Let Me Go Back To Sleep

After receiving the good luck wishes and saying their goodbyes, Mikey and Tracey finally set off for their honeymoon in Paris.

As for the rest of the crew, they had to be separated. Ray, Bob and Frank had to go set up their equipments and practice for tonight’s show at the pub, while the girls went back to Lynn and Shannon’s place.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Lynn exclaimed, walking in the house, carrying one of Karen’s baggage.

“I can’t believe you’d go that far and stay out of touch with me for that long!” Karen repeated walking in after her. “Hey,” she then commented taking a sudden stop to look at the place around her. “Is that really where you live now?” Karen then asked looking around with surprise.

“Yeah,” Lynn replied, the smile still on her face.

“How are you holding on?” Karen then asked, checking out the old furniture.

“What do you mean?” Lynn frowned.

“This stuff is…” Karen stopped trying to find the right word. “Old,” she added. “This is definitely not you!” She then exclaimed looking weirdly at Lynn hinting to the fact that Lynn’s used to the lavish type of lifestyle; where everything is shiny, well tidy, and most importantly, not so cheap.

“Trust me, that’s my last concern right now,” Lynn said remembering what her real distress is, Gerard.

“What’s wrong?” Karen then frowned looking at Lynn intently.

“You’ll get used to it,” Shannon noted while carrying Karen’s luggage to Lynn’s room. “Your stuff are on Lynn’s bed!” She then yelled out from inside the room while Karen kept her eyes fixed at Lynn.

“You’ll be taking my bed, I’ll have the sofa,” Lynn then said, faking a smile, trying to change the subject for Karen.

“No, why? We’ll be sharing the bed like we used to do when we were little!” Karen exclaimed smiling.

“It’s not a king sized bed like the one I used to have, Karen,” Lynn explained.

“Oh come on!” Karen grinned taking Lynn by the hand and dragging her to the room, “I’m sure it’s not that…” she suddenly stopped staring at it. “Oh…” she then said under her breath.

“Yeah…” Lynn nodded. “Now you get it,” she then added referring to the fact that Karen should stop trying to compare Lynn’s old life to this one.

“What?” Shannon who was still standing inside the room said, checking herself out, trying to see if there was something wrong with her, considering the fact that both Lynn and Karen were standing outside the room, staring in.

Karen spent the next couple of hours telling Lynn all about what she had done with her life while Lynn was away. Lynn tried to get Karen to tell her some stuff about how it was like when she was with Gerard but Karen was, for some reason, not cooperative.

“Oh my GOD Lynn!” Shannon then exclaimed, walking in to the living room dressed in a simple, light blue dress, holding what looked like an apron in her hands.

“Oh shit, is it time already?” Lynn asked looking at her watch. She was supposed to be ready for her night shift at the pub, as waitress.

“We are late already!” Shannon exclaimed. “We can’t afford being fired, Lynn!” Shannon added freaking out. “We have so many unpaid bills from last month!” She started. “We will need to be working double shifts and the money on…”

“Geez Shannon,” Lynn interrupted her. “I’ll go get dressed, it will take me 5 minutes, it’s not the end of the world!” Lynn exclaimed walking herself to her bedroom.

“OH! NOW you’re talking!!” Shannon shouted back referring to how Lynn was acting as if the world was really going to end just this morning.

“So hey…” Karen then added, stepping closer to the now even angrier Shannon. “You guys are going to work?” She asked.

“Yes,” Shannon replied looking away, as if she somehow blamed Karen for what just happened.

“Where do you work?” Karen ignored Shannon’s attitude.

“It’s 5 minutes away from here,” Shannon replied sighing.

“Yeah, but where? What’s the company’s name?” Karen kept questioning.

“What do you mean company? We are waitresses at this pub down the street,” Shannon added.

“Waitresses?” Karen sounded surprised. “But you two have college degrees, don’t you? You could have better jobs than that…”

“You don’t get it, do you,” Shannon added. “The main reason why we’re here is to forget, and to keep a low profile,” she started explaining. “What can I say princess, everyone knows who Lynn Richards is now, don’t they?”

“Yeah, so?” Karen didn’t get the picture.

“After Gerard introduced her to the world on stage the day he got arrested, she had become just as famous as he is,” Shannon went on. “Especially after he asked everyone to take care of her whenever they saw her.”

“I know…” Karen added frowning.

“Besides that, she hates cubicle jobs. She doesn’t even know why she got that degree in the first place. Aren’t you the one to know? Miss childhood friend?” Shannon added sarcastically.

“What about you?” Karen went on with the questions.

“I applied for a couple of companies, the ones that are near this town,” Shannon said. “But they were local ones, I will need to take Italian courses, that’s the main language in which they work,” she then added.

“Yeah, and?” Karen stared.

“And?” Shannon repeated after her sarcastically. “And we can barely afford to have a life,” she explained.

“I don’t understand why you guys are hiding,” Karen stated. “You could be back in the US making a lot of money, very comfortably!” She exclaimed.

“Not after the tragedy,” Shannon replied. “None of us wanted to stay there, and we had to run away from the fans and the press, and their endless questions,” she clarified. “You have no idea what a huge impact this has left on us.”

“Are you kidding me? I know Gerard better than you do,” Karen smirked.

“Good for you,” Shannon added. “So you can understand why we just want to be away from everybody, at least for now,” she smiled mockingly. “We’re happy like that anyway.”

“Sure,” Karen smiled back. “That’s what matters,” she then added.

“You’ll never understand…” Shannon sighed.

“Why are you talking to me like I don’t know anything? You’re making me feel stupid here, Shannon,” Karen replied smiling gently.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Shannon became sarcastic again. “Did I make you feel stupid? I’m sorry I take everything back. You know everything!” Shannon exclaimed with an even higher level of sarcasm.

“I kind of do,” Karen smiled again.

“Of course,” Shannon let out a small laugh.

“It’s you who have no idea what’s going on,” Karen added, the grin still on her face.

“Me?” Shannon laughed.

“No, all of you,” Karen replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shannon frowned.

“DONE!” Lynn interrupted them walking back in, all dressed up.

“Nice uniform!” Karen commented smiling to her.

“Nice?” Lynn repeated after her laughing. “It’s just a plain dress and an apron.”

“Can I go with you guys?” Karen then asked.

“Sure,” Lynn said just as Shannon had replied, “No!”

“Why not?” Lynn frowned at Shannon. “Of course you can come, we’ll have you seated at the bar, maybe you’ll meet some cute Italian guy, how about that!!” Lynn said playfully, unaware of the tension that was going on between Shannon and Karen earlier.

“Alright then,” Karen had the widest grin on her face. “Let’s hit the bar!” She exclaimed grabbing her purse and following the girls outside.