Dinah blinked open her eyes as she pressed her face deeper into her pillow, she wanted this warmth to last, it was more than anyone had been offering her recently. However she soon began to question what was going on.
She rapidly awoke to find herself in her childhood bedroom at her Dad's house in Lam Valley, the nice part of Star City. She grew accustomed to the Paramore posters and guitars everywhere. She sat up finding herself in the same clothes as last night, although her jacket was hanging on the footboard and her boots were on the floor by the closed door.
Her face felt odd, after a few seconds of prodding she realised that her dad who knew nothing about make up had attempted to take it off with some wipes. She almost laughed at it, she turned her head to find a glass of water with a note from her dad on her dresser. She picked it up gently while taking a sip of the glass as she battled the mild headache she had.
"Laurel, I'm so sorry for what happened or almost happened to you, there were reports of a possible drunk with your description so I headed to the park where I heard the scream of your attacker and found you. I told Tom about what happened so you don't have to play the concert. I had to go to work so please drink plenty of water and get rest.
Love dad"
She smiled at the kindness he had shown her which was what she needed to hear at the moment. The headache slowly began to worsen as she finished reading as it proved to be quite taxing for her. She stumbled to her feet and changed into some more comfortable shorts and tank top and yawned as she made her way to the bathroom.
After brushing her teeth which felt similar to walking across the country in terms of stress she opened the medicine cabinet to find that her dad was out of aspirin. She heaved a heavy sigh and made her way to her room to get changed.
She put on some jeans and a white t-shirt and prepared to step out but something stopped her. She just slumped onto the sofa too afraid to walk out. Was it the fact she was becoming an alcoholic? Or the fact that she felt abandoned by her best friend when she was technically in the wrong?
As well as that she didn't think what it could do to her Dad, he had to watch his own wife get arrested and put in a cop car when he himself was an officer. The hold her emotions were having over her was insane. She could barely think with all the pressure.
She lashed out and punched the wall causing her hand to bleed.
"Fuck!" she shouted in pain.
She grabbed the first aid kit from the kitchen to bandage her hand while in pure anger at her weakness. While scouring the drawers for the scissors she came upon a picture frame of her and her parents at the circus when she was 10. She laughed at the sight of her dad back when he had hair.
After the circus, her Mom took her to the Grant Gym for the first time where she met Tom. While their parents talked about adult crap they played video games and talked about comics, it was a beautiful childhood. Then she remembered something her Mom told her that day.
She remembered asking "Mommy why do you train so much can't Daddy protect us?"
She kneeled down and grabbed the little girl by her shoulders. "Laurel, the world can be a scary place but the only thing that is truly scary is not being able to do anything about it, to not be able to fight back."
Those words resonated in her heart once again like they did 12 years ago.
Rapidly she sprinted upstairs, where she showered and got ready within half an hour. She checked the time on her phone as she put on her make-up, to her relief it was just before 6. If she hurried she could make concert at 8 o clock despite missing the morning's rehearsal.
She wore her boots which were stained with the man's blood from the previous night. She wore a pair of black fishnets, choker and a Starling Rockets tank top. Running out the door to the train station, she texted Tom that she'd be there, more to protect the rest of the band from his singing than anything else.
Tom received the text while placing a leather cuff on his left wrist in the office of his family's gym. He hired a manager once he was given the lease as he frankly wasn't interested in running it. The text shook him as his guilt would have to be confronted sooner than he thought, if only he didn't snap at her, then she wouldn't be in this mess.
While making his way down the steps with his guitar in its gig bag he came upon a woman who seemed entirely out of place in the harsh environment. She was standing by the ring on her phone, darting her eyes everywhere as if she were looking for something.
Tom confirmed he wasn't running late on his phone and proceeded to walk over to the woman who was wearing a grey suit, matching skirt and carrying a brown leather brief case.
"Hi miss, are you looking for the changing rooms? They're over there" Tom walked up to her reassuringly while gesturing to the back of the room.
The woman turned to face him, her serious look was met with hesitation from Tom.
"Hi my name is Joanna De La Vega, I'm your father's attorney, you are Thomas Bronson-Grant aren't you?" She said with confidence that reminded him of Dinah.
"Yeah, that's me. How can I help you?" Tom answered, fighting his anxiety over the situation.
"You're father wanted me to give you this." Joanna replied while taking an envelope out of her brief case and handing it to Tom.
The brown envelope was slightly battered and had a heft to it that shocked Tom. The fact that all that was written on it was just his name with fading black ballpoint pen scared him slightly.
"Wait, why couldn't he just mail this to me?" Tom asked after realising the perplexing situation he was in.
"I'm here as a friend not as a lawyer." She said closing her brief case and walking off. "Take care Tom."
He tucked the envelope into a pocket in his guitar case and began to head off. Once he walked out of the main door a short man in a pulled up red hoodie scrambled past him, clenching something in his hands. Down the street Tom could see the people the man was just with, they were a bunch of heroin dealers.
Not wanting to start a fight he walked away feeling disgusted by how they could openly exploit people like this.
Eventually the two arrived at The Brickhouse a club towards the south of the Glades which was massively popular amongst the rockers in the city. Dinah arrived backstage first and took in the beauty of the establishment. The dark walls, the wires littering the floor like snakes and enamouring fragrance of wood from the instruments was intoxicating.
While sliding down against the wall and bringing out her phone to pass the time, Tom walked in. His guitar case fell to the floor at the sight of Dinah, her bandaged up hand brought him to tears.
"Tom, why are you crying?" Dinah said with an almost maternal concern upon the sight of her childhood friend, she got up and placed her hands on his shoulders to gently calm him.
"It's all my fault! That wouldn't have happened to you if it weren't for me!" He cried while blinking away his tears.
She hugged him and let him cry into her shoulder while she teared up slightly herself. She articulated the two of them down to the floor and rested her back against the wall while positioning him so that his head was resting just under her neck.
"Nothing happened Tommy. It wasn't your fault". She calmly told him while caressing his head.
"Look, I don't agree with what you're doing but you're my best friend and I'll always have your back." He said looking up at her.
Smiling at the innocent gesture while also blinking back her tears she gave him a tighter squeeze.
After a few moments of silence Tom snuggled his head into her neck getting her attention.
"Um, this feels weird." Tom remarked with a tone that made it come off as a question.
"Because you're little spoon? Or because you have a boyfriend?" Dinah asked enjoying the last few seconds of this cuddle.
"The last one." He said disappointedly
"Yeah" She said awkwardly while releasing him from the hold, allowing him to rest his own back against the wall.
Suddenly the door opened up again to reveal a few familiar faces. The first of which was an Asian girl with short pink hair and similar leather jacket to Dinah, it was Katie their drummer. Another was a tall skinny long haired blonde in a sleeveless vest and converse, Rocky the bass player. And behind them all was a tall, well built broad chested, brown haired man who seemed completely out of place for a punk club. It was Justin, the band manager and Tom's boyfriend.
"What's up guys!" Rocky shouted excitedly while getting his bass out of its case in the corner.
"Heya" Katie said shyly which annoyed Dinah so she got up giving her a hug.
Dinah smiled to Katie, pulling her aside. "Hey pay up, I told you he was the bottom!" Dinah whispered cheekily into Katie's ear.
"Really? You sure" Katie asked with a similar whisper to hers.
Justin pulled Tom up from the floor aggressively, stabilising him by putting his hands on his shoulders.
"You gonna kiss your boyfriend good luck?" Tom asked cocking his head.
"No. Just because I love to tease the crap out of you." Justin said pressing his forehead onto Tom's and speaking softly to his face making him feel uneasy. Eventually he gave him a small peck on the lips as he couldn't help himself. He then pushed him back while the crowd outside began to chant the band name.
Constant battering of "Birds of Prey" could be heard through the walls which amplified each member's confidence.
Katie handed Dinah $20 while Tom and Rocky got their guitars, undenounced to the rest Dinah pulled out a small alcohol container from her jacket and took a sip of bourbon before heading out on stage to calm her nerves.
"No one does it better than the Birds Of Prey" Dinah said to herself while tucking the container away, referencing the opening number.
While the band played Justin was running the merchant counter. As he handed a T-shirt to a little girl a large muscular black man with grey dreadlocks walked over to the counter. He wore a white suit that was far above the typical attire someone would wear while in this club.
"Hey there big fella, what can I get ya?" Justin happily asked while only slightly intimated by his size.
"Oh I'm the new owner of the club, just here to say that your payment will be doubled for this evening since you guys are that good!" He said in a charismatic proud tone.
"Oh that's great! Mr?" Tom asked while holding out his hand.
"Brickwell, Danny Brickwell." He answered while taking his hand and delivering a rather firm handshake.