call me,, g. dunne

chapter two,,barracuda

Donna Jane Jagger was born 1960, when the top artist was still Elvis Presley and her parents were both 18. But, it was now Los Angeles in the late 70's and she was in her prime. Donna would drive around the city in a cherry red Chevrolet Chevelle with the top down, letting the humid air whip through her hair, with the Bee Gees or The Rolling Stones, ironically, playing through her car's cassette player.

Donna had never struggled with school but more so with the act of going to it. For the twelve years prior to this summer, Donna had attended a private all-girls school in Bel-Air, which served no purpose being an all-girls school as it had a boys school adjacent. Whilst her mother, a clever and sophisticated individual, urged her to consider college - Donna had yet to apply and rather opted to say she would look for a job when questioned about her future.

Donna's parents had split up, although Donna felt it was weird to say that as in her lifetime they were never truly together. Her father, who had two other children and a wife, would play about Britain and on the occasional world tour would come see her somewhere around California, but other than the monthly cheque he would send, the last time she saw him was when he gave her the car for her sweet sixteenth.

Donna had considered asking her father for an start up job at his record label, which was based in California, but decided it best not to as she remembered what she vowed to herself on her sixteenth birthday.

Now, Donna had gone shopping for a new dress to wear for her mother's work party, which was being held at the house, and the bags of evidence were scattered lazily across the back seats of her car. Donna sat in the driver's seat with her slim legs thrown over the passenger seat and her red car phone in hand, playing with the cable.

"I'm going to the drive through tonight, wanna come?" Donna was on her sixth phone call in the past half hour to one of her many superficial high school friends.

"Which one?" The scratchy voice of a fake Malibu Barbie assaulted her ear through the telephone and she had to increase the distance between the phone and her ear in order to ensure she would keep her hearing in tact after this phone call.

"Electric Dusk, it's downtown."

"Why?"

"Mind your own fucking business, Suzie." She wanted to say but showed some restraint and in stead said, "I'm bored, why not."

"Okay, sure then. Pick me up at 6 and we can go to dinner." No doubt, Suzie Goodwin was hoping that Donna was about to offer to take them to the Rainbow Bar and Grill which a mega fan of her father owned and would let her and her company eat and drink at for free, despite their age or if the restaurant was full there would always be a seat at the bar for one Donna Jagger and co.

"Will do, see you then." Once the line ended, Donna let out a big sigh of relief, annoyance and nerves.

Donna was a concealed girl, so when she first heard the voice of Graham Dunne on her telephone last week she tried to contain her feeling on the matter and play cool. Fake it until you make it, was a sort of mantra of hers ever since she had seen it on a sticker over by the hippy part of the town - near the Malibu woods.

But, in all honesty, Donna could say that she had never seen the Dunne brothers play before but she had certainly seen them. Donna was a celebrity of sorts herself, purely nepotism, so most diner and bar staff let her eat for free and things like that - especially around the music scene. So, when Donna entered Dusty's Diner for her usual Friday night dinner, a hamburger, fries and vanilla milkshake, the owner had pointed to an occupied table behind her and told her about the inspiring musicians sat there, proclaiming they were the real deal and would be the ones to make it.

That was when Donna had first heard the voice of Graham Dunne. He had been shushing his brother and then instead telling a story, half laughing and half stuffing his face with fries. His hair was in dark curls which was not as unruly as his brothers but not as well kept as another of the band members. Donna had then seen the sign on Casa Vega's headliners later on the next week, and was heavily compelled to stop by but decided against it as she had a pre planned date, thanks to her mother.

Her mother, who was pregnant at 17, gave birth at 18 and yet still became a lawyer in her 20's, had the nerve to tell Donna that she was behind in life. That the time to marry was coming and so was setting her up with colleagues sons as well as men closer in age to her mother than her. Despite the 70's being the time of the hippies and to chill out, her mother must have been the most uptight person to step foot in the entire of California. Initially, refusal worked but Donna learned that going to the dates for five minutes before making an excuse and leaving or just not showing up at all worked better. Most of the established men would not dare tell their mothers the embarrassing story of how they got stood up on their first date.

Donna was thinking of calling Graham but decided against it, as it was late afternoon before his gig so he and the band would most likely be practicing. Donna had memorized the younger Dunne brother's number off by heart as with the frequency of his calling her from his living room then saying it was too loud so telling her to phone back to her bedroom's number was astonishing.

The pair had been talking rather frequently since their first call, averaging at about two or more hours per day spent on their phones. Donna couldn't recite what they spoke of as it all came naturally in the moment and was exclusive for their ears alone.

Donna had never been an insecure girl but often she did imagine her meeting Graham and him being disappointed with her appearance. But, in times like those, Donna would just push that insecurity and fear to the back of her mind and remind herself that she was awful pretty so if Graham didn't like her then it was due to his own preference type and had nothing to do with her.

The drive home was not long enough and soon she found herself back in pajamas stood in her wardrobe, debating what to wear two hours before she had to leave. And just as she was starting to annoy herself with her own indecision, the phone rang.