"Roger, you are not playing Jet City Woman." Charlie argued sitting at the bar.
"Why not? It's a Queensryche classic." he yelled standing up, nearly knocking over his barstool.
"I know who sings it, no one knows it." she told him standing up to him.
"What do you mean, no one knows it? A lot of people know it." he disagreed running his fingers through his hair.
"Roger, think about it. Queensryche is mid to late 80's right?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, so?" he asked looking down at her.
"Well the kids that hang out in here were in junior high school in the mid to late 80's." she told him picking up her glass of water.
"A lot more people know it than you would think." he argued drinking his beer.
"Roger, I said you're not doing it." she told him sitting down again.
"It's my band and I say we are." he said walking away.
"Who the hell do you think you're walking away from?" she asked rushing after him as he went up to the stage.
"Someone who obviously has knowledge of music." he told her strapping his guitar on.
"Well it just so happens my knowledge of music is the only one that matters around here." she yelled up at him as he began to play his guitar loudly. "Roger, stop that. Roger." she yelled louder as he looked down at her.
"What?" he yelled back looking down at her.
"The point was to pick something people know and will grab their attention. Not a song no one's ever heard." she yelled as he started playing his guitar again. "That man is so frustrating." she said walking off in a huff.
"Hey Charlie, I got a song for you. Don't Go Away Mad just go away." he said taking his guitar off and walking off stage.
"Why do you put up with shit like that from him?" Andy the bartender asked as she returned to the bar.
"Because as frustrating as he is, he's the best in the city." she said picking up his beer off of the bar and drinking it.
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"Roger, are you trying to get yourself fired?" Mark asked as Roger stood at a urinal in the mens room.
"You know what? If I have to keep being subjected to her incredibly bad music taste, she won't have to fire me. I'm quitting." he told him zipping his pants before washing his hands.
"Well she's got a point. No one's gonna know Jet City Woman. The only reason I know it is because of you and Mandy." he said looking up at him.
"Mark, not now. I'm too pissed to talk about Mandy, OK?" he said opening the door, nearly taking it off of the hinges.
"Roger, that's not what I meant." Mark told him chasing after him as he went for the door.
"Roger, I really need to talk to you." Charlie said as Roger walked right past her.
"Not now Charlie." he told her opening the door and lighting a cigarette.
"Roger, I'm sorry for bringing up Mandy. I was just saying..." Mark said standing in front of him.
"I know and I didn't mean to snap at you over it. It's just that that woman is so frustrating." he told him violently taking a drag off of his cigarette.
"I'm frustrating. You refuse to listen to reason." she yelled opening the door.
"I said not now Charlie." he told her walking away from the club.
"You don't tell me not now. I'm trying to talk to you, but you are so damn pig headed, I wanna slap you." she yelled as he turned around to her.
"I'm pig headed. Well if your taste in music wasn't crap..." he said as she cut him off.
"Yeah well, if you weren't the best singer in the city, I would have kicked your ass out of here weeks ago." she said before turning on her heel and walking away from him.
"Ugh, can you believe her?" Roger asked walking back towards the bar.
"I wish you would just kiss her already." Mark told him smiling up at him.
"What? Kiss her? What the hell are you talking about? I can't stand her." Roger asked throwing his cigarette into the street.
"You may not be able to stand her, but watching you two is like.. what the hell is the word I'm looking for?" Mark asked looking down.
"Like 10 rounds with Holyfield?" Roger asked looking down at him.
"Foreplay." he said smiling up at him.
"You're nuts." Roger told him going back into the club.
"Yeah, right." he said following him into the club.
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"So how's it going with the new manager?" Collins asked lounging on the couch.
"Don't mention that woman in my presence." Roger told him getting up off of the chair and going to the refrigerator for a beer.
"That good, huh?" Collins asked laughing leaning his head back.
"Let's see, she has to taste in music, she lives to piss me off. She's a bitch." Roger told him taking a long swig.
"So when are you gonna shag her?" Collins asked as Roger spit out the beer that was in his mouth.
"What the hell is everyone talking about? I'm not gonna kiss her and I'm not gonna have sex with her." he told him putting his beer down to wash his face.
"Yeah right. What your describing is not hatred my romantically challenged friend. It's called foreplay." he said smiling back at him.
"You guys are fuckin nuts. We can't even be in the same room together without getting into a screaming match." he said picking up his beer again.
"I seem to remember you having the same relationship with a certain latina dancer a couple of years ago." Collins said smiling as he took another sip of his stoli.
"Me and Mimi were different." he told him sitting on the metal counter.
"How?" Collins asked getting up to go to the window seat.
"We were just different." he told him jumping down off of the counter.
"Rog, she's been gone almost a year. You can move on you know." Collins told him as Roger sat on the window seat with him.
"I know I can move on. I just have no interest in moving on with Charlie. She's bossy, argues with me ever chance she gets and has no taste in music whatsoever." he said drinking his beer.
"If you say so Rog." Collins told him drinking his drink. "But you are attracted to her."
"Why, because she resembles the love of my life? Well that's where the comparison ends. Mandy never gave me the shit Charlie does." he said getting up to pace the loft.
"You think she resembles Mandy?" Collins asked looking up at him.
"Her eyes. The first tme I saw her eyes, it made me think about Mandy. But then she opened her mouth and that flew right out of my head. She was such a bitch. Mandy was incredible. Charlie's nothing like Mandy." he told him taking another swig of his beer.
"Rog, it's OK to still miss her. You're always gonna miss her." Collins said looking up at him.
"I know. I'm fine. Really. I can actually talk about her without falling apart now. The time we had together may have been short but she loved me enough for a lifetime." he told him turning to hug him.
"I know man. I know.