Chapter 1
“You say you dream about me?” Lana asked Mark. She was annoyed at him. He didn't call for days at time, in fact he called once in a while and mostly texted. It was usually something to do with dreams about Lana or something to do with sex. Lana was sick of it and looking for romance, happiness, sex, a life, a family.
“Sure, all the time. Sexy dreams.” Mark smirked at Lana.
“I’m not in the mood for this right now.” Lana had such a bad day. Everything had gone wrong and she met Mark through friends. He had become a friend on social media and wanted to “date” Lana. They lived in different cities and Mark always talked about wanting to get to know her better. “I’d love to come to Los Angeles and visit you Lana.” He would say it every couple of weeks and then he’d have some excuse why he couldn’t visit.
Lana had gotten tired of it, she was tired of him turning every single thing she said into something sexual and inappropriate. He texted her to say “good night” and wished her “pleasant dreams.” Lana was annoyed and decided not to answer him. She sighed and made herself some chamomile tea in hopes of getting some sleep. She had an early morning. She would be meeting a "musician" for an interview and write-up about his new song. He was known to be difficult. He was so talented but, he didn't like journalists and media-type people.
Lana sang at night and wrote for several online magazines as well for the MUSIC WEEKS magazine. It was pretty respected and she got to cover almost every event imaginable. Lana laid in her bed and thought about texting Mark for a few minutes and then decided she would let it go. She decided to do some more research on Nick Massi, the musician she would be meeting with. He was briefly married but his ex-wife left him for another man while he was on tour for two years straight. Lana felt kind of bad about that. Her last relationship failed. She wanted children and he finally admitted to her that he couldn't have children and just stayed with Lana for sex and the little bit of love he could muster up to Lana.
"Life isn't a fairy tale." That was Lana's favorite line for the longest time. She ditched the tea and poured herself a class of wine and she turned her playlist on. Serge Gainsbourg's, "La Javanaise" started to play, Lana got a little teary eyed. Music did that to her. She could feel everything. She loved singing and sounds. It made her smile. Her playlist was insane. Everything from sweet love songs to death metal.
She would fall asleep to the music and wake up to her blaring phone alarm. Lana woke up fast and had to shower and get dressed and be at Nick's favorite downtown restaurant that he liked to eat at. Lana would be a little late but she would make it. She walked inside the little hole in the wall restaurant and oddly enough light Jazz music was playing. Nick was sitting at a table and he was already eating.
Lana walked over to the man at the small bar. "Excuse me, I'm Lana." "Oh, you are the writer, come on over, what can I get you to drink?" "Water and surprise me." She smiled at him. "Go have a seat with Mr. Masse." Lana walked over to Nick. He stood up and smiled at her. "You're late but I get it, fucking L.A.... It's all traffic." He smiled.
"I'm sorry, I'm late. It's nice to meet you." Lana wore her usual look. It was dressy and business like but sexy. Her black pants with her light dress shirt and black boots that she loved.
Nick was handsome, his jet black hair, his dark eyes. He wore jeans and a nice shirt. He looked good. He smiled at Lana. "What do you like to eat?" He studied her and smiled. "I'm a vegetarian so vegetables." she laughed. "So, no ribs then" he licked BBQ sauce off his finger slowly. Lana smiled, "no, thanks." Nick motioned for the waiter to come over. "Hey, Joe, what do you got for vegetarians?" The same young man who made Lana her delicious, fun and fruity drink was taking her order while suggesting what she should get.
He walked away after taking Lana's order and Nick reminded him he needed more ribs and was waiting for his cheeseburger. Nick smiled as he watched Lana dig into her food. "For a vegetarian, you seem to enjoy the food. I like that. I love food." Nick smirked. Lana said, "Well, I'm starving." She got her digital recorder out and Nick laughed, "so right to work, huh!" "I'm on a deadline and they want this story right away." "They can wait." Nick studied her, her button down shirt was unbuttoned enough for her black lacy bra to peek out. "You have sauce... sauce.. Never mind, I'll just..." Lana licked her thumb and rubbed the sauce off of Nick's lower lip. He slowly licked his lips as Lana licked the sauce off of her own fingers.
"You aren't worried about germs and what kind of horrible stuff I could have?" Nick laughed. He was kind of turned on that Lana even did that. "Do you want to go for a walk?" Nick studied her face as he asked her. "Sure, why not. It's so nice outside."
Nick paid the bill as Lana was getting her wallet out. "Oh, no please let me pay my half." "Nope, I got this." Nick gestured for her to put the wallet away. "See ya Carmine. Thanks for everything." Nick smiled at the young man and handed him a tip. "It was nice to meet you." Lana shook his hand and walked out with Nick. "So, tell me about yourself?" Nick studied her face. Lana sighed and shook her head. "What's to tell. I sing, I write, I broke up with my boyfriend, I'm seeing a guy, kind of... I live in L.A. now. I was a model for a while and wound up doing a few movies." Lana stopped talking.
"Why did I tell you all that, Oh fuck, I'm sorry." she regretted it. She was blurting things out that she didn't even share with her girlfriends yet. "Relatable!" Nick laughed. "Life is no fairy tale." Nick smiled at her. "My life has been a shit-show. A divorced musician who is on the road all the time. She thought I was sleeping with anything with a pulse. I wasn't, I could have. Believe me, I could have fucked all those chicks that throw themselves at me. But, I'm a homebody really." He seemed sincere. He asked Lana to keep that stuff "off the record." Most musicians love bragging about groupies and the nasty shit that goes on while they are on the road. Nick didn't. He wasn't proud of the small mistake he made with an actress he had a crush on. He had sex with her in a studio and broke his sound board.
He felt guilty and told his wife. She then went out and got a new man and left Nick. "Do you like ice cream?" Nick looked at Lana with a mischievous smile. "I do, I love ice cream." "Okay, that settles it, we are getting ice cream." They turned the corner and there was a small ice cream joint. Lana laughed. "So are we getting some air or did we just walk to walk off the food and make room for the ice cream?" "All that stuff." Nick smirked. He ordered his favorite for him and Lana. "Here taste this, he held a small sample spoon and Lana licked the spoon. "Mmmm, that is delicious. Is it Pistachio?" "Yes, it is." Nick ordered them two small cones. "Let's sit over here." Two girls walked over and giggled. "OMG Aren't you Nick Massie?" "I am." he smiled. "Could we pleassseee take a selfie?" the brunette made the word please drag on forever. Nick obliged and took a selfie and sat back down with Lana. "Where were we?" "Music and life." Lana nodded, yes. Nick stared at her for a few minutes. She smiled at him.
They sat for what seemed like forever. They talked about everything. Life, love, family, happiness, movies, music. Anything and everything. "Wow, it's seven o' clock" Lana was shocked. She had a deadline to write up this story. "Let me get you a car to get you home safe." Nick made a phone and a friend of his pulled up. They both got in the back seat. Nick studied Lana's body language. She was rubbing the back of her neck and moving around in the seat. There was tension. They arrived at Lana's place. A smaller condo. "I'll walk you to the door." Nick got out of the car and walked around and opened Lana's door.
"Thanks Nick. That's sweet. This was fun. You are a great man." "Do you think we could this again?" "When is your next album coming out?" Lana laughed and had assumed that's what he meant. "No, no I mean, like dinner or a movie?" Nick asked Lana for her phone and added his number and texted himself from her phone. "Now you have my number so use it." He smirked. He was sexy, his black hair pushed back, his eyes focused on her. He leaned in slowly matching her body. He was a little taller than her. He leaned in and kissed her.
He kissed her and slid his arm around her, Lana dropped her bag and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He pulled her semi-tucked in shirt out from her pants and slid his hand up the back of her shirt. He felt her warm sun kissed skin. Nick was so turned on, he felt heat and passion for the first time in a while. Real passion and love. It wasn't lust and Lana didn't need him for fame or anything. Lana leaned in to him and moved her hands, she was hugging him while they kissed. He was a great kisser, good lips. Lana's hand went up and down Nick's back. He kissed her with passion. She opened to her eyes to look at his face.
He was lost in the kiss, the embrace. He was lost in all of it. Lana stopped kissing him. "I'm sorry, I have to get this work done and believe me, I want..." Lana stopped before she said something dumb.
