Lonely People

Surprise

"I heard a tale of a man from Wales," I sung under my breath, "He came down the coast and began to boast about the rockin' sockin' tunes down the old Blue Jay."

Liverpool Bop was something familiar and yet different all at the same time. We had taken inspiration from twenties swing music and a New Orleans jazz performer we had seen during the tour. It seemed to have jumped out of the 1930's with a bit of the 50's bop to it. Molly, Janice, and I had written half of it during the tour and Molly and I finished the other half just before we started to record the album. The song was weird, definitely not fitting in with the pop-rock music we usually played, but I thought it was a sure-fire hit. The entire album had a few weird songs on it, but I had faith the fans would love it and take it straight to the top. Molly and Linda doubted it, but I had enough faith for the three of us. 

I straightened a few of the albums on our bookshelf. Molly had woken up that morning with the desire to clean the entire flat, even though it was never out of order. Everything was always where it needed to be, Molly made sure of it. She didn't function properly when the area around her was in disarray. I, however, functioned better in chaos than organization. Most of the time our flat ended up in a state of organized chaos.

"Melly, have you seen the broom?" Molly shouted.

I lifted an eyebrow, "We have a broom?"

"You're no help!"

I chuckled under my breath. Molly appeared at the entrance to the hall, her hair tied back in a loose bun and gloves on her hands. She glanced at the clean room and sighed in discontent. I set the stack of albums back on the bookshelf and spun around to face her, "What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Since when we our flat so chaotic?" Molly asked, "It's a bloody mess, it is!"

I grabbed her arms and smiled, "Molly, calm down, it's clean as a whistle."

"It's not, it's-"

"Molly, honestly, there's not a single thing out of order."

Molly glanced around the room and sighed, "You're right. Christ, I don't know what's gotten into me."

I simply smiled and shook my head. She had been more frazzled since our argument. I chose to believe that had to do with her coming off of her grief induced high and nothing to do with our argument. In reality, it was a bit of both combined with the stress because we would soon have to do press spots for our album. It wouldn't stop there either, Ellen and Brian had already announced the next tour and the lads were about to start production for their next movie. Molly's stress had skyrocketed as of late, but I remained completely calm. Perhaps my subconscious knew I had to stay anchored for her, because the old me would have been pulling her hair out by now. 

"By golly, Miss Molly, it's all alright," I grinned.

Molly smiled, "Melly dear, you always know just what to say."

"That's what I'm here for."

I leaned forward to kiss her cheek just as the phone rang. Molly glanced at the front hallway and sighed, "I've got it. Probably Gina again."

Regina had been calling at least every other day since we last saw her. She and Molly would talk for an hour or two, both dancing around the subject of their parents. I watched as Molly pulled off her gloves and went to the phone.

"Hello?" Molly answered.

I went back to arranging the album shelf. Molly and I had built up a large collection. We had our own records as well as every Beatles record. They had their own spot at the front of the shelf along with a Beatles mug a fan had given me. We also had modern album and albums from the dawn of music. We had twenties swing tunes, thirties barbershop quartets, forties hip-swingers, fifties rock masterpieces, and the new-age music of the sixties. Our collection was impressive, it took up the entirety of the bookshelf.