Lana and Lori walked up to the front door of the Monkees pad. Lana knocked, she was tall with long shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes. Lori had brown hair a bit longer then Lana's, and brown eyes, she was shorter than Lana by a few inches. She had been living with Lana for a couple of weeks and the two of them had become really close friends. Lori was born in America but had spent the previous five years living in England with her father. Her mother had died when she was only two and Lori had spent a lot of her life moving around. She had returned to America, with her dads blessing, because she missed it so much.
"Hi Lan, out here" Called a voice from the veranda. To Lori the voice had sounded Texan, which meant it probably belonged to Mike, Lana's ex who she was still close friends with.
The Monkees pad was not at all what Lori had suspected. The living room and kitchen were all in one big room, a few feet in front of the front door was a spiral staircase that led up to only one room, the furniture didn't match, there were a lot of posters and signs on the walls that Lori guessed were probably hiding cracked plaster. At the back of the room there was a large bay window, in front of that was a makeshift bandstand that was littered with all kinds of instrument most of which, Lana informed her, belonged to Lana's brother Peter.
As they walked out the back door the Texan guy stood up, he was tall and quite thin with a green wool hat perched on his head and thick ebony hair was present beneath it, Lori's suspicions were confirmed when Lana said. "Hi Mike how are you?"
"I'm great thanks shotgun" Mike replied he leaned forward and kissed Lana on the cheek.
"Mike, I want you to meet a friend of mine. Mike Nesmith meet Lori Tyler, Lori is my new room mate."
"Hi Lori nice to meet you" Mike said he offered his hand. Lori took it and shook it.
"You too, Mike. I've heard a lot about you guys," She told him.
"So Mike where's that brother of mine?" Lana asked.
"He's out running some errands at the moment he shouldn't be too long" And as if on cue the front door threw open and a guy came flying in followed by a tall blond guy who was almost the image of Lana. The guy in front was taller then the blond guy but not as tall as Mike, he had brown curly hair and was running around the living room then he bolted up the spiral staircase.
The blond guy put down some groceries and then called "Michael? Are you here?"
"Out here Pete" Mike replied. Peter came out on to the veranda. He saw his friend, his sister and a girl he didn't recognize.
"Hi guys," He said.
"Peter this is my new room mate Lori Tyler" Lana said.
"Hi Peter nice to meet you" Lori said.
"Nice to meet you too, Lori, I've been wanting to meet you ever since Lana told me she was getting a new room mate" They shook hands.
"I just can't believe how much you guys look a like" Lori said looking from Peter to Lana and then back to Peter again "I would swear you were twins!"
"Na I'm much better looking then Peter" Lana said. Mike laughed.
"I second that" He said. Lana looked at him and thanked him with out saying a word. Mike and Lana still loved each other very much but they knew their relationship would not work.
"If Lori's been here a couple of weeks how come you've only just got round to bringing her to see us?" Peter asked Lana.
"Well she's been busy settling in, right Lor?"
"Yeah that's right I just needed time to set into a routine and now I am I couldn't wait to meet you guys" Lori told them "So who was that guy who came bolting in the front door?" She added.
"That was Micky, he's got a lot of energy and he charges about quite a lot" Mike explained as he walked over to the door "Mick get down here" He called.
"Where's Davy?" Lana asked.
"Out on a date" Mike said.
"But it's eleven thirty in the morning" Lori said looking at her watch.
"Yeah we know but when you meet Davy you'll understand, he's very popular with the girls around here" Peter said. Lori felt a little confused and also very intrigued. Just then there was a loud crash and the four of them jumped round in shock to find Micky laying face down on the floor by the door.
"Micky! What happened?" Lana asked.
"I tripped over Peter's dumb bass again," He said lifting his face up and eyeing Lori for the first time. He shot up and dusted himself down. Peter rushed inside to check his beloved bass guitar "Lana who's your friend?" Micky asked.
"Oh sorry, Micky Dolenz this is my room mate Lori Tyler, Lori Tyler meet Micky Dolenz."
"Well what a way to make a first impression" Micky said he extended his hand "nice to meet you Lori" He walked over and suddenly got a proper look at her and couldn't help but note mentally how beautiful she was. Lori took his hand.
"Nice to meet you too Micky, I hope you didn't hurt yourself."
"No don't worry about it, I landed on my head," He told her. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was, she took his breath away and he was trying so hard to make a good impression. Peter re-joined them cradling his guitar.
"How's it doing?" Lana asked. Peter was glaring at Micky.
"It's okay but you should've been more careful, Mick."
"Hey, it's not my fault, man, you shouldn't have left it the middle of the floor" Micky protested.
"He's got a point there, Pete" Mike told him. The whole time Lori was watching Micky. She had been attracted to him at once and as he continued to argue with Peter she couldn't take her eyes off him. Lana had noticed this and was watching Lori in amusement. After Micky and Peter had argued for a few minutes Mike interjected.
"Guys come on this is no way to behave in front of our guest" he told them placing an arm around Lori's shoulder. Micky and Peter stopped arguing.
"Sorry Mike, sorry Lori" They said.
"Don't worry about it" Lori told them. Lana couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Mike standing there with his arm around Lori, she knew it was innocent but the pang still filled her body.
Although she had an immediate attraction to Micky, Lori found Mike really interesting and while the others had migrated inside Mike and Lori had stayed outside engrossed in deep conversation. Again this had bothered Lana. She sat at the kitchen table with Micky and Peter staring out at the two forms outside as they giggled and laughed at each other as more jealousy coursed through her body.
"I wouldn't worry about them Lan" Came her brothers voice from beside her and he placed a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"I'm not, Pete, I'm okay" She said.
"So why have you done nothing but stare at them for the past half hour?" He asked. Lana sighed.
"I'm a little jealous okay, I still love Mike and I hate to see him that happy with another woman" She explained.
"She's not another woman, she's your room mate I don't think she's doing it on purpose they just get on well that's all."
"I know but I can't help how I feel can I" Lana told him "I expect you'd feel the same if Micky was alone with your ex."
"No offence, Lan, but his girlfriends aren't really my type" Micky said.
"I'm just using you as an example Mick" Lana said with a smile.
What Lana and Peter didn't know was that Micky felt the same way, he had jealousy coursing through his body but he was doing a better job at hiding it. He wanted desperately for Lori to come back inside but she looked like she was having such a good time with his Texan friend. Then the front door opened and a short guy with longish brown hair came in.
"Hi Davy, date over already?" Peter asked.
"Yeah we broke up," He said.
"Oh sorry babe" Micky said.
"Don't worry about it no big deal" Davy replied "Hi Lana nice to see you."
"Hi Davy" Lana was pleased Davy was home now because she could drag Lori away from Mike without having to make up an excuse.
"I want you to meet some one stay right there" She said.
"Oh sure okay" Davy replied a little intrigued. Lana went out to Mike and Lori.
"Hey guys, Lori come and meet Davy" She said. Mike looked at his watch.
"He's back early," He said.
"They broke up," Lana explained. She grabbed Lori's arm and guided her into the kitchen and Mike followed.
"Sorry to hear about you and your girlfriend breaking up, shotgun" Mike told Davy.
"Thanks Mike I'm okay we had a fun three days" he said, "who's this lovely young lady?" He asked. Lori could quite clearly hear a Manchester accent in Davy's voice.
"This is Lori Tyler, Lori this is Davy Jones" Lana said.
"Nice to meet you Lori" He said he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. Now Lori understood why Davy was popular with the girls, he was quite charming.
"You too Davy" She said.
"Davy is from England originally Lor" Lana explained.
"I thought so, Manchester right?" She asked.
"Yeah that's right" Davy answered.
"I've just come back from living in London for five years" Lori told him.
"Oh really why did you leave?"
"I got home sick mostly, I didn't like being away from America," She told him.
The four boys and two girls sat in the kitchen and had a good chat. Lori really liked the boys she got on really well with Mike and she and Davy talked a lot about England. She could tell Peter and Lana got on really well and she wished she had a brother or sister to be that close with but she was an only child. As for Micky, she liked him a lot but she felt to nervous to speak to him directly, they had a four way conversation at one point with Mike and Peter but nothing just the two of them. After a few hours Lana looked at her watch.
"We better get going Lor," She said. Lori looked at her watch.
"Oh right okay" she said. Lori didn't want to leave yet she wanted more time to work up the courage to talk to Micky. The girls stood up and so did the boys so they could say goodbye. Mike came over to Lori.
"It was nice to meet you, Lori, so I'll pick you up at your pad at eleven tomorrow?" He told her.
"Tomorrow!?" Micky and Lana both shouted which made the other four jump.
"What's happening tomorrow?" Micky asked still sounding a little loud. Lana was about to ask the same question but Micky beat her to it.
"Mike and I are going out, he's gonna show me some of his favourite places in Malibu beach" Lori explained.
"Well shouldn't Micky do that? I mean he has lived here the longest," Lana said and Micky was nodding in agreement.
"Well yeah he could but he doesn't know all my favourite places does he so it would be a bit pointless" Mike told them. All Lana and Micky could do was gawk at them, they had to agree but they didn't like it one bit. Lori felt a little bad, she would of loved to spend the day with Micky but she and Mike had so much in common that she was really looking forward to spending more time with him. They all said there good-byes and the girls headed home. Lori and Lana didn't say anything to each other at first until Lori broke the silence.
"Those guys are really nice especially Mike, I never expected to get on so well with any one quite so quickly, well except for you of course, but I feel like Mike and I have been friends for years" She told Lana. Lana felt the anger rise in her body until she couldn't keep it in any longer.
"Just stay away from him," She said.
"Excuse me?" Lori asked a little surprised by Lana's sudden outburst.
"You heard me, stay away from Mike I don't want you hanging out with him" Lana said. Lori couldn't believe her ears.
"Please tell me you didn't really say that!"
"I did say it and I meant it as well. I don't want you to have anything to do with him."
"I can't believe you! Mike and I are friends, that's all, I'm not gonna start to date him if that's what you're worried about and if it makes you feel any better I like some one else" Lori told her. Lana sighed.
"I'm sorry Lor I just can't handle the fact that Mike is going out with other women. I'm not over him yet and it hurts a little."
"It's okay I understand but I can assure you the only feelings I have for Mike are purely platonic, we get on well because we have a lot in common, if it makes you feel any better you can come with us tomorrow if you like?"
"No, no, it's okay, I'm just being selfish. I mean he's gonna start dating again eventually right and I know you guys aren't dating but I have to get used to seeing him with other women" Lana said. Lori put her arms around her and embraced her in a comforting hug.
"You still love him huh?"
"Yeah. I do" they stood for a few minutes while Lana fought back some tears then when they dispersed she said "so this guy you like, it's Micky right?" Lori was a little surprised but she didn't want to lie to her best friend, although they had only known each other a few weeks Lori felt she could tell Lana almost anything and Lana felt the same about her.
"How did you guess?" Lori asked.
"It was pretty obvious, the way you were gawking at him back at the pad, I'm surprised he didn't pick up on it."
"I did not gawk!" Lori said in mock protest trying not to laugh.
"Oh you so did, it was a little embarrassing actually" Lana told her and a wide grin spread across her face.
"I'm hurt now I may even cry" Lori said smiling.
"Sorry" Lana replied "but the most important thing is what can we do about it?" Lori's grin faded from her face.
"I have no idea. I couldn't even work up the courage to talk to him properly today" She explained.
"Maybe I could talk to him, find out if he feels the same way?" Lana offered.
"Oh no that's the last thing I want. I need to do this myself," Lori told her and Lana didn't argue.
"Okay, if that's what you want," She said.