Girls Who Play Guitars

•be not stoned•

~PORT LAGAN SURF CLUB~

Port Lagan's Surf Rescue Club pumped with life and music as Daniel and Ellie approached from the beach. The clubhouse sat in its perky position propped up right next to the sand. People spilled down the stairs onto the beach, clutching bottles of beer and flutes of champagne, chattering and laughing, lit up in the wavering shadows cast by strings of lights hanging from the balcony above. Crammed on the balcony were chirpy, cheerful party-goers, and Ellie couldn't believe so many people were here for her birthday.

Well, she could. Some of the crew from the tour were here, but she guessed the majority of the people were most likely Coral's friends. She'd always been a bit of a popular townie and Ellie assumed Coral had told everyone that some members of Glue would be here.

Before they stepped into the light of the building, Ellie turned to Daniel, put her hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Are you okay?"

His pupils were still dilated even after they'd power-walked for ten minutes along the wind-blown beach and she'd forced him to eat a whole packet of Chicken Twisties.

Daniel giggled; closed his eyes, swayed in front of her. "I'm ... absolutely ... fine."

Ellie put her hands on his cheeks. "Look at me."

Daniel opened his eyes and gazed at Ellie with giant, fresh-blue but dazed eyes. "You're beautiful."

Ellie grinned and groaned at the same time. "Thank you, you're not bad yourself. Please try to be as not stoned as you possibly can."

"Be not stoned?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes. Be not stoned."

"That's rather confusing."

"I know. Just try."

Ellie grabbed Daniel's hand and headed towards the steps of the clubhouse. People milled around the stairs clutching cans of beer in stubby holders, smoking cigarettes. Ellie pushed past, dragging Daniel behind her, hearing their conversation die away as they realised who'd elbowed them out of the way. She forced through to the glass-door entrance of the function room where she could see through another set of glass doors into the dimly-lit room jam-packed with cheerful people. A band played. It sounded familiar. Silent Moth maybe? It must be a cover band, she thought. Just as she was about to haul the door open, it shoved towards her, sending her flying backwards, straight into Daniel, who caught her in his arms and smiled lazily down at her.

Tears dripped down Meg's cheeks. Her hand covered her mouth as if she were trying to control her sobbing. Her eyes were wild and angry.

"Meg!" Ellie grabbed her elbow before she barrelled blindly past, not realising it was Ellie she'd bashed in the face with the door.

Meg stopped, took a moment to focus, then threw her arms around Ellie and choked her cries into her shoulder. "He's ... he's ... gone with ... "

Ellie wrapped her arms around Meg and held her close while Meg huffed and puffed into her neck.

"Megsy, it's okay!"

Pushing away from Ellie, Meg sniffed and snuffled before she realised Daniel stood behind Ellie, watching her with wide eyes. "You!" Meg pointed at him, her eyes flashing. "It's all your fault!"

Ellie held her hands up. "Hang on. Tell us what happened before you rip shit through anyone."

Daniel gazed at them both with a vague expression.

"If you weren't here, then James wouldn't be here!" Meg continued her hysterical rant at Daniel across Ellie's shoulder. "And none of this would have happened!"

"What's James done now?" Ellie dared to ask, pushing Meg's hand down, knowing what it would be. Ellie glanced at Daniel, who blinked innocently at them both.

Meg let out a sob, then covered her mouth with her hand again.

They stood in the small foyer of the club, and people had begun to stare and whisper, a crowd gathering.

Ellie pointed at Daniel and then Meg.

"You two. Follow me. Now."

She jumped back down the steps and found a dark corner where they could huddle underneath a row of rescue boats racked onto the wall. Meg followed in her baggy black velour overalls over a green skivvy - at least the koala jumper had gone AWOL, Ellie thought as Daniel trundled sluggishly after her.

Ellie turned to them both. "Out with it Megsy."

Meg sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand, leaving a gleaming trail of snot webbing between her nose and her hand. "He was here, and it was all fun and then ..."

Ellie waited for her to continue before she raised an eyebrow. "Go on ..."

Meg glanced at Daniel, who watched in silence, hands by his side.

"Ellie, let's talk somewhere else," Meg mumbled. "There's a Silent Moth cover band up there, Daniel, you should check them out."

"No," Ellie said, putting her hands on her hips. "Daniel's part of this now. Tell us what's going on. Both of us."

Meg took a deep, huffy, shaky breath. "It's fine. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal," Ellie said, resting her hand on Meg's arm. "To you. It's a big deal."

Meg looked at the ground and shuffled her feet on the sandy concrete. "Yeah."

Ellie waited. Daniel stayed still and silent with his hands still hanging loosely by his sides, gazing at them both with enormous eyes - the quietest she'd ever seen him.

That weed was potent.

"James ... " Meg muttered into her hands, "is sucking face with ..." She lifted her eyes to Ellie's and said, "Jessie."

Ellie wasn't expecting that. "You what?"

Meg gave a big sniff and glimmering tears rolled down her pale cheeks once more. "He's up there somewhere"—she waved her hand at the balcony above them—"pashing on with Jessie!"

Ellie couldn't believe what she'd heard. "Jessie is at my birthday party, hooking up with James?"

Daniel suddenly looked focused and alert. "James is with ... Satan?" He let out a small chuckle, then covered his mouth with his hands.

"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Ellie yelled as her whole body flexed again back to the taut, stressed too-tightly wound guitar string from earlier in the day. If the wall hadn't been brick, she would have punched it. "FUCK!"

Daniel bit his lip, dropped his arms back to his side, and looked at the ground.

"It's the worst." Meg sniffed. "She's the worst."

Ellie dug into the pockets of her jeans; found what she needed.

"Jessie is upstairs? Right now?" Her head pounded and all she could see was red. Fire and fury pulsed through her veins like a jack-hammering doom metal riff forged in the depths of Hell. "Is Kim up there too?"

Meg nodded. "Yep."

Ellie pierced her eyes between Daniel and Meg. "It's time to take Jessie down."

"What're you gonna do?" Meg's eyes opened wide.

"Come with me and find out." Ellie stormed off back through the sand, stomping up the stairs, one heavy boot on every step with her fists clenched and her mouth - a drawstring bag pulled tight.

Meg floundered behind and Daniel followed in a daze, peering around in awe at the faces and lights.

The people standing along the edges of the staircase blurred and blotted out around Ellie as she made her way through the crowd, her thoughts dancing as wildly as Jim Morrison with rats in his leather dacks.

Ellie was about to cancel Jessie out. There would be no refunds for this gig. No merchandise. No autographs. But this show was going to go down in history as one of Ellie's fieriest, surliest yet. And Ellie could not wait for the lights to go down.