Louder Than Thunder

After breakfast, Michelle and Sidney went upstairs to his room. Sidney closed the door softly as Michelle sat down on the couch, distressed with how to go about explaining anything.
“Coffee? Tea?” he offered.
“Tea would be nice.”
“Is earl grey alright?”
“Yeah.”
Sidney made the tea and then placed it front of her without a word. He sat down beside her, waiting for her to begin. She took a slow sip of the tea and then placed it back down silently while he watched her patiently. Still she said nothing.
But how could she begin on the seriousness of this event? How could she make Sidney understand how crucial what happened was to her view of sub-culture, duality and life. She looked into his eyes forlornly, trying to think up the best way. Finally, he couldn’t handle waiting so he decided to nudge her into divulging her story.
“Come on, Chell, you trust me, right? What happened?”
“What were Eric and Keith up to last night?” she asked suddenly.
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Well, we went to the party last night, right?”
“Yeah, you did, didn’t you?” he asked, confused.
“Yeah, we did. It was going pretty well. Around eleven thirty, a group of rockers showed up, trashed the lawn, the house and many mods in their path, battling it out with us.”
“What? Again?”
“Yeah. Where were Keith and Eric last night?” Michelle didn’t just ask, she demanded to know.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t with them. That doesn’t mean they did it though. In fact, I haven’t heard them planning anything particularly devious in the past few weeks. I sorta thought that, as a group, we’ve all been getting along alright for the past while. Mainly because we’ve both been too busy to bother each other, but, you know.”
“What if they planned it behind your back? What if they’ve still got something against us?”
“You’re stressing yourself out,” he remarked.
“That’s because this is very serious!”
“Look, as far as I know, Keith and Eric were not involved, and if they were, I promise I didn’t know about it. If I had, I would have told you not to go.”
“But I want to know for sure. Are they still downstairs? Can we go talk to them?”
“They said they were going out with those girls they met downstairs. They’re probably gone by now.”
“Well, then we need to talk to them soon.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Sid, you don’t understand. We slept in because, last night, we spent hours with the police. They questioned each and every one of us at the party, and some rockers that they caught leaving.”
“Oh. Well, at least some authority stepped in. Better than every mod and every rocker beat each other to death,” Sidney said with a sigh, leaning back in the chair.
“You don’t understand Sid,” Michelle stated, putting a hand on his and holding it tightly. “A kid died last night. Some rocker beat him right to death.”
She held his hand at the perfect moment to feel his skin flash cold with the shock of the news. He stopped moving for a second, staring down at their hands. Then, he looked up towards her, his mouth gaping open. He mouthed the word ‘Really?’ and Michelle nodded in reply, leaning her head against his shoulder as she cried softly.
“I. . .I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Look, we’ll talk to Keith and Eric, but I really don’t think they had anything to do with it.”
“I’m sorry, Sid, I need some time alone,” she said, sniffling and wiping away her tears.
She grabbed her jacket and rushed out of the room, closing the door carefully as she didn’t want to make a big thing about it.
Sidney knew he had to do something about it. Michelle could barely talk about it properly. Michelle had been strong for a long time, now he had to do something for her. He sat in his hotel room with his typewriter, getting his thoughts down as he waited for the other boys to return from their days’ out.
Keith and Eric returned back to the hotel around midnight. When Sidney heard them laughing as they walked down the hallway, he ran over to meet them there. He opened the door and saw them a little ways down.
“Hey, guys!” he yelled, jogging over to them.
“Hey, Sid!” Keith said, putting an arm around his friend as he joined them. “How’s your day been?”
“I need to talk to you both about something important,” he said, skipping straight to it.
“Jumpy, aren’t we?” Eric said with a laugh.
“Are you drunk?”
“No. Those girls didn’t drink so we pretended we didn’t either. It worked, though,” Keith winked.
“Look, there was an incident at a party the girls were at last night with some rockers. Did you have anything to do with it?”
“Oh yeah, I heard some mod died last night. Was that the same party?”
“Yeah. You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?”
“No. Last night we were partying with some rockers though, but they weren’t quite as rowdy as the ones ‘oo like to beat up mods for fun. They just wanted to drink and chat,” Eric explained.
“So you promise you had nothing to do with it?”
“Promise,” Keith said, stopping in front of his and Eric’s rooms, which were across from each other.
“Eric, you promise? I know you and Darlene had a little disagreement. You didn’t try to get back at her, did you?”
“Of course not! I’m not even mad at ‘er anymore. Couldn’t really remember why I was to begin with anyways.”
“Alright. Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Alright. That’s all I wanted to know.”
“G’night, lad,” Eric said with a laugh as he entered his room.
Keith, meanwhile, stood outside watching Sid strangely. After laughing along with Eric, Sidney turned to look at Keith. Keith didn't say a word and just stared.
“What?”
“Why are you doing your girlfriend’s job?”
“Michelle? She’s really upset by this, Keith,” he said, wiping his eyes tiredly.
“You really like that bird, eh?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Why?” he asked, whimsically curious.
“Well, we have a lot in common. We both write a lot, and we can critique each other really well. She’s smart, and nice, and we have a lot of fun together. She’s an honest and loyal person and she trusts me and I trust her.”
Keith nodded his head for a moment, watching Sidney's eyes light up as he described her. With that, he turned to enter his room.
“Interesting,” he said as he closed the door.
Confused, Sidney just returned down the hall, trying to figure out how to interpret what just happened.
The next morning, the girls were preparing to leave for their magazine photo shoot, Mary and Michelle in one room and Darlene and Kim in another. Michelle was concentrated on getting a perfect Twiggy-eyeliner for Mary, carefully drawing thin lashes under her eyes. Her scar was covered up with makeup, but was still slightly visible.
“I wish we at least had a little while longer. Hopefully this will have healed up a bit by then.”
“Well, we’re just starting off so we gotta take any magazine that wants us,” she explained.
A knock came to the door.
“Chell!? Chell, it’s Sid!” he called.
“Coming,” Michelle called lazily.
Mary grabbed a dress and headed into the bathroom as Michelle opened the door. Sidney smiled awkwardly upon seeing her, hoping it wasn’t rude of him to smile at that moment.
“Hey, Sid.”
“Hey, Chell. You girls going out soon?”
“Yeah. We’ve got a photo shoot today and an interview tomorrow. We’ve gotta be leaving in about ten minutes.”
“Alright, well, I’ll be quick anyways. I asked Keith and Eric whether they had anything to do with it and they promised me that they didn’t. They were at a rocker hangout, but they stayed there and danced and drank all night.”
“They promised?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” she said wistfully.
“You seem weird about it.”
“It’s just. . .it’s too weird, you know? It’s too coincidental. What happened doesn’t even seem real to begin with, but it happened. Are you sure you can trust them to be honest, or do they just want to get out of trouble?”
“Look, they may not be the cleanest and they may be mischievous, but they would never do anything that would involve killing anyone. They may not get along with mods, but they wouldn’t want them dead either. They played some sabotage pranks on you and your show, but they don’t mean to physically hurt you.”
“Strangely, that argument isn’t swaying me.”
“We’re not criminals!”
“First it’s ‘they,’ ‘Keith and Eric,’ now it’s ‘we?’ Who is ‘we?’ All rockers? The Leatherjackets?”
“I don’t know, the Leatherjackets I guess, but most rockers aren’t criminals either.”
“That night, those rockers were carrying blades. I’ve heard of a lot of rockers carryin’ them.”
“Not as many as you might think.”
“Well?”
“You’re a mod, Michelle! You’ve been taught to fear rockers! You’ve been taught things about us that aren’t true. We’ve been taught things about you that weren’t right either. What can I say?”
“Yes, I’m a mod. I’m a mod, and you’re a rocker. Isn’t that all there is to it? I’ve been taught to fear you, that’s why I started hanging out with you. I was afraid of you. You don’t really think I believe everything I’m told, do you?”
“You believed the bit about switchblades.”
“What are you trying to say to me? Look, all I know is that before the whole party, we got along fine. We dug each other. Now, it’s driving a wedge between us and I don’t know why.”
“Maybe we need a break, then. Go to your mod photo shoot, I’m going back to my rocker room,” he said bitterly, turning back into the hallway.
“Fine, go sulk alone! Don’t bother me until you’ve figured out what you want to say to me, because I’d be perfectly happy to get on with my mod life. In fact, I’m going to a mod club tonight and I’m gonna take some mod drugs – blues and hearts – and dance mod dances all fuckin’ night!”
“Fine! Go, then! I’ll just go write rocker songs in my rocker jacket!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
With that, Michelle slammed the door shut. Mary exited the bathroom obliviously, bringing her pajamas back to her suitcase. Michelle huffed over to the next bed and stuffed her face against the pillow, releasing a muffled inward scream.
“You better figure out your problem and get back together. Honestly, Chell, you’ll probably never find another boy like that,” Mary admitted with a smile.
Mary dodged a pillow thrown across the room.
“Look, everything will be fine, I promise! We’ll worry about it later. Let me do your makeup now.”
“Alright.”