Weekends at the Bronze always brought the highschoolers out to play. The smokey haze allowed the bright lights to shine over the patrons trying to drink and dance their troubles away. The band owning the stage that night was a local group that often did covers of well-known songs. They had just settled into the smooth intro as the spotlight swung to catch the sole female of the group as she walked forward, keeping the beat on her Flying V guitar. Her eyes, so deep they were almost purple, flashed mischievously as her smooth alto sang into the mic.
You think that we connect
That the chemistry's correct
Your words walk right through my ears
Presuming I like what I hear
She flipped her dark red hair over her shoulder in a practiced motion, her skin flushed as the heat of the lights started taking its toll. Darkening her reddish-brown skin. She danced over to her drummer bobbing her head to the beat.
And now I'm stuck in the web
You're spinning
You've got me for your prey
Sorry I'm not home right now
I'm walking into spiderwebs
So leave a message
And I'll call you back
A likely story, but leave a message
And I'll call you back
Spinning around she strutted over to the horn player and the other guitarist, she allowed the strap to support hers as she shared the spotlight with her fellow bandmates.
You're intruding on what's mine and
You're taking up my time
Don't have the courage inside me
To tell you please let me be
Communication, a telephonic invasion
I'm planning my escape
She smiled out at the crowd dancing from face to face, smiling to a table in the corner where her friends where raising a glass to her and she blew an exaggerated kiss to them.
Sorry I'm not home right now
I'm walking into spiderwebs
So leave a message
And I'll call you back
A likely story, but leave a message
And I'll call you back
Closing her eyes, she felt everything else fall away, frustration about her midterms, which she didn't even want to think about; to her latest problem of a friend who wanted more than she did. She let the soul of the song come through her fingers and into her guitar.
And it's all your fault
I screen my phone calls
No matter who calls
I gotta scream my phone calls
Now it's gone too deep
You wake me in my sleep
My dreams become nightmares
'Cause you're ringing in my ears.
As the beat ebbed and flowed she smiled around at her bandmates, all decked out in different attire but somehow they all seemed to fit together.
Sorry I'm not home right now
I'm walking into spiderwebs
So leave a message
And I'll call you back
A likely story, but leave a message
And I'll call you back
And It's all your fault
I screen my phone calls
No matter matter matter who calls
I gotta scream my phone calls
As the song faded in to repeated lyrics, slowly getting softer she smiled and gestured to the band around her.
"Thank you Bronze! You've all been great tonight. That's gonna be where we leave you but thanks for having us." The crowd cheered as the band went about taking their gear off the stage. After bidding goodnight, she headed over to her table of friends in the corner. As they caught sight of her they waved.
"Odette that was amazing! You guys really rocked tonight" Xander grinned as he put his arm around her in a side hug.
Odette chuckled before ducking under his arm to give her quieter friend a hug. "Willow, I appreciate you coming, I thought you had a study group tonight?"
The shy red head shrugged, "Yeah but we decided to reschedule, you know? Because I figured you could use the support."
Odette nodded, "I really appreciate it Will, it calms a lot of my nerves to see you guys here."
She smiled over Jesse but continued to look around the club. The bartender had switched the speakers over to the generic music shuffle you hear at most places when the band wasn't playing. It was late January and most of the patrons had opted for the longer cloths, but she swore every year the bright colors faded to more black than was necessary.
Feeling a tug on brown leather jacket she turned, and Jesse rolled his eyes and gestured down at her. "Your band getting merchandise now Det?"
She glanced down taking quick stock of the purple tank top she wore under her jacket sporting her bands name 'Skeletal Outburst' and the little logo of a skeleton guitarist with a firework explosion behind it. Shaking her head, she turned her eyes back to Jesse. "No not yet, I made this in Home Ec. I wanted to see if the guys liked it before I made it our official shirt. I figure we can keep the logo but do it on different color shirts, keep the individual personalities and all."
Jesse nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but Xander quickly pulled him away to get some more drinks. Odette slid into a chair at willows table, and they discussed their class curriculum and books they'd been reading while they waited. Shortly after they boys came back, however Odette glanced at her watch and winced.
"I gotta start heading back guys, I promised dad I'd be heading home by 10 to get a head start on homework for Monday."
Jesse and Xander made to complain before Willow mumbled her agreement and they boys reluctantly relented. Turning Odette hefted her guitar case and ran, smack into a broad chest.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't….." her words trailed off as she glanced up into one of the most vibrant pair of green eyes she'd ever seen, with tiny little gold flecks in them. The rolling timbre of his chuckle, she'd have guessed he could make any girl melt if he wanted to.
"You right mate?" she blinked at him rather stunned as his heavy Australian accent rolled over her. Taking a quick inventory from his curly long brown hair to his faded green jacket, to his black combat boots. All in all, he remaindered her of long-haired Michael Hutchens, that is if Hutchens had green eyes and freckles.
"He's asking if you ok?" Willows voice hissed softly from behind her, and Odette shook herself to clear mindedness.
"What? Oh yes! Sorry." She stumbled rather ineloquently. She held her hand out in an attempt to shake. "My names Odette."
He took her hand it his, calluses scratching slightly as he turned it over and brushed the back of her knuckles in a kiss. "No worries. Mates call me Axel. Not everyday a pretty bird tries to knock me flat." He tilted his head slightly to indicate the stage, "You sing beautifully, pet."
Ire, flashed in her eyes as she yanked her hand back, her nose wrinkling slightly. "Thanks, but don't call me pet."
He stepped closer practically towering over her 5' 6''. Far to in her personally bubble for someone she just met. "I think you'd like being my pet." He practically purred.
She shoved him with one hand, barely making him fall back a step, but thankfully Xander and Jesse step up to her side, as Willow pulled Odette back to her. Axel sized the boys up and scoffs, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette, lighting it and settling the sunglasses that had been resting atop his head low on the bridge of his nose. "Settle petals, plenty of other broads willing for a root." He pulled the cigarette from his mouth, breathing out a stream of smoke, and locked eyes with Odette over the boy's shoulders. "See ya 'round little bird." He purred, before licking his upper lip and turning on his heal and disappearing into the crowd.
"Well….he was certainly…." Willow trailed off, at loss for words.
"Creepy." Xander supplied and they all nodded in agreement.
"Dude's practically straight out of Crocodile Dundee." Jesse huffed crossing his arms and heading for the door. Xander and Willow followed after, with Odette close behind. A sharp pain along the bridge of her nose made her pause in the doorway and rubbing it she glanced around. she caught sight of the tall Australian by a wall near the bar. Leaning his arm against it talking down to a petite blond, who was rubbing her hands down his chest. As if sensing her gaze, he turned his head, and his green gaze met her purple. A suggestive grin slid across his face as he leaned to the blond, keeping eye contact with Odette, and pulled her into a deep, kiss. Odette shuddered, with more dread than anything else and spun on her heel, quickly following her friends out of the Bronze.
**************************************OG****************************
Odette finished the final lines on her history essay, her last assignment for the evening, before closing her notebook and stretching. Jazz music flitting softly about her dimly light room, as to not wake her dad who had gone to bed shortly after her return home. Her room was simple, with a twin bed, dressers, shelves lined with odd historical object replicas and stuffed animals she'd collected over the years, a foot chest and a comfy little reading nook against the windows overlooking the simple garden outside. She had multicolored star lights strewn across the ceiling and a desk near the bookshelf. A few posters were scattered around of Friends, Aladdin, and Def Leppard.
Glancing at the clock she groaned at the 2 am glaring red back at her. homework had taken her longer than she had thought but thankfully she had Sunday yet to recover. Changing into an oversized Prince t-shirt that she used as pajamas, pulled her hair free of the ponytail that she had put it up in to study, and crawled under the covers. Turning over on her side she smiled at the three photos she had on her side table, her favorite memories.
Having been in the foster system since she was a baby Odette had gotten lucky around age five when, even though she kept bouncing around homes, they had kept her in the Sunnydale area. The first photo showed her first day of kindergarten. Her arms around a chubby cheeked Willow, both of them laughing and holding up a set of crayons. The second frame held a photo of her in a silly pointed hat, with the number seven on it, sitting in front of a cake with Willow and Xander on either side of her as she blew out the candles.
The third however, was by far her most precious. When she had landed in the care of Rupert Giles at the age of 10, Odette was sure it was going to be like all her other foster homes. They were all kind but in usually only was a year or so before they decided she was too much work, or her personality too odd, or they just didn't want her. But life with Giles couldn't have been more different. He was kind, attentive, and went out of his way to make her feel loved. He took her to concerts, sparked her love of history, archeology, and mythology. Even delved into the some of the hypothetical aspects of magic, and the supernatural.
It had only been a year after her placement with him that the third photo had been taken. In it Giles knelt behind her, arms around her in a warm embrace, her red rimmed eyes overshined by their beaming smiles. And she proudly held the adoption papers out toward the camera. Fondly brushing her fingers over the photo warmth filled her chest as she whispered, "Night dad, love you." She set her alarm and clicked off the bedside lamp before staring up at the star lights on her ceiling before allowing her eyes to flutter shut. And she drifted off to sleep.
****************************************OG**********************
Ominous images flashed across her vision. Images of blood running in rivers, a young blond, around her age struggling beneath some bald monster. Flashes of red, yellows, and green eyes with golden flecks floating bodyless in darkness. Maniacal laughter echoing all around. A pair of black boots, surrounded by a floor length leather jacket crushing a woman's windpipe beneath them. And a brooding looking man holding a smoking cross in his fist. The images started spiraling, colors blurring before they cleared. She was suspended by her neck, being held over the edge of a cliff with a fiery pit endlessly below her. she clutched at the hand clasped around her neck, desperate to breath. The figure leaned forward, bringing his face into the fire's glow. Axel glanced her up and down before smiling savagely at her. "See ya 'round little bird" his voice echoed around them. Before he released her, sending her spiraling down in to the flames as she screamed.
Odette jerked awake to the blaring sound of her alarm clock. Breath heaving, she glanced around gripping her sheets. It took her several moments to place her bedroom around her before she collapsed back to the bed pinching the bridge of her nose to fight a headache that was already starting. Swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, she stood and headed down the hall to the bathroom. Hopefully a hot shower would chase away the remaining jitters from her dreams.
Heading down the stairs she was greeted by the welcome smell of frying bacon, and quickly ducked into the kitchen to see her dad mid pancake flip. Glancing over at her he smiled fondly.
"Morning Detty."
"Morning Dad." Warmth still filled her chest each time she was able to call him that. She plopped down on a chair at the counter as he set a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of her before going back to fill his own plate. Odette hopped up and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge and pouring them both a glass as they sat down together.
"How was the concert last night?" He asked, sprinkling sugar over his pancakes before rolling it up. British pancakes are closer to French crepes, but they tend to be a bit smaller and slightly thicker. I loved adding just a bit of lemon zest.
"Great, we ended with a cover of 'Spiderwebs' by No Doubt and everyone seemed to like it. Dad smiled proudly and they chatted about as they finished breakfast. Odette quickly gathering up the plates and heading to the sink to wash them.
"You know I do believe it was my day to do dishes." Dad said with a raised eyebrow, but Odette shook her head stubbornly.
"Yeah but you covered for my turn last night so I could do my show." Dad rolled his eyes but didn't argue. He stood walking over to kiss the top of her head before heading into the study to bury himself in books for the afternoon. Odette spent the remainder of her Sunday reading some books, or tending the herb garden outside, and catching the newest episode of Friends before heading up to her room. As she crawled into bed, setting her alarm clock so she could make it to school on time she felt the familiar ache along the bridge of her nose and sighed, burying her head beneath her pillow, and bracing herself for another restless night.
