” she added firmly, “I most definitely draw the line at gimmes. That man is mine.”

            “Dylan Miller,” she said, dumbfounded. “Your man. Seriously!”

            Tia’s voice fell when she had to admit out loud what she didn’t want to even think about. “Well, for tonight anyway. They have one more show tomorrow, then he’s finishing up in the US and heading to Europe for the summer. Then he’s going to film a movie in New Zealand.”

            “New Zealand? Could that be any further away?”

            “I don’t think so. Pretty much the other side of the world. So I probably only have tonight.”

            “Oh my God, so are you going to…”

            “I don’t know,” she interrupted. “I’m definitely not that kind of girl---but it’s hot, Lex, really hot between us. He keeps reminding me that he can’t make me any promises, and I know that.” She stopped to take a breath. “But I’ve thought about it, believe me! A lot. And when he kisses me, I have a hard time keeping my control…”

            “Oh my GOD! You kissed him?”

            Tia nodded, her smile taking over her face. “Numerous times,” she added slyly, amused when Lexi’s eyes widened. “But,” she added, “it might hurt more to take it to that level and then have to say goodbye.”

            “Holy shit—how could you not? That would be an amazing level! Oh God, I can’t wait to tell…everyone!”

            Tia grabbed her arms and pulled her close, her tone turning serious. “Absolutely not. You tell no one. NO ONE! Not even Ryan, got it?”