Suburban Princess
(Crank)
October 26, 2002
Maybe
it’s just me. But I would have thought that a girl at the center of the biggest
anti-war protest since the Vietnam War might not have had such a gigantic stick
up her ass.
But
no … there she was, her mouth moving, and I didn’t understand a word. To be
fair, she was wicked hot, even if she did dress like a librarian; she wore a
floral knee-length skirt that hugged her thighs and a pastel colored sweater
with what looked like a thousand bangles and bracelets running up her right
wrist. Her eyes were a striking pale blue, framed with dark brownish-blonde
hair. She had this schoolgirl look about her that made me want to lick the back
of her neck. It was the hostile stream of words out of her sexy little mouth
that caused me to step back, both irritated and defensive.
“What
was that?” I asked, hoping to get the torrent of words to just stop.
She
took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I grinned.
“What
I said was, you guys can’t set up here just yet. Mark Tashburn is about to go
on … then there’s a fifteen-minute break. You guys can set up after that.”
I
rolled my eyes. “And we go on at the end of the fifteen minutes?”
She
smiled, her face relaxing a little. I don’t think she liked me that much. Her
smile looked fake. Those ice cold eyes? Her smile never reached that far. I
wondered what a genuine smile from her would look like.
“That’s
right,” she replied.
“That
won’t work,” I said. “Takes longer to set up than fifteen minutes.”
She
sighed. “And why, exactly, are we just finding this out now?”
“Hey,
not my fault. I don’t know who organized the time schedule on this thing, but
it’s a complete mess. If you want us playing in 30 minutes, we needed to start
setting up an hour ago. Takes time to set up the equipment and tune up.”
She
huffed a little and said, “Fine. Just … try not to distract the audience too
much.”
Jesus,
whatever. She came running up the moment we’d started to carry equipment on
stage. Not like the crowd was paying attention anyway, there must be a hundred
thousand people out there. Bunch of hippies and peace freaks and what looked to
be effing soccer moms. For the hundredth time, I asked myself how the hell I’d
gotten roped into playing at an anti-war protest.
Of
course, this was the biggest venue we’d ever played. But seriously, so far, the
speakers had been a series of retreads from the 1960s. If that didn’t show how
disconnected this thing was from reality, I didn’t know what did.
Whatever.
This was Serena’s deal. She was big in the anti-war politics. And what Serena
was into, the band did. We didn’t have a manager, but she was the closest to
it. She sang with me and played rhythm guitar and had a magic sense for what
music would work and what wouldn’t.
We
rushed to get set up without alarming the natives or hippies. Finished in
record time, no thanks to the princess who was off to the side of the stage
with a clipboard, directing people here and there.
So,
between the setup, tune up, and start, I had about fifteen seconds to take a
breath and then launched into the first licks. The college kids in the audience
started to groove on it right away, but the senior citizens and soccer moms …
and holy shit, there was a lot of them … stared up at us as if the stage had
been swept with radioactive contamination. I gave the guitar and vocals just an
extra twinge for them, blasting out the raunchiest original version of the
lyrics to our song “Fuck the War” rather than the extra special sensitive
studio lyrics we’d ended up releasing.
I
don’t want to mislead you. Morbid Obesity isn’t a punk band, more alternative
rock, with a bit of an edge. I’m the edge. To date, our most popular song was
“Fuck the War,” which we released on an EP a few months back. It’s a love song
about my mom and dad, but you’ve got to listen to the lyrics to get that. I put
a lot of emotion into it when I was writing it and when I performed it.
It
was a perfect day to be on stage and outdoors: cool, but not cold. The sky was
clear and cloudless, an occasional breeze wafting across the stage, a hundred
thousand people of all shapes, sizes and colors spread across the frickin’
National Mall. I’d never seen anything like it.
I
was on the second round of the chorus when I looked to the right of the stage
and saw Miss Princess. She was grooving on the music. Moving just slightly, her
lips were parted in a way that caught my breath. Pouty lips. Kissable lips. I
had to laugh at myself a bit. So not my type. Well, except that she was female
and kind of hot. Still, not my type.
Back
in high school, some freak accident of the Boston Public School system sent a
group of rich kids from Back Bay to South Boston High. That was a laugh. It
only lasted a year, though I don’t know if that’s because they got the zoning
reversed, or the parents just yanked their kids from the public schools. This
girl reminded me of some of those kids. Imperious. Superior. Some of them
looked at the rats like me as if we were future criminals.
I
wonder if that’s why she was turning me on so much?
It
made me want to tease her a little, so when I launched into the second verse, I
sang right to her, and her alone. I was on the second verse when she met my
eyes. I held them. Her eyes, so distant and blue, were arresting. She noticed I
was singing to her and froze in place, a deer caught in the headlights. I love
it when girls react that way. Showed she was human. If we’d been back home in
Boston, I’d have grabbed her and pulled her on the stage, but that wouldn’t go
over with this audience.
After
a second though, she met my eyes and gave a sly grin, as if to say ‘I know what you’re up to.’ I grinned
back, belting out the lyrics. The bass and drums in this song were powerful and
demanded that the body dance. I broke off eye contact and took off across the
stage, threw myself into the solo, screaming out the lyrics at the crescendo,
and then I brought the song to a crashing halt.
Despite
the shock of the soccer moms and lobbyists in the crowd, the college kids loved
it and screamed for more. Suburban Princess applauded, a mysterious grin on her
face. I wanted to know her a lot better.
That
wasn’t going to happen. This was an anti-war protest, not a meet and greet. As
soon as the song finished, we started breaking down the stage and golden girl
jumped up to the microphone and shouted, “Give it up for Morbid Obesity and
their hit “Fuck the War”!” I paused what I was doing to check her out while she
was at the microphone.
The
crowd went nuts again, which was nice. Hearing the name of my song on those
lips was even nicer. But five seconds later, she was introducing the next round
of speakers, a bunch of broken down Vietnam and Gulf War vets who had been
dredged up by the organizers of this parade to give it some credibility.
Mark
and I dragged most of the equipment off the stage, while Pathin broke down the
drums, and Serena pulled the extra monitors and wiring apart. As I stepped off
the stage for the last time, the suburban princess met me at the bottom of the
stairs. I stumbled down the last step and ended up less than six inches away
from her, looking down into those fantastic eyes.
“You
guys were pretty good,” she said, her head tilted back, eyes on mine. “Thanks
for doing this.”
I
shrugged and grinned. “It was fun.” Pretty good? That’s it? Jesus, she was
close. I could smell her perfume, a faint, pretty smell.
“So
…” she said, looking me in the eyes.
Awkward.
“How
long is this thing gonna go?” I asked.
“Half
a dozen more speakers, then they march around the White House. Maybe another
hour.”
Mark
walked up just as she was answering the question. Our bass player, Mark, is a
big guy, who might have been a football player in an alternate universe where
football players smoked too much pot and hung out with the bugs in the Pit in
Harvard Square. His eyes widened when I opened my stupid mouth again.
“So,
after it’s over, want to grab some lunch?”
For
just a second her smile faltered, and she looked … almost angry. I know I’m not
exactly wearing frickin’ tweed, but I’m not a bad guy, no need to be offended.
“Come
on,” I said, “it’s just lunch. I won’t do anything too offensive.”
Mark
spoke in a sarcastic tone, “I don’t think she’s your type, Crank.”
She
closed her mouth, eyes darting to Mark. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips set in
a thin line. It looked like she wanted to hit him. This girl was volatile. I
liked that. “Sure,” she said. “Where?”
I
shrugged. “Um … I don’t know the area.”
She
looked thoughtful for just a second. “Georgia Brown’s at 15th and K Street.
They’ve got outdoor seating. See you there … four o’clock?”
Yes!
Was it me, or had she moved closer to me?
Mark
let out a chuckle and walked away.
“All
right, see you at four,” I said, looking at her eyes one more time.
I
don’t know what the hell I was thinking.
Title: Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1)
This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
Title:
A Song for Julia