requested by and dedicated to Samboragirl
i am sooooo so so so sorry this took so long, i'm normally very slow but even i can't believe it took this long. at long last here it is, i hope you enjoy it! it's a little similar to the last one, but i just like this premise

~ Stop and Smell the Roses ~

Life in a famous band tends to be rushed. There's no time for breaks, because if you stop and lose your momentum, you'll fall on your face, and you'll be left biting the dust and wishing you hadn't. You don't have time for anything serious besides music, so you tend to regard the situation as one with no other options.

It's funny, really; you pick three or four people you think you can make good music with without too many problems, and that becomes your family. These are the people that are going to be with you for what seems like a long, long time, and you better hope you picked well, or there are going to be a lot of problems.

I didn't think there could be such a thing as choosing too well, but apparently there is. I realized this the moment it hit that I'd fallen head over heels for one of my own bandmates; and none other than my guitarist.

I was fully conscious of what was going on the entire time it was happening. That didn't mean I was any less surprised, though. I was sure I enjoyed my time with women, so why was I taking so much interest in Richie, a fellow man?

Trying to ignore it didn't work. I told myself over and over that it was never going to happen, because he was very into women. But no matter what I tried, nothing seemed to do me any favors. He was stuck in my mind like a song-- and sometimes, try as you might, you can't get a damn song out of your head.

It all came to a head one night during one of the band's weeks off. We'd been touring and traveling like crazy, and that evening we were throwing a party to celebrate our success so far and the release of our newest album.

Everyone was having a great time. The rest of the band seemed to be enjoying themselves to a maximum; they danced and partied harder than I'd ever seen them do.

In fact, it was a little worrisome. We had an interview scheduled for the next day, and I didn't want the band to be all hungover when we got there. I tried convincing them to slow down and take it easy on the drinking, but no one listened. Not even Tico, and I counted on him to be at least a little reasonable. And a little while later, the band received a bit of news that I knew would doom them to complete loss of control for the rest of the night.

It was 8:32 p.m. when I was notified of a someone wanting to see me-- they had a something very important to tell the band. It was one of our roadies arriving late to the party after a few hours of us wondering where he could be. He burst in and started calling for the band's attention, and we all rushed forward to hear what he had to say.

"Jon, Richie, Alec, Tico, David," he yelled over the music, "congratulations! Your album just hit the number one spot on the charts!"

"Are you serious?!" Tico asked. David put his hands on Alec's shoulders and jumped into the air with excitement as it was confirmed.

"Yes! Here, I have a copy of the week's top albums. Slippery When Wet is at the very top!"

Richie took the chart and the rest of us made a little circle around it.

"It says right there. 'Number One - Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi'."

"We did it! We did it! Our album's number one! We're number one!"

And Richie, drunk as he was, did something that shocked the boots off my feet. Well, not literally, but it came fairly close. He grabbed me by both sides of my face and yanked me forward, kissing me on the mouth for a full two seconds before letting me go.

"It's thanks to you, Jon! We did it, man!"

"Y-yeah, we did it," I replied, my voice cracking in an embarrassing way. Wow, so much for a lead singer.

"Okay, everyone, this calls for a celebration," David called.

"We're... we're already celebrating," Tico replied, a slightly confused expression taking over his face.

"We have to celebrate more passionately!"

"That's not the word I would use," Alec slowly said.

"Too bad." David put his hands on his hips and turned to face him. "It's the word I chose to use, so you gotta deal with it. Alright, now that we've got that settled-- let's celebrate!"

"We already--"

"Shut up!"

They all went off in search of more drinks and fun, leaving Richie standing next to me.

"Seriously, man, we wouldn't have done it without you," he said.

"Same goes to you."

"Nah, but I appreciate that." He must've noticed how dazed I looked, because he put a hand on my shoulder and asked, "you good?"

"Yeah." I shook my head to clear it. "Yeah, I'm great."

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go get something to drink. I'll see you later?"

"Oh, of course. Or tomorrow, I guess. Just don't get too messed up-- we still got that interview."

He nodded and gave me a thumbs up and a last pat on the shoulder before turning away. I let out a huge breath and let my shoulders fall, almost tripping as I walked away.

Why the hell had he done that? He couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate? One that wouldn't leave me ready to faint?

I shook it off and headed even further in the opposite direction, trying not to think about it too much. He hadn't meant anything by it, I knew that much. So I went and tried to make my own fun, focusing on thinking about the album and its status.

***

That worked for a few hours. But eventually I got bored and my mind wandered-- not my fault. I just kept thinking about Richie and that kiss-- seriously, why? I knew I was reading too much into it, and I was trying not to, but nothing was working. I couldn't distract myself for long enough.

Hours passed. Finally, I calmed down, and I was able to enjoy the fact that our album was number one. I sat in one corner of the living room and watched as the party began to wind down.

Near the end of it, Richie came to sit next to me. By that time I'd accepted that nothing was going to come of my feelings for him, so I was chilling. But then he started talking.

"Hey Jon, there's something I kinda wanted to talk to you about. I'm not sure if this is even a good idea, but I just gotta go for it."

"Yeah, go for it," I said, leaning back in my seat.

"Alright, so, uh... remember how I kissed you earlier?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I asked, trying to appear unaffected.

"So... that wasn't just because of the album. I also did it because... well... I'm kinda into you. I mean, I like you."

The grin was washed off my face. "Wait, for real?"

"Uh, yeah. I just thought you should know because we're in a band together and everything, and it might get kind of weird so I just thought... I don't know what I was thinking actually, this was a bad idea."

"No, wait-- are you really serious?"

"Yes, Jon, I'm one hundred percent serious. Not joking. Serious."

"Okay, um..." Now what? I gotta tell him now, but how?

"I mean, I really just felt you should know. Not sure where to go from here--"

"I like you too," I blurted. He stopped mid-sentence and stared at me for a moment.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I really mean it."

"Okay, so... now what?" He laughed in a slightly nervous but very endearing way.

"We give 'you and me' a try?"

"What, like dating?"

"I don't know, I guess. If you want."

"'Course, that's kinda the point of liking someone."

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I know. And my answer is yes."

"Alright," I grinned, trying to be cool about it. "Cool."

He gave me a really? kind of look, at which I laughed before shaking my head at my own behavior. In my defense, it was kind of cool.

***

i hooope this is satisfactory. until next time!