Chapter Three - The Good Times
Author's Note: The song used in this chapter is called "Somebody For Someone" by The Corrs.
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Link shoved all of his clothes into the drawers of the small dresser in his room. It was the only other piece of furniture in the room besides the two mattresses that were piled on top of each other for his bed. He didn't mind though.
He set up both of his guitars in one of the corners along with his amp. Then he flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Henry expected him downstairs in a half hour to go over the rules and regulations, as well as walking him through what he would be expected to do while on the job. Tom and Zelda had gone out to get groceries for the fridge and also planned on stopping by the hardware store to pick up some things for the ongoing restoration of The Web.
Suddenly, Link's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out without sitting up and looked at the screen. It was Zelda's mom.
He flipped open the phone.
"Hey Grace. How are you?" He asked, clearing his throat.
"Hello Link. I'm doing better since I got your phone call last week." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "How is she?"
Link sighed quietly. He didn't want to worry Grace. But he also didn't want to lie to her.
"She's a lot different, but then again, it's been five years right?" Link laughed dryly.
"You know what I mean Link." Grace said gently.
"She wasn't very happy to see me. But she was…somewhat civil." Link slowly sat up and rubbed a hand over his face. "I didn't bring anything up. We have to spend a little more time with each other before she'll be comfortable enough to talk about things."
There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute.
"I suppose I understand that." She finally said with a sigh.
"Grace…everything is going to be okay. I promise." He assured her genuinely. "You didn't send in some private investigator that doesn't know her. You sent me. You know that I care about Zelda."
"I know Link."
"Well I have to go. I got a job at the bar that Zelda's working at. But don't worry, I'll call you as soon as I can to let you know what's going on."
"Alright. Take care Link…and thank you."
Before Link could respond, Grace had hung up the phone. Link sighed and replaced his phone to his pocket.
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Six Months Ago…
Link stopped just as the light turned red. He hadn't been paying very close attention to the road. He jerked backward in his seat just as the person behind him honked their horn angrily at him. He ignored them.
He had been nervously waiting for this day since he had gotten the phone call from Zelda's mom. She had asked him to come by the house on Thursday at three to discuss Zelda. Link had worried that whole week.
He hadn't heard from Zelda ever since she went to go live with her aunt and uncle in Syracuse four and a half years ago. Alex and Peter hadn't cared. But Link had. Nobody knew but he had hitchhiked to Syracuse a month after Zelda had moved. But when he had gotten there, Zelda's aunt had turned him away. She told him that Zelda had specifically said that if anyone from Pamelia ever came to see her, she didn't want to see them…no matter who it was.
The light turned green. Link drove a little too fast, almost bouncing up and down in his seat. He hoped that nothing bad had happened to Zelda. He hoped that whatever Zelda's mom had to say, it was good news.
Link turned down the familiar street and found himself in front of the house in the blink of an eye. He put the car in park and sat there for a moment. After taking a deep breath, he opened his car door and got out.
His eyes went straight to the garage, which was open. It was no longer vacant, covered in beanbag chairs. It was cluttered and piled high with boxes and different pieces of furniture.
Link went up to the front door after he had stared at the garage for a good five minutes. When he reached the door, he hesitated before ringing the doorbell.
It startled Link when the door opened almost the same second that he rang the doorbell.
"Hi Mrs. Hark-…I mean…hi Ms. Noble." Link said nervously.
"Hello Link. Please call me Grace." She answered with a smile.
Link looked at Grace in the doorway. She had changed. She had cut off her long, strawberry blonde hair. It curled in just beneath her chin. Her face, which had been just as flawless as her daughter's, had aged noticeably.
"Please come in." She said after a moment, stepping aside.
"Thank you." He said quietly, walking past her and into the house. He looked around. The house hadn't changed at all. "The house looks good."
"Thank you." She said, shutting the door. Grace turned and went to where Link stood awkwardly. She smiled and rubbed both his arms at first, but then wrapped her arms around him in a tight tug. "I'm so glad you're here."
Link was startled. But he remembered how many days and nights he had spent at Zelda's house and around her family. He slowly returned Grace's hug.
After a moment, she pulled away from him and Link saw a tear rolling down her cheek. But just as quickly as he saw it, Grace was wiping it away with a weak smile on her face.
"I just made some coffee. Do you want any?" She asked, starting towards the kitchen.
"Um…no thanks."
"I'm going to go get a cup for myself. Make yourself at home." Grace motioned to the living room as she passed through it on her way to the kitchen.
Link went into the living room and carefully sat down on one of the two couches. He looked to his side and saw the pictures on the little table next to the couch. He leaned in to look at them.
One was a family picture. In it, Zelda's dad, Eric, was standing with his arm around Grace. Zelda stood in between them in front of them. All three of them were smiling and wearing nice clothes. In another picture, Zelda and Alex stood side by side holding hands.
The third picture was of the band. The band name, Legend Technical, was scrawled out in an old time text along the picture frame. Link found himself smiling as he remembered the theme of the picture.
When Link and Zelda had first met in fifth grade, she had explained to him that her dad had liked the Legend of Zelda games so much that he had named her after the character Zelda. That was the day that Zelda gave Link his nickname. He had been trying to find one his whole life because of his hatred towards his name.
When the band was formed their freshman year, they had used that story as an inspiration for their band name. A few months later, they took a picture with the theme The Legend of Zelda.
Peter was dressed like Ganondorf and was holding his drumsticks threateningly over Alex's head, who was dressed like Sheik. He held his bass as if he were going to hit Peter in the stomach with it.
Meanwhile, Link and Zelda were dressed as Link and Zelda. Link held his guitar up to his lips as if it were an ocarina. Although Zelda was supposed to look like she was singing into the microphone, she ended up laughing at Link's pose.
"I keep those to remind myself of the good times." Grace said suddenly, coming into the living room with her coffee.
Link didn't know how to respond and so he simply nodded, taking his eyes away from the pictures.
"Link…I saw your new band play." Grace said after a time.
"You saw us? Where?" Link asked, sitting forward.
"At Peter's father's restaurant."
"Oh. Yeah we play there a lot." Link murmured, looking down at the floor. "It's not the same without Zelda."
"Your new singer has a lovely voice." Grace replied.
"She does. But it's…nothing like Zelda's." Link's eyes flickered up to Grace. "I've never heard anyone sing like she does."
"Neither have I." Grace took a sip of her coffee. "How is your brother? And Peter? They both looked so grown up. So do you."
"Alex is good. He's seeing someone on and off…and he works with Peter at John's." Link answered, wringing his hands.
"I hope you don't mind my saying so…but I heard that the three of you are trying to raise money to go out to California."
"Yeah. We've been trying to raise that money for awhile. But it's hard to keep a lot of that money. We have an apartment to pay for and groceries to buy…instruments and equipment to take care of."
Grace set her mug down on the coffee table. She leaned forward.
"I have a proposition for you."
"A proposition?" Link asked confusedly, raising an eyebrow.
"After Zelda moved in with my sister and her husband…she stayed there for about a year. And then she moved without saying a word about where she was going or what she planned on doing.
For some time now…I've been considering hiring someone to find her. But I've looked into it and…I just wouldn't feel right asking a stranger to look for Zelda."
Grace got up from the other couch and sat down next to Link.
"Would you be willing to find her? Would you be willing to find her and bring her home to me?" She asked, putting her hand on Link's knee.
"Uh…um-"
"I'll pay you thirty dollars a day for every day you're looking for her. And then, after you find her, I'll pay you forty dollars a day until you can convince her to come home with you."
Link thought about it. He looked into Grace's eyes. She was totally and completely serious. He could tell that she was desperate to find her daughter. Link wouldn't mind getting in touch with Zelda again. He missed their friendship everyday.
"Grace…I wouldn't feel right accepting money from you." He said after awhile.
"And I wouldn't feel right asking you to do this without paying you."
"…okay Grace." Link took her hand into his. "I'll find her. But I'm going to need some help."
"I know. And I'll help you in anyway that I can." Grace leaned in and gave Link a kiss on the cheek before standing up. "Follow me."
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Later on that night, Link left the bar and went upstairs to get Zelda. He had received a lot of good tips that night, especially from the women customers. Henry and Tom had called him their chick magnet.
The bathroom door was shut. Link remembered that he had gone to Zelda's house many times and she had been laying on the bathroom floor. He went up to the door and knocked.
"Zelda?" He waited for a response. When there wasn't one he knocked again. "Zelda? It's almost time for you to go on."
"She's always in that fucking bathroom." A gruff, muffled voice said.
Link turned to see a man standing in the doorway of Zelda's bedroom. He had black hair that was pulled back and an unshaven face. He wore only a pair of ratty sweatpants. He had a cigarette in his mouth.
"You must be Adrian." Link said simply, turning back to the bathroom door.
"Yeah." Adrian took the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled before replacing it. "You're that guy."
"Yeah that's me." Link muttered. "Zelda? Hey Zelda?"
"You're never gonna get her attention that way." Adrian said with a throaty chuckle. He pushed past Link and banged his fist hard on the door. "Charlotte! I know you aren't deaf bitch! Charlotte!"
"I don't really think that's necessary-"
"You must be deaf. I told you not to call me by that fucking stupid name!" Zelda suddenly shouted.
"I don't really give a shit. Now get the fuck out of there before I break down this door!" Adrian continued to pound on the door.
"Hey," Link grabbed Adrian's shoulder firmly, "don't you talk to her that way."
"What's the problem?" Adrian moved a step closer to Link and looked up at him menacingly. "I can talk to that bitch any way that I want to."
Before Link could respond, the bathroom door opened.
"Leave him alone Link." Zelda pushed past both of them and bounded down the stairs.
Link gave Adrian one last look before following her.
Henry was already up on the stage introducing Zelda. She took Bruise from Tom and headed up that way.
"Hey, what's the story with Adrian?" Link asked Tom, taking a tray of drinks from him.
"You mean the winner that Ch-Zelda picked?" Tom rolled his eyes. "He comes and goes. Henry and I don't like him."
"Neither do I." Link mumbled as he headed to one of the tables with the tray.
"Hey there." One of the girls at the table said, batting her eyelashes at Link.
"Hey. Do you ladies need anything else right now?" He asked, looking around at the other three girls sitting with her.
"I do." One of the other girls said. "I need your number. Right now."
The other three girls giggled.
Link smiled at her but rolled his eyes internally. He knew he had to be nice.
"That was really clever of you."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you look like David Beckham?" The first girl that had spoken to him asked.
"No. Can't say that anyone has." He answered.
"You have the same hairstyle." Another one of the girls said.
"Well thanks very much ladies. If you need anything else, I'll be around." He gave them one last smile before heading back to the bar with the tray.
Meanwhile, Zelda had taken her place on the stool.
"This one's called 'Somebody For Someone' and it-"
"Ain't mine!" The audience all responded together, laughing afterward.
"Aren't you guys cute?" Zelda mumbled sarcastically.
Link went to another table absentmindedly, watching Zelda onstage. He remembered the song well. They used to play it on amateur nights all the time.
"There's a deep girl in the corner shop, selling sugar for money in the dead of the night, and her soul's in the sugar, and her heart's in the mud, and she crying with a stranger for someone to love, and she sings:
Look at me, see me, look at me, save me, free me, find me, 'cause if there's somebody for someone, yeah, look at me, somebody for someone.
There's a deep boy at the corner shop, watching sugar sell for money to the dead at night, and he sees her an angel," Zelda looked up from her guitar and saw Link watching her play from the bar, "in the cruelest of worlds, hiding in the darkness, screaming out for love, and he sings."
She looked back down at Bruise. "Look at me, see me, look at me, save me, free me, find me, 'cause if there's somebody for someone, yeah, come and look at me, somebody for someone.
Somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right.
Somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, look at me, see me, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, look for me, save me, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, free me, find me, somebody's gonna make it right, somebody's gonna make it right, 'cause if there's somebody for someone, yeah, look at me yeah.
Somebody for someone, hey yeah, I wanna be, somebody for someone, I know there's gotta be, somebody for someone, you've gotta be, somebody for someone, hey yeah hey, somebody for someone."
Everybody broke into applause as usual. Link clapped along with Tom behind the bar. He looked over at Henry, who was talking to a man dressed in a really nice suit. He wondered who it was.
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Later, after the bar was closed, Zelda was sitting at the bar nursing a beer when Henry came up and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey Ch-Zelda…there's somebody here that I think you should talk to." Henry pointed at a well dressed man sitting alone at a table.
"Who is it?" She asked tiredly, looking back at Henry.
"Why don't you go over there and find out?"
"Yeah okay." Zelda grabbed her beer and hopped off of the stool. She made her way over to the table. "You wanted to see me?"
"Richard Tennyson." The guy got up and extended his hand to Zelda.
"Zelda Harkanian." She shook his hand quickly.
"Have a seat." He said with a smile, motioning to the chair across from him.
"Do I know you or something?" Zelda asked confusedly as she sat down in the chair. She took a long drink of her beer.
"Well…not personally." He messed with his lapels before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a business card and held it out for Zelda. "I own Metropolis Records."
"Not interested." Zelda replied, ignoring the card he extended to her.
"Now wait a second." Richard placed the business card in front of her. "I don't think you understand. I could make you a huge star. You've got a lot of talent…sure you're rough around the edges but that can be fixed. And-"
"Rough around the edges?" Zelda raised an eyebrow.
"Be realistic Zelda. Whose going to buy a CD with you on the cover looking the way you do? Nobody…"
While Richard continued to talk, Zelda reached out for his water. Before he could blink, she threw the contents of his glass into his face.
"Why you-!" Richard stood up so fast that he overturned his chair.
His hands flew out and Zelda didn't even flinch. But suddenly there was a large set of hands grabbing Richard by the lapels. Zelda looked up to see that the hands belonged to Link.
"It's time for you to go." He growled, jerking the guy towards the exit. When they got close to the door, he threw him forward into it.
"You're all a bunch of fucking nuts!" Richard exclaimed angrily, turning to face the bar. Henry was standing next to Link while Tom was behind the bar brandishing a baseball bat.
"Don't show your fucking face around here again." Henry said seriously, arching his eyebrows.
"You'll be hearing from my lawyer." Richard threatened, pointing a finger at Link.
"Good. I'd love it if you came around here again." Link crossed his arms over his broad chest with a smirk pulling at his lips.
Zelda didn't even wait for Richard to leave before she swiped her arm across the table, sending her beer bottle flying across the room. It smashed against the floor as she got up from her chair and stomped towards the doorway and nearly pulled the beads out of the frame when she passed through them.
Link and Henry had turned around to see her do it. When they turned back around, Richard was gone.