Matchmaker by Lorie

Part 1

Paul and Gene sat in the hotel suite eating their breakfast 
and trying to decide what to do for their friend and band 
mate.  

"The most obvious solution is to get him another woman and 
fast." Gene said as he spread cream cheese on his second 
bagel.  

"Yeah I know. But Bruce isn't going to just dive back in. He 
was in love with Christina and was the poster boy for 
monogamy. It's going to be a long time before he'll venture 
out again." Paul stated he poured the water for another cup 
of tea. Gene dipped the knife into the jelly. 

"Exactly why we have to help matters along. It's a 
traditional Jewish custom. 

We have to find some beautiful woman and pair them up." Paul 
watched Gene as he smeared the jelly onto the bagel and 
tossed the knife back into the cream cheese. 

"I wish you wouldn't do that. It's disgusting." 

Ignoring Paul, Gene continued, "It can't be just any woman. 
Front row girls are out. Groupies are not his style. She 
needs to be involved with the tour so they can get to know 
each other. Who do we got?" Paul thought for a moment then 
shook his head. 

"I can't think of anyone. Maybe we need to…" A knock on the 
door interrupted him mid sentence. "That's probably Eric." 
Paul got up to let their new drummer in. 

Eric Singer looked depressed as he strolled in to the suite. 
He sat down at the table with Gene and sighed heavily. "His 
eye looks worse this morning, but with make-up he should be 
able to look okay for shows." 

Paul sat back down and stirred his tea. "Who would have 
thought Christina could pack such a punch. But then she was 
pretty pissed about those strippers." 

Gene shook his head. "Yeah. That poor girl with the biker 
costume didn't know what hit her. All she wanted was an 
autograph, then suddenly Psycho Wife shows up and accuses 
Bruce of lining up a private encore." 

Paul laughed, "As if he would ever do that. I've known Bruce 
for years and he's too shy to do that. It took him forever 
to break him out of his shell on stage." 

Eric looked over to Paul. "You should have seen him trying 
to stay out of the way of the dancers last night. That one 
with the cut-offs wanted to stand by him and he just kept 
running away." 

"I didn't mind when she came over to me." Gene said with a 
grin. Paul laughed. "Anyway, we have got to get Bruce back 
into the real world. You heard Christina last night 
screaming divorce," said Paul. 

Gene snorted. "The whole western hemisphere heard her. But 
who are we going to get?" he asked. 

Eric looked at Paul. "What about Lorie?" Paul spit out the 
tea he was drinking when he started to choke. 

"Who?" asked Paul. 

Eric repeated, "You know Lorie. Andre's admin assistant…our 
resident pencil  pusher. She kinda cute and unattached." 
Gene groaned.  
 
"You mean the little nun. She's too straight laced. Do we 
have anyone else?"  he asked.  
 
After a half hour's debate and all other possibilities 
dismissed, it was  decided Lorie was there only option.  
 
"Slim pickings." Gene grumbled. Eric came to her defense.  
 
"She's just not used to dating. She was very close to 
becoming a nun when she changed her mind. You don't walk 
away from a convent school and become a slut." Gene was in 
his own little world with a wicked smile on his face. "I 
could give her some lessons."  
 
Paul threw a napkin at him. "I'm sure you would. Okay, it's 
decided that it's Lorie. But we are going to have to do the 
fairy godmother routine on her to make her presentable," 
said Paul.  
 
Eric couldn't resist. Under his breath he sang, "Bibbity 
Boppity Boo," and was pelted with bagels and other breakfast 
foods.  
 
 

Part 2 

Bruce sat in his hotel room, strumming his acoustic guitar 
and trying not to think about last night. The tension in his 
marriage finally reached the boiling point and Christina 
erupted like Mount St. Helens. He tried to keep his marital 
problems away from the band considering they were all still 
getting over Eric Carr's death. He didn't want to add to the 
mess.  
 
He set his guitar aside and gently touched his eye. It 
wasn't the first time she hit him in a rage, but it was the 
first time she hit him in the face with her fist. He had had 
his share of slaps across his cheek. He sighed. He wanted to 
make it work, but it wasn't meant to be. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing. It was 
his brother, Bob.  
 
"Now will you finally listen to me and divorce that she-
devil," he said.  
 
"I know. I know. But I can't do much while I'm on tour," 
said Bruce.  
 
Bob interrupted, "Leave that to me. I've still have that 
power of attorney for you. I'll get everything started. She 
wants out too so it won't take long. I just wish you would 
have filed those spousal abuse reports against her like I 
told you to," said Bob.  
 
Bruce yelled into the phone, "No! I couldn't do that. Men 
don't do that. That would have hit the scandal sheets and 
Gene and Paul would have been pissed.  You know this 
business. I had no choice!" There was a long silence before 
Bob spoke again.  
 
"I'm just worried about you, little brother. I hate seeing 
you like this," said Bob. Bruce sighed.  
 
"I'll be okay. Do what you can with the lawyers and stuff, 
alright," said Bruce.  
 
"I will. And lose that ring. You'll be a free man soon. 
Enjoy the rest of the tour. That's an order!"  
 
Bruce laughed softly. "I will. I'll talk to you later."  
 
After he hung up the phone he looked at his left hand. No, 
he couldn't take it off. Not yet, anyway. He walked over to 
the window and looked out at the city. He saw his reflection 
in the window and could not hold back the tears anymore. 
Outside the rain fell against the window, as if joining him 
in his pain.  



Part 3
 
Lorie sat on an amp case using another as a makeshift desk 
so she could go through her paperwork. She smiled to herself 
again as she thought about where she was. A year ago, she 
had made the decision to leave the convent school that had 
been her home since she was 12 years old to enter the real 
world as a member of society. It had been her mother's wish 
that Lorie become a nun and in her domineering way shipped 
her off to a convent. Lorie had no choice in the matter and 
obeyed her parents, then her teachers. She had fooled 
herself into thinking the holy life was what she wanted. It 
was during a walk around the convent grounds that she 
realized the religious life was not for her. Her wonderful 
mother superior understood and supported her decision. 
Sister Agnes was even there when Lorie told her parents of 
her decision. Now a year later, she was seeing the world 
from a tour bus window! Her parents had all but disowned 
her, but she didn't care. For the first time in her life she 
was happy.  
 
She still felt awkward around guys and didn't socialize 
much. But she did enjoy the work and the excitement of the 
tour and concerts.  
 
Paul looked at Lorie from a distance with a critical eye. 
She had auburn hair, but it was pulled back into a tight 
bun. Maybe she had a figure, but it was hard to tell with 
her baggy jeans and large T-shirt. She never wore make-up 
that he knew of and she wore thick glasses. 
 
"Talk about raw material," he muttered to himself. He 
decided to get a closer look and walked over to her. He 
smiled when he heard her humming "God Gave Rock n' Roll To 
You" under her breath. "Hi, Lorie. Everything going 
alright," he asked. Lorie looked up and saw Paul talking to 
her. Wow he's handsome, she thought and blushed.  
 
"Uh…Hi. Yes, everything is alright. I was able to clean up 
the mess from last night…Is Bruce okay?" she asked. She 
wanted to know because of all the KISS members, she liked 
Bruce the best.  
 
"He'll be okay. He's starting divorce proceedings. Last 
night was the final straw." Paul stated as he pulled up 
another amp case and sat down. He thought for a moment and 
said, "He just needs some friends to help him through this. 
I think he appreciated it last night when you brought him 
the ice pack for his eye," he said. Lorie blushed even 
pinker.  
 
"Just trying to be helpful." She was embarrassed by the fact 
that she was so bold as to get an ice pack and made sure 
Bruce held it on his eye. Paul couldn't help notice how 
pretty she looked when she blushed. There's hope yet, he 
thought, but I wonder what color her eyes are.  
 
"Lorie, you've got something on your cheek. Here." He 
reached forward and pulled off her glasses. As he wiped away 
an imaginary smudge, he noticed her eyes were blue and her 
skin was like a rose petal. "There. Here you go." Handing 
back her glasses. She muttered thanks as she pushed her 
glasses back on her face. Paul stood up and stretched, "I've 
gotta run. I'll talk to you later."  
 
She whispered, "Okay…Bye." And buried her face in her 
paperwork.  
 
After he left, she touched her cheek where he touched it. It 
still tingled.  She shook her head. No she wouldn't think of 
such things. It just wasn't possible. Not for her. She 
wasn't beautiful. He was just flirting that's all.  Yeah 
that was it. Just flirting.  


~~~~~~~~~
Part 4
 
Gene and Paul hid in an office to compare notes on their 
latest 'project' while Eric was off talking to Bruce. Paul 
told Gene what he learned from Lorie with his little 
encounter earlier and Gene informed Paul on his conversation 
with Bruce earlier.  
 
"So he's going for the divorce. Ouch." was all Paul could 
say.
He could feel for his friend. He silently thanks his lucky 
stars he found Pamela. He knew she was his forever. Gene 
interrupted his thoughts.  
 
"Well, the pre-plan is complete. Now for phase 1," said 
Gene.  
 
Paul laughed. "What do you have in mind, Einstein?"  
 
Gene thought for a moment ."She needs to lose the glasses. 
If her eyes are as nice as you say, contacts are in order," 
he said.  
 
"How do you plan to do that?" 
 
Gene just smiled.  
 
Lorie stepped out of the Lenscrafters store, still blinking. 
Maybe getting contacts wasn't such a good idea. She did have 
a pair of replacement glasses as back up but Shannon was so 
insistent Lorie caved in to the Acuvue lenses.  
 
"I can't believe Gene spent all that money on me." Lorie 
said still in amazement.  
 
"Serves him right for being so clumsy," Shannon said as they 
walked down the mall.  
 
"He did feel bad about the whole thing. I mean accidentally 
knocking my glasses off then stepping on them. He didn't 
know I was behind him so..." Lorie reasoned. Shannon 
smirked, oh he knew exactly where you were. Gene had 
enlisted Shannon's help in their little plan for Bruce and 
Lorie. Being a romantic at heart, she was glad to help. 
Shannon looked at her watch.  
 
"We better get back before Andre strokes out." And hailed a 
cab.  
 
By the time they got back to the arena, Lorie's eyes had 
adjusted to the contacts. She had just enough time to find 
Gene and thank him for what he had done. She found him in 
the dressing room with the rest of the band as they were 
starting to get ready for the show.  
 
Paul was dabbing make-up on Bruce's black eye when he 
noticed Lorie at the door. "Much better," he muttered. Bruce 
turned around and saw Lorie at the doorway. There was 
something different but he couldn't put his finger on it.  
Gene and Eric both smiled.  
 
"Well. I'm glad to see my money is well spent. You look 
great," Gene said.  Lorie blushed.  
 
"Thanks, Gene. Shannon insisted I get the contacts. I never 
thought I could wear them." Gene lifted her chin to look 
into her eyes. Bruce, he thought, if you don't, I will. Her 
eyes were beautiful.  
 
Just then Andre came in the dressing room.  
 
"Lorie, you're back. I need your help," he said. She turned 
and followed him out, calling out thanks to Gene again. Gene 
looked over and noticed Bruce still looking at the door, 
then glanced a Paul who gave Gene the thumbs up.