Gary and Nuno stepped out of the airport and into the bright Portuguese sun, and Gary looked at his friend, wondering why he'd tensed up all of a sudden. "You okay?" he asked. Nuno nodded shortly and started off again. Gary followed, confused.
They had been there about three days when Nuno made a phone call. Gary looked at him as he hung up the phone, then leaned back in the chair, a smile on his face. "What have you been so nervous about?" he asked.
Nuno glanced at him, very relaxed. "My family, actually."
"That was good news then, I assume?" Gary indicated the phone. Nuno shook his head in disbelief, smiling.
"Yes, it was. My parents are in Spain for three weeks or so."
"Why should that make you nervous?"
"It doesn't, it means I can relax now. These are the parents I ran away from, not the ones in Boston," Nuno clarified. Then he grinned. "We're invited for dinner tonight, and you can see why I left. Although I'm sure it's better at Ruben's, because Fatima isn't a Bettencourt." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Gary.
"What?" Gary asked. He looked completely confused.
Nuno laughed. "I'll explain it to you sometime. Lets go see Lisbon."
"So, what is this all about?" Gary asked a few nights later at dinner. Nuno grinned.
"It's been bugging you all week, hasn't it."
"Yes. Just tell me, okay? I don't know all that much about you, except that you're Portuguese, and the people you live with aren't your real parents."
"Okay," Nuno laughed. "When I was about sixteen, I was already fed up with the Bettencourt family, and what I was required to do as a member of it. The worst was dressing up every night for dinner - at least, that's what I remember most vividly. It got really bad when I decided I wasn't going to be a clone of my father like so many of my brothers were. That's when I started growing my hair out, just to be different. My father was not amused.
"It got to the point that I didn't feel in control of my own life, and I decided I didn't want to stay in the house any longer. I talked to my brother Ruben, who was dating Fatima - the one we had dinner with." Gary nodded. "It was her idea to send me to America. She had spent some time there, so she called her host family and they agreed to let me stay there. That's the Malone's. For eight years now, only Ruben and Fatima have known where I was, and I intend to keep it that way. Besides," he added thoughtfully, "I'm not sure anyone else cares."
"Hm," Gary said. "Delightful family."
"My thoughts exactly," Nuno agreed with a grin.
Ivy followed Nikki to the backstage area where there were allowed to collapse without getting in the way of Guns and Roses. Before she reached it, someone took her bass and pointed to a different area than they'd had earlier. Ivy wearily followed directions.
"The "Three Sides" tour starts tonight," Sabina said, leaning back on the couch to catch her breath.
"If I had the energy, I'd ask to open for them again, and to heck with the rumors about us," Nikki responded and sank down in the floor to lean against the couch. The others nodded in agreement, remembering the fun they'd had with Extreme.
"Well, since we don't have the option, I'm going home to sleep for a week. This tour was murder," Ivy said breathlessly as she collapsed to the cool floor, pressing her overheated body against the wood.
"Home?" Emily questioned, sinking down next to Sabina. "I thought you got rid of your apartment to help finance this tour."
"I did. I'm going to Colorado. Mom and Dad said they'd like to see me."
"Well, we'll see you in two or three weeks, right?" Sabina asked. Ivy nodded, then wrinkled her nose in distaste as Guns and Roses started their set. Emily caught sight of her face and laughed.
"Yes, let's go," Nikki said, and the four left.
After one week at home, Ivy already felt better. The tour had been hard on her, and this rest did her good. Her parents had been very excited to have her and they did a lot together. However, this Saturday night she convinced them she'd be okay, so they had gone square dancing, and she remained home alone. She had just started her book when a knock on the door surprised her, and she went to answer it, wondering who it could be. When she opened the heavy wooden inside door, she didn't recognize the blonde standing on the porch at first, then she met the ice cold blue eyes and recognized him.
"It's not true, is it?" he asked before she could even say Hi or anything else.
"What?" Hi, Robert. Haven't changed a bit, have you? she thought sarcastically, and left him standing on the porch with the screen door between them, even though it was cool outside.
"That you're dating that guitarist."
"Which guitarist?" she asked, confused.
"There's more than one?" he demanded. She felt suddenly threatened; he had no cause to act like that.
"Oh, Nuno?" She paused, trying to decide if she wanted to tell him the truth or lie, and decided the truth would be better. "Not seriously. I told you, trying to date while I was in Twilight Warrior would be impossible. We're just friends, and I was lucky to get him as one. Why do you care?" The question slipped out before she realized it was on her mind.
"I told you - I love you."
"Uh - right." Silence. "Look, I'm here to recuperate, and to spend time with my parents."
He gave her a look that immediately put her on the defensive. "All right. I'll see you later." It sounded like a threat. He turned and she closed the door, not bothering to watch him walk away. As she sat down, she found herself humming 'More Than Words'.
That next week he came by at least once a day, and although she wasn't home most of the time, he always left a message of "I love you" on the door or with her parents. She believed it less and less, and finally left for L.A. a day earlier than she'd originally planned. Her mother said he'd been furious. She sank herself into her work and tried to forget about him.
Ivy checked the tour schedule hanging on the wall, then her wrist, and remembered she'd left her watch home that morning.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"12:30," Nikki answered, played a line on her keyboard, paused, and tried again.
"They are here, aren't they?" Ivy asked.
"They're supposed to be," Emily answered.
"They're supposed to call, too," Ivy said. "Let's go find them."
"We'll take my car," Sabina said. All four scrambled for the door.
As they walked into the hotel lobby, one of the bodyguards, a large man with dark hair, recognized them.
"Hello, girls," he greeted them. Nikki grinned.
"Jeff! How are you?" she asked, giving him a hug.
"I bet you are here to see Pat," he said, looking at her. She nodded and he laughed. "Well, they're on the... I guess I'd better take you. The guy upstairs is new." He got them onto the elevator and pushed the button for the seventh floor. "How's that new album coming?"
"Not bad," Emily said. "But we really need a break. This gives us a good excuse to get out for a while."
"And we're having a lot of fun," Sabina added. "This time it's going so much smoother, we've only had a couple of arguments with our producer."
"We ought to time it better and see if Nuno will produce our next one," Ivy muttered. Jeff laughed as the elevator doors opened. A big blonde stood just outside the door.
"Tim, this is Twilight Warrior. Where are our friends?" Jeff asked.
"They're in their rooms," Tim answered in a deep bass voice and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "714 - Cherone, 715 - Geary, 716 - Bettencourt, 718 - Badger."
"Thank you," Ivy smiled, and headed down the hall, the others right behind.
"So, are the rumors true?" Tim asked Jeff as they watched the girls walk down the hall.
"They're good friends, and enjoy each others company," Jeff said, and grinned. "But I never caught anyone sneaking off to someone else's room, if that's what you're asking."
Ivy tentatively knocked on the door to number 716. The tenor voice on the other side mumbled something sleepily, then Nuno opened the door - in white sweats, shirtless, his long dark hair tangled. She giggled, reminded of some of the times from their tour together, and leaned slightly to her left to look at the tattoo on his right shoulder with raised eyebrows in remembrance of the first time she'd seen it. It had surprised her, for some reason. She couldn't remember why. He squinted grumpily at her, then backed up to let her in.
"If it's a bad time I can come back," she said hesitantly. He shook his head and gently pulled her into the room, then disappeared into the bathroom as she sat, rather timidly, on the rumpled bed. She heard the water run, then he returned, eyes a little less sleepy, the hair around his face damp.
"Sorry. I'm not alive when I wake up." He sat next to her and gave her a hug. "To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"
"We're recording here - and it was a unanimous decision."
Her reply lacked the spirit he expected. "What's wrong?" he asked. To his surprise, he discovered she had tears in her eyes. He pulled her close and just held her as she sobbed.
Finally, she wiped her eyes and sighed. "Sorry. Every time I see you I seem to be crying about Robert," she smiled. She could only manage a weak smile, but it cheered him anyway.
"That's okay," he assured her, wishing he could change that. "What happened?"
"I went to visit my parents," she explained. "I'm not sure how, but Robert found out I was home." Her voice betrayed her frustration. "After about a week of real rest, he bugged me everyday, trying to tell me he loved me. 'More Than Words' came to mind more than once." She suddenly laughed and looked up at him. "The very first thing he wanted to know was if we were dating."
Nuno smiled, ignoring the pain in his heart. He knew she didn't want a boyfriend or a lover, and she knew (he hoped) how he felt, and usually tried to be very careful of his feelings. "What did you say?" he asked.
"I told him we weren't dating seriously," she said, grinning. "I didn't tell him a lot of other stuff. Thing is, I almost told him we were dating just to get him off my back." She paused, a slightly surprised look on her face. "You are the only person I'm dating, actually."
Nuno laughed. For some odd reason (odd?), he enjoyed the distinction. "Oh. Well, I guess I'd better be active. Give me... thirty minutes and I'll meet you in the lobby?" Her startled look surprised him.
"I didn't want to..." she started, but he placed his fingers across her lips to quiet her.
"Trust me, I want to do this," he said. She looked at him, then grinned shyly.
"Well, don't do yourself up too much," she said, looking down at her jeans and T-shirt. "It'd never do for you to outshine your date." She stood, kissed his nose, and left.
Nuno remained sitting on the bed until after the door had closed behind her, then shook his head, perplexed. He'd probably never understand her. He reached over and grabbed the phone, and soon the rest of Twilight Warrior joined Ivy in the lobby.
"The press would have a field day with this," Pat mentioned to no one in particular as the four of them took the elevator down to the lobby thirty minutes later.
Paul laughed. "They would. Are you going to tell them?"
"No," Pat responded flatly as the elevator doors opened. "You?" Paul shook his head emphatically. "I didn't think so."
They stepped into an empty lobby and glanced at each other.
"Our turn to wait?" Gary asked the room in general, and plopped down on one of the couches. Nuno sank down next to him, and Pat and Paul took the one ninety degrees to the left.
From the little newspaper stand, Ivy caught sight of them and watched. They all wore jeans and T-shirts, and Nuno, Gary, and Pat had pinned their long hair back. Over his short-cropped hair, Paul wore a baseball cap - which Gary suddenly snatched, saying something she could not hear. She swallowed her laughter and turned to her friends.
"They have arrived," she announced formally, trying to hide a grin and failing.
Paul saw them as they left the store and stood, swiping his hat back from Gary as he went to meet Emily. Gary made a belated grab for it, then caught sight of Sabina and followed the drummer. Pat and Nuno, both seemingly lost in thought, didn't even see the girls until Nikki and Ivy tried to sit on their laps to see if that would wake them up, and they stood to hug them. Everyone then looked expectantly at Nuno, who looked back, rather blankly.
"What?" he asked. Paul, Pat, and Gary burst into laughter.
"This was your idea," Gary reminded him.
"I'm hungry," he said. "You guys?" Everyone nodded. "Good," he grinned, walked over to the desk, conversed with the man standing there, and returned. "Okay, let's go."
"There isn't enough room in my car for all of us," Sabina said. Nuno shrugged and started off.
"It's close enough to walk. I'm too hungry to worry about transportation."
Ivy turned to Gary with a smile. "Is he always like that?" she asked. Nuno turned, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to his side.
"Always," he grinned, and kissed her.
Thankful to find the restaurant empty, they soon found themselves seated in a large, circular booth. They didn't have much room, but no one complained. Strangely enough, they ordered and ate in quiet, simply enjoying being together again.
"When are you guys leaving again?" Emily asked after they'd finished.
"Tonight," Pat said. "Why?" He turned to Nikki as she snuggled closer.
"Just hoping for more time," she said softly. Nuno smiled slowly, and pulled Ivy close. He liked it very much here, with Ivy caught between him and Paul.
Before long they paid and left, walking slowly back to the hotel. They seemed somehow melancholy.
"Hey, Ivy," Nuno said softly. She looked up at him, and slowed her pace as he slowed his, letting the others go ahead. "Next summer the Bettencourt's are having a family reunion." She could plainly read the panic, worry, and stress in his face, and nodded. "Do you want to go with me?" He sounded half desperate.
"A whole family of Bettencourt's?" she asked, a small smile on her face as she tried to ease the tension she felt in him. It didn't work very well.
"I'm a very black sheep," he responded, somewhat bitterly. "They expect me to have a girlfriend - a wife would be better." He grimaced, and she wondered why he avoided her eyes. "But that's not why. Ruben's a good brother - he and Fatima, his wife, both speak English, and Ana's kids love both our bands. I'd like you to meet them." He shook his head and sighed, positive that he had just given her a few reasons not to go with him.
"No, I understand. That would be fun." She paused, thinking, then looked up at him. "You and your brother are the only ones who speak English?"
"Ruben, Fatima and I," Nuno corrected gently, thinking that he wouldn't use fun to describe this reunion. "The rest of them never bothered to learn." He smiled at her, hardly daring to hope. "So you'll go?"
"I'd like to. We're tentatively scheduled to tour about then, but I'll try to postpone it." They walked on in silence. "Oh. Thank you for inviting me."
Ivy's mind spun. She had known (or at least guessed) his feelings for her, and had tried to be sensitive of them. She suddenly realized that if she ever spoke to Robert again, he would know he'd lost. This talented, insane Portuguese musician had very blatantly stolen her heart - and she'd watched him take it. It scared her to death.
Go on to Next Chapter |
More Than Words
Home | Stories | Fun
Stuff | Links | Contact
me