Louder Than Thunder

“Thanks. You guys aren’t so bad either, after all,” Darlene said, landing a playful punch on his shoulder. “You’re alright, for a group of greaseheads.”
The boys chuckled along with her.
A couple hours later, they were told they had to close the ballroom down as there were guests whose rooms were directly above it. They took leftovers with them and headed up to their floor and said some last goodbyes before they went to their rooms to sleep, as they knew that they might not see each other in the morning.
“We’ll keep in touch, eh?” Michelle asked Sid.
“Of course. Here’s the number for my place. After you leave the hotel or return to your apartment, call me. If you want, you can stay with me until you figure out what your financial situation is.”
“Thanks, Sid. I’ll think about it,” Michelle said, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly.
After they pulled apart, Michelle noticed Kurt walking by them to his room.
“Goodbye, Kurt.”
“Bye,” he said with a slightly sad look in his eye.
He turned to her to speak and then turned immediately back to locate his room. Michelle smiled as she watched him go.
“Sometimes, I think he still likes you.”
“Really?”
“Maybe.”
“Anyways, I’ll see you later. I’ll call and tell you what I’m gonna do, okay?”
“Alright. Talk to you then, Chell.”
“Talk to you then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
They hugged once more before returning to their separate rooms.
“Alright, Eric, since we’ll probably sell our old apartment, I’ll be calling you up at your place any day,” Darlene said as she walked side-by-side with Eric.
“I’ll be awaiting your arrival, Miss Darlene,” he said.
They arrived at the door to her and Kim’s room where Eric suddenly knelt on one knee and took Darlene’s hand, kissing it softly.
“Until then, my lady, I shall count the stars.”
“No need,” she laughed.
“Alright. Take care ‘till then, kid,” he said, doing his best American accent as he stood up with a laugh.
“I will,” she promised.
For a moment, Eric gazed into her eyes long and hard, seeing past their hazel colour and behind Darlene’s tough front. Eric melted in her presence. It wasn’t love – he knew that much, as did she – but it was a connection. She smiled her child-like smile and Eric grinned back. Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck. It took him a moment to realize what was happening but he returned the hug, holding her around her waist for the duration of the embrace.
Once they split apart, it went quiet between them. Eric clapped his hands awkwardly a couple times before realizing he was supposed to be returning to his room. Darlene watched him with a chuckle.
“Alright. See you, then,” he said.
“Yeah, see you, Eric.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
“Bed time,” Kim said, walking by and grabbing Darlene by the arm, dragging her into the room. “We have interviews booked from now until the record release, and I’ve also booked you some mod clubs until then. We all need our rest.”
Darlene waved to Eric as the hotel door closed. Eric laughed as he walked away. Kim peeked her head out for a moment after he walked away to make sure all the girls were getting ready for bed. Mary and Keith were still in the hallway, taking their time as they walked down.
“Mary, bed. We have a busy day tomorrow!” she called.
“Be right there, Kim,” she replied.
“Alright.”
With that, Kim returned into her and Darlene’s room and continued changing for bed.
Mary, however, continued her slow walk alongside the limping Keith.
“So, I guess you’re a changed man now an’ everythin’.”
“I guess so.”
“Why though? What happened to you after you broke yer leg that made you change your heart?”
“I dunno, really. I was sort of thinking – or maybe dreaming, I’m not sure – and I just realized how pointless it was. I mean, everyone gets through or fails by themselves and with the people who are supposed to help them. I mean, if you really want something or you really want to do something, then people who don’t like you aren’t gonna stop you. Most likely either you’re gonna stop yourself or you’re gonna be stopped by someone who is supposed to help you get there who isn’t doin’ their job right, you know what I mean?”
“Sort of.”
“Well, I never stopped you getting ‘ere. The only people who could stop you are either Darlene, Michelle, Kim, or that bloke who used to be yer manager, or yourself. I mean, it goes for everyone, but especially with you,” he said with a laugh.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mary scoffed jokingly.
“It means yer stubborn,” he said as they stopped in front of his door.
“S’pose I am a little. . .stubborn.”
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing though. It ‘elped you and the band get ‘ere, didn’t it? Just gotta be careful who you’re getting rude with, that’s all.”
“So you’re a wise man, now? Sprouting bits of advice and helpful prose?” she asked with a chuckle.
“I don’t know. You don’t have to take my advice if you don’t like it; I’m just trying to be nice.”
“Oh, you are?”
“Yeah. Quit bein’ snappy with me, eh?”
Mary froze and looked down at the ground for a moment. She hadn’t realized she was being rude; she honestly didn’t know. She glanced back up at him seeing his blue eyes waiting for a reply.
“I’m sorry, Keith. I don’t even realize I’m doing it sometimes. I don’t mean it all the time.”
“It’s alright, you can always work on that. Anyways, hey, come to Eric’s house, alright?”
“It seems everybody’s gonna be going to Eric’s house.”
“Well, he bought a big house for a reason and, knowing Eric, it wasn’t to have all the room to himself. He wants people to stay there for a bit and live with him. Lad doesn’t like being alone.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t. I’ll think about going. I guess everyone will be going anyways, but first we have some stuff to work on. We’ve got an album to launch in a few days, we’re booked with concerts every night – I’m serious about that, we have I think three concerts at three different venues one evening – we’ve got magazine interviews every day, and I think we’re recording a new single one day too. We’ll probably have to stay in a hotel for now, then we’ll have to go back to our old place, since we still have our stuff there, but after we release the album, we’ll see.”
“Alright. I look forward to it, then.”
“Great, can’t-”
Keith planted a kiss on her lips quickly before opening up his hotel room.
“-wait. What was that for?”
“I don’t know, I just thought it’d be nice.”
“Was it nice for you?” she asked as he entered his room.
“Yeah. How about you?”
“It was good.”
“Only good?” he asked with a laugh.
She laughed in return.
“See you, Keith.”
“Bye, Mary.”
“Bye.”
Mary smiled to herself as she entered her and Michelle’s room. Michelle was just changing and noticed her walk in.
“Oh, ‘ey.”
“Hey,” Mary replied.
“Alright?”
“Of course.”
“You look dazed or something.”
“I’m alright.”
“Alright,” Michelle said, not in the mood to argue with the master debater.

The next few days were just as busy as the girls imagined. First thing in the morning, they ate breakfast on the way to the interview. They didn’t see the boys; the maids were cleaning their rooms out as they left, and they weren’t downstairs at breakfast. The girls checked out, carried their stuff into the car and finished pieces of toast as they were driven to the magazine offices.
It went much like the last one. Kim discussed with the interviewers about what they wanted, the interviewers asked them questions and, though they listened to Kim, they also prodded slightly out of the given safe territory, but not so far out of it that it was caught. The girls noticed, though Kim didn’t, and they didn’t answer when the interviewers tried to get more out of them. They were too smart for that.
They played two clubs that evening, only now instead of being announced as simply ‘the Rag Dolls’, they were ‘the Rag Dolls who had just returned from a tour of America and the UK, had released a single, and were releasing an album.’ The crowds went crazy when they heard that. The mods danced and had fun, just like they always did before they left. A new feeling existed in place of the ‘humble band struggling to pay the rent’. It was ‘success story’.
The next day, they were in the recording studio to record a new single. Michelle was searching through songs she had written while on tour, trying to find something worth recording. Mary and Darlene joined her in the control room.
“Find anything we can use?” Mary asked as she walked over to the desk filled with papers.
“Maybe,” Michelle said as she picked up another loose leaf of paper.
She stopped on it for a moment, her eyes stuck on the words. It was typed out neatly in black ink on nice paper. She recognized it the moment she picked it up.
“Sid helped me write this,” she said, gazing longingly at the sheet.
Mary and Darlene glanced at each other, knowing where this was going already.
“I wrote the verses, and he wrote the chorus. It was brilliant. He always let me use his typewriter when I wanted to type something out. We should record this. It’s great,” she said, showing it to her friends.
“You miss him, huh?” Darlene asked, taking the sheet of paper out of her hands.
“Of course I do. He’s a good man, plain and simple. He’s a good friend, a good writer and musician, and a good person.”
“But is he the greatest?”
“Yes. Yes, he is. He’s the greatest to me.”
“I’ll believe the writer bit at least. You two work really well together when it comes to writing,” Mary stated, reading over Darlene’s shoulder.