Chapter three of my Wattpad story, Look at Yourself, Bowie! If you want to read more the rest is on Wattpad under the user Jaomixi, forty chapters have been released so far!
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Mari woke up around 10:00 a.m that morning, forgetting completely where she promised to be later that afternoon until she got a call from John about an hour later.
"I'll pick you up around 8:30." He said, leaning back on his sofa. Yoko was just getting up, fixing herself a pot of coffee.
She paused, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "What for?" she asked.
"The party, Christ," His speech ran into a slight mumble as his face strayed from the telephone for a moment, "Losing your head."
"Right! The party. If I told you I was too sick to go, would you believe me?"
"Ah, don't play that shite, I know you too well to-"
"Oh, I was only joking," she smiled, crossing her legs as she reclined on her seat.
John gave a sarcastic laugh, "Ha-ha, you're very funny,-"
"What's got you all grumpy this morning, Lennon?" she asked, a small smile still on her face as she took a sip of her drink and put it back where it laid on the coffee table.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I ran into the press this morning on my way home from going to the shop to get a few things. I get so tired of their goddamn questions! 'John! John! When's the Beatle reunion?' 'John, What came first, the chicken or the egg?'"
His last words grew quiet as he strayed away from the telephone once again, though he could still hear Mari laugh through the line.Ā
"I see. I didn't think the press would even recognize you anymore if you didn't have Yoko next to you, that's all they care about anymore. They hate to see a happy couple." Mari said, shifting in her seat.
Mari paused for a moment, thinking of anything else she might have left to say before ending the call.
"Did you ever figure out who would be there? At the party, I mean."
John thought for a split second, gathering his thoughts and burying his frustration, "Only a few. I called Mick, said he'd be there, called Elton, said he'd be there, and then I got tired of talking over the phone so I didn't call anyone else."
Mari nodded, she'd never met Elton John, but she knew he was a very close friend of John, she also, of course, thought he was a very talented musician.
"Right, good to know. Hope I don't embarrass myself like I did last time I went to one of these."
John tilted his head, curious, "What happened the last time you went to one?"
"David Johansen of the New York Dolls came up to me and tried to start a conversation."
"I didn't know who the hell he was!"
John laughed as Mari continued, "Literally had never in my life heard of New York Dolls, I asked him what he sang and he was like, 'oh I'm in New York Dolls', I thought he was trying to sell me something."
John and Mari arrived at the party at around 9:00, John still had no clue who's house they were at, he was barely even sure they were at the right one until he saw all the expensive cars lined up at the side of the house.
Mari'd had a hell of a time figuring out what she was going to wear, finally settling on a bra-like top, bell bottoms and a flowy cardigan, the clogs she decided to wore clicked with every step the two took towards the entrance of the home until they finally arrived, knocked on the door, and before John could knock again Keith Richards opened the door.
"Keith!" Mari said, grabbing the man's attention. The two moved in for a hug, as Keith moved back from the embrace he looked at the two, urging them to come inside.
As the two walked in, Mari could barely hear John ask Keith who was there-- though she saw them before she heard the names come out of his mouth. She saw record executives and producers here and there, some dancers as well, none of whose name she could remember. In the corner she saw Edie Sedgwick, Cher, Elton John, the usuals. Of course, there was every Rolling Stone, Mick Speaking with Billy Preston and a slightly dazed Bob Dylan.Ā
After getting over the fact she was in the same room as Bob Dylan, someone else caught her eye as he lounged on the sofa talking to the lead member of The Stooges, Iggy Pop, who sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa: David Bowie.
John had finished speaking with Keith by this time, he looked at Mari as he noticed she wasn't moving. He followed her eyes directly to the red haired men that sat on the sofa, twirling a small glass of alcohol in his hand.
"You want me to put in a word for you?" John said jokingly, stretching his arms back.
Mari broke out of her starstruck state, looking back at John.Ā
"What're you on about?" She said, though she knew exactly what he was on about.
"You know exactly what I'm on about."
"No I don't!" She smiled, avoiding eye-contact with the man.Ā
"Well you can't just stare at him, you'll scare him!" he said, beginning to walk in front of Mari so they wouldn't be right in front of the door.
She rolled her eyes, a smile still prominent on her face as she trailed behind him, "I'll talk to him later." she laughed, watching John's eyebrows shoot up.
"Yeah right," he said, scoffing while a smile still lingered on his face.
She rolled her eyes and laughed at him, sparing another glance at Bob Dylan here and there she spotted Mick Jagger walking over to where the two stood.
"John!" he said, pulling him into a hug, doing the same with Mari.
Mari couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Mick, though every time they saw each other, conversations would flow like water.
"I didn't think you liked going to things like this, eh Mari?" Mick said, drink in hand.
"I don't, thanks to some of you lot," She smiled, nodding towards Mick as they both began to laugh.
"Where the hell are you people getting your drinks? I can't see through the crowd!" Mari asked, dying for a drink. Mick looked back, the turned around.
She nodded, following behind him, God knew where John managed to run off to by then. Finally, Mick successfully led her to a table full of different drinks, even water, which she was hardly expecting. She wouldn't drink too harshly, she didn't want to get drunk and embarrass herself-- but that didn't mean she wouldn't drink.
She grew indecisive, looking at all the bottles laid out on the table. She finally just grabbed a beer and moved on. She turned around to see Mick saying something to Bob Dylan. Realizing Mari finally picked a drink, whatever they were saying to each other came to an end as Mick turned back to face the woman and Bob grabbed another drink and began to walk away, stopping to talk to other people.
"I love Bob Dylan." she mumbled to him so the man in question wouldn't be able to hear.
"Is that so?" Mick said, leaning back on the counter behind him.
"Yeah, I had Dylan posters all over my wall back in secondary, my parents thought I was a maniac."
Mick looked back to Bob, watching as the curly-headed man spared the two once more glance as before he walked away.
"I think he heard you." Mick said, laughing as her eyes widened, "I'm only joking."
She playfully hit Mick, sighing in relief.
Later in the night, Mari was looking for John. She figured he'd be ready to go by then, it was about 12:00, though she did hate to leave without speaking a word to hardly anyone, other than The Rolling Stones and Cher. More people had arrived since the whole thing first started, it was so crowded, she doubted she'd ever be able to find him.
After around ten minutes of searching the whole two story house full of people, she decided she'd go to the bathroom where it wasn't as crowded.
She knocked on the door, but she wasn't able to hear if it was occupied or not. She looked towards the bottom of the door, not seeing that a light was on, so she opened the door and went in. She let out a breath of relief, seeing that it was in fact not being used. She shut the door and locked it, she didn't have to use the bathroom, even if she did she wouldn't, still not knowing whose house she was even in, but instead she checked her reflection in the mirror.
Her crimson lipstick had been smudged, the lip gloss she'd originally been wearing was long-gone, her hair was all messed up, and the eye makeup she'd worn was smudged. She looked herself up and down, cursing under her breath as she took the cardigan she was wearing into her hands. Something had ripped a small hole into it.Ā
She sighed, tired, when all of a sudden something heavy hit the door. She jumped, confusion and concern hitting her when she had trouble opening the door due to the weight of something holding it closed.
Once she had it opened enough to be able to look down and see what might be causing her trouble, she saw David Bowie's body against the door, presumably unconscious. She almost panicked, but quickly calmed herself down. When She finally got the door open enough to slide out of the bathroom, she examined the man. She considered walking away, stuff like that was normal at these sorts of things, until she saw that he was still awake.
She gasped, her eyes widening as she realized the situation. David looked up to her with half lidded, red, and swollen eyes-- he was trying to tell her something. She leaned down enough so she could hear him, then finally understood.
"Help me, please," he pleaded, his voice was weak and his eyes were brimming with tears, "I can't stand."
She grasped the man's arm, helping him stand up, continuing to do so as he put half of his weight onto her side as she did her best to support him. At this point, John would have to figure out she was gone, quite clearly she couldn't look for him anymore.
As she and David finally got out the house, she looked to the man hunched over on her shoulder.
"What car do you drive?" she asked him.
"Mercedes Benz..." he muttered, "it's black."
It was one of the closest ones to where they stood.Ā
She walked the dazed man over to the car, "Can I have the keys?"
David didn't care enough to consider the consequences of giving this woman, who he'd never spoken to, the keys to his Mercedes, nor was he even in the state of mind toĀ realizeĀ the possible consequences.
"Left pocket." he muttered, his words slurred.
She looked down and, hesitantly and carefully, took the keys out of his jean pocket and unlocked the car doors as David finally slipped consciousness, the sudden dead weight piling on her and causing her to nearly lose hold of the man. She carefully laid him down in the back seat, closing the door to the car.Ā
Mari stopped suddenly, sighing as she processed the situation she found herself in. Everything happened so suddenly, along with all the things she now had to deal with for the rest of the night. John wouldn't know where she'd gone, hopefully someone saw her leave. She'd have to call the next morning to tell him what happened.Ā
She got in the drivers seat of the car and began to drive. She didn't know where he was staying, so she would have no other option other than for him to stay in the spare bedroom at her house. She embraced the silence throughout the ride home, the first time in hours that she was able to do so. Every now and then she would take a look at David through the rear-view mirror, after a while taking notice of his malnourished appearance, she doubted this was the first time something like this had happened, though she hated to assume something so negative.
She hated to bring him back to a place he wouldn't recognize in the morning, she couldn't imagine the stress of waking up and not knowing where you are or what you did the night before, but she had no other choice.Ā
Finally arriving at her home, she got David out of the car and into the spare bedroom. She wouldn't have been able to carry him at all if he wasn't so weightless. She put a blanket over him and shut the door. Sighing, she took a quick shower and went to bed, God knew what the next morning would be like, though this surely isn't anything like how she expected her day to end.
