Chapter 9

The next afternoon, when he got up and walked into the living room, he caught a glimpse of the neighborhood outside his window. Most driveways were empty as people were still at work but there was a car in Sophie's driveway. On a Friday afternoon? He was sure by now that she worked weekdays, it had seemed like that anyway.

He continued on to the kitchen, perhaps he was paying too much attention to what went on at Sophie's house. He didn't know any of his other neighbors, Sophie was the only one. Maybe that's why he was curious he decided as he started to make himself some breakfast. It didn't mean anything. He was simply bored being at home and being alone and out of all the people on his street, she was the only one he had ever spoken to. If he didn't count the neighbor to the left that gave him a wave last week when he was shooting some hoops when dusk was setting in in the early evening.

Carrying his breakfast plate back to the living room, he tried to contain his snoopiness and watched TV as he ate. Unfortunately for him, early afternoon was full of soap operas, which were too cheesey according to him and it was too early to make them interesting with some weed. Thankfully for satellite television, he could access West Coast channels and everything in between, flipping channels until he found a game show he could at least slightly enjoy as he had breakfast.

After breakfast, he went back upstairs and showered, getting dressed afterwards. He went casual with a comfy pair of jeans and hoodie.

Perhaps Lori was right and he should go to Jon's birthday party tonight. He had spent the last 2 years day in day out with him. They had become very close friends on the road. Although he didn't want to see any of his band mates with any musical instrument or the pressure of work, a birthday party could be fun.

Having spent the last two weeks at home alone. Peacefully. He had settled in his own kind of routine. Wake up around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, have breakfast, watch a little TV. Then he would try to go outside for a little while even though it was still the middle of winter. He could always shoot some hoops and there was something soothing about sitting in the backyard on a patio chair with a cup of coffee and watching the water. He'd give a little wave at boats passing by and a few days ago, he swore he saw a seal's head pop out of the water. Later on, he would wander back inside, give his mom a call, watch some TV, maybe get a little high or a little drunk, perhaps even both and around midnight his guitar would start whispering at him.

Not much later, he was outside, in the driveway shooting his basketball at the net hanging above his garage. Living the big rockstar mansion life, he thought to himself.

When he missed his ball's rebound and had to chase in from going to the sidewalk that lead to Sophie's, he couldn't deny his curiosity anymore and picked up his ball when he finally stopped its steady roll. Tucking it under his arm, he walked over to Sophie's and rang the doorbell, then waited for a response. He knew she was home, her car hadn't moved all day.

"Hey." He said cheerfully when she opened the door a moment later. "I noticed your car here and thought you weren't working and I'd say hi."

Sophie chuckled at his little rant. "Hi. I have a day off from work today, I never get weekdays off and when I do, I end up working at home."

"It's your day off. Come out and play." He suggested quickly.

He made her chuckle again. "How about you come in for a coffee?" She offered instead.

Richie nodded, agreeing. "Sounds good too." Then put his basketball down in the corner by the door and followed Sophie into the house.

Just as last week, she lead him to the living room where he sat down on the couch. From his seat, he noticed he could see his own driveway from here but he was sure Sophie wasn't as curious about his driveway as his returned curiosity.

"Or do you want hot chocolate again?"

His eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Yes. That sounds great."

He happily accepted another hot beverage from Sophie as she joined him again in the living room.

"Are you enjoying being home again?" Sophie asked him.

Richie shrugged as he sipped his hot chocolate and almost burned his lips. Too hot. "I like being busy but I've been so busy for the last 5 years, it's been non stop. Being home feels strange but it's always with me, it's a part of me. Three weeks ago I would have said I wouldn't touch a guitar again for months and that lasted maybe three days. Now I'm up all night playing it. I can't put it down."

Sophie frowned a little. "Guitar?"

Richie frowned back, confused at her reaction and her own confusion "Oh, you don't know? I'm a musician, Lori knew, I would have thought you knew too or that she would have told you if you didn't."

Sophie chuckled a little and took a quick sip from her own mug. "No. How do you know Lori?" She asked curiously, then continued on quickly. "Are you a famous musician?" Her next question came even faster. "Should I know you?" She chuckled but looked thoughtful, as if she was thinking of every musician she knew. "Most of the music I know of, I'm told about by 19 nine year olds."

Richie laughed at that. "Nine year olds?" He asked confused. "Nineteen of them?"

"I teach third grade." Sophie clarified for him.

He clued in with a smile on his face, nodding. "That sounds as hectic as touring the world in a rock band. I can't believe Lori didn't at least tell you."

Sophie shook her head. "She's been on cloud nine since she got married in November. So you play guitar in a band?"

Richie blinked, his heart sank. "What?"

"Do you play in a band then?"

"No," He said. "well, yes but Lori's married?"

Sophie nodded quickly. "Yes, I was her maid of honor, She got married November 25th. They just celebrated their three month wedding anniversary, it was very sweet."

Should he tell her what had happened? What had happened several times even. He couldn't believe it, he had actually liked Lori and learning she was married was the last thing he expected today. Sure he liked Sophie as well but at least he wasn't in a seriously committed relationship with anyone else as he slept around.

"Are you alright?" Sophie asked when he didn't say anything in a few minutes and looked like he was starting to get angry.

Richie shook his head quickly. "Yeah, I am. She never mentioned she was married."

"Oh." Sophie sounded surprised now too.

"Anyway," Richie said quickly, trying to let that go and continue on, "I wanted to ask if you wanted to join me for a birthday party tomorrow."

"Who's birthday?"

"My friend Jon. He's turning old, he's catching up on me."

Sophie looked interested in his invitation. "Would it be like a date or like a friend's kind of thing?"

"Like a date."

Chapter 8

He closed the door behind Lori before reaching in to kiss her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer against him. Feeling her body pressed up against him, only made his kiss deeper. Desiring that closeness from her.

Moving his hands lower, he squeezed her butt before lifting her up. In surprise Lori wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on to him as he carried her upstairs and into the bedroom to lay her down on the bed.

It wasn't long before both of them were naked in bed. He could never get bored of a woman's body and took his time with his appreciation.

"Richie." Lori whined, making him chuckle. "Come here." She told him.

He quickly reached back up to kiss her as he moved on top of her, ready for this booty call she had asked for.

He listened to her moan as he moved inside her, for a moment enjoying the feeling before he started thrusting. Hearing her moan as he thrusted, only turned him on more. Those sounds were all he ever needed to hear. The moans of each orgasm she had made him closer to his own.

Reaching down to kiss her, her muffled her loud moan as he released his own orgasm.

After a moment, he moved off of her to hold her in his arms beside him, feeling her warmth against him.

"You should probably get my number so we can arrange these booty calls a little better." Richie said after a few moments of quiet cuddling, hoping they could exchange numbers so he could talk to her, get to know her. Maybe he would like her, he already liked the sex.

Lori looked thoughtful at him before answering. "I know where you live." She let go to sit up next to him.

Richie chuckled, thinking she was joking.

"I should probably go." Lori said, looking back over her shoulder.

"You don't have to go, you can stay." He offered quickly, it was past midnight, it was dark and cold outside, why would she leave?

"You probably have a busy day tomorrow." Lori pulled the sheets back and got up from the bed as she started looking for her clothes.

At that, Richie laughed, he didn't have any busy days in the foreseeable future which was exactly how he wanted his days to be. Watching Lori, he sat up in bed, noticing her frown for a moment as she continued getting dressed. "What?" He asked confused at her reaction.

"It's March second. I figured you'd have a birthday party to go to." She pulled her shirt over her head, then pulled her hair out from the back.

He had to think for a moment, trying to catch up to her train of thought. "Oh Jon's birthday. I don't know. I haven't talked in a few weeks but I guess I should probably go up there."

Lori finished dressing as she pulled on her sweater. "You probably should." She agreed.

Sighing, he looked at her again, now fully dressed. "Want to come with me?"

"To the birthday party?" Lori asked to be sure she heard him right.

Richie quickly nodded. "Yeah."

Lori smiled at him. "No, I like you being my not so little secret Mr. Sambora."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night? I'll make you breakfast in the morning." He tried again, not wanting to let her go so soon.

Lori laughed. "Yeah, no thanks. I'll call a cab and go." She said as she walked out of his bedroom.

A little confused, Richie got out of bed and found his pants to wear. He quickly followed her downstairs and into the living room where she was on the phone talking to an operator.

Was she really just going to leave in the middle of the night?

He frowned as she hung up the phone.

"Taxi will be here in 10 minutes." She said. "I can wait outside."
"No." Richie said quickly. "Are you sure you want to take a taxi at this time? I could even drive you to wherever you need to go."
Lori laughed at his suggestion. "No, I'll take a taxi."

Still confused, he decided to drop it and let her do what she wanted to. It seemed like she would either way.

Feeling a little awkward, he tried to make some conversation but his attempt was shut down quickly.

"I'll go wait outside." Lori said. "They'll be here soon."

Without another beat she walked back to the hallway and pulled the front door open. Richie followed behind her and held the door, turning on the porch light so it wasn't pitch dark but Lori didn't even look back as she walked toward the sidewalk and continued to Sophie's house.

She was right and a few minutes later a taxi pulled up into the cul-de-sac, he watched as Lori got in. The taxi driving away a second later. Nothing else he could do, he closed the door and walked back to the living room, sitting down on the couch with a big sigh, leaning back. What happened?

Chapter 7

It was getting dark outside as he threw some basketball hoops, it was late afternoon and he had only just gotten up. He caught the ball as it rebounded from the backboard and aiming, shot it towards the hoop again, this time landing the shot perfectly. It was chilly outside but the fresh air and the distraction of concentrating on his aim, cleared his mind.

These days it always felt too crowded in his head. So many things were going on in his life and not all those were necessarily what he wanted in his life.

He looked over his shoulder as he heard a car coming down the street, missing his ball rebound from the backboard, now rolling away towards the street. Hurriedly, he went after it before it would roll onto the street.

Picking up his basketball, he looked up as Sophie parked her car. He gave her a quick wave as she got out of her car. Happy to see her smile at him and wave back. He watched as the passenger door opened as well and Lori got out of the car too, she repeated Sophie's actions and smiled and waved at him, then followed Sophie into the house.

Carrying the ball, he went back inside. Maybe he'd have some lunch.

His daily schedules were very off from the rest of the world's. A few times he had been successful in getting up earlier in the morning, 9 or 10 am but then he found himself playing guitar til 5 in the morning and sleeping til the late afternoon again. Without anything going on, it was hard to keep up with the rest of the world.

A nice hot lunch was what he needed, even if it was after 5pm, he was hungry.

After lunch, he picked up a controller from the coffee table and decided to try out some video games. Not often did he spent his time with video games but it could be a welcome change to his other daily habits. Improving his score on Super Mario wasn't something he was very invested in but it was still fun to play the game.

A few hours later, he was stretched out on the couch, his head resting on a pillow against the armrest, his left hand in the air above his head holding his notepad. Reading the text again, he pondered on which words to use on his next line. Racking his brain for a fitting word, Richie tried writing a rhyming word but found his pen didn't work upside down, lowering his notepad, he caught a glimpse of a shape passing by his window.

Seconds later, there was a knock at the front door.

With a sigh, he put down the notepad and pen on the coffee table. He wasn't invested in what he was writing. Sometimes, as an exercise, he'd write down silly lyrics, just to find rhymes and rhythms. Most often they ended up in the trash but sometimes he kept his silly writings as memories, depending on how much he liked them. He got up and walked over to the front door, who'd be knocking at this time? Checking the time on his watch, he was right to think it was late in the evening.

As he pulled the door open, he found Lori standing there smiling bright and cheerful.

"Hey." He said, curious at what she was doing at his doorstep around midnight when she didn't say anything.
She smiled at him before she spoke. "Hey yourself."
When she didn't continue, Richie asked his follow up question. "What's up?"
Lori smiled again. "I saw your lights were still on so I told Sophie my taxi was here to take me home."
Looking over her shoulder, there was no taxi in the street. The street lights illuminated the quiet street, showing how late it was.
"I wanted to ask if you were up for a booty call before I do call a taxi home." Lori continued to explain.

A smirk formed on his face as he took a step backward from the door, giving Lori space to come inside.