9. Chapter Nine
S helly leads us out the back into a dressing room. A few girls come in from their stage sets while others walk out for theirs. She leads me through to a hallway lined with closed doors. A big door with an exit sign is at the end of the hallway. We come to the second door down and a sign saying Pink Room hangs down in the centre, near where Shelly knocks.
A female voice yells out to come in. Shelly turns the doorknob, smiling as she pulls me into the room.
I take in my new surroundings. They weren't kidding when they said it was a pink room. A couple of makeup mirrors line the back wall. Couches sit in the middle of the room with a beautiful white coffee table separating them. A kitchenette sits off to the side of the room, well stocked by the looks of things. There are four girls each in different stages of getting ready around the room.
A short girl with black hair and pixie cut is bent over at the mirrors applying a crimson shade of red to her lips. She looks like one of those pin-up girls just with a goth edge. It suits her.
There is another girl beside her sitting in her underwear looking at herself as she pins up her mousy brown hair on top of her head. She has a softer edge to her compared to the other chick. Kind of like a yin and yang. Two halves of a whole.
I glance over to the couches to where a chick is stuffing her face with the food in front of her. I hold back a chuckle as she looks up at us, smiling even though chocolate sits on her lip. I cannot relate to another human more than I do right now. She’s in a pair of high waisted dark acid washed jeans and a bralette. Her hair sits in a short bob around her cheeks.
The last girl is in a black skater dress. Pink curled hair falls over her shoulders. Her face instantly lights up as she sees us.
“Shelly!” she squeals as she runs up and embraces her tightly.
“Hello, my darling. I’ve got a very important person to introduce you to. This is Scarlett.”
The girl with the pink hair sucks in a deep breath and her head snaps in my direction. Her eyes are blown wide in disbelief.
The three other girls all pause what they are doing as they too snap their heads towards me. A mixture of emotions appear on their faces.
“It can’t be.” The pink haired girl finally chokes out.
“It sure is. Our girl is alive and she is home.” The smile that Shelly gives me is bright. Like she is proud to show me off. I’m not going to lie though, with this many eyes on me, I kind of feel like a deer in headlights.
“Shit you are right, Shell. Looks exactly like Rhodes.”
The brunette girl that was sitting down at the makeup table says as she gets up and moves towards us. She puts her hand out for me to shake.
“I’m Maxie Maraschino, like the cherry.”
She gives me a smile as she turns to the girl with the pink hair who is just standing there gobsmacked still looking at me. Maxie nudges her with her elbow, knocking her out of her trance.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. It's just we’ve heard so many stories about you from everyone that it's just surreal that you are actually standing in front of me right now. I’m Brandy.”
Instead of shaking my hand like Maxie did, Brandy brings me into a tight embrace similar to the one she gave Shelly when we walked in.
“I can just tell we are going to be best friends.”
I chuckle but I can’t help but feel like she is right. Not for the first time today have I felt a sense of home and comfort in a person. It's obvious that I’ve never met Brandy before by the way she reacted to me. It's refreshing. Meeting so many people that knew you from before is daunting. I feel like I have some kind of expectation to live up to. One I’m worried I won’t.
But Brandy has that air about her that makes it impossible for you to not want to be around her. She reminds me of Grace in a way.
The girl that was sitting on the couch quickly gets up while wiping her hands on a towel.
“Oop, sticky,” she laughs, quickly finishing wiping her hands and throwing the towel back onto the table.
“I’m Jan.” Jan extends her hand to shake mine but thinks better of it and gives me a quick hug.
The pin-up girl finally makes her way over to me. There’s a hardness in her eyes. Like she has seen some shit.
She extends her hand to shake mine.
“Hi doll, I’m Rippy.”
She squeezes my hand much tighter than the normal female handshake instantly reminding me of two males trying to assert dominance. I silently scoff at her alpha bullshit. Rippy eventually steps away and crosses her arms over her chest. I turn from her to not let her get under my skin like she clearly wants to.
“So, Scarlett, we've heard so many stories about your voice from Rhodes and it just so happens that we need a new singer. Think we could get a little sample?”
A deep chuckle sounds behind me. I turn and face Rippy who is just shy of pissing herself laughing at Brandy’s question.
“I don’t know Brandy. I think this Aussie Sandra Dee is a bit too pure to be a Pink. I don’t really feel like playing some Taylor Swift bullshit.”
“Hit me with a song then Rippy,” I snark, crossing my arms over my chest. While I’m not a massive Taylor fan, the girl does have some bangers.
The sinister smirk I get in reply tells me all I need to know about her. She is way too comfortable being a grade A bitch.
“I will give you something easy. All I Wanted by Paramore.”
My own lips turn up in a smirk.
Little do these girls know, the only thing that has stuck with me is my complete and utter obsession with Paramore. Some days I feel like their music was the only thing that kept me going through relentless therapy and doctor’s visits.
Not bothering with any further conversation, I begin to quietly sing the verse leading up to the chorus. I close my eyes to help keep me in the zone. I give a slight pause right before the chorus. Slowly, I open my eyes again, looking directly at Rippy I suck in a deep breath and sing. Her eyes bug out of my head at her surprise at just how well I can hit the high notes.
Yeah, how’s that for this little Aussie Sandra Dee. Fuckhead.
Once I finish the last note, I take a deep breath and look around the room.
All the girls have shocked but impressed expressions across their faces. Brandy starts jumping up and down clapping.
I’m brought into a big hug. Shelly holds me tight to her as she hiccups through low sobs.
“Oh, my girl. Your voice has just gotten more beautiful with age. You must get up on that stage and sing for us. I won’t be letting such raw talent be wasted.”
Her compliments bring the biggest smile to my face.
“Thank you, Shelly. There’s no way I wouldn’t get up on that stage,” I say with determination. Any shred of nervous energy dissipated the moment I sang that first word in front of them.
“Well shit Australia. I’m impressed.” Maxie stands up and pulls me over to the lounges to sit.
“What other songs do you know? You’ve got to come up on stage tonight with us. It would be the best welcome home you could have,” Jan says right before she goes back to hooking into the food spread out on the table.
“I will leave you girls to it then. Scarlett, my girl, if you need me, I will be floating around the club somewhere, but I trust these girls. You’re in good hands here. Remember ladies, show time is in 30 minutes.” Shelly gives each of us a kiss on our cheeks. With one last look at me before she walks out the door she turns around and says, “It's so good to have you home, my girl.”
The girls and I sit down and organise a small set of songs to play tonight. We decide on five songs. Starting with Nobody’s Home by Avril Lavigne, Gasoline by Halsey, U + Ur Hand by Pink, GAY 4 ME by G Flip and Lauren Sanderson that both Maxie and I will sing together. Rippy eyed me when I agreed to sing it with Maxie. It's clear the girl isn’t my biggest fan, but fuck her.
We then decide to end with Decode by Paramore . Working out what songs to sing that we all know is fucking hard. We all promise to sit down before the next gig and organise a better setlist. Ideas of songs already start swirling around in my head.
“So, Scarlett, tell us the goss. Is there a man or woman in your life?” Brandy asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
“Well, I mean there were a few guys I met back home. Funnily enough they are from America too,” I reply. A pang goes through my body at the memory of the boys and the absolute mess it's now in.
“Tell me more, tell me more.” Brandy leans over and puts her head in her hands. Her face is eager as she looks up at me. I can’t help but chuckle.
“So, there were these five guys. So goddamn cute.” I reminisce, trying to ignore the pain in my chest.
“I was swimming down at the beach from my house on the night of my eighteenth birthday. Suddenly, these guys just come bounding into the water and lift me out and carry me back to the shore. Complete show-offs. ”
“Was it love at first sight?” Brandy asks with stars in her eyes.
“How much dough did they spend?” Jan asks with a wink.
“Ugh, they sound like a drag,” Rippy says, rolling her eyes.
I snort, shaking my head.
“It was honestly the best summer of my life. I mean things are a little bit different over in Australia with how our holidays all work, but it was magic. We hung out basically every day.”
“So did you hit it?” Rippy asks as she imitates giving a blow job.
I roll my eyes.
“I mean…” I pause, letting the innuendo catch. The girls all squeal and begin peppering me with more questions. “It wasn't just about that though. They genuinely wanted to get to know me.”
“There ain’t no such thing.” Rippy shakes her head at me as she begins filing her nails.
“It was romantic. It was the best few months of my life.” My mood turns sombre, remembering how it ended.
“Then I guess it started to turn cold and they had to come back home. They promised to keep in contact, but I still haven’t heard from them. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
“True love and they barely laid a hand on you, sounds like a bunch of creeps to me.”
“Well they weren’t.” I snark back. She can think what she wants but I know them. Well, I think I do. Or did.
“Well, tell us their names. Do you have any photos with them?” Maxie asks as they all lean in waiting for me to reply. Rippy even leans over slightly .
I pull out my phone, opening up my photo album and clicking on a folder full of our photos. I find the first photo we took together. I tilt my phone so they can all see.
“Dawson and Nicky Zelko, Dacre Miller, Sonny Martinez and Pike Taylor,” I say, pointing at each of them.
Maxie, Jan and Rippy start laughing at me as Brandy just sits there with her mouth dropped.
“What? What’s wrong?’ I ask, confused at their reaction.
Rippy shushes Maxie and Jan to stop laughing and glares at them for a second before turning back to me and pasting a fake smile on her face.
“Well, they sound perfect and maybe if you believe in miracles, your prince charmings may show up again someday. Someplace unexpected.”
I frown at her words but she doesn’t give me another moment’s notice as she turns away and calls out, “Now come on girls, we’ve got a show to put on.”
I shake myself out of the strange moment as Brandy grabs my hand and begins to pull me through the hallway to the back of the stage.
The lights are blinding on the stage as I walk up to the microphone. I guess it kind of helps with the bit of stage fright I began to get backstage. I learn that Jan plays the drums, Rippy plays the lead guitar, Maxie plays the bass guitar and Brandy is on the piano.
“Ladies and gentlemen. We have a little surprise for you tonight.”
Rippy says into the microphone as she turns to look at me.
“All the way from Australia, please welcome Scarlett!”
The crowd that has slowly trickled in since we have been out the back, cheers for me.
That nervousness that I thought I brushed off earlier is back ten-fold. I consider making a run for it and vowing to the girls I will sing another night but I’ve already committed. The setlist is already sorted and the girls are waiting for me to take it away.
I suck in a breath and lift up the microphone to my lips. Here goes nothing.
“This first song is called Nobody’s Home . Sing along if you know it.”
There is a little shake to my voice as I introduce the first song. I quickly brush it off, not wanting it to transfer into the song. The less shit I can give Rippy to nag on me with, the better.
Before I know it, the first song is done and the second song begins. The nerves I started to feel are almost non-existent now. My confidence continues to grow the more I sing.
I allow myself to move around the stage, getting a feel for the song. More people begin to gather at the front of the stage. It helps even more as I see them swaying and singing the words back to me. As I begin to sing U + Ur Hand , I venture out onto the platform that runs down to the pole. I look out into the crowd and see Rhodes with a few younger guys around our age all singing along with me. I give him a massive smile that he returns.
I look over to the bar and spot Shelly up on the bar singing into an empty vodka bottle. I shake my head at her. Its obvious she is sober but her I don’t give a fuck attitude helps fuel me.
As the song finishes, I give a little bow and return to the microphone stand.
“We are going to go a little different with this song. Maxie, come up here,” I say into the microphone as I motion for her to come stand up next to me. I begin to sing the first line into the microphone. I instantly hear cheers coming from the crowd as they all get into the song.
Maxie and I sing to each other and dance around the stage. I feel like I haven’t had this much fun in as long as I can remember.
I smile to myself. Something in my soul feels like it begins to heal. It may only be a fraction but it happens.