Lynn put the box into the bed of Alex’s truck and waited for Alex to lock the door of the now empty studio. As Alex walked up to the truck with the last box, they heard the unmistakable rumble of a Harley-Davidson coming down the street.
Lynn & Alex both turned to see Sully dressed in black jeans, T-shirt & boots, ride up on his customized black & chrome Harley-Davidson and park it directly behind the truck.
Alex put the box in the truck, handed Lynn her keys, then walked over to him, a pout on her lips, a smile in her eyes. “You’re late,” she teased.
“In my own defense, Your Honor, it’s not my fault; the idiot I punched last night decided to be REALLY stupid & tried to press charges. I found out at the police station that I did break his nose,” he laughed, taking off his sunglasses. “But, after explaining the situation and taking statements from the other guys and a couple of the security staff, I was released, all charges dropped.”
“Are you telling me you were arrested? You should’ve called me; I got several great shots of that little incident!” Lynn said.
“Well, save those pictures, I want to see them later; everything happened so fast I don’t really remember everything that happened.” He turned to Alex, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for lunch. That is, if you still want to?”
“Yes, I still want to go. There’s a small Italian restaurant a couple miles away.”
“Sounds great to me!” he said as he helped her onto the bike. He smiled and winked at Lynn as he felt Alex wrap her arms around his waist. “Don’t worry, she’s in safe hands,” he said smiling at Lynn. He put his sunglasses back on, turned the bike on and with a loud rumble, they rode off down the road.
They received a few odd looks as they were shown to their table out on the patio. They gave their drink order to the waiter as they sat down, then picked up the menus.
“A friend of mine and I use to come here all the time before she moved to California. The lasagna is excellent, but I usually get the shrimp fettuccini alfredo,” Alex said.
“Corona on draft for you, Sir & white wine, Madame,” the waiter said, setting the drinks down on the table. “Are you ready to order or would you like a few minutes?”
“I’m ready to order, if you are, Alex.”
“Sure,” she said. “Shrimp fettuccini Alfredo, garden salad, no onions, with honey mustard dressing, please.”
“And for you, Sir?”
“Lasagna, no salad, though,” Sully said.
“Alright. I’ll go turn in your order. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“Could you bring some more bread?” Sully asked.
“Yes, Sir. I’ll bring it out right now, Sir,” the waiter said, walking off towards the kitchen.
While Alex ate her salad, they were approached by a couple of people who had recognized Sully. He gladly signed autographs & took a couple pictures. Their food had just arrived when they were approached a second time. After the people left the table, though, the manager of the restaurant came to their table and told them that they were causing a disturbance; Sully & Alex would either have to leave, or move to a table where they wouldn’t be recognized.
Alex saw the anger in Sully’s eyes but couldn’t stop him from speaking in time. “Are you telling me, that I can’t be nice to my fans? What kind of disturbance are we creating, anyway? I only noticed 5 people come to this table in the last fifteen minutes, or am I supposed to turn my back on people who look up to me?”
“Sir,” the manager started, but didn’t get any further as Alex stood up.
“This place was highly recommended to me by several influential friends in the music industry,” she said. “But considering your treatment of a well-known musician, I think I’m going to have to tell my friends not to bring their patronage here again,” Alex finished.
“And if you would be so kind, Ms. Masters & I would like to take care of our bill,” Sully said.
“But, your food just arrived & I was unaware of the importance of this…gentleman,” the man said, taking in the way that the couple was dressed.
Sully pulled a couple large bills from his wallet and handed them to their waiter who was standing next to Alex. “Here ya go. I’m paying for our lunch, you can keep the change.”
“Thank you, Sir,” the young man said, walking off to take care of the bill.
Sully put his arm around Alex’s shoulders and looked at the man standing in front of them. “The best & fastest way to ruin a business, is to judge who comes into your establishment, whether it’s by what they wear or what they look like in general. It would be different if the rest of the band & a few of our friends were here, drinking a lot & making a ‘disturbance’, that I can understand. Telling two people that they have to leave because a few people came to their table for a picture & autograph is ignorant. Alex, baby, you ready? I’m sure we can find another Italian place around here somewhere.”
She put her arm around his waist, “As a matter of fact, I know of another place down the street. I’m sure they won’t mind if we give them our business,” she said, as they walked out of the restaurant & got back on the bike.
Two hours later, they were at a gas station putting gas in the bike, when Alex’s cell phone rang.
“Hello? Oh, Lynn, hi. Yeah, we’re fine. We’ll have to tell you all about our ‘lovely lunch experience’ when we get back,” she laughed as Sully rolled his eyes. He hung the nozzle back up & took the receipt, putting it in his pocket.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes, we’re right down the road. See ya in a few minutes,” she said, then hung up & put the phone back on her belt. She wrapped her arms around Sully’s waist again and leaned against his back as he gunned the engine as they pulled into traffic.
“You mean to tell me, that the manager threw you out just because a few people came up to your table & asked for a picture & autograph?”
Lynn couldn’t believe what she was hearing! They were sitting out on the balcony, enjoying a few minutes of fresh air, before finishing up loading the last boxes into the U-HAUL that was still parked downstairs.
“Yep, he sure did! But if I had been in his shoes when Alex started in on him, I wouldn’t have waited around to hear the end of it! I would have taken off in the OTHER direction!” Sully explained, smiling.
“But that’s ok; we had a much nicer meal at the other place. And we didn’t get thrown out of that one just because of Sully taking a few pictures with some girls who recognized him.” Sully had been recognized at the second restaurant as well, but the manager had actually appreciated the publicity that a ‘famous musician’ was eating at his restaurant!
They heard a rumble as three Harleys turned the corner and stopped downstairs behind the U-HAUL. Sully stood up and looked over the railing. “It’s about damn time you guys showed up!” He turned to Alex, “That truck will get loaded a lot quicker with us loading the heavy furniture.”
“Great! Then Lynn and I can finish loading the boxes. It’s gonna be an early night, I think. Getting up at 4 a.m. is NOT gonna be fun!” Alex said, the three of them laughing.
