Chapter 10

Today was the day of the big Dallas show.  She and Stacey had been looking forward to their girls’ night out for some time.  They’d been through a lot together recently and she couldn’t wait to take Stacey to meet her favorite band!  They packed their overnight bags in the car, said goodbye to Megan and Alex and promised Josh they wouldn’t do anything too stupid…nothing they wouldn’t ordinarily do anyway.  “That’s what I’m worried about!” Josh joked.  Once their goodbyes were behind them, they backed out the driveway headed for the Big D.  It was going to be a boring drive.  It always was, but this time Gennie brought her Goo CD’s with her so Stacey would know exactly what she was in for.  She popped Superstar Car Wash in the stereo.

 “I heard from Eric the other day,” Gennie offered.  She put it out there, trying to relieve the monotony of driving in an almost 300 mile straight line.

 “How’s he doing?  He’s in Milwaukee now, right?”

 “Kenosha, actually.  But, yeah, he’s there.  He really likes it.  He’s happy to be home again.” She was truly happy for him.  She did miss their ‘date night’ every Friday, but she still had her best friend.  That is, when she wasn’t watching Megan and Alex so Josh and Stacey could have their own date night.  She and Eric had gotten to be close friends, especially at the end before he left, almost like siblings. So she knew that he would always be a part of her life.  And for that she was grateful.

 “Is he with the old girlfriend?  Doesn’t that make you jealous?” Stacey had a hard time understanding this situation. How could she be fine with this guy moving across country to be with another woman?   She knew that Gennie and Eric had been close, but she guessed she must have just misinterpreted their bond.

 Gennie nodded.  “Yep.  And, no way! I’m not jealous, at all. She’s very nice.  They belong together.  I think it was wonderful that I got the chance to see them together.  Cause, I can appreciate their connection more because of that.  Y’know, it really makes a difference to me.  It was so obvious; everyone could see they belong together.”

 Stacey was shaking her head.  “I just don’t get you sometimes.  You must be a better woman than me.  I would have fought tooth and nail for him.  He was a real sweetheart.  Guys like that don’t come along very often.”   In fact, she was worried that Gennie may have let the most precious person slip between her fingers.  She didn’t know why she couldn’t see that.

 “I know.  He was great.  He was perfect.  Just…I don’t know.  He wasn’t the one for me. It was like he was my brother…sort of.  I don’t know how to explain it to you. I’m not sure I understand myself.  But he felt the same way.  We talked about it once.  But it was cool, y’know.” She knew Stacey could never understand her.  She’d gotten married right out of college to the man of her dreams and had started a family just a few years later.  She’d never looked back on her life and thought ‘what if’…she ‘did’! She would always hold what Stacey and Josh had as her standard for a perfect relationship.  Gennie thought she’d found her perfect mate a few years after college herself, but as it turns out, they just wanted different things.  Too different, in fact, to stay married.  After barely two years, they called it quits.  She was not willing to be the ‘happy housewife’ and cook meals for her man and take care of him and have his six kids and live on the allowance he provided her.  That was for Lucy Ricardo, not for Genevieve Redlin!  She should have known what she was in for when he objected so vehemently to her keeping her maiden name when they married. She’d won that battle, but it had scarred their relationship irreparably.  She was happy to be rid of that man now, and had been happily single ever since.

 Stacey broke their silence. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with you being commitment-phobic, would it?” It would make sense to her if it did.

 “Of course not.  I would have loved to marry Eric.  He’d have been an excellent husband. But we didn’t have that kind of thing…it wasn’t like that.” She smacked her hand on the wheel for emphasis.

 “OK, just wondering…” Stacey recognized her friend’s attempt to curtail the conversation, at least in its current form.  She thought Gennie must be nervous about this evening’s events and if she was, she usually preferred to think her nerves into calmness.  Stacey decided to luxuriate in this well deserved break from the office and from kids and take a little nap.  Gennie would wake her if she felt like talking.  She made herself comfortable in the passenger seat and was out like a light in no time.

 At a little after two Gennie spotted the familiar Dallas skyline ahead of her.  She needed Stacey’s navigational skills to guide her to their destination.  Forget the nap, she thought, and woke her pal with a nudge. “Stace, wake up.  We’re here.  Wake your lazy ass up!” she teased.  “I need you to read the directions to the place.”

 Stacey roused herself from her slumber.  She was surprised she’d slept so soundly for practically four hours.  At least she’d be rested for tonight.  She’d been worried about that.  Since she had kids, she wasn’t much of a night person.  She just hoped she wouldn’t hold Gennie back from a good time this evening.  “Do you have the map?” she asked.

 “It’s not a map.  I have directions. That might work better for us.” She wagged a finger toward the space between their seats, “It’s down here somewhere.”

 Stacey read out the directions efficiently and got them to their destination slightly ahead of schedule.  According to the radio, which Gennie’d been listening to since the last of her CD’s had played out, it was 2:43.  They hoped they wouldn’t have to sit in the car waiting, even for fifteen minutes, in the late July heat in Dallas!  Their worries were put to rest as a shiny blue-green bus pulled in shortly after they parked the car. The bus took the long way and came around from the backside of the empty lot, the driver slowing to glance at Gennie’s Oklahoma license plate as she stood locking her driver’s side door.  Stacey caught him send a little wave her way as she was stretching the kinks out of her muscles.  “I think they know we’re here.” She commented as she raised her eyebrows.

Gennie and Stacey made their was to the will call booth.  The woman in there looked to be about as happy as they were to be confined to the Dallas heat. After hassling them about what they were doing there and why they couldn’t just come back later when the show started, she relented and let them in, directing them to a big burly guy in a black t-shirt near the gate to the backstage area. After passing another series of interrogations, they were let through. 

 Now they wandered aimlessly hoping to find another human being who could tell them where to go next.  “Judging by most people’s attitudes,” Gennie joked sarcastically, “I’m pretty sure there are plenty of people here who would be willing to tell us where to go!”  They stood in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, laughing about that fact, when a door that they hadn’t seen before but was right beside them, burst open allowing someone a swift exit.  They were startled but that made them laugh all the more, doubling them over now.  Gennie looked up to realize the person had come to a dead stop and was standing there, laughing…at them!  “Did I scare you?” he asked, obviously amused.  Gennie brushed the hair from her face and the hilarity induced tears from her eyes and realized she was staring at John Rzeznik!

 Stacey watched Gennie standing there, expressionless, staring at him, perfectly still; except for the occasional droplets that were still leaking from the corner of her eyes.  Apparently, her friend had been caught speechless for the first time in her life!  Stacey nodded her head in Gennie’s direction, “This is my best friend, Gennie Redlin, you may have heard of her.” She glanced back to John, tilted her head, cocked an eyebrow and said with a fiendish grin,  “She thinks you can tell us where to go.” At that, they both bust out laughing again, practically falling over this time.  John scanned the area for any indication of why these two were behaving so bizarrely.  The nearest bar must be more than a mile away, so he couldn’t explain it.  He had to admit, he wasn’t used to this kind of introduction.  Usually, women fell at his feet and started fawning over him, begging for kisses and autographs.  These two almost didn’t notice him.  He could see, though, how Robby trusted that she was genuinely pleasant.  In fact, John kind of liked that she acted as if she couldn’t care less about him! It was a refreshing change of pace. He took a step closer to them and extended his hand.  “Hi, I’m Johnny Rzeznik. I’m with the band,” as if they didn’t know.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said as shook both of their hands, a huge grin on his face.  “And I really mean that!”

 Gennie composed herself temporarily and introduced herself.  “Like she said, I’m Gennie, Genevieve Redlin.  This is my wacky sidekick, Stacey.”  They got the momentary giggles again, but this time John laughed more with them than at them. “Hi, Stacey,” he said with a smile. 

 “I suppose you’re dreading your week with me about now, huh?” Gennie teased, hoping it wasn’t the truth.

 He shook his head insistently, “No, not at all, actually.” He gazed down at his feet with a shy smile, then shook his head sweeping the hair from his eyes.  He nodded his head and raised his brows, “I gotta say, you’re pretty entertaining.”  Gennie blushed.  She couldn’t believe the conversation she was having and with whom she was having it. “So Genevieve, that’s a pretty name,” he eyed her thoughtfully.  “But, do you want me to call you Gennie?”

 “All my friends do,” she answered honestly.

 “Cool, then I will too.” He was dying for a cigarette, but that could wait. He drew his arm out behind the two of them prompting them back toward the aforementioned door.  “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the guys.”  They entered a concrete building that, from the inside, appeared to be a maze of cinderblock hallways painted a sickly shade of green.  A cacophony of voices echoed through the halls.  They entered a room filled with people, metal folding chairs and tables holding bottles of water and snacks.  Silence fell over the room as John entered with the two, once again, snickering women. An anonymous voice called out, “Looks like Rzeznik’s found himself some entertainment for the evening.”  “Shut up, dude, don’t be an ass.  These are two very nice ladies,” John retorted.

 Stacey shot John a let down look, “Now you’re just making us sound old.”

 “Besides,” Gennie mumbled, more to Stacey than anyone, “you don’t know if we’re ladies or not.” Stacey and Gennie bit their lips to keep from laughing, while John burst out, realizing he was not meant to have heard that comment. 

 When he regained his composure, he dragged them over to where Robby was sitting with Dave.  “I found our traveling companion outside.  Dave, Robby, this is Gennie and her friend Stacey.”  They each shook hands. Dave stood and introduced himself. “Pleased to meet you, ladies.  I’m Dave. And I really have to get a move on. I’ll talk to you later.” The two waved a silent goodbye as Dave departed.  John leaned over and whispered in Gennie’s ear.  “That’s OK, you’re not missing much.” She glanced over her shoulder with a quiet laugh John’s way just before he took off in the direction of the door once again.  “Excuse me, I gotta have a smoke.”

 Robby got to his feet.  “It’s nice to finally meet you.  I’m Robby. We spoke on the phone the other day.” Gennie nodded, “I remember.  Sorry I was kind of out of it then,” she smiled    “Thanks so much for setting this up for us.  I really appreciate it.” 

 “Hey, no problem, it’s the least we could do.  What is it?  About a five hour drive?” he asked.

 “Oh, about that.  Not nearly as long as yours though, I’m sure.  You came from where? Nashville?” Gennie inquired.

 “Yeah, actually, yeah.  Weird, huh?  But I wasn’t driving, though.  Which one of you was behind the wheel?”

 Stacey spoke up. “She did the honors while I slept.  I’m a mom,” she added by way of an explanation.

 “That’s cool.  They’re little, I take it?”

 “Yeah, six and three.  One of each, Megan and Alex.” Stacey replied with obvious pride.

 “So you didn’t get to take a nap, did you Gennie?  We’ll see who conks out first tonight.” Robby laughed elbowing Stacey in the shoulder.

 John came back, a water bottle in hand.  “Dude, where’s Mike?  I haven’t seen him around.”  He looked around the room as he took an enormous swig from the bottle.

 “Haven’t seen him since we got here.  He must be running around somewhere.” Robby shrugged.  They often couldn’t find Mike.  He could be elusive.

 “I guess we’d better head out.”  John gestured to a guy in a green shirt, “Gennie, if you and Stacey will go with Ken over there, he’s our sound guy.” A devilish smile crept across his face. “He’ll be happy to tell you where you can go.” The three of them started laughing all over again at their inside joke.

 Gennie and Stacey sat in the middle of the floor, amidst a sea of empty seats, the only people present besides the technicians.  They were thoroughly enjoying their little show.  Stacey leaned to over to her friend. “Kind of like having your own private concert, isn’t it?”  Gennie smiled and nodded silently, keeping her eyes on the stage.  “Strange to think that you’ll be doing this everyday.  You’ll probably get sick of it!” she teased.  “Oh,” Gennie mused, still glued to the scene in front of her. “I don’t know about that. This is really great.” 

 When they finished with the sound check Robby motioned for the girls to follow them.  They’d just made it to the backstage area when he bounded up to them. “Hey, we found Mike.  You’ve gotta meet him.”  Robby led them through the flurry of activity to where, only moments ago, the elusive drummer had been standing.  “Where’d he go?” he asked one of the roadies pulling wires nearby.  “Ducked outta here a minute ago.  Said he was gonna get something to eat,” came the reply.  Robby threw up his arms.  “I guess this just isn’t his time.  Go figure.” He turned to Gennie and Stacey. “Sorry.  You’ll have to meet him later, I guess.”

 Just then, John appeared from out of the crowd of road crew and poked Robby in the arm.  “Hey, man, I’m hungry.  You wanna go get a bite?”  Robby looked to the two girls standing awkwardly in front of him, trying to take in every bit of the action going on, but not knowing what they should be doing at this particular moment.  “You’re welcome to come with us, you know.  Are you hungry?” 

 Stacey spoke right up. “Sure!  I’m dying.  Where’re we going?”

 John glanced at Gennie who was snickering at her friend’s outspokenness. “I don’t know.  I’ll find someone to drive us.  Ya never know where we could end up.”  He started to walk away, but turned back, “Do you like sushi?  Seems like I remember eating at a sushi bar not far from here before.  I would really love some right now.”

 Their reactions couldn’t have been more dissimilar if they were fans of opposing sports teams.  Gennie beamed at the thought of one of her favorite meals.  Stacey’s face puckered like she’d just tasted the most offensive substance on earth. At the sight of these two, John and Robby turned to each other and doubled over laughing.  Robby spoke up through his merriment, “I think we need to find a common ground here.  I don’t want to be responsible for a fight.”

 Gennie shot a look in Stacey’s direction.  If she had the power to overrule her friend’s objections in this matter, she intended to use it. “I’m sure there are other things you can eat there, Stace.”

 Stacey didn’t look convinced, but she decided to surrender to the glint in Gennie’s eye that was just short of pleading.  “Alright.  It won’t kill me.  I’d hate to keep anyone from delivering an optimum performance by denying them sushi,” she quipped with a faint smile.

 John didn’t know what to say, exactly. “Well, I….um…we don’t have to…uh.”

 Gennie cut in. “She’ll be fine.  She’s never eaten sushi and I’m sure she’ll love it.” She grabbed Stacey’s arm just above the wrist and squeezed.

 Stacey got the message, loud and clear.  Gennie was going to eat sushi.  Though she suspected this had more to do with raw emotion than raw fish.  She could see that Gennie was mesmerized by these guys.  They were sweet, talented, charming, polite, and easy on the eyes.  Stacey couldn’t blame her. She was fast becoming a Goo Goo Dolls fan, herself.  Sure, she’d listened to their songs, which were good.  She’d bought some of their CD’s at Gennie’s urging; she liked those.  But for some reason, she had never considered herself a huge fan...until today.  She could see what Gennie saw now.

 Robby waived his arm for them to follow him and John on their quest for a vehicle.  “C’mon, we’ve gotta hurry.  People are going to start showing up for the meet ‘n’ greet in a little while.  We need to be back by six.”

 “Fake ‘n shake” John tossed in as they walked along. “I hate those radio station things.  They’re so choreographed you can’t really talk to people. It’s more like herding sheep. They’re fans, for the most part. Let them get an autograph and say hello, for Christ’s sake! But no, we’ve gotta stand there like cardboard cutouts and they’ve gotta smile for some photographer that they don’t know, for some picture that they’ll never see and move on.  They literally chase them out!” He shook his head at the futility of it.  A slight guilty expression crossed his face as he realized he knew where Gennie worked. “Sorry, I forgot you work for a radio station.  You don’t do that, do you?”

 Gennie grinned with eyebrows raised, “I wish!  Give me a break.  I work at a radio station in Tulsa.  We don’t exactly attract the big acts. But whenever you come to town, I’ll see what I can do.”  She smiled sweetly. 

 Robby and John appreciated her honesty.  They could tell they would like her.  With the possible exception of that initial moment of their first meeting behind the building, she had been completely non-star struck. She seemed to sink into their routine like she belonged there.  They weren’t sure how it was possible, but she seemed almost comfortable.  As far as they knew, she’d never done this before.

 After quickly devouring a dinner of sushi that Gennie thought was out of this world and Stacey figured didn’t kill her, they headed back to the auditorium.  John and Robby were quickly whisked away to get ready for the meet ‘n’ greet.  Dave the tour manager reappeared and told them that if they wanted to, they could have a seat and watch the proceedings as innocent bystanders.  They climbed atop a storage crate in the sickly green backstage room they visited previously and watched as a swarm of young girls and women their own age were herded in and told to wait.  A promotions guy from the radio jumped up on one of the folding chairs and barked instructions.  Single file line, say hi, smile nicely for the photographer, and move along.  No autographs, no pictures, no gifts.  She and Stacey exchanged knowing glances.  She understood what John was talking about now. This was silly. 

 Ten minutes later, John, Robby, and the amazing, disappearing Mike reappeared dressed for the show and took their places in front of a curtain emblazoned with the station’s call letters and logo.  John and Robby noticed Gennie and Stacey perched on their viewing stand and acknowledged them with a wink and a smile, quickly pointing them out to Mike, who waived and flashed a giant grin. Some of the girls who witnessed the exchange started buzzing about who they could be.  Almost as many eyes were on them now as on the guys.  They tried to act casual and pretend that they didn’t notice, but it wasn’t easy.  Gennie just tried to act nonchalant but smiled politely without looking like she was gloating about knowing them- a coveted position, indeed.  Stacey was not so patient...or mature.  She occasionally stared back, sticking out her tongue once or twice.  Robby even caught her once and stuck his tongue out at her. 

 For nearly thirty minutes, the girls filed through, one by one or sometimes in pairs.  None of them got more than a minute to visit with the individuals they had waited for what seemed like a lifetime to meet.  Gennie thought it was ironic and sad that, for those girls who had dreamt of getting this chance for so long, the moment was so fleeting.  Being pushed and prodded along and having some radio jackass bellow orders at them, they would have nothing special to remember.  The whole event was over faster than their dreams. She just wished she could tell them how much John hated it for them.

 When the last of the girls were gone, she looked at John knowingly.  She wanted him to know she understood.  Their eyes only met briefly, but she thought he got the message. He grabbed Mike by the elbow, Robby grabbing the other arm, and they marched him over to meet their two new friends.  “Guys,” Robby announced, “This is Mike.  He really is real!”. 

 John piped in, “Yeah, contrary to popular belief, he is not a figment of our imagination.” He paused. “But, sometimes we wish he was!” He gave Mike a playful punch in the arm.  

 Gennie hopped off the crate and stood to shake Mike’s hand.  “Hi, I’m Gennie.  I’ll be your guest next week.  Like it or not,” she laughed.  She turned towards Stacey, still sitting on the box, and motioned her hands in her direction as if she were a prize on the Price is Right. “This is my friend Stacey.”  She laughed, “You’ll have to excuse her for being so rude earlier and sticking out her tongue.  She spends too much time around little kids.”  Stacey jumped off the crate now too and stood in front of them.  “Thanks, Gen. Nice to meet you Mike.” She said extending her hand. “We’ve heard so little about you,” to which all three guys cracked up. 

 Mike spoke up, “It’s nice to meet you both.  I’ve often wondered why I’m so misunderstood.”

 Once again, Dave appeared from out of nowhere, this time with a security guard from the venue.  He pulled them away from their introductions. “Ladies, if you’ll go with this gentleman, here, he’ll show you to your seats.  The show will be starting soon.  I’ve got to clear out the area back here.” He spoke with a dismissive voice, “Thanks so much,” and turned to walk away. 

 Robby stepped in before they were escorted out.  “Hey, make your way back here after the first encore.  We’ll see you after the show!”  Gennie nodded in affirmation as she and Stacey were hastily shown the way out.  They were taken to a side entrance near the concession stand where the guard finally let go of their arms.  He prompted them towards the seating area and told them to enjoy the show.

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