GraceRyan
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
I know, these chapters are short, but I want to get them out as soon as I'm done. You know, figment of my imagination - not real life.
Bono gave a final wave to the crowd before descending the back stairs. Edge clapped him on the back as he nodded in the direction of a scowling Gloria looming in the tunnel hallway.
“Looks like you have to answer to her,” he mused.
Bono knew that he embarrassed her a bit. Okay, maybe more than just a bit. His heart thundered in his ears thinking back to singing to her. She looked at him with those big blues eyes in complete amazement. Maybe it was more shock. Larry smirked. He knew Gloria would certainly let him have it for pulling such an irresponsible stunt. It was his understanding that they would sing her ‘happy birthday’ and that would be it. It was an unnecessary public display and Larry could not figure why Bono did it.
Bono was ready to face his music as he waved his arms at the crowd at the back of the stadium. He flashed his most angelic smile at her. “Great show!”
She nodded. “It was quite something.” She fell in step beside him. “Take a look at this.” She shoved her cell phone into his chest. “Check that out.”
He looked down as he toweled of his head. It read 85 new text messages. “Yeah?”
“That was just from the time I left the stage. I have 66 new emails and 10 new voice mails. All from the time I left the stage,” she said. “All of them are about my being on stage.”
“Wow. That’s pretty incredible,” he said.
“It is. I can only imagine how many more I’ll get over night,” she grabbed her phone back. She gave him a hard playful punch. “What kind of stunt was that?”
He dropped his arm around her shoulders. “It wasn’t meant to be a stunt, Gloria. We wanted to do something special for your birthday. We ‘forgot it’ on purpose. And now, we are taking you for a night out on the town.”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s late, right?”
“Did you turn 39 or 59, Gloria?” he raised one eyebrow.
“Shut up,” she stormed off. She caught up to Edge to complain to him.
Bono smiled to himself. Ruffling her feathers was one of his favorite things to do. He didn’t regret pulling her on stage one bit. And he thought it was funny that her cell phone pretty much blew up over that simple gesture. He piled beside Larry in a dark SUV to be taken to a nice hot shower.
The club in their hotel was closed just for Gloria’s party. Road crew milled about, ready to get their party on. It was nice when they had 2 nights in one place. Everyone could relax. There was no breaking down of the Claw. No one had to rush to get the airplane back home. Now, they could get their buzz on and stumbled a few floors up. A few European celebrities milled about the club - hoping to get close to the reserved U2 table. That table consisted of Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam, Paul, Dallas and few stagehands - and Gloria.
The wine and champagne flowed. The laughter carried across the room as Gloria gave her recount of her 4 minutes of fame. Every so often, Bono had to interject his thoughts on the performance. Larry noticed that Bono’s ever present sunglasses sat on the table. In fact, he didn’t really wear them around Gloria much. When they spoke to the side over a meeting or schedule or his back - he removed them. Larry thought that was strange.
A Finnish DJ started to spin some music and the crew let loose. Gloria sat at the bar with the bodyguards who dared her to do a shot for her birthday. Edge moved about the room snapping photos and taking video of the mayhem. Eventually, Gloria was cajoled to the dance floor. She’d had enough champagne to dance without shame. Edge decided to join in. Bono stood at bar watching it all unfold. When he looked at Gloria a warm feeling radiated throughout his body. It’s just his usual crush, he told himself. It came a little later this tour, but nothing to be concerned with.
Gloria collapsed in her chair beside Larry after being spun on the dance floor by a slightly inebriated Edge. Larry was on his second beer which was now warm. He spent the last 2 hours not moving - just watching the party around him. A part of him was angry at their careless behavior. Didn’t they know people were battling cancer and other diseases? How could he be jolly when the mother of his children could die? But no one knew that.
“Do you want to dance?” she asked as slower song was played.
“Me? Dance?” he asked.
“You’ve done it before,” she said.
In an instant, he had a flashback to slow dancing in her hotel room and the wonders that enfolded after. “I guess you are right. You know, my back....I don’t want to hurt it.”
Gloria sighed. “It’s not a fast dance....you look miserable and as the birthday girl, I just don’t like see sour faces.”
Larry thought how Ann would be irate if she knew he was sulking about like this. “Okay....I guess a dance won’t kill me.”
It wasn’t until they hit the dance floor that he remembered what a bad idea it was to be close to Gloria. His arms stiffened to hold her away from him. He knew the moment he felt her warmth, he’d melt in to blubbering mess. Now was the time to be strong.
“Are you okay Larry?” her eyes peered up at him.
“Yeah,” he shrugged casually. “What?”
“You seem so unhappy. Is it the tour? Is it because I’m on the tour?” she asked. She couldn’t put her finger on what his issue was. When she first arrived, he was guarded and avoided her. Then he was flirty and happy. Suddenly, he was angry and distant. It had to be her.
Larry wanted to tell her about Ann. He longed to tell her that before he heard about Ann he wanted nothing more than be with Gloria. It was all he thought about for 4 years. And just as he was ready to move on those feelings, his world shattered. He wanted to tell her how scared he was to lose Ann and how terrified that he would never touch Gloria again. A surge of emotions and feelings welled up inside him for Ann and he had no idea what they were for. Did he want to be with Ann after all? Did he just feel responsible? WHen he looked at Gloria, there were moments when he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her hard. How was he going to cover up all those thoughts swirling in his head?
“Gloria, it has nothing to do with you. I’m sorry if you think that. I have family things going on and it has me preoccupied. I did something to my back and I’m working through that. I will try to be a little more lighter if it’s bringing everyone down,” his stomach turned as he lied to her. Part of it was true - just not the whole truth.
“If I do something to piss you off, please tell me,” she said.
“I don’t think you could,” his voice softened. His arms relaxed.
“May I cut in?” Bono asked behind him.
Larry’s head snapped up. “Oh sure. I’m hogging the birthday girl.” He stepped away from her like she was on fire. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks...” she watched him take off like a shot.
Bono offered his hand. “Are you still mad?”
That devilish smile played on the corners of his mouth. She had a hard time staying angry with him. “Ask me again tomorrow.” She slipped her hand in his and he pulled her closer with one fluid motion. She forgot how good he could smell. She glanced down to his open shirt. His chest hair was now salt and pepper - mostly salt. Why was she even noticing that? She had seen him in various stages of dress in the last 10 years and never took note of chest hair.
“Do you think Larry is okay?” she asked him.
Bono snapped out of his own trance. “What? What do you mean?”
“He’s been very moody, like more than usual,” she said.
“Maybe he’s going through the change,” Bono joked. Gloria pinched him. “He did get a phone call one night and took off right after. Something about the kids.”
“I know he’s moody and can be very private. He just seems a bit off,” she said.
“I’ll see if he’ll talk to me. I didn’t notice that he was really that out of sorts,” Bono felt bad. If his best friend was going through something, he should have seen the signs. He spent any free moment that he had trying very hard to suppress the wild thoughts about Gloria that kept creeping up.
They moved slowly to the music. She felt amazing to him. She was close enough that he felt her breath on his neck. Asking her to dance was probably a bad idea.
He cleared his throat. “Are you having a good birthday?”
“Yes, I am. Well, after the public display of embarrassment - yes,” she smiled at him. “And I know my name will be mud all over the message boards.”
“We’ll have to get you a bodyguard,” he teased. “How’s the mobile phone? Still going off?”
“I turned it off. I didn’t want to know,” she shook her head. “I’ll deal with that tomorrow.”
“Hey, how are Andrew and the family? I heard that one of the boys went home,” Bono asked. He felt guilty that he had not been in touch with one of his oldest friends.
“Yes. Isaac went home over the weekend. Liam should within the next week. He has his hands full. New babies and he is handling my clients while I handle you,” her cheeks pinked as Bono raised one eyebrow. “You know what I mean...the tour.”
For a moment, their eyes locked. His eyes were free from their tinted prison. He looked tired, but those baby blues peered down at her increasing the heat in her cheeks.
“Happy birthday to you!” rang across the room. Gloria tore her eyes away to see Edge, Dallas, and Liz the head of wardrobe coming towards her with a huge cake. The room gathered around as Adam pushed a table in the middle of the dance floor. Bono cursed and thanked their timing in the same breath. He released Gloria and joined in the singing. She looked at the huge cake. Airbrushed on the white frosting was an old photo. It was Gloria with the band circa 1987. They were dressed in their Joshua Tree garb. Gloria was sporting an awful perm. She laughed when she saw it.
“Oh my God. When was this from?” she asked.
“Clearly Joshua Tree tour. Was it one of the last nights on the tour?” Edge looked at Bono.
He nodded. “I think the last.”
She whirled around. “Was this your photo?”
“It is,” the candles illuminated his boyish grin. “You don’t even want to know about my archive.” She cocked her eyebrow questioningly. “Blow out your cake, we’re melting....” he said.
It took Edge, Adam and Gloria to blow out what was close to 309 candles. She figured that they probably needed a fire marshall for this cake. Her eyes scanned the smoky room for Larry. He was no where. She wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t the problem with Larry. She had to shrug it off. What more could she do? It was clear that he didn’t love her anymore. She wasn’t throwing herself at him. So, if he had a problem, he would have to deal with it.
“So your impressed?” Bono asked as she stared at her cake.
“I am. And this was all your doing?” she motioned around the room.
“I had help from Paul and Liz, but yes,” he admitted.
She sighed heavily. “Okay....I forgive you.”
He winked at her. “I knew you would.”
Bono gave a final wave to the crowd before descending the back stairs. Edge clapped him on the back as he nodded in the direction of a scowling Gloria looming in the tunnel hallway.
“Looks like you have to answer to her,” he mused.
Bono knew that he embarrassed her a bit. Okay, maybe more than just a bit. His heart thundered in his ears thinking back to singing to her. She looked at him with those big blues eyes in complete amazement. Maybe it was more shock. Larry smirked. He knew Gloria would certainly let him have it for pulling such an irresponsible stunt. It was his understanding that they would sing her ‘happy birthday’ and that would be it. It was an unnecessary public display and Larry could not figure why Bono did it.
Bono was ready to face his music as he waved his arms at the crowd at the back of the stadium. He flashed his most angelic smile at her. “Great show!”
She nodded. “It was quite something.” She fell in step beside him. “Take a look at this.” She shoved her cell phone into his chest. “Check that out.”
He looked down as he toweled of his head. It read 85 new text messages. “Yeah?”
“That was just from the time I left the stage. I have 66 new emails and 10 new voice mails. All from the time I left the stage,” she said. “All of them are about my being on stage.”
“Wow. That’s pretty incredible,” he said.
“It is. I can only imagine how many more I’ll get over night,” she grabbed her phone back. She gave him a hard playful punch. “What kind of stunt was that?”
He dropped his arm around her shoulders. “It wasn’t meant to be a stunt, Gloria. We wanted to do something special for your birthday. We ‘forgot it’ on purpose. And now, we are taking you for a night out on the town.”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s late, right?”
“Did you turn 39 or 59, Gloria?” he raised one eyebrow.
“Shut up,” she stormed off. She caught up to Edge to complain to him.
Bono smiled to himself. Ruffling her feathers was one of his favorite things to do. He didn’t regret pulling her on stage one bit. And he thought it was funny that her cell phone pretty much blew up over that simple gesture. He piled beside Larry in a dark SUV to be taken to a nice hot shower.
The club in their hotel was closed just for Gloria’s party. Road crew milled about, ready to get their party on. It was nice when they had 2 nights in one place. Everyone could relax. There was no breaking down of the Claw. No one had to rush to get the airplane back home. Now, they could get their buzz on and stumbled a few floors up. A few European celebrities milled about the club - hoping to get close to the reserved U2 table. That table consisted of Bono, Edge, Larry, Adam, Paul, Dallas and few stagehands - and Gloria.
The wine and champagne flowed. The laughter carried across the room as Gloria gave her recount of her 4 minutes of fame. Every so often, Bono had to interject his thoughts on the performance. Larry noticed that Bono’s ever present sunglasses sat on the table. In fact, he didn’t really wear them around Gloria much. When they spoke to the side over a meeting or schedule or his back - he removed them. Larry thought that was strange.
A Finnish DJ started to spin some music and the crew let loose. Gloria sat at the bar with the bodyguards who dared her to do a shot for her birthday. Edge moved about the room snapping photos and taking video of the mayhem. Eventually, Gloria was cajoled to the dance floor. She’d had enough champagne to dance without shame. Edge decided to join in. Bono stood at bar watching it all unfold. When he looked at Gloria a warm feeling radiated throughout his body. It’s just his usual crush, he told himself. It came a little later this tour, but nothing to be concerned with.
Gloria collapsed in her chair beside Larry after being spun on the dance floor by a slightly inebriated Edge. Larry was on his second beer which was now warm. He spent the last 2 hours not moving - just watching the party around him. A part of him was angry at their careless behavior. Didn’t they know people were battling cancer and other diseases? How could he be jolly when the mother of his children could die? But no one knew that.
“Do you want to dance?” she asked as slower song was played.
“Me? Dance?” he asked.
“You’ve done it before,” she said.
In an instant, he had a flashback to slow dancing in her hotel room and the wonders that enfolded after. “I guess you are right. You know, my back....I don’t want to hurt it.”
Gloria sighed. “It’s not a fast dance....you look miserable and as the birthday girl, I just don’t like see sour faces.”
Larry thought how Ann would be irate if she knew he was sulking about like this. “Okay....I guess a dance won’t kill me.”
It wasn’t until they hit the dance floor that he remembered what a bad idea it was to be close to Gloria. His arms stiffened to hold her away from him. He knew the moment he felt her warmth, he’d melt in to blubbering mess. Now was the time to be strong.
“Are you okay Larry?” her eyes peered up at him.
“Yeah,” he shrugged casually. “What?”
“You seem so unhappy. Is it the tour? Is it because I’m on the tour?” she asked. She couldn’t put her finger on what his issue was. When she first arrived, he was guarded and avoided her. Then he was flirty and happy. Suddenly, he was angry and distant. It had to be her.
Larry wanted to tell her about Ann. He longed to tell her that before he heard about Ann he wanted nothing more than be with Gloria. It was all he thought about for 4 years. And just as he was ready to move on those feelings, his world shattered. He wanted to tell her how scared he was to lose Ann and how terrified that he would never touch Gloria again. A surge of emotions and feelings welled up inside him for Ann and he had no idea what they were for. Did he want to be with Ann after all? Did he just feel responsible? WHen he looked at Gloria, there were moments when he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her hard. How was he going to cover up all those thoughts swirling in his head?
“Gloria, it has nothing to do with you. I’m sorry if you think that. I have family things going on and it has me preoccupied. I did something to my back and I’m working through that. I will try to be a little more lighter if it’s bringing everyone down,” his stomach turned as he lied to her. Part of it was true - just not the whole truth.
“If I do something to piss you off, please tell me,” she said.
“I don’t think you could,” his voice softened. His arms relaxed.
“May I cut in?” Bono asked behind him.
Larry’s head snapped up. “Oh sure. I’m hogging the birthday girl.” He stepped away from her like she was on fire. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks...” she watched him take off like a shot.
Bono offered his hand. “Are you still mad?”
That devilish smile played on the corners of his mouth. She had a hard time staying angry with him. “Ask me again tomorrow.” She slipped her hand in his and he pulled her closer with one fluid motion. She forgot how good he could smell. She glanced down to his open shirt. His chest hair was now salt and pepper - mostly salt. Why was she even noticing that? She had seen him in various stages of dress in the last 10 years and never took note of chest hair.
“Do you think Larry is okay?” she asked him.
Bono snapped out of his own trance. “What? What do you mean?”
“He’s been very moody, like more than usual,” she said.
“Maybe he’s going through the change,” Bono joked. Gloria pinched him. “He did get a phone call one night and took off right after. Something about the kids.”
“I know he’s moody and can be very private. He just seems a bit off,” she said.
“I’ll see if he’ll talk to me. I didn’t notice that he was really that out of sorts,” Bono felt bad. If his best friend was going through something, he should have seen the signs. He spent any free moment that he had trying very hard to suppress the wild thoughts about Gloria that kept creeping up.
They moved slowly to the music. She felt amazing to him. She was close enough that he felt her breath on his neck. Asking her to dance was probably a bad idea.
He cleared his throat. “Are you having a good birthday?”
“Yes, I am. Well, after the public display of embarrassment - yes,” she smiled at him. “And I know my name will be mud all over the message boards.”
“We’ll have to get you a bodyguard,” he teased. “How’s the mobile phone? Still going off?”
“I turned it off. I didn’t want to know,” she shook her head. “I’ll deal with that tomorrow.”
“Hey, how are Andrew and the family? I heard that one of the boys went home,” Bono asked. He felt guilty that he had not been in touch with one of his oldest friends.
“Yes. Isaac went home over the weekend. Liam should within the next week. He has his hands full. New babies and he is handling my clients while I handle you,” her cheeks pinked as Bono raised one eyebrow. “You know what I mean...the tour.”
For a moment, their eyes locked. His eyes were free from their tinted prison. He looked tired, but those baby blues peered down at her increasing the heat in her cheeks.
“Happy birthday to you!” rang across the room. Gloria tore her eyes away to see Edge, Dallas, and Liz the head of wardrobe coming towards her with a huge cake. The room gathered around as Adam pushed a table in the middle of the dance floor. Bono cursed and thanked their timing in the same breath. He released Gloria and joined in the singing. She looked at the huge cake. Airbrushed on the white frosting was an old photo. It was Gloria with the band circa 1987. They were dressed in their Joshua Tree garb. Gloria was sporting an awful perm. She laughed when she saw it.
“Oh my God. When was this from?” she asked.
“Clearly Joshua Tree tour. Was it one of the last nights on the tour?” Edge looked at Bono.
He nodded. “I think the last.”
She whirled around. “Was this your photo?”
“It is,” the candles illuminated his boyish grin. “You don’t even want to know about my archive.” She cocked her eyebrow questioningly. “Blow out your cake, we’re melting....” he said.
It took Edge, Adam and Gloria to blow out what was close to 309 candles. She figured that they probably needed a fire marshall for this cake. Her eyes scanned the smoky room for Larry. He was no where. She wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t the problem with Larry. She had to shrug it off. What more could she do? It was clear that he didn’t love her anymore. She wasn’t throwing herself at him. So, if he had a problem, he would have to deal with it.
“So your impressed?” Bono asked as she stared at her cake.
“I am. And this was all your doing?” she motioned around the room.
“I had help from Paul and Liz, but yes,” he admitted.
She sighed heavily. “Okay....I forgive you.”
He winked at her. “I knew you would.”
....but since I want Bono for myself, I might be biased!
He loves Gloria so much.
I am ashamed...
