160 - Build Me Up

May 19, 2010

Hershey, PA: Hershey Stadium

Show # 35

 

Hershey, Pennsylvania — chocotopia of happiness. Right? More like hell no. Everything that could possibly go wrong was doing so ten folds. It was the first date of the stadium's leg of the tour and using the new stage. Bigger stage, bigger equipment, bigger problems, all of which are expected on a tour of this caliber. It was a good thing they tested it all out before loading it up and heading home to the New Meadowlands Stadium next week. And where better to give it a dry run than in the state where they built the stage.

 

Hershey Park stadium was not one of the better stadiums they've played but it was most definitely not the worst. It was a good thing Tony had met the crew and buses up there the day before to oversee the building of the new stage and to make sure his equipment and screens were being set up correctly. The first five technical rehearsals found numerous glitches. The weather wasn’t cooperating, muggy with sporadic raining. Toss in a couple of hot-headed Italians and a missing roadie extraordinaire, and you have a recipe for a headache the size of Texas and pounded harder than the Hitman himself. All this, and Jeanie and Jon hadn’t even left New Jersey.

 

Three days ago, Jeanie met Jon in Teterboro and had not left his side since. With what had transpired over his last few days and him having to leave a very pregnant Ariana in Italy with his mother, she had prepared for his off-kilter moodiness, but this, this was a whole new level, even for the CEO himself. 

After a trip to the city to check on the kids and assure them that their stepmother and baby sister were fine, she had to literally step in between him and Dorothea and drag his sorry ass out of the penthouse. From there, they headed back to the Jersey house where they had been holed up ever since.

 

Jon’s bark, a harmless one at best, gradually worsened over the course of those days, and he was in full-blown dickhead mode. Not something she needed on show days, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Her morning started when she had come in from her morning jog along the river and could hear Jon yelling down the hall. At whom the recipients of the day, she wasn’t sure. But from his tone and infliction, he wasn’t happy, that was for sure. Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, she headed straight towards the rumbling sound of his voice. Walking into his office just in time to hear him telling Matt to handle the shit himself or to call her.  

 

Geez, just what she needed, more stuff to do.

 

“Nice of you to show up for work today?” Jon spat, tossing his phone on the desk.

 

“Morning to you too, buttercup. Since when do I work for Matt now?”

 

“Since he can’t find his dick with both hands.”

 

“And how’s that my problem?” she snapped.

 

Ten years working side by side with this man had earned her a little more than the usual boss - assistant rhetoric, that’s for sure. They respected each other, but she let him know early on that she would not be treated like a doormat. Before he had a chance to answer her, his phone was ringing again. This time it was Tony, and from what she could tell, he was bitching about the specs for the new stage and video screens. Something about them not configured the way he originally drew them up and between the weather and him being short one crew member, Ariana, it was making his life difficult. He was calling Jon to find out if he could call her and see if she could walk him through what he was having trouble with.

 

“ABSO-FUCKIN-LUTELY NOT, Ton. She needs to rest. Not have you calling, asking her to help.” Jeanie watched as he paced between the desk and piano, one hand on the phone, the other pulling at the crown of his hair. “For fuck's sake, you know damn well if I let you call her. She will get stressed if she can’t help. Figure it out yourselves. Not the first time you had to erect a fucking stage without her.”

 

Ah, two words that shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Ariana and erect.  

 

Not when her fearless leader, well more like her whining, pouting, stay the fuck out of my way, wishing I was in Italy getting laid boss was wound up tighter than one of his designer watches. All the years she’d worked for him, this was the worst she’d seen him. Knowing this call was far from over, she grabbed her laptop and returned to the kitchen. From the way things were going, water would not cut it. Coffee. Strong and black, is what she needed.

 

“Hey, Jeanie.” Jon walked into the kitchen and found her standing over the island. “Can you help me pound one out? I figured, you being a lesbian and all, it wouldn’t be considered cheating.”

 

“Sure Bill, and when we're done, we can go back to these Soul Kitchen contracts.” Lifting her eyes from the stack of papers she was reading through, she was met with his trademark smirk.

 

“Exactly.”  

 

Having enough of his mood, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shoved him into the adjacent wall. “I know you’re all kinds of tense right now, but you need to get a grip.”

 

Jon couldn’t help but grin. If it had been anyone other than Jeanie, or maybe Ari or his mother, he’d have thrown them across the room by now. But she knew him. Always kept him in check, and he rarely saw this side of her. God, he loved a strong woman.

 

“Oh my God, Jon! Wipe that grin off your face and just go take care of it so we can stop walking on eggshells! Seriously! Do you need me to draw you a map? GO!”

 

♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱

 

“Yeah. Yeah. I can see it now. Looks like one side of the wheel isn’t rotating enough. Move it again.” Ariana stared into her laptop screen as Tony maneuvered the remote joystick for the robotic camera. “And your sure tracks are level?"

"For the twenty-eleventh time, yes."

"Okay, okay. I was just making sure.” 

 

She and Tony had been at this for the last hour, going over every probable scenario as to why the damn thing wouldn’t move. There was one last thing she could think of, an ancient family secret, sorta.  

 

“I know you tried greasing the ball bearings, but I want you to try one more thing. It’s going to sound bizarre, but trust me, I’ve seen it work. My father taught me this trick. You’re gonna have to clean and dry off everything really good. Tracks and ball bearings. Then I want you to get some olive oil."

"Say what?"

"Yes, olive oil. Trust me, I’ve seen it work. You’ll need to put it in a spray bottle. Once everything is dry, I want you to re spray everything.”

 

“Didn’t we just do that with the W-D40?”

 

 Yes.” she sighed. “It’s like using W-D40, but better. Well, at least my father thought so.”

 

“What are you doing?” Startled by the female voice, Ariana turned to see Dr. Cummings propped against the doorjamb, her arms folded against her chest.

 

“Um, Tony, I’m gonna have to call you back. Yeah, okay. Try that and let me know. Ciao.”

 

Ending her call with her brother-in-law, Ariana tossed her phone and her laptop onto the bed. “Nicole, what a surprise?”

 

“Oh, I bet. What were you doing?”

 

“Nothing, just helping Tony. What are you doing here?”

“Jon thought it would be a good idea for me to be here, and I can see why.”

 

“Oh, please.” Ariana huffed as she lowered herself down on the bed. “I wasn’t doing anything I’m not supposed to.”

 

“You were working.” Dr. Cummings crossed the room and took a seat in the rocking chair Ariana had vacated.

 

“Was not! I was sitting in a chair, exactly what I am supposed to be doing and have been doing and talking to Tony.”

 

“About work.”

 

“So? It’s not like I was there pushing the damn camera myself. Is that why Jon sent you to spy on me?”

 

“No, it isn’t. He figured you would be at your wit's end by now and figured if I was here, maybe we could do a little more than sit in bed. But now I don’t know if that is a good idea.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Can I speak honestly?”

 

“I expect nothing less.”

 

“Ariana, I’ve watched you for the last month or so and you can’t sit still. It’s not in your nature. I am afraid that if I give you an inch, you will take six.”

 

“Nicole, I can’t change who I am, and Jon is well aware of that. I can tell you this, this baby means more to me than anything in the world, and I won’t let anything happen to her. But by keeping me in a bed with nothing to do isn’t helping either. It’s just a different stress and the stress of that is not good either.”

 

“You have a point.”  

 

“Besides, it was just a phone call.”

 

“You mean it was the only one you got caught making.”

 

“Actually, it was the first. I’m not going to lie and say I’m going a little nuts. One can only take so much Italian television and card games. I’m not asking to run a triathlon.”

 

“Okay, let me look over the latest doctor's notes and see if we can come up with a compromise of some sort.” 

 

“Thank you!” Ariana sighed.

 

“Don’t get your hopes up. I’m certain it won’t be much. Maybe just a brief walk outside for fresh air. Nothing more.”

 

“I’m fine with that. Anything more than these four walls would be a welcome change.”

 

Pushing herself off of the chair, Dr. Cummings crossed the room just as Ariana’s phone rang. Shaking her head, she silently slipped from the room. She knew when Jon called her about going to Italy, it would not be a walk in the park, but she at least thought she would have some time to have to deal with something like this.