As Tana drove to Alex’s later that week, she was excited. Alex was having a party for the touring crew from their last tour. Tana had only quickly met the other 4 Boys and she had never met any of the other people Alex had talked about, so she was anxious to meet them all.
Tana parked her car right across the street from Alex’s. Crossing the street, she could hear music coming from the house. She walked up the steps and let herself in. Only a couple people were already there, and she spotted Alex right away, talking to a guy she didn’t recognize. Alex noticed her and called her over.
“Tana, this is our keyboard player, Tommy Smith. Tommy, this is my girlfriend, Tana Frasier.” Tana shook Tommy’s hand, and Tommy told her that it was a good thing she was finally dating Alex, cuz she’d been the only thing he’d talked about for 3 weeks!
Tana laughed, but then Alex had more people for her to meet. Along the way, he whispered, “You weren’t the only thing. I mentioned pool once.”
Every time she was introduced as “my girlfriend” by Alex, Tana again knew that she had done the right thing. All night, she stayed my Alex’s side. It was amusing her to see his world and how different it was from her own. Alex’s world was full of household names, teen idols and press releases, whereas (up until recently) Tana’s life was full of work at the Gap, friends who weren’t international phenomena and a boyfriend with a normal job.
That night, after everyone had gone, Tana and Alex sat side by side on Alex’s sofa. “I had a great time tonight,” Tana told him. “I met so many people!”
“I had a great time, too,” Alex told her. “I got to introduce you, my girlfriend, to everyone else in my life. It finally all made sense.” Alex leaned in to kiss Tana, his eyes full of love. But Tana pulled away before their lips could meet.
“Tana?” he asked. “What was that?”
“Alex, you promised. Slow.” Tana wanted to kiss him so badly, but she wasn’t ready. It was so right, yet so wrong.
“I can’t kiss my own girlfriend?” Alex couldn’t understand.
“Alex,” she said, backing away, “I told you I wasn’t ready to date, but you talked me into it. You promised it’d go slow. You don’t know how hard this is, even for me.”
“Tana-“
“I hafta go,” she said quickly. And, without pausing for even a moment, she left.