Oh my god. I'm horrible. It's been, like, a week since I updated this. I suck. SORRY! So, to make up for it, you get the longest chapter to date. Which I'm proud of. Also, I started and posted a new story. If you have a few minutes, look up Running please! Okay, enough shameless self-promotion. Many thanks and Ringo-hugs to FlowerChild17, The Crazy Violist and an unnamed person who is still awesomesauce.
Disclaimer: Guess what! Don't own the Beatles or the Eagles. Shocker, isn't it...
I stayed in London for a few more days before going home. You could say I got homesick. Believe me, though, the instant I got home I wanted to get on the next plane back. The fact that Casey sticky-noted my room didn't help.
A few more months passed, we worked on a new record, I kept up a long-distance relationship with George, Jack and Casey almost blew up the house twice...normal stuff.
I was woken up the morning of July 4th by Jack bouncing on me while screaming that she made crepes and if I didn't get my arse out of bed, I wouldn't get any. So I dragged myself downstairs, ate food and took a shower. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday for a couple of reasons: I get to be a complete pyromaniac for the day. See, we go to the beach and walk about a mile. There's no buildings there, so we get to do pretty much whatever the hell we want to. Be scared. Very scared...
Also, we get food. Lots of food. And sugar. So we're hyper as we're launching bottle rockets. My family comes down too, so we basically have a massive party with music and a campfire. Then we explode stuff. Good times, good times...
Lastly, I get to wear my 4th of July stuff. Now, most people wear a red t-shirt and call that patriotic. Not me. I do the hair, the shoes, the shirt...everything. This year was no exception.
"Holy crap..." Drew gasped as I walked downstairs. "No wonder it took you an hour and a half to get dressed."
My hair was streaked red, white and blue to the point you couldn't see my natural color, the flip-flops I was wearing were striped the same colors and my shirt had a big american flag all over my chest. The only thing non-patriotic on me was my denim short-shorts.
"What explosives have we got?" I asked Jack, who was the pyrotechnics expert. She grinned and gestured to the unholily large pile of fireworks. We would save all year to get fireworks when we were in college. And every year Jack would try to outdo herself. But this year she really went for it.
I shook my head and grabbed a couple boxes of sparklers and some electrical tape.
"Whatcha doin?" Josh grinned as he plopped down next to me.
"An experiment. Do we still have that old dryer?" I asked Casey, who had just walked into the room. He nodded and I grinned evilly. Just then, my family rang the doorbell.
"Mom! Dad!" I yelled as I opened the door, already hugging the crap out of the nearest person. Wait a minute...Dad didn't have brown hair.
"I'm glad to see you too, Ali, but is it really necessary to throttle me?" Ringo gasped. I released him to find the other three holding back laughter. I glomped John and Paul, saving George for last. He just smiled and kissed me. Just then, my family drove up.
"Mom! Dad!" I yelled again before hugging my parents. I know, I know...Pauline isn't technically my mother. But she's as good as. Robin hopped out of his seat and jumped up at me. Stooping down, I picked the little munchkin up. David slouched out of the car and shut the door.
"Davie!" I yelled, giving him a hug. His eyes got big and he went really stiff. It's my joy in life to torment him as much as possible.
"Don't call me Davie..." he mumbled while extracting himself from my grasp. I grinned at him and he sulked off to do his teenage stuff.
"AERI!" Jack screamed from the door. Oh, god...Aeri. With explosives...
"We're doomed," I muttered to John, who looked absolutely terrified at the thought. We trained him well.
After feeding everyone, I helped Jack load our car up with fireworks while everyone else got picnic supplies, instruments, ect. I drove the car to the site while everyone else had to walk.
The beach we went to had a road leading up to it, not that anyone actually went here. Leading off of the road (it dead-ends) is a massive, 100-by-50 hunk-o-pavement. Read: Firework bomb zone. There's also a smaller, 25-foot square that looks like it was once used for a helicopter launch pad or something. And this all comes on beautiful, deserted beach with pristine, blue water.
We set up a drum kit on the smaller piece of pavement and set our guitars over there. Other people also began to filter in. See, after the third year of our doing this, people began to notice the people blasting mortars at three in the morning. So people started to come too. Our earliest gigs had been here, but now it had evolved to an outdoor concert, barbecue and fireworks show. Even the cops would sneak over here to light off a couple mortars they had confiscated from the people stupid enough to light them off buildings, at people, ect.
Around three, we started tuning up. People pulled chairs over to where we were. Everyone was hoping to get a performance from two bands this year.
"Guests first," I grinned to John, gesturing to the makeshift stage. The Beatles ran over to their instruments and tore into I Saw Her Standing There. I was tapping my foot to Twist and Shout when my dad walked over.
"They're good," he commented. I nodded and applauded when they finished. "Go get 'em!"
I flashed him a thumbs-up and got on the stage. Josh started a beat. My chord reverberated through the crowd. Another one, then Casey stepping up and adding lyrics.
Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm driving by your house
Though I know you're not home
But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of
I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walking real slow and you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back"
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-
I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
After that song drifted into memory, we launched into Get Over It. I'm proud to say that song hit the top of the charts in both America and Britain. Until the censorship people got their hands on it and banned it almost immediately. I am proud of that song.
Pretty Maids in a Row followed. We finished with Heartache Tonight. Heartache Tonight also hit top of the charts and stayed there until outed by I Feel Fine 5 weeks later. Which, honestly, I was fine with. The beauty of our relationship between us and The Beatles is that we're competitive but respectful. Between us and the Stones, you have the top 20. At least, that's what we joke.
Well, we were cheered offstage. Then I went to steal a bite to eat and catch up with my brother.
"George's been acting weird lately," John randomly commented. I gave him a look.
"What?"
"He's been going out on his own a lot...it's a bit weird, to be honest. I wrote it off as him missing you."
"That's sweet..."
"Well, his "sweetness" has us a bit worried. Moping around can't be good for him."
"True."
"I dunno...maybe it's his way of getting away from it all."
"What do you mean?"
"It just gets a bit overwhelming sometimes...you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"You don't have crazy birds chasing you everywhere you go."
"Thank god."
"Yeah, well we do. I think George might find it easiest to, you know, get all have to get out somehow."
"That made absolutly no sense."
"I said you wouldn't get it..."
"Oh, shut up."
Well, mental note: Talk to George. I screwed around a bit and, before we knew it, it was getting dark.
"Well, you guys ready?" I grinned to Jack and Casey, who got up and grabbed a box filled with various explosives. Snagging a megaphone, I strode to the place where we would be lighting.
Pushing down the button on the megaphone, I yelled, "CAN I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!"
Smiling at the silence this caused, I motioned for Jack and Casey to join me.
"Thank you. Now, this is the Fourth of July. Which means we will be lighting fireworks tonight. And as much fun as this holiday is, it's also prime time for idiots to blast us off the face of this earth. To prevent this, we have a couple ground rules," I said into the megaphone, pausing for effect.
"Everyone MUST, I will repeat MUST wear glow-in-the-dark necklaces, bracelets, ect. I don't care if you are lighting or not...if we can't see you, we may blast the crap out of you. That would be bad," I continued before reaching into the box.
"This is a bottle bomb. These are made by cutting open a firework, removing the powder and inserting the powder into a bottle. These things are dangerous. If you make or set off a bottle bomb, I will personally kick you out. In fact, if you bring homemade fireworks without a permit, I will kick you out too," I warned before putting the bomb back.
"Short of that, though, have fun and happy fourth!" I finished with a smile. Then I grabbed a groundhog, lit it and rolled the sucker away from us. People got up and started lighting stuff off. I went over to our car and got started too.
The night was filled with explosions, smoke and bottle rockets. Our grande finale consisted of us sticking a sparkler bomb in a dryer at 4:00 AM to see what would happen. We found smoldering pieces of metal 50 feet away from the blast zone. Sweet, to say the least. We all then helped clean up, went home and passed out.
Well, the calm before the storm…next chapter will contain much drama. So, review and you get a Ringo-hug and a cupcake. Don't review and Aeri will hunt you down…be scared. Be very scared…BYE!
