2007.
Thirty eight thousand feet above the Atlantic.
I can feel her looking at me and I check my watch again; three hours till we land. I'm dressed in jeans, combat boots, an Epoch tour shirt and my old army jacket, which I thought would keep me relatively disguised... I was wrong. I tried to avoid getting spotted by getting a red eye flight as well and going solo... so much for that.
I check her out out of the corner of my eye; She's in her late twenties... looks to be in good shape... nice legs... she's in a business suit. It's black, and her blouse is white, unbuttoned at the top for comfort, her skirt is above the knee but just. Her hair is black and her eyes green, with a warm smile. She looks at me and flips open her magazine again, once more looking at me. I turn and smile at her, giving a small wave.
She blushes and looks down, tipping the magazine for me to see; it's me on the beach in Monaco... my shirts off and I'm coming out of the water. I'm cut, tipping the scales at two thirty, most of it muscle. I rub my chin and look around. Seeing no one looking, I lift my t-shirt quick and give her a view of my abs, just like in the picture, my wife's name just starting to rise above my jeans and she chuckles blushing, her grin widening. I laugh and so does she; I lean on the arm rest and sit back, admiring her as she tries to act like she's gone back to her magazine, fiddling with her hair.
"Hey," I whisper and she acts like she didn't hear me.
"HEY," I whisper again, louder this time and she looks up, giving a faked, quizzical nod.
I pat the seat, giving her the "come here" signal and she looks around unsure; the first class is empty and dark except for the two of us. I pat it again and turn to face her sideways as she shifts out and towards me. "Thanks," she whispers, settling next to me nervously and I chuckle, "No problem, my names-," but she cuts me off with a laugh, "I know who you are... my names Jan."
"So what clicked for you," I ask, smiling. She laughs lightly again, fiddling with her hair, "This is silly I know... but it's your eyes."
I laugh low and lean in to her, "What about my eyes?" She covers her face and stifles a giggle, "I've always liked bad boys... you know... the ones moms warned us girls about? You have eyes like that... they say "dangerous"... I hope you take that as a compliment?"
I laughed quietly and tilted my head against the seat, watching her closely, "I've heard that before and yes I do, I guess." I tap her magazine with my picture in it and grin, "I would have thought it was the tattoo's."
She laughs quietly, shaking her head, "Those too... the more the better."
I nod at the magazine, "What do they show in there?" She flips it open to my picture and then through a few pages; it's an article on my wife Nikki and I, filled with a pictorial of our time in the spotlight and several half truths about our lives. She shook her head embarrassed, "This stuff... I know it's mostly lies...".
"Some of it," I say softly, "Do you have a question?"
"Oh God, no," she said, shaking her head nervously, flipping her hair, "I wouldn't...".
I chuckle and brazenly take the magazine from her, flipping through it, "No questions at all? You'll read the magazine but I'm right here and you won't ask me anything?" She looks nervous, worried that she insulted me and I pat her hand and smirk, "Relax... go ahead, ask me something. Anything."
"Ummm," she starts slowly, "How many kids do you have?"
I smile at her slowly and tilt the magazine to her slowly, showing the picture of Nikki and I with Domino on a street in LA, "Says one here...". She bites her lip and looks down, unsure of asking what she heard, "I know... I've... they say...".
"Ahhh," I sigh quietly, looking around and finding the first class area still empty, "You heard about the "nanny"?"
"Oh God no," she says assuredly, "I wasn't going to-".
"It's OK," I say, amused, still flipping through the magazine, "I did not impregnate our nanny." I had impregnated Melody, my wife and I's girlfriend. Our boy was two also.
She laughs and nods, "I didn't think so, really and if you did it's none of my business...".
I tilt the magazine with a grin and show her my picture from the cover of Rolling Stone; I'm shirtless(again) and in jeans on stage at Donnington. I'm pointing out at the crowd and my wife's there also, in short shorts and a star spangled bikini top. The focus of the picture is me though and clearly depicts several of my tattoo's, "You like that?"
She blushes and fiddles with the neck of her blouse grinning, embarrassed, "Can't say I don't...", I laugh and so does she.
"Can I ask you," she starts and I nod, flipping through the magazine still, "What does your tattoo say? The one above your...?" I grin lewdly and wink at her, "You want to know?"
She nods, biting her lip in anticipation. "You want to see," I ask and her eyes turn to saucers, "Are you serious?" I look around and nod, "I can show you if you like... it's not that low on me...". She smiled nervously but her eyes had a devilish look to them and she flipped her hair back, "I... I can't believe this... OK, yes... show me...".
"Come closer," I whisper, turning towards her and she scoots forward. I chuckle and sit back, "Go ahead," nodding down to my button fly; she turns three shades darker and laughs, "Are you serious?" I shrug and give her a big grin, "Your option honey... if you want to see it, ya gotta get to it." She bites her lip again and her eyes glint devilishly again; she knows I'm flirting... and she likes it... even wants it. "OK," she says quietly, her eyes darting back down to my crotch.