Chapter 1. The Rainbow
"We have been waiting for too long, you know..."
The lights of the city were brimming, looking like tiny stars as they both loomed over them at the lookout.
Zephyr took a drag of her cigarette, the tip of it barely hanging on as she stuttered "Plus it's fucking cold man... how much longer do we need to wait?"
She didn't even turn to look at her friend. It was fucking cold, but Zephyr had been complaining non stop for the past 15 minutes. "He said he will be here soon" was her stern response. "It's only been a couple of minutes. You need to chill."
Zephyr stood up from her improvised rock chair. "I should have brought a coat"
"Yeah you should have".
"Well I thought that by now we would be getting smashed at the Rainbow '' she said glaring at her as she rubbed the top of her legs, barely covered by her shimmering pantyhouse. "It's always the same with Anthony, if he couldn't pick us up he should have just said so''.
As soon as she mentioned his name, almost as if she were invoking him, the two girls saw a pair of headlights speeding up the dark hill. Loud music blasting through the broken speakers. The red car drove up to their spot, and a dirty blonde haired man got out. He was wearing a ridiculous hat.
"Ladies" he said with a smirk.
"You're late" The black-haired girl said, rushing to get into the backseat.
"Only by a little" he dismissed Zephyr with his hand. And then he turned to look other girl. "So Jenn, what do you think?" He raised his eyebrows as if signaling the hat on his head.
"I should give Slash a call and tell him you stole his hat" she teased him slightly, also walking towards the car and opening the passenger door.
"As if he wants anything to do with you after the incident at the Riot house last year" he said getting back into the driver seat. "And I'll have you know that Slash's top hat it's a Homburg, and this beauty here is called a Stovepipe.. it's a common mistake".
He backed the car into the curve, the low bass of the random rap song still wreaking havoc on the speakers. Jennifer glared at him as she turned the volume down, "I can't hear shit in here" she muttered.
"Sorry mom" Anthony rolled his eyes as he sped down the Hollywood hill, his long hair flowing with the wind. "So how did you two end up here, huh?" and then he added "Maybe I should start charging you for gas money..."
"Maybe we should charge you for rent for all of those years you were bumming out on our couch." Zephyr said, sticking her head between the front seats. "Plus is noneya"
"Noneya?"
"None of your damn business" she stuck out her tongue.
Jennifer smiled as she remembered the unremarkable story of how they got stranded in the hills after their weed contact fell through. But she knew Zephyr wanted to play it up a bit to get his nosey ass upset. "You would kill us if you knew," she added, pretending to be concerned.
"Nah I ain't falling for it, you idiots are messing with me again. You probably just got kicked out of some random's mansion after Zephyr stole their coke"
"That's oddly specific... are you speaking from past experience Ant?" Zephyr leaned back into her seat, and rolled down the window as she lid up another cigarette. They were now entering the city, the lights now looming over them.
Anthony ignored her, he glanced towards his right side. "So Jenn, have you talked to Blackbyrd lately? I have been getting some concerning calls, something about burning down my house" He was trying to laugh it off "Was hoping you could put in a good word for me, pretty please?"
"I don't know dude... I heard he was pretty pissed after you guys let him go" Jennifer added while she touched up her makeup in the mirror. "I haven't really seen him since last year, and wasn't planning on it actually..." He looked a bit concerned, so she gave him a friendly smile and added "But I'll ask Debbie to get him to chill.. you shouldn't worry too much".
"Nah I aint worried" He said trying to look nonchalant "I have better things to worry about."
"What about that new guitarist DH brought? What's his name again?" Zephyr asked, and she looked as if she were already drunk, laying down on the back seat and smoking her cigarette.
But Anthony didn't get to answer as at that moment they almost ran into a garbage truck. Anthony hit the brakes so quick and strong that Zephyr was thrown into the air, and Jennifer felt her friend's head slamming against the back of her seat. "Fuck" she exclaimed massaging her forehead "I almost swallowed this shit". She threw the crushed cigarette into the car's ashtray.
"Should have worn a seat bell" Jennifer smirked at her.
"Man, Anthony is right, you really are acting like a mom lately, did you have a secret kid or something while you went away?" She spat back, Jennifer just rolled her eyes at her.
In the meantime Anthony was trying to appease a very angry Chinese old lady, who came up to his window. Apparently he had run over her sidewalk sign in front of her antique's shop, when trying to avoid death with the truck. She didn't speak English very well and Anthony had resorted to giving her all the spare cash he had in his wallet. "I'm so sorry ma'am, that truck came out of nowhere."
Jennifer glanced outside, she could spot the Rainbow's colorful sign only a block away. "I'm gonna head out, you coming?" She asked Zephyr who nodded enthusiastically "Ant, I'm sure you can figure this out right?" She smiled playfully at his frustration.
"Fine, get out, leave me if you want" he was being dramatic. "Tell Flea I'll be a little late, I'm sure you can explain."
"Will do" Jennifer quipped as her black heel boots stepped into the pavement. Zephyr's usually straight hair was all messed out as she got out of the car too. "Here" Jennifer said, trying to brush her hair a little with her hands.
"Don't even bother girl, what I need it's like six shots of tequila right this instance". She stood up straight and walked confidently as if she hadn't almost suffered a brain injury.
Jennifer followed suit, holding her faux fur coat closer, as the autumn wind wrapped around them. There was a big line outside as per usual, but Zephyr just walked up to the front door as if she owned the place.
"Hey gorgeous" she told the bouncer "How you doing tonight?"
"Miss Zephyr. Miss Lola" he nodded to them sheepishly. Jennifer smiled at him. "It's good to see you Eric, is your sister here tonight?"
"Yeah, she was hanging out upstairs I think". He answered as he stepped aside to let them in,. they were greeted by the collage covered walls of the entry hall, with pictures ranging all the way from Marilyn Monroe to Ozzy.
The whole place was crowded as usual. The red leather booths filled with people drinking and smoking like there was no tomorrow, and the pathway to the main bar on the left was also packed. She tried to zoom in to see if she could spot anyone, but Zephyr beat her to it.
"I see DH!" She exclaimed and pulled Jennifer through the people, almost crashing into a waitress. "Sorry!"
"Shit Ilianne, slow down, this is a new coat and I would prefer to not have it covered in beer by the end of the night". Zephyr looked at her horrified by the use of her real name, surely about to complain. "Oh don't start, no one heard that, it's too loud.. Come on, I'll buy the first round of shots".
They headed slowly towards the bar, where a young man with dreads was waving at them. "My dear Darren" Zephyr acknowledged him flirtatiously, pecking him on the lips, as per her usual demeanor with everyone who crossed her path.
"Rough night?" He said looking at her still messy hair and handing them both a beer.
"Oh you have no idea, it's been an absolute odyssey. We almost got mugged and gang raped at the hills."
Jennifer almost snorted the sip she just took "That's fucking crazy" she exclaimed at the other girl "How do you even come up with this kind of shit?" Then she turned to DH "We did almost get into a car crash with Anthony though".
"What for real? Where is he?" He looked around worried.
"Probably fighting with an old lady about some broken sign or something" Zephyr added and then directed her attention towards the bartender "Hey Mick, another one please" she said holding up her now empty beer bottle "Oh and miss Starr here mentioned something about some shots, amiright?" She said to Jennifer, emphasizing on her fake name.
DH looked at Jennifer, seeming confused. She shook her head. "Anyways, I'm supposed to relay the message to Flea. Any ideas where he could be?
He looked towards the stairs next to the bar. "Last I saw him he was going up with Kat and John".
"Who's John?" Zephyr asked while drowning down her second beer, already looking kinda tipsy.
Jennifer was about to excuse herself to go upstairs, but as she turned around she almost bumped into Flea. "Hey, I was looking for you".
"Please tell me Anthony is here, Lindy has been waiting like an hour for him" he asked her, looking tired, his usually joyful demeanor nowhere to be seen as he kept looking behind his back, hoping to see his friend come in.
"He will be here soon... let's just say he got into some issues while parking the car" Jennifer said trying to calm him down.
"Yeah parking it straight into a garbage truck" Zephyr retorted, and Jennifer glared at her. Flea looked too stressed for that type of comment.
"Did something happen?" Jennifer asked the curly blonde, passing him a beer.
"I don't know man" he sighed "Lindy said he has some important news but we all needed to be there..." He turned around "Fuck where the hell is John now?" He turned back at the group. "Man, everyone keeps disappearing on me." He looked straight at DH "Don't you go anywhere".
'Where am I gonna go?" DH laughed as he leaned into the wall. "You need to relax, if it was truly serious stuff, Lindy would have wanted to meet at his office instead of here."
"Agree" Jennifer added "Let me go look for Anthony, I need a drag of fresh air and some delicious nicotine anyway". She squeezed herself between the people surrounding the small side room, and headed back outside. She trembled as the wind hit her, having forgotten how cold it was outside.
She walked over to the brick wall, the names of all the bands who had graced this place written into it. Possible one of the most iconic walls in all of LA.
"It's about 100, in case you're wondering?" a voice said behind her. "The names of the bands, I mean" he added kind of sheepishly. The voice belonged to a young man, with a baby face hidden behind an out of control curly mane.
"Oh so you have counted them?" She asked sarcastically "What are you, some sort of groupie?"
"Fuck no. '' He said defensively, without even thinking about it. She raised her eyebrows at him, looking amused and surprised, and his face turned red, he was trying to back track his words. "Not that that's a bad thing, I mean I don't think it is. I just.. I have heard about you, you know. You're kinda famous around here."
"Oh so you are now implying I'm a groupie?" She said as she took off her green coat, and sat down on the sidewalk.
"I didn't mean it like that..." he said, shuffling his hair.
"No it's okay, I guess that's true to a certain point. Or at least it was... it's been a while." She sighed, glancing at the wall again.
"You don't look that old," he took out a cigarette and sat next to her. Jennifer took one out of her own pack too.
"Well I think it's a combination of me looking younger than I am, and also, that in hindsight, I started "living" way too early" Jennifer reminisced as she leaned closer to John so that he could light her cigarette. She inhaled softly, looking at the dancing flame of the green lighter, before she sneaked a brief glance up to his face. He had really nice brown eyes. "If I'm being honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I was only 12 years old when I came to LA... and I was swept away by everything, all at once.”
He smiled fondly, looking at the bystanders around them. People wearing extravagant clothes, smoking and laughing, as if there wasn't anything else to care about in the world. There were a couple of people on roller skates, and a boom box party going on in the parking lot next door "Yeah, this city has a way of doing that..."
It felt like the minutes went by as they stayed in silence, just observing the ambience outside. And then Jennifer remembered. "Oh shit, I forgot, I'm supposed to be looking for someone" She excused herself, throwing away the cigarette and standing up in a rush. "I didn't catch your name..." she said looking back at him.
"John" He looked happy that she asked. "It's been a pleasure miss Lola Starr '' He bowed with his head and hands in a silly motion and she laughed. She wondered if maybe she should give him her real name, but he had already turned around and went back inside before she even had a chance. Jennifer stood there looking like an idiot, feeling a bit strange as she thought about the interaction. John seemed like a pretty sweet kid. She shook her head to get some clarity, and looked around to see if she could spot Anthony.
