Another Girl

Chapter One

 I watched from the sidelines as she gazed back into his eyes, a twinkle sparkling through them. Her lips were pursed into a smile and so were his, only hers was genuine. His was the same smile he used after every show, simply a disguise to get the girls to do whatever he wanted. It was like this practically every night: a new town, a new girl.

  Being married certainly had its limits. Sure, I’d slept with fans before even though I’m taken. I love Cyn and she knows it, but these little flings are purely for sexual pleasure. I sleep with the girl and then we part ways, never meeting again. With Paul it’s different; he promises to call the girl, occasionally telling her she’s the girl of his dreams. Of course, we all know this isn’t true. The next night Paul will be in bed with another girl, telling her the same lies he told the previous one and willcontinue to tell the future ones.

  It really sickened me how he could go on lying to these innocent girls, but then again, so was I. Even though I didn’t directly tell these girls anything like Paul did, they too had that familiar glow in their eyes. I think every girl who saw a man she admired had a similar glow. They all hope that maybe the next day one of us band members will call them and say how much we’d missed them while we’d been apart.

  Sadly, this is hardly the case. Paul met his current girlfriend Jane while she had interviewed us. She was an actress with fair skin and ginger hair, and she was absolutely beautiful. When I first heard she was Paul’s I was indeed a little jealous, but that didn’t really matter. I had a beautiful girl at home who loved me, and I loved her. All my fooling around with other girls didn’t matter at all because Cynthia was absolutely amazing.

  Ringo had a girl named Maureen who was by far the youngest of our group. They’d just been married a few months back and seemed head over heels for each other. Or at least that’s how it sounded every night when they were “talking.”

  George’s girl Pattie was the only one who had really shaken me up. Of course, she was George’s, and I respected that. But she looked so much like Brigitte Bardot I couldn’t take it and I immediately began flirting my arse off. Of course, now she’s George’s, and I’ve backed off. But at first glance my pants got a little tighter than I’d like to admit.

  “You’re very beautiful, you know that?”

  I rolled my eyes, knowing this was by far the worst pickup line Paul’s used to date. You’re very beautiful? Come on, anyone can say that.

  “Thank you.” The poor teenage girl rocked nervously on her heels, her curly blonde hair bouncing as she twirled it with her fingers. Soon Paul’s fingers interlocked with hers and he led her further backstage to do what was expected of all girls he brought back. They would shag for an hour or so before he made up some lie that he had to go rehearse and sneak off to most likely pick up another chick.

  This poor little girl looked so much more innocent than the others, she couldn’t have been a day over eighteen. I wanted to go put a stop to what was about to come but I knew that if I did, Paul would slit my throat. And so I watched from the sidelines as he grabbed her arse, leading her back to the dressing room where many girls had shared the same fate.

  I went back to my own dressing room and watched as the wall shook only a few minutes after he’d brought the girl in there, a chorus of moans and groans echoing through the walls. I shuddered in disgust, picking up my acoustic and playing the same set of chords over and over to drown out the noise. A little while later the shagging noises stopped and I sighed with relief, putting down the guitar and standing up. I stretched, exiting through my door conveniently at the same time Paul exited his.

  “Can I come in?” he asked, walking through my dressing room door before I could actually reply.

  “Uh, sure…” I managed to choke out, closing the door behind us before the little blonde girl could find us.

  “She wasn’t nearly as good of a shag as you’d think,” he laughed, helping himself to sit down at one of the various chairs scattered around the room. “Virgin.”

  I bit my lip, uncomfortable. “Paul, you can’t keep fucking innocent girls like that and expecting everything to be okay.”

  “What do you mean?

  “You said she was a virgin. How do you think she’s going to feel when you don’t call her the next day or invite her to a dance or something like that?”

  “God, you’re turning into a bird.”

  “Paul…” I sighed, “I’m just saying this is ridiculous. This is your fifth girl this week and it’s only Wednesday.”

  Paul laughed, standing up. “Jesus Christ, John. You’re just jealous, aren’t you?”

  “Jealous of what?”

  “Jealous that I’m not gaining as much weight as you and I can still score birds after shows. You have to crawl back to Cyn.”

  “I could score any girl I want, Paul! I just think it’s sickening that you’re hurting these young girls!”

  “I’m not hurting anyone,” Paul scoffed. “I’m giving these girls the ride of their lives. This is the best thing they’ll ever get. They’re young, probably a little drunken up, and they want the men they just watched on stage. Lucky for me, that’s who they’ll get. It’s just a quick shag, John- It doesn’t mean a thing.”

  “But they don’t know that!” I pleaded with him. “They think you love them.”

  “Then they’re all fucking morons,” he laughed.

  I frowned, knowing his intentions were good but that he wasn’t making much sense at all. “Paul..” I sighed once again, “One of these days you’re going to fall for one of these girls. Hard. And I’m not going to be there to help you with her.”

  “But I love Jane.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “You don’t realize how much of an idiot you are, Paul.” I opened the door and walked down the hallway, Paul following at me heels to keep up with the conversation. We stopped in the middle of the hallway so I could get my point across. “You say you love Jane yet you tell all these innocent little one-night-shags that you love them as well. And they believe it, poor things. They believe it because they’ve never had their hearts broken before, they’re too young. Then they have unrealistic expectations of love for the rest of their lives. You hurt them, Paul, and you know it. You’re just too afraid to admit it.” With that, Paul stormed off down the hallway, probably to go find another girl to screw. It really sickened me how my point wasn’t getting across to him.

  I turned to go back into my dressing room and nearly bumped into a little old lady. I paused in my tracks, feeling absolutely awful.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s alright,” she nodded. “You and your friend sure are in a bit of a quarrel.”

  “It’s nothing, really.. He and I bicker a lot. We’ll be mates tomorrow, I promise ya.”

  “I bet you wish there was a way he’d see the way you did about that whole situation, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yes, that’d be nice.”

  “Maybe someday he’ll learn,” she smiled. “Maybe even tomorrow.”

  I smiled, nodding and carrying on my way. As I walked, it never occurred to me why that little old lady was allowed back stage. But I’d soon learn.