I squinted my eyes from the hot sunlight. Malcolm led me up the stairs where the surface world was flying by in heavy traffic. "There, that wasn't so bad, right?"

I admit, it had been kind of fun. Realizing I wasn't going to get sick my anxiety eased up a little. Our stop came rather quick and we hurried off with a couple other people, all of us stepping over the fallen burrito. Pouring out into the fresh air, we scattered. I for one, had no clue where we were going so I just followed Malcolm. By now he had stomped out the remainder of his cigarette and led me across a rather busy street. Car horns honked and Malcolm ignored the vicious yelling. "Nice people," I observed. 

"Ya' get used to it," Malcolm said. "Drivers hate pedestrians an' pedestrians hate drivers."

"Where is everyone going in such a hurry?" I asked. A light breeze blew my hair around my face and I almost wished I had gotten my hair cut at the barber's when I had the chance. 

"Business, errands, shit breaks," Malcolm said. "Could be anythin', really." He pulled me out of the way just in time as someone came soaring by on a bicycle, the bell ringing too late. Malcolm huffed. "An' everyone hates those guys."

**********

I wasn't surprised to see Malcolm pull open the doors to yet another bar. But this one was a lot nicer than the one we were at before. This was more of a mini restaurant that happened to have a bar attached. And besides the chocolate, I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I was okay with it. Before we could find a place to sit, a voice called out. "Hey, Mal!"

Malcolm looked up, attempting to recognize who had just called for him. There were a couple of men sitting at a table against the wall, both of them with long brown hair. "Come on," he said to me. "I know those freaks."

I followed Malcolm up to the table where he was immediately welcomed with pats on the back and tousling of his hair. I, too, had been given a chair to sit in and allowed to join in on this reunion. "Now where the bloody hell have you been?" one of them asked. He wore glasses so large he looked like an insect. The other one was writing something down on a napkin. 

"I should ask the same," Malcolm said lighting up another cigarette. "Been on the road."

"Oh yeah?"

"Workin' my arse off an' what have you," Malcolm said. "While you two have been swimmin' in it."

"Bet you get yours for free, eh, Mal?" the one writing said. He paused what he was doing and stuffed the napkin in his pocket as Malcolm reached for it. "Ah ah ah, this ain't yours."

"I wouldn't call gettin' drunk an' havin' a hangover free," Malcolm said, leaning back in his chair. "An' what's that love note you're hidin' from me?"

"It's his latest work," the man with the glasses said, rolling his giant eyes. "Thinks this is gonna make him big."

"I never said that," the apparent poet said. Malcolm and Glasses laughed. "I only said this would get me noticed is all, that's all I said, alright?"

"You've got some stiff competition what with Bon an' all," Malcolm said. A woman in a white apron came by and passed around four pints of golden beer. She hurried away and I stared at my wonky reflection in the bubbly glass. "Man's fuckin' smart."

"How's Bon doing anyway?" Glasses asked. "Haven't seen him in a while, starting to think he's settled down." Malcolm set his glass down and hiccuped. 

"Nah, he's not there yet," Malcolm said. "He's the life of the party as always. Maybe he's cut back to four bars a week instead of five, ya' know." The men turned their attention to me while Malcolm drank. 

"And who's this?" Poet asked. Malcolm hummed and set his glass down.

"This is Hannah," he said and I held my hand out for them to shake. "She's a friend of the band. Hannah, this is Larry and John." Glasses and Poet nodded at their respective names. 

"Now we know it's been forever, 'cause we usually know all of Mal's friends," John said. "Where'd you lot pick her up?" I raised my eyebrows at where this was going.

"We didn't pick her up, ya' moron," Malcolm said. "She found us an' we liked her, that's all. She's a kind of groupie of some sort."

"Of some sort?" I asked. These men had better watch what they say. 

"I jus' mean ya' don't try to take our clothes off at every turn," Malcolm shrugged. I tilted my head in a 'I beg your pardon' kind of way. "We're not quite used to you is all."

Larry took his glasses off and wiped them with his shirt. I could see the lens had been smeared with fingerprints. "Maybe she just hasn't tried to take your clothes off, Mal." John laughed over his pint. Malcolm mock laughed. 

"I'm not that ugly, right, Hannah?" 

"Course you're not," I agreed. Malcolm nodded.

"See?" He leaned toward me and lowered his voice. "Don't mind these two, they're full of it."

"What are you muttering, Mal?" John asked, his eyes sparkling. "Casting a spell on her so she won't like us?"

"Jus' warnin' her," Malcolm said, sitting up and smoking. "I haven't forgotten last year's tow truck incident an' Hannah doesn't need that kind of lifestyle. She's a good kid." I beamed, passing my smug little smile all around the table. My pint of beer remained untouched while everyone else's was half empty. Suddenly Malcolm's words sunk in.

"Tow truck incident?" I asked. 

"Uh, never mind," Larry said, clearing his throat. "How about we order some food or something, I'm starved."

**********

After finishing my plate of steamed vegetables and trading in my pint of beer for a cup of tea, I could feel myself lowering my guard. My mood lifted a little and I let myself have fun; most of the fun being laughing at something one of the guys said since they still did most of the talking. Some Christmas music started playing in this place just like the last one and I fell into a fit of giggles remembering the singing party. "What's so funny?" John asked.

"The concert," I giggled, feeling the caffeine get to my head. It sounds pathetic but tea can really mess with my state of mind. "Those singing people..."

John and Larry looked to Malcolm for an explanation. "She means a couple of people we saw earlier," he said. "They were singin' real loud to this song."

We all listened for a moment to 'White Christmas' as I giggled through it. "Didn't the Beatles sing this or something?" John asked. 

"Or something," I answered. The song finished and was replaced by a faint early seventies number. 

"Where are you and Mal headed after this, Hannah?" Larry asked. I looked at Malcolm who was busy lighting another cigarette. Truth was I had no clue. I was simply riding his coattails. 

"I don't know," I said. 

"We gotta take the subway back," Malcolm said. "Small show tonight."

"Can we come?" John asked.

"If ya' pay to get in," Malcolm said. John and Larry groaned and threw their used napkins at Malcolm. "Hey now, this isn't no radio giveaway, ya' know."

"You're no fun, Mal." Malcolm brushed away the napkins and crossed his arms. 

"Ya' wanna know who's no fun?" Malcolm then proceeded to inform them of the man who ditched us for his new girlfriend. John and Larry looked at each other and laughed. "Probably shaggin' right as we speak."

"Eugh, don't say that," John said, grimacing. It was Malcolm's turn to laugh. "Wouldn't mind bein' him right now, though."

"Really, Mal, can we stick around?" Larry asked. "Been bumming around Sydney for the past few days before we bum around Melbourne and we're running out of things to do."

Malcolm looked at me and pretended to act reluctant. "I dunno...." he said, drawing his words out. "Hannah really doesn't have time to babysit all three of us..."

"We can change our own nappies, Mal, don't worry about that," John said as we all laughed. "We won't make any trouble."

"And we wanna see the show," Larry added. "We'll buy our tickets," he said before Malcolm could interject. 

"I was just gonna say we might have a couple extra you could have lyin' around," Malcolm said. "But if you insist on payin' that's fine with me."

"Oh we don't mind taking the extras," John shrugged. Larry nodded. "Since nobody wanted them..."

"Watch it," Malcolm smiled, pointing a finger at them. "Alright, yous two can come." John and Larry cheered for themselves and high fived while Malcolm stood from the table. I understood that was our cue to get going since the concert would probably start right as the sun began to set. I stood up myself right as a loud and upbeat song started playing on the radio in the corner. 

"Aw, wait, we can't leave yet," John said, catching wind of the song. "One more song for the road, Mal?"

"If ya' think I'm dancin' with either one of ya', you're fuckin'-"

"Don't get thick, I just meant you could hum us a few bars," John said and Malcolm rolled his eyes and laughed in spite of himself. "Come on, Mal, please?"

"Please, Mal?" Larry joined in. Malcolm looked to me like I was going to start asking him to sing too. But if Malcolm really didn't want to...

I stayed quiet and Malcolm looked back to his friends. "So ya' don't want me to dance but ya' want me to sing. That makes perfect sense, don't it, Hannah?"

"We mean no offence, Malcolm," Larry said. "But if you'll recall, we weren't the only ones involved in the infamous tow truck incident." Malcolm looked down at his shoes and kicked the floor. "We and everyone else saw your dancing."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Malcolm for more details. Malcolm, however, was stubborn and wouldn't give in. But this was a story for the books if everything they said was true. Malcolm seemed to know his friends were just getting under his skin but he wanted to prove something anyway. He dropped his cigarette in the ash try and grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's show these petunias a little somethin'."

Much like with Bon, I wasn't exactly wearing my best dancing shoes. But then again, I did say a cup of tea and some music would get me in the mood to dance. With the music playing and my empty teacup watching, I decided to humor him. "Don't trip her, Mal!" Larry shouted. "We're too broke for the hospital cheque!"

"He won't!" I said. I simply wouldn't have them pick on him like this. If they wanted a show, I'd give them a fucking show.

Too bad Malcolm and I were both a little tipsy. 

One cup of tea may be all I needed but Malcolm had drunk quite a lot of beer himself. He could stay upright but both of us got the giggles too much to really....well, dance. He didn't trip me per se, as much as we tripped ourselves. I could hear John cheering and Larry laughing from the table. A few other people caught sight of us and watched and I did my best to ignore them. All that mattered was that I was having fun, and I was. Who cared what they thought?

"That's not singing!" John yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. 

**********

The three men sitting next to me on the subway were drunk as fuck. And everything they said and did was ten times funnier than it would have been if they were sober. We were surrounded by different passengers than before and some of them were really disturbed by our definition of "fun". 

"We knew we'd get ya' to sing," Larry said after their little song had finished. Malcolm brushed the hair out of his eyes. 

"Had to drug me up to do it," he said. "Hope this wears off before the show. Still got a few hours."

"Get some coffee or something, mate," John said. "Could all use some."

"Not Hannah," Malcolm said, patting my shoulder. "Didn't have a lick of that shit." Sure smelled like shit. As long as beer smelled bad and made me sick, I wouldn't touch the stuff. 

Soon enough the three of them got started on another ditty while an old woman watched in horror. The song wasn't exactly the most wholesome song and the men took it upon themselves to insert a few four letter words where they wanted. 

I still hadn't told Malcolm my secret. And now with two others in our company, I couldn't. Not to mention the subway full of people. But if I didn't bring it up soon I would never get to. If I could just tell him I needed to talk with him about something, he'd be sure to make time to listen. And besides, we were all having too much fun to interrupt it with my boring time travel tale. 

Right as I turned to Malcolm to let him know I had something I wanted to tell him, Malcolm turned to face me and planted a kiss right on my lips. My eyes widened and after a few seconds he finally pulled away, turning back to his friends and joining in their drunken song. I slowly turned to face front, staring at the empty seat across from mine, a wad of pink gum attached to it. I brought my hand to my lips and gently touched them. My palms wiped themselves on my jeans and I lost myself in thought. 

Uh....what the fuck just happened?