Author's note: This chapter was supposed to be finished and posted on Valentines day, but due to computer problems, then sickness, AND a lack of inspiration, it's been put off until now. However, it's up now, so enjoy! The story is based on a short silent film that Peter Tork made in college, called "The Love Potion," available to watch on Youtube.
It was five in the afternoon, on Friday, February the 13th, and there was a knock at the door.
"Micky, can you get that?" Mike asked from the second story, where he was leaning over the railing trying to get a set of streamers hung up for a small party they were going to have for Peter's birthday that night.
"Can't, sorry," Micky said from the kitchen, where he was washing the used paper plates. "My hands are all soapy."
"Davy?" Mike grunted, losing his balance and almost falling, but catching himself just in time.
"I'm a little busy right now," Davy called from the bedroom, where he was frantically trying to wrap Peter's present.
"I can get the door, I'm not doing anything," Peter said, standing up from the couch.
"Peter, it's your birthday, you shouldn't have to do any work," Micky said. "Just give me a second, I'll rinse off my hands and then find a towel and I'll answer it."
"No, really," Peter said, walking towards the door. "You guys are all working and I'm not doing anything at all, and it's making me have cabin fever!"
"I thought you had to be on a boat to get cabin fever," Micky said absently, rinsing off his hands.
"Sienna!?" Peter said with a gasp, looking out the small window in their door. He slammed the window shut and turned around, leaning against the door with his eyes and mouth wide open.
"Peter?" Mike asked, staring at the blonde. "What was that all about?"
"Oh, that was nothing," Peter said unconvincingly. "Wrong number."
"Peter, you said a name," Mike said, pulling himself up over the railing and heading toward the stairs.
"And you look like you've seen a ghost," Davy noted, coming from the room and setting the now-wrapped present on the table.
"Yeah, not to mention, whoever it was didn't call on the phone," Micky said, drying his hands off with a towel. "Maybe they had the wrong address, but not the wrong number."
"Oh, right," Peter said with a smile. "That's what it was. A wrong address."
By that time, Mike, Micky and Davy had reached the door, and Micky took Peter's arm and pulled him away from it while Mike opened the door.
The person standing outside was a girl, no younger than twenty, no older than twenty-five. She was very pretty, with soft brown hair pulled back in a headband, and she was wearing a white sundress with yellow flowers on the skirt. She looked confused and a bit put off by the fact that the window cover had been slammed in her face.
"Hello?" She said. "Is this where the Monkees live?"
"Yes, it is," Mike said. "Won't you come in, miss...?"
"Sienna May Abbot, I'm looking for..." the girl started, trailing off as she saw Peter.
"Well, nice to meet you, miss Sienna May Abbot, who's looking for..." Micky quipped.
"I take it you two know each other then?" Davy said with a smile, glancing between Sienna and Peter.
Peter nodded. "Hello, Sienna," he said. "It's been... awhile."
"You could say that again," Sienna said. Then she looked at Mike and Micky and stood there awkwardly for a minute.
"...Oh, won't you come in and have a seat?" Mike said finally, stepping back and holding his hand out to the backless couch.
"Thank you," Sienna said, stepping in and sitting down. The Monkees also sat down, Davy taking the ottoman and Mike and Micky sitting on chairs. That left Peter to sit down next to Sienna on the couch, which he did hesitantly.
"I won't be here long," Sienna said. "I was just... in Malibu, for the day, and I wanted... well, I knew it was Peter's birthday, and I heard he lived with a group called the Monkees, so I thought I'd stop by and... say hello to Peter. Hello, Peter."
Peter smiled a small smile. "Hello, Sienna," he said. "You know... again."
Sienna forced a laugh and then everything got quiet. Micky heard a clock ticking in the background, which was weird because usually the house was too loud to hear anything from the clock.
"Well..." She said after a minute, standing up. "I guess I'd better get going..."
"Oh, really?" Peter said, standing up as well. "Well, um, it was nice seeing you again, Sienna. Um, next time you're in Malibu, you go ahead and feel free to... stop by..."
"Thanks, I will," Sienna said, walking over to the door. "Um... goodbye, Peter."
With that, she left.
Mike, Davy and Micky looked at each other, and then looked at Peter, who was staring at the door.
"Do you want to do the honors?" Mike asked Micky.
"Don't mind if I do," Micky told Mike. Then he turned to Peter. "What was that about?" He asked.
"Hmm?" Peter asked, turning to them absently. "Oh! You mean Sienna."
"Yeah, that's who we meant," Mike said. "Who else could we have been talking about?"
"I don't know," Peter said. "The delivery man?"
"Why would we be talking about the delivery man?" Micky asked.
"And why didn't you invite that girl to stay for the party?" Davy added. "She knew it was your birthday, and I mean, think about it, you don't get the girl very often. In fact, I think it only happened twice in the series, if memory serves."
"It wouldn't have worked out," Peter said. "Trust me."
"You know, this is all very mysterious," Mike noted. "How about you start from the beginning? Sienna obviously knew you already, and I've never even heard about her before. When did you meet her? Who is she?"
"Oh, well, she's just... a girl... I knew before I met you guys... it's nothing, really." Peter said, getting a little red.
Micky grinned. This was going to be good. "Oh no, it's definitely something more than that," he said. "Come on, Peter, tell me about it. Tell me about her."
Peter frowned nervously. "I... I don't... it's not really... But you'll laugh."
"Peter!" Micky exclaimed. "I wouldn't laugh at you! I would never laugh at you! Have I ever laughed at you?"
"Yes, you have," Peter said defensively. "Last week, when I tripped over that crack in the sidewalk!"
Micky blinked. "But... you tripped over a small crack in the sidewalk!" He said. "Laughing is allowed then!"
"Peter, we promise, we won't laugh," Mike said. "Right, Micky?"
Micky looked over at Mike. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, I promise, Peter, I won't laugh."
Peter sighed. "Fine," he said. "It was after I'd left Kent, but before I got here to Malibu. I found myself in Jasper, Ohio. I liked it, the scenery was nice, and there were a lot of good people there. So I decided to stay, at least for a little bit. I couldn't find a place to stay, but I found a used car for sale cheap and bought that, so I had somewhere to put my bass. That was enough. I got a job out in Jackson, and I made it a week without an incident."
"Then what happened?" Davy asked.
"I met Sienna," Peter said simply.
"Let me guess," Micky interrupted. "Love at first sight?"
Peter smiled and nodded. "Yeah..." he said. "But she had a boyfriend."
"Oh boy," Mike said. "Of course she did."
"I tried to just forget her, so I went for a walk," Peter said, ignoring Mike. "But it didn't work. I ended up at her house, hiding behind the bushes. Then one day, I was driving by the drive in, and I saw her there, waiting. So I pulled in and offered to buy her an ice cream."
"Smooth," Micky said.
"Thanks, Mick," Peter said absently. "She said yes, so I went to the window and bought two ice creams, but when I turned around, she was gone, and I saw her boyfriend's car driving away."
"Ooh, tough luck," Mike said.
"Yeah, but I got to eat both ice creams, so it wasn't all bad," Peter said. "But after that, I was determined to forget her. So I went down to Jackson, there was a county fair there. But I rode the ferris wheel, and couldn't stop thinking about Sienna. Then I found the fortune teller's shop."
"Wait a minute," Mike said. "I thought fortune tellers gave you the creeps."
"They do," Peter said. "But the sign said she also sold potions."
"Oh no," Davy said. "Tell me you didn't."
"I did," Peter admitted. "I went into the store and ordered one love potion. Then I waited until the community picnic that Sunday, and I tried to spill it in her drink."
"Tried to?" Micky asked. "You mean, something went wrong?"
"You bet something went wrong," Peter said. "She moved her hand away to take a drink of her water, and I accidentally poured the whole potion into the pitcher of lemonade."
"Oh no!" Micky said with a smile, but he kept his promise and didn't laugh.
"Yeah," Peter said. "And then I took the pitcher to go dump it out, but one of the ladies saw me with it and asked me to pour her another glass."
"You didn't do it, did you?" Mike asked.
"I did," Peter said. "I had no choice. I even tried to drop the pitcher so it would break and all the lemonade would be ruined, but the guy standing next to her caught it, so I had to pour her a glass. Then everybody started asking me to pour them another cup, and I just didn't know what to do, so I had to pour everybody another cup. Well, the potion worked."
"What happened?" Micky asked.
"Let's just say the only girl who didn't chase me out of the picnic was Sienna," Peter said. "I finally managed to lose everybody when we ran past the river and I jumped in and waited for them to all pass. I had to leave after that, the potion didn't last more than a few hours because it was spread out so much, but all the girls were confused about what came over them, and all the guys were mad at me because their girlfriends were chasing me, and they were all fighting with each other, and I just couldn't stay. I learned a very important lesson, however."
"What's that," Davy asked. "Never try to force love on someone, because it isn't real love and it will only come back to hurt you in the end?"
"Nope," Peter said. "I learned that even the elderly can run fast if they're chasing someone who accidentally gave them a love potion."
It was two in the afternoon, on Saturday, February the 14th, Valentines day, and there was a knock at the door.
"Micky, could you get that?" Mike asked from the kitchen, where he was washing the leftover paper plates.
"Can't, I'm a bit busy," Micky said, hanging from the railing and pulling the tangled streamers out to thrown them to the floor.
The door knocked again, and Mike sighed. "Davy, how about you?" he called out. No response. "Davy?" He called again.
"I'm afraid Davy isn't in right now, would you like me to take a message?" Micky said, dropping down to the floor and cupping his hands over his mouth to make it sound as if he was talking through a receiver.
"Well, where'd he go?" Mike asked.
"He's out with his new girlfriend, he'll be back soon," Peter said. "I can get the door."
"Davy has a new girlfriend?" Mike wondered out loud. "How come you guys knew about that and I didn't?"
"Sienna!?" Peter said with a gasp, having looked out the small window in their door. He slammed the window shut and turned around, leaning against it in surprise.
"Here we go again," Micky said, as Mike dried off his hands, looking amused.
They walked up to Peter, who was smiling sheepishly, and Micky pulled him away while Mike opened the door.
Outside, Sienna smiled. "Is that a custom here in Malibu?" She joked.
"Only here on the Monkees," Mike deadpanned. "Coming to you every Thursday at eight, or, more recently, being posted online for all to read."
"I see," Sienna said, although she frowned in confusion. "I came to see Peter. Is he here?"
"I'm here," Peter said, having found his voice.
"Oh, hello, Peter," Sienna said with a smile. "I'll bet you're wondering what I'm doing here again."
"Yeah, I was wondering that," Peter said.
"Well, it's very simple," Sienna said. "I decided to stay in Malibu for another day, and I was thinking about what happened yesterday, and I realized that it was my own fault."
"Your fault?" Peter asked. "How was it your fault?"
"Well, I showed up at your front door after several years without so much as a 'remember me' phone call to warn you I was coming," she said. "I was hardly what you'd consider sociable while I was here, and I was the one who decided to come on Friday the 13th anyway, even if it was your birthday."
Peter smiled. "Oh, I'm not superstitious," he said
"That's good," Sienna said with a smile. "But I was thinking... it seems to me that I owe you an ice cream."
Peter blinked in surprise, then chuckled nervously. "But, what about your boyfriend?" He asked.
"My boyfriend!?" Sienna exclaimed with a laugh. "Peter, I haven't had a boyfriend for two years. And even he wasn't my boyfriend for very long. I don't have a boyfriend, Peter. And I was in Malibu, I remembered you, I looked you up, and I want to finish what we started all those years ago. So let's go get an ice cream."
Peter smiled. "Alright," he said. "Let's go."
With that, Peter and Sienna left the pad, and Micky chuckled as he shut the door behind them. "What'd'ya know," he said. "After all this time, the one girl who didn't get the potion shows up, all on her own."
"Yep, and on Valentines day, too," Mike said, glancing at his watch. "Seems like everybody's getting good luck as far as romance goes this year."
"I wouldn't exactly call two out of four 'everybody,' Mike," Micky noted. "Just because Davy and Peter have dates doesn't mean-"
He was interrupted as there was another knock on the door, and Mike smirked at him good naturedly, a twinkle in his eye.
"Three outta four," he said, walking towards the front door. Opening the door, Micky saw a girl who had been at their last gig, smiling up at Mike. "Hey, there, Chelsea," Mike said. "Ready to go?"
Chelsea nodded, and Micky sputtered, dumbstruck. Had he been the only one who hadn't gotten a date?
Mike turned and smiled up at all the readers. "How's that for a twist?" He asked with a wink as he escorted Chelsea from the pad.
All alone, Micky chuckled. This was certainly turning out to be a strange Valentines day. But it was far from over yet. Running over to the phone, he pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and dialed the number written on it. He waited as it rang, and smiled. Hopefully, Mike was right, and this was a good year for romance. "Hello, Stephanie?" He said as the line was picked up. "I know this is short notice, but... how do you feel about ice cream?"