The Best Non-family Related Night of My Life - My Early New Years Kiss

My dear friend RobotMoose had the 100 Monkeys come to town on Sunday night, and what a night it was. Needless to say after that first text I was already jealous, but after I got the one that said, "Jackson just kissed me on the cheek!", well that just topped it off. I mean, I've met Jackson, he was nice, but I never got a kiss on the cheek! So I live vicariously through her...

This is her story, enjoy:

It’s quiet in the house and I have a moment to reflect on the last few days.

Here goes:

My betafish drove out for a visit. I worried about the weather and her
having to drive in the snow. I worried about what the weather would do to our plans for the week. Turns out I didn’t need to worry, but that’s not the most exciting part of the story.
We spent our time doing the girl talk thing, listening to Bobby/Marcus on CD, writing (she made me), and generally enjoying one another’s company.

Tuesday was the catalyst for the visit. We drove down the mountain to
Scottsdale to enjoy dinner, do a little shopping and go see this totally-unknown band called 100 Monkeys. You guys heard of them? You should go check them out online. Anyhow, here’s how it went.

We got to the Martini Ranch about 20 minutes before the doors opened. Beta struck up a conversation with the teeny-boppers in front of us (ages 20 & 21) and introduced them to fanfic. I’ve never seen eyes so big when Beta started explaining the different pairings and whatnot. While waiting in line, a van of Monkeys drove by and honked. Girls started collapsing all over (okay, maybe not, but you’d think so by the giggles and gasps).

After being carded by the fine doorman (you know, because we obviously look
to be underage), we were let inside to stand around for almost an hour. Beta
and I passed our time by noticing the women/girls/skanks around us. We eavesdropped a lot, and even got in a little TV watching.

Eventually, Random Karma took the stage and played to the crowd. They played a version of ‘Werewolves in London’ that they titled ‘Werewolves in Scottsdale’. It turns out they’re Team Jacob. By eavesdropping again, I learned the adorable bass player is actually a pediatric surgeon (in his spare time, of course) and that they men are happily married and thrilled to be opening for the 100 Monkeys that night.

They finished their set and we stood around some more. It was sooooo exciting *rolls eyes*. A big banana came out and started selling t-shirts and whatnot. Beta bought a lovely blue 100 Monkey’s shirt and chatted up the nanner. He mentioned that the band was pretty wiped from a signing earlier that day and staying up way too late the night before; it wasn’t looking good for any meet n greets after the show.

We figured it was no big deal. We were ten feet from the stage and could smell their sweat if we could shoo away the strong/nasty perfume odors around us.

We were okay with not getting up close and personal with any of the Monkeys.

They started to set up their equipment, first the Bens came out and the crowd went wild. They were working up a sweat setting up the drums, keyboard, amps and whatnot. Jerad showed up onstage to help set up. The girls around us almost fainted. He played to the babes in the crowd, eating it up, blowing kisses, and generally not helping with set-up all that much.

Uncle Larry made his way to the stage to set up his equipment. Not many in the crowd cared, but my heart kind of stopped for a minute. Although not a true Monkey (just the Monkey’s Uncle), Uncle Larry is a legend in the rock world. He’s played with so many great artists. The 100 Monkeys really are lucky to have him. I recognized his genius right away and was sufficiently slack-jawed.

A figure dressed in all black showed up on stage to tune guitars and the bass. He did his best to keep himself hidden, so no one in the audience had any idea who he was (right… cause no one would recognize his not-so-tall-ness, his black wavy hair, the adorable dimples, and slouchy pants on his cute butt). The lights went down and the music started.
They did a great job playing and had a bunch of fun with the audience.

My night was fulfilled when Jackson sang the ‘Thank You’ song. He made eye contact with quite a few of the girls in the audience. Most of them were skanks, but I’m not biased or anything. After a break in the lyrics, he started in again staring right at me. I didn’t make any changes to my facial expression, and he noticed. So he continued staring until the end of the verse, cocked his head to the side and gave me *the* grin. I smirked back at him. His smile widened and he winked at me. Then he went on with the rest of the song. Beta tells me he made eye contact with her. I’m not doubting it one bit, he played to lots of ladies. I just think he played to me a little more because I wasn’t automatically blushing and fawning over him… at least on the outside (that and I’m semi-tallish, fat, pregnant, and was the only girl there wearing a do-rag. I stood out a little bit).

The finished their set. At the end, I got another wink from many of the guys in the band because they finished the set with a lullaby and mentioned one should sing it to her baby.

Afterwards, beta and I agreed we’d just head home, since the drive is a long
one and it was already darn near midnight. Being of the knocked-up persuasion, I insisted we hit up the restroom before leaving. She agreed. The ladies restroom is at the back of an outdoor bar area. So we wandered outside with the masses. I was one of the first into the restroom, with so many ladies following me. I stepped outside to wait for beta. That’s when I noticed some
of the roadies hanging out right near the gate I intended to use as an exit. I walked that way a bit, and then turned around to wait for Beta. Standing there, I heard a very sexy “Um, Hi.” I turned around to see Jackson (cue rapidly beating heart and uncontrollable blushing). He’s immediately pulled away from something in their ‘dressing room’. No prob. I can die happy as it
is. Eye contact and a hello? Good lord, he knows how to make a woman happy.

Anyhow, I’m about to turn back around to find Beta when Jerad walks up and hugs me. Then, I look over and Beta’s right next to me getting a hug from him, too. We chit chat for a bit. I tell him he’s adorable and how much I appreciate them coming to AZ and playing. He was genuinely shocked I was thanking him. He was totally taken aback. Apparently most fans don’t say things like that? I know the drunk skanks around us weren’t, but I figured I can’t really be the only one to ever say it (I know I’m not, but I guess he hadn’t heard it yet in AZ, or at least recently enough.) Ben G walked up and commented on my do-rag and how cool it was (It's a bandanna over my hair, but if that makes it cool, then... cool, I guess). Both Ben & Jerad saw my baby belly and oohed and ahhed over it. It was kind of weird, but in a really nice way. Beta told
them about her journey to come all the way to AZ just to see them. They seemed to like that. We got our picture taken just before some skanks pulled on them. Jerad looked back apologetically at me.

I noticed Uncle Larry hanging in the corner on our way to the exit gate. It turns out the corner is right where the door is to the ‘dressing room’ is. I didn’t notice until after Uncle Larry and I chatted. He was super sweet, appreciated that I had some idea of who he is and took pictures with me and beta. He was a sweetie. I wanted to pinch his cheeks. And can I just say that the old man is a major flirt? It's adorable. It'd probably be skeevy in any other context, but it works for him.

The band retreated to the dressing room for, what I assume, is a group beer chug, as they all smelled like beer right after that. They came back out. First, Ben J showed up. He pointed to my baby belly and said “Ni-ice” (like a surfer dude who’s congratulating his buddy on getting some). I complimented his bass skills. He was impressed I was coherent enough to get anything out of my mouth, let alone something somewhat intelligent sounding. We did the photo thing, cause why not.

Just about that time, Jackson walked right out to where we were and put his hands on my belly. After rubbing it quite a bit, he stepped back with a horrified look and asked if it was alright to touch me. I told him of course it was, so his hands went back on the belly. Beta (my photographer, duh) wasn’t paying attention, so I playfully smacked her arm and told her to take a picture.

Jackson got into his pose and rested his hand on my ass. He wasn’t groping for a feel or anything, it’s just where it landed. I imagine he lands it there so he can cop a feel if he wants one. Being of the pregnant persuasion, he wasn’t looking for a hook-up from me (he really was super interested in the pregnancy and my belly. It was damn adorable), the hand just rested.
Beta and I switched spots so she could get a picture, too. Then I went up to him to thank him and mentioned something about his lips (wasn’t flirting. Just noticed they looked a bit swollen from the show). Somehow kissing came up. He ended up kissing me right on the edge of my lips. He hung there for a second until I kissed him back. My insides melted, but my outsides were calm, cool and collected. Beta gave him a wink from one of her friends, and then kissed his cheek. At some point in our conversations, we both were called ‘darlin’ by the man. It was adorable.

We said our goodbyes and finally made it to that exit gate. Although it was well past our bedtime and we had a two and a half hour drive ahead of us, neither of us was tired.

I think beta now understands my love for Jackson (even without the meet n greet). I didn’t convert her, she’s till Team Rob (believe me, there’s no converting that woman), but she gets it now and agrees that Jackson is adorable.

As I said at the top of this post, these are the words of TheRobotMoose, a lovely lady and awesome fanfic writer. (I'm gonna pimp a bit here) If you havn't read her fic, you should. It's total awesomesauce. Its called Good Fortune and you can find it here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5220274/1/Good_Fortune