Mysterious Ways - Chapter 5

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GraceRyan

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I'm on a roll for some strange reason. You know the usual. Not true. I don't know them. Otherwise, enjoy the show.



Bono attempted to pick his head up off the pillow. It felt like a huge boulder resting on his shoulders. His eyes were sandpaper. Another night of excess. What else was new? His hand reached across the bed for her warm body. It was just the cold sheet. Using whatever energy he had left, he rolled onto his back. He heard the bathroom sink running. He closed his razor blade eyes again. His body ached from the show and after party and after-after party. The door opened and he expected to feel the weight of her body beside him on the bed. He heard rustling around his room. He pryed one eye open. Gloria was fully dressed.

“Hey love,” Bono stretched his arms above his head.

“Good morning,” she said. “Sleep well?”

A smiled rested on his lips. “Mmmm. Come on. Come back to bed.”

“I have to go,” she buttoned her shirt.

“Are you getting tea, or breakfast? I can call. Come back here,” he opened the sheets inviting her back to bed.

“No, I have to go. I’m leaving.” Her voice was serious.

Bono opened his against the sunlight streaming into his suite. “Leaving? What do you mean?”

She bit her lip. “I’m leaving the tour.”

He sat up abruptly and his head screamed. “What? Leaving the tour? Why?”

Gloria shifted her weight nervously. “Andrew wants me to go back to LA.”

His fingers raked through his black mop of hair. Even that hurt. “What’s in LA?”

“Andrew wants me on the new Pearl Jam tour. It’s a big record for them, and he wants me to handle it,” she shrugged.

Bono frowned. “I’ll call Andrew.” He didn’t care what time it was back in the states as he reached for the phone on the night table.

“Don’t. It’s time for me to go,” her voice heavy with melancholy. “The tour is ending and I should go now.”

“We still have Japan,” he said.

“Andrew is coming out for Japan,” she inched closer. “We knew this would end once the tour ended. I....I need to go now - before the tour is over. Before she comes for the last date.”

His stomach was in knots. Could be from the wine last night or the news this morning.
She stood above him beside the bed. He wrapped his arms around her burying his head in her stomach. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Gloria held her breath. She placed on last kiss on those amazing lips. “Goodbye....for now.”

With those words, she closed the door behind her. He sat in stunned silence. Sure, he knew that eventually the shoe would drop. He never imagined that she would leave him. Overcome with emotion, he tossed the covers off him. Without giving it another thought, he threw his hotel room door opened and ran after. He caught up with her at elevator - tears streaming down her beautiful face. He was so focused on getting her back that he didn’t care that he was completely nude as he stood before her. He didn’t care that people stared in horror. Sinking to his knees, he wrapped himself around her tightly.

“I don’t want you to go. I want you. I want only you.”


Bono rolled over on the couch. He had the same recollection of that last morning every so often. The months that followed the Zoo TV tour, it was almost nightly. Over the last 17 years, it was less and less. Most of it was true, except he never ran naked after her. He let her leave the tour and his life. He was a father. He did love Ali. He felt paralyzed to do anything but pick up the pieces and make his life normal again - as normal as it could be.

Gloria was still asleep. Part of the blanket had slipped off during the night exposing one tan thigh. Bono’s eyes followed that thigh up. Her chest rose and fell in perfect rhythm. Why was he having those thoughts now?

They would never share an intimate moment like that again. She would not accompany the Pop tour. He had secretly hoped that she would. He wondered where things would stand. She was on tour with Smashing Pumpkins and had begun to manage young actors. Or that was her excuse for not touring with them. The rest of the band were relieved. They never approved of the affair. Edge saw the spark all the way back in 1987 when she accompanied her brother Andrew for the summer on the Joshua Tree tour. Gloria was a wide-eyed 16 year old girl with big blue eyes for Bono. Her adoration was apparent to everyone - but she was a child. However five years later, Gloria was a young woman. Her eyes still looked adoringly at Bono, and he reveled in her attention. By the end of the European tour, their affair had begun. Adam, Edge and especially Larry strongly disapproved. Bono was a married man with children. Gloria was young and impressionable. But ZooTV was a huge monster circus. Everyone became tangled in their own world. Edge was recovering for a nasty end to his marriage with Aislinn and dealing with his attraction to Moreleigh. Adam was drinking and enjoying the big top. When he wasn’t enjoying the spoils of success to excess - he was courting and fighting with Naomi. And Larry had his own issues with the show spinning out of his control. He was finding it hard to maintain his relationship with Ann while on the road. Eventually, the band just turned their heads when it came to Bono and Gloria. And when Gloria joined the Elevation tour 7 years later, everyone held their breath. Would it pick up where it left off? Bono now had four children - one just born. What would happen? Even Bono wondered. And for the first few weeks, he was smitten. She was no longer the girl with stars in her eyes. She had toured the world with many bands. She’d dated a few as well. It was easy to be attracted to the new take charge Gloria. But Bono and Gloria’s relationship really transformed when Bob Hewson became ill. Gloria arranged for Bono to go back each night to be with him. She watched Elijiah and John for Ali. Her mothering instincts calmed the rest of the band. She was now a good and trusted friend. Sure, Bono still felt butterflies at the start of each tour she worked on - but within a day his head cleared.

He couldn’t be sure why he could not stop staring at her. Maybe it was that they had not spent a night in the same room in years. She finally stirred and rubbed her eyes. As her elbow hit the back of the couch, she became very aware that she not in the flat the band had rented for her while in Eze. Her eyes popped open. Where was she? She looked around and recognized it as Bono’s living room. Five feet across from her, she saw Bono’s blue eyes peering at her from the couch opposite of her. She was utterly confused.

“Hey,” she stretched. “We didn’t drink last night, did we?”

He chuckled. “No....nothing like that. You fell asleep working in here.” He sat up. His hair was wild. “I didn’t want to wake you when everyone left.”

“You slept on the couch?” she spied the blanket.

“In case you woke up and were confused,” he scratched his head. He couldn’t quite explain why he slept downstairs with her.

“Thanks....But you should not be sleeping on a couch with your back.” she scolded.

He stood up. She might have been right. He did feel stiff. “It’s fine. My bed can be too firm. I used to crash down here if I was up writing late,” he was rumpled. “Do you want breakfast? Eggs? Toast?”

She sat up and rubbed her neck. “Yes, but your cook isn’t here, right?”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’ll have you know that I can cook. It’s a fried egg and toast. How hard can that be?”

“True, it’s not like playing guitar,” she teased him.

“Hey, you leave my,” he framed the words with his fingers. “‘guitar playing’ out of this.”

She laughed as she gather up her various forms of technology to throw in her briefcase. Bono had moved into the kitchen to push aside the empties from last night and get started on breakfast. To Gloria’s amazement, he could make a mean fried egg sandwich and cup of tea. Her cup of coffee would have to wait for the airport. They sat at the breakfast island munching across from each other. Looking at her watch, she realized that she missed a running date with Larry. But there was no message on her phone. He must have forgotten too. She rolled her eyes when she was 2 voicemails from Billy.

“He won’t give up, will he?” Bono leaned against the counter.

“He has a girlfriend but still cannot go more than 2 days without talking or texting me. Glad I’m not her,” she shoved her phone in her bag. She looked up to see Bono’s face covered in yellow yoke. “You’ve got egg on your face.”

He grabbed a towel and wiped the left side. She pointed to the right side. He missed it. He got it and smeared it across his chin. Laughing, she grabbed the towel and wiped his chin clear. The scar from his fall during Joshua Tree had almost completed faded. It was then she noticed that he had not worn his sunglasses all morning. It was rare to see him without them lately. He was rooted in his spot as she cleaned his chin. The sensation of her being that close made the tips of his fingers feel numb.

“Shit What time is it?” she looked at her watch. 7:30am. “I was going to pack last night. I better go.” She grabbed her plate.

“Leave it. I have someone to clean the house before Ali come home,” he said.

She placed it beside the sink since the sink itself was cluttered with glasses. “Are you packed to go?”

“I never really unpack. It makes it easy that way,” he said.

“Okay,” she grabbed her bags. “I will see you at the airport then. Let me know if you need anything.” He simply nodded. “We have an interview before the show....tomorrow night. But we’ll go over that on that on the plane.” She paused before dashing out the door. “Thank you very much for breakfast.” She gave him a small kiss on the cheek. It felt like thousands of little needles pricking his skin from his scalp down his spine.

“No problem at all,” his cheeks flushed slightly.

And she was gone. He was a little shaken by his sudden reaction to Gloria. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. After a shower, everything would be back to normal.
 
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