Zelmas on Tour

This is Part 7 of a sequel to the Vix's Licks series, picking up after the epic gig at the Magna Carta, and following Vix's band as they continue gigging and then embark on a European tour.

Best to read the whole Vix's Licks series, and Parts 1 through 6 of this one before this, to be familiar with the characters and background.

***

'Houston, we have a problem,' said Lindi. She was making a quip from "Apollo 13" but she looked very serious.

We'd returned from our showers to find Nikki, Jemma, and Mads in the bus, all feverishly preparing to go to the Chootes gig, but Lindi was missing. She appeared moments later with bad news from the boy bus. 'What is it?' I asked.

'It's Danny. He's come down with some kind of stomach bug. Throwing up everywhere, he is.'

'Eeew'

Lucy immediately sprang into action. 'I'll take him to the health centre,' she said, and departed.

'Three hours from mic time and we've no bassist,' said Lindi, shaking her head.

There was no chance of finding a replacement at such short notice and, being only a four-piece, there was no second guitarist who could take on bass duties. Cancellation of the gig looked inevitable, but then, to everyone's surprise, Mads piped up and blithely said, 'I could stand in for him.' We all looked at her. This was extraordinarily brave of her, but I had a dozen questions in my head, chief among which was, did she know the songs?

Lindi voiced that very question, and Mads said 'Show me the setlist.' Lindi dashed off to the boy bus.

'Are you sure, Mads?' I asked her, thinking about how daunted I would be in this situation.

She just shrugged. 'Yeh, why not? I'm a Chootes fan. I know their songs.'

Lindi returned with the list, and Mads sat down to peruse it. We almost held our collective breath as she scanned through the 22 songs. She seemed to take an age, but then she breezily said 'Yeh, I can do all of them,'

Wow. Mads. What a hero. Lindi beamed and jumped up, 'I'll tell Jack,' and she dashed off again.

'Grief, Mads,' said Roo. You're gonna be a legend for this... as long as you don't feck it up.' She grinned.

'Course I won't feck it up... and I'm already a legend, as you know only too well,' she said in her cool, imperious way.

Ten minutes later, everyone was outside the bus getting ready to walk up to the Casino. Mads was last to emerge and she was immediately surrounded by The Chootes and their crew. EVERYONE wanted to hug her (including me). She was so taken aback, her air of practiced cool almost deserted her and she looked suddenly emotional. Almost vulnerable. I loved the glimpse of that side of her.

Joe insisted on carrying her bag with her stage gear, and Dad walked alongside her. 'Thanks for getting us out of a hole, Mads. I really appreciate it.' Mads just smiled, a little nervously. I think the butterflies were finally kicking in.

As we approached the Casino, Dad was recognised a couple of times and had to stop to sign people's caps and tee shirts, then we escaped inside. Mads' bag was deposited backstage, the crew went off to do their pre-gig crewy things, and The Chootes got ready for sound check. The rest of us hit the bar.

We heard both bands doing their checks, and Mads gave us her rather lukewarm review of The Smashing Pumpkins; 'I guess they are OK. I mean, there's not a lot WRONG with them, but they just lack something. A bit of edge, y'know? They're nowhere near The Chootes... I can't believe Melissa Auf der Maur played bass with them. She was wasted in that band.' I tended to agree with her (but I'm biased) and I didn't tell her that I thought she was even better than MAdM. I thought it might go to her head.

The Pumpkins went through their set, and got a good reception from the crowd, but it didn't particularly move me, then there was a 20 minute break before The Chootes came on. Mads headed off to get ready, and we tried to manoeuvre ourselves closer to the stage. The place was packed to bursting, so it took a little time, but we got ourselves into a good position just before they walked out onto the stage.

I'd seen The Chootes tons of times (obviously) so my eyes were focussed on Mads. She came out third, with only Ed behind her, and she looked great. Impressive, as ever. She was wearing a black leather bra with moulded cups that were just slightly overfilled by her bodacious boobs, a bright yellow rah-rah skirt, and a pair of platform-soled ankle boots with something like an 8cm heel. It was an unusual, but very eye-catching combo. She was also wearing her tinted rectangular glasses, and had teased maximum body into her hair.

There were lots of whistles from the crowd - I'm sure some of them directed at her -- and she looked simply fab as she put on her custom black P-bass with its studded strap. Every inch the rock star.

Many of the fans were obviously wondering who she was, but they didn't get an explanation - yet. As always, Dad simply said 'Evenin all,' and launched into the first number, which was unusually, one of their no.1 hits, "Toybox."

Mads was immediately into the groove, and sounded like she'd been playing with them for years. She even joined Lindi on harmonies, something Danny never would do, so their sound was given an extra lift by her presence. Actually it was a good job Danny was not present, or he may have feared for his place.

It was only after the second number that Dad paused for a bit of a monologue; 'Hello Montreux,' he began, deliberately mangling the pronunciation to rhyme the two words. 'Hope you're enjoying the festival...' (big cheer from the crowd) 'We're lucky to be on stage tonight. Our bassist, Danny, has been taken ill... nothing serious, don't worry, but we would have had to cancel if we hadn't been saved by this young lady here. She's the bass player in my daughter's band, The Zelmas, and she has stepped into the breach at the eleventh hour. As you can see and hear, she's not a bad stand-in...HA!' (a chorus of whistles broke out) 'Let's show our appreciation... Mads Driscoll!' There was a massive roar of cheers and applause, even the band were applauding, and Mads raised her arms and took a bow. 'On we go. This one's called Coco Fire.'

The gig was a blast, Mads went down a storm, and when they played "You're My Saving Grace," Dad dedicated the song to her. They played two encores and the crowd was delirious. It was another magic night.

After they came off, and the place started to descend into the usual post-gig, anticlimactic calm, Roo and I made our way to the backstage door and, after schmoozing the security guard, went to look for Mads. The band were in the green room, but there was no sign of Mads. 'Where is she?' I asked.

'You tell us,' Dad said. 'She skedaddled as soon as we came off. Haven't seen her since.' I tried her phone, but there was no answer. Bloody strange.

We went and looked in the ladies' toilets, both backstage and public, but there was no sign of her. We went to the bar and found Nikki, Jemma, Rhoni and Lucy, all arranging to go somewhere to eat, but no sign of Mads. 'Haven't seen her,' said Jem, 'Where is she? She was brilliant.' We shrugged.

I tried calling her again, then left her a voicemail. 'Mads, pick up babe, we're getting worried about you.'

5 minutes later, my phone buzzed with a WhatsApp; 'I'm OK. Back at the bus.'

I showed Jemma. 'Weird. I thought she'd be on Cloud 9 after that gig.' Roo and I decided to go and see what was going on with her, while the others headed for a late night restaurant.

We walked back to the bus in a lovely balmy evening and let ourselves in. 'Mads?'

'I'm here.'

I pulled the curtain back on her bunk, and there she was, sitting up in the corner, eyes filled with tears, and makeup stains streaked across her cheeks. 'Whatever's wrong darlin?' She burst into tears again. 'Mads, babe, come out of there and tell us what's up.'

We took her to the lounge and sat her down. I poured us drinks, and we sat either side of her. 'Tell us,' said Roo, 'what's got you into this state?'

She opened her mouth and just looked shocked and bewildered, shaking her head, then she found her voice. 'I, I don't know. I just don't. Tonight has been mad, crazy, incredible. So many emotions. I don't know how I finished the gig...'

'You were fantastic,' I said.

She was fighting back tears again. 'I don't understand any of this. This feeling. It's like something burst inside me and let all my demons out.'

'But why demons, Mads? You should be feeling great after that show.' Roo, said.

'I know I should, right? But I'm overwhelmed. I dunno... pride, love, joy, but also doubt, confusion, and fear. I was frightened by all the adulation. Couldn't face it. It's so fuckin weird. Getting smashed up by my own feelings.'

It certainly did seem weird. There seemed to be a lot of bewilderment and contradiction going on in her head. I think she was just overcome by what had been a simply mega experience. An emotional overload.

'I understand, Mads, I said, taking her hand, 'you're overcome. You just need a little time to assimilate it.

'Yeh,' said Roo, 'it'll take you a bit to get used to being a feckin rock goddess.'

She chuckled weekly and said 'Oh God, I love you two so much... Thanks for coming back to find me...' and she broke down in tears again.

She seemed an emotional basket-case, but I'd seen this weak side to her before, and I knew that by tomorrow, she'd be back to the normal, cool, composed Mads we knew so well.

She went for a pee, and I took the opportunity to text Jemma and my dad: 'Mads OK. Just a bit emotional. Back to normal tomorrow, I think.'

'You can sleep with us tonight, if you like Mads? Not for sex, just for emotional support,' I suggested.

She looked doubtful, but then looked up at me with a weak smile and said, 'I'd love that.'

We crawled naked into bed together, and it felt almost like old times. I had said 'not for sex,' but there was quite a lot of kissing and affectionate caresses with both hands and mouths before we finally slept. The unwinding and calming that was going on in her was almost palpable, as her elevated and tremulous breathing gradually slowed and steadied... and then, sleep claimed me.

***

As expected, in the morning, the old Mads was back. We were up before the others, who must have got back very late, and no-one knew we'd spent the night together. Mads was in the kitchen making coffee when stirrings began among the others. All except Rhoni, who had already been across the road for a shower, and returned looking radiant, with wet hair and freckles that were getting more prominent by the day.

'Hey, Mads, that was impressive last night.' She beamed. Then, with an exaggerated look of puzzlement... 'Are you the same Mads?'

'Sort of...' Mads murmured.

One by one, the others emerged to give her the same kind of praise, but she seemed to handle it OK. Her strength had returned.

After we'd had coffee, I took her to the boy bus, and The Chootes came out to hug and thank her. Even Danny, still looking a bit pale-faced and queasy. 'Thanks, Mads,' he said, ruefully. 'They tell me you were MILES better than me... Bastards.' He looked skywards, while the rest of the band were obviously getting huge enjoyment out of his discomfiture.

'Yeah, must be great to have such supportive bandmates, eh?' She smirked sarcastically, and shot me the quickest little glance. Just a momentary eye-contact that conveyed so much. Oh Mads.

***

That day, we took our leave of Montreux. It had been truly brilliant, but we had to get back on the road. In three days we were playing the Tempodrom in Berlin, but that was over 1000 kilometres away and too far for Rhoni to drive it in one go (she was only allowed 9 hours in any one day). So, as a bonus, Jens had booked us into a motel in Stuttgart -- to give us a break from the bus, as much as anything -- and that would only take us five hours or so.

We took our last breakfast at the Sleepy Bear, then returned to the bus, ready to depart. The lake, twinkling in its limpid greenness, looked as gorgeous as ever, and we spent a final few minutes just standing on the shore, gazing west towards Geneva. I felt a real sadness to be leaving this wonderful place behind, and I vowed I would come back.

'All aboard the wonder bus,' Shouted Rhoni and we reluctantly turned to go.

By four in the afternoon, we were rolling into Stuttgart, looking forward to checking out our motel, which was near the city-centre. Rhoni dropped us outside the door, then went to lodge the bus in a designated coach park.

Jens had booked everyone into twin rooms, including Roo and me. We would have preferred a double, but I didn't really have any issue with sharing a single bed with her. We were left to decide our own sharing arrangements, and it was no surprise that Nikki ended up sharing with Jemma, Mads with Lindi, and Lucy with Rhoni. I wondered how many single beds would end up accommodating two...

The rooms were simple but comfortable, each with a little en-suite, and ours had a view over a park with a river and lake. Lovely.

I peered out of the window and observed that lots of people were cycling in the park. Suddenly, I missed my bike. I promised myself that, after the tour, I was going to do much more mountain biking. Roo and I had already talked about it and she said she used to cycle a lot, but sold her bike when she moved to England because there wasn't much room in her van, or the flat. Well, I decided that when we got back I was going to take her to the bike shop and get her a shiny new one.

Once we were all settled in, we hit the town, and we hit it hard! The Germans are well known for being big beer drinkers and I was inclined to think "when in Stuttgart, do as the 'garters do." I am a bit of a beer monster anyway, and despite my small stature, I can put away quite a few steins in a session. Roo is capable of matching me round for round -- Mads too - but it was a bit of a challenge for the other girls.

We went from bar to bar, and sank quite a few Holstens, Krombachers and Warsteiners and, one by one, the others fell by the wayside as Roo, Mads and I forged ahead. Rhoni was the first to stop, which was understandable as she was thinking about another six-hour drive the next day, and she was followed by Lucy ('I've never been much of a beer drinker'), then Nikki and Jemma, and finally Lindi. They all went onto white wine spritzers.

Mads, Roo and I became almost competitive, in what was I suppose a rather blokey way, but we finally called it a draw in a bierkeller called Sophie's (an oddly English name) We were all pretty squiffy at this point, and the "full" signs were definitely up.

I was pretty hazy with the drink, but that didn't stop me from observing, with interest, the way Lucy and Rhoni were with each other. They were together the whole evening, and there was definitely a bit of something going on. It wasn't something that would raise eyebrows, but the way they looked at each other, occasional whispers that passed between them, and the way Lucy complimented Rhoni on her hair and her top (yes THAT top) made me think...

We all knew by now that Rhoni was only a hairs breadth from stepping over "the divide," and that Lucy had already made the step and wanted more. They couldn't really have more conducive company than us, nor a more inductive atmosphere than our honeybus, so it seemed almost inevitable really. Rhoni, by her own admission, was extremely libidinous, Lucy was making it quite obvious that she was attracted, AND they were about to share a hotel room. How could they not?

I was an avid observer of how they became gradually more touchy-feely with each other, and more flirty. Rhoni was clearly loving the attention, Lucy was clearly enjoying the pursuit, and I was delighting in watching it play out.

They went to the bar together for a last drink, and I murmured to Roo, 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

'Aha,' she nodded.

I suppose they made a slightly odd couple. Lucy tall and thin, Rhoni much shorter and more curvy. Lucy with her explosion of frizzy, slightly greying curls, Rhoni with her straight, fine, strawberry blonde. Lucy with her neat little bum, Rhoni's much more generous. There was almost ten years between them too, but that worked fine for Roo and me, so why shouldn't it work for them?

That made me think about Lindi and Mads, who were chatting happily, or should I say blabbering tipsily? I know their liaison was only a bit of fun, but there was an even bigger age difference there. It occurred to me that Lindi had done well to attract Mads, 15 years her junior, and as hot as fire, but you know how I feel about Lindi, so I wasn't really surprised. They also made an odd couple, for the opposite reason. They were so similar. Lindi could almost be Mads in 15 years time, so theirs was certainly not a case of opposites attracting.

Roo was listening to Mads blathering on about something. I don't recall what it was but she seemed impassioned about it, and Roo was nodding in agreement. Suddenly, I had a irresistible urge, and I turned to kiss her. An urgent, hungry kiss. 'Oo, that was a surprise. What was that for?'

'I don't want you to forget.'

'Forget? Don't be daft. Why would I forget? WHAT would I forget?'

I grabbed her hand and stood up. I suddenly felt almost sober, and very horny. 'Sorry girls, were off. Night night' I said, leaving them startled as I dragged Roo out into the street and set off walking purposefully back to the motel.

Roo was laughing. 'Slow down ya bampot, what's the urgency?'

I marched on. I had a sudden, irrational feeling that I had neglected her. That I hadn't devoted myself to her enough. Hadn't loved her properly for too long. I yearned to do it now, to make up for "lost time." It had actually only been a couple of days (I didn't count the threesome with Lucy) and I never leave her in any doubt about how much I love her, so it WAS irrational, but the feeling was real, and it was intense.

We stumbled into our room and crashed heavily onto the nearest bed, kissing wildly as I tried to undress her with shaky, fumbling fingers. There was no reluctance from her. She offered no resistance. In fact, she seemed indulgently amused. She helped me as I struggled, slipping smoothly out of her shorts whipping off her blouse like a tee shirt and, as always, she responded with equal passion to my kisses.

I was seized by an exhilarating desire to make the most fervent love to her. To adore her. To really APPRECIATE her. This wonderful, wonderful woman who had deigned to be with me. To give herself to me. I know, I'm attracted to lots of women, but at the core of me, it's always Roo. No-one could replace her. Not even Mads.

She lay passively on the bed and I gorged myself on her. Immersed myself in her. The way she looked, lying there, with those wonderful breasts, the way she smelled, with that subtle scent she wears, the way she sounded, with her little moans of pleasure, and the way she felt. Nobody feels like Roo. I could easily recognise her body blindfold. My hands and my mouth know every inch of her and how she responds to my caresses.

I kissed her neck and her throat, and the tendons that run down to her collarbones, and those collarbones - so prominent and beautiful. Yes, I love the very bones of her

I pushed her breasts up with my hands and relished their fullness, their softness, their firmness, their perfection, and she placed a hand on the back of my head. Not pressing or holding, but just gently affirming my attentions. God, I love those breasts.

I tore myself from her bosom and moved down, trailing my lips over the bumps of her ribs, and onto the silky smooth skin of her stomach. I lay my cheek against her and teased her bellybutton with my tongue, making her giggle slightly, then there was a momentary intake of breath as my hand came up between her legs and softly brushed her labia.