Sad_Girl
Blue Crack Supplier
*Disclaimer: Although obviously inspired in part by people who exist in real life, this story is in no way meant to represent reality, past, present or future. The author has no personal experience or contact with the band or their friends and family. There are facts within this story which may be contrary to real life either because they were changed for artistic purposes or simply because the author had no knowledge of the truth on a particular subject; i.e.: dates and times. No offense is intended to anyone who inspired this work of fiction. It’s just a wandering thought which I found trapped in the maze of my imagination.
Babyface pt 6
“Janet!” She heard Brian bellow from the front of the store. Janet’s head hurt bad enough without him yelling like that. Which, she suspected, was exactly why he did it. She had gone into hiding in the stock room, doing Novembers inventory although she had just finished Octobers the week before.
She sighed and discarded the clipboard on top of a stack of boxes, checking her watch to see how much longer this day was going to drag on. It was nearly four o’clock. Three more hours. She’d made it through six already, she told herself. She could handle the last three.
“Janet!” Brian bellowed again, this time as the door swung open and nearly slammed into her nose. She put one hand out to stop the door, the other covering her ear to protect it from the roar of his voice.
“I’m coming!” She told him, and he swung to peer around the door at her, scowling at her tone.
“Loverboy’s here.” He told her dryly. She couldn’t help but smile, her heartbeat picking up pace at the thought of him. Brian noticed the way she lit up and rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm, but stepped out of the way to let her pass. Larry was standing in front of the magazines, paging through the new ‘Rolling Stone’.
“Hey.” She greeted him, sliding in beside him and nudging him with her hip. He glanced up from a glossy photo of ‘The Cars’ and smiled as his eyes met hers.
“Hey.” He mimicked, not sure what to say in this moment. It was the first time he’d seen her since their night together, and the memories flashed through his mind, more vivid, perhaps, than the reality surrounding them. He’d felt different all day. It had seemed odd to do normal things, like going to school. Everything inside of him had changed, but somehow all the things that surrounded him were the same.
He was in love. He had known the love of his family all his life, he’d been fortunate in that. He’d never known love like this, though. He’d always rolled his eyes at the antics of the people who declared themselves to be ‘in love’. They wasted so much of their time and energy in the pursuit of something that defied definition, and which he could see no use for in this stage of his life.
It was as if he’d been walking around with blinders on, and now he could see the world more freely, more accurately. Not that it was all good, by his estimation. It definitely made it harder to concentrate on all the other things which had made up his life. School, the band, his family. No matter how hard he tried to focus his thoughts on these things now, they always managed to find their way back to her. That day, in class, he’d found himself thinking about the way her hair smelled, the taste of her lip gloss, and the next thing he knew he’d missed the teachers lecture completely.
Acting on instinct, he leaned over and kissed her softly in greeting an act which took her by surprise. She giggled at him, her green eyes dancing as she reached out and brushed his hair out of his face.
“So you’re not still mad at me?” She asked, and Larry frowned at her.
“No. I wasn’t mad in the first place.” He told her, although that wasn’t entirely true. He had wondered why she would’ve felt the need to get drunk that day, thought perhaps she was regretting what she had done. He had also been certain he had heard someone’s voice in the background. Once he’d thought about it and reasoned with himself that it could’ve been the telly or one of the neighbors he had let go of his irritation, though.
“No?” She asked, arching an eyebrow.
“No. But …” he paused and glanced around the store as if he expected to see someone standing nearby listening intently. “I do have something I want to ask you.” He told her, satisfied that Brian was out of ear shot.
“Ok.” She agreed with a slight nod.
“Can I stop by tonight after rehearsal? We’ll talk about it then?” He asked, glancing at the clock.
“Sure. I’ll be home.” She told him, smiling when he leaned in and gave her another quick peck before he hurried off to rehearsal. She was curious to see what was on his mind, but more than that, the thought of being alone with him again made her heart flutter. She was in deep, she realized. Way over her head.
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“There he is.” Larry heard Edge say as he hurried around the back toward the shed where they practiced. He breezed through the door, shrugging out of his jacket, and claimed the stool behind the drumkit, sticks in hand.
“Sorry I’m late.” He told them shortly, hoping to avoid the barrage of questions the same way he had the day before. He’d managed to not be alone with Bono and Edge, not giving either one of them a chance to ask personal questions that he wasn’t comfortable answering.
“What do you want to start with?” He asked, feeling three sets of eyes watching him closely.
“Well, what do you think?” Bono asked Edge, both of them eyeing him up and down suspiciously. This was obviously the continuation of a discussion the two had been having before Larry’s arrival.
“We could always hold him down and check for hickeys.” Adam suggested with a smirk that made Larry straighten his posture defensively. He was prepared to fight the three of them off if he had to.
“Naw, I don’t think we need to do that. That’s the second day in a row he’s worn a turtle neck and that silly grin. That’s evidence enough for me.” Edge replied, smirking playfully at Larry who tried his best to shoot a fierce scowl at his friend. Despite his best efforts, the corners of Larry’s mouth kept twitching upwards until he finally lost the battle and smiled shyly.
The others all laughed and teased him a bit, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d feared. They were just as anxious to play as always, and before long the focus had turned back to the music, where it belonged.
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“So, you wanted to ask me something?” Janet asked, later, as they settled down onto the couch at her apartment.
“Am I…?” He started, looking down at his feet, his shoulders hunched in that shy posture he so often assumed. “I mean, are you… are you seeing other guys, or is this… I don’t know…” he struggled to express the hope that she felt as strongly as he did. Janet smiled at him and slid across the couch cushions until their knees and shoulders touched.
“No.” she told him, her voice a breathy whisper in his ear. He smiled at her, a broad honest smile that went straight to her heart. “I can’t say I entirely understand how this happened, and so quickly at that...” She admitted candidly.
“But the truth is, I’m yours.” She added, her words and her hot breath in his ear setting a physical reaction in motion. He licked his lips and turned toward her, his chest tightening in anticipation.
“Mine?” he repeated softly, his lips brushing hers as he spoke, and she smiled and nodded slightly. They sank into a deep, soul penetrating kiss that seemed to last forever. As they kissed, they stretched out onto the couch, their bodies pressed up against one another. The desire which had been so overwhelming already was magnified now that they had the memory of what it felt like the other night, to be together.
“You’re the only one I want.” She assured him as his soft, generous mouth slid down along her neck and his hands began loosening clothes anxiously. Every time she assured him of this, he became bolder, his need for her stoked by her words. He had not intended for this to happen between them that night, knowing he had to be home, but it didn’t take long for reason to fly out the window in the face of desire.
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Larry hated having to leave her. He wanted to stay with her all night, to feel her warmth up against him as he slept; to hold her close. He realized it was fast, but he had never been good at moderation. Larry was black and white, hot and cold. There was no gray within him. He stopped to see her after rehearsal two more nights that week, and each night played out very much the same way. No matter how innocent the intentions for each visit, they had lit a fire which was now burning beyond their control.
It was Friday night and they had a gig, and after that he had already told his father he’d stay with Bono for the night. Maybe the weekend even.
“Where’s your head?” He heard Edge ask, pulling him out of his thoughts and back into the reality of the moment. They had just finished setting up the stage and apparently the others were waiting for him to respond to something.
“What?” He asked, glancing around the stage at each of his mates. Adam nearly choked on his drink as he laughed, and Bono laughed out loud. Edge frowned at him for a moment before speaking.
“I asked where your head was. You know, that thing that sits on top of your shoulders? You usually use it for thinking, memory, decision making?” He retorted, obviously not as amused with Larry’s state of distraction as the other two were.
“What did you say before that?” Larry asked through gritted teeth.
“I said lets run through out of control.” Edge told him, and Larry nodded sharply, marking out the beat by clacking his drumsticks together before moving into the song itself.
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Janet hurried to the concert after work, managing to be amongst the first to arrive. As she made her way across the floor, which she knew would soon be crowded, she saw Ali waving at her. She smiled and returned the gesture.
“Hi.” She greeted her. “They sound good tonight.” She shouted over the music. Ali nodded in agreement, turning to face Janet, as if to say something. Suddenly, though, she froze. Her eyes focusing on something across the room. Janet turned quickly, half expecting a heavily armed IRA militia to be invading from Ali’s reaction. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, though. The crowd was growing by the moment, dozens of young people coming through the door.
Finally, after glancing back and forth between the crowd and Ali a couple of times, Janet’s focus settled on three young girls. Two of them had short, dark hair and the third had longer, light red hair. They were neither particularly beautiful nor were they unattractive in anyway. They were just average teenage girls by her estimation.
“Who are they?” Janet asked Ali, shouting in her ear to be heard over Bono’s raised voice.
“We call them the Jenny’s.” Ali said, taking Janet by the elbow and leading her away from the stage where she could hear better. “Jenny Mackie, Jenny O’Hare and Jamie Neal.” She told her, gesturing to them each in turn.
“And you don’t like these girls?” Janet asked, a bit surprised. It was the first time she’d ever seen Ali be anything but pleasant toward anyone.
“It’s not so much that I don’t like them. I just… well, I ought to warn you, think.” She said, glancing up at the stage. Janet did so as well, noticing that Larry, too had seen the girls. He looked like he wanted to hide completely behind the drumkit.
“They’ve all followed Larry around since they were all of ten or twelve years old. They’re… persistent.” She informed Janet, who turned back to look at the girls once more. They were squeezing past all of the other people on the dance floor, heading toward the front of the stage. She followed them with her eyes and watched as they proceeded to do anything and everything they could think of to get Larry’s attention.
“Consider me warned.” Janet told Ali, smiling wickedly. It didn’t surprise her that girls would throw themselves at Larry. She had even seen it happen at the last couple of gigs. The way these three behaved was nearly comical.
“The worst part is, Larry can’t seem to get it through to them that he isn’t interested. The meaner he is to them, the more they seem to love him.” Ali informed her. “Bono told me that once, he saw him turn the hose on them to get them to stop peeking in his window.” Janet laughed in surprise at this, imagining the scene unfolding.
For nearly an hour she was more entertained watching the girls trying to get Larry’s attention, and Larry’s subsequent irritation. She could hardly imagine that a person could frown as much as he did, his face was even turning quite red and he barely took his eyes off the drums in front of him. She was so busy watching them that she was taken completely by surprise when she heard an all too familiar voice in her ear.
“Hello luv.”
Janet’s every muscle tensed instinctively at the sound, an instinctual fight or flight reaction to a predatory animal. She turned slightly and glanced over her shoulder to see him standing less than two feet away. He smiled at her, knowing he had her cornered. His icy blue eyes twinkled in the dim light, his full mouth puckered in that cocky smile she had loved once upon a time. Now it made her stomach turn sour.
“Sean.” She said, glancing back at Ali to make sure she was still watching the show. She took Sean by the elbow and moved away from her, to a spot near the wall where there were fewer people gathered. “What do you want?” She hissed, but her irritation only seemed to amuse him.
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Larry was doing his best to stay focused on the music. Edge had already been irritated with him for being distracted by thoughts of Janet earlier, and then when he had seen the Jenny’s Larry had been further distracted. Why would those girls never understand he wasn’t interested? He hoped they didn’t have a chance to say anything to Janet before he told her about them.
*Ali will make sure that doesn’t happen.* he assured himself, casting his eyes downward to the drumkit in front of him and ignored as much of the world around him as he could. Playing the drums had been his refuge for so long now, that this was not a difficult task.
They were nearing the end of their first set when he looked out into the audience again, his eyes searching the crowd for Janet. He found Ali, standing more or less where she and Janet had been earlier, but Janet wasn’t with her. He made a quick scan of the room, barely noticed the Jenny’s waving at him wildly, and finally found her in the shadows near the bathrooms. With some man who he did not recognize. Immediately his eyes narrowed and he studied the scene, trying to interpret the situation.
Adam was bobbing in time to the music, dancing the way he always did, his eyes on the bass in his hands more than anything else. He turned back to watch Larry frequently, making sure to stay in rhythm with him. He noticed the scowl on Larry’s face and turned to see what he was looking at.
He turned just in time to see Janet try and push past Sean who grabbed her by the hair, twisting his hand into the golden locks until he had her by the scalp. She was obviously in pain as he jerked her back and pushed her, face first against the wall. Adam was so shocked at seeing this happen it barely registered to him that the sound of the drums had disappeared, or even that he himself had stopped playing. Larry leapt from his seat behind the drumkit and pushed past Adam, nearly knocking him down.
Adam stumbled but kept his balance, quickly lifting the guitar strap over his head and putting the bass down on the stage as he, too, moved to intervene. It was the sudden absence of the rhythm section that Edge and Bono noticed, as wrapped up as they were in the music, and they glanced around in confusion when they realized not only had the music stopped but two of their mates were actually leaving the stage.
Larry jumped off the stage, in too great of a hurry to bother with the stairs. He plowed through the crowd, which parted in shock, all eyes on him as he grabbed hold of Sean's shirt and yanked him backwards. Sean was so surprised that he automatically let go of Janet’s hair as he was tossed backwards, off his balance first from being pulled away and then from the right hook to his jaw which immediately followed.
“Larry!” Janet screamed, reaching out to try and stop him before he swung again. He was too invested in beating this man senseless for roughing up his girlfriend to be stopped already, the temper greatly outweighing the patience in the 17 year old boy. He swung again and caught Sean in the gut with a left uppercut. Even with the noise of the crowd she heard the wind rushing from Sean’s lungs.
Sean had been in his share of rows, however, and by now he understood what was going on well enough to gain his bearings and go on the offensive. He came out of the instinctive wince from the uppercut swinging, catching the side of Larry’s arm as he blocked the first punch, but followed it quickly with another. The second punch caught Larry directly in the nose. Janet saw his head snap back, his hair flying, and she tried to call out for them to stop, but found she couldn’t.
Her chest ached, her throat and lungs constricting in an asthma attack from the stress. She gasped for air, the horrible wheezing sound telling her that this was more serious than usual. *No no no!* she thought, fighting for a breath as the two pummeled each other mercilessly. All the eyes in the room were on the fighting men, many people trying to step in and stop them but pausing for fear they would catch a stray punch in the effort.
Blue white spots of light danced before her eyes, and she felt the tears of frustration start to burn. Her balance was off, she was dizzy, but she knew she had to get to her jacket and the inhaler in the pocket. She began to slowly make her way across the floor, each step harder, her body needing more oxygen as she moved.
She felt a large hand on her shoulder, jumping in shock and glancing up to see Adam standing next to her, his blue eyes wide with concern.
“Are you all right?” He asked, but Janet couldn’t speak. She shook her head vehemently and he could see from the way her shoulders moved as she tried hard to draw a breath that she was struggling. “Are you having an asthma attack?” he asked, and immediately she nodded, the tears spilling over her eyelashes and rolling down her face.
“Where’s you’re, uh, “ he made a gesture with his hands in front of his own mouth, searching for the right word. Janet pointed across the room to some chairs beside the stage where Ali and she had left their jackets. Suddenly she felt herself swept up off her feet as Adam cradled her in his arms and pushed through the crowd. He set her gently in one of the chairs and searched through her coat pockets, finding the inhaler and handing it to her.
On the other side of the room, Sean and Larry had been pulled apart and were each now being literally held to keep them from fighting again. The owner was contemplating calling the police, but knew that would result in fewer people coming back.
He waited until they were calmed down and gestured for them to be released, then drew them aside to ask them what the hell had happened.
“He was beating up my girlfriend!” Larry started. “I’m not going to sit there and watch him…”
“Your girlfriend?” Sean asked, genuinely surprised. He laughed out loud at this, a bursting laugh from deep in his gut and which shook his entire body. He turned to see where Janet and Adam were seated a few feet away. “So what, you’re shagging the entire band? That sounds more like the girl I used to know.” Larry started to lunge for the man again, but Bono and Edge each caught one of his arms to stop him.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Larry demanded.
“Just this past Sunday it was him she was with in her apartment all day. I thought he was the one she was here to see.” Sean told them, wiping the blood away that dripped out of his nose and onto his lip.
“What?” Larry asked, scowling toward Adam.
“Look, it’s not the fucking time! She’s having a bloody asthma attack!” He snapped. Janet had used her inhaler three times now, with very little relief. As if to emphasize Adam’s proclamation, she slumped forward, barely conscious and slipping away. She could hear them scurrying around, calling an ambulance, trying to figure out just what to do, Then there was nothing.
** The additional scene (the part that is missing from between the two lines) is available. If I've sent extended scenes to you before, check your inbox, although I have had some issues with my address book. Let me know if I missed you and you do want to read the extra scene.
Babyface pt 6
“Janet!” She heard Brian bellow from the front of the store. Janet’s head hurt bad enough without him yelling like that. Which, she suspected, was exactly why he did it. She had gone into hiding in the stock room, doing Novembers inventory although she had just finished Octobers the week before.
She sighed and discarded the clipboard on top of a stack of boxes, checking her watch to see how much longer this day was going to drag on. It was nearly four o’clock. Three more hours. She’d made it through six already, she told herself. She could handle the last three.
“Janet!” Brian bellowed again, this time as the door swung open and nearly slammed into her nose. She put one hand out to stop the door, the other covering her ear to protect it from the roar of his voice.
“I’m coming!” She told him, and he swung to peer around the door at her, scowling at her tone.
“Loverboy’s here.” He told her dryly. She couldn’t help but smile, her heartbeat picking up pace at the thought of him. Brian noticed the way she lit up and rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm, but stepped out of the way to let her pass. Larry was standing in front of the magazines, paging through the new ‘Rolling Stone’.
“Hey.” She greeted him, sliding in beside him and nudging him with her hip. He glanced up from a glossy photo of ‘The Cars’ and smiled as his eyes met hers.
“Hey.” He mimicked, not sure what to say in this moment. It was the first time he’d seen her since their night together, and the memories flashed through his mind, more vivid, perhaps, than the reality surrounding them. He’d felt different all day. It had seemed odd to do normal things, like going to school. Everything inside of him had changed, but somehow all the things that surrounded him were the same.
He was in love. He had known the love of his family all his life, he’d been fortunate in that. He’d never known love like this, though. He’d always rolled his eyes at the antics of the people who declared themselves to be ‘in love’. They wasted so much of their time and energy in the pursuit of something that defied definition, and which he could see no use for in this stage of his life.
It was as if he’d been walking around with blinders on, and now he could see the world more freely, more accurately. Not that it was all good, by his estimation. It definitely made it harder to concentrate on all the other things which had made up his life. School, the band, his family. No matter how hard he tried to focus his thoughts on these things now, they always managed to find their way back to her. That day, in class, he’d found himself thinking about the way her hair smelled, the taste of her lip gloss, and the next thing he knew he’d missed the teachers lecture completely.
Acting on instinct, he leaned over and kissed her softly in greeting an act which took her by surprise. She giggled at him, her green eyes dancing as she reached out and brushed his hair out of his face.
“So you’re not still mad at me?” She asked, and Larry frowned at her.
“No. I wasn’t mad in the first place.” He told her, although that wasn’t entirely true. He had wondered why she would’ve felt the need to get drunk that day, thought perhaps she was regretting what she had done. He had also been certain he had heard someone’s voice in the background. Once he’d thought about it and reasoned with himself that it could’ve been the telly or one of the neighbors he had let go of his irritation, though.
“No?” She asked, arching an eyebrow.
“No. But …” he paused and glanced around the store as if he expected to see someone standing nearby listening intently. “I do have something I want to ask you.” He told her, satisfied that Brian was out of ear shot.
“Ok.” She agreed with a slight nod.
“Can I stop by tonight after rehearsal? We’ll talk about it then?” He asked, glancing at the clock.
“Sure. I’ll be home.” She told him, smiling when he leaned in and gave her another quick peck before he hurried off to rehearsal. She was curious to see what was on his mind, but more than that, the thought of being alone with him again made her heart flutter. She was in deep, she realized. Way over her head.
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“There he is.” Larry heard Edge say as he hurried around the back toward the shed where they practiced. He breezed through the door, shrugging out of his jacket, and claimed the stool behind the drumkit, sticks in hand.
“Sorry I’m late.” He told them shortly, hoping to avoid the barrage of questions the same way he had the day before. He’d managed to not be alone with Bono and Edge, not giving either one of them a chance to ask personal questions that he wasn’t comfortable answering.
“What do you want to start with?” He asked, feeling three sets of eyes watching him closely.
“Well, what do you think?” Bono asked Edge, both of them eyeing him up and down suspiciously. This was obviously the continuation of a discussion the two had been having before Larry’s arrival.
“We could always hold him down and check for hickeys.” Adam suggested with a smirk that made Larry straighten his posture defensively. He was prepared to fight the three of them off if he had to.
“Naw, I don’t think we need to do that. That’s the second day in a row he’s worn a turtle neck and that silly grin. That’s evidence enough for me.” Edge replied, smirking playfully at Larry who tried his best to shoot a fierce scowl at his friend. Despite his best efforts, the corners of Larry’s mouth kept twitching upwards until he finally lost the battle and smiled shyly.
The others all laughed and teased him a bit, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d feared. They were just as anxious to play as always, and before long the focus had turned back to the music, where it belonged.
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“So, you wanted to ask me something?” Janet asked, later, as they settled down onto the couch at her apartment.
“Am I…?” He started, looking down at his feet, his shoulders hunched in that shy posture he so often assumed. “I mean, are you… are you seeing other guys, or is this… I don’t know…” he struggled to express the hope that she felt as strongly as he did. Janet smiled at him and slid across the couch cushions until their knees and shoulders touched.
“No.” she told him, her voice a breathy whisper in his ear. He smiled at her, a broad honest smile that went straight to her heart. “I can’t say I entirely understand how this happened, and so quickly at that...” She admitted candidly.
“But the truth is, I’m yours.” She added, her words and her hot breath in his ear setting a physical reaction in motion. He licked his lips and turned toward her, his chest tightening in anticipation.
“Mine?” he repeated softly, his lips brushing hers as he spoke, and she smiled and nodded slightly. They sank into a deep, soul penetrating kiss that seemed to last forever. As they kissed, they stretched out onto the couch, their bodies pressed up against one another. The desire which had been so overwhelming already was magnified now that they had the memory of what it felt like the other night, to be together.
“You’re the only one I want.” She assured him as his soft, generous mouth slid down along her neck and his hands began loosening clothes anxiously. Every time she assured him of this, he became bolder, his need for her stoked by her words. He had not intended for this to happen between them that night, knowing he had to be home, but it didn’t take long for reason to fly out the window in the face of desire.
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Larry hated having to leave her. He wanted to stay with her all night, to feel her warmth up against him as he slept; to hold her close. He realized it was fast, but he had never been good at moderation. Larry was black and white, hot and cold. There was no gray within him. He stopped to see her after rehearsal two more nights that week, and each night played out very much the same way. No matter how innocent the intentions for each visit, they had lit a fire which was now burning beyond their control.
It was Friday night and they had a gig, and after that he had already told his father he’d stay with Bono for the night. Maybe the weekend even.
“Where’s your head?” He heard Edge ask, pulling him out of his thoughts and back into the reality of the moment. They had just finished setting up the stage and apparently the others were waiting for him to respond to something.
“What?” He asked, glancing around the stage at each of his mates. Adam nearly choked on his drink as he laughed, and Bono laughed out loud. Edge frowned at him for a moment before speaking.
“I asked where your head was. You know, that thing that sits on top of your shoulders? You usually use it for thinking, memory, decision making?” He retorted, obviously not as amused with Larry’s state of distraction as the other two were.
“What did you say before that?” Larry asked through gritted teeth.
“I said lets run through out of control.” Edge told him, and Larry nodded sharply, marking out the beat by clacking his drumsticks together before moving into the song itself.
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Janet hurried to the concert after work, managing to be amongst the first to arrive. As she made her way across the floor, which she knew would soon be crowded, she saw Ali waving at her. She smiled and returned the gesture.
“Hi.” She greeted her. “They sound good tonight.” She shouted over the music. Ali nodded in agreement, turning to face Janet, as if to say something. Suddenly, though, she froze. Her eyes focusing on something across the room. Janet turned quickly, half expecting a heavily armed IRA militia to be invading from Ali’s reaction. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, though. The crowd was growing by the moment, dozens of young people coming through the door.
Finally, after glancing back and forth between the crowd and Ali a couple of times, Janet’s focus settled on three young girls. Two of them had short, dark hair and the third had longer, light red hair. They were neither particularly beautiful nor were they unattractive in anyway. They were just average teenage girls by her estimation.
“Who are they?” Janet asked Ali, shouting in her ear to be heard over Bono’s raised voice.
“We call them the Jenny’s.” Ali said, taking Janet by the elbow and leading her away from the stage where she could hear better. “Jenny Mackie, Jenny O’Hare and Jamie Neal.” She told her, gesturing to them each in turn.
“And you don’t like these girls?” Janet asked, a bit surprised. It was the first time she’d ever seen Ali be anything but pleasant toward anyone.
“It’s not so much that I don’t like them. I just… well, I ought to warn you, think.” She said, glancing up at the stage. Janet did so as well, noticing that Larry, too had seen the girls. He looked like he wanted to hide completely behind the drumkit.
“They’ve all followed Larry around since they were all of ten or twelve years old. They’re… persistent.” She informed Janet, who turned back to look at the girls once more. They were squeezing past all of the other people on the dance floor, heading toward the front of the stage. She followed them with her eyes and watched as they proceeded to do anything and everything they could think of to get Larry’s attention.
“Consider me warned.” Janet told Ali, smiling wickedly. It didn’t surprise her that girls would throw themselves at Larry. She had even seen it happen at the last couple of gigs. The way these three behaved was nearly comical.
“The worst part is, Larry can’t seem to get it through to them that he isn’t interested. The meaner he is to them, the more they seem to love him.” Ali informed her. “Bono told me that once, he saw him turn the hose on them to get them to stop peeking in his window.” Janet laughed in surprise at this, imagining the scene unfolding.
For nearly an hour she was more entertained watching the girls trying to get Larry’s attention, and Larry’s subsequent irritation. She could hardly imagine that a person could frown as much as he did, his face was even turning quite red and he barely took his eyes off the drums in front of him. She was so busy watching them that she was taken completely by surprise when she heard an all too familiar voice in her ear.
“Hello luv.”
Janet’s every muscle tensed instinctively at the sound, an instinctual fight or flight reaction to a predatory animal. She turned slightly and glanced over her shoulder to see him standing less than two feet away. He smiled at her, knowing he had her cornered. His icy blue eyes twinkled in the dim light, his full mouth puckered in that cocky smile she had loved once upon a time. Now it made her stomach turn sour.
“Sean.” She said, glancing back at Ali to make sure she was still watching the show. She took Sean by the elbow and moved away from her, to a spot near the wall where there were fewer people gathered. “What do you want?” She hissed, but her irritation only seemed to amuse him.
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Larry was doing his best to stay focused on the music. Edge had already been irritated with him for being distracted by thoughts of Janet earlier, and then when he had seen the Jenny’s Larry had been further distracted. Why would those girls never understand he wasn’t interested? He hoped they didn’t have a chance to say anything to Janet before he told her about them.
*Ali will make sure that doesn’t happen.* he assured himself, casting his eyes downward to the drumkit in front of him and ignored as much of the world around him as he could. Playing the drums had been his refuge for so long now, that this was not a difficult task.
They were nearing the end of their first set when he looked out into the audience again, his eyes searching the crowd for Janet. He found Ali, standing more or less where she and Janet had been earlier, but Janet wasn’t with her. He made a quick scan of the room, barely noticed the Jenny’s waving at him wildly, and finally found her in the shadows near the bathrooms. With some man who he did not recognize. Immediately his eyes narrowed and he studied the scene, trying to interpret the situation.
Adam was bobbing in time to the music, dancing the way he always did, his eyes on the bass in his hands more than anything else. He turned back to watch Larry frequently, making sure to stay in rhythm with him. He noticed the scowl on Larry’s face and turned to see what he was looking at.
He turned just in time to see Janet try and push past Sean who grabbed her by the hair, twisting his hand into the golden locks until he had her by the scalp. She was obviously in pain as he jerked her back and pushed her, face first against the wall. Adam was so shocked at seeing this happen it barely registered to him that the sound of the drums had disappeared, or even that he himself had stopped playing. Larry leapt from his seat behind the drumkit and pushed past Adam, nearly knocking him down.
Adam stumbled but kept his balance, quickly lifting the guitar strap over his head and putting the bass down on the stage as he, too, moved to intervene. It was the sudden absence of the rhythm section that Edge and Bono noticed, as wrapped up as they were in the music, and they glanced around in confusion when they realized not only had the music stopped but two of their mates were actually leaving the stage.
Larry jumped off the stage, in too great of a hurry to bother with the stairs. He plowed through the crowd, which parted in shock, all eyes on him as he grabbed hold of Sean's shirt and yanked him backwards. Sean was so surprised that he automatically let go of Janet’s hair as he was tossed backwards, off his balance first from being pulled away and then from the right hook to his jaw which immediately followed.
“Larry!” Janet screamed, reaching out to try and stop him before he swung again. He was too invested in beating this man senseless for roughing up his girlfriend to be stopped already, the temper greatly outweighing the patience in the 17 year old boy. He swung again and caught Sean in the gut with a left uppercut. Even with the noise of the crowd she heard the wind rushing from Sean’s lungs.
Sean had been in his share of rows, however, and by now he understood what was going on well enough to gain his bearings and go on the offensive. He came out of the instinctive wince from the uppercut swinging, catching the side of Larry’s arm as he blocked the first punch, but followed it quickly with another. The second punch caught Larry directly in the nose. Janet saw his head snap back, his hair flying, and she tried to call out for them to stop, but found she couldn’t.
Her chest ached, her throat and lungs constricting in an asthma attack from the stress. She gasped for air, the horrible wheezing sound telling her that this was more serious than usual. *No no no!* she thought, fighting for a breath as the two pummeled each other mercilessly. All the eyes in the room were on the fighting men, many people trying to step in and stop them but pausing for fear they would catch a stray punch in the effort.
Blue white spots of light danced before her eyes, and she felt the tears of frustration start to burn. Her balance was off, she was dizzy, but she knew she had to get to her jacket and the inhaler in the pocket. She began to slowly make her way across the floor, each step harder, her body needing more oxygen as she moved.
She felt a large hand on her shoulder, jumping in shock and glancing up to see Adam standing next to her, his blue eyes wide with concern.
“Are you all right?” He asked, but Janet couldn’t speak. She shook her head vehemently and he could see from the way her shoulders moved as she tried hard to draw a breath that she was struggling. “Are you having an asthma attack?” he asked, and immediately she nodded, the tears spilling over her eyelashes and rolling down her face.
“Where’s you’re, uh, “ he made a gesture with his hands in front of his own mouth, searching for the right word. Janet pointed across the room to some chairs beside the stage where Ali and she had left their jackets. Suddenly she felt herself swept up off her feet as Adam cradled her in his arms and pushed through the crowd. He set her gently in one of the chairs and searched through her coat pockets, finding the inhaler and handing it to her.
On the other side of the room, Sean and Larry had been pulled apart and were each now being literally held to keep them from fighting again. The owner was contemplating calling the police, but knew that would result in fewer people coming back.
He waited until they were calmed down and gestured for them to be released, then drew them aside to ask them what the hell had happened.
“He was beating up my girlfriend!” Larry started. “I’m not going to sit there and watch him…”
“Your girlfriend?” Sean asked, genuinely surprised. He laughed out loud at this, a bursting laugh from deep in his gut and which shook his entire body. He turned to see where Janet and Adam were seated a few feet away. “So what, you’re shagging the entire band? That sounds more like the girl I used to know.” Larry started to lunge for the man again, but Bono and Edge each caught one of his arms to stop him.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Larry demanded.
“Just this past Sunday it was him she was with in her apartment all day. I thought he was the one she was here to see.” Sean told them, wiping the blood away that dripped out of his nose and onto his lip.
“What?” Larry asked, scowling toward Adam.
“Look, it’s not the fucking time! She’s having a bloody asthma attack!” He snapped. Janet had used her inhaler three times now, with very little relief. As if to emphasize Adam’s proclamation, she slumped forward, barely conscious and slipping away. She could hear them scurrying around, calling an ambulance, trying to figure out just what to do, Then there was nothing.
** The additional scene (the part that is missing from between the two lines) is available. If I've sent extended scenes to you before, check your inbox, although I have had some issues with my address book. Let me know if I missed you and you do want to read the extra scene.
WOAH!!
I hate him!
