FicWad

Part Nineteen

Patrick's POV

"You could have knocked me out with a feather
I know you heard this all before...
Let's hear it for Americas suitehearts
I must confess, I'm in love with my own sins
Let's hear it for Americas suitehearts
I must confess, I'm in love with my own sins..."
We finally finished the set, and an hour has passed. At this point I was whining just as bad as Pete was about the heat. I sweat a lot normally. The heat wasn't making that any better. "There. We're done. Can we leave Rob?" Pete said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Rob looked at him and then at his watch. "Yeah. Just remember to be back here by 6:30, got it?"
"Yep, got it." Pete set his bass back on the stand and we all left our guitars behind. Kel and Farrah were still sitting in the front. They'd watched us all through the entire hour. Well...at least Kel did. Farrah, maybe not, but she's heard all the songs before. Kel hadn't. I wondered what it was like to hear our music for the first time. I suppose there was times I wished I could forget about it and then listen to it a second time. I hopped off the stage and she stood up to hug me. "You did awesome, Trick." she said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the whole band sounded good. I can't wait to see it with the screaming fans and all the fun concert stuff." she giggled.
Then Andy piped into the conversation. "Ah, but to have the full concert experience, you have to sing along to the songs."
"I remember lyrics quickly. I think I'll fit in just fine."
I grabbed Kel by the waist as we all walked back to the bus to decide where we were going to spend the afternoon. It was only 1:00, so we still had about 5 hours to screw off and do nothing.
"So, what is this mysterious present?"
"I told you, it's a surprise. If I told you what it was, then you would scream like a girl, and I wouldn't want to scare anyone like that." she teased.
"This had better be good if it's making me scream like a little girl."
"Well, I'd hope so. You don't think I'd get you a shitty present, do you?"
"No, never. You know me too well to get me a shitty present."
"Then it's settled. You will love the present and in return you will love me forever."
"Aw, I don't need a present to love you forever." I said, kissing her on the cheek.
We finally got to the bus, and we all climbed on it eagerly. The bus had air conditioning. A luxury that is NOT onstage. We all sat in the 'living room'-ish area and we all crashed on the seats at either side of the bus. I, however, sat on the floor, cross-legged like a little kid. "I wanna know what the present is!!" I said, smiling wide. Kel rolled her eyes and me and laughed.
"Ohmygod, fine." She got up from the floor, and walked over to the closet by the bunks. I seen her bend over to get something from the back of the closet and she pulled out a bag. Not a big bag, but a fairly decent sized bag. When she pulled it out, everyone was paying attention then. Andy, Joe and Pete started asking questions.
"What's in the bag?"
"Is it pie?"
"Is it an action figure?"
I scowled at all of them and said teasingly, "Hey. Guys. It's my gift. Back the hell up off of my present."
"Awwwwwww...."
Kel knelt down on the floor next to me and handed me the bag. "He's right, it is his present, however, I don't any of you are going to want it as much as he will."
I carefully looked at the bag before I decided to take whatever was in it out of the bag. Pete laughed at me. "C'mon dude, your fiancé didn't buy you a fucking bomb, it's perfectly safe. You don't have to be so careful with it."
Kel shot a look at Pete. "Yes, he does have to be careful with it. Seriously. Don't shake it around too much. If you have the urge to shake the box, resist the urge. Don't do it." Farrah giggled, then bit her lip. "Yeah, you're not gonna want to shake this. Damn, I wish this was my gift."
I carefully pulled a black box out of the bag, about the size of a record. I expected that much. But I didn't know what record was gonna be in it. I did have the urge to shake the box, even though I knew that wouldn't help me figure out what album it was. I looked at Kel and she smiled widely. I slowly pulled off the lid of the box and first seen the name Prince on the cover. My face burst into a huge grin. I picked it up and looked at the back first, looking at all the songs on it. It was the Purple Rain album...but something was different about it.
Kel was still smiling when I looked at her. "I know what you're thinking. 'What's so great about this?' But...okay, brace yourself. This is a rare 1984 print of Purple Rain on special purple vinyl." I looked at her, my mouth dropping open.
She giggled at my face and continued on. "And...look at the front."
I carefully turned it over so it was facing upright, and she pointed at Prince's black ink scribbled signature on the front.
I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say. I thought I was going to cry at first.
I looked over at her again and her brown eyes twinkled with delight.
Joe and Andy laughed quietly on one side of me. "Jesus. These two were just made for each other, am I right?"
Pete looked at both of them in disbelief. "Holy fuck, that must've cost a fortune..."
I couldn't even try to respond to that. I traced my hand over the record, still letting it sink in. This was signed by Prince. And it was on purple vinyl. And it was rare album at that.
"Do you like it?" she said, nervously.
I took a deep breath, and the room went silent. "Honey, that has to be the biggest fucking understatement of the year. I LOVE IT." I tackled her onto the floor and kissed her hard. She put her hands on either side of my face, running them through my sideburns, and kissed me back just as passionately. I pulled away from her for a second and joked, "I knew there was a reason I was going to marry you." She giggled and we kissed again. Finally, we broke apart, and I got off of her. "You know, I don't even think love is a powerful enough word for just how much I love this present. This is...the BEST thing ANYONE has EVER gotten me. EVER."
Pete laughed. "Wow. I think he might faint..."
Andy turned to Kel. "Where in the world did you find that? That's gotta be SUPER rare."
"It was at the record shop down the road here. The good one, not the sleazy one farther down the street. I looked through the Prince albums and I came across that one, still in the original packaging and everything, so I asked the lady behind the counter what was so special about it and she told me and so I bought it. Oh, and it even has a certificate of authenticity. Right there, at the bottom of the box."
I picked it out of the box and read it. Sure enough, it was real. I could tell fakes easily nowadays, considering I did the same kind of record hunting.
"Oh my god, Keliah, you have no idea how much I love you right now." I said, putting the certificate and the vinyl back into its secure box.
"I may have an idea..." she said, giggling still.
"No, no you have NO idea."
She grinned at me, reading my mind. "Well, then, tell me."
Everyone else looked at each other quickly in disgust. "Yeah, I so don't need to be around for this mushy-lovefest going on here, so...does anybody want ice cream or...something?" Pete said, standing up.
Farrah stood up with him, getting Joe and Andy off the couch. "Yeah, that's a good idea. We should leave these two alone." she said, grabbing both Joe and Andy's hands and pulling them out the bus door. Pete waved as he left. "Have fun...doing whatever you're going to do, guys. Just remember: be backstage at 6:30." I flipped him off with a scowl as he walked off smiling, followed by Farrah, Joe and Andy. I heard the door close behind them and it was only the two of us left.     
I set down the record and climbed up onto the couch-like thing on the side of the bus. Kel's eyes lit up as I laid down on my back, and she was soon laying on top of me, her back pressing on my chest. My legs were spread apart, and she sat down between them. Her body rested perfectly onto mine, comfortably form-fitting together like a puzzle piece. "There is nothing in this world I would rather do than just sit here with you right now." I whispered in her ear, wrapping my hands around her stomach. "I love you so much, Keliah, it scares me."
She looked up at the ceiling. "What do you mean? What scares you?"
"I really don't know. I've always been a strong believer of love, and now that it's hit me, it's so overwhelmingly...amazing. It's more the effect it has on me than anything. There's times, Kel, when it is SO difficult to keep my hands off of you."
"But, the feeling is good, right?"
"Oh, beyond good. You are perfect, don't doubt that. I just have to get used to this."
She was silent for a second, and she moved her hands atop mine, and rubbed my hands gently with hers. "I love you more than you could ever know, Patrick."
"I feel the same about you."
"You say the love you feel is overwhelming, and that it's difficult to restrain yourself. I experience the same exact thing when I watch you move, when you walk, when you perform. It's absolutely intoxicating. I always have the urge to just jump on top of you whenever I see you sing. You say I may have an effect on you, but you, Trick...you have an incredible effect on me."
I kissed her head, and closed my eyes. "Well, at least I'm not the only one."
"The feelings are mutual, it seems. We just can't keep our hands off each other." We both laughed.
We sat there in perfect silence in each other's arms for awhile until a thought ran across my mind. "Hey, Kel?"
"What?"
"Since there isn't anyone else in here to interrupt a conversation, do you wanna talk about the baby?"
"Alright." she said happily, rubbing my hands on her stomach.
"Okay...do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?"
"Ummm....well, Trick, I don't think there's any way for me to know or even make an educated guess about what gender it's going to be."
"Well, let me rephrase the question then. What gender do you want it to be?"
"Either is fine with me. If it's a girl, then I'll be able to play princess with her and have tea parties. And if it's a boy, then at least there'll be another boy that will grow up to be as handsome as his father."
"I dunno. I like the idea of a girl, but I don't know if I could handle a teenage daughter later on. The teens that come to our concerts are scary enough and with the stuff they do? Oh god, their fathers must go crazy. But with a boy, I know how guys function and stuff. It wouldn't be too difficult then. And I could teach him to play the drums and the guitar..."
"You could teach a girl how to do that too, you know."
"That's true. Alright it's settled: I have no issue with either gender then."
She giggled at me and slowly sat upright on the seat, wincing quickly. I sat upright with her, and watched her face closely. She must've read my thoughts because she soon replied, "It's ok, I'm fine. Just a little queazy." Now sitting up on the seat, I leaned back and she laid down across my lap.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm positive. So, anyways. I don't have a problem with either of the genders either, so we need to makeup names for both."
"We'll just name them after ourselves. Patrick or Keliah."
"Nah, I don't wanna give the baby my name. It's bad enough I have to live with it, I don't want it to have to too."
"Aw, your name is gorgeous, just like you. I've never asked, what's your middle name?"
"I've got two. My parents couldn't choose between either one, so I got both instead. So, I am now Keliah Ann Lee Stump."
"That's not bad. Imagining going through life as a teenage boy with the initials PMS. I dropped that middle name like a bad habit the minute I could." I said, with a cringe. "I liked my mother's maiden name better anyways. Vaughn. It always had such a ring to it." I sighed in admiration, and stared into space.
"Damnit, we changed subjects again." she said, laughing.
"Psh, we can name the kid when we figure out what gender it'll be. That makes it easier just in itself. Until then, we won't worry about it. Agreed?"
"Agreed." she nodded and closed her eyes, falling asleep in my lap. It was only mid-afternoon, but I can imagine it might be draining having a child in your stomach. I gazed down at her face and ran my hand through her hair. Her skin complexion was perfectly smooth with a motherly glow, and her face was relaxed into a smile. I soon felt my eyelids get heavy and I fell asleep as well.
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I was quickly awoken by knocking at the bus door. I felt Kel stir on my lap and she slowly opened her eyes, yawning. "Mmm..how long did we sleep?" she said groggily.
"I dunno." I replied, rubbing my eyes. She sat up off me and stretched, so I got up to open the door. I opened it to see Pete and everyone else grinning. He smiled wide.
"Thought I'd knock, just in case I was interrupting anything."
"Nothing happened, you perv, we just fell asleep."
"Riiiiiight." he patted me on the shoulder and walked into the bus, everyone else following closely behind him.
Farrah walked in with two shopping bags worth of stuff; god knows what she got this time, and Andy and Joe were both carrying bags from a comic book store. I sat back down next to Kel, who leaned over on my shoulder, and they sat across from us. I wrapped my arm around Kel and looked at Farrah. "Sooo...I thought you guys were out getting ice cream?"
"We got slightly distracted..." Pete started to say.
Both Andy and Joe joined in. "By the comic book stores..."
Farrah smiled. "And the clothing shops."
Kel laughed at Farrah. "Well, that's nice." She pulled out a few dresses and shirts and got up, opening the door to the bunks to set them on her bunk. She looked at her alarm clock and swore. "SHIT! Guys, you've got to get backstage or Rob is gonna kill you! It's 6:29!"
All at once, all four of us guys hurried around the bus, grabbing our stage clothes and whatever else we needed. Luckily, we left our equipment and guitars at the venue so it was less stuff to carry. I kissed Kel quickly and said, "Come on, come with us, you can hang with us backstage. You and Farrah both." She took my hand quickly and I ran out of the bus with her as everyone else ran close behind us. I was just hoping we were going to get there before Rob noticed we were late and decided to scream at us.