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“Hey, Mel.  Over here!” 

Melody looked up to see Gus waving to her.  She waved back, smiling.  “Am I the first to arrive?” she asked him.

“Aren’t you always?” he laughed.  “Welcome to Tampa.  Have you ever been here?”

Melody shook her head.  “Never been to Florida at all.”

They stood together at the luggage carousel, waiting for Mel’s bag to appear.  Then they went to a counter where special items – over size or fragile – were delivered.  Here, they picked up her guitar case and then headed out to the waiting limo.

“I’ll drop you at the hotel and then come back for the others.  They’re on a later flight.”

Melody wondered why she hadn’t been booked on the same flight as them and hoped this wasn’t going to be New York all over again, with Rafe engineering some sleight-of-hand. 

“Is Rafe here?” she asked.

Interesting question, thought Gus.  “I don’t know,” he replied.  “Do you think Rafe Ariando would share his plans with a lowly gofer like me?”

Hmm, thought Melody.  Interesting reaction.  “Do you know him well?” she asked.

“Hardly at all,” said Gus, recovering smoothly.  “But I picked up this and that on the tour.”

Melody laughed.  “’This and that’, my ass.  You never miss a thing, Gustavo Deloro!  That Gus-Gus act might still be fooling some of the people, but I’ve figured you out!”

Gus gave her a quick hug.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  But it’s good to see you.  You look great.”  He brushed his fingers across her bangs.  “Hair still looks good.  Growing out a bit.”

“Yeah, I think I might let it grow a bit, see what happens…but if it starts being a pain…”  She made a scissors motion with her fingers. “…off it comes.”

They climbed into the limo.

“So,” said Gus.  “What have you been up to the last two weeks?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rafe Ariando sat in the armchair of his hotel room.  He had his shoes and socks off and his long legs stretched out in front of him.  His fingers were tented at his mouth, and he was deep in thought.  This was the start of the American tour – the main event.  The European leg had been a warm-up, a way to get the kinks out without the American press getting wind of any problems.  And it had gone very well. 

They’d managed to get the guitar out of Nick’s hands.  Rafe wished that could have gone more smoothly, but what the hell…whatever worked.  And Nick had gotten over his anger with Mel.  It was interesting, Rafe thought.  He, himself, had had no idea, none of them had really, that Mel had mentioned her concerns to Nick about the guitar.  Rafe wondered when that conversation had taken place.  It hadn’t done any good obviously; Nick was still playing the damn thing…until the English reviews, that is.  Rafe chuckled to himself.  It was good to have friends in high places…and low.

Rafe had come to Tampa for the opening of the American tour.  He intended to stay in the background as much as he could and just observe.  Rafe really wanted to observe the interaction between Nick and Mel.  He’d seen concert footage from Europe.  Tom had explained to him that the way they reacted to each other in Alias Me was…well, not even to each other, if Tom were to be believed, but to the music.  Rafe was the first to admit he didn’t get the music part.  Music did nothing for him.  Sure, he liked it on in the background, but it didn’t seem to reach to his heart.

Rafe had watched the footage carefully, all of it.  Nick had a magic on stage that he didn’t possess off it, as far as Rafe could see.  Nick wasn’t tongue-tied and constantly questioning himself on stage.  He owned that audience, and he knew it.  The kid could do more with a toss of his head and a lop-sided grin than many Oscar-winning actors.  It seemed so natural, but when Rafe saw the same move at the same time in each concert, he knew it was calculated.  Calculated to make the girls scream and then scream some more. 

And they did.  Some of the footage of the crowd showed people near hysteria…and they weren’t all teenagers either.  That was another thing Rafe wanted to check out…the audience…what kind of people were they drawing? 

The Tampa concert was sold out, as were the next five.  The ones after that were selling well – the reviews from Tampa would help or hinder.  Rafe figured ‘help’, but you never knew what the press would do. 

That would be the tricky part.  Rafe had a major media blitz planned for the next few days.  Nick’s face was going to be everywhere…all the television entertainment shows, radio interviews, fan meet-and-greets and mentions in magazines. 

Teen People had done an interview, and the editor had promised Rafe that, if Nick hit in the States like Rafe seemed to think he would, then Nick would get the cover as well.  The news that Toby was helping Nick with his interviews made Rafe nervous at first, but when he saw the improvement, he relaxed.

Other than the intimate moments in Alias Me, Rafe could see no attraction between Nick and Mel in the footage.  Tom had said that he thought Nick was still convinced she was gay.  That kind of made Nick the stupidest person on earth, Rafe thought.  He had always thought that Mel exuded a sex appeal that would drop any man in his tracks.  But on the other hand, Rafe wouldn’t have looked twice at Tamara Vance, and she seemed to be Nick’s style.

Sending Tamara to Italy had been Rafe’s master stroke.  At least, he hoped so.  Whenever he talked to Tom or his undercover guy, Rafe tried to get a handle on relationships among the crew, without mentioning any names or specifics.  He heard all about the problems and disagreements amongst them – not just the band, but the myriad of people swarming around them doing all the necessary things to put them in the spotlight…and feed and clothe them, and transport them from here to there.  Rafe kept on top of all of them.  He was most concerned about the performers, of course, but he also didn’t want to be blindsided by a lighting guy with a bad habit.

Toby was a big source of information, simply by the amount of paper that he generated.  Details upon details upon details.  He faxed in his reports, as Rafe had asked him to do.  Just as a check on finances, you understand.  Just to see if we’re sticking to the budget.  Toby had laughed at that.  Rafe knew the P.A. wasn’t fooled, but that was okay.  Rafe loved a co-conspirator.

Toby hadn’t had much to say on the subject of Mel and Nick.  He didn’t care for Mel, Rafe thought.  Bit of misogyny there, thought Rafe.  He doesn’t like her because she’s a woman who doesn’t know her place.  Toby was also very upset about the whole guitar thing because it had upset Nick.  Tom told him that Toby had referred to her as ‘that woman’ right up until Nick apologized to her with his dramatic, sweeping bow in Lyon.

Rafe had worried about Chris Sandoval and his reputation for nailing any woman that crossed his path.  Apparently, that was, in fact, what Tofu had been up to in Europe, but he had been discreet, and there had been no fall-out.  Rafe laughed to himself.  Big surprise! he thought.  Rock stars get laid!  And according to Toby’s shopping reports, Tofu was certainly practicing safe sex.  Gus now knew how to buy condoms in several different languages.

Gus.  Gustavo.  Cousin Gustavo.  Rafe had not wanted to hire him, not based on his track record.  He had threatened Gus within an inch of his life about what would happen to him if he screwed up; if he ever let on that he was related to Rafe – or even knew him; and that Gus would follow his orders to the letter or else! 

According to reports, Gus was doing a great job.  Everyone liked him.  He was good at what he did.  Rafe breathed a sigh of relief.  These people thought it was hard being the one to report to Rafe.  They should try being the one who had to report to Tia Rosa!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Over here, Guys!”

“Hey, look!  It’s Gus-Gus.”  Tofu motioned with his head.  Blaine and Rashad followed the motion with their eyes.

“A little louder, Tofu,” said Rashad.  “I don’t think the entire airport heard you!”

“Ah, he doesn’t mind,” said Tofu.  “I think he likes it.”

Gus pushed the luggage cart over to them.  “Let’s go get your bags.  I got a cart.”

They walked up the concourse together.

“How many little old ladies did you have to mug to get that cart?” asked Blaine.

“Only two,” said Gus, cheerfully.

They loaded all the luggage into the limo.  As soon as they were en route, Gus turned to Blaine and said, “So…how did it go?”

Blaine smiled and said, “It worked out fine, Gus.  Thanks for asking.”

On the flight home, Blaine had mentioned to them all that he was going to ask Cathy to marry him.  He asked them for suggestions on how to go about it.  He wanted to make the proposal memorable.  He was thinking of taking her to a restaurant and ordering champagne.  When the champagne arrived, the ring would be in her glass.  What did they think of that?

Melody and the nurse snorted at the same time.  The men looked over at them.  Melody shrugged and said, “That sounds great, but then she has to dip her fingers into her champagne and pull out a sticky, wet ring.”

They looked at the nurse, who said, “That’s assuming she doesn’t swallow it and choke to death first.” 
Rashad’s deep guffaw rumbled through the cabin.  Good one, Nancy! he said.  He liked this woman.  She was no-nonsense.  He wished Keshia could meet her.  She would love her.

“Okay,” said Blaine.  “What did you do, Rashad?”

The big, black man bowed his head shyly.  Melody undid her seatbelt and got up on her knees.  She looked over the seat back.  “Yes, Rashad.  How did you ask Keshia?”

“Well,” Rashad began, “we’re all about family.  So, everyone wanted to be there…my folks, her folks, brothers, sisters, etc.  Keshia knew I was going to ask her.  It wasn’t like the question itself would be a big surprise.  It was just a matter of how and when.  So I teased her a little.  I took her out to dinner to a restaurant.  We didn’t do that very often.  I think she was expecting the ring in the champagne glass kind of thing.  But we just ate dinner, and then I took her home.  When I was leaving, her dad said in this offhand way that the family was having a barbecue the next day… why didn’t I come by.  I told him that no, I kinda had a family thing of my own to do.  Bring them along, he said.  I said, okay, I’ll ask them.”

“You sneaky bugger,” said Nancy. 

Rashad grinned.  “Yeah, first and last time in my life I ever put one over on Keshia.”

“So what happened?” asked Gus. 

They were all interested in the story…even Toby who had spent the last three hours staring out the window.

“Well, we’re all there, and we’re milling around and having dinner, and then I got down on my knees at Keshia’s feet and started pawing through the grass like I’d lost something.  It was great.  Both families are standing there, taking it all in, cameras carefully hidden, trying to look like they’re not paying any attention.  Finally, Keshia gets annoyed.  She says, ‘What the hell are you looking for, Rashad?’”

He looked up at them and a sweet smile crossed his face.  Both Nancy and Melody bit their lip.

“I said, ‘The rest of my life,’ and then I looked up at her and said, ‘oh, there you are,’ and I opened my hand, and the ring was in it.”

Melody’s hands flew up to her mouth and tears brimmed in her eyes.  “Oh, Rashad,” she whispered.  There was a lot of coughing and clearing of throats from the men.  Nancy punched Rashad on the shoulder.  Good one, Rashad.

“See, that’s what I want,” said Blaine.  “I want something Cathy willl never forget.”

Tofu suggested that Blaine rent a horse and dress up in armor. ‘Be careful getting down on one knee though.”  He stiffened his body slightly and tilted sideways.  They all laughed at the vision of Blaine, encased in metal, lying in the street on his side, unable to move.

“I can’t ride a horse,” said Blaine.

“What about a carriage ride – you know like with a driver – then you wouldn’t have to ride.  It could be like Cinderella going to the ball.”  Gus threw out his suggestion.  They pondered that for awhile.  It was an okay suggestion, they guessed.

“Does she like sports?” asked Mel.  “You know sometimes at games, you see marriage proposals on the big Jumbotron scoreboards.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Tofu.

Blaine shook his head.  Nah, that’s not me and Cath.

They tossed around a few more ideas.  Finally, Rashad asked Nancy what she thought.

“Look into her eyes, and ask her to marry you,” she said.  “That will be the memorable part for her.  The rest will just be decoration.”

“Was that the memorable part for you, Nancy?” asked Rashad.

“All three times,” she laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So?” said Gus.  “How did you ask her?

Blaine laughed.  “It’s a good thing the plan wasn’t too elaborate because it backfired completely.  I decided to take her out to dinner and then go for a walk on the beach and just look for a good moment.”

“Sounds simple enough,” said Gus. 

Rashad and Tofu chuckled.  They had already heard the story on the plane.

“You would think. I tried to introduce the idea slowly, so I talked about some good times we’d had and nice memories.  Only…” he laughed, “Cathy realized I was building up to something, but she didn’t think it was a marriage proposal.  She thought I was trying to break up with her.”

“What?”

“Yeah, so every time I brought up the subject of ‘us’, she changed the subject.  When I said, ‘I did a lot of thinking in Europe’, she said, ‘okay, what looks good on the menu?’  After awhile, I started to think that she knew that I was going to propose and that she didn’t want me to, and that’s why she kept changing the subject.  I almost gave up.”

“But you didn’t,” said Gus.

“No,” said Blaine.  “We finished dinner and went walking on the beach.  We stopped talking, which is probably what saved us.  We just held hands and walked, and then we just watched the waves for awhile.  I picked up a stick and drew a heart in the sand and wrote ‘Marry me’ inside it.  Cathy said, ‘what does that say?’ because she couldn’t really see it.  It was too dark.”  Blaine sighed.  “So I told her.”  He shrugged.

“Cool,” said Gus.  “Here’s the hotel.”