ALL ACCESS

Chapter 21

With the sun rising over the fields, the day started golden. Meemaw woke us all with her, 'Wakey, wakey. Day's wasting, stop your basting', call up and down the hall. I barely knew Meemaw, but I truly liked her and all her idiosyncrasies. When she handed me a coffee cup filled with liquid magic, I fell in love with her.

"Meemaw, I love you."

"Is Jess up and having her...ahh good you're drinking coffee," James said with a smirk as he entered the kitchen and came up beside me.

"Be quiet you," I responded playfully slapping his arm.

"Without that dark liquid upon awakening she turns into an ogre in one hour." He laughed as did Meemaw.

"Stop. I do not."

"Oh no, he's right, you do. I've witnessed it," piped in Robyn who made her way over to the pot. "But I shouldn't talk. Glass houses and all. I think it's a New Englander kind of thing to drink so much coffee."

"Probably, given the way y'all park all y'alls car."

I put my mug down on the table. "Those are fighting words." I reached towards James, grabbing his forearm and pulling it up behind him. He laughed.

"My arm. Or, is it my ahm?"

"Um Robyn. Sister. Fellow Massholian, can I get a little help here?"

She eyed us, slurped her coffee. "You're doing fine."

Meemaw sighed heavily. "Children, please."

We broke apart but chuckled. James' usual devilish grin was now shy and boyish. Picking up my mug I watched him as I drank. Inside I was happy. Today was going to be, as we say in Massachusetts, a 'wicked pissah' kind of day.

The awesomeness was short-lived. When we arrived back at our room to get cleaned up and start packing for L.A., we found someone had broken in and ransacked it. Clothes were strewn about and torn to shreds, make-up and toiletries from the bathroom had been thrown around and all over the place including in our beds. It was a nightmare.

Greg came over and called the police. Robyn was beside herself, she'd never had anything like this happen to her. The rest of the band offered to help us out, take us shopping, whatever we needed. We had less than six hours before our flight left for Los Angeles. I had a sneaking suspicion as to who did this to our room and he was standing by the window, having a smoke and grinning. I needed to leave the room.

"Did you have a ball playing at James' house last night?" Chris asked quietly from behind me.

I continued walking. "Why yes, yes I did. As a matter of fact I played with two of 'em."

I heard his low growl and kept moving right over to stand beside Lisa and Nick. Ten to one, he did this, but I had no proof. I glared at him as he walked by and back to his room. I was going to have to tread lightly. The beast was awake and stalking.

James met us at the airport; when he heard about what happened, he went ballistic. He said exactly what I thought and what others suspected, though I didn't expect him to march over to Chris and start poking him with his finger.

"You're a maggot, you know that? We all know you did that to Jess and Robyn."

"I most certainly did not. You have proof?"

"I don't need proof. That's your handiwork and we all know it."

"Says you."

"You were a piece of shit back in the day and you're still a piece of shit."

"Someone needs anger management classes."

I tugged on James arm, but he was pissed. Chris was baiting him and James couldn't see it. "C'mon, James. Please. He's not worth it. We all know, but there's no proof."