The Past Recedes

Chapter 41

Nika watched as John placed their suitcases down on the staircase for tomorrow. "I'm not going to go crazy looking for stuff tomorrow", he explained.

"You are going to like this place, Mom and Dad love it. Plus I invited Josh, his girlfriend Ashley is in San Diego visiting her parents", he added.

"Okay, Miss Ashley is so kind and pretty. I hope Josh isn't going to be lonely", said Nika.

"He's doing some shows with Bicycle Thief, and he's playing a session for some girl pop singer. He's playing guitar and piano", said John.

"Okay, then I wish him good luck", she replied.

A car horn honked outside and John led her outside to see Josh waiting for them inside the gray Volvo. He hastily got out of the car and opened the door for them, the eager grin permanent on his face. "You're still proud of that car?", teased John.

"Yeah, this is my first new car. It's so much better than my old truck, but I sort of miss the old girl", said Josh with a laugh.

"Because it was your first car, I never learned to drive. And good luck on your session", said John.

"Thanks, the music isn't my usual taste but I negotiated a portion of the royalties for sales and airplay. So hopefully it's a hit", Josh said.

"What does that mean?", she asked.

"If I play on a song and it's a hit, I get performance royalties. That's money I get every time someone buys the album or the song is played on the radio", he explained.

"Oh, so does that mean you get a lot of royalties, Dad?", she asked.

"Yeah, but it goes straight to my bank account", replied John.

"That's awesome you guys are going to Italy, I've yet to leave the states. Maybe one day I'll get hired to join someone's backup band", said Josh.

"You will, you're too talented", said John.

Josh blushed and giggled as he lit a cigarette and handed it to John before lighting his. "Uh, thanks. Hopefully this record will be a hit, I want Mom and Dad to hear me on the radio", he said.

"They will one day, Mom and Dad were thrilled when they heard Knock Me Down on the radio for the first time, even if they thought it was noisy crap", said John with a laugh.

"You better be a good boy and look but not touch", Anthony teased Josh as the younger man turned bright red.

"Don't tease him, Tony. Josh is not the Casanova type", John chided.

"I know, and that applies to you as well, Anthony Kiedis", said Yolanda, giving him a pointed look. She looked stunning in a tight white dress with shimmering clear beads and matching heels, her blond hair artfully coiled atop her head.

"You look like a movie star, Miss Yolanda. Like in the old movies my grandfather likes", said Nika.

"Thank you, I wear a lot of white because it's a color that looks good on blondes. And dark colors suit you, you have the Snow White coloring", said Yolanda.

"Sorry I'm late, I had the trouble finding the right shirt", said Flea as Clara hugged Nika.

Nika stiffened, her eyes wide. "Oh, you don't like hugs? Sorry about that", said Clara.

The group went inside the restaurant as they were led into a private booth in a corner. "We took a reporter from Rolling Stone here", said Anthony as he greeted Chad, the burly drummer towering over his bandmates.

"Grandmere cooks this, Pepere has been to North Africa many times and she learned how to make this", said Nika as she looked at the menu.

"Awesome, what does your grandpa do?", asked Chad.

"He's a former professor of Byzantine History, he's retired. He taught at the University of Manchester in England and McGill University in Montreal, Mr. Smith", she replied.

Chad nearly choked on his drink. "Haha, I can't remember the last time someone called me Mr. Smith. You can call me Chad, Smith is such a boring last name", he said.

Nika thought it would be an odd to call and adult by their first name, but decided to go along with this. "Okay, Chad", she replied.

"I take Mom here when she's in LA, there's belly dancing after dinner", said Flea.

"They're so pretty, like Jasmine. I'm too ginger to be a belly dancer", said Clara with a frown.

"Who's Jasmine?", asked Nika.

"She's the princess in Aladdin, the Disney cartoon. I have it on tape at Mom's house, Jasmine is so pretty", said Clara.

"I've never seen a Disney cartoon, Mom said cartoons are dumb. I watch PBS and the History Channel", said Nika.

"Wow, when you get back from vacation we have to have a Disney marathon", said Clara.

Nika gave the other girl a wan smile, the idea of watching a bunch of cartoons revolting to her. She read the menu and smiled when she saw her favorite tagine, since Maria made an excellent version. A waiter poured everyone a cup of tea except for Clara who had Sprite, the dark brown tea sitting in tiny glass cups. "When Grandmere cooks Middle Eastern food, we have it with this kind of tea", she said.

"Your grandma's French?", asked Chad.

"Not really, she and Pepere are English but they have a French last name. I just call them that", she replied.

"Good luck on your trip, Fru", said Anthony.

"Thanks, Tony. I can't wait to introduce Nika to my grandparents. Nonna wants to know if I'm ever going to be a father, since Dad is an only child. Dad is an only child and so is Mom. We don't have a family tree, we have a bush", joked John.

"Is that a genetic thing?", asked Nika.

"Who knows, Nonna claims a witch put a spell on the Frusciante family that we only have one child per generation. People in southern Italy still believe in witchcraft", John explained.

"That's dumb, witches don't exist", said Nika dubiously.

"Never say that, some of these witches might be really powerful", said John.

Nika excused her father's belief as the thought of someone was more religious and credulous than herself. She hoped that her Italian family wasn't too big or loud and they could see some awesome Greek and Roman ruins. "You ought to take lots of pics, John. That'll have to do until I go Italy myself", Josh laughed.

"We will. And you ought to finish Gibbon, it's the best history of ancient Rome and the Byzantines", said Nika.

"I will, but I can't finish it one day", he teased.

"I read it in a month, Mr. Gibbon used old-fashioned English and a lot of Latin terms", said Nika.

"What's that?", asked Flea.

"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, it's a huge book. I bought mine at a flea market", said Josh.

"No thanks, I don't want to read a book that can be used as a murder weapon", Flea joked as everyone laughed.