For Happy Endings It Takes Two

She put him back down and proceeded to leap three feet into the air with a celebratory cheer. Jake waited a second after she landed.

"Sara, could you please cheer up a little about this?"

She laughed, giving him a light swat on the arm. "Oh my gosh, this is nuts!" she said, unable to get over it. "How did you get 'em??"

"Oh, well, I...know a guy, who...knows a guy, who, eh...pulled a few strings for me." He cleared his throat, not yet wanting to give away any more information. "Well, then..." He held out his arm for her. "Shall we?"

*****

November 19th, 10:11 p.m.

A little more than halfway through the show, it had been pretty spectacular thus far. Jake was a bit surprised himself to see just how absolutely jam-packed it was, but then, he reminded himself, Velette was a pretty amazing pop phenom.

Sara, needless to say, was in heaven. She crooned, belted and warbled with all the other die-hard Voxe fans, at the top of their collective lungs. Jake may not have known the songs as well, but hadn't much trouble getting into the spirit of things. A few times—like at the end of just about every song—he felt like his eardrums were going to be blown out, but it was worth it. He'd given his best friend the gift that made her life...and it was almost complete. He just hoped the one last surprise he'd arranged didn't go awry.

Another hour of show elapsed. It was only supposed to go till 11:00, but as with lots of rock shows, Velette and her band wanted to keep hanging out with the crowd just a little longer, and the feeling couldn't have been more mutual. With six Voxe albums released so far in the course of Velette's seven-year career, they had no shortage of numbers to choose from. They could have played all night. But as he surreptitiously checked his cell for the time, Jake was getting a little nervous. He really hoped things would go as planned.

Another song was concluded. Finally, Velette said, "Well, thank you for a wonderful evening!" The crowd erupted in cheers.

She continued when they calmed down. "I don't know about you, but this has been one of the greatest nights of my life, and, uh..."

Another huge cheer. Velette slipped her guitar off her body by its strap. A stage hand came from stage right and Velette handed it to him. She took the mic out of the stand and said, "...I'd like to finish up tonight with a little something special for you guys."

Yet one more wave of applause. Whew, thought Jake, applauding with everyone else.

"Someone who helped throw things together tonight has asked a small request of us," she said. "I understand we've got a birthday girl here tonight, named...Sara?"

There were cheers from a few other pockets of the audience. Apparently there were a couple birthdays being celebrated here tonight. And a few other Saras in the audience too. Jake took (his) Sara's arm and held up her hand. "Right here!" he called up to Velette. "She's right here!" Some high-pitched screaming shot up from the people right around them. He turned to Sara, turning a little red, trying to hold back from grinning too much. He couldn't begin to describe the look (his) Sara was giving him.

Velette looked down to see her. "Well, hey, Sara!" She paused a second for effect. "You wanna come up on stage with me?"

The audience just about died. But still not as much as the girl of honor herself. She felt tears coming on. She wanted to scream, but didn't think she could produce any sound. She looked back and forth between Jake and Velette, not knowing what to do. Well, of course she wanted to come up on stage, but she was so overwhelmed by the sheer reality of the situation. Was THIS a dream? She was about to pinch herself, but the audience members around her and Jake started urging her to get up on stage.

"Oh, I think she's a little shy," Velette told the crowd. She gestured with her free hand for just what she said next: "How 'bout we give her a little encouragement?"

Another explosion of cheers. Jake leaned up to Sara's ear and shouted, "I think you better do what they're saying."

Sara still couldn't bring herself to say a word. She looked up to see Velette holding her hand down to her. Naturally unable to believe it, Sara reached her trembling hand up, to touch Velette's. The next she felt was her fellow Voxers lifting her up, almost as if she were surfing through the crowd. Velette pulled her up the rest of the way, and the next thing she knew, she was, in fact, on stage. Standing right next to her...touching—and still holding!—the hand of her idol. Sharing the same air with her. Two feet of space between them.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you, Sara!" said Velette. "So how old are you today?"

She held out the mic to her. But Sara was still breathing too heavily to get any words out. Jake jumped in for her.

"Uh—28! She's 28!" he called up.

"Oh!" said Velette, "Hey, so you must be her buddy, uh..."

"Jake!"

"Right, right!" said Velette. "Well, ladies and gents, I understand Jake here had something to do with bringing our little show to your beautiful city here tonight. How 'bout a hand for 'im?"

She barely even got out the request. After the word "tonight," the audience had already exploded in applause yet one more time. The audience members around Jake suddenly all began thanking him, shaking his hand, hugging him, patting his shoulder, which made him slightly self-conscious. Though he might have been a hero to Juniper's Velette fans this evening, he felt a little embarrassed, Velette having spilled the big secret. He looked up modestly at Sara, and once again, there were no words sufficient to describe the look on her face. "Stunned" would almost aspire to cover it. Uh-oh, he found himself thinking. I hope she doesn't want me to come up on stage too. He just didn't want to take any of the magic away from Sara's big moment.

Thankfully, Velette must have known what he was thinking, because she just continued. "And, uh...he's asked if we might do one song in particular for his galpal, our guest of honor tonight." She gestured to Sara, who was turning so red she was almost maroon. "So, if it's all right with you guys..." said Velette, to the audience's delight. They shrieked out another unisonous cheer.

"I think that's a yes!" Velette confirmed for her band. "Hit it!"

The keyboardist launched into the opening chords, in B-flat major. The first notes provoked cheers from scattered portions of the audience. But just like with Sara herself, once the harmonica player stepped up to the microphone beside Velette, and leapt in with the beautiful scale descent leading into the lyrics, the entire crowd practically went into shock with amazement.

Velette intentionally had the band hold off at this moment, waiting for the audience to calm down. She then signaled to the drummer, who counted them back in, tapping the sticks together, "One, two, three, four—"

And off they went. Velette spun back around to gaze into Sara's awestruck eyes, and sang to her.

"Go now!...Don't look back, we've drawn the line," she crooned, taking Sara's hand again. She held the mic extra close, making herself extra audible above the audience's earsplitting cries. "Move on...it's no good to go back in time..."

Suddenly, Sara got her voice back. And she screamed right along with the rest of the audience. Right before the next line, Velette momentarily whirled back to the audience and said, "Come on, help me out! Sing it if ya know it!"

"I'll never find another girl like you..." the crowd serenaded her. "...For happy endings, it takes two...we're fire and ice, a dream won't come true—"

Back to the audience Velette turned for another second. "Here's the chorus, guys, now let her hear it!"

"Sar-a, Sar-a..." the audience chanted along with Velette. "Storms are brewing in your eyes..."

Sara couldn't hold it back any longer. She collapsed on her knees, let the floodgates open and out broke the unstoppable tears of joy. A bit of sweet "aw"-ing came from some of the audience amid the singing.

"Sar-a-a-a-a-a, Sar-a...no time is a good time for goodbyes..."

On went the song: second verse, second chorus, bridge. When they reached the mid-section where the percussion temporarily cut off, Velette shouted, "Okay, your turn! Come on, give it to her!" She held out the mic to the crowd. Sara wiped her wet eyes and smiled in shy appreciation. And then back to the full arrangement with the whole band they returned. They did a few more choruses, ad-libbing the end, staying as true to the original Starship version as possible...finally brought down the tempo, and Velette got down on her knees with Sara, to sing her name one last time, drawing it out in a long, final, glorious note.

As the audience went wild, Sara lightly shook her head in disbelief, looking into Velette's eyes, and proceeded to bow to her. As she got back up, Velette helped her to her feet and they hugged. The part of Sara's brain that could still think told her, Say something!

"I love you," she hollered to Velette in tears. "I love you so much...do you have any idea how much...I just love you." She started blubbering again, actually now in real life laying it all out for her. It was truly...a miracle.

"Happy Birthday, Sara," said Velette into the mic, once they broke from the embrace. "Let's give her a hand, huh?!"

Things could not have worked out better. Wow, exhaled an almost equally exhilarated Jake, who'd shed a few tears himself, smiling up at Sara. She made her way down off the stage, threw her arms around him and just about tackled him in the most crushing hug he'd ever received, prompting some more affectionate reactions from the audience around them.

"THANK YOU EVERYBODY, HAVE A GREAT NIGHT!" Velette yelled. The rest of the band joined her at the edge of the stage, joined hands, took a bow, and gave the audience a round of applause back.

Jake had indeed achieved what he planned; Sara's life was made.

*****

November 20th, 12:03 a.m.

Sara was still crying three-quarters of the way back home.

"Tell me what I ever did to deserve you," she gushed.

Obviously very pleased with himself, Jake said, "It's all right, sis, really. Just seeing you that happy's thanks enough for me."

Sara shook her head looking at him, fondly holding on to his non-driving arm.

"You do realize I'm never gonna be able to give you anything that good your entire life," she informed him.

"Also thanks enough. See? I win," he joked. They both giggled.

"And to top it all off, I met a girl!" said Sara. She took the sliver of paper from her purse, with the name, number and E-mail of a cute young lady at the concert who came up to her to congratulate her. Her name was Melleny, and she lived about fifteen minutes away, not actually too far from Sara's parents. She told Sara if she wasn't seeing anyone, and if she wanted, to give her a call.

"Hey, what better place?" asked Jake. The prospect of Sara hunting down a nice chick-loving chick (without even trying) hadn't occurred to him at the time, back when he set up the booking date for the show with the promoter. But now as he thought about it, it made pretty good sense there'd be a lot of other cute, young, sexy babes to be found at Velette Voxe's concert, in whom Sara'd be potentially interested, and vice versa. What a sweet little bonus that was.

Hey, what if they hooked up together? Jake pondered. What if they became an item, and one day, one thing led to another, and... He honestly didn't initiate these thoughts; they swam into his mind unbidden. He again started to get turned on. Jake, STOP that!

"Just one more time, thank you, thank you SO much, Jake," Sara sniffled out, feeling in a way like they were back in elementary school together again. "You're the best friend in the whole wide world."

He smiled with a modest nod. "Don't like to toot my own horn, but I do have to admit...I did pretty good this time."

He returned her home. They hugged, exchanged their pecks on the cheek, and Jake asked, "You want me to come in?"

"Uh...not tonight, if it's okay, babe," said Sara. "I'm gonna be a little..." she shifted her eyes back and forth, trying to delicately say what she wanted to say.

"...Occupied."

"Ah. Gotcha."

"But hey, I'll see you tomorrow night at 8:00, your place?"

"Awesome," he confirmed as Sara got out. "Love you, sis."

"Love you, bro," she shut the car door. He waited for her to go inside and wave from the door, then headed home himself.

Sara kicked off her shoes, dropped her purse, and left her clothes in a trail to her room. Though she'd never admit it, her eyes were not the only part of her that had gotten wet at the concert. She couldn't waste time doing trivial things like taking a bath or grabbing something to eat; no, no, she had to get right down to business. She crawled right up in bed, snuggled herself under the covers and closed her eyes with an unerasable grin. She didn't need any DVDs or remote controls tonight. She had a brand-new living-color fantasy that she was going to be enjoying for a long, long time to come—pun intended.

YES, my Goddess...YES, my flame...Your command is my wish.