Chapter Two : Our First Gig.
February 1994

"Okay. Friday night. You will get a taste of Sunset curve." Cheryl hung up the phone and screeched. Her brother came pounding into the kitchen.

"Who needs to be murdered?"
"No. It's good screaming. I just got the band a gig." She exclaimed, still screeching through the house. She swore Stephanie and Bobby could hear her down the street.

~

Stephanie kept wipping her hands down her thighs. Her palms were sweaty as she stood in the dressing room for the club. Sunset Curve had their first gig. She could hardly believe it. The boys were changing on the other side of the wall. She wondered if they were just as nervous as she was.
There was a knock on the door, "You're on in ten!" A voice yelled through the wood.

"Thank you!" Stephanie yelled back. She checked her hair one last time in the mirror. She pulled down her shirt and threw on her flannel. "Pull yourself together Stephanie." She muttered under her breath before pulling open the door of the dressing room. She looked down at herself, the black ripped jeans and the green flannel. The flannel covering her spaghetti strap tank top.

"This is going to be amazing." Alex muttered behind her as Steph spun on her heels to face the guys.

Cheryl's heels clicked down the hall, "What are you all waiting for?"

~

By the time they got off stange Stephanie was sweating from the stage lights. She loved the rush that being on stage gave her. They did it. They played a gig. A real gig. It made every bone in her body shiver with energy everytime she thought about it.
The smile on her face wouldn't leave as Bobby threw his arm over her shoulder, "Well sis. We did it."
"Hell yeah we did." She could still hear the crowd at the club. Pretty much everyone there was underage and drunk. But that wasn't her problem.
The five Sunset curve members split back to their dressing rooms. Cheryl followed Stephanie into the girls dressing room, waving bye to the boys. Cheryl leaned over one of the counters in the dressing room as Stephanie took out her earrings. "Sooooo. What was it like?" She was eager to now. Sure she got to see the whole show from the wings of the stage, but that was different then being on the stage.

Stephanie spun on her heel so she was leaning on the dressing room counter. "Better than anything I've ever felt. It was.... Librarting. Nothing could hold me down, like it was just me and the music."
Cheryl twirled her hair around her finger, "Nothing holding you down. I like the sound of that."

~

The band all fell back onto 'Luke's' couch. Of course it wasn't really his but he called it his. No matter how happy they were they were definitely exhausted. Stephanie loved every second of the night as she leaned her head against Luke's shoulder.

The band had grown much closer over the last month. So much so that something like leaning her head on Luke's shoulder was normal. Thanks to Sunset Curve Bobby wasn't her only brother. Luke, Reggie, and Alex were too.
"Well boys. Where to next?"

~

Stephanie stood staring up at the neon blue sign. It was so bright you could see it from Sunset Boulevard. The road the whole band lived on. It was her dream to play on the stage inside.

Staring down at crowds of people cheering and begging for an encore. She pulled her flannel tighter around her body as the California night winds made goosebumps cover her arms.
The Orpheum. That was every rocker's dream. Small bands played here once and then blew up. This was a fast pass to fame. "Hey."
Stephanie had never spun around so fast in her life. "Jesus Crist!" She hit Alex in the arm, "NEVER do that."
"Never sneak up on you?"
"Yeah. Unless you want to be hit with a taser."
Alex laughed, "You don't-" Stephanie held up a taser that was in her bag, "Why do you have a taser?!"
"Because," She turned back to the Orpheum, "I don't want to get jumped."
Alex laughed, taking a step forward so he was right next to his friend. He swung his arm over Stephanie's shoulder, "One day. We're gonna be in there."
"On that stage, blowing the world away."
"Blowing the world away." Alex repeated her words. "Come on. Our parents are gonna kill us if we stay out too late."
Stephanie laughed as well, "And Bobby."
Alex breathed out laughing again, "Yeah. I like my head, thank you." Stephanie leaned into Alex's body as his arm wrapped tight around Stephanie's shoulders. She wanted this forever. This feeling of safety and happiness.

~

No one else was in the studio as Stephanie laid spread across the couch, strumming away. She hummed along with the notes reading over Luke's new song. They didn't even have a title to the song yet but it was fun to play.

She could feel the strings pressing into her skin as she strummed an A cord. Eventually she sighed, and hung up the guitar. Slowly Stephanie walked across the studio and looked over herself.

Her hair was messy and her eyes sunken. Her flannel was hanging off her left shoulder so you could see her pale skin and thin bra strap. A black tank top was all the layering she had on other than a pair of ripped up acid wash jeans.

The more she looked at herself the more she didn't like. She didn't like the way her hair fell into her face over a cowlick. Or how her arms were so skinny you could feel the bone just by laying her hand over her skin. She didn't like the way that when she stood up her left foot opened up so it was pointed to the left when her right foot faced front.

The only thing she liked about herself was the way she played. The sound of her guitar filling a room as she strummed away. Amp or no amp. It didn't matter. She loved that part of herself. But it was a part you couldn't see just by looking at her.

She wanted something to change. But she didn't know what.

~