secretly alone
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Okey dokey, here's chapter seven. Tanks to you all for reading 
~No one was hit on in the making of this chapter, because this is all fictional!~
March 10
I got to the magazine before Bono did. I knew he was hovering around, back and forth down to the mailbox, waiting for it to come. Adam had already gotten it in the mail yesterday, and had called me about it.
"If you can, Lilly, don't let Bon see it. It's a little brutal."
How was I supposed to keep him from seeing something he was waiting anxiously for and knew was coming? The first review of the new album, and it had to be BAD?? I sneaked downstairs to the mailbox while Bono was in the bathroom, and voila, the mail was there. If I'd had any sense at all, I would have just thrown the stupid magazine in the dumpster outside the building. Problem solved. But I was curious, so I shoved it into my jacket and took it back upstairs. Bono was nowhere in sight, so I hastily flipped to the page with the review and began to read.
The review of The Joshua Tree itself was actually not bad. In fact, it was fairly positive. But the writer then proceeded to demean the positive review by stating that what brought the record down was Bono. There was nearly a paragraph of personal insults, attacking his outspoken nature, "sickening over-earnestness", and "tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve far too often, thus sissifying him to an outrageous extent".
I was absolutely irate. Adam was right, Bono mustn't see this garbage. But when he walked into the room expectantly, I didn't know what to do. So I quickly stashed the magazine under my butt, hoping he wouldn't see. That was wear it belonged, anyway.
"Did it come?"
I put on a confused face. "Did what come?"
He rolled his eyes. "The magazine! Did you get it?"
"No, it didn't come...unless you want to check the bushes outside, maybe the mailman dropped it."
He walked around the couch, looking at me like I was crazy. "You're sitting on it."
"Uh...no." Was I seriously telling him that I wasn't sitting on something he could see plain as day under my ass? I thought I'd had my fifth birthday long ago.
He laughed. "Yes you are! C'mon Lilly, give it to me."
I shook my head. "No. You can wait...I'm reading something."
His eyebrow shot up. "With your arse?"
I burst into laughter. "NO, I was reading it, and I tried to hide it because I knew you'd take it from me."
"Well, hurry up! You know I've been waiting for that thing."
Now what was I going to do? He was staring at me. I picked it up, and then the phone rang. We looked at eachother. He clearly had no intention of answering it, so I jumped up, magazine in hand. Just as I had picked up the reciever, he ran up behind me and grabbed the magazine with a triumphant laugh and carried it back to the living room. Well, I'd failed on that one.
"Yeah, hello?"
"Hey Lil, it's me. Is something wrong? You sound pissed."
"Hey Kenzie- no, I'm fine. What's up?" The irritated tone didn't leave my voice, though. It wasn't exactly the time I would have chosen to talk to her.
"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight, y'know, have some fun! Girl time."
I rolled my eyes, but refrained from saying no straight off. "Ehh, I dunno...actually, can I call you back in a little bit and let you know? I'm not sure what's going on tonight."
I knew nothing was going on tonight, but I needed a few minutes to either convince myself to go, or think of a good excuse not to. Besides, Bono had gotten that magazine, and had certainly read the article by now...
He was sitting there on the couch, very still, looking down at the page but not reading. I couldn't tell if he looked hurt or not. Maybe disbelieving was a better word. I sat down next to him, put my arms around him, and squeezed him as tight as I could.
"Don't give a single thought to what that nasty windbag says. Those qualities are what make you endearing. And the album is the greatest thing I've ever heard." I said it firmly, leaving him no room to question.
He sighed. "Well. That was...rough." He smiled ruefully. "Thanks for trying to keep me from reading it, anyway. Don't worry, love. I try not to let that stuff get to me."
"Well, it gets to me. A lot. I can't take the thought of you being hurt. I hate people who don't like you!"
He chuckled and kissed my head. "Ahh, I love you, girl. Who was that on the phone?"
"Oh, just Kenzie. She wanted me to "go out" with her tonight or something..." I said somewhat disdainfully.
"Well that sounds fun...what time are you going?"
I made a face. "Well, I'd kinda rather hang out with you."
Bono pulled me into his lap. "Awww, Lilly...did you forget that I'm not going to be here this evening?"
Ugh, I had forgotten. Wasn't that talking and negotiating stuff Paul's job? Ok, now I was just being annoying and selfish. Good thing I didn't say any of that aloud.
"Go, Lilly, have fun! I'll be here when you get back tonight. Besides, we'll be seeing eachother 24/7 once the tour starts. We're going to leave and you won't be able to see her for months."
I kissed his cheek. "Ok, I'll call her back"
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I wasn't ready when Kenzie knocked on the door. Not really because I took forever primping or anything, I had just sat around with Bono not bothering to get ready until he left, and by that time I only had an hour. I nearly shouted when I answered the door. Her red hair was all teased up to an almost frightening height. I hoped that my eyes didn't bug out.
"Oh...I like your hair." Lies. She looked like a mob wife.
"Oh yeah, I got my hair done, you like?" Oh God, she sounded like a mob wife too. The more I talked to her, the more I saw the truth in her claim that my accent had softened dramatically. Had I really once sounded like that?
"Miss Lillian Anne Quinn, are you seriously not ready yet?"
Oh brother. "You know, that's not even my last name anymore...and no, I'm not ready yet."
Kenzie laughed. "Oh, excuse me, Miss Lillian Anne Hewson. And that's what I thought. You're not wearing that, are you?"
I stopped combing my hair. "Uh, I was certainly planning on it. Why?"
She shrugged. "Well, it's not very sexy."
I smirked. "I wasn't aware I had to worry about looking sexy for you."
Laughing, she replied, "No, I just mean...I dunno, you look like..."
"Like someone who's married and not interested in looking sexy for random people in a bar?"
"Well, I guess that's it, yeah," she said, shrugging. She went right over to my closet and started looking through the clothes hanging in there. I had to laugh to myself.
"Hmm...c'mon, Lil, wear this!" She pulled out a leather mini skirt and a red top that made me cringe. It was similar to what she was wearing. I convinced myself that I had never looked as tarty as she did, though. It must've been the hair and heavy makeup.
"A-HAH, no. I would only wear that with Bono around to protect me. Not to sound conceited like I think I look hot or anything," I quickly corrected myself, "but to drunks in bars, anything female in that outfit is bait."
She made a semi-agreeing face and sat down on the bed. "Dirty clothes?"
I turned. There was a laundry basket full of clothes on the bed. "Lovely. This is Bono's doing...he crumples all the clothes up...I don't know if these are clean or dirty!" I pulled one of his shirts out of the basket and sniffed it. "Clean. I'm going to make him iron this stuff now." I set the basket onto the floor and went back to the mirror.
"He irons?" Kenzie asked, perplexed.
"Yeah...not very well though. Is that strange?"
She shrugged and picked up the picture frame from the nightstand. "Awwwwwww! Look at you guys!!"
Regardless of the fact that I'd seen the picture a thousand times, I went to "look". It was the photograph I had first brought my parents to show them Bono. He was carrying me piggyback. I had one hand resting on top of his head, and the other arm draped around his neck. He was grinning his signature crooked toothy grin. My cheek was pressed against his hair, and my smile a bit more subdued. I loved that picture.
"You both have bangs," she said, laughing. "You guys look like little teenagers- when was this taken?"
"Oh, wow...that was in LA, which was the first stop on the tour that first time I went with them...April of 1981. So, I was 19. He was 20 for another month. Almost six years ago exactly!"
She looked through a few other things laying about the room until I was ready to go.
"I'm sorry for what I said about you not looking sexy, Lil," she said, smiling. "You're beautiful."
She said it somewhat wistfully, which I thought was strange. Kenzie was very pretty...sure, this hairdo, if you could call it that, took away from her prettiness, but that was her own fault. And it wasn't like it was everything. And, she clearly liked the horrible hair.
It wasn't that a bar was an environment I was unfamiliar with. I went sort of often with all of the guys- we had fun. Bono and I went by ourselves sometimes too. But the kind of attention I seemed to be attracting tonight was totally different, and that was what I was unfamiliar with. When you're one girl with a group of men in a bar, nobody bothers you. I'd gotten some strange looks, like "what is that chick doing with four drunk men?!" But no other man had ever come anywhere near me, probably for fear of getting his ass kicked. A couple also attracts zero attention. If I was with Bono, no one would even give a second glance. It's obvious that it isn't worth the effort when a woman is clearly with someone. Also, the places we tended to go were more friendly, relaxed places...not like this one. Everywhere I looked, someone was hanging all over someone else they had just walked up to with a drink five minutes before. Kenzie and I were two girls, on our own, and the eyes I felt on me were making me kind of sick.
"Lil, you better not be telling me you don't drink," she said when we'd been there half and hour and I still hadn't ordered a drink.
I forced a smile. "No, of course I do...I'm just a little afraid to right now, to be honest," I said, looking around meaningfully.
"Why, are you afraid you'll do something you'd regret?"
Was she crazy? She certainly couldn't be serious. "No!! I'm worried about not being able to defend myself!"
She gave me a playful shove. "Oh, don't worry about it, Lil. I'll defend you!"
"Yeah...what good are you going to be if you're drunk?" She wasn't now, of course, but I saw it happening very soon. And I was very worried that if I didn't have all my senses about me, I would be in trouble.
Less than a minute after Kenzie had wandered off to get another drink, I felt a very light touch on my arm. My skin crawled. I turned, and a man was standing there, smiling at me. It was not a nice smile. He was probably nearing six feet tall, on the skinny side, and generally no-good looking. I was instantly reminded of Bono's 21st birthday party, when he went to the bathroom and some sleazy guy was offering to buy me a drink. I felt a little nervous. Bono wasn't going to come out of the bathroom and save me now, should I need saving.
"Hi there Miss, can I buy you a drink?"
Oh hell. What had I gotten into? "Uh, that's very nice of you, but no thanks." I tried to be polite as possible. I didn't want to piss him off.
He moved closer, in a way which I think he didn't mean to be threatening, but it freaked me out. "Aww come on hun, why not?" He put his hand on my waist, and I lost it.
"Because I'm married!!!!!" I screamed, shoving him as hard as I could. "Don't touch me, creep!"
Now he looked angry. "Well hell woman, what're you doin' comin' to a damn hookup joint for? People come here cause they're lookin' for someone!!"
My jaw dropped. Before I had a chance to fully react to what he had said, Kenzie appeared at my side. "She said leave her alone, and you better leave her alone! If you learned how to respect a woman, you wouldn't be hanging around here looking for some cheap thrill!" I got the feeling she really knew how to act in this situation, like she had been in it more than once before. She looked extremely concerned for my safety.
"C'mon, Lil..."
I waited until we got out into the street before I completely blew up at her.
"Are you fucking crazy, Kenzie?! You brought me to a damn singles bar?!?!" I shoved her. I was seriously considering smacking her.
She looked panicky and shocked. "Look, Lil, I didn't know! Calm down. I just moved in barely two months ago, how am I supposed to know this stuff?"
She had a point, but still, anyone in their right mind who was not familiar with a place would get some information about it. "Well, you could have found out what kind of a place this was, since you don't know the city!! That's what people with brains do!"
"Yeah well, you've lived here for years and you didn't know!"
I rolled my eyes. "This city has thousands of pubs, stupid! Do you honestly think I know about all of them?"
She was calm. I was not. "Calm down, Lil. I'm sorry, ok? It was a mistake. And I defended you like I promised!"
"I know, I know...alright, I'm sorry I got so mad. I was just afraid."
She put her arm around me. "I didn't mean to put you in any danger, Lil. I feel so awful...come on, let's go somewhere else."
"No." I shook my head ardently. "I want to go home."
She looked disappointed. "Are you sure? We can go-"
"I really, really just want to go home now, Kenzie. It's going on eleven, and I'm going home."
We took the bus back, and Kenzie insisted on walking me all the way to my apartment. I told her it really wasn't necessary, but she wasn't budging.
When I walked in, Bono was sitting on the couch with his legs curled under him, deep in concentration, writing away. It took him a moment to look up.
"Lilly! Are you ok??"
Kenzie popped her head in the door. "I just wanted to make sure she got up here. I'll see you guys later." How would I not get up here? Was some random person going to attack me in the elevator of the building I lived in? She was clearly trying to smooth over my annoyance at her.
"Thank you for bringing her back, Kenzie," Bono said, full of sincerity, his face somewhat confused, probably by both the way we had burst in, and the creature atop Kenzie's head.
The second she shut the door, I ran to him, sat in his lap, and wrapped my arms around him. "Oh, Bono..."
"Baby girl, what happened?"
"She...she's so stupid...she brought us to a freaking singles bar!! It was horrible...I mean, you can imagine, two girls alone in a place like that?!"
"Are you kidding me? What the fuck is her problem?!" Bono was mad. He had a quick temper, but when he yelled like that, he was really pissed. "Get her back in here! I want to ask her what kind of-"
I shushed him. "Bono, she left, come on. Calm down." I kissed him forcefully. I couldn't help it. He was so sexy when he yelled.
He kept his arms tightly around me. "Well, what happened?" he asked impatiently.
"Nothing really," I said, snuggling into him. "Just some creep tried to hit on me-"
"Did he touch you?!"
"Well, like on my waist. That's when I screamed at him that I was married, and I shoved him. And then he told me it was a pickup joint! I was mortified."
Bono closed his eyes, like he was trying very hard to control his temper. "That could have turned into a dangerous situation, and you two had no one to protect you."
"I know. I was scared...that was why I refused to touch a drink in the first place, I would have been even less capable of fighting someone off! I wished you were there..."
He squeezed me tighter. "I would have punched him if I'd been there."
I giggled. "I have no doubt. That would have been entertaining. But then I'd be afraid for you...he was like, six feet tall!"
He laughed in spite of himself. "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I couldn't save you from anything."
I got that warm feeling in my chest and nuzzled his face. "I know you could, Bono."
"How do you know she didn't actually know what kind of place that was, Lilly?"
"Well...why would she have us go there if she knew? That makes no sense."
He raised his eyebrow. "Yes it does. She could have been looking to pick someone up and just not caring how it effected you."
I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. She seemed very upset and worried, like it was her fault that happened. Which it was."
He sighed. "Exactly. It was really irresponsible. I don't know if I feel good about leaving her our key when we go, Lilly."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Bono. She may be a little dim, but she's actually very organized and responsible. Her apartment is freakishly immaculate, and she's never, ever late for work. Our little love nest will be in good hands, " I said, grinning.
He giggled at my usage of the term 'love nest'. "Ok, if you say so. I trust your judgement."
~No one was hit on in the making of this chapter, because this is all fictional!~
March 10
I got to the magazine before Bono did. I knew he was hovering around, back and forth down to the mailbox, waiting for it to come. Adam had already gotten it in the mail yesterday, and had called me about it.
"If you can, Lilly, don't let Bon see it. It's a little brutal."
How was I supposed to keep him from seeing something he was waiting anxiously for and knew was coming? The first review of the new album, and it had to be BAD?? I sneaked downstairs to the mailbox while Bono was in the bathroom, and voila, the mail was there. If I'd had any sense at all, I would have just thrown the stupid magazine in the dumpster outside the building. Problem solved. But I was curious, so I shoved it into my jacket and took it back upstairs. Bono was nowhere in sight, so I hastily flipped to the page with the review and began to read.
The review of The Joshua Tree itself was actually not bad. In fact, it was fairly positive. But the writer then proceeded to demean the positive review by stating that what brought the record down was Bono. There was nearly a paragraph of personal insults, attacking his outspoken nature, "sickening over-earnestness", and "tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve far too often, thus sissifying him to an outrageous extent".
I was absolutely irate. Adam was right, Bono mustn't see this garbage. But when he walked into the room expectantly, I didn't know what to do. So I quickly stashed the magazine under my butt, hoping he wouldn't see. That was wear it belonged, anyway.
"Did it come?"
I put on a confused face. "Did what come?"
He rolled his eyes. "The magazine! Did you get it?"
"No, it didn't come...unless you want to check the bushes outside, maybe the mailman dropped it."
He walked around the couch, looking at me like I was crazy. "You're sitting on it."
"Uh...no." Was I seriously telling him that I wasn't sitting on something he could see plain as day under my ass? I thought I'd had my fifth birthday long ago.
He laughed. "Yes you are! C'mon Lilly, give it to me."
I shook my head. "No. You can wait...I'm reading something."
His eyebrow shot up. "With your arse?"
I burst into laughter. "NO, I was reading it, and I tried to hide it because I knew you'd take it from me."
"Well, hurry up! You know I've been waiting for that thing."
Now what was I going to do? He was staring at me. I picked it up, and then the phone rang. We looked at eachother. He clearly had no intention of answering it, so I jumped up, magazine in hand. Just as I had picked up the reciever, he ran up behind me and grabbed the magazine with a triumphant laugh and carried it back to the living room. Well, I'd failed on that one.
"Yeah, hello?"
"Hey Lil, it's me. Is something wrong? You sound pissed."
"Hey Kenzie- no, I'm fine. What's up?" The irritated tone didn't leave my voice, though. It wasn't exactly the time I would have chosen to talk to her.
"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight, y'know, have some fun! Girl time."
I rolled my eyes, but refrained from saying no straight off. "Ehh, I dunno...actually, can I call you back in a little bit and let you know? I'm not sure what's going on tonight."
I knew nothing was going on tonight, but I needed a few minutes to either convince myself to go, or think of a good excuse not to. Besides, Bono had gotten that magazine, and had certainly read the article by now...
He was sitting there on the couch, very still, looking down at the page but not reading. I couldn't tell if he looked hurt or not. Maybe disbelieving was a better word. I sat down next to him, put my arms around him, and squeezed him as tight as I could.
"Don't give a single thought to what that nasty windbag says. Those qualities are what make you endearing. And the album is the greatest thing I've ever heard." I said it firmly, leaving him no room to question.
He sighed. "Well. That was...rough." He smiled ruefully. "Thanks for trying to keep me from reading it, anyway. Don't worry, love. I try not to let that stuff get to me."
"Well, it gets to me. A lot. I can't take the thought of you being hurt. I hate people who don't like you!"
He chuckled and kissed my head. "Ahh, I love you, girl. Who was that on the phone?"
"Oh, just Kenzie. She wanted me to "go out" with her tonight or something..." I said somewhat disdainfully.
"Well that sounds fun...what time are you going?"
I made a face. "Well, I'd kinda rather hang out with you."
Bono pulled me into his lap. "Awww, Lilly...did you forget that I'm not going to be here this evening?"
Ugh, I had forgotten. Wasn't that talking and negotiating stuff Paul's job? Ok, now I was just being annoying and selfish. Good thing I didn't say any of that aloud.
"Go, Lilly, have fun! I'll be here when you get back tonight. Besides, we'll be seeing eachother 24/7 once the tour starts. We're going to leave and you won't be able to see her for months."
I kissed his cheek. "Ok, I'll call her back"
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I wasn't ready when Kenzie knocked on the door. Not really because I took forever primping or anything, I had just sat around with Bono not bothering to get ready until he left, and by that time I only had an hour. I nearly shouted when I answered the door. Her red hair was all teased up to an almost frightening height. I hoped that my eyes didn't bug out.
"Oh...I like your hair." Lies. She looked like a mob wife.
"Oh yeah, I got my hair done, you like?" Oh God, she sounded like a mob wife too. The more I talked to her, the more I saw the truth in her claim that my accent had softened dramatically. Had I really once sounded like that?
"Miss Lillian Anne Quinn, are you seriously not ready yet?"
Oh brother. "You know, that's not even my last name anymore...and no, I'm not ready yet."
Kenzie laughed. "Oh, excuse me, Miss Lillian Anne Hewson. And that's what I thought. You're not wearing that, are you?"
I stopped combing my hair. "Uh, I was certainly planning on it. Why?"
She shrugged. "Well, it's not very sexy."
I smirked. "I wasn't aware I had to worry about looking sexy for you."
Laughing, she replied, "No, I just mean...I dunno, you look like..."
"Like someone who's married and not interested in looking sexy for random people in a bar?"
"Well, I guess that's it, yeah," she said, shrugging. She went right over to my closet and started looking through the clothes hanging in there. I had to laugh to myself.
"Hmm...c'mon, Lil, wear this!" She pulled out a leather mini skirt and a red top that made me cringe. It was similar to what she was wearing. I convinced myself that I had never looked as tarty as she did, though. It must've been the hair and heavy makeup.
"A-HAH, no. I would only wear that with Bono around to protect me. Not to sound conceited like I think I look hot or anything," I quickly corrected myself, "but to drunks in bars, anything female in that outfit is bait."
She made a semi-agreeing face and sat down on the bed. "Dirty clothes?"
I turned. There was a laundry basket full of clothes on the bed. "Lovely. This is Bono's doing...he crumples all the clothes up...I don't know if these are clean or dirty!" I pulled one of his shirts out of the basket and sniffed it. "Clean. I'm going to make him iron this stuff now." I set the basket onto the floor and went back to the mirror.
"He irons?" Kenzie asked, perplexed.
"Yeah...not very well though. Is that strange?"
She shrugged and picked up the picture frame from the nightstand. "Awwwwwww! Look at you guys!!"
Regardless of the fact that I'd seen the picture a thousand times, I went to "look". It was the photograph I had first brought my parents to show them Bono. He was carrying me piggyback. I had one hand resting on top of his head, and the other arm draped around his neck. He was grinning his signature crooked toothy grin. My cheek was pressed against his hair, and my smile a bit more subdued. I loved that picture.
"You both have bangs," she said, laughing. "You guys look like little teenagers- when was this taken?"
"Oh, wow...that was in LA, which was the first stop on the tour that first time I went with them...April of 1981. So, I was 19. He was 20 for another month. Almost six years ago exactly!"
She looked through a few other things laying about the room until I was ready to go.
"I'm sorry for what I said about you not looking sexy, Lil," she said, smiling. "You're beautiful."
She said it somewhat wistfully, which I thought was strange. Kenzie was very pretty...sure, this hairdo, if you could call it that, took away from her prettiness, but that was her own fault. And it wasn't like it was everything. And, she clearly liked the horrible hair.
It wasn't that a bar was an environment I was unfamiliar with. I went sort of often with all of the guys- we had fun. Bono and I went by ourselves sometimes too. But the kind of attention I seemed to be attracting tonight was totally different, and that was what I was unfamiliar with. When you're one girl with a group of men in a bar, nobody bothers you. I'd gotten some strange looks, like "what is that chick doing with four drunk men?!" But no other man had ever come anywhere near me, probably for fear of getting his ass kicked. A couple also attracts zero attention. If I was with Bono, no one would even give a second glance. It's obvious that it isn't worth the effort when a woman is clearly with someone. Also, the places we tended to go were more friendly, relaxed places...not like this one. Everywhere I looked, someone was hanging all over someone else they had just walked up to with a drink five minutes before. Kenzie and I were two girls, on our own, and the eyes I felt on me were making me kind of sick.
"Lil, you better not be telling me you don't drink," she said when we'd been there half and hour and I still hadn't ordered a drink.
I forced a smile. "No, of course I do...I'm just a little afraid to right now, to be honest," I said, looking around meaningfully.
"Why, are you afraid you'll do something you'd regret?"
Was she crazy? She certainly couldn't be serious. "No!! I'm worried about not being able to defend myself!"
She gave me a playful shove. "Oh, don't worry about it, Lil. I'll defend you!"
"Yeah...what good are you going to be if you're drunk?" She wasn't now, of course, but I saw it happening very soon. And I was very worried that if I didn't have all my senses about me, I would be in trouble.
Less than a minute after Kenzie had wandered off to get another drink, I felt a very light touch on my arm. My skin crawled. I turned, and a man was standing there, smiling at me. It was not a nice smile. He was probably nearing six feet tall, on the skinny side, and generally no-good looking. I was instantly reminded of Bono's 21st birthday party, when he went to the bathroom and some sleazy guy was offering to buy me a drink. I felt a little nervous. Bono wasn't going to come out of the bathroom and save me now, should I need saving.
"Hi there Miss, can I buy you a drink?"
Oh hell. What had I gotten into? "Uh, that's very nice of you, but no thanks." I tried to be polite as possible. I didn't want to piss him off.
He moved closer, in a way which I think he didn't mean to be threatening, but it freaked me out. "Aww come on hun, why not?" He put his hand on my waist, and I lost it.
"Because I'm married!!!!!" I screamed, shoving him as hard as I could. "Don't touch me, creep!"
Now he looked angry. "Well hell woman, what're you doin' comin' to a damn hookup joint for? People come here cause they're lookin' for someone!!"
My jaw dropped. Before I had a chance to fully react to what he had said, Kenzie appeared at my side. "She said leave her alone, and you better leave her alone! If you learned how to respect a woman, you wouldn't be hanging around here looking for some cheap thrill!" I got the feeling she really knew how to act in this situation, like she had been in it more than once before. She looked extremely concerned for my safety.
"C'mon, Lil..."
I waited until we got out into the street before I completely blew up at her.
"Are you fucking crazy, Kenzie?! You brought me to a damn singles bar?!?!" I shoved her. I was seriously considering smacking her.
She looked panicky and shocked. "Look, Lil, I didn't know! Calm down. I just moved in barely two months ago, how am I supposed to know this stuff?"
She had a point, but still, anyone in their right mind who was not familiar with a place would get some information about it. "Well, you could have found out what kind of a place this was, since you don't know the city!! That's what people with brains do!"
"Yeah well, you've lived here for years and you didn't know!"
I rolled my eyes. "This city has thousands of pubs, stupid! Do you honestly think I know about all of them?"
She was calm. I was not. "Calm down, Lil. I'm sorry, ok? It was a mistake. And I defended you like I promised!"
"I know, I know...alright, I'm sorry I got so mad. I was just afraid."
She put her arm around me. "I didn't mean to put you in any danger, Lil. I feel so awful...come on, let's go somewhere else."
"No." I shook my head ardently. "I want to go home."
She looked disappointed. "Are you sure? We can go-"
"I really, really just want to go home now, Kenzie. It's going on eleven, and I'm going home."
We took the bus back, and Kenzie insisted on walking me all the way to my apartment. I told her it really wasn't necessary, but she wasn't budging.
When I walked in, Bono was sitting on the couch with his legs curled under him, deep in concentration, writing away. It took him a moment to look up.
"Lilly! Are you ok??"
Kenzie popped her head in the door. "I just wanted to make sure she got up here. I'll see you guys later." How would I not get up here? Was some random person going to attack me in the elevator of the building I lived in? She was clearly trying to smooth over my annoyance at her.
"Thank you for bringing her back, Kenzie," Bono said, full of sincerity, his face somewhat confused, probably by both the way we had burst in, and the creature atop Kenzie's head.
The second she shut the door, I ran to him, sat in his lap, and wrapped my arms around him. "Oh, Bono..."
"Baby girl, what happened?"
"She...she's so stupid...she brought us to a freaking singles bar!! It was horrible...I mean, you can imagine, two girls alone in a place like that?!"
"Are you kidding me? What the fuck is her problem?!" Bono was mad. He had a quick temper, but when he yelled like that, he was really pissed. "Get her back in here! I want to ask her what kind of-"
I shushed him. "Bono, she left, come on. Calm down." I kissed him forcefully. I couldn't help it. He was so sexy when he yelled.
He kept his arms tightly around me. "Well, what happened?" he asked impatiently.
"Nothing really," I said, snuggling into him. "Just some creep tried to hit on me-"
"Did he touch you?!"
"Well, like on my waist. That's when I screamed at him that I was married, and I shoved him. And then he told me it was a pickup joint! I was mortified."
Bono closed his eyes, like he was trying very hard to control his temper. "That could have turned into a dangerous situation, and you two had no one to protect you."
"I know. I was scared...that was why I refused to touch a drink in the first place, I would have been even less capable of fighting someone off! I wished you were there..."
He squeezed me tighter. "I would have punched him if I'd been there."
I giggled. "I have no doubt. That would have been entertaining. But then I'd be afraid for you...he was like, six feet tall!"
He laughed in spite of himself. "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I couldn't save you from anything."
I got that warm feeling in my chest and nuzzled his face. "I know you could, Bono."
"How do you know she didn't actually know what kind of place that was, Lilly?"
"Well...why would she have us go there if she knew? That makes no sense."
He raised his eyebrow. "Yes it does. She could have been looking to pick someone up and just not caring how it effected you."
I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. She seemed very upset and worried, like it was her fault that happened. Which it was."
He sighed. "Exactly. It was really irresponsible. I don't know if I feel good about leaving her our key when we go, Lilly."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Bono. She may be a little dim, but she's actually very organized and responsible. Her apartment is freakishly immaculate, and she's never, ever late for work. Our little love nest will be in good hands, " I said, grinning.
He giggled at my usage of the term 'love nest'. "Ok, if you say so. I trust your judgement."
YOU, KENZIE!
NO, NO, NO, NO! 
Your reactions are epic!! I'm hating her too...
