Bluebird

37

As they were eating their very late dinner, Mick clears his throat. "So Annabel, what's your set list like tomorrow?" 

"Right...Blake, I have a question." She looks at the newest member of the friend group.

"You want me to sing with you don't you?" He rolls his eyes.

"I do...and we have a whole bunch of alcohol to help you ease the nerves if you need it and I just really want to sing that song, but I don't  want to sing it with my dad because that's weird." She rambles.

"Yeah, yeah it would be..." He nods.

"So will you do it?" 

"Sure I'll do it." He gives in. 

"Thank you so much!" She cheers.

"No problem." He holds his hand up. 

"So then what's your set list?" William inquires.

"I'm thinking, me and your cigarettes...that's the one I sang the day I met you, because you were smoking and I hate that you smoke." She scowls. 

"You smoke?" Stevie asks.

"You did... So did dad, and so does John..." He trails off.

"My mother smoked a pack a day and it killed her...keep that in mind." Stevie scowls. 

"She died of Pneumonia." Annabel looks at her.

"She died because she got Pneumonia and she had emphysema. The emphysema came from the smoking. If she didn't have the emphysema she wouldn't have died...but I stopped smoking when I got pregnant...didn't stop the other thing, but we knew more about cigarettes then we did cocaine." She shakes her head. 

"Anyway, Me and Your Cigarettes, Sin for a Sin, probably White Trash if Karen let's me, and If I Didn't Love You." Annabel says and Karen rolls her eyes.

"If Karen lets you?" Leelee asks.

"I hate Karen." Annabel spits.

"Whose Karen?" Ronda inquires.

"My mom's assistant she's a bitch." 

"She really is." Lindsey nods.

"Stop it, Karen means well." Stevie scolds.

"She accused me of sleeping with dad....I hate her." Annabel looks at her mother.

"Woah, back it up..." Jeff shakes his head. 

"I sang White Trash, at Madison Square Garden. Karen ripped my head off, because that's not the song you sing when you open for the classiest band of all time, at MSG for christ sakes...then she accused me of being raised in a barn and I had to gently tell her that my adoptive father was a federal judge and my adoptive mother was a social worker....and I could sue her...They're dead, but I enjoy the threat...anyway, the next night I was done. I was ready to go home, and I was sad and depressed and I sang a sad song and then she attacked me again, because openers are supposed to pep the crowd up, not bring their mood down. So I started to cry and I went into my dad's arms because you know that's what you do. When you're hurt or upset you call your parents. So I went in for a daddy hug and Karen accused us of sleeping with each other so I elegantly told her to fuck off and that he was my father and she was a bitch and then I left..." She shrugs.

"Okay, maybe she is your kid." Jeff looks at Lindsey.

"When she's pissed, she's a Buckingham." Lindsey nods.

"And anyway, that's how mom found out about me."She shrugs.

***

The next night in the green room, everyone was lingering and loitering. She had met Daryl and everyone was hanging out in the green room before the show. Lindsey's family and the people there to see Stevie would be escorted back to their seats by security after Annabel's set.