Rock All Night

35




We burst out the back, running like two kids in high school after the police have raided a party – delirious, screaming, laughing. We raced past startled crew members and out into the night.

The amphitheater was set off by itself, connected by a small, winding road to absolutely humongous parking lots. We ran through the darkness, and when I began to stumble on my high heels, Derek stopped and hunched over.

“Get on!” he ordered.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Piggyback ride – come on, get on!”

I jumped on his back, screaming, laughing, and he took off again for the headlights in the distance.

It was almost an hour after the concert, and the last stragglers were leaving. We raced past cars, Derek running as fast as he could, carrying me like I was weightless, until we were almost to the end of the parking lot. There was a convertible up ahead with its top down – a beat-up, rusty Le Baron, probably 30 years old. Three college-age kids were in it – a male driver, a female passenger, and another guy in the back. They looked like nice, sweet kids – a little on the stoner side with the guys all wearing long, floppy hair and the girl sporting a knit beanie, but more clean-cut than grungy.

Derek ran up next to them and banged on the side of the car. “Hey man, can you give us a ride?”

The driver looked up in mild surprise, like he wasn’t expecting hitchhiking requests, much less such forceful ones.

Then he realized who was doing the asking.

His mouth dropped open. “Oh my God – OH MY GOD – IT’S DEREK KANE!”

The girl in the front seat put her hands next to her open mouth like McCauley Culkin in Home Alone. The kid in the back was silent, but his mouth was open big enough to stick a tennis ball in.

It was all pretty hilarious.

“Shh, keep it down – can you give us a ride?”

“Wha– yeah, of course! Get in!”

“We can’t do that!” I protested, giggling.

“Sure we can – this guy here – what’s your name, dude?”

“M-me? I’m Gary.”

“Gary here’s gonna give us a ride! Come on!”

I got off Derek’s back, and then he lifted me up like a groom does a bride, hoisted me over the side of the car, and dropped me laughing next to the backseat kid. Then he vaulted over the side himself and plopped down next to me.

“Thanks, Gary!” Derek said as he slapped the driver on the shoulder in a friendly ‘bro’ kind of way.

Gary craned his neck around to look at his famous passenger. “Yeah, no problem! Wow – Derek Kane! What’re you – ”

Derek pointed at the long, empty space in front of the car. “Um…?”

Gary looked back over the steering wheel. “Oh – sorry!” he apologized, and accelerated down the road that led out of the parking lot. “So – what are you doing here, man? I mean, I know you just had a show – AWESOME show, by the way – ”

“GREAT show,” the girl said.

The backseat guy just nodded mutely, his mouth still hanging open.

“Thanks!” Derek grinned.

“But – don’t you, like, have… people to take you places? I mean, not that I’m not totally stoked to help you out – ”

“Aaaah, sometimes you just gotta get the f*ck outta there. I was goin’ crazy, you know? It’s just – the pressure. I had to escape, even if it was only for a little while. You know what I mean?”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Gary said in an incredibly serious voice, with the girl and the other guy both nodding in agreement.

“I totally understand,” the girl murmured.

Which I found pretty funny, because the biggest pressure they probably had was an English quiz on Monday. Or their parents finding their pot stash.

Then I remembered I was on an all-paid assignment to interview the biggest rock band in the world and was about to sleep with the lead singer, so I really shouldn’t be talking.

“We really appreciate this,” Derek said, and held out his hand to the girl in the front. “What’s your name?”

“Anabelle,” she said as she shook his hand in complete and utter shock.

“Nice to meet you, Anabelle. And you?” he asked the guy on the other side of me.

“S-Scott,” the kid stuttered.

Derek gave him a whassup nod. “Good to meet you, Scott. Hey, you guys know of any nice hotels around here?”

“Uhhhh… no,” Gary said. “We drove up from San Diego.”

“Oooh, no good, can’t do San Diego.”

“I could check on my iPhone,” Anabelle said helpfully.

“That would be awesome,” Derek said, and she fumbled to get her cell out as fast as she could.

“Who’s your friend?” Gary asked.


“Who, her?” Derek asked innocently. Then he looked at me… grinned… and said, “She’s a huge reporter for Rolling Stone. We’ve got to do an interview, like, right away.”

“I thought you didn’t give interviews,” Scott said, shocked. I couldn’t tell if he was surprised about the interview, or if he was still processing the whole ‘biggest rock star in the world sitting three feet away from me after bumming a ride’ situation.

“I don’t. That’s why this one is so important,” Derek said gravely.

“Ohhhh,” Scott said, suitably impressed.

“Siri, what’s the closest hotels to where I am?” Annabelle asked from the front.

There was a beep, and the familiar voice said, “I found fifteen hotels fairly close to you.”

Anabelle peered at the screen. “There’s a Doubletree, like, one mile away – ”

“Perfect,” Derek said. “The Doubletree it is.”