Reason to Live

Paul Stanley was the person who had first brought the concept to my mind. Although it would be more than a year until I had discovered it, I was already believing in it without even knowing. It is true that everybody has a reason to live.
As far as I was concerned, I was yet to find my reason.

"What time are we leaving again?" Billie asked in an attempt to determine if it was worth adding another application of mascara to her already dramatic eyelashes.
"Seven thirty," we all replied in unison. It was not the first time she had asked.

My mind was temporarily stolen by the bold colours of an amazing little thing called MTV. I barely snapped out of my trance when my favourite leather jacket hit me in the face. Standing before me with her hands on her hips, impatiently, was my best friend Deborah.
"Could you be any less enthusiastic?" she asked.
"Sure," I replied, without even removing my eyes from the screen.
"Josh looks just like David Lee Roth. I'm telling you, he's perfect for you Audrey," Debbie rambled, sitting next to me on the couch.
"Have you met him?" I asked, rather pessimistically.
"No, but... " Debbie began selling this guy to me before I cut her off.
"Yes! They took my request again!" I beamed with excitement. The latest KISS video Tears Are Falling began to play on tv.
"Audrey honey, you need a boyfriend," Debbie said, observing my obsessive behaviour.
"What?! You've been calling in requests? " my roommate Holly asked, sounding annoyed. "Could that be why our phone bill is through the roof?" I effectively ignored her.
"Hate to say I told you so Audrey," Debbie teased.
"Huh?" I replied, zombie style.
"I don't care who the new guy is. There's only one KISS guitarist and that's Ace Frehley!" she mocked me.
"Dude. That's before she saw this guy covered in rain," Holly laughed.

The year was 1986, and it was a warm February night in sunny Miami.
Fully decked out in leather and lace, my hard rock band "Crypteia" , took the stage of a crowded club. With the blond (both in personality and colour) Billie on bass, the eccentric Holly on drums, the ever so charismatic Debbie on lead vocals, and yours truly on lead guitar, we were in hot pursuit of a record deal.

"Great show ladies," screamed Murray, the loser who owned the club my band were playing at. He had a freaky looking smirk on his face as we left the stage.
"You can all have a free drink if you want, just one," he suggested.
" Murray giving away free drinks? What's the world coming to?" joked Holly.
"He's such a sleaze" I muttered under my breath.

We made our way to a table as Murray eyed off Billie before hiding in his office. That guy would hit on us, rip us off our pay, and exploit us in any way he could. Plus, he stole my Ray-Bans, I just know it!
"Here you go Audrey," said Josh, the guy Debbie had set me up with, as he handed me a drink.
"Oh, Audrey doesn't drink," Billie yelled, to be heard over the Twisted Sister song playing loudly in the background. She was already was a little drunk.
"Aww C'mon, just one. It's free," he persisted. There were something about his eyes that I didn't trust. Maybe they were too slantly, or perhaps, being the window to his soul, all I saw was asshole. David Lee Roth look-a-like or not, I wasn't dating this dude. Besides, I preferred guitarists over singers anyway.
"Just one, and only because It's free," I eventually gave in to shut him up. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't in to him, he was a total jerk.

We hung out for an hour or so, talking about the KISS concert in West Palm Beach that was only a few days away. It was just the girls and I going, and I had enough excitement for all of us!

After a while I started to feel horrible. I got a massive headache and felt like I was about to puke. I wanted so badly to throw up on Josh, but thought better of it. I pressed my head on the table and moaned in agony.
"Somebody's wasted!" Billie screamed with happiness.
"Yeah, you," Holly said, disgusted , as she smudged her charcoal coloured eye shadow further underneath he eyes.
"Audrey only had the one drink right?" Debbie asked confused. Her boyfriend Chris, stopped her from worrying any further by making out with her.

Just as I got up to go towards the bathroom Murray called the girls into his office, I couldn't stop, I knew I was going to be sick. I made it half way across the bar before I suddenly felt dizzy, and I started to black out. The last thing I remembered was someone catching me and lowering me to the floor.

The next morning I woke up on my stomach, with the worst headache imaginable. Sprawled out on top of my bed like that wasn't my most elegant moment. Somehow I managed to place a blanket over myself, neatly. Confused, I sat up trying to remember what happened the night before. Suddenly, I noticed a man with long dark hair curled up in a chair next to my bed, his face was buried in a cushion. I squealed in fear as he jumped up in shock. I almost passed out again when I realised who he was...