Drops of water ran down her forehead and into her open mouth, the girl coughing and sputtering when she woke up. Annie snuggled up next to her, using her chest for a pillow. Marley looked up for the source of the indoor rain. Another drop hit her right in the eye, the shower spout leaking as it always was. Shoving Annie off of her, Marley stood from the tub and stretched, almost hitting her head. She had never been fond of her height, always getting made fun of for it in primary school. 

She left the bathroom, carefully peering around every nook and cranny for whatever made the noise last night. Seeing nothing and hearing nothing, she grabbed her suitcase and picked out her pink skirt and white sweater to wear. Grabbing a spare hair bow from her purse, she sat down on the bed and turned the radio on, adjusting the volume so as not to wake Annie. A few morning talk shows were on, boring her to tears. Switching the channel a few times, she reached the rock station, perhaps waiting to hear any news about the concert or a song to dance to. 

"Yes, they're playing in Los Angeles tonight, and seats are limited so you'd better get in line as fast as you can if you haven't reserved a spot yet!" The announcer made it sound easy. Anyone with a brain would know people would be fighting to get in line first for a ticket to see this band. Marley was thankful Annie had managed to get theirs early. But-why hadn't she shown her the backstage passes earlier? In fact, Marley still hadn't seen them with her own eyes. Perhaps Annie had been pulling her leg. "Up next we have Stairway to Heaven by Led Zep-" 

Marley quickly turned the dial, changing the station. Nothing personal. A piano began playing, some violins joining in. Closing her eyes, Marley felt at home. Safe.

"What are you doing up so early?" Annie stood behind her in the doorway, hair sticking out in five different directions. Marley jumped, quickly turning the radio off. 

"Nothing, just hearing the forecast for the day." Annie walked to the window, watching out for any hidden rodents in the room, and spread the curtains, hissing as the sun hit her in the face.

"Fuckin' sunny, how's that?" she asked grabbing clothes from her suitcase. She noticed Marley's outfit and looked her up and down. "What, no band t-shirt?"

"I didn't think I needed to wear one."

"You don't pack band shirts to a concert if you're not gonna wear it at the concert!" Annie groaned. "You might as well wear it as pajamas or something, if the boys won't see it." Another suspicious look crossed the blonde's face. "Or..."

"Not this again," Marley mumbled behind her hand.

"You want them to see the shirt...as pajamas? Hmm?" Annie put her hands on her hips as a lock of hair fell in her face. Pushing it away with a huff, she grabbed her own band shirt and jeans, and made for the bathroom to change. "Let's get a real breakfast this time!" she yelled closing the door after her.

"As you wish, your highness!" Marley yelled back. Marley looked down at her own outfit, thinking she looked rather nice. A band t-shirt wouldn't really stand out from the rest of the crowd attending. Then again, why should she stand out? Not only would the crowd be the ones giving her funny looks, but the band wouldn't be able to see her from the stage anyway. The lights were far too bright. Sighing, she took the outfit off as quick as she could and pulled on her own AC/DC shirt. The hair bow could stay.

Annie had left her suitcase open on the floor. Knowing how much she procrastinated waking up, Marley figured she had some time before she came out of the bathroom ready for the day. If she could just look around, maybe she could find where she kept the backstage passes. Or if it was all a joke, she wouldn't be made a fool of at the concert, and spared the broken heart. 

Pushing aside three too many bras, she rummaged through her clothes glancing at the door every now and again. Recalling all the times she has caught Annie sneaking in her purse, she hardly felt guilty. Finding a chip at the bottom, she grimaced in disgust and threw it away, leaving the hidden creature to find it. She searched the pockets next. 

Aside from a toothbrush and deodorant, there wasn't anything to hint at more adventures after the show. Marley shut the suitcase in disappointment. 

Annie wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead as she held the nozzle. The girls had stopped at an empty gas station to fill up the station wagon, much to Annie's dismay. She had insisted she could make it to Los Angeles in the next hour without having to stop but Marley was insistent, especially when the needle was caressing the E. The doors of the little drugstore opened and Marley came out holding a few bags of chips and several drinks. "No bags. No bags or carts anywhere," she wheezed as she struggled to open the door. "And no one to help."

"I'm filling up the car, just like you asked!" Annie replied in defense. "It's almost done, and I don't want to overfill it."

"That's just what we need, to catch on fire on a hot day." After she managed to squeeze all the food in the car, she took some more money from her purse and counted it, making sure they were still financially stable. "I don't think we'll be buying anything at the concert, Ann," Marley said. "We can make the trip back just fine if we're careful, but we can't buy any un-necessities."

"So this means I can't get that AC/DC toilet paper?" Annie asked. "I guess I can wait until Christmas..." She took the nozzle out and set it back in its cradle. "Your total is thirty eighty five."

"Thirty?" Marley cried in disbelief. 

"Hey, there's a gas shortage! And since we were almost out it's gonna cost more," Annie explained. "I'd help pay but I'm broke."

"Alright, fair enough." Marley took thirty one dollars from her purse and handed it to Annie who set it through a slot on a small tin bucket. "I guess this means no regular toilet paper either," she mumbled closing her purse. 

The two girls settled in the car, distributing the bags and bottles. Annie took a look at one. "Coke? You shouldn't have," she said opening it up. "Too bad it's not beer."

"I refuse to let you drink while you drive," Marley said firmly. "I also promised my mother, and I don't believe you need alcohol to enjoy yourself."

"You're such a party pooper!" Annie said with a laugh. "Okay, I'll settle for Coke. It's still second best." She took a few sips, spilling some on her shirt. "Oh, mega bummer! Did you bring any napkins?"

"Uh..." Marley set down the bag of chips and opened the glove box, a few papers springing out and falling on the floor. "Oh, shit!"

"Nice!" Annie laughed.

Finding no napkins among the love letters, blender construction instructions, and drawings of naked women, she grabbed a tissue at the bottom of the glove box and handed it over. "Here, use this."

"Oh, it's used!" Annie turned it over in her hand, disgusted. "And there's a piece of gum-oh, nevermind, I don't need one anyway, it's already dry. Here." She tossed it back to Marley who didn't quite catch it in time, falling right on the top of her soda bottle. 

"Gross!"

Laughing like a madwoman, Annie started the car and raced out of the parking lot to Los Angeles.

After pouting when Marley said 'no' about the nice hotel, Annie pulled up to the parking lot of a decent motel, like they had planned. "There's no pool here!" she had said grabbing their stuff. "No pool, no palm trees, no cute boys to leer at...and no view at all of the concert venue. How can I see Bon Scott if I'm looking at a brick wall?"

"Stop complaining, it's just for one night. Like I said, we don't have the money to splurge."

They got one room again, this time with separate beds. There was no leaky faucet and no creatures lurking about in the corners. Compared to what they'd seen, this was a five star hotel. "The concert starts in three hours, you wanna get some food before we go?"

"Sure, what do you want?"

Annie gasped dramatically. "You're letting me pick? I can get real food, not cardboard? Real drinks out of clean glasses?" she asked. "God bless you, Warden!"

Trying not to laugh, Marley opened the motel door and the two left the building. "Okay okay, that's enough. Now how about pizza?"

"Ice cream!"

"Ice cream isn't dinner, Annie."

"It is for me at least once a month," Annie said. "We can get pizza now, but can we please get ice cream later? I'll even pay you back once we're back home." Vanilla with sprinkles did sound good...and with Annie looking at her like that, how could she refuse?

"Alright, alright. After the show as a celebration for our adventure. Now, let's get some pepperoni."

"Can we get pineapples?"

"Oh, don't start!"

Marley and Annie arrived at the venue early, a good sized throng of people still present. Marley had been right in her thoughts; there were people running about outside trying to score the last tickets available, some of them even getting into fistfights. Annie wanted to watch but Marley pulled her inside, afraid they wouldn't be able to squeeze past all the people. It was stuffy, hardly any better than the weather outside. The lights were still on giving people time to get settled in their spots. Marley and Annie had given their tickets away, checking which row they were in first.

"First row may be the best," Annie said as they found their places. "But fifth row is pretty good too."

"It's better than anything I could have gotten," Marley admitted. "Thanks again, Ann."

"Ah, it's nothing," Annie said waving her off. "And don't think about owing me back, I'm the one who owes you for our future ice cream." She looked at her watch, which happened to be broken and instead played a part in fashion. "What time is it?"

"It's...seven fifty two."

"Oh! It's almost time then. Do I look okay?" Annie turned in a circle. 

"Dynamite," Marley said twirling her finger. "Don't get so worked up, they can't even see us from up there."

"How do you know? And besides, I told you, we're going backstage!" 

"Yeah, Ann, about that-" The lights went out at that moment, people still loudly chattering around them. "Where are the backstage passes?"

"What?" Annie couldn't hear over the noise.

"I said where are the-" A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. "I've been looking around in your suitcase-" she admitted. "And I couldn't find-"

"There they are, there they are!" Marley turned to the stage to see the excitement. There in front of them, in the flesh, was the band the two women had been wanting to see for months, and their dream had finally come true. Suddenly, all at once, Marley felt a radiating joy in her heart. An explosive guitar chord came from the back of the stage, and more cheers followed after it. "Happy birthday, Marley!"

Marley had forgotten about the backstage passes.

For now.