Caught Like A Fly

Ronnie saw me with Andy in my arms, looking like a miserable heap of lavender dress and legs, and came over to us. He didn't say anything right away, but she struggled to have me set her down so she could give him a hug.

"I'm sorry, you were right," she mumbled, and he patted her on the back. A small pang of jealously ran through me before I could quench it. I wanted to be the one she confided in, but I shook my head slightly to clear the thought. This is what got us here in the first place. I tried to be too many things. Well, a lot of things got us to where we were now, but I'm sure it didn't help.

I couldn't comprehend what my life would be like without my band, and it baffled me that I didn't notice that she was suffering. All of her little nuances lately were suddenly explained, how snappy she'd been with me and why she was being so emotional about everything. "Emotional" was not how I would have described Andy when I met her. Belligerent, maybe, but not emotional.

"It's okay, he's coming back," Ronnie reassured her, and it irked me a little that she believed it when he said it. "Stay at home. I know you have an apartment in L.A., and you should write music. Seriously. Have something ready for when I get home so I know you haven't been wasting away, got it?" She snorted at him.

"Yes, Dad," she said, and he smirked at her. Well, at least someone got her to be sarcastic again.

"Go on, I have to talk to Jacky before you wound him beyond repair," he said, shooing her with his hand. She flipped him off before taking her shoes from me and walking to the elevator alone. She offered a small smile and a wave for me before the doors closed on her.

"Jesus Christ, I wish I had your ability with females," I said disbelievingly, glancing between him and the elevator. "She's been a sappy mess for months and a couple sentences from you have her back to her old self." Ronnie shrugged.

"I gave her something to do," he said. "I've already called Brett to see if any bands need a guitar player, and his list was endless. I need her to write something so I can send it to him. She'll have something in less than a week."

"It's hard to believe you and Viv didn't plan this," I said, shaking my head. "Get rid of me for a couple of weeks to give her nothing else to do but play her guitar and put her with a band."

"Actually, it was all Viv," he said, laughing lightly and looking at his bride. "She knows Andy well enough now to know that she won't lock herself away from you." He grimaced and I laughed. I remember the days when Viv would literally lock herself in her garage and ignore Ronnie for days. He was so pissed when he learned she let me inside during those periods to have pizza with her when not even Rachel was allowed in. Ronnie had an awfully comfortable recliner in there.

"I should probably phone my mum and tell her I'm coming to see her," I said, letting my excitement show now that Andy was upstairs. "Thank you, Ronnie. This is best gift you could have given me."

"Well, I kind of snatched you out of England," he said, grinning. "You're the greatest guitar player I could have asked for, the least I could do is let your see your family."

* * *

I didn't go to my room, but wandered to Jacky's instead. Viv had given me a key card in case I decided to start fixing things between us, but now it was only useful so I could dig through his suitcase and steal one of his sweatshirts before he left.

I knelt down by the open luggage and rummaged through his multitude of t-shirts and jeans before finding what I was looking for. I shook it out in case some unmentionables were folded inside, but a piece of paper fell out instead. I picked it up and smiled. It was a picture of us when we were hanging out on tour. My hair was ratty and greasy, Ronnie's white scarf hanging from my neck. Jacky looked perfect with his contagious smile. I already missed him and he was still downstairs.

After climbing into his bed I pulled the sweatshirt on over my dress and inhaled his distinctive smell; a touch of cologne, his skin and whatever laundry detergent he used. I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes. Sleep was a long way away, but I occupied my thoughts with memories of us before everything started falling apart.

* * *

Ronnie left to go back to dancing with Viv, and I immediately called my parents' house. It rang for a while; it was about six in the morning back in England, but it my dad that answered.

"Hello?" he asked groggily. "Anyone there?"

"Yeah, it's Jacky," I said, my cheeks beginning to ache from being so happy. "I'm headed home in the morning for a short holiday."

"What's that? Dearest! Jacky is on the telephone--"

"Oh, you're coming home?" I heard my mum say.

"For a couple of weeks," I told her, and she excitedly relayed the information. "I leave in the morning."

"Well, you'll need to be picked up from the airport, then? You just phone us back when you land, dear," she said. "I expect to hear about this young woman you've been seeing. Is she coming with you?"

"No," I said glumly. "She has too many things to do here."

"Too bad," my mum said. "I would have loved to meet her."

"You will."

"Oh, this is so exciting! I need to call my sisters, and oh my goodness, I had better get going, hadn't I? I'll see you soon." We exchanged goodbyes and I love you's, and I headed to Andy's room. It was dark and when I flipped on the lights, she was nowhere to be seen. A flutter of panic entered my chest, but before I gathered a search party, I jogged down to the other end of the long hallway to my room. I didn't need to turn on the lights to see the moon shining on the small lump on my bed. Sighing, I went over to her. She was wearing my sweatshirt, the hood pulled up and everything. I thought she was asleep, but when I looked at her face her eyes were wide open and flickered over at me for a moment before closing.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice sounding off. "I have been a really shitty girlfriend lately."

"No, you just...okay. Yeah. You have." She laughed quietly in agreement.

"There's something you have to know before you go," she said, flipping over so she could look at me properly. "You still make me uncomfortable, so I've been having a hard time trying to find out what to do to prove that I really want you, and that I really love you."

"Okay," I said, butterflies in my chest and stomach.

"It's a surprise and I have to wait before I can show you," she said cryptically. "Can you Skype over there?"

"Yeah, but why can't you show me right now?" I asked, confused as to why it would have to wait.

"I just can't," she said, shaking her head like she did when she was getting frustrated with someone.

"Come on," I said, putting my hands on the bed, my arms on both sides of her. "We both know I'll get it out of you." I kissed her forehead. "You suck with secrets."

"I'll never tell," she said testily, and a smile slowly spread across her face. "Unless of course, you want to torture it out of me."

"Remember, you suggested it," I said, and climbed over her to kneel between her knees. I set one hand lightly on her ankle and slid it up to her knee and back. To the hem of her dress and back. To her hip and back before repeating the same thing on her other leg. It had been over two weeks since we had done anything, so this wouldn't take long. I hovered over her, kissed the corner of her mouth, ghosted over her lips and kissed the other corner. I pushed her dress up to her waist and tugged the skin-colored panties from her hips, letting my hands touch her skin until they were forgotten on the floor. She started breathing from her mouth instead of her nose, which meant she was about to give up. I grabbed her hips and leaned up to kiss her open mouth as slowly as possible, but I didn't have to do it for long.

"Jesus Christ," she said, sitting up on her elbows. "You are an asshole."

"Well?" I asked, back up on my knees and trailing my hands up the insides of her thighs, stopping a few inches short of where she wanted them to.

"I have to...make it first," she said carefully. She emphasized "make" and looked at me. So whatever it was, it wasn't finished. "Please don't make me ruin my amazing surprise for you!" She was pleading now, sticking out her bottom lip and widening her eyes to make herself look more innocent.

"If you're going for the innocent puppy eyes, lying half naked on a man's hotel bed with your legs spread like that isn't helping." She looked down and blushed.

"It helps when you want in his pants, though. Come here, you cheeky bastard."