His Little Drummer Girl

When Adrienne asked if Tre was Francesca's father, I slumped onto the sofa with my hands covering my face.

She knew.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked, looking over at her. She came and sat next to me putting her arm around my shoulders.

"It is to me," she said. "They are so alike. The same eyes and smile. The dates match too, don't they."

"Shit," I said. "Do you think anybody else has noticed it? Any of the guys?" I asked nervously.

"I wouldn't have thought so. They're guys after all. No, they've got a lot of stuff going on this weekend with the Milton Keynes gig and bumping into you again, so no, I doubt it. Billie hasn't mentioned anything to me. But you know Sammi, it's not going to be long before they do work it out. You're going to have to tell Tre. He has a right to know as does Francesca for that matter. Also, I don't keep anything from Billie Joe. We don't have secrets from each other."

"I know." My eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry for getting so upset, it's just hard for me to find the exact right moment to do it. I've definitely made up my mind that Tre should know. I know that. I think I'll wait until the gig is over before I tell him though. I don't want to rock the boat and I know this gig is a huge thing for them."

"What about Francesca?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe I'll tell her when we get home. The school is closed next week for a holiday so that gives me some time to sit down with her and explain it all." I sighed, knowing I had a huge task ahead of me.

"I think I'm worried about how they are going to react more than anything," I said to Adrienne. "Not necessarily Tre's reaction, as I haven't been able to contact him, so that's fairly understandable. It's Francesca. There's been loads of times when I could have told her about her father, but it's difficult. As she got to the right age to learn about her father, she fell in love with the band he plays in. She'll probably never forgive me."

"You can't keep it a secret forever, that's all I'm saying," Adrienne said gently. "Someone will get hurt. I remember when the guys came back from England after they'd met you. They all loved you. Mike and Billie were convinced that you and Tre would be together forever. Nobody could believe that you lost touch like that. Do you know the lengths they went to trying and find you for Tre? Tre even turned up on your doorstep at that old rented house, but you'd long gone. He tried to get in touch with your sister and the schools wouldn't give out anybody's name or address. I know it's hard to imagine, but he lost a little of his spark after he lost you. One day he even said it was as though you'd died."

I couldn't believe I was hearing this. Tre came looking for me. Why couldn't he find me?

"It was the same for me," I spoke. "When the paper that he wrote on got caught in the washing, I thought, 'Hey, that's fine, don't worry, he's got your number too.' But never heard from him. I gave him my address and phone number. He had a little envelope with photographs of our time together, too. What happened to all that?"

"They lost his luggage on the plane," said Adrienne. "He had loads of expensive equipment, cameras and walkman etc. but all he was worried about was the photos of you." She smiled. "Boy, did he give the airline hell."

I laughed then.

"Actually he still has got a couple of photos of you. Those booth ones where you get four on a strip. Black and white ones, I think."

"Like this?" I said, bending to my handbag and pulling out two pictures that originally came from a strip of four. They were of Tre and myself making faces at the camera. Clearly having a great time and obviously in love.

"Yep. He's got the other two to match. Keeps them in his wallet, I believe."

At that moment there was a knock at the door. Adrienne went to open it and it was Billie. They whispered quietly at the door.

"You OK?" asked Billie, coming into the room and over to where I was sitting. He had his hands in his pockets as usual and looked just like a little schoolboy.

"Yep, I'm fine, thanks Billie," standing up and giving him a hug.

"Right. Good. That's settled- everyone is hungry and Mike and Charlie have gone off to get us something. Come on, let's go get it," and he grabbed me and Adrienne's hands and we walked off down the corridor to get something to eat.

Francesca and Tre- alone in the music room...
... I can't believe that I just asked Tre about my Mum. He looks really embarrassed now. I wish I'd never asked.

"Well, let's see," said Tre, still swinging about on the chair.

"Think it was about 1992," he said, playing it cool. "We met in a pub where we were gigging. She brought us drinks and offered for us to stay at her house for a couple of weeks as she knew we didn't have anywhere else to go. She really looked after us," he said, his mind reminiscing. "Cooked, cleaned, even washed my socks!" he said, lifting his foot in the air to reveal black and white checked socks. "She was very kind to us, but we kinda lost touch. That's it, really. Not much else to say about it. It's good to see her, though, and don't you go getting mad at her for not telling you about us," he said, pointing his drumstick at me. Tre went quiet for a while.

"How is your mum, anyway?" he finally asked. "Is she happy?"

"You never can tell with Mum. She's always busy doing things for other people. I think that makes her happy. She doesn't do enough for herself. I think she gets lonely so she keeps busy and she probably needs a boyfriend."

"None on the scene at the moment, then?" asked Tre, casually.

"Nope. I've only ever known her to have two boyfriends. They were awful. Took advantage of mum, but at least I don't think she had to wash their socks!" she laughed. Tre laughed too. They had the same laugh, but didn't even notice.

"Food's here!" shouted Mike, entering the room. Then everyone else started piling into the room to eat. Everyone sat round a huge table.

Sammi sat next to Mike. "How's your sister, Jen?" he asked.

"You remember Jen?" I said. "Well, she's still with that pathetic Peter. They got married and had two boys. They're good kids, really, but just very stuffy like their father. They need to live a little."

Billie shouted across, "Didn't you have a thing for Sammi's sister? What was her name again? Jane?"

"Jen," Mike said quickly. "Yeah, we slept together, so what?"

"WHAT?" I said. "You slept with Jen? When? I don't believe you."

"That night she came to the gig and looked really hot. I couldn't resist." All the guys laughed. Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"You're kidding?" I said. "Jen was going out with Peter even way back then."

"Not for that night, she wasn't," said Mike. Everyone laughed again. I couldn't believe it of Jen. Wait until I speak to her.

Near the end of the meal everyone started mucking about throwing bits of paper around. Tre threw one over to me and it landed in my lap. I noticed it had some writing on it. "We need to talk," it simply said. I looked up and he looked back and winked...