Soul Gazer

"You're not... um... yeah, I think you are..." I stammered to find the right words to say as I pushed my long, dark hair behind my ear. The letter was already in his hands so that plan was already shot to hell.

"I'm not what?" he laughed as he sat up from the bench, "Yeah, I'm Taylor. Crazy out there, huh?"

Slowly he got up from the bench and sauntered over to stand beside Christene and I who were awestruck that he was standing right in front of us. His beautiful dark hazel eyes were shining in the fluorescent lights that illuminated the room. He was wearing a brown corduroy jacket over an "Otis Redding" shirt and some old faded jeans with wear in the pocket from where he always kept his harmonica with him.

"Yeah! Those people are crazy asses out there!" said Christene to break the silence, "I didn't know if we were gonna get outta that crowd or not."

"Wow... me either. Truth be told, that's the craziest crowd I've had yet! I don' know what got into 'em... sheesh... it was fuckin' nuts out there! What'd you guys think a the show?" he asked quickly to change the subject.

"You made love to the music Tay..." I said in almost a whisper, making Christene whip her head around at me as my face turned blood red, "I mean... I love the way you make music Taylor."

He laughed the cutest laugh I'd ever heard and I turned even redder when I realized he had actually heard me say what I did. It was one thing if I talked like that around Christene... she'd probably heard me say every thing imaginable about the man, but the fact that HE had heard me say something like that... and call him Tay, was almost more than I could take in terms of embarrassment.

"So I take it you liked the show then!?" he said bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, acting almost like a little boy, "How'd you like the new songs?"

"I uh..." I stammered again from the embarrassment that was still hanging over my head. The words just wouldn't form for me.

"The chorus of the first song you sang tonight was beautiful Taylor. Who are you gonna write with for your next album?" Said Christene, keeping the ball rolling.

"Not sure yet really... uh... I don't think I caught your names... did I? God... I hear so many names in a day that it's a wonder I remember my own sometimes."

"I'm Christene and this is my friend Loryn." Said Christene, knowing that I was still incapable of forming words.

"Where ya'll from?" he said.

"TENNESSEE." I blurted out. "I mean, we live in Lewisburg, Tennessee." I finished, almost impressed with myself that I could remember where I was even from.

"That's cool... that's cool... You guys came pretty far! I played in Nashville at the beginning of the tour ya know." he said laughing and looking sort of puzzled, "I'm just glad this tour is over. I get to go home and spend some time with the family and friends for Christmas." He said, running a hand through his tousled silver hair. "It's been a while since I've been home. Wonder if they've cleared 'em out yet?"

Slowly he sauntered over to the door to peek his head out while looking side to side. No screams... It was clear from the sound of it. Closing the door quietly he sighed and told us the security guards would come get us when it was okay for him to go outside. He slowly sauntered back over to us and put his arms over our shoulders and led us over to the bench to sit down with him. Reaching into his jeans pocket he pulled out a few rumpled pieces of paper and read them out loud.

"Taylor... you are hot. H-A-W-T." he read laughing. "You guys know how many a these I get in one night?" He said making a funny face. "Some nights I can't even hold 'em all. It's weird."

Immediately I looked down at the floor and faked a laugh, knowing he'd get to mine soon. I felt the heat rise into my face as he began reading the first distinguishable part of my letter aloud.

"I'm sure you get some nice ones though... right?" I interrupted, "I mean, surely they couldn't all just be one line high-school type notes... right?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love 'em... it's just weird." He said while stuffing the letter I wrote back into the faded pocket of his jeans. "Jeez, it's gettin' late. You'd think they'd be back in here after me by now."

About that time the door of the room swung open and three security guards came in red-faced and sweaty.

"You ready?" asked the big burly one.

"Yeah Mike. Ev'rybody gone? You don't have one a those little carts we could get them back to their car in do ya?" said Taylor, motioning to Christene and I.

"Sure." The security guard answered tossing Taylor the keys. "But don't do anything stupid, Tay. On second though, I'll come with you. We all know how much you like to play around with those carts." He said giving Taylor a stern look making Taylor laugh and roll his eyes.

"Actually," I interrupted, "We don't have a car here. We rode here with some other girls from home and I'm not even sure they're here anymore since everybody left... I hope they are 'cause my car's at my house... in Lewisburg... Tennessee... three hundred miles away..." I finished, putting my hand to my head worrying about what Christene and I were going to do to get home.

"We'll figure somethin' out." Taylor said patting me on the shoulder.

We walked out to the parking lot together with the security guards all around us. This was definitely nothing I had ever imagined happening to me in a million years. The air was even colder now than it was before and small flakes of snow were swiftly beginning to fall all around us coating the grass and parking lot with a fine sparkling powder. I looked up at Taylor to see what he was doing. To my surprise he would occasionally tilt his head up and catch a snowflake on his tongue, smile for a second, and then I would watch as the sad look in his eyes took over again making me turn away because I felt I was invading some sort of personal space.

When we finally reached the small golf-cart security vehicle Taylor turned to me. "Are you gonna call your friends? See if they're still here?" he said "Tell 'em it's okay if they're not 'cause there's a nice warm tour bus sittin' right over there with all kindsa good food... good tunes. We'll getcha home."

With that, my heart fluttered like crazy in my chest and I felt myself gain an all new respect for this man who had already given so much of himself to so many people. "But don't you have to get home? I mean back to Birmingham? I really don't want us to be a problem..." I said, digging through my purse for my cell phone, "I can't find my cell... I must have dropped it while that crazy security guard was pulling me through the crowd... Can this night get any worse!? I mean... uh..."

"Stupid security guard, huh? Honey, I have to stop in Nashville before I go all the way back to Alabama so we'll be takin' sixty-five South anyway. It's really no biggie. Here, use my cell phone." He said, obviously amused by something, "You'll have to dial the area code first though. That's a 'Bama number..."

"Yeah," I laughed, my friends are gonna know somethin's up when they see this." I laughed, dialing the phone.

I called my Marie and Missy, whom were both freaked out, to let them know Christene and I wouldn't need a ride home that night as they both enquired why. I told them that we had just decided to go ahead and stay in Cincinnati for the night and that my dad was going to come get us in the morning. They asked all kinds of questions as to whose cell phone I was using, why I was using it, where I went during all the commotion and why Christene and I didn't just come find them... but I played it cool. I told them I was using someone's cell phone who was standing outside after the security guards made everyone leave, that I had lost my own cell phone during the big rush of everything, and that Christene and I couldn't find them after everyone started going crazy so instead we just went around to the front of the building and stood until it was all over. They bought it... I told them to go ahead and go home after they got done eating at the truck-stop they had went to and that Christene and I would call them when I got home the next day so we could all compare pictures.

As soon as I hung up the phone I looked around as Mike, the big burly security guard, and Christene were getting into the security vehicle and I could feel someone standing behind me. "Ya ready to go to the bus? I've already told Christene you guys are gonna be dropped off when we pass through Lewisburg sometime tomorrow. C'mon." Taylor said, making me jump a little as he took my hand and helped me into the little golf-cart and climbed in behind me. As we approached the huge bus I could see that the bus was already running and the bus-driver was ready to go.

"I'm sorry for holdin' you guys up. We could have just gotten a hotel room and stayed for the night." I said looking at Taylor.

"Hon, the guys in the band already left because they were on the other bus when everybody went crazy... It'll be nice to have somebody new to talk to on the way home." He replied back smiling.

When we got to the bus the security guard turned off the engine and got on the bus leaving Christene, Taylor and I. Taylor helped me out of the golf-cart and then we walked over to where Christene was so he could help her out. It was already getting slick out and the snow was flying all around getting stuck in our hair. The exhaust of the enormous bus in front of us hung thick in the air making the visibility even lower.

"C'mon, let's get you girls outta the cold." Said Taylor while he led us to the bus.

The bus looked even more enormous on the inside as it did from the outside. To the right of us there was a green fluffy couch like bench and to the left in the main room of the bus there was a flat screen television mounted on the wall with a tiny dining space to the right side of it. Farther back to our right was a door partitioning the front half of the bus from the back half.

"You girls can take your coats off and lay 'em over here when ya get ready. I'll be back in a minute." Taylor said, pointing to a coat rack and heading back to the door.

"Boy this is nice." I said stretching out on the couch as Christene sit down beside me. "I'm tired though... I just don't think I'll be able to sleep!"

Christene looked at me and just laughed for a minute. "Hey Loryn... how do you think we got back inside earlier?" she said pausing.

"Somebody pulled us inside there Christene. I don't know who it was. Maybe the big security guard guy noticed that we were gettin' shoved around and decided they'd better help us before somebody got hurt." I said between yawns.

"Maybe..." she said trailing off, "I just thought it was weird that we were the only ones who ended up back in the building. Usually they just say 'piss on it' and leave everybody to fend for themselves. They probably saw you go catatonic after you met Taylor and decided they'd better do something to get you to safety before you let yourself get trampled by a bunch of little girls and caused some bad publicity about the concert." She laughed, making fun of me and causing me to blush.

About a half-hour later Taylor opened the door and came out with his hair dripping wet, dressed in a gray t-shirt with Soul Patrol written across the front in what appeared to be a child's handwriting and a pair of maroon knit shorts that fell right above his knees. "Be right back." He said as he passed by us toward the driver cab and ruffled my hair playfully. "I've gotta let the driver know to take sixty-five South on the way outta Nashville in the mornin'."

"But... I thought... Nevermind." I said as he shut the door to the driver cab. "He told me they had to take sixty-five South anyway. Weird." I said to Christene as we tuned the TV to the local news station to check the weather reports and see if news had gotten out about the riot earlier. Luckily they hadn't.

"God I'm so tired. I'm sure David and my cats are worried to death about me... Lemme see your cell phone. I left mine in Marie's car." Christene said sticking her hand out and motioning for me to give her my phone.

"Don't have it. Lost it... I hope nobody picked it up... mom and dad would shit a brick if somebody besides me or you picked it up. I'm twenty-four but they treat me like a little kid sometimes. But, I think I would freak out if someone besides them answered the home phone... I'm makin' no sense." I rambled, giggling when I realized that what I had said had no relevance to the whole situation.

"So how did you call the girls and let them know we didn't need a ride home?"

"Tay let me use his... I'm sure he'll let you use it when he gets back in here." I said, yawning yet again before I drifted off to sleep.

(to be continued...)