Girls Who Play Guitars

•an overloaded amp•

It was past midday when Ellie opened her eyes to the filmy sunlight filtering through her net curtains. She remembered she was in her old bedroom, at home in Port Lagan. She wasn't the same as when she'd left all those years ago to chase her dreams of being the biggest band in the entire world. But now she realised what she really wanted was to share her music with the world. It had never been about fame and fortune. She only wanted to make music. Write songs. Express those deep-down feelings she had that she didn't know how to express in any other way.

And now she was home again, where it had all begun, listening to cheerful chattering coming down the hall from the kitchen.

Ellie stretched her arms out from under the covers; yawned, remembering Daniel in her room last night; conscious of his presence in her house, so close to her. Remembering how he looked fast asleep in the firelight and how she was so drawn to him.

Maybe ...

The more she awakened, the more the events of the past days came back. Kim's short hair. Kim's flashing eyes and accusing comments. Meg with her tight lips, standing up for her friend. Jessie's fingernail tapping on the demo tape at the record signing. The worry of Jessie putting her name to their songs - the things Ellie, Meg and Kim's worlds revolved around. Jessie didn't care she could destroy the one thing that brought the three of them together.

Ellie pushed out of the bedclothes and grabbed one of her old woollen jumpers from her chest of drawers. She pulled it over her head, pushing her arms through the sleeves, feeling the soft familiarity of it. It smelled musty and like moth-balls but it felt comfortable. She found her shorts and socks, pulled them on, and padded across the wooden floorboards.

Jupiter greeted her with a wet nose to her hand as she headed down the hallway towards the kitchen where the smell of home cooked breakfast lured her. "Hey Jupi," she crooned to the dog. "Had brekkie?"

The kitchen was a hubbub of activity. The radio was on even though Gav hunched over her dad's ukulele playing something eclectic. James mouthed off at someone on a mobile phone, digging into a piled high plate of steaming bacon and eggs that Beth Devine dished out directly from the pan. Nelson Devine sat at the head of the table waving photos of his younger days of folk singing antics at everyone, a huge spliff smoking away between his fingers.

"Mornin'," Ellie grinned. "Everyone's up and about."

"Lunchtime, more like," Beth grinned as everyone glanced at Ellie, murmured 'Happy Birthday' before resuming their activities until the phone's shrill ring cut through.

Beth dropped the pan onto the stove top with a clatter. "That might be Coral. She said she'd call from the surf club." She bustled out of the room, squeezing Ellie's arm as she passed.

"Where's Daniel?" Ellie asked, grabbing a piece of bacon from James's plate and dropping it to Jupiter before grabbing one for herself.

"Outside." Gav smiled up at her through his glasses as his fingers jiggled across the strings of the ukulele. "Have you tried this uke? I'm quite inspired."

"Not yet." Ellie poured herself a steaming coffee into her favourite childhood mug with the picture of Snoopy on it. "If you feel like going down the beach, it's not warm enough to swim, but we can go for a walk. I bet we won't see a single person. And there's a lighthouse."

Gav expertly navigated the uke's tiny frets. "I've always liked a good lighthouse," he said before glancing at James. "James won't do beaches. Sand in his crack and all that. He wants to see Meg. Go on a tour of the village."

"I'll find Daniel," Ellie said with an understanding nod. "And we'll go to the lighthouse, yeah?"

Giving Jupiter's head a good scratch, Ellie left him with another piece of bacon. She gripped her coffee cup in two hands her hands and headed along the hallway. Streams of fresh, clean sunshine filtered across the floorboards from the open front door.