D wore a black on black suit and shirt showing off his tan. He had his hair neatly pulled back into a neat ponytail, making him look very attractive. "So where are we off to?" I asked settling into the seat as we pulled out. "This great club my cousin Diego recommended, he's gonna meet us there cause he's the owner." D answered trying to pay attention to the street signs. "Who?" I replied "One of D's many family members, it's like everywhere we go, somoone in that town is related to D in some obscure way or another." Kevin explained smiling, the street lights bring out the deep green glow of his eyes in the dark car. "You wouldn't be hispanic if you didn't right D?" I asked him smiling. "Hehe you got it family half way around the world and back." He and I laughed while Kevin looked on in amusement.
The drive to the club was about 25 minutes and we cracked up the radio getting hyped for our night of fun. From about a block away you could tell the club was popular because there was about a block and a half of people lined up trying to get in. "You guys it's gonna take forever to get in- look at that." I said, the dissapointment in my voice distinct, as I saw the line. "You forgot your with us." Howie reminded me giving me a reassuring pat on the knee. "Let's go!" Q proclaimed steeping out of the car first with Tim scoping out the scene and letting us out after they were satisfied with security.
The five of us walked right up to the front door where we were met by a huge guy who looked like he could beat the crap out of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who stood in front of a red rope blocking the front door. "Excuse me where do you think your going?" His deep voice said as he stepped in front of the door to block us out. By now the people in the front of the line trying to get into the club were more interested in seeing what would happen than into trying to get in. Q stepped up to him and said something low enough to were only he and the guy could hear. Whatever he said was effective cause the guy moved over and apologized to us for making us wait. We walked in and were greeted by the incredible sound of Santana blasting from the speakers. "I don't know what you said to that guy but Q, you are officially the man." I said to him putting hand on his shoulder and smiling at him.
We were immediately greeted by a handsome tall guy who appeared to have some of the same features as D's mom. "Howie como estas, que ase aqui hombre, ase anos que no nos vemos." he said as he came up to D and hugged him. "Diego this is my band mate and best bud Kev, one of the loveliest ladies in the world Erika, and the men that keep us safe and my best confidants Q and Tim. Diego shook all of the guys's hands and then came up to me, "Good evening." He said holding my hand. "Buenas noches, gracias por invitarnos, me encata vuestra discoteca." I said to him. I must have caught him off guard but he immediately smiled and we exchanged customary hispanic greetings. Diego asked me to dance so he and I went off to the dance floor and the guys dissipated.
He was a great dancer. We danced a merengue and a salsa together. Deciding I needed some water he escorted me to the bar and I asked for mineral water since I don't drink. The night went great. I found out that dancing runs in the Dorough blood as D proceeded to astound me on the dance floor. I ended up dragging Kev onto the dance floor and trying to teach him how to salsa. "Come on Kev, just cause your a gringo doesn't mean you can't salsa, just put your hips into it." I said over the music laughing. Eventually he got it down and was pretty damn good. I even got Q and Tim to try a little. There were lots of great looking guys there and I had no problem finding a dance partner.
At 1 am we decided to head back. I reached for my purse over the table I was sitting at when I felt a cold grip on my wrist. Cold shivers of anxiety and fore shadowing moved through my mind and body. I turned to find the brunette who had been harassing me all night grabbing my wrist. I danced one dance with a guy I didn't know was her boyfriend and she decided to take out a personal vendetta against me. She had already gotten nasty with me to the point where Q had to escort her to the other end of the room where she had promised to leave me alone and supposedly accepted my apology.
"Excuse me please let me go." I asked her politely trying not to piss her off while I searched for one of the guys. She had managed to get me in a dark spot away from anyone. "So what you think you are you think you can come in here and just take him from me huh? You gonna have to fight me for him." she yelled at me, her face about 2 inches from mine where I could smell the heavy smell of alcohol on her breath. I ripped my hand away from her grip and attempted to walk past her so as to avoid a confrontation. I saw that both Q and Kevin, at the other end of the room, had seen her and were walking towards us. As I attempted to walk past her she managed to grab my shoulders and push me a couple of feet away so as that I was looking at her again. "Look I don't want him, you can have him, I just want to leave." I said to her in as calm a voice as I could muster. Without saying a word, in a split second she punched me. I wasn't expecting it but I tried to move away in the last second, realizing what was happening. Before hitting the floor like a limp puppet I heard her screaming for them to leave her alone.
By the time I was aware of my surroundings again, we were back in the hallway of the hotel room. Kevin and Howie were walking on each side of me with Tim and Q in front and behind. "She seems ok......Denise....pissed......not a concussion.......morning.....ice...her room....." Were all the words I was able to gather from their conversation but I was unable to distinguish the voices as they slowly swam in and out of my mind, coming through only in the intermittance of the painful throbbing that made my head feel like a ticking time bomb. We stopped in front of a door, which I would later realize was not room. I felt a surge of light flood my eyes which I don't remember if they were open or closed, followed by intense pain that reached from my eyes to what felt like the epicenter of the pain in my head, increasing the pain 10 fold. I captured some more words and was aware that someone else was there "...fight....here.....an eye.....doctor..sleep.....watch...alone". They lifted me into something soft which I was able to identify as the bed and pulled the covers over me. The light remained on and they continued to speak but I immediately fell asleep and tuned out even the pain from my consciousness as I slipped into a dreamless but restful sleep.
The next thin I remember is waking up. I slowly returned to consciousness as I was awaken by the noise of people moving about and objects being dropped and carried away. I opened my eyes but saw nothing. A surge of white pain ran in front of my eyes and through my head like a swift bolt of electricity "Oohhh mannnnn" I moaned raising my hands to my eyes in an attempt to shut out the pain. However my attempts were futile for as I reached for my face I touched it increasing the surge of pain in my face. I kept moaning and sat in the bed with my hands in front of my face but a few inches away so as to not reactivate the intense pain. I became aware of someone, one or possibly more, in the room moving to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. I kept my hands over my face as I concentrated on blocking out the pain enough to focus my vision. I opened my eyes and stared at the white popcorn roof for a few seconds adjusting my eyes to the light. "How are you feeling?" I recognized Denise's voice coming from beside me. "Once the throbbing goes away I'll tell you." I answered in a half moan turning to look at her. "Well at least she has her humor back." I looked and found Angie seated right next to Denise smiling. Her infectious smile caused me to smile back at her through the pain. I slowly sat up in the bed to keep the vertigo down as much as possible.
"Do you have any idea what happened?" Denise sternly asked me "All I know is that we were at the club, I was getting my purse to leave and the next thing I know some pshyco woman punched my lights out." I said to her. My eyes finally focusing and I payed attention to where I was. Angie snickered as she pictured the event. "Well the woman hit you, pretty damn hard I must say for what your face looks like, and you passed out. If security hadn't restrained her she probably would have kicked the crap out of you from what the guys are saying. Diego got you to the back and they called a doctor and made sure you didn't have a concussion so they let you come home. The guys said you were walking under your own power and seemed fine but weren't too responsive which doesn't surprise me." Denise explained to me and I adjusted myself to pay more attention to her. "That would explain it, I think I kept floating in and out of consciousness last night and I don't remember telling the guys anything. Other than this atrociously painful throbbing and stinging I think I feel fine." I answered her as I dared to run a finger across my left eyebrow, the source of the pain, immediately regretting it.
"Don't worry bout the bruise for the apperances, I'll work my magic on you." Angie smiled in reassurance, making me snicker. "Where am I anyway?" I asked as I continued to look around and realized this wasn't my room. "You're in Kevin's room. They didnt want to leave you alone last night just in case. Kevin, Howie, Q, Tim and Nick took turns watching you during the night in case something happened." Denise continued to explain. I then looked at the watch and realized it was almost 9 am. "Aren't we supposed to be loading stuff into the buses?" I asked realizing I probably caused delays in the plans and felt horrible about it. "The guys are doing it don't worry about it, they are taking your stuff down now I think." Angie told me. "The doctor last night suggested pain killers and disinfectants so we're gonna do that as soon as we get to the first aid kit in the bus. Can we leave you to change and meet us in the bus in 20 minutes?" She asked me, the irritation gone from her voice replaced with an acutely protective and worried motherly tone. "I'll be ok, I think I can manage." I smiled letting her know I would be fine. "Allright kiddo we'll see you in a few." Angie said hugging me and walking out of the room with a smile. "I have to go, I have some paperwork to finish for 10 am. Are you sure you're ok?" Denise came up to me and stroked the hair away from my forehead being careful not to touch my face. "I'll be ok. I'm so sorry to be such an inconvenience and a pain in the but, I know I'm the last thing you want to be dealing with, with all the management stuff going on and everything." I apologized to her getting back a radiant smile. "Don't worry about that, you are not a pain in the butt at all, your like the daughter I never had. I just want you to be ok, I was so worried when Howie burst into my room at 3 am this morning. I'm glad your ok." we hugged. "Thanks." "I'll see you down in a few minutes then ok..oh if you need clothes go get them now before the guys take it downstairs." and with that she left the room.
I took care of callings that for a few moments were more powerful than the pain. In the bathroom mirror I closely analyzed the telltale mark on my face. I had a multicolored bruise running from 2 inches above my left eyebrow to an inch below my eye and and a diameter of about 3.5 to 4 inches. I could feel my eye began to swell. I took an advil and timidly placed some ice on my eye for a minute or so, and though it hurt, the cold felt great against the pain. I managed to cross the hallway to my room, grab my clean clothes bag, and cross back undetected. Kevin's room had already been cleaned out so I knew I was ok there. I changed into my cargo pants and a teal tanktop. I put on a long sleeved blouse, leaving it unbuttoned over the tanktop, cause it was cold in the room and I knew the bus would be too. I brushed my hair out and put on sunglasses, as gently as possible so they wouldn't touch my eye.
I waited to leave the room until I could tell that they had already finished taking my stuff down cause I didn't hear anymore people coming back and forth. Though I knew it wasn't my fault I was throughly embarrassed by the predicament I had gotten myself involved in. I wanted to get to the bus with as little commotion as possible. I casually walked to the elevator and found Tim there waiting for me. I smiled at him. We walked in comfortable silence to the bus. The last bag was being put into the compartment locker and the door was being closed. We headed for the bus. Denise saw me first and stopped to give me my passes and ID's for the next venue. She reassured me that she placed the first aid kit and pain killers on the bus but because of stuff she had to finish she would have to travel with the band. "Don't worry about it, the guys and Q here are experienced in being nurses when I'm not there. They'll fix you up." I smiled. We said goodbye till later and I climbed the stairs of our bus with Tim right behind me.