Baby, You Save Me

“AJ!!! Wake up! Billy just told me gave a tour to the Jonas Brothers yesterday, and I want to know everything!” a loud voice was yelling. I opened my eyes to see one of my friends, Jack Davis, jumping up and down on my bed. He is about two years younger than me with short dirty blond hair that was shoved underneath a cowboy hat. He was wearing a flannel shirt with a pair of jeans and cowboy boots.

“Get off. You’re getting dirt all over my bed,” I growled. I am NOT happy to be woken up on my one day to sleep in. “And quit yelling. You’ll spook the horses.” I slept on a bed in the hayloft in the barn above all the horses, and if I made loud noises then the horses below me could hear and usually got freaked out.

“Wow, someone’s a little grumpy gills this morning,” Jack climbed off my bed and sat on the edge.

“You know I hate being woken up on my one day to sleep in, you little twerp,” I grumbled. I turned over onto my side facing toward him.

“AJ, please tell me what they were like? Were they as hot in person as they are in the magazines?” He begged with a pout on his face. I just laughed. It was so like him to want to hear about their attractive looks before their personalities. “Please tell me at least one of them is gay.”

“Sorry bud, you’re out of luck,” I frowned toward him. “Kevin is married, Joe has a girlfriend, and I’m pretty sure that Nick has the hots for his best friend.”

“Damn! The good ones are always taken,” he muttered. “Were they hot?”

“Yeah, I mean they were all attractive,” I said nonchalantly, “but I have to admit that Joe has looks that makes one want to do very dirty things with him.” I gave Jack a devilish grin and winked.

“Girl, you would do dirty things with any man if he was attractive,” Jack laughed. He nudged my elbow while I glared at him and then stuck out my tongue. “Very mature.”

“You know I’m the most mature person in the world,” I joked. “Now did you wake me up at,” I checked my watch, “6:30 just to get info on some popstars?”

“No, breakfast is ready and Billy wanted me to get you,” Jack stood up and brushed the hay and dirt off of his jeans.

“Alright,” I yawned. I threw the covers off myself and stood up. I was just in my bra and underwear, but I really didn’t care. Jack has seen me in less than this so many times. He’s gay so it just didn’t really matter. Not that it would really matter if he was straight. I don’t get awkward, weird, or embarrassed about stuff like that. I have done too much in my past that I don’t care. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from my dresser. I grabbed my boots and put them all on and followed Jack to the house. He opened the door, and the smell of bacon and eggs hit me. I took a deep breath of the delicious scent and smiled. We wandered back into the kitchen, where Billy was standing at the stove.

“Mornin’, how you feeling?” he grinned at me.

“Ha ha ha. We are all just a bunch of jokesters today aren’t we?” I said sarcastically. “Would you please explain to me why the hell I’m up so early on my day off?” I poured myself a cup of coffee and added some cream.

“My doctor’s appointment is today and I want you both to be there. It’s at nine so we need to leave soon,” he explained as he put the rest of the food on the table.

SHIT! How could I have forgotten that the appointment was today? This was the one where we find out if the chemo has been working or not. Lord, I hope it has. The doctor told us last time that if it doesn’t work then we can try surgery, but that probably wouldn’t be very effective. Plus, it would be incredibly difficult to afford. The chemotherapy has seriously depleted our savings. We couldn’t afford the surgery anytime soon. I don’t know what I would do if I lost Billy. He was one of the only people who completely accepted me for who I am. He never tried to change me. He only pushed me to be the best person that I could be.

“Right, of course we’ll be there,” I gave Billy a smile for support. I HATE hospitals though. People never go there for good reasons, and you rarely get good news. They make me itchy, uncomfortable, and nervous, but if Billy wants me there then I’ll be there.

“And then later we need to discuss this concert of yours missy,” Billy gave me a grin.

“What concert?” Jack had a confused look on his face.

“The Jones boys or whatever they called,” Billy explained, “one of the guys gave AJ two tickets to see the show.”

“WHAT?!? And you didn’t mention this before because?” Jack pointed a glare in my direction.

“I’m not going, and it’s not even seven in the morning. How am I supposed to remember everything? It just kind of slipped my mind. You can take a friend if you want to go,” I kept calm. Jack had a tendency to be overdramatic sometimes.

“Uh, uh. No. You are going to that concert. One of the Jonas Brothers invited you. Besides who else would I bring? You are my bff!” he yelled sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at Jack, but smiled. I couldn’t help but love the kid. He always made me laugh. “And don’t you dare say you have too much work, because Billy and I already finished it. Now, after Billy’s appointment we are going to pick out your outfit!”

I groaned. I hate spending time picking out outfits when I could be riding or working. Let’s face it, this place needs money bad, and me training horses was one of the main sources of income. If I don’t work then we don’t get money. I looked to Billy for help, but the moment I glanced at his face, I could tell that he was in agreement with Jack. I dropped my head into my hands. There’s no way I’m getting out of this one.

Jack and Billy had already fed the horses and cleaned the stalls, so once we finished our breakfast we piled into Billy’s old truck. I grabbed onto Jack’s hand as we entered the hospital. I needed a guy’s touch to calm down. Jack gave me a reassuring smile. Billy signed in with the lady at the front desk and we sat down to wait. I gave Billy’s hand a squeeze to remind him that we were there for him. He didn’t seem anxious at all. He was calmly sitting in the chair with his hands in his lap. I, on the other hand, was sitting the chair bouncing my knees up and down and fidgeting. I had a vice like grip on Jack’s hand. I had grown up being afraid of hospitals. Things in my past have taught me that I should never go to them. I know that there aren’t going to be consequences anymore, but I’ll always have that lingering fear.

“Billy Wallings?” a young nurse in blue smocks called out. We stood up and followed her out of the waiting room. She led us down the hall and to a room. “Dr. Gates will be with you in just a moment.” She smiled and then closed the door. A bunch of certificates were hung up on the walls. Damn doctors always have to rub it in that they are smarter than us.

We waited in the room for about ten minutes. Finally, the door opened and a balding man with white hair on the sides walked in. He looked to be about sixty years old.

“Alright, hi guys. How are you doing today?” I guess he was trying to make us feel comfortable? “Well I won’t waste your time. I have some good news and some not so good news,” he paused for a moment. “The good news is that the chemotherapy worked, and Billy your cancer is in remission.” We grinned from ear to ear and let out a sigh of relief. “The not so good news is that if the cancer comes back, there won’t be much that we can do.” He just had to leave us with that didn’t he? Oh well, the chemo worked! Billy is going to be ok. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so happy and relieved. He’s going to live!

“So does that mean that I’m done with chemo?” Billy asked Dr. Gates.

“We want you to come in for one more treatment and then yes, you are done. However, we will want to check up on you every three months for the next year, and then every year after that it will be every six months,” he explained.

We all nodded our heads, thanked the doctor, and left. We piled back into the pickup and headed back home. We turned the radio up and rolled the windows down. It was a completely different car ride from the one to the hospital. When we got back to the ranch, I jumped out of the truck.

“I’m going to work the horses,” I yelled to the guys.

“Fine! But after that we are picking out your outfit,” Jack called back as they headed into the house.

I walked into the barn and immediately the smell of horses and hay hit me. Instantly, I felt the muscles in my neck and back become less tense. Some people don’t like the smell, but I love it. It relaxes me and calms me down. Our barn was actually pretty big. It held about twenty horses, and the stalls were usually always full. We owned about fifteen horses, and the other five were under my care.

I bought horses that were wild, unbroken, young, or “troubled”. Then I trained them, and sold them for more money than I paid for them. The horses that I bought were usually cheap, as far as horses go, and sold for quite a bit of money. I understood the personality of each horse, and knew what their special talents were, so I was able to train them for the sport that they would excel in.

Once they were fully trained, I sold them to owners that I thought they would be compatible with. I could put horses and people together and find out what pairs would work well together. Usually the horse and owner that I paired tend to be more likely to become winning champions.

I walked down to the end of the barn and checked my watch. It was 11:30, so I had about six hours before I needed to leave for the concert. I grabbed the red halter that was hanging on the door and opened the stall.

“Myra, come here girl,” I called out softly. The two-year-old chestnut mare turned her head to look at me. I held her gaze for a moment. Great…she was in a stubborn mood today. After a few moments she finally walked over to me with her head held high, as if to show me that she was walking over because she wanted to and not because I asked her to.

She was pretty tall for a Quarter Horse, which was good because I was training her to be a racehorse. She was incredibly stubborn and proud. I knew that racing was the right fit for her, and she had her first race next week. I was nervous because I really wanted her do well. She was going to be racing in a claiming race, which means that she was officially up for sale. If she does well then someone will hopefully buy her, and if she doesn’t then she will have to race again. I was going to be her jockey, because I was the only one who knew how she raced, and I wanted her to do as well as possible. I’m not going to make as much money racing her in a claiming race as compared to if I raced her for a few more races and then sold her, but I just didn’t have the time or money to race her a lot.

I put the halter on her head and led her out of the barn. I tied her up to the hitching post next to the arena, and went to grab her tack and brushes. I brushed her, picked her feet, and then tacked her up.

I led her into the arena to warm her up. I circled a few times at a walk, trot, and then a canter. Once I was sure she was warmed up, I hopped off and traded tack. I put her racing saddle on, and rode down to the largest pasture. We didn’t have an actual track that I could train her on, so I’d just been training her in the pasture. I had measured out a quarter of a mile, and we would race it like it was a real race.

I trained Myra for about forty-five minutes, and then cooled her off. I rode her back to the barn, and then untacked her. I passed by Jack who was cleaning tack as I was putting her back in her stall.

“Having fun?” I teased. He smiled sarcastically back at me.

“Oh yeah. The best time ever!” He squealed like a little girl.

“I don’t know why you hate it so much. It’s really not that bad. It’s kind of relaxing. And believe me, there are far worse jobs out there,” I smiled. Unlike Jack, I didn’t mind cleaning the tack. It was nice to have some mindless work sometimes. “If you want, I can do it after I’m done training?” I suggested.

“Yeah, right! And have us miss the concert?” He gave me a look that told me we were going to the concert even if it was the last thing that we did. I smiled in response. I can’t lie. I’m excited to go tonight! I’ve always wanted to go to a concert.

I got to work training the other horses. After Myra, I worked with Banjo. He was a beautiful palomino that was calm and relaxed. He got his name because when I was playing the banjo one day in the barn he began nodding his head in time with the music. I was training him to just be a pleasure horse or a horse that could be used for teaching lessons. He was too calm and quiet to be a top ranked competitor. He didn’t have the drive or the will to win, like some horses do. I was training him in dressage and giving him the basics in jumping, so that his owner could ride anything. He was pretty much ready to sell, and I was just waiting for the right owner.

I tacked him up, and worked him in dressage. He could do the moves up to Level 3, which means that anyone who rode would be able to ride him and become a better rider for a long time.
After Banjo, I worked Thor. He is gorgeous because he is a grulla color. He’s a fresh off the land BLM mustang, so he has major trust issues. I can tell he’s going to be a great barrel racer, but he needs to learn to work with me. I keep him out in a round pen that is near the barn, and I work with him everyday. Now, I am at the point where I can actually touch him, but only for a minute.

After Thor, I worked a horse named Saltando Sueño, but I usually just called him Salt. He is a young bay Hanoverian, and he is pretty spunky. He’s an amazing show jumper. I just sold him to a young woman, and she is going to pick him up tomorrow afternoon. I’m happy he’s going to a good home, but it’s always kind of sad to see a horse that you have trained leave.

The last horse I worked was a little white pony. She is going to be a birthday present for a little girl who is about to turn seven. Not going to lie, I’m kind of jealous. I wish I had gotten a pony for one of my birthdays, but no, my birthdays aren’t really something to remember. I started to feel panic and some darkness creeping into my mind, so I turned my thoughts back to training.

By the time I got done, it was about 5:45. I headed into the main house, and ran into Jack.

“You need to shower. You smell,” He commented with a scrunched up nose.

“Thaaanks,” I grinned sarcastically.

“Anytime, but seriously we need to leave soon, so hurry. I already put your outfit in the bathroom.” He began to push me toward the bathroom.

“Alright, calm down!” I laughed. I closed the door behind me, and jumped into the shower. I washed away all the dirt and sweat of the day. I climbed out of the shower and looked at the outfit Jack laid out for me. It was just a pair of old jeans that had a few rips in them, and one of my favorite tank tops. It said Music Love Creation on it, and it was so comfortable!

Once I was dressed, I hurried down stairs and met Jack outside. We both climbed into my Jeep and yelled a goodbye to Billy who was doing paperwork on the porch. I began to drive down the road that led into town. We turned up the music, and rocked out all the way to the concert.

We pulled into the parking lot. It was almost completely full! I guess these boys are more popular than I thought they were. Jack and I had to park in the very back. The parking lot was completely deserted. Apparently, this isn’t one of those things that you can be late to.

“Hi, I’m supposed to have two tickets that were left for me,” I told the lady who was working at the ticket booth when we walked up.

“Name?” She asked in a bored voice as she looked up from a magazine that she was reading. She had short gray hair and a lot of wrinkles around her face.

“Annabelle Johnson.”

“Here you go. Enjoy the show,” she handed me the tickets and went back to reading her magazine.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Jack and I went into the stadium to try to find our seats. I glanced down at the tickets. Holy shit! We were front row! There was also some writing on them. Come see me backstage after the show. Honor Society was currently performing and they were pretty good. Not really the kind of music that I usually listen to, but I actually liked it. I looked at the people who were surrounding us. They all had huge signs saying they loved Joe, Nick, Kevin, or all three, and shirts with random crap on them. These kids were crazy. Oh yeah, did I mention that almost all of them were preteen girls? Jack and I stood out like a sore thumb.

Honor Society sang their last song and then left the stage. The tech crew came on stage to change the instruments and set up the stage for Joe and his brothers, and then the lights dimmed. The thousands of girls in the audience started screaming and chanting until finally the boys came on stage. They performed a few songs, and everyone in the audience knew every word. The boys actually did a really good job! It was just really weird seeing them like this. The guys that I met the other day didn’t seem like huge rock stars, but here they were performing in front of a giant, sold out audience.

“Alright everyone! How are you all doing TONIGHT?” Joe yelled to the crowd. They all screamed in response. “Good! Well we have a very special song coming up, and we want one very special lady to come up so we can personally sing it to her,” Joe had to pause there because the crowd all of a sudden went crazy. “Now to make this fair, we randomly selected a seat before the concert.” Joe looked at Nick. “Will you do the honors?”

“Sure Joe,” Nick grinned. “The lucky girl is in section 3,” There was a scream from the girls in that section. “Row J,” More screaming. “Seat 19.” The girl got up from her seat and started walking toward the stage. Oh my god she was crying! Wow… these fans are crazy. She finally reached the stage and got a hug from all three of the boys. It was kind of weird to see how much these girls idolized the boys, but they were so nice back to their fans.

The boys performed the rest of the concert, and once it was over Jack and I wandered around trying to find out where the backstage was. We FINALLY found it, and I showed to security guard my ticket. His name tag said his name was David. He escorted Jack and me back to the boys’ dressing room.

“Hey guys there’s some people here to see you,” David said, knocking on the door. There wasn’t an answer so he poked his head around the door. “Looks like the boys are still showering. Go ahead and have a seat on the couches and make yourselves comfortable,” he said to Jack and me.

We nodded our heads and entered the room. The dressing room was pretty bare. There was a love seat against a wall and chairs were scattered throughout the room. The wall across from the door had mirrors with lights and a counter and chairs. There was a table in the middle of the room. Jack and I decided to sit on the love seat. A few moments later Joe walked out of the dressing room, wearing nothing but a towel, and DAMN did that boy have a fine body. The fact that there was only a towel separating that boy from me sent my hormones into instant high alert. He stopped the moment he saw us, and stared at me with wide eyes. Why is he staring? Oh wait. He hasn’t seen my tattoos yet…well this will be interesting.

“Uhh, hey guys,” he said when he saw us. “Let me just get dressed and I’ll be right out.” Aww, how cute! He was embarrassed to be caught wearing nothing but a towel.

“He is definitely a goody two shoes,” Jack mumbled to me under his breath, “and I know that look on your face. You might as well give up now, because he’s not going to have sex with you.”
“How do you know that?” I turned to him with a glare on my face.

“Did you see his ring finger? He was wearing a purity ring. That means he is saving himself for marriage. In other words, no sex.” Jack explained.

I laughed, “Rings don’t mean jack shit to guys.”

Jack looked at me with curiosity on his face, but I refused to explain further. I had my past and he had his. Yes, he was more open about his than I was, but if I talked about it, I would be sent in a downward spiraling depression that I’m not sure I could ever get out of. I’ve mentioned bits and pieces here and there, and I’m sure Jack has put them together to form a relatively good picture of what my past is like, but he will never know for sure.

Nick and Kevin walked out of the bathroom fully clothed and headed over to us.

“Hey guys! How are you?” Kevin asked us as he gave me a hug.

“We’re good! Kevin and Nick this is my best friend, Jack. Jack, this is Kevin and Nick of the Jonas Brothers. Apparently, a very popular band for preteen girls.” I smiled as the boys shook hands.

“Yeah, well we have older fans too, but the preteen crowd does seem to pretty popular,” Kevin laughed. Just then Joe walked out fully clothed and recovered from the shock of seeing my tatted up body.

“Hey guys! I’m so glad you made it! What did you think of the concert? Did you like it? Was it what you were expecting? Better? Worse? OH my god I need to breathe,” Joe gasped in a breath while he hugged me.

I laughed, “The concert was amazing!” I said once he released me from the hug. “You guys are really good! I loved it. It was ten times better than I was expecting. Oh, Joe, this is my best friend Jack,” I gestured to Jack, who shook Joe’s hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Joe smiled at Jack.

“You too man. AJ is right. That was a really cool show you guys put on,” Jack told the boys.

There was a knock on the door, and Denise Jonas poked her head around the door.

“Are you guys ready to go?” She asked us all.

“Yup,” Kevin headed out the door.

“Where are we going?” I asked the group as we headed out of the dressing room.

“To eat. I’m STARVING!” was Joe’s response.

“Alright, well you guys have fun,” I faked a smile to the boys. I thought we were all going to hang out, but I didn’t have any money to go out and eat. Plus, I didn’t want to impose on their after concert party.

“What do you mean? You two are coming with us,” Nick said with a shocked look on his face, as if he was surprised we would even consider not going.

“Really? We don’t want to intrude,” Jack explained.

“No, seriously. We want you guys to come! The more the merrier,” Kevin grinned.

“Annabelle rides with me!” Joe yelled. Joe grabbed my hand and I felt an electric shock run up my arm. He pulled me toward one of the black suburbans. We all piled into the cars and headed downtown. We pulled up to a pretty classy restaurant, and headed inside. We were seated immediately. I guess there are some perks to being a rockstar.

The waiter handed us our menus and I began to scan the prices. Everything was super expensive!
“Order whatever you want, guys. It’s on us,” Denise smiled down at Jack and me. Well I’m glad she was paying for it because I can’t afford a single thing on this menu. As it was, I wasn’t very hungry so I just settled on a quesadilla. It was pretty good. I mean it wasn’t like a traditional Mexican meal, but they did a decent job.

“So tell us about you guys. Jack we don’t know you at all,” Denise spoke up as we were eating. “How do you know Annabelle?”

“We both work for Billy at Serendipity and just kind of became best friends,” Jack sent me a wink. Our first time meeting was definitely interesting. We hated each other at first, but eventually we learned about each other’s past and began to respect each other. Now we are inseparable. “She and Billy are basically my family.”

“What’s your family like?” She questioned him. What is up with this family and twenty questions? It’s like they never stop asking them. I was glad she was grilling Jack though and not me.

“They are great. I love them.” Jack responded. Only I could tell that his smile was completely fake. I knew that he was talking about me and Billy when he was talking about his family. His mom passed away when he was younger and his father was a drunk, but it’s not like Jack was going to admit that to strangers that he didn’t even know. He still loved his father even though his father missed out on so much of Jack’s life.

“And what about you Annabelle? What’s your family like?” Paul asked me. God dammit. I should have known that this question would come up at some point.

“I don’t see them too often. They live on the east coast,” I said with a smile. It wasn’t a total lie.. It just wasn’t the whole truth. Jack and I shared a look. Neither of us really enjoys talking about our past. Jack was more open than I was, but it still wasn’t pleasant.

“Now are you guys from here?” Kevin inquired.

“I’m not. I’m kind of from all over the place,” I laughed. That at least was very true.

“What do you mean? Where have you lived?” he looked at me.

“Well… I was born in North Carolina and lived there until I was twelve. Then I moved to Nashville. After Nashville I moved to Chicago, Texas, and finally I moved here,” I laughed.

“Wow! You have definitely moved around a lot. Isn’t that hard? Always having to make new friends?” Denise looked at me with a little bit of sadness in her eyes.

“Not really. You kind of just get used to it. It’s not that hard to make new friends, and I love meeting new people so it wasn’t too bad. Besides I’m not very good at staying in one place for very long.” I responded.

“And what about you, Jack?” Denise turned the attention back to him.

“I’m born and raised in California,” Jack grinned. He was definitely a proud California boy.

“So, Annabelle. I couldn’t help but notice that you had tattoos. What made you decide to get them?” Denise asked me. I could tell that she didn’t approve of them by her tone of voice. Whatever, I’m used to bitches saying I’m a whore, corrupt, etc. just because I have tattoos.

“Umm…Just things in my life that I have gone through. Things that I want to remember,” I replied.

“Like what?” Paul piped in.

Shit. You would think that by now I would have come up with a good answer to that question, but I haven’t!

“Just personal things,” I answered kind of shortly. Hopefully they would get the point that I didn’t really want to talk about it.

“How many do you have?” Joe asked me.

“I don’t know. Maybe about ten? I kind of lost count,” I smiled.

“What are they?” he asked intrigued.

“You want the whole list?” I asked with my eyebrows raised. He nodded. “Ok. Well I have ‘Do Not Give Up’ on my wrists. That was the first one that I got. Then I have this one,” I pointed to the tattoos that ran along my thumbs that says ‘Seashells remind us that every passing leaves something beautiful behind’. I got that one a few years ago. I got this one after that,” I pulled up my shirt to show the group a huge rosebush that went up my side. The quote said ‘Shall I complain that a rosebush has thorns or rejoice that a thornbush has roses?’ “It just kind of reminds me to be optimistic. I got this one when I was sixteen,” I pulled the strap of my tank top to the right to show a tattoo that says ‘I refuse to sink.’ with an anchor. “I have one on my foot that says ‘Past ≠ Future’. I got that one a few months after I moved here. I have a sailboat on my right hip that symbolizes a quote that I love. This one,” I pulled up the back of my shirt to show five large butterflies, “I got when I was sixteen.”

“What’s written inside the butterflies?” Frankie asked. That kid is observant.

“It’s one of my best friend’s names,” I replied as I hastily pulled down my shirt. I didn’t want to have to explain the dates. I turned around and pulled my hair up to expose my neck. “This one I got because music is one of my loves and it makes me feel at peace. I have one on my foot that says fly away because I’m not very good at staying in one place for very long, and I have a song quote on my ribcage because it got me through a rough time.” I let a breath of air. Wow, I haven’t had to explain all of them in a long time. I didn’t realize that I had so many tattoos. Ah well, what can you do?

“So they all have a special meaning to you?” Denise asked.

“Oh yeah!” I responded. “I could never get a tattoo that didn’t mean something to me.”

The Jonas’ paid for the meal and then we left the restaurant. Denise, Paul, and Frankie all took one car back home, and the boys, Jack and I all headed back to the arena so that I could pick up my car.

“Do you want to go Siesta tonight?” I turned to Jack while we were in the car.

“No, I’m exhausted. All I want is to go home and sleep,” Jack replied with a yawn.

“You suck,” I stuck out my tongue at him.

“What’s Siesta?” Joe joined the conversation.

“It’s a Latin club on the outskirts of town. Any of you guys want to go?” I gave them my sweetest smile.

“I’m tired from the show. Besides don’t you have to be twenty one to get into a club?” Kevin asked me.

“Usually, but I know them pretty well. Besides most of the time I only go there to dance, not drink. Come on! Don’t make me go by myself,” I turned to Joe since he seemed to be the only one awake enough to go and gave him my puppy dog eyes.

“Well I’m not going to let you go to a club by yourself. That’s not safe for anyone,” Joe looked at me.

“So you’ll come?” I affirmed.

“I guess so. I mean you only live once right?” he smiled.

“Hell yeah! YOLO like there’s no tomorrow,” I cheered.

We worked out the details after that. Kevin was going to let Jack crash at his house tonight so that no one had to drive all the way back to his house. I would pick him up in the morning. Joe and I would take my car to Siesta, and I was just going to crash at his place.

We got back to my car and I hugged Nick, Kevin, and Jack goodbye. Joe and I climbed into my jeep and drove across town, and pulled into a crowded parking lot. There were people outside the front doors smoking, and there was a line a mile long to get in.

“Oh my god. It’s going to take us forever to get in!” Joe exclaimed.

“No it won’t,” I winked. Joe raised his eyebrows. I grabbed his hand and tried to ignore the heat that it caused in specific parts of my body. This boy turned me on like no other! I feel like my hormones are in constant over drive, and all I want to do is rip his clothes off. I pulled him around the building to the back entrance. I knocked three times on the back door. “Abra la puerta, pendejo!” I yelled.

“Tranquilízate! God dammit. Go away. This isn’t an entrance you idiotic piece of…Oh shit AJ it’s you,” A tall Hispanic man with an accent shouted as he opened the door. He had dark hair and eyes and a body that made a girl hot in all the right places. “Sorry about the yelling. People lately have begun to think that this is a second entrance and I’m tired of it.”

“It’s ok. I think I can forgive you,” I laughed as he picked me up and swung me around in a hug.

“It has been far too long, primoroso. Where have you been?” He set me down on the ground. At 6’5” he towered over my slim 5’4” frame. “And who is this?” He looked at Joe and sized him up.
“OH! Alex this is Joe. Joe this is Alex,” I introduced the two. “And it’s only been like a few weeks.”

“It feels longer. Nice to meet you, Joe. A friend of AJ’s is a friend of ours. Come in, come in,” Alex ushered us into the building. The back door led into the kitchen behind the bar area. Joe and I walked around to the front and sat on some chairs that were in front of the bar. I have been to almost all of the nightclubs in LA and Siesta is by far one of my favorites. The atmosphere is completely energizing. There are couches and tables scattered around the building, but the entire middle of the floor was clear for dancing. The place was decorated with a modern look and lots of bright, neon colors. Not to mention they were always playing Latin music. The floor was packed with people swinging their hips to the beat as they danced around.

I turned to Joe. “Wanna dance?” I asked with a smirk on my face.

******
Abra la puerta, pendejo- Open the door, asshole
Tranquilizate-calm down
Primoroso-exquisite/fine