English Rose - liam gallagher fic

19. miss teen massachusetts

I thought I'd be underdressed in my white blood stained superstars, gingham skirt and Sonic Youth t-shirt but I looked at Archie in his classic black jeans and baggy Hatful of Hollow t-shirt and converse and I presumed I would be fine.

As I walked in, everyone was dressed similarly to us. Not as in the same outfits, but the mindset was clearly similar.

It was a small room, packed to the brim of people. Probably about the size of two average bedsits. There was a makeshift bar in the corner; no taps, just cracked open bottles and stolen pint glasses.

There were a few cheap leather couches lining the room and an elevated stage where a DJ stood mashing New Order - Blue Monday with Joy Division - Transmission in the corner diagonal to the bar.

"I need to introduce you to the owner," Archie shouted, his face against my ear so that I could hear him over the music.

He guided me past our friends and over to a pink haired man, or he had a pink buzzcut anyway, dressed in checkered chef trousers and a ripped black Star Wars t-shirt.

"Steve," Archie said, tapping his arm. "This is Holly Clark."

"You've been all over the shop, you," Steve said to me with an excited smile. He must have only been about 23, and there was probably no one in here that was over the age of 25. "This is the Groucho Underground, an exclusive club only available to those who have been invited. Everyone is entitled to one invite, and you're our Archie's. Here you're gonna need one of these."

He pulled out a pink bit of paper with the 'Groucho Underground' printed on it.

"You can only get in with this," he said. "So keep it safe."

I put it in my purse behind my ID as he walked off and I turned to Archie.

"Is this where you's have been for the past three weeks?" I asked annoyed, with furrowed eyebrows.

"No, I've only just got invited last week," he told me, "it's well pretentious but I love it. You have to have been here a week before you can exercise you're right to an invite, me and Martha got invited on the same day and we were arguing over who gets to invite you. So she's invited Jarvis."

I looked over to Jarvis and he was stood with Martha, as equally confused as me.

"I think Lucy was the first one of our group to get invited, cos Noel got invited through one of the lads from Inspiral Carpets and obviously he invited Luce," Archie explained to me and I nodded.

I made my way over to Lucy, who was doing a line off Noel's forehead.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" I laughed, as it wasn't a particularly conventional place on someone's body to do a line. Usually it's the lad snorting a line of the girls tits or something.

"Holly fucking Clarke," Noel smiled at me, standing up to hook his arm over my shoulder and his other arm over Lucy. "It's good in here isn't it."

"There's no way this is legal mate," I laughed. "Not that I'm complaining though. It is class in here like."

I looked around, there was tapestries, band posters and abstract painting hung on the peeling paint of the damp walls.

-

I found myself, along with the rest of the group, finding a sort of second home at the Groucho Underground within the next few weeks.

I was umming and ahing about whether to invite Liam. He was the only person I'd invite, because he's my best mate and I couldn't invite anyone else, but he'd invite Erin, and while he was besotted with her, my predictions where correct.

She'd stopped him from coming to the pub as much, and actually gets jealous when me and Liam are together, which is ridiculous.

I was on the phone to him one night, and probably for the first time since we'd become friends, Liam and I hadn't seen each other for a full week. I was jokingly telling him that Erin hated my fucking guts and I could hear her in the background slagging me off and him weakly telling her to 'behave'.

"Alright, I'll just leave you's two then," I said, being awkwardly polite.

"Hold on, chuck," he said to me, and I could hear him fumble around with the phone. I prayed he wasn't putting Erin on.

"Liam, love, can you make me a brew?" She asked down the receiver purposely so I could hear. I heard his footsteps disappear into the kitchen. "Holly I don't mean to be rude but you need to fucking stay away from Liam."

"He's my best mate," I said matter of factly.

"I don't care," she said in a shrill voice, "He's my boyfriend and you need to fucking get away from him."

"I've hardly seen him in weeks anyway," I told her, trying to bargain with her and convince her of how ridiculous she is.

"Exactly the way it should be," she said smugly, "if you need to go somewhere with Liam, then I'll be coming as well."

"Fuck off, he's not agreed to this," I laughed.

"Don't tell me to fuck off."

"What if I need to tell him something that's none of your business?" I challenged her.

"He's my boyfriend," she cackled, "His business is my business now."

"That's not how it works, love," I commented, clicking my tongue. "Liam's my mate, I've got things that concern him that has fuck all to do with you, and it's gonna stay that way. You can't fucking isolate him from his friends you's have been together three weeks."

"All I'm saying is if you don't keep you're distance from Liam," she said and I cut her off-

"Orrrr here we go," I commented as I recognised the upcoming blackmail.

"I'll get Jarvis' invite to the Groucho."

I furrowed my eyebrows. How the fuck does she know about the Groucho?

"Jarvis has already invited Johnsy," I told her smugly, referring to our mutual friend Ben Johnson, who was at Liam's gig a few months ago.

"Give me your invite then," she said.

"Fuck right off," I told her and hung up.

She didn't have anything on me. I was untouchable compared to her, if she wronged me in any way I had so much shit on her. The only reason I'm not going to fuck her up after this occasion is my respect for Liam, and seeing how happy he is.

However, this means I can't invite Liam to the Groucho until they split up, unfortunately.

My mam came in the living room and sat on the armchair.

"Where's Liam been lately?" She asked me, "I haven't seen him in ages."

"He's got a girlfriend and she's an headcase," I told her and she tutted.

"How've you got yourself into the Groucho then?" My mam asked, and my jaw dropped open.

"What?"

"It was in the paper," she explained with a laugh, "And you're sister was telling me about it, saying she's fuming that she hasn't been invited yet."

"Well I'm saving my invite for Liam," I told her, clicking my tongue, "but he'll probably invite his loony bird."