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."