Like a Dream Come True

Sitting with her legs tucked under her on Joseph’s bed in just a t-shirt, Lianna watched as he packed a suitcase. A month had passed since the last time Broken Dynamite had performed, and they were about to go on a one month tour before they went into the studio that summer to record another album. Lianna had spent the night there with Joseph, even though she probably should have been home working on schoolwork. Now she watched as he moved efficiently around his room, picking up different items to bring with him.

“I’m going to miss you,” Lianna told Joseph from across the bedroom. They had been together for almost two months now, and they had been nearly inseparable during that time. In fact, Frankie had been furious with Joseph because newspapers had picked up on the fact that Joey Hart was being seen with the same ‘mystery girl’ all over New York City: at clubs, at restaurants, walking in the park. The short blurbs in the gossip columns were usually followed by a blurry picture of Joseph and Lianna, along with terrible headlines like “Mystery Girl Wins Hart’s Heart”.

Walking over to the bed, Joseph sat down and reached for Lianna’s hand. “I’m going to miss you, too,” he gave her a sincere smile. “But at least the timing is as good as it’s going to get. You should be spending the next few weeks studying for your finals anyway, and I’ll be back in time for your graduation.”

Letting out a grumble, Lianna had to agree. Normally a straight-A student, Lianna had begun getting B’s and C’s in her classes over the last couple months, due to all the time she spent with Joseph instead of studying. Still, she only had a month left, and then she would have her degree. “I’m still going to miss you,” she pouted.

Chuckling, Joseph reached up and ran his thumb gently over Lianna’s bottom lip. “Oh, don’t pout now. You know how irresistible I find you when you do that, and I’m due to meet the band in half an hour.”

Giving him a little smirk, Lianna nodded. “Okay, I’ll stop being a baby,” she told him.

“Thank you,” Joseph grinned as he rose from the bed. Moving to his suitcase, he looked around the room once more before zipping it closed. At the same time, Lianna grabbed her underwear and jeans from the back of a chair and slid them on. “Oh, I almost forgot,” Joseph opened his dresser drawer and pulled out a metal object.

“What’s that?” Lianna couldn’t see it from across the room.

Walking to her, Joseph took Lianna’s hand and placed a key in it. “This is the key for the front door,” he said. “I already told security that you are free to come and go as you please. I want you to come here whenever you want; I thought it might be a little more relaxing for you to study here.”

Looking into Joseph’s warm green eyes, Lianna felt a lump form in her throat. “I can’t believe you’re giving me a key to your condo,” she said softly.

Taking Lianna’s face in his hands, Joseph looked into her glassy eyes. “I know that dating me hasn’t exactly been easy, what with not being able to talk about stuff openly and ending up with your picture in the newspaper all the time,” he told her. “But I want you to know how much I care about you, and how much I want you to be a major part of my life, okay?”

“Okay,” Lianna whispered, nodding. She felt Joseph bring her face toward him, his lips meeting hers as Lianna closed her eyes. They kissed softly and slowly, taking time to enjoy the feeling of the other’s lips, tongue and breath. Finally pulling back regretfully, Lianna gave Joseph a small smile. “You should go now,” she told him.

Letting out a sigh, Joseph nodded. “You’re right,” he told her. “But I will call you tomorrow, okay? And remember, come here whenever you want. You can even bring that annoying shedding-machine you call a cat here, if you want to.”

Laughing, Lianna nodded. “Thank you, Joseph.”

Picking up his bag, Joseph looked around the room one last time to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. He leaned in for one final quick kiss. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time,” he told Lianna. “I’ll miss you.”

Not saying anything else, Lianna watched as Joseph walked down the stairs. She sat back down on the bed, feeling sad until she looked down at her hand and saw Joseph’s key. “I can’t believe he gave me the key to his condo,” Lianna smiled to herself. She wished she had been able to tell Joseph she loved him when he left, but they hadn’t gotten around to saying that to each other yet, although Lianna was sure of her feelings. She would have been crushed, though, if she had told Joseph and he hadn’t responded in kind. No, she would just wait until Joseph finally said something.

-----

“You’re in the big leagues now,” Madison walked into Lianna’s apartment several days later without knocking and plopped down on the couch beside the piles of books and papers Lianna had spread about her. Handing Lianna a glossy entertainment magazine, Madison motioned towards her. “Page 54, bottom half of the page. ‘Fans Broken Hearted to Learn Broken Dynamite’s Joey Hart is Taken’. Could these headlines get any cheesier?”

Opening the magazine, Lianna let out a disgruntled sigh when she saw a picture of herself and Joseph at an ice cream stand near his condo. Joseph had his arm around Lianna’s waist and she was feeding him a scoop of the frozen treat. This was going to be a huge problem; up until now, all the gossip about their relationship had remained in local New York papers. But this was a national entertainment magazine. “Frankie is going to kill us,” she sighed unhappily.

“Fuck that,” Madison gave her friend an annoyed look. “I met that woman twice, and she’s never been anything but a complete bitch. What’s the big deal if people know Joseph has a girlfriend?”

It was hard for Lianna to explain this to Madison. She actually didn’t care one way or the other whether her relationship with Joseph was public, as long as she got to be with him. And she guessed that she understood the need to keep up his image in the public eye. Still, Lianna hated that she was actually concerned how an opportunistic and unfriendly person like Frankie would respond. “It’s complicated,” she finally replied.

“It’s not complicated. It’s stupid,” Madison took the magazine from Lianna again and looked at the article. “They still haven’t figured out who you are, though. There’s no name; you’re just this ‘mystery woman’. Anyway, I needed to talk to you about something else, too.”

“What’s that?” Lianna was glad to change the subject. Madison had made it perfectly clear to her on several occasions that she did not approve of the fact that Joseph and Lianna couldn’t be public with their relationship at Frankie’s demand, and Lianna didn’t want to get into that conversation again.

For the first time since Lianna had known her, she thought she saw Madison blushing. “Well, you know that party Joseph had last week? Where I met his friend Tavian?” Nodding, Lianna thought about the small gathering that had taken place in Joey’s condo. Lianna had brought Madison with her, and although she had feared Madison might end up sleeping with one of the members of Broken Dynamite, she was pleasantly surprised to see Tavian and Madison talking all night.

“Well, I gave Tavian my number, and he called me last night,” Madison’s eyes were bright and excited. “I was just wondering if you know anything about him…?”

Smiling, Lianna reached over and patted her friend’s hand. “I can honestly say that of every male in that room – Joseph excluded, of course – Tavian was by far the nicest, funniest, coolest person there,” Lianna grinned. “He’s great, Maddy. Are you guys going to go out?”

Looking a little annoyed, Madison nodded. “We’re going to dinner this weekend,” she said. “But… see, the thing is… I didn’t tell you this that night, because I didn’t want you to get mad or anything… I had invited him home with me that night, but he refused. That’s why I was so surprised when he called yesterday. What do you think that was about?”

Letting out a giggle, Lianna shook her head. “Oh, I can understand your horror,” she said sarcastically. “Cute, nice, funny guy wants to actually take you out for a fun night and get to know you instead of jumping straight into bed with you. How awful!”

“Shut up,” Madison’s cheeks were definitely filled with a blush now. “Anyway, you didn’t exactly wait long to sleep with Joseph.”

Tilting her head resignedly, Lianna couldn’t argue. “True, but Joseph and Tavian are very different,” she told Madison. “Joseph’s way more… forward. Tavian, despite his joking around, seems to me like he would be a little shy around women he’s interested in. But he is a great guy. I think you’ll have a good time with him.”

“I think I will, too,” Madison agreed with a grin. Standing up, she looked at Lianna. “I’ll let you get back to studying. I just wanted to warn you about that article, since the evil Frankie-stein is liable to throw a hissyfit over this one.”

After Madison left the apartment, Lianna picked up the magazine from its spot on the coffee table and looked at the picture again. She couldn’t help but smile a little; she and Joseph looked so happy in the photo. She missed him a lot, she realized. But he will be back in just over three weeks, she reminded herself. She just wished he had called her again after that first call the day after he left. She didn’t want to be bothering him on the road, but she hadn’t heard from him in three days. Hopefully, he would call later.

-----

Joseph finally called two days later. “Hey sexy,” he greeted Lianna. “I’m sorry I didn’t call before now. Things have just been crazy!”

“That’s okay,” Lianna lied. She was just so relieved to hear his voice and the fact that he seemed happy to talk to her. “Tell me how things are going.” She settled herself onto Joseph’s couch. It was actually the first time she had been there since he left. She had just been missing him so much and been sad that he hadn’t called, so she had decided to go over there to feel a little closer to him. Now that she had him on the phone, she was glad she had gone there.

“Things are going great,” Joseph told her enthusiastically. “I forgot how much I missed performing. I do miss you, though.”

Lianna’s heart swelled at Joseph’s admission. “I miss you, too,” she told him, forcing herself to control her voice. She wasn’t going to get all emotional on the phone with him. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Me either,” Joseph agreed. “Only three more weeks. Oh, did you get to see the Weekly Entertainment Magazine from this week? Frankie lost her shit when she saw the picture of us in it. I thought it was a great picture, though.”

This was what Lianna wanted to hear. “I thought so, too,” she agreed happily. “And they still haven’t printed my name, so at least Frankie has that.”

“Yeah,” Joseph began to sound a little uncomfortable. “But she’s on a mission to do some sort of damage control. I’m not sure what she means by that, but it makes me a little nervous.”

“You know I don’t care one way or another if people know we’re together, as long as we are together,” Lianna reminded him. “So whatever Frankie pulls out of her sleeve that’s going to make her feel like I’m not the Yoko Ono of Broken Dynamite, let her do it. As long as I’m with you, I really don’t care.”

“You’re the best,” Joseph told her warmly. “Well, I should get going. But I’ll give you a call in another few days, okay?”

“Sounds perfect,” Lianna replied, even though she wished that she didn’t have to wait so long between phone calls. If she had her way, they would talk every day that Joseph was on tour. She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind, though. “Be good.”

“Never,” Joseph joked. “Ok, bye.”

“Bye,” Lianna responded and turned off her phone. She tried to push back a slight sense of annoyance that she was feeling. As soon as she had hung up, she had realized that Joseph hadn’t asked her anything about how she was doing – how studying was going, if she had heard from the design firm she had applied to for a summer internship, even how Madison was. Nothing.

“Stop it,” Lianna chided herself as she rose from the couch. “He’s just busy and excited and in the middle of a whole bunch of stuff. Don’t be a brat.” Gathering up her things, Lianna walked upstairs into Joseph’s room. She thought it would be comforting to spread out on the big, soft bed and study for a few hours.

As soon as Lianna settled on the bed and pulled her books from her bag, she realized that she hadn’t thought to bring a pen. Glancing around the room, her eyes fell on Joseph’s nightstand. Reaching over, she opened the drawer and began rummaging for some sort of writing implement. She moved the box of condoms that they had only used once or twice, trying not to think about the fact that this made her a little uncomfortable. Joseph had said he didn’t like wearing condoms if he didn’t have to, and since they were in a monogamous relationship…

“There has to be something in here,” Lianna sighed and looked into the drawer. Her face softened when her eyes came upon a picture of Joseph and Tavian that was under some papers. They were standing under a movie marquis for “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and were using what looked like long sticks to pretend-fight. She picked up the photo and realized there were a few under it. She scanned her eyes over a few pictures of the band onstage before taking a sharp breath in. There were several pictures from what must have been a hotel room, with the band and some half-dressed girls scattered around. The picture that had surprised her, though, was a clear photo of Joseph sitting in a chair in the hotel room with two girls kneeling before him, both going down on him at once. Joseph’s eyes were closed, and he had a look of pure bliss written across his face.

Quickly putting the pictures back in the order she found them in, Lianna slid them into the bottom of the drawer and covered them with papers again before shutting the drawer. Pulling her knees to her chest, Lianna reminded herself that these pictures were from before she met Joseph. Still, if this is the life he had been used to before he met her, what could she possibly offer that would make him want to stay with her? “I can’t lose him,” Lianna told herself. “I love him. Even if I haven’t told him, I know I love him.” She sat there quietly for a long time, trying to stop her mind from spinning. Finally, she gathered up her books and headed downstairs. There was no way she was going to get any work done just then.

-----

There was a knock at the door fairly early on Sunday morning, but Lianna had been awake, trying to study. Finals began that week, and she didn’t feel near ready. Unlocking and then opening her door curiously, she saw Madison standing there. Her hair was messy, and she was wearing flannel pajama bottoms, a tank top and a scowl. “Do you have ground coffee?”

Surprised to have her friend there so early in the morning, Lianna nodded. “It’s in the kitchen,” she told Madison. “What’s up with you? You’re never up this early on a weekend, are you?” She followed her neighbor into the kitchen and showed her where she kept the coffee.

“Oh, I had my date with Tavian last night,” Madison reminded Lianna as she scooped some coffee out of the container with a mug. “And we had a great time. He was fun and sweet. And he even agreed to come back to my place. That’s who this coffee is for; he spent the night.”

“So you and he…?” Lianna still couldn’t figure out why Madison was stomping around her kitchen.

“No, we did not,” Madison said in a clear sharp voice as she closed the lid on the coffee and stuck it back onto its shelf, closing the cabinet door. “We talked. And talked and talked. And then we went to bed, and he wouldn’t do anything but kiss me and hold me while we slept. Is he gay?”

Laughing, Lianna didn’t know what to say. “I’m pretty sure he’s not gay, Maddy,” she told her friend. “I just think he’s – and bear with me now, because this is likely to come as quite a shock to you – I think he’s a nice guy. I think he likes you and wants to be more than just one of your conquests. Face it, Maddy - you might be looking at the first sparks of an actual relationship.”

Grumbling, Madison looked like she didn’t know what to make of this news. “Of course, YOU fall for the famous rock star who you sleep with almost immediately, and I fall for the starving artist grad student who won’t go to second base with me. Because this has officially become Bizarro World.”

Forcing herself to laugh, Lianna tried to push back the uncomfortable feeling in her chest. “Well, go on back to your place before Tavian thinks he scared you off for good by just being too nice a guy.”

Nodding, Madison gave her friend a small smile. “He is really nice to me,” she said softly. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“No problem,” Lianna smiled as she closed the door behind Madison. She really was thrilled that her friend seemed to be at the start of something good, but having Madison describe Joseph as a ‘famous rock star’ again brought a now-familiar pang of nervousness to Lianna. What do I have to offer someone like that, she wondered sadly before going back to the couch to begin another studying effort, which was no doubt going to turn out to be futile yet again.

-----

“I bombed that test,” Lianna said sadly to her classmate the following Thursday as they walked out of a classroom together. “I just hope I did well enough in the beginning of the semester to balance it out. Do you know how pissed my parents will be if I can’t graduate because I failed an English test?”

Laughing, Eddie shook his head. “I doubt you failed,” he told Lianna with a grin. “You are the smartest person in that class. But even if you did, I’m sure your stellar performance earlier in the semester will more than make up for it.”

Walking out of the school building and onto the busy New York sidewalk, Lianna and Eddie were companionably silent. Finally, Lianna looked over. “I desperately need some caffeine. Would you like to grab a cup of coffee?” Immediately, Lianna got nervous. Had that sounded like she was asking him on a date? She had known Eddie casually since she started college, and she knew that when they first had met, he had been interested in dating her. Although he was very cute – tall, lean, with brown eyes that sparkled with gold flecks and hair that could be described the same way – Lianna just wasn’t interested in dating at that time. Eddie’s interest seemed to fade to a comfortable friendly acquaintanceship, but Lianna still didn’t want him to give him the wrong impression.

“Are you sure Joey Hart won’t mind if you are seen around town with another guy?” Eddie’s voice was teasing. “I’m just asking, because I don’t need to get my ass kicked by an angry punk rocker.”

Her eyes wide, Lianna stopped walking and looked at Eddie. “How did you…?”

“I have eyes, Lianna,” Eddie told her. “I’ve seen the gossip columns, and I read an article in some magazine last week. At first I thought, nah, can’t be… must just be a girl that looks a lot like Lianna. But after seeing enough pictures, I knew it had to be you. No one else has that glow about them that you always have.”

Blushing slightly at Eddie’s last comment, Lianna began walking down the sidewalk again. “Well, listen, no one is really supposed to know about that… I mean, we’re not really supposed to let anyone know we’re dating right now. It’s kind of what the band’s manager wants.”

Leading her into a café, Eddie shrugged. “Don’t worry, I won’t mention anything to anyone. I’m just a little confused.” His eyebrows furrowed as he and Lianna got in line. “I know he’s a rock star and all, but if I were with a girl like you, I would be shouting it from the rooftops.”

“It’s complicated,” Lianna mumbled, realizing she seemed to be saying that a lot lately. She shook her head though, and tried to remember what she had heard Joseph saying to Frankie at their show the month before – the way he had been defending Lianna and telling Frankie he didn’t care if people knew he had a girlfriend. “I guess it’s just the music business.”

“Okay,” Eddie didn’t sound completely convinced. “It’s not really my business anyway. It’s between you two. But as for the here and now, I’m buying. What do you want?”

Lianna and Eddie sat in the café and talked about the rest of their finals and plans for the summer, but Lianna’s mind was elsewhere. Another five days had gone by, and Joseph hadn’t called yet. She missed him terribly and wished she could talk to him, if only for a few minutes. As they finished their drinks and rose from the table, Lianna thanked Eddie again for buying her coffee.

“Anytime,” Eddie smiled easily at her. “And don’t worry, your rock-star-boyfriend-secret is safe with me. But just so you know, if you ever want to talk… I’d always be glad to listen.”

“Thank you, Eddie” Lianna told him sincerely, putting her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll remember that.”

-----

“Hi,” Lianna excitedly answered the phone later that night. “I was starting to wonder if I would ever hear from you again.” She immediately winced at her comment, hoping it didn’t sound like a complaint or criticism.

“Hey,” Joseph’s voice sounded tired, and there was a lot of noise in the background. “I’m sorry, sexy. It’s just been non-stop for the last few days. I don’t even know what day it is today.”

“It’s Thursday,” Lianna informed him. “And don’t apologize; I was just teasing. How is everything going? You sound drained.”

“I am exhausted,” Joseph told her. “But it’s self-induced, so I don’t expect you to feel bad for me. The band was up partying most of the night at the hotel with one of the other bands we’re touring with.”

“Sounds like fun,” Lianna tried to sound enthusiastic while visions of the picture she had found of Joseph flashed through her head. Pushing those thoughts aside as well as she could, Lianna pressed on. “More fun than what I’m doing, at least.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Joseph sounded concerned. He had to raise his voice a little to be heard over the din of voice behind him. “I never even asked you about studying or how finals are going.”

“It’s all going fine,” Lianna lied. She didn’t see any reason to complain to Joseph about how poorly she thought she was doing so far.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Joseph replied, and Lianna was sure she heard the tone of his voice change, like he was getting ready to tell her bad news. “Listen, Lianna, I just want to give you a heads-up about something…”

“What’s that?” Lianna knew her voice was tight, but she couldn’t help it. Joseph was making her very nervous, and she just wanted to know where he was going with this.

“Well, remember when I told you that Frankie wanted to do damage control on those articles about us?” Joseph didn’t wait for Lianna to respond before pressing on. “Well, she started that last night. There was some chick at the show that’s apparently in one of those god-awful teen dramas, and Frankie got a magazine guy to take a few pictures of us hanging out. Now, nothing happened between us – it was all for show – but I just didn’t want you to see it in a magazine and think I was cheating on you or something.”

“Of course I wouldn’t think that,” Lianna blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. “And I get it. This is all about the image of the band – the image of Joey Hart. And I don’t care about him. I care about you, about my boyfriend Joseph.” It took all Lianna’s willpower to not add that she loved him.

“I’m so glad to hear you say that,” Joseph sounded genuinely relieved. Lianna could here a voice calling out to Joseph in the background, and knew their conversation was winding down. “Listen, I have to split. I wish I had more time to talk to you, but at least there’s not too much time left, right? What are we at, just over two weeks left?”

“That’s right,” Lianna forced herself to be upbeat. “And I guess you’ll call again when you get the chance…?”

“You know I will,” Joey sounded happier and more relaxed now. “And you know, baby, you really are great.”

“I know,” Lianna told him. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Joseph replied.

Sitting on her couch cross-legged, Lianna looked down at Starsky, who was giving her a concerned look from the floor. Her cat seemed to sense when his owner was upset, and he didn’t like it. Taking a deep breath, Lianna tried to calm herself down. It was hard, though, knowing there were going to be pictures of Joseph and another woman in a magazine soon. It was also hard to note that Joseph had used Frankie’s term ‘damage control’ in regards to the stories about him and Lianna. How did letting the public know that he and Lianna were a couple suddenly come to be defined as ‘damage’?

-----

I REALLY APPRECIATE EVERYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED SO FAR. PLEASE CONTINUE TO DO SO, LETTING ME KNOW WHAT YOU DO AND DON’T LIKE. I HAVE THIS WHOLE STORY OUTLINED ALREADY, BUT I WILL TAKE ANY AND ALL RECOMMENDATIONS INTO ACCOUNT. THANK YOU!