Chapter 7

"Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it." - Hunter S. Thompson

Emily allowed the intimate contact, thankful that she found Paige alive and responsive. "Paige, can you stand?"

Paige's eyes closed, and she concentrated on moving her legs. They seemed to be working. Where the fuck am I? She sat up with Emily supporting her back, and then drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She was sodden and covered in dirt and gravel, and a relentless painful drum was rapping at both temples. She was immediately miserable and thought about lying back down. Hangovers suck.

"We need to get you up and to the car. I need you to walk with me. Can you do that?"

Paige didn't say anything, instead gritting her teeth and shakily making her way to her feet. Emily took Paige's arm and wrapped it around her neck, and then, holding Paige by the waist, she began directing them back to the car.

Paige stumbled a few times as her legs gave out, but they made it back to Emily's parking spot. Opening the passenger door, Emily helped Paige into the seat and then buckled her in before walking around and sliding into the driver's seat. She wiped the rain off her face and looked over at Paige, whose eyes were shut tightly, and sighed before picking up her phone from the console and dialing a number.

"Julie? Yes, I found her... Yes, we're in the car now... It was dumb luck actually. I'll tell you about it when we get there." Emily hung up and put the car in drive.

When Emily finally returned to Paige and Julie's apartment, Craig had already made a judicious exit. Carson and Julie helped get Paige cleaned up and in her bed while Emily sat on the couch in their living room, a towel wrapped around her shoulders, trying desperately not to fall asleep. Just as she felt herself beginning to lose the battle with exhaustion, Julie walked in and sat quietly on the couch, leaning back against it and rubbing her face in both hands.

"Carson is on Paige duty. You can go get some rest."

Emily turned fully to Julie. "Does this happen a lot?"

Julie chuckled humorlessly, "Getting drunk or disappearing?"

"Both I guess."

"Paige doesn't disappear. She actually gets herself home most of the time. But- there's a lot on Paige. And she medicates herself. It's just- there's so much. She can't always handle it."

"So Paige and Carrie-"

Julie cut Emily off immediately. "I'm not getting into that with you. We take care of it."

Emily stared hard at Julie. "You mean like tonight? If I hadn't seen her, hadn't been very lucky, who knows what would have happened?"

"It's not your problem."

Emily stood up angrily. "Yes it is. Now it is. It's all of our problem."

"You're going to need to babysit her."

"No way." Emily was back in her hotel. She'd finally fallen asleep after peeling off her cold and damp clothes, but awoke too early the next morning to the phone ringing on the nightstand by her head. Groggily, she reached for it. It was Spencer, eager to know what had happened last night, and when Emily finished explaining the events of the previous night, Spencer went into Bossy Spencer mode. It was Emily's least favorite version of her friend. "She doesn't like me, Spencer."

"You just basically saved her life. She ought to be grateful. But she's our star, and if we lose her, we're all in trouble. Crash and stinky Rick aren't exactly mega arena material."

"I hate this hotel," Emily whined.

"We'll get you an apartment there. With the money we will take in from the upfront venue contracts and ticket sales- if Paige makes the appearances- it's worth the expense. Just follow her. Keep her in line. Or alive at least."

"What about my clients in Rosewood?"

"Aria and Hanna can handle them."

"I hate this job."

"'No you don't. You love it. And you're good at it. And you're really pretty."

"Don't push it, Spence. I'm going to go back to sleep. Find me an apartment, and ship me some of my clothes." Emily tossed the phone back on the nightstand, and then she flopped back down and covered her face with her pillow so that she could muffle her frustrated scream.

"Is she up to the concert tonight?"

"How the fuck should I know? She's never drowned in an alley after a fuckface broke her heart."

"We shouldn't push her. What do you think would happen if we canceled?"

"We're contractually obligated to be there. They could go after us financially. Plus, Emily would be really fucking pissed. She was already mad last night."

Paige walked out of the hall, naked and groggy. "I'll be there."

Julie and Carson both turned to her from their places at the kitchen table, coffees in mid-air, their conversation dying at the intruder's entrance.

Julie stood up, flipping her long brown ponytail behind her and pulling at her boxer shorts as she made her way to the cabinet. She reached up to a high shelf, at least high for her small stature, and pulled a pill bottle down. Then she poured a cup of coffee and walked over and handed both to Paige. "You look like a shitshow."

Paige rumbled menacingly in answer as she tossed a few pills in her mouth and washed them down with the coffee. "I'm going back to bed." She turned around with her mug in hand and headed back down the hall towards her room.

Julie sighed and looked pointedly at Carson. Performances when Paige was like this were always tempestuous.

"You need more security. What if something happens?" Later that night, Emily was standing toe-to-toe with Paige in the wings at Underground Bluz. It was a club in San Mateo that converted to a concert stage that could hold about 500 concert goers. From the sound of the cheers, it was at capacity.

"I'm not gonna stand up here behind a wall of dudes. That's not what our fans come for. They need to be able to reach out and touch us if they want to." Paige's hackles rose at Emily's suggestion. Serendipity was nothing without an audience, and the audience members wanted to be close to the band so they could feel like a part of the energy. Paige understood that, and she intended to keep giving it to them.

Emily frowned, "That's what I'm afraid of. It could go bad very quickly."

Paige snapped back, "We've done this before. We're fine."

"But-"

"We're fine. Jesus fucking Christ."

Emily closed her mouth and backed away. It wouldn't do to get into a shouting match with the singer right before the band went on stage, so instead she moved to the side, watching worriedly as Carson, Craig, and Julie made their way on the stage to deafening applause.

The band began playing a song that Emily thought she knew, yet couldn't quite pinpoint. The audience seemed to know it, however, and they began cheering wildly. It wasn't on the set list the band had given her, and an alarm went off in her head.

Paige walked onto the stage as she began to sing. She was dressed in shadowy black from head to toe, again in tight jeans and untied black boots, her shirt a tank top that was torn on her abdomen, exposing the tight and defined muscles there, that slash of flesh the only thing that broke up the broad stroke of darkness on her form.

Last night a little dancer came dancin' to my door
Last night a little angel came pumping on the floor
She said "Come on baby I got a license for love
And if it expires pray help from above"
Because-

The lyrics to Billy Idol's Rebel Yell sent the crowd into hysterics. Emily could see phones held high and camera flashes that rivaled the stage's lighting equipment strobes. Paige simply stood in place, but it was as if a black storm cloud was on the stage in her stead, swirling and captivating its viewers as they marveled at its beauty, all the while knowing it was readying itself to rain its fury on their heads.

As the song crescendoed, Paige leapt on a large speaker that was off the stage, right in the midst of the front row of the crowd, and she lifted her fist in tribute to the song's originator.

In the midnight hour she cried- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell she cried- "more, more, more"
In the midnight hour babe- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell- "more, more, more"
More, more, more."

Then Paige turned around, shot a feral glare at Emily standing in the wings, and stepped down into the audience.