Author's note: The character of DeeDee has traits belonging to various real-life performers but is not based on any one singer. The Anderson Casino on the Las Vegas strip is also a figment of my imagination. This story has a cameo appearance by Riley May, the heroine of my debut story "Anna Louisiana". Just a reminder that although the basis of that story was inspired by a certain Disney Channel sitcom, the character is in no way based on the singer who starred on the show.
Standard disclaimer: All explicit sexual activity described in this story is between consenting adults 18 and older.
Enjoy!
DAY 1
Joni was driving with her best friends Monica and Jessica to Las Vegas in the Rav-4 her parents gave her for her high school graduation present. Joni had been selected to drive because hers was the only one of their cars big enough to fit all their stuff in. It was spring break of their senior year of college and would probably be the last time they all took a trip together before going off to live in different cities.
Ordinarily, Joni would never have agreed to come. Vegas wasn't really her scene. She would have preferred camping up in the mountains or finding a quiet stretch of beach away from tourists. But there was one draw that she couldn't resist: Her favorite singer DeeDee had a residency in the Anderson Hotel and Casino, where they were staying at.
DeeDee first came on the stage at age 14 with a bubblegum pop album. Then, when she turned 18, her much older songwriter/producer/manager also became her boyfriend. Less than a year later, when they had a very bitter public split with allegations of substance abuse, infidelity and physical violence coming from both sides, most people thought her career was finished. But she came back with new management, a re-vamped image that she and her fans called "sex-positive", and her older critics called "slutty" and a new sound with songs that she wrote or co-wrote herself that leaned away from pop and heavily into hip-hop and R&B. And now at age 23, she was one of the biggest stars in music and a fixture of the celebrity tabloid press, always being seen at the hippest of clubs and seemingly going to bed with a different man or woman every night. She had an African American father and a Cambodian immigrant mother who had combined to bless her with café-au-lait-colored skin, thick black hair with loose curls, pouty lips, heavy-lidded almond-shaped eyes that looked like they were inviting you into the bedroom, even when she wasn't trying to be sexual, and a curvy figure that prompted more than one joke about where she had gotten the name "DeeDee" from.
Joni was a year younger than DeeDee and was completely obsessed with her. She had always known she was gay, and when DeeDee's first video came out she was completely infatuated. Joni's fantasies only got more heated when DeeDee came out as bisexual after the breakup with her ex. However, Joni knew they were just fantasies. Even if she were to somehow meet DeeDee, she doubted that the singer would give her a second look. Although Joni was not unattractive by any means, she didn't think she particularly stood out. She was skinny, small-breasted, pale-skinned, thin-lipped, and wore a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on her pointy nose. And although she wore her straight dark brown hair long, she was too much of a tomboy to wear makeup, jewelry or fancy clothes. Her go-to look was a loose T-shirt and jeans. On formal occasions, she would wear a men's button-down shirt and slacks.
After the girls checked into their hotel room, they took turns in the shower before changing clothes. While all the other girls changed into fancy dresses, Joni simply changed into another t-shirt and jeans ensemble, but less sweaty than what she had been wearing all day.
They all went down to the buffet for dinner, then to the casino to gamble so they could get a discount on their stay. Monica lost $30.00 on slots. Jessica won $50.00 at craps. And Joni won $20.00 at the blackjack table. Then, it was time for the show, so they made their way to the theater.
About five minutes after they found their seats, the theater lights went off and a voice came over the PA: "Ladies and gentlemen, The Anderson Casino Resort proudly presents our artist in residence. Please give a warm welcome to the one, the only, DeeDee!"
Suddenly the stage lit up with multicolored strobe lights and the opening hook from DeeDee's latest hit blared from the stage. Then the strobe lights stopped, and a regular spotlight hit the stage to light up the band. The musicians were all female and wore matching black pleather corsets. And Joni--having been raised by a musical family--could tell that these weren't just models or dancers miming to a pre-recorded track, they were genuinely playing their instruments live.
And then a cloud of smoke shot up through a platform that the band was circled around and DeeDee rose up from under the stage. Tonight, she was wearing a red-sequined two-piece outfit that accented her ample cleavage, her perfect round bottom and her toned midriff. She also had on a pair of white thigh-high boots. Her hair was loose with blond extensions, and her make-up was sparkly, so she shone under the lights.
"How's everyone doing tonight?" she shouted into her microphone, and the audience roared back their enthusiastically joyous answer, and she started belting out the lyrics with her powerful voice.
After a few more up-tempo songs, they switched it up and played a slow ballad. After that, DeeDee shocked the audience when she picked up a Fender Stratocaster covered with silver rhinestones and started playing an extended solo. Her playing combined the inventiveness of Jimi Hendrix, the technical precision of Eddie Van Halen and the soulfulness of Ernie Isley. Of course, Joni had learned about all these musicians from her parents and grandparents. Her friends had never heard of them. She wondered if DeeDee knew about them or if her family was musical as well.
As the show continued, although she was sure she was imagining it, Joni seemed to notice DeeDee looking straight at her from the stage, particularly when she was singing an especially sexual or romantic lyric.
Eventually, the main part of the show ended, and the lights went out for several minutes. Then after a while, there was the sound of a kick drum and a pink floor light strobed on and off in time with the beat. The band came back on stage one by one and eventually DeeDee herself came back on stage to do one more song. At the end of the tune, DeeDee asked the audience, "Now I know a lot of people come here to Vegas to gamble. How many of you won something on the slot machine?" A small group of people screamed. "And how many of you won at dice?" Another small group that included Jessica cheered. "Who won on the roulette wheel?" There was more cheering from another small group. "Did anyone win at the card table?"
Joni couldn't help herself and shouted, "I did, DeeDee!"
"Well, tonight--they don't know it yet--but there's a group of ticketholders that have just won something! They have backstage passes to visit me." The audience gasped and then cheered wildly. A roadie handed DeeDee a card and she read off of it. "Tonight's winners are the group of three that purchased seats J28-J30!" Joni double-checked her phone to confirm her ticket stub, and it was her and her friends. "Congratulations, guys! We'll do this one last song and then you'll be escorted backstage while the rest of the audience is heading home!" The band kicked in and DeeDee did a rousing performance of the first big hit that she had written herself.
"Thank you! Good night!" DeeDee and her band left the stage, and the house lights went up. A big hulking guy with a shaved head wearing dark glasses and a black t-shirt came up to Joni and her friends and said, "This way," as he led them down the aisle towards the stage.
After going through a secret door and making their way through various twists and turns, they found themselves in a secluded area with a bunch of equipment getting packed up, and sitting behind a table with a black tablecloth was DeeDee herself. "Hey, girls! Glad you could make it!" Monica and Jessica started screaming while Jodi was stunned into silence. "C'mon, girls, introduce yourselves to me. You, the hot Latin mamacita in the black dress. What's your name?"
"I'm Monica, and it's such an honor to be here!"
"And you, the blonde bombshell in the blue dress. Introduce yourself, please."
"I'm Jessica, and I'm so amazed that I'm actually meeting you!"
Then DeeDee looked straight at Joni and said, "And you, the cute shy one in the t-shirt. Do you want to tell me your name?"
Joni's face grew bright red, and for about two seconds she honestly couldn't remember her name and just hemmed and hawed.
"It's okay, sweetheart. I don't bite. Unless you ask me to." DeeDee gave Joni a flirty wink.
"MY NAME'S JONI!" Joni blurted out in a voice that was far too loud for the room. "Sorry," she said in a very quiet voice. "It's just... just..."
"It's just that Joni's obsessed with you," Monica finished. "She's a bigger fan than the other two of us combined. She's streamed all your albums thousands of times, and her room is covered with pictures of you."
"Oh, is that so?"
