LA Song

She hangs around the boulevard
She's a local girl with local scars
She got home late
She got home late
She drank so hard the bottle ached

********

"Shannon, how many fingers am I holding up?"
She laughed, softly, not unkindly. Her throat could just manage it around the tears she held. It had been two weeks since she had been fired. She couldn't afford to pretend that it was OK to be unemployed.
"Only one."
Chris' face showed clear relief, "Thank God, I thought I'd lost you."

She sat up, throwing her bottle of Jack Daniels into his wastebasket, "Call me a cab. It's time to go home."

Chris frowned, "You lost your appartment when you broke up with Aaron, remember?"

She nodded, "I'm not going there, silly. I'm going to go FIND home." She drifted blissfully out the door.

The screen door banged behind her, announcing his chase, "Wait, you can't go out there all alone!"

She turned to face him down and once again he was struck by her completely uncomplicated beauty. The ones you want are always the ones that don't want you , He thought to himself, Murphy's law.

****
"This is the hardest engagement I've ever broken."
Stacy's lips formed a grim smile, "I'm sorry, David."
He shook his head, lifting his wine glass to the candle light, "Well, I can't make you love me, Stace."
Stacy smiled to herself, "Sometimes I wish you could."

David blushed in his own, unassuming manner He was so unaffected by all of this. She still couldn't tell him why they were breaking up.

"Once more dance, for old time's sake?"

"Sure." She shimmied onto the floor in her coconut-white dress. Their song played.

They both recognized the song and laughed, "Well, call it Murphy's law!" David laughed.

*****

Her cab had arrived; All she took with her was a single bag of clothing, books and traveler's checks. She remained a bit tripsy.

Chris watched her open the door and push inside. With a foot hanging out of the car he called her back.

"You'll be sure to call, or write?" He asked.

Her eyes gave him a deeper acknowledgement than her words, "There's a McDonalds-free Amercia out there. If I find a phone in a cactus, I'll call you."

He watched her cab's trailing dust clouds, wondering if he'd ever see her again.

****

"So, will you ever see me again?"
Stacy kissed his forehead, chastely, "We'll always have that fake baby plotline."
He left her at the train station, underneath a glowing lamp. The parts of her that yearned for simplicty were quickly shouted down by her yearning for the truth.

*****

The train sped through LA County, leaving Shannon with a feeling of meloncholy. Putting Chris' generosity behind her felt hard, but she couldn't string him along any further. Tea calmed her nerves. She would find better work with a smaller group.

The door to her compartment squeaked open. Long legs and a bun of blond hair signified instantaneously her doom.

"Stacy?!" She blurted, "Why are you..."
Stacy crossed the compartment and sat opposite Shannon, "We need to talk, Shannon."
"About what? How my ex-lover convinced Eric Bischoff that I'm totally unneeded?"
"I'm here to make that up to you."
"How?"
Stacy put on her bravest face, "I quit. I'm here to be with you."


So she takes and she takes and she takes and she takes
She understands when she gives it away
She says


Man I gotta get outta this town
Man I gotta get outta this pain
Man I gotta get outta this town
Outta this town and out of L.A.


Go On