***
“What-sup rock stars!” Joe’s younger sister, Hannah, barged in through the garage side door. She was laden down with a rucksack, two holdalls and a plastic tool box. Closely followed by Helen.
Hannah was enrolled on to a beauty course at the local technical college. Regularly taking advantage of the free styling offered by the trainee beauty technicians and hairdressers. As a result, her hair was a different colour and style every week. Severely over plucked eyebrows had to be drawn back on each morning. Make up applied that excessively, her bedtime skin cleansing routine took a good thirty to forty-five minutes. Not quite working out the teenage cycle of more make up equals more spots equals more make up. Today her hair was peroxide blonde with a long pink strand down her back like a rat’s tail.
“I’ll start with you Badger.”
Hannah pulled out a chair for him to sit on. Sitting down, he slapped his thighs and then beckoned for her to sit on his lap. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips as she walked towards him, as if expecting she would give him a kiss. Quickly retrieving a lipstick from her toolbox, she whipped it around his mouth.
“What have you done?” Baulking at the taste on his lips.
“Made you look like the girl you are!” she laughed in his face. “Here.” Offering him a tissue to wipe away the red smear.
“You’re not doing any of that shit on me,” Jonny announced. Picking up his guitar, he retreated to the corner of the room, brandishing it like a weapon.
Helen went across to him and hung her arms around his neck. “Yeah you’re gorgeous just the way you are.” Planting a firm kiss on his lips.
He extricated himself a bit too forcefully from her ownership of him and went back to waxing his guitar.
Standing there like a lemon for a few seconds she then strode towards the hair styling bag Hannah had brought and rummaged around in it noisily. She had better things to do than wait for her supposed boyfriend to reciprocate the compliment. She’d still not really forgiven him for the bandana incident. There had certainly been no grovelling apology from him. As usual with Jonny he didn’t seem to see what all the fuss was about.
“Fucker!” she cursed under her breath.
“I’m not ashamed of flaunting my femininity.” Simon boasted as he sat himself down in the chair and winked at Hannah. “Bit of eye stuff if you don’t mind, sexpot.”
Having put Badger in his place, Hannah fluttered her purple eyelashes in response, revealing the graduating mauve through pink to gold eyelids. Puffing out her chest, she sidled up to Simon, before bending over to apply and then fashionably smudge a line of smoky black eyeliner under his bottom lashes. Helen could see he was getting an eyeful of the contents of her pink balcony bra.
“Are you coming to watch tonight H?” he asked without moving his gaze.
Helen nearly replied, then realised he wasn’t talking to her. “H” was what he used to called her and now he was calling Hannah that.
“They’re all fuckers!” she cursed again to herself.
“What was that?” Simon tried to get Helen to repeat what he thought he’d heard.
“Nothing.” Walking purposefully up to him with a can of hairspray. “Just gonna sort out that mop of yours.” She pushed his fringe to one side and ferociously sprayed the can over his hair and down his face.
“Shit!” That went right in my eyes and… pleugh,” he started spitting, “all in my mouth.”
“Sorry. Yeah, not nice is it…,” she turned grinning from ear to ear.
Badger turned to Joe. Gesturing his head back towards Helen and Simon. “Bet that’s a private joke!”
Joe looked confused and then his eyes widened and mouth dropped open when he realised what Badger was insinuating.
“I told you something happened between those two last year, when her and Jonny weren’t seeing each other.” Badger mouthed with skills a ventriloquist would admire.
Hannah carefully wiped the hairspray off Simon’s face with some damp cotton wool and ruffled his fringe so it would move naturally again. “There.” Standing back to admire her work before turning her attention to her brother. Simon giving her a slap on her backside as she did.
“Keep your hands to yourself.” Joe was clearly not pleased with Simon’s actions against his little sister. Fortified by his recollection of Simon's misdemeanour with Helen last summer.
Simon just sneered, in the cocky way that now irritated not just Jonny but Helen and Joe too.
Simon’s father honked the van horn outside the garage to signify his arrival.
Good timing thought Jonny.
***
After unloading the small amount of kit they were allowed to bring to the Marquee, the boys from Crash hung around watching the Crazy Horse crew setting everything up. They had to keep out of the way and knew they couldn't ask for any favours. Karma Life didn’t turn up until 4pm and kept themselves to themselves. The sound check seemed a little confusing to Crash, but they got the all clear from the sound engineers and just went with it. By 7pm all the waiting around had got to them and they felt their nerves getting to them.
“Hi guys.” Shelley appeared from left stage. “You all set then?”
She was looking a little dishevelled. Jonny wondering which of the crew or Crazy Horse band members had got her that way; looking around but not identifying any suspects. The crew were generally a scruffy lot anyway. Life on the road seemed to take it out on their appearance. They thought themselves lucky when they had chance to put their clothes into a serviced launderette. Free tour t-shirts were classed as a welcome bonus.
“Not sure,” Jonny replied, looking at the rest of the band for reassurance, but they were worryingly quiet.
Their new set hadn’t gone according to plan at the university and whilst they had practiced it again since, it had made them a little wary. Especially with the significance of tonight adding to the pressure.
“Look, this is no different to any other gig you’ve done. Hell, you’ve even done this gig before.” She was trying to motivate them but the fake looking smile at the end of her speech wasn’t enough to hide her obvious concern. “Okay. Get yourself to the dressing room, there’s a bottle of JD back there. Do a couple of shots, and get your head into gear.” She clapped her hands together to hurry them on their way.
They didn't need any encouragement. Jack settled their nerves and their thirty minutes was over before they knew it. No mistakes, no hiccups and best of all no heckling. After their performance they went to the public bar, bringing their beers back to the main hall to watch the other support band, Karma Life.
Laughing and joking with relief, Jonny was instantly silenced when he looked up onto the stage. It was shrouded in blackness and with the slow deliberate chop of a guitar the overhead lights strobed then fixed brightly, illuminating the lead singer from behind. Her aura glowing deep gold and bright white. Through the sheer fabric of her full length clothing he could see the outline of her body and long slender limbs. Rocking hypnotically from side to side.
Karma Life’s mesmerising set was an emotional rollercoaster. Delicate ballads gave way to carefree rock songs that lead into heavy guitar thrashing masterpieces and back again.
Jonny was transfixed. Rooted, mouth slightly open and cramp developing in his hand from clutching his beer glass too tight. Why had he not known about them before now? Sure, he had heard of them, but not paid much attention. To them. To her. He hadn’t really noticed her this afternoon either when they were setting up. Who was she? He couldn’t even recall her name.
When their set ended Jonny found a shelf to dump his flat beer and drew his finger and thumb to his lips to let out a screeching whistle. Without thinking about what he would do when he found her, he went backstage. She had vanished. The rest of Karma Life just shrugged when asked where she’d gone. All he managed to discover was a name. Eliza.
They were on the road tomorrow. Surely they’d all be travelling together? He couldn’t remember the itiner
ary details as they seemed irrelevant at the time. Just he was to be at Badger’s for ten o’clock. Enough time to get to HMV on the high street when it opened to procure one of the Karma Life’s cassettes to play on his Sony Walkman.
***
All the bands were at the theatre waiting in the pit patiently for the sound check call.
Eliza had noticed Jonny staring at a few times and she was intrigued. He looked cute. There he was again, watching her out of the corner of his eyes and predictably when she lifted her head he immediately looked down to his guitar. Feeling in a mischievous mood, she crept over, catching him unawares. Not even flinching when he nearly fell off the corner of the table he was perched on. She stopped a couple of inches away and placed her hands onto his knees. Leaning in, she fixed her seductive gaze on him, parted her lips and slowly breathed, “do you wanna fuck?”
Obviously not expecting her to say that, the look on his face was one of total shock. That’s just what she had intended. Before he could come up with any response, she turned her back on him and slipped back to the rest of Karma Life.
Suddenly, she felt mean. She didn’t mean to embarrass him. Getting up close to him she felt something; and wow did he smell good. She looked back to where he had been sitting to perhaps give him a smile or blow him a kiss. A sign that she had just been messing about, to make retribution for embarrassing him. But he’d gone.
Chapter Seven
The last gig on the tour went as well as the first. Overall the British leg was deemed a resounding success. The music critics wrote positive things about Crash.
“For their first tour, they held their own.”
“Big up for London’s own. They certainly ‘Crash-ed’ onto the scene.”
“Crash to be the next big British rock band.”
Back in Fulham everything seemed different. Jonny went home and to his bedroom wondering if the other guys felt the same. It had only been a few weeks but everything felt smaller and more juvenile. Home life was intrusive and controlling, whereas previously it had just been boring and comforting. He missed his family when he was away but now was keen to get on tour again.
Jonny had persuaded Simon to ring Shelley to suggest they follow Karma Life onto Ireland, but she insisted on using the local bands she had already lined up in each country.
Interest in Crash had catapulted, they were finally getting calls from agents and journalists. Simon’s father got involved again and they settled on a deal with AP Records. An American record company based in Los Angeles that had already signed Karma Life to their label. They reckoned the Crash image would go down well in the States and the boys were ecstatic. It was everything they had ever dreamed of.
A London based representative would handle the relationship with Crash, Joanne, another ballsy woman like Shelley. She was just the mother-like, no nonsense figure the band needed. She stopped any bickering and held Simon’s father at a distance. They knew where they were supposed to be and when and what they had to do once they got there.
***
They stood looking at each other for a good few minutes. Badger was at the drum kit in the solo booth deafening them with an intense improvisation, arms and sticks flying wildly, his head and legs banging in unison.
“Go Badger!” yelled Jonny.
Simon let out a long loud whistle. They all started laughing. God it felt good.
The studio mixer turned on his microphone. “Let’s get to it.” His voice reverberating around the studio. Pulling his greying hair back into a ponytail was the indication that he was getting down to business. He then concentrated on twiddling the myriad of knobs and switches on the panel.
“Time is money,” added Joanne, settling into a squidgy leather chair next to the mixer. “We need your debut album out there. Pronto.”
They were guided through the process and managed to lay down one decent track that first day, and three by the end of the week.
The pressure was on, as the record label wanted to release something that could reference their recent tour with Crazy Horse. The PR machine was already on it and time was of the essence. Joanne was confident they would meet the deadline.
Chapter Eight
Helen was meeting Jonny tonight. A casual invitation on his part that she insisted he kept. She had hardly seen him in the last few months. He had been constantly with the band - either rehearsing at Badger’s, in the studio or gigging in and around London. Having turned up on many occasions, she was annoyed at the way he would act indifferently towards her. Sure, she could understand the band had deadlines, but she feared she would lose Jonny if she didn’t try a different tack. In an attempt to make herself more alluring she refrained from contacting him at all for a week, focussing instead on her studies.
It seemed to work. A casual “do you want to meet up sometime” conversation when she bumped into him on the high street was met with her immediate answer. “Yes, Friday at 7pm. Pick me up.”
Helen had started back at school in September. Getting the results she needed in her O Levels meant she was now in sixth form. Her parents were pleased both about her educational achievements and also that she had been seeing less of Jonny.
They had met him a couple of times and he had been charming, of course, but he wasn’t the husband they had in mind for their daughter and wasn’t conducive to the life they had mapped out for her. Sixth form, University, Medical School, perhaps a year out with the overseas voluntary service at one of the projects their church supported, before settling into a position at a local hospital.
In fact, they actively discouraged her from seeing him. As far as they were concerned there was no need for a serious relationship with any man until she had her career sewn up. Especially a wannabe rock star.
Helen’s parents didn’t get married until they were in their late twenties, both having concentrated on their teaching professions first. Helen came along when her mother was thirty-five and having felt she had done her duty, Mrs Martin unilaterally decided one child was enough. Having older parents frustrated Helen. Having nothing in common with her generation and no appreciation of her dreams and desires. She thought them unbelievably strict in comparison to Jonny’s parents - embarrassing night spent at his house aside. As a result, she couldn’t confide in them or ask their advice on anything, and they certainly didn’t know she was going out with Jonny that night.
Jonny sounded his horn three times. Helen immediately ran out of the front door and down the garden path, flinging open the passenger door on the car and swiftly getting in.
“Hey gorgeous,” she greeted him with her usual adoration.
“What do you fancy doing tonight?”
“Not bothered Jonny. Whatever you want.” She bit her lip to stop the inclination to list the things she did and didn’t want to do.
“OK. How about we drive up to Camden? There’ll be something going on at the Palace.”
“Sure.” Helen nodded and settled into the leather seats of Jonny’s new purchase. A second hand three litre Ford Capri in bright orange. She was pleased she had got dressed up now.
Jonny put his foot down, wheels spinning away from Helen’s house. Petrol and tyre fumes invading the car.
“Don’t you trust me?” he laughed and winked as she hastily reached across to plug her seat belt in.
“Obviously not!”
Parking up on one of the side streets near the Camden Palace, they left the car and ran through the puddles to the night club. Jonny took Helen’s hand, leaping two steps at a time up the stairs to the entrance and past the enormous skin headed bouncers.
She felt like a rag doll but she also liked how confident Jonny had become. It made her feel breathless and heady. Being his girlfriend meant everything to her. Often fantasising about how life would be when they got married and he was a famous rock star. The beach front wedding; the Gucci gown; the diamond studded ring; the helicopters full of paparazzi circling overhead.
Helen shivered. There were cold droplets of rain
all over her bare arms and legs. It was warm in the club, but the relief was short lived as she breathed in the stale sweat and beer.
They forced a way through the crowd to the bar. Jonny ordered a pint of lager for himself and half a pint of lager and a splash of blackcurrant for Helen.
Turning his back on the bar to look over the scene, Jonny draped his arm casually around Helen’s shoulders, causing butterflies in her stomach.
She was wearing a skimpy black t-shirt dress that she knew hugged her developing curves. Her hair was permed and she had back combed it to a formidable height; held in place with the contents of a large can of hairspray. A cigarette end straying too close to her head would almost certainly set her alight and, with practically everyone in the club smoking, it was quite likely. Copious amounts of make-up were giving her the confidence she lacked. She didn’t think she looked out of place tonight at the side of an up and coming rock star.
Jonny hadn’t dressed up. He was clothed in his usual outfit of jeans, tight across his thighs and backside, and a close fitting black AC/DC “Blow Up Your Video” tour t-shirt. Just how she liked him looking.
“Hey up Jonny-boy,” called out a long haired, denim clad rocker. “The rest of you lot in tonight?”
“Dunno. Probz later.”
“Who’s this little beaut?” Gesturing his pint towards Helen, splashing her with some of the contents in the process.
“For fucks sake!” Helen spitted at him whilst looking up at Jonny for support.
“Calm yourself, love. It’s just a bit of the black stuff.”
The ageing rocker leant across to wipe the damage off her dress; Helen just grabbing his wrist before he touched her. Letting out a hiss to warn him off.
“No harm done.” Jonny jumped in obviously trying to avert a scene. “Another pint?”
Falling for his ANGEL_A Rock Star Romance Page 4
