Stella and Annabelle

Annabelle and the chord progression that came with ease

Annabelle was buzzing the whole drive home. She would have liked to stay the night with Stella but understood why she hadn't been invited to. She smiled to herself as she drove. This was not what she had thought she'd be doing to get out of her slump, but was it what she really needed. Something about Stella felt so pure and right. Annabelle's previous love affairs had all been messy and unstable. Was stability what she was really looking for? The thought seemed so bizarre to her. Annabelle had always thought of herself as a wild spirt, a queer rock goddess who didn't need the conventional things to make her happy. She laughed out loud at how ridiculous that sounded in her head. Maybe she did want the normal life, wife, kids, career, really? Annabelle shook her head, what is this woman doing to my brain?

Annabelle spent the next couple of days doing some soul searching. She needed to get her shit together. She needed to get out of her parents house, she needed a job. What was Stella going to say when she told her she was living with her parents? Sure Annabelle was a few years younger than Stella, but it wasn't exactly impressive to have zero career prospects and be living with your parents this close to 30.

Fuck it! She thought and picked up her phone to messaged Dylan:

Hey, if the jobs still going when Mara leaves can I come back?

...

Yeah it's yours babes! Starting in a couple of weeks, I'll txt you. Xx

...

Thanks so much xx

Annabelle didn't overly want to go back to the café, but Dylan was a sweetheart and it was a job she didn't hate. It wouldn't be enough income to be able to afford a flat but it was something. After the colossal collapse of her band Annabelle was really starting to come to terms with the fact that music was probably not going to be a career for her. She had thought about all the other jobs she could have done, somewhat in the music industry, but there was nothing she really wanted to do, other than play. She hated sound engineering, she didn't have the physical strength to be a roadie, she could not bring herself to enrol at uni to become a teacher and she didn't think she had the technical knowledge or skills to be a good tutor.

Annabelle scrolled through job advertisements, nothing taking her interest, she gave up and looked at social media. Oh, Razcat have a gig. Razcat was Annabelle's band, well they used to be her band, before. Seriously? She thought, they could have at least changed the name!

Whilst Annabelle knew Razcat hadn't been her band to start with, it had been Chrissy and Gemma who had started it, but she also knew she was the reason they were popular. What would their "fans" think about the new line up? She put her phone down and tried not to dwell. Maybe she should pick up her guitar and try and play something different, to get her mind off Razcat and their stupid drama.

Annabelle looked at her electric guitar, memories of her last gig popped into her head. Nope! She thought. Annabelle got up and looked under her bed. She reached under and pulled out a dusty guitar case, opened it and pulled out her old acoustic. It was terribly out of tune and could probably do with a restring but she tuned it and gently strummed a couple of cords.

Humming to herself as she experimented with a chord progression that came with ease:

In my hour of quiet contemplation, you shook me from procrastination,

With your 3 foot tall side kick, your smile that makes my heart do backflips,

It might be too soon to tell, but I think I might have fell,

for your sense of organised chaos and your gentle assertive gracefulness,

Stella

Oh fuck! Fuck! Where did that come from?

Annabelle put the guitar down.