A Different Kind of Forever(13)

“Try this,” he urged, “it’s incredible.” Diane followed his lead. It was delicious.

“You’re trying to distract me with food,” Diane said accusingly. “What did you do? A wig? A Nixon mask? Lifts in your shoes?”

“Close. We figured I’d just grow my hair really long so you couldn’t see my face and I’d sit at the keyboards so no one would notice I was only three feet tall.”

“Okay, that would work, but what about your Dad?”

“Well, he came home, and Denise told him the whole story, and of course, he freaked out. He’s a lawyer, and he wanted me to go to law school, right? Plus, he doesn’t want me around all the drugs and alcohol and everything else that went with rock-and-roll. But Denise said she’d make sure I kept up my grades, and she’d be with Dave at all our shows, and she promised my father that there would be no drugs or drinking.”

“Wow. Isn’t that why guys want to join a band in the first place?”

“Hell, that’s why I wanted to join.”

“So she went on the road with you?”

“Yeah. It was pretty bad for a while. She wouldn’t let those guys do shit. No beer, pot, coke, nothing. She’d follow them into the men’s room and flush stuff down the toilet.”

“What a woman. So that just left sex, right?”

“No. Thanks to me, she cracked down on that too.”

“Oh, Michael, what did you do?”

“I don’t know you well enough for that story.”

The waiter took away their plates and brought Diane another drink. She looked startled.

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked.

“I usually don’t have two of these,” she explained. “I may end up dancing naked on the bar.”

Michael grinned. “Then I’ll ask Teddy to keep them coming.”

Diane made a face. “You may live to regret it,” she said taking a sip. “I tend to ask embarrassing questions when I’ve been drinking.”

“Ask away. My life is pretty much an open book anyway.”

“Okay.” She took another long drink and sat back. She could feel a little buzz in the back of her head. “Do you like your life being an open book?”

“No,” he said quickly. He shrugged. “I don’t. But it’s part of the package. You can’t be somebody like me without having to put up with some bullshit. It’s invasive. I love the fans, I really do, but I don’t think they have a right to know every single thing about my life.”

She finished her drink and felt her lips go numb. She looked at him carefully. His eyes were very blue. “Are you wearing contacts? I can’t tell,” she asked.

“No. Why?”

“You said you wore glasses.”

“Oh, I did. I had laser surgery. Really amazing.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. A couple of years ago.”

Diane tilted her head. “Do you get laid a lot?”

Michael blinked. “Excuse me?

Diane was blushing furiously. “I can’t believe I just asked you that. I am so sorry. See, I told you.” She buried her face in her hands. “God,” she muttered.

He was laughing. The waiter had returned, placing in front of them two salads.

“Diane,” Michael said, “please, eat some salad. It looks terrific.”

Diane dropped her hands and stared down at her dish. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Michael took a bite of salad. “I used to. Get laid a lot. It was amazing, after that first album. There were girls everywhere. I was only eighteen, and Denise stayed home, and Dave came on tour with us and man, all I had to do was point and smile. After a while, I started looking for more, ah, permanent relationships. But the women in this business, they just assumed that every date would end up in bed. I’d meet them for coffee and automatically stay to breakfast. I didn’t even like some of them. Most of them.” He shrugged. “Seth used to say there was no such thing as a wasted condom, but I don’t know. It gets old. Finding somebody to go to bed with is easy. Finding someone to wake up with, now that’s hard.”

Diane lifted her fork and started eating. “So, how many times have you been in love?” she asked, looking up at him again.

He thought. “Three times. My first great love was Theresa Milano. She moved next door to us when I was in the third grade. She was in public school, and I was in Catholic school, but I was determined to make it work. I proposed to her half-way through the fourth grade, but she had become infatuated with a shortstop. She broke my heart. But we stayed friends. She’s an intern now, at Columbia Medical School. I still see her.”