Changes

Meanwhile, back at Gilman's Street, a young man with shaggy hair and a glinting nose ring showed a picture to the bartender.

"Have you seen this girl?"

The bartender squinted at the picture, then nodded.

"She was in here twice this week. I'll tell you, she has the most BEAUTIFUL voice I've ever heard."
"She SANG?"
"Oh yeah. Beautiful. Mark my words, that girl's on her way to become famous."

The bartender turned away to serve a woman sporting a neon green mohawk and her boyfriend, who looked somewhat like a banker.

"Famous..." the young man sneered, looking at the picture. "Not when I get my hands on you.

~~~

"Blondie...you're a real great guy, you know that?" Tony slurred, nearly tripped over her own feet.
"I know, Tony. Just be quiet, we're almost at the bus."

Robert looked at her, his face sad.

"Just relax, sweetie." He whispered, smoothing her hair back.

'How the hell had she fallen for Billie?' Robert asked himself. 'Why couldn't she see that he was just like Andie? He wasn't going to hang around after the tour, wasn't going to marry her. And then she'd be broken again, and he couldn't stand to see her sobbing as though her heart would break.'

And then Tom cursed.

"You guys...Billie and Mike are outside."
"Shit. Is there a back way in?" Robert asked. Blondie looked at him.
"A back way in to a tour bus?"
"Fuck, fuck, fuck."
"You know, remind me never to trust Tony when she says, 'I'm just going to the bathroom.'..." Tom stated as they shrank into the shadows.
"How many lines did she do? And who the hell sold her the cocaine?" Robert asked Blondie, who shrugged.
"I wasn't exactly IN the girl's bathroom. But the chick I talked to reckons she took too much."
"Great. So she overdoses?"
"Naw...Tony wouldn't..."
"She would." Tom said quietly. "She was feeling boxed in. The thing with Billie, and the record contract and now the pressure of performing..."
"No. That can't be it."
"Oh, come ON, Berto. We were all expecting something like this. The thing is, we were just stupid enough to think that when Billie brought her home wasted out of her mind that it was the worst of it."

There was dead silence, then Tony started laughing. Blondie shushed her, in the way only Blondie could. Then they looked at each other in despair.

"How the fuck can we sneak her in there? They can't see her like this."
"Shit, Berto, there isn't any other way." Tom said, and started ruffling his hair nervously. Then he slipped an arm around Tony's waist, hoisting her upwards and looping her arm over his shoulder.
"We're screwed, aren't we?" Blondie asked. Tony cracked up.
"WHY, YES WE ARE!" She bellowed.

~~~

"Did you hear that?" Mike stood up, looking around suspiciously.
"No...what'd you hear?" Billie chucked his cigarette away.

And then they saw a massive, four person lump wobbling its way down the lane. One part of the lump was slightly separate, while two parts of the lump were supporting the fourth part.

"Who the fuck is that? Is that the Dolls?" Mike asked. Billie shrugged.
"Can't tell yet."

But as they drew closer, the truth became all too clear. Robert was stalking ahead, looking harried. And Tom and Blondie were supporting a wasted Tony, who was laughing and babbling nonsense.

Mike and Billie stared, transfixed by the sight before them. Then they dashed down the road.

Tony was out of her mind. She was half-singing, half-talking nonsense. Billie hoisted her up. And she struggled against his touch, pushing him away.

"What did she take?" Mike demanded. Blondie sighed.
"Cocaine...at least, we think it was cocaine."
"Get her inside." Mike ordered.

Tre gawked as they brought her in, video game momentarily forgotten.

"Billie, is she-"
"High off her ass? Yeah."

Tre cursed and leapt into the driver's seat. Blondie opened his mouth, but Tre shushed him.

"Tonight, it's on me. You. You need to worry about you're bandmate."

~~~

After about an hour of them all bustling around the bus, Billie kicked Tony's clearly exhausted bandmates out of the big bedroom, and told Mike to get some sleep.

"Billie...do you really want to do this?"
"She did it for me."

Mike smiled, and punched him on the shoulder.

"You're a great guy, Billie."

~~~

Tony alternatly burned with fever and shivered with chills. Billie forced her to drink some water, then stripped off her skin-tight outfit. It took him a full fifteen minutes to fight her into one of his oversized Operation Ivy t-shirts.

And then, all of a sudden, Tony stopped struggling, and just looked at him out of fevered eyes.

"Why are you doing this?"

Billie paused, holding a wet facecloth against her forehead.

"Because you remind me..."
"Of Adrienne?" She asked shrewdly. Billie shook his head.
"Of everything I still have to live for."

She sank back against the bed, but showed no signs of falling asleep. Billie mopped her forehead again, the smiled almost bitterly.

"When Adrie and the boys died...I wanted to shoot myself in the head. I wanted to just die. Because it should have been me in that car."
"Its not...you're fault."
"You see, people say that. But it doesn't help."

He ran the cloth down her cheek and she smiled.

"I thought there was never going to be another woman who made me feel the way Adrie did. And then I met you."
"I don't even...I don't look..." She gasped out. Billie put a finger to her lips, fully aware of how cheesy the gesture was.
"I know. But the way you laughed, the way you moved, reminded me of her. I could pretend, even for a little while, that you were her. But when you spoke, when you played, you weren't even in the same ballpark as Adrienne. You were in a league all your own.
"Maybe it's been just sheer curiosity that kept me after you. But after...that night, I just wanted to be with you. I want to take care of you, to kiss you, to keep you."

Tony didn't say anything for a moment. Then she smiled.

"You have the most...amazing...green eyes."

And then she kissed him. And fell asleep.

And he sat there all night, watching her sleep, and thinking about what she'd said. Or, more accurately, what she hadn't said.