He responded within the minute. “U R all on the list.” His message had them go around the long line of people to the doorman, who scanned the list of VIPs and nodded. He opened the door for them.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” someone in the line complained. Sara felt like royalty. This was her first concert ever and she loved the special treatment. They got good spots up in front of the stage, and before long the music started playing loudly. Sara turned around to see the crowd go crazy when Joshua came onto the stage. He looked amazing with his rock star outfit and his guitar. Her heart was beating fast as she heard the girls scream at him. If they only knew that he belonged to her.
* * * * *
Joshua felt the support from the crowd. They had sold 1500 tickets tonight and the crowd members were standing close to fit into the room. The person he cared most about in the room was Sara, and he knew she was here. Watching him!
He skimmed the room but couldn’t see her among all the screaming girls reaching out for him.
The band was in their zone tonight, completely in sync, and there was a magical atmosphere in the room. He went to the front of the stage and felt hands reaching for him. Just as he moved back a bit to avoid being pulled into the crowd by the fans, he saw her. She was smiling up at him, and his heart melted. His Sara. His, his, only his. He heard and saw none of the screaming girls; he could see only beautiful, sweet, innocent Sara.
* * * * *
Amber was moving to the music. It was her first TUA concert, and she liked it. Josh’s voice was amazing, and his fluid vocal range impressed her. The music had a cool beat and good rhythm to it, and the four guys looked so comfortable up on the stage, as if they’d been performing like this for years. Benjamin had gone to get some drinks, and she took the chance to follow him. She found him by the bar. “Do you need help carrying?” Amber asked, and he handed her a couple of water bottles.
“I wanted to talk to you,” he said with a serious expression.
“I know.” She nodded.
“Come with me.” He looked around and headed to a staircase that led away from the concert hall. They went up the staircase and found a quiet area with benches.
“I want to apologize,” Benjamin said and sat down on the bench.
Amber sat down next to him.
“I was such a fool. I thought if I left you alone, people would back off and stop bullying you, and I thought we had time to…”
“To what?” Amber raised her eyebrows.
“To get together,” Benjamin said in a low voice, looking down.
“What did you say?” The music was playing in the background, so Amber couldn’t hear him. She leaned forward. “Can you repeat that?” Benjamin felt her coming closer and saw her lips moving as she spoke to him, but he could think only to kiss her. He reached for the back of her head and pulled her close with a deep kiss. She kissed him back, and their bodies exploded in feelings, desire, and relief.
“No, wait.” He shouted over the music, while he leaned away from her. “I want to do it right, this time.” He calmed himself down and looked Amber in the eyes. “Amber, will you be my girlfriend?”
She smiled. “No picture of a race car?”
“No, I’m afraid this time I have nothing to impress you with.” He smiled.
“I would still love to be your girlfriend,” Amber said with a big smile and a bigger hug.
Sara was happy to see Amber and Benjamin join them, hand in hand. They looked so sweet together, and she felt so happy for them. They had missed most of the concert, but from the joy in their eyes, it seemed like they had spent the time wisely.
After the concert, she waited for Joshua to finish signing autographs and taking pictures with the rest of the guys in the band. Victoria and her sister had to go right after the concert, because the car was double-parked and blocking other cars from leaving. Amber and Benjamin didn’t want to miss their ride, so they went with the Queenies. Sara couldn’t leave without talking to Joshua, and she had money for a cab in her pocket. She said goodbye to her friends. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Victoria asked.
“Absolutely. I’ll be fine,” Sara assured her and smiled at Amber and Benjamin, who looked so happy together. Sara stayed in the background and waited until Joshua was finally done talking to all the fans who had been surrounding him. His eyes were searching for her, and she could see his relief when he found her waiting in the background. “I was afraid you had left.”
“No, I wanted to say hi.” Sara smiled at him.
He tilted his head and looked at her with a pleased expression. “Hi.”
Sara suddenly felt shy and awkward and had no idea about what to say or do.
“The guys are going to get some pizza somewhere. Do you want to come?” he asked her.
“No, I think I should get home. I promised my mom I’d come home straight after the concert.”
“How are you getting home?” Joshua asked, wrinkling his eyebrows and looking around the almost-empty concert hall.
“I’ll take a cab,” Sara answered.
The mere thought of Sara alone at night, getting a cab and riding with a stranger, made Joshua uncomfortable. “You are not getting a cab. I am taking you home,” he answered.
As they walked out to the parking lot, only a few cars were left. He opened the door for her and she got into his car. It was dark, and Sara was not well educated about cars, but she could tell it was a convertible and she recognized the symbol of a stallion. “What car is this?” she asked, curious.
“A Ford Mustang,” Joshua answered.
“It looks new,” she noted and looked around. The car still had that new-leather smell.
“It is. I just got it a few weeks ago.”
“You got it?” Sara sounded impressed.
“Yeah, my parents gave it to me as a present.” Joshua gave her a quick smile. “My father always dreamed of having a Ford Mustang when he was my age, but back then he couldn’t afford one.” Joshua pulled out from the parking lot.
“So does he have one now, then?” Sara asked.
Joshua laughed. “No, I don’t think it would fit his image anymore, but he has always been very interested in cars. Now he drives an Aston Martin.”
“Is that a cool car?” Sara had no clue, and smiled when Joshua turned his head again and grinned at her. “Yes, it’s a cool car.”
“So are you saying he gave you this car because he wanted one when he was your age?”
“I guess, and because my mom was getting unhappy about sharing her Tesla with me.”
“Is a Tesla a car?” Sara was completely out of her zone with this talk about cars, and she promised herself she would read up on the subject, so she could appear cooler in future conversations.
But Joshua seemed to find her ignorance cute and kept smiling. “Yes, a Tesla is a car, Sara, a nice car that runs on electricity. It’s silent and has a nice design.”
Sara nodded and didn’t know what to say. She wanted to change the subject.
Joshua sensed her discomfort and continued. “But my parents didn’t just give the car to me. It was my seventeenth birthday present.”
Sara turned and starred at him. “So it was your birthday a couple of weeks ago?”
“Yes, May 22.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sara asked.
“Well, we didn’t really talk much then, remember?” He smiled at her.
“But I didn’t get you a birthday present,” Sara said apologetically.
“I didn’t give you one for your birthday, either,” he said, laughing.
“That was half a year ago. Don’t worry about that. But you just had yours, so I can still make it. What would you like for your birthday?” she asked him.
“I’ll have to think about that.” Joshua was still laughing.
As they drove through the night, they talked about his music and about the band. Talking felt so easy, and they laughed a lot together.
“I wonder what your screa
ming fans would think if they knew you were giving me a ride home,” Sara said, laughing.
“They would probably kill you for stealing me away.” He smiled and felt happy to be alone with Sara.
“Then you’d better be worth dying for,” she said, a little more seriously than she had intended.
“It was a joke.” Joshua pulled over a few houses from where she lived. “You know that, right? I would never let anyone hurt you, Sara.” His green eyes once again locked hers in a firm grip, and she couldn’t escape the hypnotic feeling of wanting to be close to him.
“I know what I want for my birthday now,” he said, without losing eye contact. “I want you.”
His words broke the spell between them and she completely panicked. What did he mean by that – did he mean that he wanted to have sex with her? She wasn’t ready for that! Suddenly she felt a cold chill down her spine. She was over her head here, and there was no way she could satisfy Joshua’s needs; who was she trying to fool?
“Sara, look at me,” he said in a commanding voice. She complied. “I don’t know what just happened, but I can see you are panicking. Talk to me.”
“What do you mean, you want me?” she said quickly, and was surprised by her own courage.
He looked at her with a puzzled expression. “I want to have you, Sara, as my girlfriend. I want to kiss you; I want to make love to you. Is that wrong?”
Sara felt dry in her throat. “No, but I’m just not ready for that.” Sara looked down and felt miserable.
“You don’t want to be my girlfriend?” Joshua’s voice sounded all wrong.
“I do. But I’m not ready to have sex yet.” Sara couldn’t get herself to look at him.
Joshua didn’t say anything for a while, and Sara felt like her world was falling apart around her. So close to having the perfect life – the perfect boyfriend – and now she was about to lose it all. “Are you a virgin, Sara?” Joshua broke the silence.
Feeling humiliated by the situation, she nodded and looked away.
“But I assumed that you and Ben…”
“No, never.” Sara shook her head but didn’t dare to look up.
Joshua leaned over, and with a finger under her chin he lifted her head and looked into her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sara, if I scared you. Don’t worry about it. When you are ready, I will be right here waiting for you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Really?” Sara felt like swimming in his big green eyes.
“Really,” he confirmed with a smile.
“In that case, my present for you this year” – Sara smiled – “will be our first kiss.”
It was the most wonderful and breathtaking kiss she had ever experienced. She felt him biting her lips softly and his tongue playfully moving around hers. Her whole body was so filled with lust for him, and he could feel it.
Joshua had been drawn to Sara’s innocence from the beginning, but now that she had told him she was a virgin, he felt even more in love with her. To him, she was perfection, and he didn’t mind waiting for her. For a girl like Sara, patience was a small price to pay.
“This was the best seventeenth birthday present ever,” Joshua exclaimed with a big smile. “I can’t wait till my eighteenth birthday.”
CHAPTER 18
Summer vacation
“Let go of me.” Joshua’s eyes were lightning as he looked at his father. He could see anger in his father’s eyes. He wanted to escape his lame parents and their constant nagging, but his father had a firm grip on his arm.
“You will go back right now and explain yourself to your mom and to me.,” His father demanded.
“Fine!” Joshua sneered and shook off his father’s hand as he turned and went back to the dining table, where his mom sat, observing the situation tensely. They all sat in silence for a few moments, and Joshua was determined not to be the first one to speak.
“Joshua, darling, your father and I have both worked very hard to get to where we are now. It took me years to pay off my student loans, and your father had to work two jobs to put himself through college. We are offering you a fully paid university degree, and you are not interested. It doesn’t make sense to us.”
Joshua kept staring down at the table, thinking Here we go again, until his father leaned over and said loudly, “You will look at your mom when she speaks to you.” As Joshua raised his head to look at her, he saw her facial muscles contract with tension. She’s a hardcore attorney. Used to arguing and winning her case. Joshua could see how the fact that her son wouldn’t give in to her reasoning was driving her crazy. She couldn’t appeal to a judge. She couldn’t persuade him with evidence and witness statements. If he chose not to go to college, there was nothing she could do about it, and it was a hard pill for her to swallow. “You are throwing your life away. You know that, right?” Joshua’s father was still shouting.
“I am not going to college. I am going to focus on my music and pursue a record deal with my band.” He was trying his best to control his voice.
“And if that doesn’t work out? Then what? How are you going to make a living? What kind of future will you have?” His mother sounded more concerned than angry for a moment.
“I don’t know, and I don’t have to know. I still have my senior year to figure it out. I just know that as soon as high school is over, I want to follow my dream and become a full-time musician.”
Joshua’s father got up. He was clearly agitated. “Josh, don’t be so naive! Go to Hollywood and ask any waiter there, and they will all tell you the same story. They all wanted to become actors, dancers, or rock stars, and they all ended up serving burgers instead. Is that what you want?”
His father had raised his voice again, and this time it made Joshua lose his temper. “I’m not them! And you can’t scare me into giving up on my dreams. This is who I am!” he shouted at his father and got up, too. They were like two male gorillas as they faced each other with narrowed eyes, pressing their fists into the table between them. This was a power struggle, and throughout his life, Joshua had backed down and given in to his father’s authority. But this time it was different.
“We just want you to be happy, Joshua.” His mother reached out her arm to calm him down, and it made Joshua turns his attention to her instead.
“Really, is that you want? It sure doesn’t feel that way. It feels like you want me to make you happy!”
His mom looked hurt. “That’s not true at all. We understand that you have a dream, and you can still play music, but having an education to fall back on is the smartest thing to do.”
Joshua hated this conversation. College was all his parents could talk about, and the summer was almost over. They had offered to travel with him to check out different schools and help him with applications, but he wasn’t interested at all. He knew what he wanted to do after high school, and there was no way his parents could change his mind. The band had great potential. They were already local celebrities, and he knew they could make it nationally if they could get their songs on the radio.
“Could you at least apply, in case you change your mind?” Joshua’s father had recovered his cool. The last two months had been an endless clash over the issue, and Joshua was sick and tired of it.
“I’ll think about it,” he growled and walked away from the table. Even though he couldn’t see his parents’ faces, he knew they were looking at each other victoriously. Getting him to think about it was half a victory in their world. They were like wolves. The smallest scent of blood and they would never let go. Joshua knew his promise to think about it would buy him only a day or two of peace and quiet. There was no way these two brilliant academics would see their only son – how did they say it? – waste his life on music. If he wanted to enjoy the rest of his summer and his senior year in high school, he would have to say yes to applying to a university. It didn’t change anything for him, though. He was still not going. He was just throwing them a bone to get them off his back.
Alone in his room, Joshua
instantly checked his phone. He hadn’t heard from Sara all day, and he was getting irritated with her. Why didn’t she respond when he had left her five messages? He tried to call her but only got her voicemail, so he hung up and texted her instead. “Where are you?” Lying on his bed, he felt restless and so full of irritation. Why were his parents so persistent? They didn’t care about his dreams at all; it was all about their dreams, and sometimes he felt like a pet project of theirs. Two successful people who barely had a life outside of the office – how could they talk about happiness?
Joshua never saw them enjoy life at all. His vision of happiness was different from theirs, and he wished they could just support him and be happy for him. Joshua thought about great musicians throughout history and wondered if Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, or even Bruno Mars had supportive families. He wondered how many great musicians the world had missed out on because they gave up on their dreams and became mediocre doctors or lawyers instead. Joshua had never been strong academically, and he feared that more years with books, teachers, and school wouldn’t change that. If he did go to college, it would be a constant battle to keep his grades up. If only my parents had been musicians, they would understand. They would even support me and be proud of me.
A thought crossed Joshua’s mind. His father had been adopted as an infant by a lawyer and his wife. They had recognized his father’s talent for debating and supported him in becoming a lawyer himself. But what if his father had been adopted into a musical family? They would have disliked his argumentative, stubborn personality and found him rude and obnoxious. What if they preferred a sensitive and artistic child instead? What if they had tried to make him give up studying law and tried to convince him to become an artist instead? Would he have done it?
Joshua acknowledged that his father had worked extremely hard to get to where he was today. When he was twelve, his father (Josh’s grandfather) died, and his mother bore heavy medical debts. She couldn’t pay the mortgage. After that, Josh’s dad had lived a humble life, and without parents to pay for his law school, he had gotten through on grants, scholarships, and two part-time jobs. But he was gifted and motivated and had graduated with honors.