Growing Up The Hard Way: Chpater 6

Growing Up The Hard Way: Chpater 6: The strong smell of bacon woke Bradleigh up from the deep slumber that she fell into while watching the movie with Jon.  She pries ...

Chpater 6

The strong smell of bacon woke Bradleigh up from the deep slumber that she fell into while watching the movie with Jon.  She pries her eyes open and looks into the darkness of the basement.

Chapter 5

The station wagon pulls up in front of Bradleigh's house at 2:30 am.  One by one, they all pile out to tell her goodbye, giving her hugs before they flee the scene.  Jon is left roadside with her.  His guitar case at their feet in the grass.  Bradleigh can see that Jon is tired, his hair is still damp from the show.  "Did you have a good time?"  Jon asks her, looking at her lips.  "What did you really think?"

"I think you guys were amazing."

"Really?" He asks her with a hint of shock in his voice.

"Yeah Jon, I think you guys were good."  She answers, trying not to sound like a freak.  "You guys give a great show."

"We try."

"Keep doing what you're doing, and I'm sure you guys will go far."  Bradleigh tells him, having no idea what their plans are as a band, or as men for that matter.

"Wanna come over and have a beer?  Maybe we can catch a movie on HBO?"  He has to look away from her.  He's fearing she may reject him.

Bradleigh turns around and looks up at her house.  The only light on is the porch light and she knows her dad left that on for her.  She thinks for a moment, "Sure.  Why not?"  She gives a shrug of the shoulders, "one beer though."  She's not much of a drinker, and she's never caved into peer pressure, but she thought that one beer with just Jon might not be a bad idea.

Jon reaches down and picks up the guitar case, on his way back up, he leans in and quickly kisses her on the lips.  "I've been wanting to do that since the day I met you."  He admits, head hung a little low.  "If that upset you, I'm sorry but I had to get it out of the way."

Bradleigh blushes, even as she reaches up and lightly brushes his cheek, "That's fine Jon.  I've kinda wanted you to do it."

He grabs her hand and leads her across the street, diagonally to his house.   As they get closer, they can see there is one light on, in the kitchen.  "Ma must be up."  Bradleigh stops in her tracks.  Jon looks at her, "What's the matter?"

"If your mom is up, maybe I should go home?"

"Oh, no.  You're meeting ma."  he tugs her arm, leading her toward the house.  "She's going to love you."

"Jon." Bradleigh slightly resists, "Maybe it's too late?"

He ignores her and pulls a little harder.  Before she knows it, she's walking in the front door.

"MA!"  Jon calls out, leading Bradleigh through the living room into the kitchen, stopping half way to off load his guitar.  As they round the corner into the kitchen, that's where she meets Carol for the first time.  "Ma, this is Bradleigh from across the street."

Bradleigh steps forward with a smile on her face, "Good evening, ma'am, how are you?"  she extends her hand to properly greet Mrs. Bongiovi.

"I'm good dear, how are you?"  Carol stands to greet Bradleigh.  The women shake hands and Mrs. B takes her seat again, "How was the show, Jonny?"

Jon nods, peeling off his jacket, "It was good.  It was real good."  He hangs his coat in the back of a chair and pulls it out for Bradleigh.  "Have a seat."  Jon tells her.

As instructed, Bradleigh takes a seat, feeling a little nervous for some reason.  She looks around the kitchen, into the living room and sees that Jon lives a very modest, yet priveledged lifestyle.  Jon hands Bradleigh a beer and she takes it, one small sip.

Carol sits back in her chair, crosses her legs and asks, "You're the girls that just moved into the Parsons place, aren't you?"

Bradleigh nods her head, "I am.  Me, my brother and my father."

"I met your father tonight."  Carol confesses, "He was cutting the grass, so John and I went over there to welcome you to the neighborhood."  Bradleigh can only smile, she has no idea what to say to that.  "Where's your mother?" she candidly asks.

Bradleigh was mid sip when she heard those words.  That was a question she didn't get asked very often.  "My mother passed when I was 12." 

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry.  I had no idea."  Carol is feeling like she had just put her foot in her mouth.  Jon took a seat at the table with the two of them.  He gives his mom a look, but that doesn't phase Carol.  "How did she pass?"

"Car accident."  Bradleigh responds, just before she takes another drink of the cold beer.  "She was hit by a drunk driver."  

There is an awkward silence between the three of them.  Bradleigh finally slides her foot over to Jon's, getting his attention.  He finally breaks the silence and tells his mom, "We're going to go watch a movie."  He stands up and pushes in his chair, "I'll see you in the morning ma."  He walks over and kisses her ont he top of his head.  Bradleigh gets up and takes care of her chair.

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Bongiovi."

"Likewise, Bradleigh.  Don't be a stranger."

Jon and Bradleigh head for the basement, Bradleigh feeling relieved that that was over.  Jon flips on a light that leads down the hallway to the furnished half of the basement.  "Sorry about that."  He chuckles, looking back at her, "She went easy on you."

"Why's that?" Bradleigh questions.  "Easy on me?  That was intense."

"Any time a pretty girl steps foot on this property, whether it be for me or my brothers, the Spanish Inquistion starts."

"I don't know if I could have handled that." Bradleigh takes a seat on the couch that slightly furnished what looked like a teen hangout to her.  The room was dark.  It housed a TV, TV stand, a couch, a chair, a coffee table and a bunch of musical and recording equipment.  

"Excuse the mess."  he says, picking up a tshirt off the floor.  As he stands up, he flips that long hair of his and he adds, "Can I get you anything?"

Bradleigh gestures toward him with her beer, "No, I'm good."

Jon turns on the TV and grabs the corded cable box.  With his finger, he slides the channel over to A and asks her, "What do you want to watch?"

"I don't care."

"A movie?"

"I don't care.  Are you sure you don't want me to go?  You have to be tired." Bradleigh can only imagine how exhausted he must be.  They played a long set in a hot club, that had to be draining.  She turns to face him.

"I'm good.  What do you want to watch?"

"You pick."  They go back and forth for a few more minutes as Jon clicks one channel at a time.  He stops on HBO and the Godfather happened to be on.  "Oh yeah, let's watch this."

Bradleigh and Jon settled in on the couch, on each end - leaning toward the center.  Bradleigh sipped her beer, not really feeling like drinking.  Jon had finished his almost as soon as they reached the basement.  They lounged on the couch and watched the movie, having casual conversation.

"What did you do for fun in Rhode Island?" he whispers to her.

Bradleigh looks up at him, "There wasn't much to do there."

Chapter 4

The 8 of them piled into Tico's station wagon, along with all of their gear was a sight to see, but it worked. Bradleigh waves to her dad as she climbs into the center of the front seat, "Don't wait up."  She smiles at the man standing in the right of way, arms crossed over his chest, ball cap slightly off kilter, "I'll be home when they're done dad."

"I'll leave the door unlocked Brad, please be careful "  Her dad responds.

" I will daddy."

"I'll take good care of her."  Jon reaches over and shakes Bradleigh's dad's hand.  "We'll be at the Stone Pony if you're not doing anything later."

Brad gives Jon a chuckle, "You kids go, have fun."

They leave and make their way down to Asbury Park.  They shared laughs, dreams, cigarettes and beer as they ventured south.  Four packed in the front seat and four packed in the center seat, they were on there way to a night sure to create memories.

With a tap on her shoulder, Brad looks back and sees David leaning up to talk to her, "Ya know, it's hard to call a girl by a guys name."

"I was named after my dad."

"We figured that out, but why don't people call you Leigh?" He asks, seemingly confused by that namesake.

"I've been Brad as long as I can remember."

"I like Leigh, you don't look like a Brad."  David tells her, "All the Brad's I know, with the exception of you and your dad are assholes."

"We are too , wait, you'll see." 

"It is an odd name for a girl."  Richie adds his five cents.  "Dave is right, Leigh is better."

"My name is Brad."  She turns and looks over her other shoulder at Richie, who's fidgeting with his pick case.  

"I'm calling you Leigh." He says to her, laughing.

"I'll ignore you." She states, distracted by the tap on her leg.  She looks over at Tico, who tapped her to get her attention.  

He winks, "Pay them no attention, they get like this before a gig.  They nitpick until there nerves calm."

Bradleigh smiles at Tico, "They're fine.  They're asking me a question I get asked often."

This time Alec joins in, "Were your parents hoping for another boy?"

"NO." She flatly responds.  "My name was going to be Bradley/Bradleigh regardless of my gender."

That conversation went on and on, along with several other silly topics.  The ride didn't take too long as it was the middle of the day.  

When they arrive at the Pony, they start load in.  The crowd had started to arrive and the mood was being set.  One by one, road cases were being wheeled in, guitars were taken in two by two.  

Once the front of the house sound guy arrived, they were able to plug in and start tuning.  Little by little, tweet by tweek they found their desired sound and rehearsed their biggest hit to date, Runaway.   

A few more songs rehearsed and the set list is set. 

They retire to the small room that was back stage for the talent and begin to dress.  

Bradleigh tries to stay out of the way.  With 5 band members, nervous, a hairdresser and a guitar tech - there isn't much room for her.  So, she grabs her bag and makes her way to the bar.  She was seen doing load in with the guys, so the bartender knows that she's with the band.  "What can I get you, you sweet thing?"

"Excuse me?"  She barks back, having never been asked that question.  

"What can I get you to drink?' he drops a cocktail napkin down in front of her.

"Bud, please." She gives a crooked smile, feeling like an ass because he was just trying to be polite.

Bradleigh sits there and drinks her beer as she waits for the show to start.  She can see the crowd growing, the line against the building and down the street.  As she's lost in her thoughts, the bartender reappears, "I haven't seen you with the guys before, who's flavor of the week are you?"

"I'm not anyone's flavor of the week." 

"Well, you will be.  They don't bring chick's to these gigs for nothing."

"Meaning?" 

The bartender points to the fans outside, "They don't drag anyone with them to shows, when they can have their pick from the many outside.  Who brought you here?" He explains, knowing what he's talking about.  "My guess is Richie."

"Jon invited me." She states, with a smirk.

"Bullshit.  He'd never drag a piece of ass with him."

Bradleigh is almost in a state of shock.  She's hung out with Jon and the band and she's never gotten the impression that any of them are the way that he's describing - especially Jon.  "I'm his neighbor."

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Bradleigh stayed at the bar and ignored the bartender.   When it was time to open the doors, it was then that she seen just how big this band was going to become.  Girls, scantily clad with big hair and loud makeup bum  rushed the stage area.  It wasn't a big place, and they had to use corral fence to keep the fans at a safe distance from the band.  She sat and watched the madness unfold and was happy to have her back row seat.

The lights dim and the band is announced.  Tico, Dave, Richie and Alec all took their places and began to play the first few cords of Silent Night.  When Jon appeared, the crowd surged and rocked with Bon Jovi for a great 90 minute set.  

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Show is over and they rush off the makeshift stage, back to the area that they got dressed before the show.  They all high five one another and share their highlights of the show.  Jon looks around and doesn't see Bradleigh.  "Has anyone seen Brad?" He asks, wiping the sweat from his face. 

"She was at the bar." Tico tells him, doing the same thing - wiping the sweat from his face.  

Jon goes to the door and asks the guard, "Can you go get the cute blonde from the bar?  She's in a flower dress."

"A groupie?"  The guard asks?

"No, she'll stand out.  You can't miss her."

The security guard does as he's asked and retrieves Bradleigh for Jon.  When she enters the backstage area, he asks her from his chair.  "What did you think?"

Chapter 3

"It's been years since we've been here."  Bradleigh tells the guys, as they sit there watching the waves crash upon the shore.  "We used to come here all the time when we'd visit during the summer."

"Where you guys from?"  David asks, handing Danny a beer after popping the top off.  "I thought Jon said you were from Rhode Island or something like that?"  

Danny takes a sip, "Yeah, we just moved here from Rhode Island.  But we're from here, originally."

"Oh yeah, where?"  Richie chimes in.  "I'm from Woodbridge."

Bradleigh isn't sure how she feels about giving too many details about her personal life, they all had met just the day before.  "We have family in up in Perth Amboy."  she confesses, feeling like a tag along.  There she was with a bunch of guys and she's the only girl.  Not only the only girl, but the youngest of the group.

"I was born in Perth Amboy."  David says.  

"Me too."  adds Jon.  Feeling a sense of pride about being where he was from.  

The gang hangs out for the day and most of the night.  They played a few games of volleyball, kicked around a hackyscak and when the day turned into night, they built a fire, just off the waters edge and enjoyed the evening.  The new kids on the block and the unknown band.

"

The next day, Bradleigh decides that rather than unpack and give her life some type of balance, she'd rather lay in the sun.  She puts her bikini on, grabs her boom box and takes a spot in the back yard.  In her lounge chair, she lays there and starts to enjoy the day that she planned for herself.  Her dad was over at Rutgers, learning the ins and outs of his new place of employment, both brothers were still sound asleep.  She was loving the idea of doing nothing for the better part of her day. 

"Hey!" she hears over her shoulder.  Then she hears the pool gate latch clank.  Quickly she sits up, unaware that they were expecting guests and having no idea who it could be.  When she sees that it's the guy from across the street, she feels slightly relieved.  "Morning." he mumbles to her, with a mug of coffee in his hand.

Good Morning." she flatly responds, "Do you make it a habit of always dropping by?"  she quickly asks, coyly covering herself with her towel.

"I'm sorry - do you want me to go?"  he sips the hot beverage he holds in his hand. 

"No, you're fine.  I'm just surprised at how friendly you are."

"I'm from New Jersey." he chuckles. "We're always nice."

"What brings you by at this hour?  I'd think you'd still be sleeping." she states, feeling super sleepy herself having stayed out late last night.  She and her brothers left the guys at the beach last night.  The band had planned to stay and watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.

"Just got home." he tells her, "Haven't even been to bed yet."

Bradleigh laughs, "Then what are you doing over here, you should be in bed."

"I seen your front door open so I thought I'd see if you were up."

"For?" she questions his intent, not because she's scared, she's just curious.

"Being neighborly."  Jon takes a seat on the lounge chair next to her, "What are you doing today?"

"You're looking at it."  she smiles at him as she watches him sip his coffee.  She can see that it's still too hot to drink as the steam rolls off the top.  "What are you doing today?"

"I'm hopefully doing it."

"What?  Drinking coffee?" she naively asks him, not sure what the look on his face should be telling her.

"Hanging out with you." he simply states.  "Do you mind?"

Bradleigh is completely caught off guard by his reply.  "Why would you want to hang out here?"  She cocks an eyebrow looking over at him.  She's still a little shy, keeping herself covered.  

Jon's eyes catch hers and he can admit to her, "I'd like to get  to know my neighbors."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

Bradleigh sits up straighter on her lounge chair, keeping her top covered with her towel, "Why's that?"

"Isn't it important to be neighborly?" he asks her, not sure why she's being so stand offish.  "I can go if yo want me too."

Bradleigh shakes her head, "No, no - I'm sorry, I'm just a little apprehensive.  I mean we just moved here and we've made friends already.  To me that's kind of weird."  

"Why?"

"Because we've gone no where and haven't done anything to meet people and we've already been to the beach.  It's awesome, just weird."  

"Stick with us and you'll make several more."

She smiles at just the thought.  The summer on the beach with a group of great guys - what more could a girl want?  A summer on the New Jersey shore with her brothers, her best friends and the new guys from down the block.

Bradleigh and Jon hung out next to her pool for a majority of the day, until they were disturbed by her brothers.  "What's going on out here?"  Danny boasts cracking open a Faygo Cola, standing in the back door.  

"Yeah, what are you two doing?:  Scotty chimes in, opening the door and stepping out onto the top deck.  "A pool party?"

"Is this a private event?"  Danny questions, "Cause we didn't get an invite."

"Knock it off!"  Bradleigh tells her brothers.  "Quit being assholes."  Bradleigh sighs, pulls on her sundress and stands up.   

"Hey!"  Jon looks up at them, giving them a hello nod.

"Hey Jon."  Danny replies.

For several days Bradleigh and her brothers spent a good amount of time with Jon and his band.  She was even beginning to like Jon and thought that he may have liked her too.  

It was a Friday afternoon when the phone rang.  Bradleigh was showering, home alone and was startled by the loud ring.  She whips open the curtain, grabs a towel and rushes to pick up the reciever from her bedside table.

"Hello!" she whispers.

"What are you doing?"  the voice on the other end asks her but doesn't wait for her to respond.  "Get ready, were heading to the shore for rehearsal."

"Jon?" she replies, "Rehearsal where?"

"Asbury."

"I have no desire to go down there." she tells him, point blank.  "I'm not into the whole band scene."

"Come on, I want you to go."

Bradleigh plops down on her bed and heavily sighs.  She really didn't want to go.  She doesn't like crowds, or attention for that matter.  Her long curly blonde hair, slim figure and striking smile draw more attention than she would like.  She doesn't want to be noticed.

Chapter 2

The Saturday that they arrived back in New Jersey, the weather could not have been more perfect.  The sun was high, the sky was blue and the breeze gentle enough to cool moist, sweaty skin.  

As Bradleigh scoped out the situation and tried to make sense of what was going on with her life, she couldn't help but notice the house across the street that hosted four odd looking guys.  

"Excuse me, miss."  says one mover as they start to lay boards on the ground to protect the grass, "We need to lay these planks down."   Bradleigh is startled by the strange voice.  The voice that brings her out of her daydream, dropping her right into her anxiety.

"Oh, sorry."  she hops out of the way, bracing herself against a tree, looking up at the house she now has to call home.  The cedar shakes the encase her new tomb are a drab blue, some even missing.  She tells herself that she has to make the most of it, it was a situation that was way beyond her control, one she didn't like and one she knew had an end date - she just wasn't sure when, or even how it might end.  

Little by little the house is filled with their things, making it feel even less than a home.  Cardboard box upon cardboard box - with handwriting to identify each one, stacked floor to ceiling in each room.  Bradleigh can't believe that there they are, in New Jersey, just when she thought she had hit smooth sailing.  This is supposed to be her summer, the summer before she heads off to college, the best summer of her life.   

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"Where are you from?"  the figure walking up the driveway asks her.  She recognizes him from the day before.  He is one of the guys that were standing in the group at the street corner, when she arrived to her new neighborhood.  

"Rhode Island."  Bradleigh answers him, a little scared.  She has no idea who this is or what he wants.  "Why?"

"I seen you move in yesterday.  I just wondered."  he stops in front of her, clawing his fingers through his hair, exhibiting small signs of nervouseness.

"We came from Rhode Island."  she reiterates, not sure what to say. 

"How does one go from Rhode Island to New Jersey?"  His eyes attracted to the ground, uneasy trying to make eye contact.

Bradleigh herself is feeling a little uneasy.  It's not often she encounters strangers that want to make conversation with her. "My dad transffered so we had to move."

"Transferred to where?" He asks, having little interest in her answer. 

"Rutgers."

He lets out a chuckle.  "No shit?  He works at Rutgers and you live here in Sayreville?" Jon is a bit puzzled by that.  To work at Rutgers means there's a hefty salary involved, then to live in the small blue collar community like Sayreville raises many questions.  Very few people knew that Bradleigh and her brothers are recipients of a life insurance payout from the death of their mother, to be granted on their 21st birthdays.  Brad didn't have to work, but he refused to use proceeds from the death of his wife to get through life.  He's felt that it's tainted money and in no way wants pleasure from the death of his Kiela.  So, in his mind, his struggle is real.  

"This was my aunts house." She informs him, hot wanting to expose so much of herself, of her life. "My dad bought it from her."

"Well, welcome to the neighborhood, I'm Jon."  He extends his hand and she shakes it.  He then points to his moms house, "That's my parents house."

"Nice." She says, not sure how she's supposed to work.  "Have you lived here long?"

"Too long.  I can't wait to get out of this town and start my life." He looks around the neighborhood, feeling a sense of hopelessness and doom.

"Do you have siblings?" She asks, leaning on the front fender of her dads car.  She's only been out of bed for 20 minutes and is quite embarrassed by her appearance.  

"Two younger brothers.  Tony and Matt."  He turns and leans on the car, next to her.  "You?"

"Same.  Two brothers.  Danny and Scott, but they're older than me."

"Where are they?"  Jon asks, fingers pinched in the hole of the cassette tape in his hand, spinning it.

"Sleeping, I guess."  She looks up at him.  Taking in every detail of his face, every long wind blown strand of hair as it danced in front of his face.  "We were up late unpacking."  They make eye contact and for the first three seconds she's pretty cool and collected, but she's never talked to a guy this cute before.  All of the guys she met in Rhode Island, she's never met one quite like Jon.  

"Would you guys like to go to the beach with us later?" He asks her, not sure why he did.  She was a complete stranger, as were her brothers.  "Me and the guys go every weekend.  Kick back, relax and enjoy loud music."

"Guys?  The ones you were with yesterday? " with her head she motions to the corner, "hanging out on the corner?"

He gives her a nervous type smile, "Those are my band mates, we had just rescued a squirrel from the sewer drain."

"How heroic." She jests, "A squirrel?"

"It was just a baby." He informs her.  "We got it out and it ran away, right up that tree."  Jon points to the huge oak tree in Bradleigh's neighbors front yard.  "I hope it found it's momma."

"It all works out in the end." Bradleigh volunteers, "You're in a band?"  She asks, having the word bandmates replaying in her head, "Is that why you're dressed like that, because you're in a band?"

Jon woke up with the intention of going to the beach.  He grabbed the first thing he seen on his floor, when he rolled out of bed and poured himself onto the floor.  Cut off Levi jeans, with the pockets hanging out in front and his favorite Guardian Angels tshirt was all he needed.  As Jon left the house to go pick up his brother from his buddies he grabbed his shades and Bruce Springsteen cassette.  

Bradleigh being out front was the only invitation Jon needed to go say hi.  

1 - It's Time To Hit The Road

Summer was her favorite time of year.  The time of year where she was free.  She could sleep until noon if she wanted too. She could hike the hills, hang at the beach and be gone all day, if she chose – but this summer would be different.  This summer was going to be the end of her life, she just knew it.