Sometimes I wondered why I left, it was so much more than just my career. We fought a lot, right at the end. We wanted to stay together so badly, that we were holding each other back. I was the one to finally make the jump and follow my career to Florida. Hooking up with Scott was kind of a fluke. I had met him a while before, when I was hanging out with David and the guys at an award show. He was hot, but I never really gave him much thought, even though he had slipped me his phone number. I held onto it for some strange reason, and one night when I was feeling pretty lonely in my new apartment in Orlando, I called him. Then one thing just lead to another. But I still could never shake the feeling that I belonged here, with David. And it all seemed to culminate last night.
He pulled the boat around out of the way of the sailboats that littered the waters, but not too far from Navy Pier that we couldn't hear the concerts being played there. He took my hand as we stood and walked to the bow. I looked out across the lake and sighed.
"This is beautiful. Thank you."
He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me just under my ear before resting his chin on my shoulder.
“It always feels more like home when you’re here.”
That made me feel both happy and sad at the same time. I decided not to dwell on it and changed the subject to a lighter topic. We talked about his family and mine, about my job and the Ozzfest. If anything stood out the most, it was the fact that we weren’t fighting. We were having a normal, civilized conversation. I supposed we had gotten past all that. And, I noted with sadness, that would make it so much harder to leave.
“Wait a minute!” I said, hearing a familiar voice coming from the stage. “Is that who I think it is?”
“I think it is Dennis DeYoung.”
“It’s good to see he’s back performing again. Remember that time we met him in Pumpkin Studios?”
“When the power went out?” David laughed. “Yeah, he was cracking all those jokes about the studio being wired to Cicero and the power was out because they hadn’t made their mob payment!”
I laughed and asked him to get us some more champagne. He returned to find me swaying to the music as Dennis sang the old Styx hit, Lady. I took my glass from him and sipped as I draped one arm over his shoulder and drew him into the dance. He held me at my waist and much to my surprise, began to sing along.
“Lady, turns me on when I’m lonely
She shows me all her charms
Evenings when she lays down beside me
Just take me gently into your arms
You’re my lady of the morning
Love shines in your eyes
Sparking, clear and lovely
You’re my lady…”
As much as I loved the song, I couldn’t help but giggle at David’s rendition. No one could ever believe, let alone imagine, a heavy metal singer like him belting out such a soft rock tune.
“Damn, I wish I had this on video!”
“Oh no you don’t!” He squeezed me against him. “And don’t you dare tell Dan and them! I’ll never live it down!”
“Oooh, something to blackmail you with! I’m afraid you’ll have to do some major convincing to get me to keep my mouth shut.”
“Oh really? Well, how’s this?”
He pressed his lips against mine, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and biting it lightly. I moaned and sought out his tongue with mine, once he released my lip. He lightly stroked the fingers of one hand over my spine, and still holding the glass in his other, ran it cool and moist down my arm. I leaned my hips into his and could feel him growing harder beneath his jeans. Smiling as I kissed him, I rubbed the back of my hand over his bulge. He pulled away with a growl and swiftly lifted me off my feet.
“I’m hungry. Time for dinner.”