Bobbi's head fell back and landed harder than she expected against the wall. Her bureau caught her legs and her body crumpled, relaxing for the first time all day. Every part of her ached and let out a collect sigh. Her brain was at the top those complaining. With her eyes closed, the soft breeze blowing through the open windows of her bedroom was the only thing she could sense. A strong word and harsh argument floated in from the fading afternoon light outside every once in awhile. Bobbi felt the tiniest bit of reassurance at the thought of Rosie and Alfie still holed up in the studio, hashing it out over the pile of half-completed songs she had thrown their way. Sam's drum beats came through during the quiet moments and their work as a whole continued to move forward.

A faint cloud had migrated over the heads of each band member over the past couple of days. Not even Rosie seemed immune. Although no one dared mention it. Not that they wanted to. It would only bring the reality of their situation closer to home.

The clouds held only one word and the same word for each of them, it seemed. One word that held so much power within itself. Album, with a faint but strong handed undertone of Soon. It came from the label by way of Alex the minute the band touched back down in LA. When the wheels of the plane hit the ground, so did the band. Maybe not in the exact way the label had hoped, but it was forward irregardless. And they hadn't stopped since.

All dove head first into a variety of other projects with only half a head actually dedicated to anything resembling the album. They allowed for a quick break when Rosie reappeared at their doorstep when she re-entered the city and took residence once again on their property. She did so with a bottle of champagne in her hand and a round of congratulations for Sam and his new bride-to-be. The spontaneous reunion celebration fizzled at Rosie's about when Bobbi's wedding to was going to be. She claimed it was off her own intuition and not off of the load of crap she was sure to have read in the newspapers. Reality nudged its way further into their dining room with the remark and helped break up the party.

Alex continually brought updates from Management along with several strong nudges from the label in a vain hope to help guide the band in the right direction. The label's instructions were set aside and thrown out of mind when uttered. The one's from management were not so easily ignored. Nor were they nearly as subtle or kindly worded. Annette and Bernard seemed to be riding a high from their shenanigans in Boston and were shifting Bobbi and Theo into a higher gear.

The album was at a near stand still, with an unspoken agreement between all involved that they had nothing to go on and nothing driving them forward. The label remained a mere notice and hard glare in the form of Alex and neither weren't helping the flow of creativity between the band.

Alfie's main source of procrastination became helping Rosie with her own record when not arguing over the scarce material he had for his own. That left Bobbi and Theo with only their responsibilities to Management and their 'image' to distract them. And Sam was spending half of his time flying back and forth to Boston to start preparations for his now up and coming nuptials. He was the only one with a valid excuse, it seemed, for not giving full attention and effort to the album, the one thing they were all suppose to be doing.

Bobbi's feet winced when she finally opened her eyes and found stilettos staring back at her. Her brain's plea for a quiet night was temporarily and forcibly gagged. Spending most of the previous week and a half stuck slouched in a lawn chair, lounging in the sun, attempting to her purge mind of any sort of worthy song idea was proving exhausting. She had managed to write plenty. But nothing actually worth sharing or even allowing it to be heard by another human being. It was all crap and she knew it. Her brain was exhausted from continuous failure and the thought of one more minute spent on the property helped her quickly regained momentum in her limbs to keep her body moving forward. Her day was far from over and her night was only just beginning.

The pair of black stilettos stared right back at her as she glared at their pointed tips. They did not burst into flames and burn her whole cottage down, despite her onslaught of pleas that they just might, keeping her from yet another night out on the town. She wanted to be gone, just not where she where had to get going. The wear on their soles was starting to show. Six dates over the course of the last week and a half and they were starting to regret being one of Bobbi's only pair of comfortable heels. The neat row of converses lined up on the floor of her closet, ranging in age and color of off white, sang out their songs of consolation, offering their services as an alternative to the perfect date night outfit laid out before her. The tight leather pants sealed the deal when the thought of trying to slip them on in the warm spring air sent the entire outfit to the floor and Bobbi to the cleanest pair of old worn out chucks she owned.

It was a luxury walking out of her cottage with only her phone and wallet. She had a crucial packet of papers underneath her arm, but a stern talking to and a certain look from Alex she knew would be waiting for her if she forgot one more time kept her from leaving it with the rest of her extravagant accessories that she had purposefully left behind.

The sun was tucking itself in for the night, though the heat in the atmosphere still remained. She hurried her steps along to the house, hoping the long shadows cast out onto the lawn did a sufficient job keeping her from view of the studio and it's wide open doors, still pouring music out into the night. It wasn't good music and Bobbi could hear it in Alfie's tone that he thought so too. She consoled her sense of responsibility and simultaneous guilt that at least it was something.

A growl in her stomach drove toward her awaiting escort where he stood waiting in the driveway, slouched against his outrageously obnoxious car. He was the complete opposite in every single way from the one person Bobbi wished was standing by a car rearing to go and ready to take them far, far away. But there Aaron still stood when Bobbi turned to face him after closing the door behind her.

She allowed herself a moment to breathe a sigh of resignation at the sight. None of her prayers were going to be answered that night and Theo was going to remain far away, somewhere public, with someone else's arm snaked around his waist. Bobbi threw out the thought of Kylie actually flirting with Theo as the scene was altogether making her rather furious. She focused instead on the craving roaring like a lion inside her abdomen.

This craving demanded a certain sacrifice and definite change of plan to what was already established for the evenings events.. Bobbi's half-brained scheme solidified itself in her mind with each step she had to take towards Aaron. Her only defense against the repercussions for her decision was one last prayer skyward and a vague hope Alex held more sympathy for Bobbi and Theo and their situation than their management did.

She was already scowling as she neared the offensively colored sports car and let the sun setting just at the edge of the horizon act as her reason. Aaron's attempt to muster some amount of suave as he leaned against his car was cut short when Bobbi didn't bother greeting him and instead threw down her packet of papers onto the hood of his car..

"Hello to you too."

His words came with the beginning of a smirk, which was met with the flattest expression Bobbi held in her arsenal.

"Sign these."

His snug expression spread to his attitude and he gave her a mock bow at her request and bent over to inspect what now laid strewn across the hood of his car. Bobbi felt the tiniest hint of a smile tug at the corner of her lips when she saw his falter, just a bit. He was rarely without some award winning expression, especially around her and especially when out in public together. Over the last five outings they had had to endure together, his grin was now a source of onset nausea, a sight that helped up end anything Bobbi had previously eaten.

"This is a non-disclosure agreement."

Even with the sunlight bouncing off his car and reflecting right into her eyes, Bobbi didn't dare move, lest she miss his expression.

"That it is. You need to sign."

"Alright. I will. You got a-"

Bobbi's outstretched hand cut his request short.

"You don't trust me to keep your secrets, huh? Is that what this is, Bob-o?"

He said it with a laughing smile but his infuriating nickname didn't help Bobbi's resting expression play along with his joke.
"Nope. Not at all."

Bobbi inspected the packet once handed back to her to make sure Alex would approve. And to prevent any further interactions of this sort with Aaron in the future.

"So. Do you give these out to all your boy-toys? Or just the one's you really like?"

Her lack of humor at the prospect of having to spend time with each other was starting to bring his on down and there now resided a sneer on his mouth.

"It's policy. Especially for our type of relationship."

"You just keep these lying around, ready to hand out whenever needed? Got all your friends with one of these hanging around your neck then?"

"Just the one's who need them. You've got a pretty mouth, kid. I just doubt it stays closed very often. Now I've got it glued shut. Come on. Let's go. We're gonna be late."

Bobbi saw his visible double take at her current attire and lack of usual makeup and up do now that the business portion of their date was taken care of. But she was already seated in the front seat and pulling up directions for their final destination so he didn't bother making much of a fuss. He opened his mouth to say some sort of snide comment when he realized they were headed in the opposite directions where they had dinner reservations and a flood of paparazzi waiting for them. He instead followed Bobbi's lead a cloud of tense silence descended to take it's seat on the center console, sitting pretty right behind the gear shift and ready to stay for the remainder of the drive.

*******

He sped the sports car south, skirting round the city and seeming to head in the opposite direction of all night time traffic. A row of white headlights lined up on their left side, bordering the highway divider and lighting their way south as the sun finally hid itself beyond the ocean's edge.

With every mile that took them farther from the city lights that continued to fade in the rear-view mirror, the air inside Bobbi's lungs grew lighter. So did her mood, somehow, even with present company still present. With the neat packet of papers acting as safety net beneath her feet while she walked a tightrope with Aaron as her partner, she even tried to instigate a conversation. It took a couple tries but once Bobbi mentioned an ad she had seen of his, featuring a vaguely recognizable model posing along side him, both heavily photo-shopped, his constant stream of chatter did it's job of filling the silence the rest of the way.

Their animosity was once again forced down under, buried deep enough to insure that the night wouldn't be a complete disaster, and they arrived at their final destination friendly, enough. Aaron even tried a question about Bobbi's own life, once complete of his one-man monologue on his own career's success stemming from their relationship thus far.

It was a question on the status of the album, quoting something he had read about the band working on their third. As this question was one that was constantly running rampant in her mind, in the mind of her band mates and on the tongue of nearly every single person they had had to come in contact over the past two weeks, Bobbi took the opportunity of a sudden onslaught of neon lights to let the question drop without an answer.

Aaron stopped the car just a few yards beneath where a giant clown stood poised, out lined and lit up in neon colors of the most garish hue, the orange of his giant shoes coincidentally the same color as Aaron's lambo.

The sight of the establishment breathed a breath of fresh air into Bobbi's veins before the cool air of the night even got the chance and she was climbing out of the car before Aaron had even turned it off.

"What the hell is this place?"

It took quite a lot of self-control for Bobbi to actually stand and wait at the hood of Aaron's car. Never once in her life had she waited to entered this establishment and her stomach was screaming for her to hurry on ahead without him.

He took his spot next to her, his arm instinctively dropping down on top of her shoulders. After so much practice, she was used to the sensation and his arm felt more like dead weight, a nuisance, than a rotten fish slapped down upon, as it had the first dozen times he had done so without forewarning.

"Bonkers Bowling and Pizza Alley" shone bright over their heads but the sign wasn't helping Aaron's brain reach a point of understanding. In the end, Bobbi had to pull him along inside. His car had done an excellent job attracting attention. It helped that Bonkers was the apparent hot spot for a Friday night in the little coastal town in which it resided. There were kids everywhere, most only a few years younger than Bobbi herself and all looking like her band's perfect target demographic. Her stomach was also reminding her that she hadn't eaten since that morning. Both reasons seemed enough to physically drag Aaron behind her so they could get inside with relative anonymity.

The aesthetic of the exterior did little to prep one for the interior waiting for them. Bobbi's heart almost audibly sighed at the sight of the iconic bright green bowling lanes, laid out in neat rows, gleaming in the room's low light. Music poured out of the glass doors the instant Bobbi had wretched them opened and the volume only grew as they passed the arcade and pizza counter and finally reached the central hub of all activity.

Over thirty lanes, neatly lined up, side by side, extending the entire length of the building and somehow further, stood waiting for all those willing to pay. The ombre hues of green, starting with a bright neon lime on the far left and ending in a deep forest, only enhanced the true authenticity of the establishment and solidified the place as a true time capsule in which the psychedelic 70's had been perfectly preserved. It helped that Fleetwood Mac was blaring through the speakers overhead.

Aaron regained his cool immediately and reached a level of comfort that allow him to lose sight of the fact that the cost of his suit jacket would have surely paid for at least half of the buildings property tax alone. He saw people looking their way and felt instantly at home.

Bobbi saw the cheap vinyl seats and smelled cooking pizza and felt at home. Her smile was genuine for the first time on an outing at the sight of such a familiar atmosphere and her mind took her back to when she was a puny 18 year old, slightly shorter and with lighter hair, ready to change the world and take over the music industry. A shake of the head kept out the thought of just how long it had been since she had been back here.

"What the hell is this place?"

This time, his question come out among a bemused smile and any traces of tension between them evaporated as more sets of eyes seemed to be pulled their way. Aaron responded by pulling Bobbi closer so she was forced to wrap her arm around his waist to keep it from smacking his flat butt as they kept moving forward.

"The studio where we recorded our first album is just down the street. We used to come here nearly every night. Mainly for the pizza but I got pretty good at bowling that summer."

Aaron responded with a vague grunt of something to make it seem like he was listening. He wasn't as his attention was absorbed in trying to attain the attention of all those around him, his primary move being making eye contact with as many youths passing by as he can, gently squaring Bobbi's shoulder in their direction to gain that spark of recognition from everyone around him.

Bobbi wriggled out from underneath the weight of his arm and gave him a gentle shove away so she had a chance of gaining a few inches of personal space.

He still wasn't listening when Bobbi suggested they check in and grab a lane but Bobbi didn't even get the chance to hear if he had replied. He hadn't but Bobbi's full focus had singled in on a lone figure leaning against the long check-in counter, one arm propped up against the retro linoleum counter top, while his eyes shifted every which way, observing the moving crowd in front of him.

He was just standing up, running a quick hand through his hair to keep it in perfect style, when he had to take half of a step back at the sudden force of Bobbi's arms around his waist.

"Oh, thank God!"

Theo was laughing, quickly regaining his balance, and looking down at his attacker. Bobbi took a step away, releasing him from her embrace but he didn't let her get too far. Bobbi could feel him tense and she felt his eyes leave hers and glance just behind her. A third person enter their small bubble but Bobbi kept one hand around Theo's waist and he laid his arm across her shoulders, keeping her as close as possible.

"Who's this then, Bird? Another one of your boy toys?"

Theo's laugh turned hard in Bobbi's ear as his eyes narrowed at Aaron's approaching figure. Bobbi hit him lightly in the abdomen, whispering a quick reminder that they had met before.

"Hey, man. What's up? I'm Theo."

Theo only finally let go of Bobbi to extend his arm out towards Aaron.

"Aaron. We met at the Grammy's. And then Justine Kent's party."

"Really?" Theo's casual manner manufactured the first hint of a crack in Aaron's cool exterior. With a shrug, Aaron fell down a peg. Even with a cooler version of Theo's natural charm, the insult still hit. "Sorry, dude. It must have been a bust night. It's nice to meet you though."

"Speaking of arm candy, where's yours?"

And with Bobbi's question, Aaron fell completely off both of their radars. It was only when they actually stopped staring at one another, trying hard not to touch, several minutes later, that Bobbi realized he had just stood there, watching them interact.
"Bathroom. Apparently she needed to wash her hands if she was going to have to actually stay here for awhile. I'm her ride and I'm not leaving until I get some pizza. What about you? What happened to that fancy restaurant that took Alex weeks to get you a reservation? The one with the pasta I was going to be so jealous I missed out on?"

Bobbi's expression was near to bursting and her lips on the edge of full blown laughter as she just kept staring up at him.

"I wanted pizza. Specifically Bonkers. What about you? Was the gallery opening really that bad?"

"Worse!"

Theo's rant on the lack of anything actually resembling art, flowing into their insistence of serving only distilled water and carrot sticks, was all cut short when some blonde snaked her arms around his waist from behind and rested her head on his shoulder, having to bend down slightly to do it as she stood perfectly at his height in her needle sharp stilettos.

"Hey, babe. Who's your friend?"

Theo barely kept himself from jumping two feet in the air at her sudden appearance. The addition of her pitched voice shut down any sort of good time vibes Bobbi and Theo were holding onto and threw them both head first back into their current situation and back to reality.

"You must be Kylie." Bobbi tried on a smile and something resembling a warm tone of voice. It came out lacking but she was resigned to the fact that it was the best she would be able to do.

"Oh, hey. You're Bobbi. Wow. I totally didn't recognize you without all your makeup! I'm Kylie, Theo's girlfriend."

Bobbi and Theo simultaneously took a hard swallow at the statement, to choke back both vomit and a wave of laughter.

"I've heard so much about you. I figured we would have to run into each other sooner or later."

Her grip on Theo seemed to grow tighter, Theo's level of discomfort raising being the main give-away.

"Kylie, this is-"

"Aaron?! Oh my god! How are you? It's so good to see you!"

Theo's attempt at an introduction was cut short and with the most enthusiasm Bobbi was sure she possessed and had ever displayed on a date with Theo, Kylie relinquished she grip and pushed both of them aside to then wrap herself around Bobbi's fake boyfriend.

"Nice to meet you, too." Bobbi said, after the fact.

Kylie dove the two of them into reminiscing and catching up, their friendship due to some sort of model shoot campaign thing they had done together. Bobbi didn't bother trying to listen in and instead grabbed at the chance before her.

With a glance around to catch sight of the familiar figure of the owner, she planted her foot on a notch in the counter wall and threw herself over the counter. She grabbed two sets of shoes, varying to the upmost in size and threw down a twenty on the counter as she climbed back over.

"You don't think Hal will mind, do you?"

Theo shook his head and grabbed the larger of the two, starting off towards the lane at the furthest end of the hall. An overwhelming sense of deja vu and traveling back in time came over Bobbi as her hand swung along her side, nearly brushing Theo's and inevitably coming in constant. She was sure her cheeks were just as red then as they always were when that used to happen before, the last time the two of them were there. Things differed this time as, when they stepped away from the majority of the prying eyes of the youths around them, Theo grabbed Bobbi's hand the last few yards they had to go.

The proprietor gave them a warm welcome as they took their usual lane, the darkest lane out of all of them and backed up against the furthest wall. Their transportation back in time was complete when Hal gave each of them a huge pat on the back and called out a game on him, with a reminder to grab some pizza from the bar before they left. Aaron and Kylie eventually made their way over to the lane, Aaron had even grabbed his own shoes, holding a pair for Kylie as well, with some vague intention of maybe playing. They made no effort to join in on a game and instead took seats at a counter several yards away from the lane.

Bobbi and Theo didn't bother to notice. They had been granted to be two young kids having fun together on a Friday night, for the first time in years. And they took it.

*******

For John.

I couldn't have done it without you.

Hank.