Please Don't Make Me Beg

Evan looked stunned, as if Adie had looked into his mind and seen his deepest secrets. As he eyed the petite woman warily, he could feel defensive anger rising in his chest, but to smart off to her would be to defeat the whole purpose for making the trip here. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't get the best of him, mentally and physically. She was quite confident, and the calm strength in her deep brown eyes disarmed him.

He spilled nervous laughter onto the tension that suddenly crept into the room--this was not going exactly as he had expected, that much was certain. "Well, I try to watch out for her, but she's kind of klutzy sometimes. She makes up for it by being a great bass player, though."

"Hmmm..." Adie gazed at him steadily, not attempting to hide her skepticism. "She's pretty talented, huh? Maybe we better see if we can get her signed up with one of our bands right away. We wouldn't want her having any more...accidents, would we?"

Andi was getting a weird vibe, and felt her face blushing furiously. Was this just a matter of girls sticking together? It was just too strange that Adie seemed to be directing her suspicion at Evan, and not Dan.

"Well, uh, we were hoping you might let us audition together, as a band. My brother, Craig, said he would see if you'd be willing to let us audition to do an EP for promotion."

"He did, did he? Well, Craig's one of our best engineers. If he says you're good, he's probably right. But I have to tell you, Adeline is a pretty tightly knit family, and we'll want to get to know you a little better before we commit to anything. Music is our business, but it's just one piece of the puzzle with us."

Dan, who was having a hard time hiding his amusement at Adie's handling of Evan, held up a finger to pause the conversation. "Excuse me, but I would like to say that I am completely and totally stoked to meet everyone here, and I'm dying to get my hands on the mixing board. However, if you'll pardon my forwardness, I need to partake of your gentleman's facilities before I embarrass myself."

Adie smiled and shook her head. He reminded her so much of another drummer she knew...

"No problem--I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Dan," he said, taking a bow.

"Sure, Dan. It's just down that hall, second door on the right."

Dan loped away, humming a Pinhead Gunpowder song under his breath, and Adie turned back to Andi. She crossed her arms and nodded approval. "Andi, I like your choice of fashion. I kind of get into that, as a sideline. When I'm not busy with my kids, of course. That seems to take up most of my time."

Andi blushed under the lovely woman's gaze. "I know, I really love the new clothing line. You did a lot of the designs yourself, didn't you?"

"I did, thank you!"

"I took a look at the catalog online. Joey looked great, by the way!" He had modeled several of the Adeline Street shirts, and looked so grown up for his age.

"Yeah, he's becoming quite the young man. He takes after his father a lot." Her voice trailed off a bit, and she looked lost in her thoughts, her eyes growing soft behind a veil of sudden sadness. Then, as quickly as it had come, she seemed to shake it away and refocus her attention on the young musicians in front of her.

Dan reappeared beside her, a big grin plastered across his face. "Man, you should see the speakers they've got mounted in there! If that's what's in the bathroom, the studio should be enough to make sure I never have children!"

They all trooped down to the engineering booth, and Dan and Andi finally got to meet the famous Craig. He and Evan shared a brotherly hug, and excitedly began to catch up on family news. As they talked, Adie took Andi's arm and guided her out into the hall.

"Hon, I don't mean to pry, but can I ask you a kind of personal question?" she asked, very kindly.

"Sure, I guess." Andi couldn't help trusting her already. She had such a gentle air about her, a kind of mothering quality that was soothing and sweet.

"How did you really get that?--" and she gestured toward Andi's blackened eye. "If you don't mind my asking."

Andi was suddenly embarrassed, as if the truth would make this lovely, self-assured woman lose respect for her somehow. She lowered her eyes toward the floor, searching for a way to explain what had been happening to her.

Adie's hand gently cupped her trembling chin and lifted it so she could see her eyes. "You don't have anything to be ashamed of, you know. You didn't do anything wrong."

Andi had missed the comfort of her mother's arms so badly that as she looked into Adie's kind, compassionate face, she felt a sudden rush of emotion and fell into her arms, trying to hold back the tears. Adie hugged her tight, patting the back of her head and stroking her hair.

"I don't know what happened, really. He got so angry at me. It's like he turned into a different person, like somebody I didn't even recognize. And then, he was all sweet and apologetic, and it seemed like everything was okay. But I know it really isn't. If he gets angry again, if something sets him off, I don't know what he'll do."

Adie held her for a moment, letting her pour it all out. Then she bent her head so that her lips were close to Andi's ear and whispered, "You're safe here, okay? I don't have time to explain everything, but your mom is on her way here with Billie. They called just before you got here, and they're sitting in his car not even a block from here, waiting for me to call and give them the word. You just stay here with me until I can let them know you're here. Everything's going to be okay."

Andi looked up at Adrienne in astonishment, gratitude shining in her eyes. So she had known, all along, and was going to be there to make sure Andi was safe.

"Thank you, so much. You really didn't have to do this for me," she said, wiping her eyes.

"Andi, I'm a mother, and if Joey or Jakob were in trouble, I'd certainly hope someone would do what they could to help them. Look, let's do this. You head back into the studio, and--"

The door to the studio opened, andDan quietly slipped out into the hall with them. Andi could tell he was anxious to tell her something, but with Adrienne there, he hesitated.

"I'm going to go make a phone call--" she finished, looking at Andi to emphasize her point, "and you just two hang out here for a few minutes and learn the ropes from Craig. I'll be right back."

As she turned to head back to her office, Dan looked back toward the studio door and then said, in a low voice, "I checked my voice mail, and your mom left a message for you. She's here in Berkeley, and wants you to call her so she can come and pick you up. And get this--she's with Billie Joe! What the fuck's up with that?"

Andi suddenly froze in horror. Her mind had been so preoccupied that one very important thing had failed to register with her until now. Her mother was with Billie--and she had a strong feeling that she could guess the story behind that unlikely coincidence. She felt a surge of anger and embarrassment at her mother, but this time it was coupled with a deep protectiveness toward her new friend.

How would it make Adie feel, if she knew that her husband had betrayed her with the woman she was trying to help?

Dan still stood looking at her with a puzzled expression on his face. There wasn't time to explain it all, and she didn't have the heart to try just now.

"It's a long story, and I'll tell you when this has all kind of quieted down, okay?" She felt a little nauseous, and wished somehow that this were all over, and she could just be at home in her room, alone with her music and her thoughts.

"Sure, no problem," he assured her, but he could tell there was a lot she wasn't telling him. "Do you need to use my phone to call your mom?"

"Well, this is part of that long story, but Adrienne is actually on the phone calling them right now."

"How did she--?"

"I know, like I said, I'll have to tell you as soon as we have time. It's really complicated, but it seems like my whole life is weird lately."

He shrugged, confused but patient, and put his arm around Andi's shoulder. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We've gotten this far, haven't we? You just concentrate on being cool, staying safe, and the rest is going to work out just fine. Trust me, baby--Dan is good, Dan is wise!"

She leaned her head gratefully against his shoulder. Her arm around his waist gave a gentle, friendly squeeze, and she felt for a moment that he was right. Adie was here, and so was Dan, and she would worry about Evan and her mother later.

She looked up to see Evan's face, scarlet with rage, staring out through the glass door of the studio, and her heart leaped into her throat. Behind him, she could see Craig struggling to hold his brother back, his arms locked tight around his chest, but Evan was nearly two inches taller and outweighed him by twenty pounds. Andi could hear Evan's furious shouts even through the thick glass.

She didn't think Craig could hold him back much longer.