174 - Rockin On Top Of World

June, 7, 2010

London, UK: O2 Arena

Roof top set

Gnawing at the side of her thumb, Ari's boots tapped against the concrete floor as she and Meatball continuously paced back and forth. For the most part, she had pushed this particular moment from her mind for a good part of the day. That was until they arrived at the arena and she watched as they harnessed her husband like he was Ethan Hunt, about to take on his next mission. 

 

“Crash, if you don’t stop pacing, you'll wear a rut all the way to China.” Jon clasped his hand on her shoulders, stilling her.

 

“If...” a manicured tipped finger pointed him square in the eyes. “If you fall, I’m gonna kill you. You hear me?”

 

“If I fall, you won’t have to kill me.” he winked. 

 

“Asshole! I’m a nervous wreck.”

 

“And you’re not the one wearing a harness. Go figure?”

 

“I hate really hate you, you know, that right?”

 

“C’mere.” He pulled her in for a squeeze. “It’s gonna be okay. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t.” 

 

Ariana let out a long-deflated breath. She knew he was right, and that it was just her hormonal nerves playing with her head. Heck, who was she kidding? If she didn’t have this baby inside her, she’d be up there right now, rigging the damn equipment herself. Pulling away, he pressed his forehead to hers.  

 

“Why don’t you and the mutt here head back to the dressing room and rest. Tony’s hooked up a live feed, you can watch it from there. I’ll come find you after the press conference and sound check. How’s that sound?”

 

“Thrills a minute.”

 

“Be nice.”

 

“That was nice.” Smoothing the lapels of his jacket, her right hand traveled over to his necklace, where she fingered each of his charms. “Don’t be going all Sylvester Stallone up there and try to scale the building.”

 

Twisting her around, he pointed her in the direction of his dressing room and gave her ass a quick swat. “Go. I’ll see you in a few.”

 

Waving him off over her shoulder, Ariana waddled her way down the corridor, where she happened upon a few of the local crew she hadn't seen in a while. After stopping to chat for a bit, she headed on over to the catering room they had set up and grabbed a few snacks to bring back with her. That was where Cara found her.

 

“There you are. Jon said you were in the dressing room.”

 

“Got sidetracked. Heading back there now. Grab something and come with.”

 

Making her way around the l-shaped setup, Cara grabbed a few items and met her friend at the door. Arms full, they headed back to the sanctuary of silence. Upon entering the vast room, they each dropped their stash on the table and plopped down on the couch. 

 

"Do we have actual seats tonight, or are you hiding back here as usual?"

 

"We can have seats if you'd like. I just need to radio Matt and let Cliff know."

 

They heard a soft knock, then the sound of Nic's voice alerting them she was coming in. 

 

"I was told you'd be in here. You having a party or something." Pointing to the pile of junk food in the middle of the table, Nicole kicked off her shoes and curled up in the love seat opposite them. 

 

"Help yourself.” Ariana clicked the remote at the big screen television that Tony had set up for her. Ben Jones from Absolute Radio stood with the band behind him on the roof. He was talking about the month’s long stint they were about to begin, and how no one had ever played on the roof of the O2.  

 

“You can always, I guess, leave it to Bon Jovi to do something very, very different.”

 

“You mean stupid.” Ariana grumbled.

 

“Don’t tell me this is bothering you?” Cara looked over at her.

 

“Whaaat? Look at how windy it is. That’s dangerous.”

 

“Bullshit! You’re just pouting because you’re not up there yourself.”

 

Knowing she was busted, Ariana threw a cheese doodle at her friend. “Oh, hush.”

 

“Would you really be up there?” Nicole asked.

 

“In a heartbeat.” Cara answered for her friend.  

 

“Wait a minute. You’ve lost me.”

 

“Guess you weren’t aware that your little patient here is Queen Adrenalin Junkie. The higher the stage, the better.”

 

From the confused look Nicole still wore Cara explained to the good doc what Ariana actually did for a living before getting pregnant and how her need to be right in the middle of all the rather dangerous aspects of building a stage made her the best roadie in the business. Cara told one of her favorite stories about a time she met up with Ari while touring with the Stones and watched her fight her own father to climb the scaffolding to rig the lighting.  

 

“Well, that explains things a little better and why Jon’s been so protective of you.” She tore open a candy bar. “So, is that how you met Jon?”

 

It was an innocent question, and one Ariana had to carefully think about before answering. So, after an awkward pause, she pushed herself up off the couch.  

 

“I wasn’t actually hanging from the rafters. I was sleeping on a crate.”

 

♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱

 

“Romeo Jon. You sit back down and finish your dinner.” Where that child got all his energy from, she did not know but, after a long and tedious day of phone call after phone call, she was coming to her wits' end. After finishing her charity work, she headed to Brooklyn, to the younger boys' campus, for their final chorus concert of the year. Once they were loaded in the car, they headed to the other side of Brooklyn, where Jesse needed to be picked up from practice and Stephanie from a friend’s house. All this just in time for the evening's rush hour traffic back to the city. It was times like these she was grateful for her driver. So, when Romeo called out from the backseat about going to Sal’s for dinner, she had no qualms about agreeing.

 

“But Ma, Sal said I can help make the next pizza. Please. Can I?”

 

“One pizza, then eat. Or no Italian ice. Got it?” She kissed his nose.

 

“Got it.”  

 

Watching him disappear behind the counter, she turned her attention to her remaining children at the table. “Where’s Jake?”

 

“He went up front for something.” not picking his head up from his phone, Jesse answered his mother.

 

“Can we please put down the electronics for five minutes and have a normal family dinner for once?”

 

“Since when are we normal?” Stephanie clicked her screen closed and looked up at her mother.

 

“You know what I mean.” Dorothea took a long sip from her wineglass. “Are you all ready for next week?”

 

“Yeah. Uncle Mook sent me some last-minute details, but I’m pretty much set.”

 

“How ‘bout you, Jess?” Dorothea reached across the table and pulled the phone from his hand.

 

Replacing his phone with a slice, he answered. “I guess so.”

 

“I guess so isn’t a good enough answer.”

 

“I got it under control, ma. Chill.” Reaching across the table for his phone, his mother moved it further away. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had to finish school early.” 

 

“Watch your tone with me, mister, or you won’t be going anywhere.”  

 

They had a busy schedule this coming week. All four kids had to complete end-of-the year projects, not to mention finals and prom for the two older ones before they headed off to London to be with Jon. On top of all that, Stephanie needed to finalize what outfits she was wearing for the White Trash Beautiful fashion show later that month. 

 

“Hey Ma, that guy I met with Dad that day is eating out front.” Jake pulled out a chair and took a seat.

 

“First, where were you? And second, what guy are you talking about?”

 

“I went out front because the internet sucks from back here. That is where I ran into Billy…. no wait…. it’s Bobby.”

 

Dorothea needed to be careful how she approached this. If she overreacted, they would know something was going on, but she needed to know just how her son knew who Bobby was. Lifting her glass, she took another sip and let the burgundy liquid lingering in her mouth before swallowing. 

 

“When did you meet Bobby?”

 

“Cuppala weeks ago. When I forgot my homework.”

 

It was all coming back to her now. It was the day after Jon and Richie pulled that stupid stunt and slept at her house. She remembered Bobby telling her he ran into Jon outside, but he mentioned nothing about meeting Jake. She made a mental note to ask him about it.  “

 

“So, did you talk to him?”

 

“Just hi. Are we leaving soon? I’m getting bored.”

 

“Mom. Mom. Look what I made. Sal said I can take it home. Oh yeah, and Dad, Ari and Meatball were on the TV. Can I call them?”  

 

Romeo came running from behind the counter holding a pepperoni pizza, or what looked like a pizza. All she could see were mounds of pepperoni. 

 

“You know you shouldn’t be watching the television and no, you can’t call them. It’s late there.”

 

“But Dad was on the roof of some building, and Ari and Meatball were playing outside. It was daytime. Pleassssssse.”

 

“I said no. It’s after midnight there. Go get a box for your pizzas. We are leaving.”

 

The beating in her temples from earlier had increased to a thumping steady pulse. What she needed was the serenity of her jacuzzi tub so she could process the evening’s events. But first she’d have to make it out of the restaurant and pass Bobby without the kids picking up on anything.