She's Thunderstorms

Chapter One

I was running late. My friend Charlotte was flying in from Sheffield in the U.K. I hadn't seen her in a couple years, but she really wanted to visit Chicago and I was the only person she knew that lived there. Charlotte (or Charlie, as she made me call her) and I had actually met in London two years ago. I was sixteen and she was eighteen. Long story short, we were both visiting a mutual family friend and all ended up going out for dinner one night. The rest is history.

Charlie's flight was supposed to arrive at 4:15 and it was already 4:10. I lived about half an hour away from O'Hare airport, so I was counting on baggage claim to take up some time. That's one thing about me: I'm always running late. As hard as I try to be on time for most things, I always end up at least 5 minutes late. Just as I pulled up to arrivals, the glass doors slid open revealing Charlie, looking glamourous as ever. I quickly turned down my music and hoped out of the car to greet her. 

"Jane!" I heard a northern english accent squeal. She tried to run over to me with all of her baggage, but she looked like she was struggling, so I decided to make it easier for her and met her halfway with a hug. "Thanks so much for picking me up! It's so great to see you. You look so good!" Charlie had always been so friendly to me. Even though we hadn't seen each other in a few years, we had kept in touch through text and social media. Charlie was the type of person who you instantly felt close to upon meeting, so seeing her now felt like we had been best friends for ages. 

I laughed. "Well thanks, Charlie. You look amazing as well. Always so fashionable, even on a trans-atlantic flight," I raised my eyebrows at her jokingly, receiving a small chuckle from the redhead in return. "I can't believe it's been two years since we've seen each other," I said while grabbing ahold of her luggage and placing it in the back. I turned back to her, slamming the trunk closed. "Ready?"

We both hopped back into the car right as I saw one of the traffic directors marching over to us, probably about to yell at us to get moving, so I hit my foot to the petal and swerved back into the left lane. Charlie noticed I had music playing softly and turned it back up. "Ooh! The Arctic Monkeys!"

"I put that on just for your arrival," I replied, smiling a bit. I had always been a big fan of the Arctic Monkeys. When Charlie and I had first met, and I found out she was from Sheffield, where the Arctic Monkeys are from, I just couldn't contain myself. I spent at least half the night asking her all about them. It turned out that she had actually known them before they got all big and popular, and basically ditched their old hometown. Her dad had coached one or two of them in "football," and another one was best friends with Charlie's friend's older brother. Apparently, the part of Sheffield that they were all from was fairly small, so everyone knew each other well. 

Charlie already seemed incredibly giddy about being on American soil. Her legs were bouncing up and down and she was singing along "Teddy Picker," not caring that she was mixing up half of the words. I decided to join in, rolling the windows down to let the warm summer breeze in. We looked like idiots to say the least. "WHEN THERE'S PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" we finished, Charlie hitting the last note on her air guitar, and me pulling my sunglasses down over my eyes like a rockstar right on the last beat. 

"I love that I can enjoy this band shamelessly over here. Back home, I'd get a load of crap if anyone saw me doing this," she laughed. Charlie had told me before that the people from back where she lived, while proud of the Arctic Monkeys for their success, were also a bit annoyed with them because they apparently acted like they were too cool for High Green nowadays. Charlie sat up straight, remembering something. "This reminds me! I have a surprise for you."

"Oh no me first! I have a surprise for you too. I booked us a room downtown for the next two nights." I lived in the suburbs outside of the city. It wasn't too far away, but it was always much more fun when you didn't have to take the train to and from your destination.

"Oh my gosh Jane! You didn't have to do that." She beamed at me, and continued, "But you did, so... thank you, thank you, thank you!" Charlie squealed, attempting to hug me while I was driving.

"You're going to make me get in an accident!" I laughed at her, glad she was so happy about it. "I thought this way you'd have a better first experience in Chicago." 

"Yes this is gong to be so great! Thank you so much, Jane." She stopped. "Okay so.... now my surprise for you." She turned her shoulders to face me, almost waiting for me to say something. 

I looked over towards the bubbly redhead. "What?" I said, turning to look at her for a second. The corners of her mouth turned up in a devilish grin. "I got us on the list for the Arctic Monkeys concert tonight!"

As hard as I tried to concentrate on the road I just couldn't contain myself. "Holy shit, Charlie! Those tickets have been sold out forever. It's such a small venue. How?!"

She raised her eyebrows, smirking at me nonchalantly. "I have connections."

"Well fuck yeah you do." I said, still astounded, eyes wide. Before I had been so bummed I was going to miss out on this concert, and now I was finding out that I was on the list?! This was like a dream come true. I had wanted to see the Arctic Monkeys live for so long, but something always came up. Thoughts started racing through my head. Since Charlie knew the guys, maybe I would get to meet them? No, I didn't want to get my hopes up. Things like that never seemed to work out for me. I would just go with the flow, and we'd see where the night took us. No expectations, I told myself. "Thank you Charlie! This is crazy! I can't believe it."

"Well you better," she laughed. "Consider it a gift for your wonderful hospitality for the next week. And concentrate on driving," she added.

"Yes m'am." For the remainder of the ride into the city we blasted all of the Arctic Monkeys CDs I owned, singing with even more enthusiasm than before. 

Finally we pulled up outside of the Sax Hotel. "Whoa. I hope you didn't spend too much money on me," Charlie said, her eyes wide at the beautiful building in front of us. "But I know you did, so again, thank you." Truth is, I had booked this on Expedia, but I decided to let her think I paid full price. I handed my keys to the valet, as the doorman loaded all of our luggage onto a cart, and we strolled inside to check in. 

The lobby was filled with luxe velvet couches and the high ceiling held huge crystal chandeliers. I filled myself up a cup of cucumber water while waiting for the receptionist to get off the phone. Way to go, Jane, I thought to myself. The brunette woman in front of me hung up her call, and looked at me expectantly. I smiled. "Room for Jane Davies."

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Author's note: Hello everyone! I'm sorry this chapter is a bit short. It's mainly here for introduction, but things will pick up soon, I promise! Anyways, I've attached a photo of how I picture Jane at the top of the page. The model's name is Cora Keegan, but if you by any chance look her up on google, she'll have lighter hair in some photos, so to clear things up, I imagine her as having dark blonde, almost light brunette hair, like in the picture above.