In My Life
By Sindy Bradley
Some characters are based on real people but the names have been
changed
GCF is too lazy to go through and edit a story this long, so you'll
have to just live with any formatting problems from the email.
Chapter 1: Fading Through the Door Into Summer
April 20, 2001:
Teenage and preteen girls have quite a reputation
for having frequent
sleepovers, as many people know. Sometimes, bad things happen
at such
sleepovers; a pair or larger group of friends squabble and break up,
never
to speak to one another again, or a rumor about the exact reaches of
two
girls' friendship is started. But rarely do girls completely
disappear.
One warm April night, three friends decided
to meet for such a slumber
party. Liselle Jacobs and Alicia Branning, being staunch fans
of the 1960s
pop group the Monkees, were armed with their Monkees videos and CDs.
Athena
Jackson, being a good friend to the girls and semi-fan of the Monkees,
walked into Alicia's family's apartment with the understanding that
she
would most likely watch at least two different Monkees tapes.
The semi-adventurous girls spent part of their
afternoon exploring
alleyways and undiscovered parts of their middle school before heading
to
Alicia's place. Upon arrival, they settled down to snacking and
chatting
for hours.
After the start of one of Liselle's Monkees
tapes, Alicia suddenly dashed
off to her room, leaving her guests sprawled on the floor and the couch,
respectively.
"Aha!" Alicia's muffled voice sounded from
her room. She strutted back out
to the living room, holding something behind her back. Her friends
turned
to face her, Liselle raising one eyebrow and Athena incredulously pushing
up
her glasses.
"Aha what?" Liselle asked, pushing herself
a bit higher on her elbows.
Alicia merely smiled smugly, her face and demeanor radiating absolute
confidence to the point of arrogance. She shrugged.
"Guess."
"You finally found your missing brain." Liselle
replied, grinning. Alicia
shook her head.
"No!"
"Well, that was my guess." Liselle sighed,
rolling back toward the
television. Alicia cut her eyes and glared at her before turning
to Athena.
"Any guesses?"
"Nope." Athena monotonously replied.
Alicia rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Here."
Alicia whisked a withered looking monkey paw
from behind her back, holding
it up proudly. It really was quite ugly; the only reason that
Alicia had
was probably because of Monkees Episode # 51-The Monkees Paw.
In fact, it
seemed an exact replica of the infamous prop. Athena rolled her
eyes.
"Why?" she questioned plaintively. Alicia's
grin broadened.
"I found it for fifty cents at a garage sale.
Can you believe they didn't
want it?"
"Yeah." Athena affirmed. Liselle laughed
into her can of Coca-Cola, but
Alicia frowned.
"I like it, though. It looks just like
the one in the episode."
"Lemme see." Liselle requested, holding out
a hand. When she received the
dilapidated artifact, she shook her head. "Man, Alicia, that
thing is
ugly."
"That's half its charm." Alicia replied cheekily.
She settled into her
mother's recliner comfortably, tossing her head to knock her braided
pigtails over her shoulders. "Which episode are we watching?"
"'Captain Crocodile.'" Liselle replied, glancing
up at the TV screen and
chuckling at the sight of all four Monkees covered in pie. She
tossed the
monkey paw back to the hostess, who fumbled to catch it.
As Athena and Liselle concentrated on the
television, the wheels in Alicia'
s brain began to whirl. She studied the TV, her thoughts racing
to stay
ahead of one another as an idea formed. 'What if' floated about
in the mass
of thoughts as she thought out the logistics of safety. It could
work out.
"Hey, guys." She murmured, gripping her monkey
paw in both hands. Being
met with "Huh?" and "Wha?" she continued. "Let's go to another
dimension."
Her two compatriots turned slowly to stare
at her. Never before had their
resident daydreamer acted this insane. (Well, maybe she had a
few times.)
Athena and Liselle glanced at one another with varying degrees of
skepticism. Liselle wanted to go to another dimension as much
as Alicia
did, but she had more or less accepted the general impossibility of
it ever
happening and had set her sights on riches and fame. Athena was
all right
with staying where and how they were for the time being-and she would
have
greatly appreciated it if her friends would attempt to keep a hold
on the
last of their sanity.
"What are you talking about?" Athena asked,
returning to staring at Alicia'
s overjoyed expression. Alicia's eyes had taken on an almost
feverish
luster.
"We could go to the TV dimension."
Once again her fellow femmes glanced at one
another. "Alicia's story"
would be the easiest explanation to give the men in white coats when
they
came to get her. The story she had been working on diligently
since the
previous summer had finally flipped her out. The story in which
the three
of them disappeared into an alternate dimension inside the television
in
which the "TV Monkees" lived had finally gotten to her. Liselle
spoke
first.
"How?" she asked dubiously. Alicia held
up her monkey paw.
"This. We could make a wish-just like
in the story!!"
"It's just a story!" Athena piped up pragmatically.
Alicia nodded
distractedly.
"But what if it's not? What if it's
fate that I got this paw?" She sent
out a nonverbal plea to each of her friends. "Can't we at least
try? It
probably won't work, can't we try?"
A tense moment of silence followed Alicia's
desperate cajoling. Finally,
Liselle smiled indulgently at her closest friend. "What about
your mom?"
"If it probably won't work, she doesn't need
to know." Athena contributed,
also smiling slightly. Alicia's face broke into a gratified grin,
and she
held up her monkey's paw and settled down on the floor, preparing to
make
her wish.
"Oh, magic monkey paw-"
"We don't know if it's magic."
"-shut up, Athena. Oh magic monkey paw,
I wish we were inside the TV
dimension, living with the TV Monkees!"
"Notice she says 'TV' twice.'" Liselle added
jovially, grinning. The three
waited, their postures expectant and nervous. Unfortunately,
nothing
happened, and their shoulders sagged in disappointment. Liselle
and Athena
glanced at Alicia, who was grinning sheepishly and shrugging.
"Oh well. Knew it wouldn't work." She
offered weakly, standing back up and
walking back toward her mom's chair. She weakly tossed aside
the monkey paw
as she sat down. "Let's just watch the epi-"
Her sentence was cut off by a sudden, inexplicable
feeling of being picked
up and carried away, as well as a mental fog that descended on all
three
girls, dragging them into inky, unaware blackness.
Liselle Jacobs awoke on a soft
bed, her vision blurred and her brain
fogged. Where was she and what was she doing there? She
tried to sit up,
but it was impossible.
"We brought them, Mari." A deep, unfamiliar
voice sounded.
"Thanks guys. You've been a big help."
A more feminine voice answered.
"We had a bit of trouble knocking out the
one with the sandy hair. Too
strong."
"Preoccupations." Another voice added.
"What about Alicia?" The woman asked.
"Which one was that?"
"The one with the pigtails. Any troubles
with her Transformation?"
Liselle's vision began to clear and she could
vaguely see several people
standing around her. She squinted until she could make out that
three were
men and one was obviously a woman. Her main concern was the
"Transformation" the woman was talking about.
Liselle attempted to sit up,
only for her vision to black out and her head to swim. She settled
back
into her pillows, relieved that they were there.
"Yeah, a few troubles." One of the men answered.
"She's clinging. It'll
take her awhile to get past her childhood."
"What about the other two?" the woman asked,
her tone clipped,
businesslike.
"Liselle was easier to Transform than she
was to knock out, and Athena was
a medium Transformation." The second man contributed.
"Athena was satisfied." The third man, who
had yet to speak, tossed in.
"How do you learn their names so fast?" the
first man asked, his stern tone
changed to a jovial one. The other two men laughed.
"They do their research, Jared." The woman
responded curtly. "Now, no more
jokes, the girls are waking up."
"We have to explain, right?"
"Of course! You understand the Transformation
better than I do!"
"Don't pop a fuse, Maria, I was only joking."
The banter continued all around Liselle as
she reviewed what had happened.
They had been kidnapped and had some "Transformation" performed on
them.
One of the kidnappers was named 'Jared' and the mastermind was apparently
named 'Maria.' What was going on?
"Liselle." A gentle voice murmured beside
Liselle's ear. Liselle gasped
softly at the tickle of breath and the intrusion of a voice into her
thoughts. "Liselle, it's time for you to open your eyes."
The thirteen-year-old cautiously opened her
eyes, preparing herself for the
pain of bright light and swirling images. Fortunately, her vision
was clear
and the light in the room was dim, so Liselle opened her eyes fully,
staring
at the raven-haired young woman beside her.
"Hello, there." The woman said warmly.
"Jared had to do a few things extra
to put you under."
"Sorry about that." A tall, lean man with
the same black hair was standing
at the foot of the bed Liselle was laying on. "You had preoccupations."
"Preoccupations?" Liselle croaked, rubbing
her eyes. Jared nodded.
"It wouldn't have worked to Transform you
if you were awake." Another
black-haired man appeared beside Jared, smiling. "So we always
put the
person to sleep."
"Transform?"
"We'll explain when the others are awake."
Jared dismissed Liselle's
question with a wave of his hand. "James, attend to yours."
"Athena." James insisted, rushing to an unfamiliar-looking
woman's side.
Liselle was instantly alarmed.
"What'd you do to Athena? That's not
Athena! I-"
"Hush." The leading woman said softly, placing
her hand over Liselle's
mouth. "Don't alarm her."
A third man-who also had jet-black hair-appeared
from seeming nowhere,
rushing over to a third bed. "I'm sorry I'm late! I'll
wake her!"
Liselle watched, aghast, as two young women
somewhere in their early
twenties sat up in the beds beside her, staring around them in fear.
They
looked distinctly like the two friends Liselle had last seen at Alicia's
house, but the unfamiliar surroundings and the kidnappings could be
impairing her judgement.
"Liselle?" the darker of the two other women
asked, staring at Liselle with
wide eyes. "Is that you?"
"Of course it is!" Liselle responded, starting
to suspect now what
'Transformation' meant. "Athena?"
"Yeah?"
"Alicia?" Liselle called, leaning sideways
to see the third young woman.
She looked the most frightened of them all, but instead of avoiding
her
kidnapper, she was clinging to his neck, peering around nervously.
"What?"
"What'd you do?!" Athena said suddenly, also
turning to look at their
pigtailed partner. "First you wish on that monkey paw thing,
and now we're
all."
"Older!" Liselle finished with relish.
"We're older!"
"Don't sound so happy!" Athena shot back.
"Where are we? Why have we been
kidnapped? Alicia?!"
"I had no idea this would happen." Alicia
whimpered, clutching the neck of
the man beside her. "It wasn't like this in the story."
"All right, all right." The lead kidnapper
said suddenly, rolling her eyes.
"We'd best explain. We're in charge of giving you your wish."
"We're the Transformers." James piped up.
"But Maria isn't."
"I'm Maria, the Mistress of the Magical Monkey
Paw." The lady explained.
"I watch over the users of the Magical Monkey Paw, and usually, they
don't
need to see me. But, since you had such an unusual wish, I had
to get a
hold of my brothers, the Transformers."
"That's us." The Transformer holding Alicia
piped up. "Jared's the oldest,
James is the middle one, and I'm the youngest."
"Jacob." Maria added, smiling at her brother.
"Right."
"But I don't understand." Alicia asked.
"Why do I feel different than I
did before the wish?"
"Because you are." Maria concluded.
She stared at the somewhat blank faces
around her and illuminated further. "The wish was to live in
the television
dimension with the television Monkees, correct?"
All three of the wishmakers nodded.
"So, to live with them or to have any sort
of romantic relationship-Alicia
and Liselle-you would have to be of comparable age. So you were
Transformed
by my brothers."
"But I still don't get it." Alicia whimpered.
"I feel scared, and alone,
and I hardly know Jacob and yet I'm sitting-" she peeked downward "-in
his
lap."
"I feel kinda scared and alone." Liselle contributed,
looking from Alicia
to Maria. Maria nodded.
"Alicia is also very mixed up."
"And we're not?" Athena replied curtly.
Maria sighed somewhat patiently.
"I know you are, but when Alicia was Transformed,
Jacob had to perform a
few extra maneuvers to help her undergo the psychological change."
She
gestured for her brother to explain.
Jacob grinned sheepishly. "Well, Ms.
Branning, you've got
P.H.-psychological hang-ups. And because of P.H., it was difficult
to
Transform you-you were clinging to your childhood. So, I got
rid of one of
the hang-ups temporarily; I linked you and me, so you'd trust me and
let go.
But I." He trailed off, looking away from his Transformed charge.
"Spit it out, Jacob." Jared said angrily from
where he still stood in front
of Liselle's bed. James nodded, fixing his brother with the evil
eye.
"I made a mistake, and left you in a bit of
a vulnerable and mixed up
state. Since you're feeling overly trusting but haven't lost
your general
inhibitions, you're bound to be confused. You'll be a bit over
trusting for
a week.or so."
"It's what happens when Jacob tries too hard."
Maria jabbed, grinning
wryly. Jacob glared at her before continuing, looking a bit upset
at the
fact that his charge was pulling away in horror.
"Anyway, you should go back to normal-except
for the aging-in two or three
weeks. In the meantime, you'll probably come off as a little-"
Jacob
searched for the word, and Alicia supplied it.
"Naïve?" she finished flatly. "You
chopped up my personality so you could
turn me into a gogo chick?"
"Well at least she's still got the sarcasm."
Athena quipped, causing
smatters of laughter. Only Jacob and Alicia stayed serious, and
Jacob
shrugged slightly.
"I'm sorry. You'll go back to normal
in two or three weeks."
The room was silent until James spoke. "You'll all have times
when you
lapse back into being thirteen or any of the varying ages in between
the
ones you currently are. Just deal with those as they come and
you should be
fine."
"It's a side affect of having been aged so
much, so fast." Jared
contributed. "Lapses into immaturity."
"Did you have any big problems with us?" Liselle
asked, swinging her legs
over the side of the bed and taking in the fact that the floor seemed
somehow further away. Jared and James both shook their heads.
"No. With you, you were perfectly willing
to be Transformed once you were
asleep."
"Athena went with the flow." James added,
grinning.
"How old are we now?" Athena questioned, staring
up at him.
"Well, you're going to be twenty-three in
a couple of months, Liselle will
be twenty-one in week, and Alicia will be twenty-two in February."
James
answered.
"Are the Monkees the same age?" Alicia questioned,
though it was apparent
she was still miffed at having had her personality messed with.
Maria
nodded.
"They are a few years younger than their counterparts.
Peter Tork will
turn twenty-two two days after you do, as opposed to Peter Thorkelson
turning twenty-five."
"Wait a minute," Liselle said suddenly.
"They have different last names?"
Maria nodded. "It was the destiny of the four 'real-life'
Monkees, as they
are called, to be in the TV show. So when they were born, this
dimension
was simultaneously created. The Powers-That-Be decided that there
needed to
be some way to immediately distinguish between at least two of them,
hence
the fact that 'TV Peter' had a different last name for most of his
life than
'Real-life Peter.'"
"Heavy." Liselle commented, making Alicia
laugh. "So what year is it?"
"The date is January 18, 1967." Maria answered,
crossing the room to a
window that had been almost unnoticeable before. As Liselle,
Athena, and
Alicia crossed the room to look, she opened the curtains with a sweep
of one
hand, showing an impressive city scene below. The only true difference
from
what the girls had left was the fashion; people looked decidedly like
a
scene from either "The Monkees" or the NBC miniseries "The 60s" with
their
clothes and hairstyles.
"Wow." Alicia murmured, pressing against the
glass. "It really happened.
It really happened!"
"And!" Maria suddenly snapped, whirling to
all three girls suddenly. "You
must, at some point, tell the Monkees who you are and where you're
from. Do
you understand me? No secrets once your friendships reach a confidential
level."
"If they reach a 'confidential level.'" Liselle
commented dryly. Alicia
and Athena both nodded, grinning wryly. Maria rolled her eyes.
"Here's the plan. You each have a suitcase
filled with clothes suited to
your personal style-and, before you complain, I know you better than
you
know yourselves, so I picked correctly-and other items that you would
find
necessary. You each have two hundred dollars in the pockets of
the outfits
you're wearing now, and for as long as you are unemployed, two hundred
dollars will arrive in letters for you every month."
"Woohoo!" Liselle and Alicia both rejoiced.
They began to dance around at
the thought of two hundred dollars each month. "You're gonna
give us
money!"
"What's the point of being employed?" Athena
asked, smiling broadly. "I
mean, if you're gonna pay us, why should we get a job?"
"We're giving you the money because you were
thirteen before and are for
the moment incapable of working." Jared contributed, sounding more
like
Maria than the jovial man he had been earlier. "After a year
or two, you
should be able to get jobs."
"You'll probably go nuts from the boredom
first anyway." James piped up,
sauntering over to the window that two of his siblings and their charges
were standing at. Jacob was still seated on what used to be Alicia's
bed,
and he seemed a bit hurt.
"Will we even be here that long?" Athena questioned.
Maria nodded.
"The Magical Monkey Paw was dropped.
You cannot return."
"Hey, you can give us money and all that but
you can't take us home?!"
Athena cried. "Why not?"
"It's against the rules." All four of the
magical beings in the room voiced
the answer, obviously leaving no room for argument.
Maria continued the plan. "The Monkees have placed an advertisement
in this
newspaper." She said casually, holding up her hand and showing them
the
newspaper that appeared there. "They're searching for new roommates.
You
basically have to audition to get in."
"Audition how?" Athena questioned, her nervousness
painfully apparent.
Maria laughed.
"I'm only using the term audition because
they want to set an appointment
to meet with whoever calls and ask them a few questions about themselves."
"Interview would have been a more apt term."
Alicia tossed in, placing her
hands on her hips.
"I suppose." Maria smiled slightly.
"Anyhow, you need to call them and ask
to see them at the most convenient date for both parties." She
smirked.
"Since you aren't doing anything, any time would be convenient for
you."
"Wait a minute, we're supposed to call the
Monkees?" Alicia exclaimed.
"You must be joking!"
"Don't go Davy on us now." Liselle quipped,
grinning. "I'll call." She
struck a heroine pose, her hands defiantly on her hips. "I will
do the
duty!"
"Here's the phone number." Maria solemnly
handed the newspaper to Liselle,
who marched over to the phone in the room they were in. A question
seemed
to occur to her as she picked up the phone, so she quickly set it down.
"Where are we?"
"A hotel room not far from the street on which
the Monkees live." Maria
supplied impatiently. "Call!"
"Okay, okay, cheezus."
All throughout the history of music,
there have been musicians that just do
not make it to the heights of riches and fame that they wanted to conquer.
They may struggle for years alone until they find one another and form
a
"group" or "band." They then continue to play extremely small
venues in
extremely small clubs merely to pay their monthly rent; and, they often
share a communal house. But no matter how hard they try, the
never seem to
get a big break.
The Monkees were such musicians. They
had been a band for nearly two years
but life was not treating them exactly well. In addition to that,
every so
often, for some inexplicable reason, something unusual and oftentimes
nearly
deadly would happen to them-often in connection with their shortest
member's
habit of falling in love all too frequently or their bass player's
naivete.
Not that the rest of their lives were what they used to consider "normal"
by
any means, either. Usually, some loose end of the weird escapades
would
come back to haunt them, or the shortest member would fall in love
yet
again. But their lives were fulfilling, and at least they had
one another
(though they frequently teased each other about leaving one behind
during a
crisis).
The four Monkees were practicing when the
phone rang on January 18, 1967.
It was two days after one of those "things," and they merely wanted
to
practice to soothe their still somewhat troubled minds, but, unfortunately,
that was when the phone rang.
"Pete, get the phone." Michael Nesmith directed
mildly, playing the chords
of the song they had been practicing on his guitar. He feigned
total
disinterest in the phone call, though all three of his bandmates knew
that
Mike was hoping for new roommates.
Peter Tork quickly removed his bass guitar
and set it aside as he dashed
for the phone. He sighed before picking it up; the call would
most likely
be for Mike, seeing as Mike was in charge of the new roommate prospect.
Peter answered brightly, despite his lowered spirits. "Hello?"
"Uh, um, ah, is this 1334 N. Beechwood?" a
girl asked on the other end.
Mild chatter sounded in the background, including a hyperactive "Who
answered, who answered?"
"Yes, are you calling about the ad in the
paper?" Peter asked, hoping that
he came across as reasonably intelligent.
"Uhm, yeah, we are."
"We?" Peter asked, not being able to keep
the confused tone out of his
voice. "Who's we?"
"Liselle Jacobs, Alicia Branning, and Athena
Jackson." The girl replied,
her voice conveying such confidence that Peter wondered briefly whether
she
was overcompensating for her nervousness.
"Uh, hold on, I'll get Mike."
As soon as Peter spoke those words, Mike stood
up, dashing for the phone.
"Hello? Yeah, I'm Mike Nesmith, and you're.? Liselle?
Okay, see, we're a
band, and we're havin' trouble payin' the rent, so we needed some more
roommates."
Peter backed away as Mike continued to talk
to Liselle, and immediately,
David Jones and Micky Dolenz both rushed over to accost the sandy-haired
receptionist.
"Who was it?"
"What did they sound like?"
"They were girls, right?"
"I don't know, nice, yeah!" Peter replied,
backing away from his
over-excited bandmates. "I didn't talk to her very long!"
Davy apparently decided to back down.
"I still think it's a bad idea," he
insisted, staring pointedly at Mike's back. "They could be ax
murderers!"
"Murderesses." Micky corrected, grinning.
Davy gave him a mildly dirty
look before crowding closer to the Monkee on the phone.
"All right, thanks Liselle. We'll see
ya tomorrow in the park. Okay.
Okay. Bye." Mike hung up the phone, grinning broadly. "I
think we're gonna
get some new roommates."
Both Peter and Micky began to cheer, but Davy
was still skeptical. He
sighed before weakly attempting a "yahoo."
"Aww, c'mon Davy, give up the whole 'Ax Murderer'
thing, will ya?" Mike
said, rolling his eyes. "I don't think this is the makin's of
somethin'
weird." He meandered back toward the bandstand, hesitating as
he waited for
his bandmates to follow. They did, taking up their positions
with their
respective instruments.
"You never know, Mike." Davy said cryptically.
"You never know."
January 19, 1967:
"I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I
can't-" Alicia babbled. Liselle
rolled her eyes.
"Calm down! They're not even famous
here, right, Maria?"
"Right." Maria affirmed, smiling. "Let
Alicia get all of her teenybopper
urges out before she meets the Monkees. We don't want her making
a fool of
herself."
"Aww, why not?" Liselle quipped, whacking
her friend affectionately.
Alicia muttered something uncomplimentary in response. Athena
was perched
on her bed, looking slightly nervous.
"We have to be careful not to let them know
they're famous, right?"
Maria nodded. "Just talk to them normally."
"Right, and we'll also end world hunger while
we're at it." Alicia intoned,
rolling her eyes.
Maria glanced around the room before nodding
distractedly. "All right, it's
time."
Instantly, the three young women traveled
to a park, peering around
uncertainly. "Well that was quick!" Alicia said brightly, peering
around.
"Do you see them?"
Both of her comrades shook their heads, likewise
looking for their possible
new roommates. Alicia felt shaky bubbles of excitement swell
in her
stomach, only to explode at regular intervals and cause her to shiver
slightly, despite the fact that it was only a cool afternoon and she
was
wearing a sweater.
She glanced over to a park bench when she
saw something that took her
breath away. There, seated on the bench, were the Monkees, in
all their
glory. There was Mike, with his distinct green wool hat covering
his dark
hair. There was Micky, with his carefree smile and expressive
face framed
by straightened brown hair. There was Davy, with his boyish face
and
longish brown-and-reddish hair. Alicia's eyes stopped there;
she was almost
afraid to look at the young man seated beside Davy, afraid that she
would
faint dead away.
Alicia steeled herself and looked. Sure
enough, there he was: Peter Tork.
A man she had been infatuated with since the summer of sixth grade,
a man
she had always assumed she would never see. But there he was,
peering
around the park, tossing his head every so often to knock his light
brown
hair out of his eyes, looking oh-so-close, so accessible, that she
almost
died. He seemed to be looking for someone, which was logical,
considering
that the Monkees were waiting for three young women to meet them in
the
park. And she was one of those women.
"Liselle, there they are." Alicia whispered,
poking her friend in the side.
"Hey, I think that's them." Micky said,
pointing to the three girls
standing next to the fountain. "Didn't you say that Liselle said
they'd
stand by the fountain?" He asked Mike.
Mike nodded. "We can't be sure though."
"HEY LISELLE!!" Micky bellowed suddenly.
Mike and Davy both rubbed their
ears unhappily, rolling their eyes. The young woman with long,
straight
sandy-and-red hair glanced in their direction, pointing to herself.
"ME?!" she called. Micky and Mike both
nodded, waving them over.
The three made their way over at a semi-leisurely stroll.
Micky observed
the trio as they approached; apparently the one with the one in the
lead was
Liselle. He, personally, thought she was gorgeous; not too tall,
not too
short, probably somewhere around 5'7", and she was quite well proportioned.
She was smiling mildly as she made her way to the park bench the Monkees
were seated on, her entire face somehow secretive and teasing.
She was
wearing a pair of bellbottoms, unfortunately, which masked what her
legs
looked like, and a shirt of light blue with a v-neck and belled sleeves.
Micky smiled slightly; he would not mind seeing her every day in the
least;
she replied to his yell, thereby guaranteeing an open mind.
The other two were not half bad either.
The shorter of the two was
black-which was mildly surprising-and she had an impressive bosom-though
it
suited her, they were obviously really hers. Her black hair was
up in a
tight bun on the back of her head, except for stray wisps that had
escaped
the strict regiment that she kept on her hair. She wasn't especially
tall,
maybe 5'5" at the most, and she was wearing what looked like a blue
miniskirt with shorts attached, showing her dark legs, and a white-and-blue
striped blouse. Her true beauty was in her face; she seemed sweet,
with
soft-looking chocolate colored skin and full lips. Micky's smile
widened;
she was probably a lot of fun to be around, because the sweeter they
looked,
the stranger they were.
The third girl looked like a hybrid of Mexican
and White, a child of one of
those rare mixed marriages. She was taller than her two friends
were,
taller than Liselle by an inch, and most of that height was in her
legs.
She was wearing hot pink pants and a pale pink flowered sweater, and,
to
finish off the pink theme, her red-highlighted dark brown hair was
held back
by a light pink bandanna. Micky could sense vaguely that she
was not good
at meeting new people, seeing as she seemed unnaturally nervous; her
dark
eyes flicked back and forth over the Monkees and her lips were curled
down
slightly in a melancholy expression. From the looks of her, she
was one of
those serious, philosophical types that were prone to dark moods.
Micky's
spirits were suddenly quite dampened.
He was snapped out of his musing by Peter
groaning, "Oh, no." Micky looked
up to see Davy staring intently at Liselle as the girls grew closer.
Micky
could almost see the proverbial stars shining from Davy's eyes as he
stood
up and began to half-shuffle toward Liselle, his entire posture under
the
spell of being in love. The girl in pink began to giggle, placing
a hand
over her mouth to stifle it and glancing nervously at the three remaining
Monkees.
"That's David Jones, and he's in love." Mike
supplied sarcastically, only
to get a smatter of laughter from both of Liselle's friends.
"I'm Mike
Nesmith."
"Liselle Jacobs." Liselle replied, sticking
her hand around Davy's side to
shake Mike's hand. "This is-"
"Athena Jackson." The black girl piped obediently,
likewise shaking Mike's
hand. The third girl stayed silent until Liselle elbowed her
sharply; her
cheeks flushed a pale pink and she blinked as though in pain.
"I'm Alicia Branning." She murmured, looking
more embarrassed than needed
for a little distraction. The pink tinge stayed on her cheeks
as Mike
returned his attention to Liselle; Micky glanced at Peter and shrugged
slightly.
"So, we figure, we'd just talk to you girls
and get to know you as best we
can, and we'll vote on it." Mike said, glancing at all three girls
expectantly. "And if we agree, we'll ask you how you feel, and
then if it's
all set we'll take you so you can see the Pad."
Liselle, Athena, and Alicia nodded their assent,
smiling slightly at one
another. Davy spoke.
"Has anyone ever told you you're beautiful?"
"Actually, no." Liselle responded, grinning.
"No one has ever said that to
me."
"Has anyone ever told you that they loved
you?" Davy asked, hooking his arm
through Liselle's.
"No." Liselle strolled casually away on Davy's
arm, waving over her
shoulder to the rest of them. Micky sighed. There went
his gorgeous
roommate prospect.
"So how old are you girls?" he asked, turning
to Athena and Alicia.
"Twenty-two." Athena replied. "I'll
be twenty-three on March 1st."
Alicia didn't respond, and Micky smiled warmly
at her, though he knew she
couldn't see him through her embarrassment. "What about you?"
he asked,
softening his tone. She looked up and smiled.
"I'm twenty-one. I'll be twenty-two
in February."
"February?" Peter asked, perking up.
"When in February?"
"February 11th." Alicia answered, her smile
broadening. Peter's dimpled
smile made its first appearance since the Monkees had left their residence
that morning.
"My birthday is February 13th." He said, directing
his attention to their
possible new roommate. Micky couldn't help but smile; the way
Alicia was
looking at Peter, it was obvious why she had been so impossibly nervous
upon
first meeting them. Some of that nervousness had apparently abated,
for
Peter and Alicia were soon wrapped in conversation, ignoring their
other
friends.
"He didn't even introduce himself." Mike observed,
shaking his head and
chuckling. Micky turned to him, also grinning.
"I don't think she cares."
"She doesn't." Athena said, smiling.
"So I guess that means we have to
'get to know each other,' right?"
Mike shrugged. "Yeah, well, all we need
to know is whether your ax
murderers."
"No. We'd only kill you if you really
made us mad." Athena replied. "I'm
sure you would too."
"Kill us if we made ourselves really mad?"
Micky quipped, grinning
cheekily. Athena rolled her eyes, but nodded.
"Yeah, actually, that's what I mean." She
said and laughed. "I'm sure Mike
would be the first to kill himself."
When Mike responded with a sarcastic and somewhat
affectionate retort,
Micky retired into his thoughts again. He was never given credit
for his
pensiveness; he seemed like a very crazy and over-excitable guy, but
in
truth, he evaluated people before he trusted them, and could be quite
shrewd
at times. He only had a first impression of Liselle, considering
that she
had gone to talk to Davy, but he had gotten second and third impressions
of
Athena and Alicia, and discovered that his first impressions had not
been
too terribly off. Athena seemed like a worthwhile verbal dueling
partner,
and Alicia was just the type to be shy around a guy she was attracted
to-not
unusual in the least. Micky made his decision-the girls would
stay.
Mike crossed his arms, trying
to look impassive as Davy showered his
bandmates with tales of how lovely and wonderful Ms. Liselle Jacobs
was.
Micky seemed the most interested, not surprisingly-either he was being
nosy
about Davy's love life or he wanted to garner a second and third impression
of the female in question. Either way, Micky was egging Davy
on, Peter was
listening out of friendship, and Mike was bored. Mike cleared
his throat.
"I think we need to make our decision, guys."
"They should stay." All three of his comrades
said in unison, their faces
serious. Mike was flabbergasted.
"What?! After an hour, you're gonna
accept them like that?"
"Well, that was the plan!" Micky said brightly,
hooking his thumbs into his
belt loops. Mike sighed.
"Yeah, I know, but.Davy fell in love!
You know that has the makin's of
somethin' weird!" he pointed out desperately.
"You said yesterday that it didn't!" Peter
half accused, his face and
posture aghast at the possibility of loosing the new friend he had
gained.
"He's right!" Davy agreed. "Please,
Mike, I'll really get to know Liselle
if she's living with us!"
"Really get to know?" Micky said, doing a
laughable falsetto meant to sound
like a nagging mother. "Is that what they're calling it these
days?" Davy
rolled his eyes and punched Micky on the shoulder, trying to get Mike
to
wear down.
"Please, Mike, you really wanted roommates
and they're perfect!" Davy
pleaded.
"Almost perfect." Micky corrected.
"Almost perfect." Davy conceded. "They're
going to help pay the rent and
everything! Please!"
Mike rolled his eyes. All three of his
best friends were staring at him
expectantly, waiting for him to say yes; and the thing that irked him
the
most was that he knew he would. He wanted desperately for the
weight of
paying the rent to be eased, and, in some twisted way, he wanted to
make new
friends. He had known Micky since sixth grade and Peter since
eighth grade,
had been their "older brother" figure for eleven years, and he wanted
someone he felt he could let down the persona with, someone who would
accept
him as "Mike," instead of "Miiiike!" or, even worse, "Papa Nez."
The
frightening thing was, he felt that Athena could be that someone, and
he,
for some reason, wanted to keep her away because of it.
"Oh, all right. We've got new roommates."
The other three Monkees immediately began celebrating, leaping
and
shouting, and a sudden "Did I hear right?!" sounded from behind Mike.
He
whirled to see the girls standing beside a small tree, their faces
shining
with happiness. "We get to live with you people?" Alicia asked,
her tone
hopeful.
"Yeah." Mike answered, his hackles immediately
raising. The fact that he
wanted them around so much made him resistant to their presence.
"Right,
guys?"
"Come on!" Micky whooped, running by and grabbing
Liselle by the hand. "It
's only a short walk home!" Davy, of course, followed, staring
adoringly at
Liselle the entire time, and were soon followed by Peter and Alicia.
Athena
stayed exactly where she was.
"They're crazy, you know." She informed Mike,
joining him as he began to
stroll away. "Liselle and Alicia."
Mike laughed. "Yeah, that's why the other guys like 'em."
"And you don't?" Athena was hurt, that was
apparent, but she was trying to
hide it. Mike sighed.
"I do. But I get the feelin' that they'll
be just like the guys, screamin'
for me when somethin' goes wrong." He said softly, kicking a pebble.
"I didn't think you resented that." Athena
said, her confusion genuine.
Mike was mildly surprised that she had figured out so quickly that
he was
"Papa Nez," but it must have been obvious. After all, the guys
had all been
asking him whether the girls could stay, the ultimate decision was
his, and
he was obviously in charge of the whole 'new roommate' thing in the
first
place.
"I don't. At least not all the time."
Mike found himself suddenly opening
up to this woman he had barely met an hour ago. "But sometimes
I just wanna
be Mike, and not have to make sure the guys're okay and then checkin'
up on
myself. I need help too sometimes."
Athena smiled sadly. "I want to say
I know how you feel, but I don't."
Mike looked down at her, this new person that had entered his
life, and he
wanted to break away very fast. She knew more about how he felt
than the
best friends he had kept for eleven years, and that wasn't fair to
Micky or
Peter-or even Davy. Michael Nesmith was not the type to open
up to anyone,
much less someone he had only known for an hour. He stiffened
almost
immediately.
"Look, we're almost home." He said, pointing
to where the other five were
crowded in the doorway of 1334 N. Beechwood. "Let's hurry up,
okay? 'Fore
they start swingin' from the doorways in excitement."
"Okay." Athena replied, hurrying her gait.
She remained silent for the
rest of the walk, and Mike couldn't help but feel that he had made
some
mistake in being so terse all of a sudden. What was done was
done, however,
and could not be changed.
Laughter and talking floated out of the house,
reaching Mike's ears and
giving him sudden relaxation. No amount of "Monday Things" could
change the
way he felt about the guys; though he would never tell them to their
face,
he loved them as if they were family, and their happiness and sometimes
naïve view of life cheered him immensely. Would he ever
feel the same way
about the girls? Did he need to?
The girls began to celebrate the moment
they got back to their hotel room.
The Monkees had given the girls a ride to their hotel, out of general
chivalry and male protectiveness, and now they had to prepare for moving
day
the next day.
Athena was puzzled underneath her joy.
Mike had been telling her his
innermost feelings-something she never would have attributed to him
after
seeing the episodes of the Monkees that she had and hearing what Liselle
and
Alicia said about the Texan Monkee; but then he had closed off, backed
away,
and hardly spoke to her the rest of the evening. She sighed as
she sat down
on her bed.
"Did you guys get along with them okay?" she
asked. Liselle and Alicia
both nodded, puzzled.
"Didn't you?" Alicia asked. "You were
talking to Mike when the rest of us
ran away."
Athena nodded. "He was talking to me,
and he was saying all this different
personal stuff, and he suddenly stopped. Boom."
"What personal stuff?" Alicia questioned,
her nosy side taking over.
Athena knew instinctively that Mike wouldn't want
what he said shared with
anyone, much less people who had bonded right away with the subjects
of the
conversation. She shook her head.
"Nothing. But didn't you notice that
he pretty much ignored me the whole
night?"
Both Liselle and Alicia shook their heads.
"I was too busy talking to
Davy." Liselle offered, grinning mildly. "I'm screwin' with his
mind a
little bit."
Immediately the subject of the conversation
was diverted. "Aww, Liselle,
that's not fair. We'll all be living together, you shouldn't
do that."
Alicia scolded. Liselle shrugged, still donning her evil grin.
"I'll leave him alone after a while.
He'll probably move on anyway."
"Yeah, well." Alicia muttered reluctantly.
Athena sighed.
"I don't think it's fair either, though.
When are you going to stop?"
Liselle sighed. "Okay, okay, if he asks
me out on a date, I'll let him
down, okay?"
Both of her compatriots nodded. "Much
better." Alicia agreed. "Now let's
get ready for moving day."
Athena and Alicia both stood to retrieve their
suitcases, but Liselle
stopped them.
"Alicia, you didn't tell us how your conversations
with Peter went." She
said. "Is he all he could be?"
Alicia sighed dreamily. "He's an absolute
sweetheart. He was telling me
about their music, since we were talking about music, and all kinds
of other
stuff. I certainly won't mind living with him."
"What about other things?" Liselle teased,
waggling her eyebrows
suggestively. Alicia shrugged uncomfortably, turning to haul
her suitcase
onto her bed to arrange all of her things. Athena and Liselle
shared a
glance; Alicia seemed upset about something. "Well?" Liselle
questioned,
getting up and crossing over to her friend. She slung an arm
around her
shoulders. "What's wrong?"
Alicia pulled in a shaky breath before admitting
what was bothering her.
"He's got.a date. Tomorrow night. With Valerie Cartwright."
"Don't mess up the sheets." Mike commanded.
"We promised the girls they
were clean and they're gonna stay that way."
"You know, it always bothered me that there
were two extra beds in the two
extra rooms." Micky said cheerfully. "Now it doesn't."
"It bothered you?" Davy asked incredulously.
"Why did it bother you?"
"Because." Micky said simply, grinning.
Davy shook his head. He wasn't
sure he'd ever get used to his friends' quirks.
He supposed they had to get used to his quirks.
After all, he had fallen
in love with one of their new roommates, the wonderful Liselle Jacobs,
and
he could not stop talking about her as they cleaned up the rooms that
would
become the girls'. It had already been decided that Liselle would
get the
extra upstairs bedroom and that Athena and Alicia would share the room
right
across from Davy and Peter's room downstairs. Ah, Davy would
only have to
ascend the spiral staircase to see his love-
"Davy! Is anybody home?" Mike asked,
waving his hand in front of Davy's
eyes. "You'll see her tomorrow, don't worry."
Micky and Peter both chuckled from where they
were dusting. Davy narrowed
his eyes, glaring at the sheets he was straightening. "Just because
you
guys aren't lucky enough to find new love doesn't mean you have to
laugh."
"Aww, c'mon, Davy." Micky chortled.
"I'm not jealous! I just think it's
funny!"
Davy paused to consider why Micky might find
it so amusing before saying
"Liselle's pretty, isn't she?"
"I think that's an understatement." Micky
answered. "She's gorgeous."
"AHA!" Davy bellowed, whirling around and
pointing at Micky. "You are
jealous!!"
"I am not! I just think she's good-looking!"
"You're jealous, you're jealous!" Davy shot
back. "You're both jealous!"
"I'm not jealous, David." Peter replied calmly.
"I've got Valerie."
Davy turned sharply back around and continued to straighten the
sheets on
what would be Athena's bed. Davy had secretly been slightly jealous
of
Peter ever since he and Valerie started dating, had been jealous of
the fact
that though he had the reputation Peter had somehow nabbed the actual
relationship. It had been over a month since Mike, Micky, and
Davy had
helped Peter win the heart of the debutante, and apparently both parties
were still happily together. Davy never had that kind of luck.
Silence reigned in the room. Mike left
to make sure that Liselle's room
was "suitable," and Micky and Peter were obsessively dusting the top
of the
dresser in the room. Davy felt a strange sense of loneliness
at onset of
that silence, penetrating loneliness that caused him to sigh.
He loved the
guys as brothers, but there were times when he felt disconnected, or
different in some irreversible way, and that he would never quite be
accepted. Maybe it was just his imagination, maybe he was paranoid;
or
maybe his deep affections for his roommates were not returned.
January 20, 1967:
"Welcome to your new home!" Micky said brightly,
gesturing broadly with his
arm. The Pad looked exactly as it had on television, though it
had two
extra bedrooms and a fourth wall. Alicia sighed deeply.
"Eclectic, isn't it?" she commented to Liselle.
Liselle nodded.
"I like it." She said somewhat defensively.
Alicia sighed again.
"Yeah, I know. I do too."
Liselle followed Mike as he showed her upstairs
to her room, leaving Alicia
standing alone in the doorway. Athena was already in their community
property room, and Alicia suddenly, passionately, wanted to go home.
What
had she gotten herself into? Here she was, suddenly twenty-one
years old,
living with four guys in the year 1967 with two hundred bucks in her
pocket
and not a clue as to what she was going to do. She had dreamed
of this for
months and now that she had it, she realized that she, herself, would
be
just the same in 1967 as in 2001. Alicia suddenly wanted to cry.
"Well, are you going to stand there all day?"
Micky quipped. "You live
here now."
"Yeah, I know."
Micky stood back from her, studying her face.
He tilted his head to one
side. He smiled sadly. "Have fun unpacking."
Alicia watched as Micky dashed up the stairs
to commiserate with Liselle,
Mike, and Davy. He was a lot more intuitive than TV had ever
let on, since
he had been able to read her low mood so quickly. Liselle and
Athena knew
what was going on and left her alone because they knew from experience
that
was what she needed; they hadn't pestered her to find out if she was
okay,
they had only asked her simply if she would be okay, and when she responded
with a semi-convincing yes, they let her be.
The most painful thing, by far, was the knowledge
of Peter's impending
date. One thought that occurred to her quite frequently was She
looks like
a horse, but that was her own jealousy talking. Apparently,
Peter was
perfectly happy and she had no intention of disrupting that happiness.
It
was an exquisite torture to come to the alternate dimension and discover
that here, too, any guy she was interested in was already attached,
but she
would be able to make it-hopefully.
"Hey Amby." Alicia muttered as she entered
their room. Athena looked up
and frowned.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'll be fine." Alicia sighed, flopping onto
her bed. "Don't worry 'bout
me."
Athena rolled her eyes. "I'm going to
go get a snack, okay?"
"Yeah." Alicia rolled onto her stomach, burying
her face into her pillow as
tears started to flow and pessimism began to overtake her.
It is an old and cliché
phrase: 'Time flies when you're having fun.' It's
a common feeling of when you are happy, your life will whisk past you
in a
colorful blur until you realize, quite suddenly, that you have forgotten
something or someone very important. There is a certain loss
of euphoria
when you have your epiphany and know for certain that you have, in
the
crudest of terms, screwed up.
Fortunately, the first week of Athena, Liselle,
and Alicia's lives with the
Monkees was not one of those times that ended with an epiphany.
Despite the
fact that they were in an uncomfortable "Period of Adjustment," they
had
fun, and even got past their star-struck attitudes and general nervousness
around the opposite sex to get to know their new roommates.
The Monkees were equally as nervous in the
first few days with their new
roommates. After the initial closeness of hitting it off, they
were nervous
about new people, much less women. Mike was stiff and formal
when talking
to them. Davy was trying to charm Liselle to death. Micky
would swing
wildly from being overly hyper to being overly quiet. Peter treated
them
the way he had always treated girls-not quite shy, since he had no
romantic
interest in them, but not quite open, since they were, after all, girls.
Micky was the first to loosen up (other than Davy, who was still oozing
suavity with Liselle), after he got to talking to Liselle about drumming.
By the 24th of January, the day after the
conclusion of an adventure
involving the Monkees, a producer, and an audition, there was a level
of
comfort and congeniality that made it possible to joke around and be
more
playful with one another. It also helped Alicia put her next
plan into
action.
As soon as Liselle fell asleep (considering
that she stayed up all night in
her room, listening to music and writing), Alicia gathered the other
five
inhabitants to tell them what she had been stewing over.
"Do you guys know what tomorrow is?"
"The 25th of January." Mike replied.
"Why?"
"Do you know how important the 25th of January
is?" Alicia asked, grinning
at the confused faces of the people around her. Athena, however,
was also
smiling, her grin just as devilish. "And don't say anything,
Athena."
"What is the 25th of January?" Davy demanded.
Alicia giggled, standing up
and clapping her hands.
"Liselle's twenty-first birthday!"
All four Monkees perked up, smiles lighting their faces.
"Why didn't you
tell us earlier?" Micky asked, also standing up. Alicia shrugged.
"You guys were busy."
Mike rolled his eyes. "Never mind that, how are we gonna
plan a party in a
day?"
"The same way we'd plan a party in a week."
Alicia replied, squaring her
shoulders. "Only faster."
"Wisdom personified." Micky giggled.
Alicia glared at him mildly before
resuming her planning.
"I figure that this would be a good way to
meet people for us, since we
just got here. And we can show Liselle we really care."
"Who's gonna pay for all of this?" Mike asked
skeptically. His three band
mates, who had been eagerly waiting to toss in their ideas, were instantly
deflated. "We don't have money for a party right now."
"I'll pay for it." Alicia said hurriedly,
waving away Mike's monetary
concerns with one hand. "Who do you guys usually invite to your
parties?"
"Abby Sommersby." Micky contributed.
The other guys nodded.
"Sabrina Coates." Peter added.
"Joey King." Davy tossed in. "Jacob
Andrews and the twins."
"Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute." Alicia
sighed. "Give me a chance to
write 'em down." She scribbled quickly on a piece of notebook
paper,
murmuring names under her breath. "All right, what're the twins'
names?"
"They're with Jacob so it doesn't matter."
Mike answered. Alicia rolled
her eyes.
"Yes, it does."
"Gloria and Geneva."
Alicia scribbled them down, grinning.
"Okay. Now I'd be much obliged if
you guys'd write down the names of anyone else that comes on a regular
basis
and then to invite them. Athena 'n I'll go shopping for snacks
and such."
She paused uncertainly. "Micky, would you come with us and drive?"
Micky was obviously puzzled, but agreed.
"Okay! Let's go!"
As soon as the shoppers were gone, Mike turned
to Davy and Peter. "If they
're as old as us, why can't they drive?"
"Uh, hi, Sabby, could you come
to a party tomorrow?" Mike asked. Sabrina
Coates sighed from the other end of the phone.
"This is a bit short notice, isn't it Mike?"
"I'm sorry, Sab, but this is for a birthday
party for one of our new
roommates."
"Oh!" Sabrina's voice perked up immediately.
"What's his name?"
"Liselle." Mike replied dryly. Sabrina
cackled her laughter.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mike. Yeh, I'll be there.
How old will she be?"
"Twenty-one."
"Okay, Mike-o. I'll be there.the usual
time?"
"Yeah, 5:30 as usual." Mike replied.
"And don't call me Mike-o!"
Sabrina laughed and hung up. Mike sighed.
"Sabby's comin'." He reported
to Peter, who nodded and scratched her name off of the list.
"She called you Mike-o again?" Peter asked,
smiling. Mike nodded, rolling
his eyes. "It's just because she loves you."
"Aw, c'mon." Mike replied, nudging Peter jovially.
"This is Sabby we're
talkin' about."
Peter merely shrugged, glancing back at the
list. "Well, that's all,
except for."
Mike grinned. "That's your call, Pete."
He turned to leave. "I'm gonna
see if Davy's havin' any luck with Jess and Jacob and the twins."
Mike left
quickly, abandoning Peter with the phone. Peter sighed.
He picked up the receiver and dialed quickly,
knowing the number by heart.
It was answered quickly. "Cartwright residence, the lady of the
house
speaking."
Peter inwardly groaned. "Uh.uh.is Miss
Valerie Cartwright there?"
"Who's calling?" Grace Cartwright asked stiffly.
"Peter Tork."
"I'm not sure if Valerie's here or not, Peter."
Mrs. Cartwright replied, a
barely distinguishable amount of smugness in her voice. "Perhaps
I could
relay a message when I see her?"
"Mother, give me the phone!" Valerie's voice
sounded distantly. Peter knew
that Mrs. Cartwright was reluctantly handing the phone to her daughter,
a
theory that was compounded by the offended snort that he could distinctly
hear.
"Hello, Peter?"
"Hello Valerie." Peter replied. "Listen,
do you want to come to a party
tomorrow, for one of our new roommates?"
"I'd love to! Which roommate?"
"Liselle. It's her twenty-first birthday
tomorrow."
"All right, I'll be there. What time?"
"5:30." Peter answered, sighing somewhat glumly.
"What's wrong, Peter?" Valerie asked.
Peter wanted to tell her, but he
didn't want to upset her, so he instantly tried to brighten up.
"Nothing's wrong! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"See you tomorrow." Valerie replied dubiously.
She hung up quickly, which
brought another sigh from Peter.
He set the receiver down, ambling over to
the bandstand and picking up his
acoustic guitar. Music was the only thing that could truly cheer
him up,
especially when no one else was around. The way everyone seemed
to have
adopted Peter and Valerie as their "Perfect Sweethearts" was depressing,
considering the way things were going. Her mother hated Peter
and was not
afraid to show it-frequently. Whenever he would mentioned it
to Valerie,
she would get upset and tell him she was trying to patch things up
if he
would just give her a chance, and that she loved him so her mother
didn't
matter.
Peter desperately needed to talk to someone
about what was going on, but he
felt like he would be letting his friends down. It seemed, to
him, that all
of their romantic ideals were riding on his relationship-particularly
for
Davy-and he did not want to disappoint them. He set a lot of
hope in Alicia
as his confidante; every night since her arrival, he had found her
sitting
on the patio late at night, which usually resulted in a conversation
that
lasted for an hour or so before both of them would go to bed.
But Peter
secretly worried if he'd let her down too. Or that she would-
"We're home!" Micky crowed. Peter jerked
in surprise, the chords he had
been randomly strumming going sour from the involuntary response in
his
fingers. Micky, Athena, and Alicia were lugging bags of food
into the Pad,
grinning proudly.
"We bought enough food to feed either a small
army or Micky." Alicia said
smugly. Micky stopped, aghast.
"Are you saying I eat a lot?"
"No, not at all." Alicia snickered, sharing
a glance with Athena. "For a
pig." The playful jibes continued as they walked outside again,
but Athena
stopped, turning around.
"You could help, you know." She teased, fixing
Peter with a reproachful
stare. He jumped up and crossed the room quickly to help his
friends, his
repose instantly gone. There would be time for introspection
later.
Micky could hardly keep the secret.
His hyperactive side wanted to run
over to Liselle and scream "Happy early birthday! We're gonna
have a
party!" Wisely, though, he kept his head and prevented himself
from being
a kamikaze well wisher; Alicia would kill him in many ways before letting
his body fall from the patio to the beach.
Micky rolled over in his bed, concentrating
on sleeping and waiting for
tomorrow. Mike was sound asleep across the room, his green wool
hat still
firmly attached to his head. He looked extremely innocent when
he slept-his
eyes were closed and his mouth was relaxed; Micky guessed that it was
the
only time his best friend lost his responsibilities and relaxed.
Micky rolled over again, laying on his stomach
and playing with the frayed
edges of his pillowcase. *I must sleep, I must sleep, I must-*
He sat up,
creeping out of the room and down the stairs. He sighed in relief,
feeling
freer in the huge living room.
He plopped down onto one of the psychiatrist
couches, letting his mind
wander through the past week. It was taking a lot of getting
used to with
the girls, since they were such an all-pervading presence; but somehow
it
seemed okay to have them around. Athena was as much fun as she
had seemed
at first, considering that she was not afraid of speaking her mind
when
Micky pestered her. He admired that in a woman.
Alicia, however, was an entirely different
person. She wore her heart on
her sleeve, and that heart was aching for someone. Micky had
been watching
her and kidding her, trying to see how she would react, but her jabs
were
half-hearted and her laughs were hollow. Her voice often took
on a bleak,
defeated tone, and sometimes, he could hear the husky sounds of tears
lurking behind her. It was slightly depressing to know that someone
was so
down.
Micky smiled to himself, thinking of the third
girl-Liselle. He knew, from
watching her closely, that she didn't really return Davy's affections;
or
perhaps Micky was just being cynical and hopeful for himself.
Either way,
he hoped that she didn't return Davy's affections, so that perhaps
he could
start paying a different sort of attention to her. Seeing her
standing at
the top of the stairs, wearing comfortable looking pajamas and a sleepy
facial expression, made Micky wish that he could call her his.
He enjoyed
her sense of humor as well and spent time with her more than either
Athena
or Alicia.
Micky perked up, hearing the sound of voices
out on the patio. Seated on
the "comfy couch" were Peter and Alicia, talking and laughing in the
darkness. Micky puzzled over that for a moment; did either of
them hold
ulterior motives on that couch? They were not snuggling or even
sitting
close together and it seemed to be a venting process when they spoke.
At that point, Peter got up, stretching and
yawning as he meandered toward
the door of the room he shared with Davy. Alicia stayed where
she was,
staring out at the ocean, and Micky could see that her shoulders were
shaking; a ragged sob reached his ears and he knew, instantly, who
Alicia's
broken heart was for.
January 25th, 1967:
The party was in full swing and a huge success. Liselle
had been
thoroughly surprised, considering that she figured the Monkees wouldn't
throw a whole party for someone they had only known a week. But
the Monkees
had just pulled her into the party, introducing everyone to all three
girls.
Alicia was now in charge of answering the door.
The Monkees were playing the song "Mary Mary"
when the second to last
arrival came. Alicia answered the door to find a young woman
wearing a gray
miniskirt and a red blouse; her long, ebony hair was held back by a
red
headband. She smiled uncertainly.
"Liselle?"
"Nope. I'm Alicia."
"Oh." The woman grinned sheepishly.
"I'm Sabrina Coates."
"Alicia Branning." Alicia smiled. "The
guys told me about you."
"Yeah." Sabrina grinned as she stepped inside.
"I've been friends with
Mike since tenth grade. The other boys were more of an afterthought
for
years."
Alicia merely nodded, pretending she knew
what Sabrina was talking about.
Unfortunately, Sabrina guessed she was confused. "Mike and Micky
and Peter
had known each other since sixth and eighth grade grade. The
younger two
were hard for me to associate with 'cause I'm a snob." With that,
she
laughed, a tinkling sound that was swallowed by the live music.
"I always
thought little Pete was cute, though. Childlike, even at fifteen."
Alicia tried to picture Peter at fifteen,
failing miserably as images of
all the other fifteen-year-old boys she had ever seen came to mind.
She
tried to wrap her mind around the concept of having known someone for
eleven
years, but considering that she had just jumped to age 21 and the longest
she had known someone was four years, that was difficult too.
She sighed.
Another knock sounded on the door, and Alicia
rushed to answer it, feeling
that she had to prove she was a competent doorwoman. She opened
the door to
see-
"Hi, you're Alicia, right?" Valerie Cartwright
asked, smiling warmly.
Alicia nodded dumbly, her mind resonating with all of the possibilities
right then; she could kill Valerie, she could shove her out and never
let
her in, or she could, horror of horrors, be nice to her.
"Yeah. Are you Valerie?" She took the
final option.
"Yeah, hi." Valerie replied, stepping in and
shaking Alicia's hand. "Peter
's told me a lot about you."
"Yeah, same here." Alicia replied, thinking
over the conversation of last
night; Peter had woefully confided in her the problems of the relationship
with Valerie-her mother's hatred of him, particularly. Valerie
didn't know
that Alicia knew, however, and just smiled again.
The Monkees started playing "Your Auntie Grizelda,"
and Alicia inwardly
groaned. When the lyrics started, Valerie's eyes widened in shock
and then
closed in pain. She obviously knew what the song was about.
Peter had
shown Alicia the lyrics the night before, explaining that they were
written
about Valerie's mother, Grace, and that was the way he released his
anger
about the situation. It had been Alicia, in fact, that had convinced
him to
show the song to the other guys-apparently, they liked it.
Valerie whirled and headed for the snack table,
her anger and hurt obvious
in her posture. Alicia felt a surge of pity; she, after all,
had become
Peter's confidante about the problems that he and Valerie were having,
and
Valerie was the one who was being deeply hurt at his public display
of
dissatisfaction and anger. Alicia followed her, standing behind
her and
clearing her throat.
"Valerie, is there anything wrong?"
"Yes!" Valerie replied vehemently. "Can't
he understand that I'm trying to
keep Mother from treating him like that? It's hard to go against
her when I
've obeyed her all my life! I love him, but he won't listen when
I say I'm
trying! He says we should just avoid her, but how, she's my moth-"
She
stopped abruptly, staring up at Alicia with wide eyes. "Oh, I
shouldn't
have said that."
"It's all right." Alicia replied as the song
ended. "I already knew."
Valerie sighed. "He told you?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry if."
"No, it's okay. Better you than everybody
else." And with that, Valerie
Cartwright disappeared to find her boyfriend. Alicia sighed.
One part of
her hoped that Peter and Valerie would break up, but another part of
her
knew that it would be painful for both; the way Peter talked about
Valerie
wasn't insulting toward the lack of results, he was just in pain over
the
insults Grace hurled.
But Alicia wanted him for herself.
Mike did not like parties.
It was plain and simple; he did not like
parties. He was not an extremely sociable person, though he gave
people the
illusion they were his friends by using his usual witticisms.
The only
people he truly considered his friends were Micky, Peter, Davy, and
Sabrina.
He was kind of disappointed when he saw Sabrina schmoozing with other
people; she could at least talk to him.
Mike sighed softly and reached for a handful
of pretzels. "'Scuse me." he
whispered to the young lady standing in his way. He couldn't
quite remember
her name-
"Hey, Mike!" She said brightly, smiling at
him. "How've you been?"
"Oh, the usual. Just tryin' to make
it in this world." Mike grimaced.
"Not succeeding."
She laughed. "No one ever does.
You don't remember me, do you?"
"'Fraid not."
"I'm Lucia Perez, the woman who nearly destroyed
your music?" she said
uncertainly, and Mike could suddenly remember: when he was a senior
in high
school, some of his music flew out of his hand in a stiff wind, only
to be
caught by a younger girl. She held in her hands for a moment
before
apparently deciding it was worthless and started to rip it.
"Oh, yeah, I remember now." Mike admitted,
glancing down at his pretzels in
chagrin. "Sorry I yelled at ya like that."
Lucia waved him away with one hand.
"It's not a problem. I learned a
lesson the day a Texan senior chewed me out." She smiled warmly.
"So how
old are you now, Mike?"
"Twenty-two." Mike replied, unsure where
the conversation was going.
"Why?"
"Because you told me that you would never
let me near your music again
until I was at least forty, I'm a year younger than you, and-" Lucia
held up
a hand. She was holding up a piece of sheet music, clearly marked
in his
handwriting with the words 'Sunny Girlfriend' at the top. Mike
stared at
it, his mouth slightly agape.
"That's my-how'd you.?!?!"
Lucia laughed uproariously. "I explained
to your band mate, Micky, the
whole situation and he gave it to me." She handed it back.
"Sorry,
Nesmith, I couldn't resist."
Mike snatched back his music, glaring at Lucia
for a few moments before
smiling slightly. "You're probably just as evil as Micky is,
aren't ya,
Lucia?"
She nodded, smiling sweetly. "I always
have been." Lucia reached up and
brushed her fingers through Mike's bangs, grazing his eyebrow.
Mike's head
was swimming at the softness of her fingertips. "Have you loosened
up since
high school? Would you still yell at me until your hat popped
off?"
Mike gulped. He had never been good
with the subtle game of flirting, at
least in his opinion, and that was obviously what Lucia was doing.
He
smiled, shrugging slightly. "I might have to if you mess with
my music."
"Ooh, then I promise I won't."
Deep inside, Mike knew it was ridiculous to
be feeling like he was alone
with Lucia in a room full of people, but the way the noise faded and
the
party guests had disappeared. He rarely let himself be carried
away by a
woman, but this woman, with her heart shaped face and tendrils of black
hair
floating around her brown skin, made him want to jump through hoops.
"Uh, look, Lucia, I think we need to play again. Everybody'll
get tired of
the tapes and want live music." Mike said quickly, waving with one
hand.
"So, I'll talk to you later, okay?"
With that, he practically sprinted toward
the bandstand, rounding up Micky,
Peter, and Davy on the way. Lucia stared after him, her eyes
wide, and Mike
resolved that he would lose himself in the crowd after they played.
He
would not be able to face Lucia again after that. Or perhaps
ever again.
Davy couldn't keep the smirk
off of his face as he watched Mike with the
mysterious girl near the stairs. It was painfully obvious that
Mike was
interested in her-and vice versa-but Davy knew Mike would never admit
it.
When they had played a few minutes ago, Mike had seemed to want to
escape
someone; apparently, he hadn't succeeded, since Davy figured that woman
was
whom Mike had been trying to escape.
Davy turned his attention on the rest of the
party. He wasn't having any
luck meeting anyone, since Liselle had been meeting new people all
night and
he had hardly had a chance to talk to her. He scanned the dancing
crowd,
spotting Abby Sommersby dancing with Jacob Andrews. He had always
envied
Jacob-he had charm and a height above 5'5". Abby smiled and waved
to Davy,
not breaking her rhythm at all. She was a live wire.
Davy's eyes rested on where he could see Alicia
sitting beside Mr.
Schneider. He wondered why she didn't seem to be having fun at
the party
that had been her idea, and briefly considered going and talking to
her
before he spotted Micky making his way to the dejected young lady.
Davy
grinned as he watched their conversation from afar; he could see that
Micky
was trying to convince Alicia to dance, using expansive gestures and
pleading facial expressions.
Finally, the struggle was over and Micky took
his roommate's hand and
guided her into the crowd. He maintained bodily contact by keeping
one hand
on Alicia's shoulder, tapping out the beat of the song. Davy
pondered that;
did Alicia have trouble with rhythm? Was that why she didn't
dance?
Valerie and Peter were dancing together a
few people away from Alicia and
Micky. Davy still felt twinges of jealousy when he saw Valerie
and Peter
together, but he tried not to be obvious about it. He was quite
sure that
they were still happily together, but a small part of him wished they
would
break up, evil as that may seem. Davy sighed.
"Do you want to dance?" asked an all-too-familiar
voice. Davy turned to
see Valleri Matthews, his ex-girlfriend, smiling mildly at him.
She was the
last person he wanted to see; he had fallen in love with Liselle, but
Valleri still dwelled at the back of his mind. They had held
something
special between them for a long time, but her fear of commitment caused
backlash and-
"Valleri?" he murmured, staring at her with
wide eyes. She nodded. Davy
resisted the urge to reach out and touch her, to make sure she was
real; she
had practically lived with the Monkees for a while but had disappeared
from
sight, despite the fact that she lived across the street. Her
hair was
still a fiery red that sprayed out in curls that were soft and pliable
to
the touch (Davy could remember the feel of Valleri's hair all too well),
her
skin was still pale and freckled, and her eyes were still that luminous,
hypnotizing green.
"Hi, Davy." She replied. "I heard that
you had new roommates and it was
one of their birthdays, so."
Davy was flabbergasted. "We haven't
seen you in so long, Valleri, where
have you been?"
"Around." Valleri answered vaguely.
"How're things?"
"Good." Davy answered, equally as vaguely.
How could he face her again,
knowing that he had regarded her as true love and didn't regard Liselle
that
way? He sighed. "Have you talked to the other guys?"
Valleri shook her head. "Just you."
She jerked her head in the direction
of the dance crowd. "Do you want to dance?"
Davy knew, somehow, that dancing with her would
put him back to the time
when he was her biggest admirer, before Vanessa or Leslie and before
so many
other girls in his repertoire; and he knew that he just might forget
about
Liselle, but, frankly, he didn't care.
"Uuuhhh." Micky groaned unhappily,
flopping onto his bed. "Are you
satisfied now, Mike?! Is the living room clean enough for you?!"
He sat up
and flounced out of bed to change into his pajamas.
Mike chuckled. "Of course. Don't
blame me, Mick, you don't hafta listen
to me."
"Yeah, right, Papa Nez." Micky joked, knowing
full well that it irked his
best friend when he called him Papa Nez. He tossed his shirt
to the side,
searching through the piles of clothes at the end of his bed to find
his
pajamas.
"Hey, Micky, you think you could be a little
louder over there?" Mike
quipped, rolling onto his side. "I don't think President Johnson
can hear
you."
Micky raised the volume of his search, clomping
around and throwing things
down. He grinned, imagining Mike's reaction; he would roll his
eyes and
flop back onto his back, pulling his hat down a bit further on his
head.
Micky finally found his pajamas and changed quickly, still feeling-after
all
those years-a bit self-conscious about changing in front of his best
friend.
He crossed the room to switch off the light before flopping into bed
again.
"So, Mike, didja have fun tonight?" he asked
nonchalantly, a picture of
Mike commiserating with that girl Lucia Perez rising to his mind.
He could
sense Mike's sudden discomfort.
"Yeah, did you?" The discomfort vanished.
"I bet you did, dancin' with
Alicia all night."
"Oh, yeah." Micky said vaguely. He suddenly
realized that Mike did not
think of their dancing in the same sense that Micky did. "Aw,
c'mon Mike, I
don't dig her like that!"
"Uh-huh." Mike replied, his grin shockingly
apparent in his voice. "How do
you dig her?"
"Like a friend!" Micky realized he sounded
desperately pathetic. "I was
helping her with her rhythm."
"How?"
"I was tapping the beat on her shoulder!"
Mike snorted. "I never saw that."
"Well, she didn't need it any more after a
while!" Micky's voice was still
up an excited octave. "You shouldn't assume, Mike. Besides,
who's the
chick you were talking to, hmm?"
The discomfort radiated across the darkness
toward Micky's bed. "Her name'
s Lucia, and you know that." The discomfort was double-edged
with a touch
of Alicia, and Micky knew that Mike was bothered by something.
"Well, did you dig her?"
Mike's discomfort seemed to triple.
"It doesn't matter, Mick. I'll
probably never see her again."
Micky pondered for a moment. It was
difficult to think of his tall, almost
stodgy friend as having a girlfriend, though in the time they had know
one
another, he'd had several. It just seemed that all of the times
they were
raving about this chick or that chick, Mike would remain stoic; he
always
seemed to keep his emotions and libido in check. Micky sometimes
wondered
if it was because of the responsibilities Mike had taken on as their
unofficial leader; he usually handled Mr. Babbitt whenever the landlord
wanted the rent and he also seemed to sometimes take care of his three
roommates.
"But Mike, if you dug her, you should see
her again." Micky coaxed.
"Loosen up a little bit. You're only young once."
"Maybe I'm already old." Mike replied, sighing
heavily. "Now shut up and
go to sleep, Micky." With that he rolled over and snuggled into
his
blankets, signifying that the conversation was over.
Micky wondered why Mike was so closed off.
He professed to thinking of
them as his best friends, but he never confided anything in anyone.
It had
seemed like he was about to just then, but regular Mike-"Papa Nez"-had
taken
over and said 'Shut up and go to sleep.' Micky couldn't help
but be a bit
hurt, but he decided that it was now his responsibility to get Mike
to take
Lucia out on a date; he would do it if Mike killed him.
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