That Girl

Humming 1985 after the set at Dulaney High, I jammed out while doing some dishes before Mrs. G came home.

“She’s seen all the classics
“She knows every line
"Breakfast Club", "Pretty In Pink"
“Even "St. Elmo's Fire"
“She rocked out to Wham!
“Not a big Limp Bizkit fan
“Thought she'd get a hand
“On a member of Duran Duran

“Where's the mini-skirt made of snakeskin?
“And who's the other guy that's singing in Van Halen?
“When did reality become T.V.?
“What ever happened to sitcoms, game shows,
“(on the radio was)

“Springsteen, Madonna
“way before Nirvana
“There was U2 and Blondie
“And music still on MTV
“Her two kids in high school
“They tell her that she's uncool
“Cuz she's still preoccupied
“With 19, 19, 1985” I was officially a happy camper. Especially because Alex was gone for the day, and the dishes were done, and I could now call my friends.

Or lack thereof.

“Hey Pete.” I chimed as I wrote down some absent, detached lines on a page of my lyric notebook. “What’s poppin’?” I’d seemed to have taken to that saying ever since Alex had shown me Poppin’ Champagne. It worked well enough.

“Stella.”

“Ashlee?” I questioned, taking the Razor from my ear to look at the caller ID. Why was she using Pete’s phone?

“Yeah, Pete’s in the other room, doing some Dancing business.” She grumbled. I chuckled before opening the pantry to see if I could cook anything for dinner. For once I was hungry. “So what’s up?”

I pulled out some angel hair pasta and set the box to the side before searching for a pot. “Nothing really, just cooking. Alex isn’t here yet to piss me off.”

“Oh, so you call him by his first name now?” I could almost hear her grin. The freak, “Why isn’t he there?”

I shrugged, “Probably out fucking his girlfriend or something.” I said before letting out an internal cheer as I located a pot. I took it over to the sink and filled it with the tap.

“Ouch.”

“Ouch?” I set it on the stove, cranking the flame under the metal before leaning on the counter by the sink. I ignored the water that seeped into my shirt, still wet from the dishes.

“Oh, nothing.” She dismissed with a tone that said that there was obviously something she thought was important enough to bother me about. I raised a skeptical eyebrow before letting it go.

“What do you need, Ash?” Obviously, she had to be beating around the bush about something.

“Oh,” She immediately went on the defensive, “I’m not entitled to talk to my boyfriend’s daughter?”

I rolled my eyes, “You know what I mean.”

Ashlee chuckled, “I was just thinking… Well, you know how-.”

“The water’s gonna all evaporate out of that pot if you leave it.” Alex said nonchalantly, turning down the flame a bit before dumping the pasta into the pot. Then he tossed his backpack onto the couch in the other room, “Who’re you talking to? Your boyfriend again?”

“Ash, I’ve gotta go.” I flipped the phone shut as a static-filled shout of ‘use protection!’ was yelled over the speaker. Alex snickered. “Where have you been?”

He shrugged, “’Round.”

“Imma smack you.” I said with a half-snarled, “You can’t just disappear, you fuckwit.”

He snorted, “What, do you want an update on my schedule every five seconds? You’re not my mom.”

I rolled my eyes, pulling a wooden spoon out of a utensil drawer before swatting him in the arm and stirring the moistening noodles. “You are such an insufferable jackass, Alex, you know that?”

He smirked, “I try.”

Rolling my eyes seemed to be developing into a habit. “Well, as long as you’re trying.” I turned back to the pantry and pulled out a jar of tomato sauce as Alex reached into a cupboard and pulled out a saucer.

We worked in silence. I pulled out some meat and mushrooms, among other ingredients and diced them, mixing them with the tomato sauce while he monitored the noodles. “So are you going to give me any hell or what?”

I turned, lifting an eyebrow, “What’re you going on about?”

“Not making your curfew.”

I glared at him, “The only thing I need from you is your presence at gigs. And your lack of attitude, but that’s not really happening, is it? I’m allowed to be pissed off when you don’t show.”

“Fine then, truce?” He stuck out his pinky finger. I chuckled at his childish antics before linking my pinky with his.

“Truce.” I agreed.

Then there was a comfortable silence, and as the sauce came to a simmer, I shut off the flame before straining the noodles in the sink.

“Eat up.”

*.*.*

It was late.

It was really late.

I knew that because I was groggy, and I’d been woken up.

Yeah, the insomniac’s sleep had been interrupted.

“Alex, what the hell are you doing?” I sat up, Alex half-way out my window.

“I, um, well, your window was unlocked and…”

“Going out?”

“Well, yeah…” Alex admitted after a small pause, “You want to come?”

I was immediately out of my bed, “Hell to the yes!” Alex looked at me awkwardly, eyes wide as I skipped to my dresser, wide awake.

Minutes later, I’d changed into the first dress I’d seen and I was out the window with Alex, Converse proving to be a wise choice in shoe, despite his laughs.

I hopped off the branch as he slid down the side, hitting the ground with a muted thump before skipping around to the front of his yard and seeing the car in the middle of the street.

Jack was at the wheel, with Jeannie next to him, looking terrified out of her wits. I slipped in the back seat, Alex following not far behind, a faint blush on his face.

Oh right, I’d sort of changed in front of him…

Whoops. It was late, so sue me.

Jeannie fist-pumped as she noticed me. “Oh, Rian so owes me ten bucks!”

Jack snorted, “Figures Alex would bring Stella, I don’t know why Rian would bet against it.”

I was slightly confused but shrugged it off as Jack began to drive.

Or perhaps he was trying to kill us all?

I was scared for my life as he drove us all to our destination, and I was so tense and desperate for comfort that I bit my fist to the extent that there was a massive dent, and Alex ended up trying to console me as we made it to our stop.

“A parking garage?”

Jack laughed and nodded before swinging into a ‘No Parking’ zone as we all piled out of the car.

“Sweet, sweet land!” I gasped, almost compelled so far as to kiss the ground, but I refrained.

Before I knew it, we were running around the parking structure, going all the way up to the roof, Jeannie perched piggy-back style on Jack’s back, while Zack’s new ‘friend’ Lizzie was giggling as he carried her over his shoulder.

Rian, drumsticks miraculously still staying stable in his back pocket, dragged Kara by the hand as Alex and I raced each other to the top.

Then I saw it.

Of course they would have done something like this. Three acoustic guitars, one of them a bass, and five stools.

I rolled my eyes as right next to the collection of instruments sat a pile of assorted alcohol.

“Party!” Lizzie declared with flair as Zack set her down. “Play for us, guys!”

“Hey Stella, will you duet Everything is Alright with Alex?” Jack asked with a big, hopeful smile. One look at him and I sighed in defeat, my hand searching blindly for some alcohol. Jeannie handed me a shot. I downed it quickly, ignoring the burning in my throat.

“I’m in.”

*.*.*

“Gig. Gig. Gig. Gig. Gig. Gig-.” Jack’s irritating chant was cut short as Jeannie crawled across the backseat and pressed her lips against his.

“Shut up, love.”

Thus, an awkward atmosphere that happens when a couple is intently making out ensued. I started plucking a familiar bass line absently, forgetting what lyrics went to it as I started dwelling on what exactly had gone down at that outing of ours-.

“Stella, you’ve been playing the bass line to Dance, Dance for the past ten minutes. Are you going to change it up or can I have the bass?” Zack said from behind me, making grabby hands for it. I handed his pink bass to him before leaning back into the seat, my fingers inattentively moving to brush my lips.

I pulled a ukulele off of the dashboard and started strumming an absent tune, probably a revision of something I’d written or helped write.

“Now she’s off on Hum Hallelujah.” Rian muttered quietly before Kara whispered something I didn’t catch. “Oh.”

I transitioned into Jasey Rae.

*.*.*

“Hello Baltimore!” Alex bellowed after the first few songs. They’d played Coffee Shop Soundtrack and Break Out Break Out so far, as well as others, “My god do you all look gorgeous. I wish I had a camera.”

I rolled my eyes as I handed Jack his guitar for the next song. He pushed it away, “Nope.”

“But the setlist-.” I protested before he pointed to the floor. Remembering Sunday stuck out like a sore thumb. My eyes widened as Matt handed Alex a semi-acoustic. I rushed off stage, only to be blocked by Vinny. Vinny? I did a double take.

“Why the fuck aren’t you at the merch booth?” I growled. Vinny laughed, shrugging me off easily before tossing me a mic. Alex had already started singing, so I couldn’t just back out. Vinny gave me a wink before laughing and heading off the stage.

Back to the merch booth, I hope.

“Now please welcome Stella Fazzah-Madison,” kudos for that, Gaskarth, “from Time After Twelve!”

There was a cheer, but I barely registered it. I was nervous.

I hadn’t done vocal warm-ups, I hadn’t performed for people in ages…

“Well, at some point you have to realize that it’s better to be confident and sound bad than to be shy and automatically sound bad because you don’t have the guts to brandish your voice. You can’t be the former Stella, because you have almost as much range and dynamic as Patrick, and I don’t want to hear you being the latter, so suck it up. You’re Stella Fazzah-Madison, the lead singer of Time After Twelve, not some nobody.”

I let out a heavy sigh before singing.

“I’m not coming back,
“I’ve done something so terrible,
“I’m terrified to speak,
“But you’d expect that from me,
“I’m mixed up,
“I’ll be blunt,
“Now the rain is washing you out of my hair,
“And out of my mind!
“Keeping an eye on the world,
“So many thousands of feet off the ground,
“I’m over you now;
“I’m at home in the clouds,
“Towering over your head.”

Alex shot me a nod of approval before finishing off the song, with me doing minimal back-up vocals.

Okay… so I’d done it.

*.*.*

“Brendon!” I bellowed my greeting into the receiver after we’d finished loading.

“STELLA!” He replied at an equal volume, “How was the show?”

My lip twitched, “How did you know we had a show?”

“I may or may not have attended.” He said casually, like we were talking about our favorite school subject versus his location.

I was silent for a moment, my excitement building up until being unleashed with an unusually shrill and out of character shriek, “BRENDON BOYD URIE! YOU ARE NOT IN TOWN!”

He laughed, “I’m not?” I heard a vague double echo. Almost as if… I turned around and dropped my phone before letting out another squeal and launching myself at three of my closest friends. Words couldn’t describe my sheer bliss.

“OH MY GOSH! YOU’RE HERE!” I smiled so wide that my face hurt. I hugged Brendon tightly, squeezing him so tight that he started wheezing out protests:

“Stella, you’re squishing me!”

Spencer laughed, “What no love for me?”

Still smiling like an idiot, I tackled Spencer in a hug. Much to my disappointment, he held his own against my attack, only stumbling backwards with a laugh as he wrapped his arms around my waist to steady both me and him. “I missed you guys so much.” I mumbled into his tee shirt.

After releasing him, I turned to Jon. “Hi, I’m Stella.”

He chuckled, waving awkwardly, “Jon Walker.”

I rolled my eyes with a smile, “Loosen up, Jon.” I laughed, giving him a quick hug, “Any friend of these boys is a friend of mine, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded, giving him a high-five before turning to Ryan. I paused for a moment, noticing that he’d changed the most. He’d grown a little bit, which was odd, considering that he was almost twenty. My smile, if possible, was wider than it had been before. I jumped on my toes before running at him, wrapping him up in a massive hug.

I see he’d taken to my eating habits.

“Ryan, love, you really need to eat more.” I said into his dress shirt, my cheek brushing the hem of his vest as I felt his speedy heartbeat against my forehead. Much too fast. My smile disappeared. Was he having a stroke or something? I panicked. Pun not intended. “You okay?”

I felt him nod, his chin brushing the arc of my high ponytail. He audibly gulped, his thin arms wrapped around my waist hesitantly.

“You sure you’re okay Ry?” I asked, retracting slightly to look at him, eyebrows furrowed. “You seem tense. Your heart’s going a mile a minute.”

He nodded, shooting me a nervous smile as if that would be reassurance. I decided not to press the matter further. “I’m fine, Stells.”

I smiled toothlessly, “I really missed you.” I immediately buried my face in his chest, hugging him as close as I could manage.

“Well, anyways,” Brendon started, “Your roomie Allen or whoever he was picked up your phone one day when you were gone and let it slip that you’d be here. And since we were finished with Nothing Rhymes With Circus…”

“You’re already done?!” I exclaimed, sliding out of Ryan’s arms and turning towards Brendon, “How long has it been?!”

“We finished the album around this time last year, Stella.” Brendon told me with a smile, “It was released in late September, and you left after the eight week tour what, five months ago?”

I let out a whistle, “Wow, it’s been ages.”

“Yeah.” He laughed, “So you up for a late dinner?”

As if on cue, my stomach roared as if it were bellowing its desire for food to the heavens. Well, I hadn’t taken the time to eat a meal since our outing a few nights back… My cheeks reddened. “Uh, sure.”

Spencer snorted, “Let’s go then.”

I felt Ryan sling his arm around my shoulders casually. I internally shrugged, leaning against him. “Wait.” I stopped, “What about the guys?”

Spencer waved them over, “You guys up for dinner?”

They looked at each other before murmuring words of agreement. Alex shot me an odd look. I raised an eyebrow and thus a body language conversation ensued:

His top lip twitched: What the hell?

Furrowing of the raised eyebrow: What crawled up your ass and died, Gaskank?

He licked his bottom lip, eyebrows scrunching together: Who’s the new boy toy?

My mouth formed a snarl: Watch your mouth, fucktard.

He jerked his chin upwards with a smirk: Just look at the pussy, his facial expression speaks for itself.

My left pinky twitched: I will destroy you, Gaskarth. You’re booked for an appointment with my brass knuckles. Fuck. Off.

Hair flip and a wink: It’s a date, bitch.

I snarled audibly, the conversation of body language coming to a blunt end. The guttural sound startled Ryan, and caused Alex to smirk as he turned to walk away.

“What the fuck was that, Stella?” Spencer asked, his eyes as wide as softballs as he referred to my slightly scary noise.

“Their lead singer is a self-righteous asshole.” I hissed.

“You two didn’t even exchange two words.” Jon said incredulously, to which Brendon whispered something in his ear, and he amended his previous statement with an: “Oh.”

Oh is right, my loves.

“Well, um, let’s just, uh, go.” Ryan coughed awkwardly before leading us after Brendon, who’d already started walking.