The Promises we make pt 5

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Sad_Girl

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Sorry guys, this is a teeny tiny chapter, I've been distracted by all the different goings on around here (the Greenday concert, a term paper, mothers day, etc...)

Next one should be more. But for now....

*Disclaimer: None of it is meant to represent anything real. It’s all just a daydream which managed to escape the maze of the authors imagination.

The Promises we make pt 5

As Cat switched cars in the parking lot near the nightclub, the sun was just threatening to break over the horizon, it’s first rays defused in the heavy fog. She turned and looked back at Adam and Trine and saw the same stubborn scowl on both of their faces. She decided she didn’t feel quite as bad about leaving them alone for the ride home as she had at first.

The silence in the car had been stifling, it had even made it hard to breathe. She turned the volume way up on the stereo and sang along as she followed Adam back to the house she was slowly learning to call home. Her friends had all been in similar positions as Trine, not so very long ago. She herself would have been if her father had ever gotten it together enough to care.

So what could she say to Trine, how was she supposed to tell her why her behavior was bad? She was stubborn enough, if she didn’t want to hear what Cat had to say, she wouldn’t. She’d just shut her out and harbor a grudge and make life miserable.

When they pulled into the garage, Cat was still unsure about what to do or say. Adam, apparently, had not been facing the same indecision, because Trine sprung from the car and slammed the door behind herself. Fat mascara smudging tears welled up from her eyes and streaked down her face and she screamed across the roof of the car at him.

“You can’t do this! You won’t even listen to me! It isn’t fair! I hate you!”

“You can think you’re full grown all you want to, Trine, but the fact is it’s my responsibility to keep you alive and out of trouble for the next couple years. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.” He told her calmly, coolly and respectfully. Cat was impressed.

“You don’t know anything about me or my life! I don’t need you and I never wanted you in the first place!” Trine screamed, turning and running in the house, the door slamming behind her once more.

“She’s embarrassed.” Cat told him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “She’s emotional. She’ll calm down.” She added.

“She’s pissed off, but so am I.” Adam replied, his teeth clenched tightly together, his lips pressed firmly closed. “She’s got everything she should ever want. Jesus, Cat, she has more than most kids her age would even dare dream of. So why…?”

“Wait right there, Adam. She may have a lot going for her, right now. But for most of her life, Trine hasn’t had a damned thing. Not even a mother or a father. She knows better than anyone how easily she could loose everything.” Cat interrupted. Adam frowned at her, his pretty blue eyes distant as he considered her words.

“All the more reason I have to not let her get away with shite like this.” He finally replied.

“I never said you should. Just don’t take it personally, she’s going to test the limits. It’s what you do when you’re fifteen. The funny thing is, no matter how much it may seem like a kid wants to get away with, they really want and need those limits. It sucks when they aren’t there.” Cat told him, trying to imagine what it must be like for Trine, who had never had reliable rules and boundaries in her life. Suddenly, here she was in a different environment, feeling it out to see where she stood.

“I’m glad to hear you say that.” Adam told her, tossing his keys and jacket aside as they entered the house. “Because I’ve told her she can’t be a part of your band.”

“Woah, woah, woah! Uh-uh! You can’t do that to me!” Cat told him desperately, her eyes wide as she shook her head emphatically. “Punish her, not me!”

“Cat she’s fifteen and needs some sort of stability in her life. Being in your band is not going to be stable! It’s insane, the pressure, the expectations, the lifestyle! She isn’t ready for it, no matter how much talent she has.”

“We need her, Adam. We’re supposed to be in the studio tomorrow. Wait, no… today.” She corrected, looking at the clock and seeing it was nearly time for the alarm clock to go off. “What are we supposed to do without her?” Cat asked, grabbing Adam’s shirt at the waist as she looked up at him desperately.

“You don’t need to put on a show while you’re in the studio. You can play the bass yourself.” Adam told her. “This is the only real power I have with her. There is nothing else I could do that would really have any effect.” Cat stared at him for a long moment, chewing on her lower lip. It was true, but she didn’t have to like it just because it was true.

“You’re right.” She finally told him, letting go of him and turning away. Her rubbed her shoulders and leaned down to rest his chin on top of her head.

“You’re mad.” He said.

“Yeah.” She told him honestly. “But I’m not mad at you, just the situation.” She informed him leaning back against him, the aches and pains settling into her body from the lack of sleep. She turned to smile weakly at him. “You’re doing the right thing.” She assured him, rising to stand on tip toes and kissing him softly.

“Thanks. At least one person thinks so.” He replied with a smirk.

“I’m going to check on her and start getting ready for the day. You try and get some sleep, ok?” She said, reluctantly moving away from the warmth of his embrace. She hurried down the hall and up the stairs, knocking on Trine’s door before entering uninvited.

“Trine?” She called, peeking into the dimly lit room and blinking as her eyes focused in the lack of light. The girl was laying face down on the brand new bed Adam had purchased for her, decorated with the bed-clothes she herself had chosen. On first glance a person would think perhaps the things in the room reflected a pampered, spoiled life. Cat saw the way everything was still new; nothing broken in let alone worn out, and it all felt temporary to her somehow. Unsettling. Fake.

“Go away.” Trine replied, her voice muffled by the pillow. Cat slipped inside and closed the door behind herself. She sat on the side of the bed opposite Trine, ignoring her words and following her own instinct instead.

“I thought maybe you would want the chance to tell your side of the story.” She said, and she could tell that Trine was holding her breath. Finally, the girl sniffled and rolled over on her side to look at Cat. Her face was a mess of smudged make-up, the shirt, which Cat had just bought with the hopes of wearing it on that long delayed date with her new husband, was ruined.

“What’s the point?” Trine pouted, sniffling again and drying her eyes with the back of her hand.

“I don’t know. I guess if I were in your shoes, I would want a chance to say what I had to say. You don’t have to, though.” Cat replied with a shrug, moving as if to stand.

“Don’t go.” Trine sighed. “I know you guys are pissed because I took the car, and I’m actually really sorry about that.” She said, sitting up and clutching her pillow to her chest like a child would hold a teddy bear. “And yeah, I guess I didn’t think about why you guys wouldn’t want me to go clubbing. I just thought you would tell me I was too young, yadda yadda yadda… I’ve been out in clubs and bars a lot, though. My mom used to take me when I was like, ten!” She said, arguing against her own thoughts.

“Anyway, there wouldn’t have been any trouble at all if I had just stuck to my rules about never hooking up at a club.” She continued. “It’s just to dance, hang out, maybe flirt a little, but… nothing more. I know being alone with the wrong person isn’t safe. But it was Colin Ferral! He is so hot, Cat, and he’s famous…” Cat nodded and smiled, able to sympathize with the girls predicament.

“So what happened?” She asked, having only heard bits and pieces of the story from the police. Still, she thought she had a pretty good idea what had happened. If she were right, Trine really needed to talk it out.

“I thought… I thought I was ready. I thought it would be an incredible way to… well, you know. For the first time.” Trine mumbled. “And, at first it was nice. But I don’t know, it stopped feeling good when … well, it just felt wrong.”

“And he didn’t want to take no for an answer?”

“I don’t think he really heard me, at first. He was pretty wasted and we were just outside the club, in the alley by the dumpster, so the music was loud. Anyway, he isn’t exactly used to hearing no. I guess I freaked out a little.”

“I can’t blame you.” Cat reassured her. “So what happened then?”

“I kneed him between the legs and swatted him in the nose.” Trine told her. “With the heel of my hand. It hurts pretty bad, but I could’ve done worse. I took a couple self defense courses which were really brutal. Anyway, he started cursing and people came out and saw the blood…” She said, shrugging.

“And they called the cops.” Cat concluded. They sat there in silence thinking about the situation for a long moment before Cat smiled and told Trine, “You know you gave him two black eyes?”

“I did?” Trine asked, her eyes growing wide. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, just get him to back off.” She told her, her face growing serious.

“Well, thanks to your… to Adam, you aren’t going to get into trouble from the police.” Cat informed her. “They said he got to punish you this time. The club owner was in trouble for letting you in, and Colin was pretty pissed off at first, but once he was told you were fifteen he was just as happy as can be to keep it nice and quiet.”

“It didn’t hurt that he’s scared of Bono.” Trine said with a little smile.

“No, that didn’t hurt.” Cat agreed. Ever since he did a slightly unflattering impression of Bono on SNL, he’d been avoiding him. “Trine, do you understand how serious this could have been?” She asked looking the girl solemnly in the eye.

“I guess.” She replied, averting her eyes and shrugging.

“All right, I’ll leave you alone. Get yourself cleaned up.” Cat said with a sigh. There was only so much she could hope for, and she doubted there would be any more communicating with her for now.

“Wait, so am I going to the studio with you today?” Trine asked, hopeful.

“No. There’s nothing I can do about that, Trine.” Cat told her honestly, and the girl’s face fell. She was about to start crying again, and Cat couldn’t blame her. She kind of felt like crying herself. She simply slipped out of the room and closed the door, for lack of anything to say to the girl which would not make her feel worse about the punishment.

********************************************************************

“You look like shite.” Were the first words Cat heard as she entered the studio in a hurry and barreled directly into Larry’s broad chest. She stumbled back and regained her balance, scowling up at him.

“Thanks, it’s nice to see you too.” She replied sarcastically. The corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile, and Cat felt her bad mood starting to fade a bit. It was hard to be grouchy when that man smiled, she realized.

“Long night?” He asked as he stepped around her and led the way into the studio.

“You have no idea.” She replied.

“I think I might.” He said, tossing the morning newspaper to her. The paper was folded to the page upon which there was a small story and a snapshot of she and Adam leaving the police station with a bedraggled Trine in tow.

“Oh, nice.” She mumbled, scanning over the words of the article. There was nothing which was blatantly untrue, even though it was deliberately vague on certain details.

“I’m not even going to ask what happened.” Larry told her.

“Well, thanks. I don’t much feel like talking about it. But there are going to be a few changes in the set up for recording.” Cat informed him as they entered the studio, where the rest of the band, along with Bono, waited.

“What’s that?” He asked, hearing just the last part of her comment.

“Trine’s not coming.” She informed them dryly, picking up her bass and checking to make sure it was tuned. Apparently, they had all seen the article already, because nobody asked why she wouldn’t be there. Bono simply made quick introductions to the production staff and sound engineers, and he and Larry took their places in the control booth along with them, leaving the three remaining members of Tequila Monster alone.

They had already recorded ‘Black Leather’ in Sun studio, and were planning on simply remastering the original for the CD, so they were starting with a song titled ‘4 am’. It was a relatively new song to them, but they were more comfortable with it than with some of the ones which Trine’s lyrics had inspired. Besides, it felt wrong somehow, to play the songs she had been responsible for starting just now, with her gone.

“It’s four o’clock in the morning, and I just can’t sleep; it’s four o’clock in the morning, and all promises I keep. Don’t know about you though; don’t have a clue where it is that you go, at four o’clock, four o’clock in the morning…” Cat sang, closing her tired eyes and trying to concentrate on nothing but the music.
 
yay! I was hoping you'd update soon! I'm glad we got to go back to Cat...I was starting to miss her. Keep up the good work!
 
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