Girls Who Play Guitars

•there's no rock where they roll•

"After the Afterblast tour, I'm heading back to the U.K. Gotta find more work. But I gotta like the band I work with, you know? Gotta love their songs; their vibe."

—"We always need help with our gear—"

—"We can't pay much."

—"Will you work for beer?"

Ellie prised her eyes open to find herself lying on a hard bed in a brightly lit hospital room. Her head ached and her neck felt stiff and sore. The fluorescent light burned her eyes and she squinted to soften the glare. When she refocused, Meg, Kim and a guy with curly hair and smiling eyes huddled in the door, chattering away.

"Ellie!" Meg jumped over to the bed and gave her a rough hug before curling up next to her, tucking in tight against her. "You're awake!"

Ellie tried a smile.

Her mouth worked.

Kim sauntered over and surveyed Ellie with a tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow. "You scared the shit out of us."

Ellie tried her voice. "I-I'm sorry." It croaked, but it worked. She flexed her fingers and rotated her ankles, checking everything.

All seemed a-okay.

"That's Lachy," Meg pointed at the guy, shrugging his hands into the pockets of his jeans in the doorway. "He saved you. He drove you to hospital. It was awesome!"

Lachy's face flushed as he gave Ellie a small wave with two fingers. "Glad to see you looking so bright."

When he spoke in his Scottish lilt, it all came flooding back to Ellie. Jessie's fierce glare and harsh words about Ellie's songs. The jolt of her head thudding against the wall. She reached up and found a large padded plaster at the back of her head.

"What the hell? Did they shave my head?" Ellie's fingers worried over her hair.

Meg poked her head around to look. "Fuck. They did."

Ellie's heart sunk. Her hair. She'd only dyed it last night and it looked so cool peroxide blonde - way more edgy and rock n' roll than her natural dark brown. Now it was shaved in weird places.

Great.

"You got stitches. War wounds," Kim grinned. "I'll fix you a punk do later."

Ellie waved Lachy over to the bed. He slouched over to hover awkwardly beside Kim in his baggy shorts and t-shirt.

"I went to extremes to get out of lugging our gear off stage, right?" Ellie beamed up at him.

Lachy gave a deep chuckle and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "Sure did."

"Well, thanks for being my ambulance," Ellie nodded. "And for  ...  being there."

Lachy's cheeks pinkened an even darker shade and he gave Ellie another one of those smiles that lit up his eyes.

"Where's Jessie?" Ellie glanced around the room.

"She pissed off," Kim huffed. "We were gonna call the cops."

Ellie bit her lip remembering Jessie's rage and the terrifying way it had overcome her. "Was she okay?"

Meg let out a whine and wrapped her arms protectively around Ellie's neck. "As if we care. She pretty much bashed you up!"

"I know," Ellie said. "But she  ...  she needs help--"

"Not our help, Els. Not anymore." Kim folded her arms. "We did all we could. I told her it's all over. No more Jessie."