The wall had my back, as I kicked the toe of my pink Cons into the floor and contemplated how it was I got here. It started with a bout of "drink and mail." Far more dangerous than "drink and dial," which only embarrasses you with friends and ex-lovers. "Drink and mail" can embarrass you with complete strangers, including pop culture idols whose shrine you worship at.
I had always believed I had the perfect pick up line for Dave Grohl. Then one lonely Saturday night, I let Jose Cuervo talk me into e-mailing it to the Foo Fighters home page. "In an alternate reality, on the way home from work I screwed my courage to the sticking point, and stopped into the Satyricon, and you bought me a beer, because drummers dig me." I followed this opening line with a rambling description of that reality, complete with a major brawl between Courtney Love and I.
The resulting reply was a history lesson, on Scream, Bleach, and his invitation to join Nirvana in 1990. Feeling stung by the tone of the e-mail, which I imagined to be penned by some pimply faced intern, and sarcasm being my nature, I hit reply and wrote "Just my luck, I would have screwed Pete and not Ringo."
I thought that would be the end of it, but the next day I got another e-mail praising the creativity, if not the historical veracity or grammatical correctness, of the scenario, "Especially, the cat fight. Do you think Linda and Yoko ever pulled each others hair?" A flirty correspondence sprung up, then tickets and this invitation by FedEx. And here I stood, feeling ill at ease, waiting.
And then he appeared, looking like my idealized high school boyfriend, the scruffy face, the hair just asking to have fingers run through it, black T-shirt and lived in Levi's. I smiled my mood lightening. I watched him make the rounds, laughing with friends, giving hugs to women, lighting up a cigarette as two men cornered him and engaged him in serious conversation, slowly working his way over to collect two beers and make his way to where I stood.
Offering one to me he said, "So drummers dig you, huh?"
Accepting the beer, I grinned and said, "Yeah, you tell me why."
We talked for a minute about everything and nothing in particular; he took a drag off his cigarette, and gave a nod of acknowledgement to a group across the room. "Hang around for a bit, I want to talk to you again." And he was off.
I finished my beer, and drank another. He'd been working the room for about an hour, and suddenly looked trapped. I decided to make this an opportunity to reinsert myself into our conversation. I grabbed two beers and made my way over to him. He saw me coming and drained the bottle he had been nursing. I handed him a new one and pulled out my lighter to light the cigarette he placed between his lips.
"...what about Metallica?" the other party was asking.
Without looking at the other party, I ran my fingers through Dave's hair and said "Metallica are a bunch of whiny pussies that ruined Napster for everyone."
Dave laughed and said, "That's why drummers dig you. Do you want to go someplace a little more private?"
"Only since I got here," I replied. "Excuse us." I smiled at the other man as Dave led me off. "So where are we going? Up to your room and we can compare tattoos? Or the nearest broom closet?"
We stopped and he backed me into the wall, and ran his hand up under my shirt, brushing his thumb over my bra and hardening nipple. He held my gaze. I exhaled a breath that I didn't know I had been holding; I reached up and pulled his face to mine. It started slowly at first, a tentative touch of lips and exploration of tongues, building to a rolling boil of passion. As Dave broke the kiss, I raised myself on my tiptoes trying to follow, and I heard him say, " The broom closet is closer." He ran his hands over my shoulders, and leaned in and stole another kiss, before saying, "but I am dying to discover your tattoos."
"Whatever...just kiss me again before you take me there." I said and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him into me as his lips devoured me again.
I put my hands on his chest, and pushed him away slightly. With heavy breath I said "You better take me there soon, or some lucky Paparazzi is going to shoot the picture of a lifetime."
He grinned and took my hand. "One flight and then, we'll catch the elevator. I don't want to go through the Lobby..." He let it trail off and shrugged.
"What room are you in?"
"513," he said opening the door to the stairs.
"I'll race you," I said sprinting past him, and getting a good head start, but he caught me on the third floor, and took what little breath I had away by kissing me again. He caught my lower lip between his teeth, and gently pulled away, before running his tongue up my jaw line to my ear, where he whispered "That was not fair." His hands found my breasts, and slightly teased the nipples, and nibbled on my ear lobe before whispering "But neither is this," My knees gave out slightly as he abruptly let go of me, running up the remaining flights taking the stairs two at a time.