Falling Down(102)

Every time I think of you, I blush
Every time I see you, I blush
Looking in your eyes, I blush
Knowing that I want you, I blush

Do you remember a time not so long ago
When we were strangers but said hello
You held my hand and looked into my eyes
The soul-deep feeling was no surprise

With how badly I want to kiss you, I blush
With how much I long for you, I blush
When I think of all the things I want to do to you, I blush
When I wish my dream would come true, I blush

Do you remember a time not so long ago
When we were strangers but said hello
You held my hand and looked into my eyes
The soul-deep feeling was no surprise

When I see you up on that stage, I blush
When I see you sing with your soul, I blush
When you reach out to the crowd like you do, I blush
Wishing it was me you were reaching out to, I blush

Do you remember a time not so long ago
When we were strangers but said hello
You held my hand and looked into my eyes
The soul-deep feeling was no surprise
I hope one day you'll know all the reasons why…
I blush

There's silence and I drop my head, my eyes still closed.
"Damn," Xander says. Ben, Ethan, Trace, Meggie, and Kennedy are in agreement--all the ones who haven't heard the song yet… all except Jesse.
"How old were you when you wrote that, Lucy?" Jesse asks softly.
"Eighteen," I say, then take a drink of my water and Jesse hands me a peppermint Life Saver.
"It wasn't long after we met you. You'd just finished an album and went on tour. We went to your concert here in L.A.," Sera tells him.
"You inspired her," my mother says. "Even at a very young age, before she met you."
"Mama," I scold.
Jesse turns me to face him.
I lift my chin and push back my shoulders as I meet his gaze. False bravado I'm good at. I am, after all, an academy award winning actress.
"You felt that zing in Chicago, too."
It's not a question, not really, but I nod.
"It triggered a lot of shit," Joey blurts out.
"Joey, shut up."
"What?" he asks.
Seriously. This is so embarrassing.
"I thought I'd met you somewhere before, I almost asked you. You seemed so familiar," Jesse tells me softly.
"Probably because she stalked you at every concert she could get to," Joey says with a laugh.
"Joseph," my father scolds. "Shut up."
Properly chastised, he goes back to fangirling all over Trace who seems to be eating it up.
I just look at Jesse. "You think I'm a weird stalker girl with some high school girl crush now, huh?" I ask.
"No. I think it might have started that way and it might have been what prompted our meeting in Chicago being a whole lot more personal than an artist and fan meeting, but I think Chicago is where things changed."
I see Sera nod and smile.
"You should have let me know you were coming to the concert. I would have gotten you VIP passes."
I shake my head. "No. It was better to not do that. I was way too young and I had a lot to learn. A lot. Besides, you had your manwhore status at that time and things between us would have never worked out."
"Hmm."
"Honestly, I'm don't know if they'll even work out now with us touring one way and you touring another. I wouldn't expect or even ask exclusivity of you during your tour. That wouldn't be fair."
"To who?" he asks, raising a brow, looking more than a little irritated.
"You."
"Hold up. You automatically think because I'm going to be going on tour that I wouldn't want to continue our relationship? That I'd rather f*ck a bunch of groupie whores, as you put it?" he growls.