Louder Than Thunder

As they arrived in their dressing room, the Leatherjackets could be heard going on stage. A few bottles of alcohol had been left in the room for them. Darlene saw and began looking through them, trying to find something interesting. Michelle entered last and slammed the door shut behind her, causing Darlene and Mary to stare.
“Are you serious?” Michelle asked.
“What’s wrong?” Mary asked.
“I know we’re making more money, but you can’t go around breaking the equipment! It’s expensive!”
“Well, I think the audience liked it. The last time they saw mods this angry was the Who. Besides, we’ve drawn attention to ourselves and we’ve made an impression on that audience.”
“Oh, not to mention that now the Leatherjackets have to follow it. That’ll make us look good,” Darlene added as she picked up a bottle of whiskey and inspected the label.
“Don’t tell me this happened just because of your row with Keith,” Michelle begged.
“Come on, Chell, that guy needs someone to be better than him, otherwise he’ll always be that conceited.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to not bother?”
“Look, you want to know what ‘appened? I saw him going to this place with these other rockers and it looked sneaky. I dressed up like a rocker girl and followed them and I caught ‘im doing cocaine. He eventually saw me there and, next thing I knew, he wanted me to stay and dance with ‘im because he thought I looked good as a rocker girl. I left and then confronted him about it later. I asked him why he wanted to dance with me and he kissed me.”
“Why are you fightin’ then?”
“He still hasn’t told me anything and I deserve to know why he’s being like this. He’s so on and off. The other day, by the pool, he told me he only wanted to dance because I was ugly, at the rocker hangout he said I looked good, and he kissed me!”
“He really should just come clean,” Darlene said passively, bravely chugging a glass of whiskey.
“You see what I mean now? He’s acting like a child.”
“So are you,” Michelle said.
“I know,” Mary said, sitting down in one of the chairs.
“You have to let go of this pride. It’s not worth it in this case. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Your pride versus his?”
“Yeah, but see he’s getting rude with me.”
“Still though, you shouldn’t destroy any piece of our equipment just to show ‘im up! We’ve gotta get that amp fixed now.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t regret that.”
“Mary,” Michelle groaned.
“I don’t regret it at all! I wish I’d broken more! I wish I broke both amps, that mic stand, and my bass guitar!”
“Mary!”
“Stop arguing!” Darlene yelled, tossing her whiskey glass against the mirror, cracking both.
Now, Michelle and Mary both stared at her with their full attention. They had never seen Darlene get this angry, let alone throw things around unless they were drumsticks.
“Look, since I started playing the drums - at age nine, just to remind you - all I’ve ever wanted was to be in a band with friends! We’re about to make it and you both want to start fighting and throw all that away? I won’t have it. I won’t have it!”
“Darlene-“
“No! You listen to me, now, alright? We’re about to start working on a record! We’re going to Los Angeles in two days, and we have a single in the making. We’re on tour, for Pete’s sake! We can’t start losing it now, we can’t start fighting now, and we can’t let this slip through our fingers! You both know the feeling because you’re feeling it too, right now. Music is all we’ve loved; we won’t be able to function in a world without playing music. I know I couldn’t be a mail girl forever. Mary, you don’t want to be a waitress forever, and Chell, you don’t want to work in a record store forever! We’re finally moving forward and you’re risking a fight!”
“Darlene, certain things need to be worked out. We can’t keep pushing things back and pretending the problems aren’t there! We have to deal with them up front, that way we don’t have to worry about them later! Perhaps you wouldn’t understand that since you deal with everything by having a drink!” Michelle argued.
“Shut the fuck up! Okay?”
“We need a healthier way to deal with problems in this group.”
“Don’t you fucking talk about my drinking!”
“How much whiskey did you just drink? Was that your first glass or your second?”
In a flash, Darlene turned around, stretched back her muscular drummer’s arm and threw her closed fist towards the wall, creating a circular hollow in it.
“Fuck, ow,” she said, keeling over, holding her fist in her other hand.
She crouched down on the ground, eyes shut tight as she mumbled obscenities over her hand. Mary and Michelle watched in horror, waiting for a sign from her. She stood up slowly, still facing the wall.
“I should stop,” she said. “I gotta fucking stop.”
With that, she turned around to face them. The dark makeup, smudged around her eyes from their wet, teariness, creating an evil look on her usually merry face. Michelle jumped as her eyes came into view. Now that they could see, Darlene’s knuckles were bleeding like mad, droplets of thick red falling to the wiry carpet.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted. I’m not gonna let it pass me by. I’m not gonna let us fight. I’m not gonna let us ruin this for ourselves.”
“You’re right,” Mary said. “You’re absolutely right.”
“It’s all we’ve ever wanted. We gotta find another way to handle this,” Michelle said.
“I love you. I really do. I love both of you. You’re my best friends,” Darlene said, taking a step towards them.
“I love you too,” Mary said, hopping forward to hug her.
“I love you too.”
Michelle joined in as well, hugging them both, leaning her head against Darlene’s shoulder. They stayed there for a moment, enjoying the love. It was clear that none of them wanted to fight.
“If I ever get mad at you again, I don’t mean it. Touring is stressful,” Michelle explained.
“Touring is a bitch,” Darlene added.
They all shared a laugh as they broke the hug.
“Now, let’s get your hand bandaged up,” Mary suggested.
“I’d like that.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Yeah, quite a bit. Sorry about your dress, by the way,” Darlene said, gazing apologetically at the red stain left on Mary’s dress from their hug.
“Don’t even worry. It’s just a dress. I’ve got more. Although I did really like this one.”
Darlene looked up at her worriedly. Mary just smiled back.
“It’s alright,” she laughed.

A couple days later, they had arrived in Los Angeles and were driving in on a shared limo. It was mostly quiet, the radio played in the background. After a couple minutes the song finished and the disc jockey’s voice came on, smooth and low.
“Welcome back to Mark in the Morning on radio KERR, rock ‘n’ roll, nothin’ but. It is toasty warm down in LA, so be sure to keep cool on this day. Next up is the premier single by a hip and upcoming young group-“
“Ooh, turn it up,” Darlene suggested.
The driver turned the knob and the voice grew louder.
“They are currently playing abroad for the first time, touring with the Leatherjackets, who will be playing a couple shows in the LA area.”
Darlene, Mary and Michelle shared glances as he went on.
“This is a group called the Rag Dolls.”
“He said our name,” Mary said.
Michelle looked up at Sidney, who smiled at her. She smiled back, feeling surprised as the sound of her guitar came on the radio. Mary’s voice came in, as did Darlene’s drums.
“That’s us,” Darlene said in awe.
“We’re on the radio,” Michelle said in a breath of disbelief.
“I’m so happy for you,” Sidney said, taking her hand.
“Hey, good job,” Eric said, leaning over.
“Thanks, Eric.”
They pulled up to their hotel a few minutes later. Paul, who had arrived there a few minutes earlier in a car with the road crew, opened the door, a wide smile plastered on his face.
“I take it you girls heard the song?”
“Yes! Paul, you didn’t tell us the song was gonna be played soon!” Darlene said.
“I didn’t know. Anyways, let’s get in, girls, there are some fans waitin’ outside the door and they’ll be crowding us soon.”
“Right.”
They ran inside, past girls wearing Leatherjacket t-shirts and holding signs saying things like ‘Kiss me, Keith! It’s my birthday!’ and ‘We Luv You, Leatherjackets!’ When they got inside, Paul went to check them in. He returned to the girls, who were waiting off at the side, flipping through a few enveloped letters.
“There were a few calls for us at the hotel from magazines who want to interview and photograph you girls.”
“Really? Mary asked.
“Yeah, really!”
“That’s great!” Michelle said.
“We should celebrate tonight,” Darlene said.
“Sounds good.”
“How about I take you girls down to the Whisky-A-Go-Go? World famous, after all. How could we not visit it at least once?” Paul suggested.
“Yeah, let’s do it!”
“Alright, then. Tonight, we’re going to the Whisky-A-Go-Go!”
The girls cheered as they entered the elevator. They arrived upstairs in the hotel rooms, and immediately began searching for clothes to wear.
“What do you wear to the Whisky?” Michelle asked.
“What don’t you wear?” Mary asked, looking for her most colourful, shortest and boldest mini dress.
“Remember that dress I bought in New York?” Darlene asked as she searched through her bag.
“The lime green paisley?”
“Yeah.”
“Definitely wear that one!”
“Alright.”
“What should I wear, then?” Michelle asked.
“What about that old one you liked? The one with the white collar?”
“I didn’t bring that one.”
“Hmm, what about the blue one with the white ruffles?”
“Alright.”
Once they were all dressed, they helped each other do their hair, makeup, and took one last look in the mirror.
“Alright, girls, we’re going to the Whisky.”