Chapter One

Who we are.

Tea looked through her cluster of black curls that framed her face falling down to her chin into messy ringlets. Glitter and small jewels were still stuck within the strands from the night before along with the remnants of smoke from the stage. Her small hand reached up and brushed her forest green eyes clear of sleep. Her black lashes wanted to fall back on her cheek in sleep, but she knew that Remy would be pissed if she missed their date for breakfast.

Tea arched her back and stretched staring up at her ceiling that was stained with rainspots from where the roof leaked in her apartment. The landlord had been promising to fix it for months now, but Gertrude never remembered anything. Gertrude was cool for an old lady. She wore the brightest blue eyeshadow that Tea had ever seen along with bright pink lipstick. Her attire consisted of a cross between a bag lady and a Las Vegas showgirl complete with a feather boa that Tea would give her left leg for.

Tea slid across the sheets and set her mocha feet on the floor. Her necklace was tangled around awkward and she was just in a tank top and her underwear. She didn’t even remember what she wore to the gig last night. More than likely it was lying on the floor somewhere and wouldn’t be found until next week. She could feel her voice still raspy from singing and her fingers were rough from where she had strummed her acoustic guitar. ‘I’m a mess’, she smiled to herself, ‘and I love it’.

She climbed out of her bed and immediately set some old Zeppelin on the stereo. Jimmy Page wailed his guitar like no other. It reminded Tea of a good night of sex. He didn’t hold anything back, and by God, she always felt great afterwards. Throwing open the beaded curtain that lead into her broken down closet she stood five foot five in two mismatching pink socks while softly shaking her hips to the music.

She grabbed a pair of her favorite pants from the shelf. They were gray and had little bells attached to the sides so she jingled when she walked. She then snagged a black quarter length shirt and her messenger bag, which held her lyric book and her favorite ballpoint pen with a picture of the Greek Goddess Athena, on it. Slipping on a pair of Birkenstock sandals, she walked out of the apartment.

Cooley, a thirty something-single dad was in the hall strumming his red Fender guitar. Tea had always thought it was a beautiful guitar, but she was partial to her black acoustic Gibson. "Tea nice gig at Licorice Swirl last night," He smiled his dark brown eyes looking like two pools of melted milk chocolate.

"Thanks Cooley," She smiled moving an ebony curl out of her face.

"Anytime Tea, and I would check downstairs near your mailbox. You seemed to overfilling," He winked and Tea felt herself smile. It had been an inside joke for awhile about her fanclub. There seemed to be a group of individuals that club hopped just to see her band play. Thankfully Gertrude had high security for the broken down building, but that didn’t stop the flowers and presents from coming. Sometimes it was guitar strings and sometimes it was frilly panties. Sometimes, she would give the clothes to the Goodwill and sometimes she would muse her admirers and wear what they sent her. She wasn’t anything special in her eyes, but somehow she had become God in theirs.

Tea walked down the taupe carpeted stairs to where the mailboxes were. Just as she had suspected, her mailbox was overflowing. Notes were tucked into the vents along with baskets lining the wall with goodies. Half the time her stuff had gotten nit-picked over before she had gotten there. She didn’t really mind. Half the time she didn’t even use the stuff, and if a person really needed it, then they should have it.

She unlocked the metal mailbox and grabbed the bills and such that were important and stuck them in her bag. She then snatched some guitar picks and guitar strings from the baskets that she knew she needed. "Thanks guys," She stated taking one look at the stuff and then heading outside, the apartment door clicking in lock after her.

She perched her green tinted sunglasses on her nose and quickly walked to her cherry red Nova. It had been her dream car and finally she had been able to get it a couple of months ago after saving up for what seemed like forever. As her band grew, so did her paycheck. She didn’t even need to hold a second job anymore. Spainy’s Diner could kiss her ass. She wasn’t going back there ever.

The newest reggae song blared on her speakers as she drove out of the parking lot. The wind barreled in her window blowing her hair every which way. She loved the feeling of being totally out of control. She remembered when she was back in highschool and the world was hers. The party had been wild living up to every expectation that she had dreamt of. Her, Remy, Dicey, and Alisa had gotten plowed and were racing down a backroad going over 70. Death was hovering over them just waiting to get its decaying hands on their young souls, but they had defied it. They were untouchable back then. Even now Tea wondered if she still was. It had been forever since she’d had someone to care about. Forever since she had ever been wanted. Was she too intimidating?

Tea brushed off the heavy thoughts. It was just giving her a headache and it was still early. She bounced in her seat singing along with the husky mail voice floating through the air making the summer warmer. She could tell some people were looking at her strangely, she even blew kisses to some of them. Today was going to be a day. She was sure of it. Nothing was going to spoil it.

xxx

Remy looked at his watch for the millionth time. "She’s not coming," He stated simply running a hand through his spiked green hair.

"She’ll be here," Alisa argued stirring her pink lemonade with the white and red striped straw.

"She’s probably still asleep," Remy retorted his black eyes looking over to the apricot haired girl. Her eyes were a light green and fixed on her drink, watching as the hazy drink spun around in the cup.

"Ye of little faith," Alisa sighed looking to the punk reject who also played drums in Tea’s band, Blush.

"Well look who’s the savior," Remy muttered and just like clockwork, Tea walked into the restaurant. Her pants jingled with her strides and the hinting of glitter was still stuck in her masses of curls. She held her head like a rockstar and for reasons beyond his comprehension, Remy didn’t understand why she wasn’t already someone’s wife. She held this light that he didn’t see in anyone else, or maybe it was just a glow that she didn’t let anyone else see.

Tea had been a hard ass since the first time they had met in highschool. The only reason she opened up to him was because they didn’t talk through words, but through the chords on her guitar. She would shield every piece of herself from the outside, but through her music, she let them all in. It was probably one of the main reasons their band was so popular.

"I’m here. I’m here," Tea groaned taking off her sunglasses and plopping down in the free seat. She rubbed her eyes immediately grabbing Remy’s coffee and taking a sip of it. Somehow, Remy was jealous of that coffee cup. "So what’s the deal with the early morning wake up call?" She questioned looking at both of them.

"River is quitting the band," Remy stated very calmly looking directly into her eyes. It was as if he could see a whole castle of dreams crumple in Tea’s eyes as she sat back to digest what he had just said.

"Quit, as in just taking a break?" Tea asked. "Or quit as if ‘fuck you guys I’m going solo’?"

Remy looked to Alisa who swallowed, "Ugh…I’d say the second option fits."

Tea’s face didn’t change. It was opaque with emotion, which scared Remy more than someone running about and ranting. She took a ringlet in between two fingers and began to twirl it around. "So when are we going to start screening a new guitarist?" She questioned.

Remy’s face immediately brightened up. "Fuck yeah!" He laughed hitting the table with his spastic nature. "I knew there was a reason you were front man. You rock Tea."

Tea looked to Remy with mild amusement shining through her eyes. "We’ve got a gig next Friday night at Banniker’s," Tea stated calmly, but inside she felt panicky. There would be no way that this newbie could learn their riffs in one week.

"Well…I’ve got some people in mind, but I want the whole band to agree on who we want," Remy nodded his eyes brightly looking at Tea like he was on some kind of drug.

"Fine. Done," Tea stated taking a napkin and shredding it into strips and piling into a nice neat pile. "When can we go over there?" Tea questioned, her green eyes looking towards Remy. Good old Remy, she’d always be able to count on him.

"What about now? I’m sure he’ll be up, and hell if he’s not, we’ll just knock until he gets up," He smirked.