Wildest Dreams
by Shea

Part Eight

Paul followed Rachel back inside. He went to his dressing 
room, detouring when he remembered he left his script in the green 
room. This took him by Rachel's dressing room. She was talking to one 
of the minor players, who happened to be a friend of hers.
"I tell you, my dad is driving me crazy!! He wants me to get MORE 
roles. Hell, I haven't even finished this one yet!!! I can't be in 
two places at one time. It must be great to be a rock star's wife and 
not have to work!" Rachel told Jenny."With my daddy's money and 
connections why he couldn't get me on Broadway instead of this hick 
theater. This is a country music town for crying out loud!"
"Yeah, and I hear Paul's single again. His first wife dumped him. Why 
I'll never know, he's gorgeous! And he seems very sweet." Jenny told 
her.
"Well, he's got some bitch he's seeing. What he sees in her I'll 
never understand. Did you see what she was wearing in the green room 
at lunch today? What was up with those pants she was wearing? They 
looked like sweat pants only baggier. And what's the Golden Dragon? A 
Chinese restaurant? Probably where she works," Rachel 
sneered. "Marrying Paul would be a dream come true. It would beat the 
hell out of marrying some rich old coot who couldn't get it up and 
you wouldn't want touching you if he could! I WILL find a way to his 
heart, I always get what I want."
Paul had heard enough. Eyes blazing, he went on to his dressing room 
to calm down before he did or said something stupid. He slammed 
his script on the makeup table and rested his elbows on its surface, 
fingers massaging his temples. 'Is THAT what I have to put up with 
for three months????? Why can't she be more like Melissa.' he mused, 
remembering his co star in Toronto, who had been a joy to work with. 
Soon the director was calling everyone back. With a sigh, Paul rose 
from his seat and made his way to the stage.
********************************************
Shea went to the dojo, ready for the evening classes. Tonight 
they would be working on hold breaks since it was the last week of 
the quarter. That quarter's graduation would be this Friday. She was 
glad that this week would be more laid back than normal. Next week 
they would start on the new curriculum for the next quarter. This 
class would be working on hold breaks. The first one dealt with what 
to do if someone had both hands around the throat.
"Listen up class. If someone grabs you with both hands around the 
throat, the first thing you do is turn sideways. That releases the 
pressure and eases their grip. Now notice that I'm at a ninety 
degree angle to my attacker. From here I can put the heel of my hand 
under his chin and push his head back. I walk over him and just drop 
my hand straight down. When he's on the ground you can add your 
favorite finish. A kick to the groin, or maybe the ribs. Work on that 
with your partner."
Soon the students were working on the move. Shea was working 
with Levi, one of the teen white belts. "Relax, you're thinking too 
much, see, it goes like this. You can do this, I have confidence in 
you." Shea told him. She demonstrated for him how the move worked 
and that seemed to help. They went on to the defense from the same 
situation, only this time, you grabbed one hand and again, pushing 
the chin back, swept the same foot (on the same side as the hand you 
held) out from under and using an arm bar to subdue the opponent. 
Levi did well with this move, catching on quickly. After going over a 
few more hold breaks, the class, still working with partners, did 
some light tap out grappling. Tap out grappling meant that you would 
try to subdue your opponent, making him tap, meaning he was unable to 
evade the hold or pin. Soon class was over and Shea took a break 
before black and brown belt class. Issac was working on the new black 
belt form for a few minutes beofore class as Shea, Micah and Billy 
set up some mats so they could work on takedowns and throws. Some 
throws had to be modified for Shea's short stature. 
"Are you still seeing Paul?" Billy asked her. 
"Yes, he's a nice guy. Nothing like you'd expect for a rock star. 
Very low key type of guy, smart and funny too." 
"Well, just be careful, we've known each other for two years and I 
consider you a friend, maybe not a close friend but a friend none the 
less. I don't want to see you get hurt." Billy said. 
"I appreciate your concern, I really do." Shea said playfully 
punching his arm. 
Shea was so busy working on side sacrifice throws that she 
didn't see Paul come in and stand at the low wall surrounding the 
workout floor. Paul was watching quietly as the six of them work on 
rear and sacrifice throws before moving on to hip throws. It 
fascinated him how a small person could take a larger opponent to the 
ground, both Issac and Shea seemed to be doing quite well in that 
respect.
Soon class was over and Micah and Billy began putting up the mats 
while Shea and Issac made sure any focus mitts were put away from an 
earlier class. They were about to stack the chairs so the floor 
could be mopped when Shea saw Paul, her face lighting up with a 
smile. 
"Hey Paul." she said as she walked up to him "How was your day?"
"I've had better." he sighed "I'll tell you about it later though. 
Are you almost done here?"
"We just have to clean up a bit for tomorrow then I'll be done. Is 
everything ok?"
"Yeah, it was just a rough day at rehearshal is all. Rachel is a 
pain."
"Want me to kick her tail?" Shea joked, trying to humor him out of 
the mood he seemed to be in.
"No, she's not worth either the effort or you getting in trouble with 
the law. I'll let the director deal with her and just do my job." he 
sighed
Shea gave him a hug. "We'll grab something to eat and just hang at my 
place if you like."
"That sounds good. How much longer will you be tied up?" 
"Maybe another thirty minutes. We just have to mop the floor vaccuum 
the workout floor. We got a lot cleaned up on the red floor earlier, 
so it shouldn't take long." 
"Do you think they'd mind if I just hung around until you finished?"
"No, we have people drop by all the time and end up just sitting 
around talking, so you won't be in the way."
"Ok, I'll wait for you. I think I'm going to go up to Walgreens and 
pick up a few things. I'll see you in a few ok?" 
"Sure thing Paul, I'll be here." she gave him a hug before going to 
vaccuum the workout floor and the rug at its entrance. She decided to 
change before going home tonite, in case Paul wanted to eat in the 
restaurant instead of getting takeout.
Paul and Billy were at the table off to the side talking. Shea 
caught part of it as she approached the table.
"You know, I've often wondered why God would take someone as good as 
Eric Carr while so many 
bad people still exsist in the world." she heard Paul tell Billy. 
"How did he die?" Billy asked
"He died of complications from cancer. He had two cereberal 
hemmoraghes at the end. It's hard to believe he's been gone eleven 
years now." 
Billy could tell that it was still painful for Paul to talk about his 
friend.
"We may never know for sure. Maybe his work here was done." Billy 
responded. 
"Yeah, I've often thought of that as a possibility. I just know that 
there have been times I should have died but I didn't. I guess my own 
work here isn't done yet."
"So you do believe in God?" Billy asked.
"Yes, I think one of the main differences in Christianity and 
Judaism is how each views what you do with this life. Judaism places 
importance in not wasting this life here on earth while Christianity 
focuses on your reward in the afterlife based on this life."
"Well, Jews also believe differently about Jesus too, don't they?"
"It really depends on what branch of Judaism you're talking about. 
Me, I can honestly say I haven't thought about it, I can tell you 
this, I do take my own religion seriously." 
"I may not agree with your beliefs but I can respect that you have 
them." Billy said.
"Thank you. I've run into people calling themselves Christian who 
didn't feel that way,." I was brought up to respect that others may 
have different beliefs than I did, but that didn't make the other 
person's beliefs any less valid." 
They were so caught up in their conversation, they didn't notice Shea 
come up and sit with them.
Shea sat there listening to them talk and sensing the that they were 
beginning to see that maybe they weren't so different after all when 
the conversation turned to music. 
"I know what you mean about just strumming a guitar and working out 
melodies being relaxing. I did that alot when I was your age. A lot 
of early KISS songs I wrote in my room while I was still in school. I 
didn't have much of a social life then, " Paul chuckled."Most of my 
classmates thought I was strange."
"That's one good thing about being home schooled," Billy said."We 
don't have to worry about that."
"Well, with the way public schools are these days, I'm just glad I 
can afford to send my son Evan to private school. I'd be worried 
about him in a public school because I've heard how the kids of 
celebrities are treated in public schools. I wouldn't want my son to 
go through that." 
"I can understand that,." Mr Donnie said. "It's hard enough to be a 
regular kid in public schools these days, especially for Christians. 
That's why we home school too."
"I've heard it's the new trend now. If all the parents doing that 
have their kids involved in things like karate and music lessons, 
they'll likely be more rounded than a lot of public school kids, 
since they took out a lot of the music and art programs." Paul said, 
shaking his head.
Shea sat down to his right and placed her hand over his on the table.
"Hey. Ready to go?" Paul said as he noticed her sitting there.
"Yes, got an idea of what you want to grab to eat?" she said smiling 
at him. 
"We could grab a sub from Subway, if that's ok with you." he said.
"Sounds good to me." Shea said as she rose from the table.
Paul got up and picked up Shea's bag. 
"It was nice talking to you Billy, Mr. Donnie. You guys have a good 
evening." Paul said as they 
prepared to leave.
"Have a good evening." Mr Donnie said "See you tomorrow." 
"You too." Shea said.
Paul walked her out to her car and helped her put her bag in the 
trunk. 
"Want to just walk down to the Subway? It's not too far down the 
way." 
"Sounds fine to me."
Paul put his arm around her waist as they made their way down the 
sidewalk. 
"I'm glad to see you and Billy worked things out to a degree. He's 
just worried that you might hurt me." Shea said. "He's just 
concerned about me is all."
"Well, he has no worries there," Paul said, leaning over and kissing 
her cheek. "I'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you." he 
gave her a firm hug.
"I know that, Paul, I trust you."
They walked into Subway and ordered their sandwiches, Paul ordering a 
veggie sub and Shea a turkey breast sub. The took their food and made 
their way back to their cars. Paul followed her to her apartment, 
where they grabbed something to drink and a bag of chips. 
"Want me to put on some music?" Paul asked, indicating the portable 
stereo in the entertainment center. 
"Sounds good to me. That way we can talk." Shea replied. Paul found 
some soft music and sat down on the couch beside her to eat. 
"So how was your day?" Shea asked him between bites. 
Paul set his sub on the coffee table and leaned back against the 
cushions with a sigh.
"Rehearshal itself was fine. I just don't know if I can put up with 
my co star." he grumbled.
"Why? What happened?" Shea asked, her hand on his knee. 
"Oh Rachel just has this attitude toward this town and well, you 
already know how she feels about you. She thinks she has a chance to 
get me to marry her!!!" he snorted "Like bloody hell!" 
He leaned forward, his head in his hands. "I can't quit Shea, I 
don't want to let the rest of the cast down. They're a great bunch."
"I understand Paul, you're too professional to let that happen." Shea 
said as she began to rub his shoulders. "No wonder you're so tense." 
she bore down on the tense muscles as Paul rolled his head around.
"Ahh that feels much better." he said as she continued to massage his 
shoulders. He turned around and took her into his arms. "Thank you 
for listening to me gripe."
"No problem. That's what friends are for." 
He hugged her close, running his fingers through her hair. He 
entwined his fingers in her long hair as he kissed her deeply. Shea 
returned the kiss, her arms encircling him as they lay back on the 
couch.
Paul began unbuttoning her shirt, kissing the exposed flesh until he 
got to her bra.  "Hmm I seem to have run into a roadblock here." he 
said as he reached around and unhooked her bra. 
They were so intent on each other, they didn't hear the sound of the 
front door opening. 
"Carry on, don't mind me." Carol said as she locked the door and 
headed to her room. 
Paul watched Carol's sudden departure before he burst out 
laughing. The fact that Shea was blushing furiously only made him 
laugh that much harder. Shea could feel the vibrations of his 
laughter through her body, she buried her face in his chest, 
groaning, "I'm NEVER going to live this down." she moaned. 
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Carol has no problem with it. Now, 
were were we??" Paul asked.
Paul picked her up from the couch and carried her to her bedroom 
where he joined her in the bed.