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DISCLAIMER: This site is in no way affiliated with the Monkees or personal relations thereof. All fan fiction and fan art is intended for entertainment purposes only and no defamation of character is intended whatsoever. To break it down one more time: It's all just for fun, folks.
"I Met a Girl Who Sang the Blues - Part 8"
Title: I Met A Girl Who Sang The Blues
Author: Boo_Coo_Blue
Genre/Pairing: Peter/OFC, Micky/OFC, Mike/OFC, Davy/OFCs. Gen/Rom/Com
Rating: PG-R,
nothing very graphic happens
Warnings: Mild language, mild violence, suggestive themes,
sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the Monkees, or any of the characters from
the show. I only own my OCs.
Summary: When two girls move in close to our boys, will the effect cause happiness
for all, or will every thing be torn apart?
Author's Note: This is the first Monkees
fiction I wrote. As such, it is not the best thing I’ve ever written, but it remains
in a special place in my heart none the less. Some of you may remember this from
Monkees Fic on Livejournal.
Chapter Eight
In Which Paul Is Chased By Fan Girls, George Is Mystically Disgruntled, Ringo Is Lovingly Cute, And John Is…..Damn, Sorry, Wrong Fanverse
Christmas and the two weeks following it flew past. Christmas was spent at the Monkees’ house, a small, but joyful evening with Myrtle and Hilda coming over. Sophie worked at the club that night, but she popped in to the small party after she got off, collapsing onto the couch and throwing evil glances at the radio playing Christmas music.
The Monkees had landed a gig on the thirtieth, Mike and Davy’s birthday, so they decided to celebrate their birthdays and New Year’s on the same evening. Sophie baked a huge cake, one half chocolate and one half vanilla. They all sat out on the balcony together and watched the fireworks at midnight while eating their cake.
Peter and Sophie had begun to not act awkwardly when they were near each other, much to their friend’s relief. There were a few isolated incidents, of course, but for the most part everything was going okay for them.
Micky and Myrtle were adjusting to married life amazingly well. Then again, they didn’t live together. The only time they really felt like they were married were the nights that Micky spent over at the girls’ apartment; when Hilda was out and Sophie was at the club.
Mike and Hilda had slowly began to do things together, although they never went out on dates. No, they spent most of their time together at the apartment, watching TV or playing games. It was an odd relationship, but they enjoyed it.
Davy, despite his friend’s doubts, was keeping up his vow for no more girls. He hadn’t flirted or asked out anyone for almost a month. He thought he may be going crazy. He had begun many projects to keep his mind off of it though, and the result was that there were several half finished puzzles lying about the house.
Peter was out for a walk one evening in the middle of January. Normally, he didn’t go out on random walk-abouts, but it was too noisy back home, and he needed to think. For one thing, he was beginning to be worried about his health. Peter had been falling asleep earlier and earlier at night, and was becoming more and more difficult to wake up in the morning. He was positive that if his bandmates would let him sleep, he wouldn’t wake up until after lunch, if at all.
And he was never hungry any more, hardly eating breakfast or lunch, and only eating a little more than half of supper. Peter knew that his friends were starting to worry about him, Michael in particular.
Peter had decided that if he was having problems waking up, it was best not to go to sleep at all. The secondary reason he had gone out on the walk was to buy some extra coffee. Peter was almost to the store when he got sidetracked.
He walked past the club where Sophie worked and slowed down. It was Wednesday night, so she should have been in….Peter thought why shouldn’t he poke in and see her? He walked into the club and headed up to the second floor.
This would mark the second time Peter had been to the club to see Sophie, and she had finally gotten around to seeing one of their gigs the week before.
The room was in full swing when Peter walked in, a crowd of people already dancing wildly to the fast-paced music emanating from the platform. He squinted up at the platform, where he saw Sophie. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses, despite that the room was just barely lit by a few blue lights placed here and there.
Peter sat down at one of the tables, watching the other dancers and waiting for Sophie’s round to be finished. He thought he would pop in to the make-shift backstage area and say hi. She made it through another song, and then introduced Old John. Peter began to fight his way back.
He found Sophie leaning back in a chair, her hands over her face. “Sophie,” he called before coming all the way in the room. It was a simple sort of room, with some chairs and a table sitting out.
Sophie looked up. “Oh! Hey, Pete. What’re you doing here?”
He shrugged and walked in. “I was just walking past. I was out for coffee….”
She nodded and leaned her head back again. “You’ll forgive me, I haven’t been sleeping very well lately.” Peter realized then why she had the glasses on; she had dark circles running under her eyes.
Peter sat down across from her. “You too, huh?”
Sophie looked up again. “You aren’t sleeping either?”
“No, I’m sleeping too much.” She looked at him strangely and sat up.
“Weird….Is that what the coffee was for?” He nodded.
“Yeah. I think that if I don’t sleep at all I won’t over do it.”
She shrugged. “Sounds good to me. Do you want to hang around? No way you can fall asleep here.” Sophie motioned to the platform, where Old John and his band were blasting out an old blues song.
He thought about it. “How about this, I hang around here and stay up and you go home and sleep.”
She laughed. “Nice try, Pete, but that won’t fly with Mack. I’m his ‘star’ around here and if I left he’d kill me. But thank you.” She smiled at him, and then leaned her head back again.
They sat in silence for a long while, until Old John finished his set. Sophie got up and was about to walk out before she turned back to Peter. “So, are you staying or is this goodbye?”
“I’m staying.”
“Cool. I’ll see you in a few then.”
Old John and his band came back to the sitting area. They were a three piece band, and despite calling themselves old, they were all in their twenties. Old John shook Peter’s hand.
“You must be Peter….I think Sophie’s mentioned you a few times.” The drummer snorted from where he had sat on the other side of the table.
“A few times my foot.” Peter felt himself start to turn red.
Old John and his band used their break time to play a game of poker, and invited Peter to join them. They also commented on whatever Sophie was playing out on the platform. She ran through a bunch of rock n roll songs, done over so they had a blues sound to them.
“That girl has a real talent….It’s a pity she won’t ever move on from here.” Old John set down a straight and pulled in the bottle tops they were using as chips.
“What do you mean?” Peter asked.
“Sophie’s the sort of person who gets attached to a place. She likes it here, so she won’t leave. She’s had offers to go to other clubs, the sort of offers we would cut off our right hands for. She turned them all down….”
“That’s right.”
Everyone jumped; they hadn’t noticed the music stop. “Stupid corporation goody-goodies. You know me better than that, John.” Sophie came over and sat in the one other free chair. She nodded outside. “You’d better get out there….”
There was a big scramble and Peter found himself alone with Sophie again. She peeked at the cards. “Oh, Fred almost had a flush. That’s a pity….” She gathered all the cards up and shuffled them.
“It’s nice having you here, Pete. Usually I get so lonely back here by myself.” She smiled at him, obviously in a more energetic mood than she was earlier. Peter didn’t really know what to say, rather he smiled back at her in what he was sure was a goofy sort of way.
Most unfortunately, another visitor popped in just then. The room they were in wasn’t in any way hidden from the rest of the club, so Sophie was used to people poking in, either lost or wanting to request one song or another. It was unfortunate, though, because Sophie knew this visitor.
“J-James!” She stood up nervously as he entered the room. James was tall, taller than most people, and although he was very lanky looking, he also looked strong, like someone who worked out regularly.
He nodded. “Hello Louie.”
Sophie still looked nervous, although he was a full room away. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in town, and I talked to Niles. He mentioned you might be here. I thought I could come and say hi for old times sake. Is that a problem?” From the way Sophie was wringing her hands, it obviously was a problem, but she didn’t say anything. Peter looked back and forth between the two, getting the feeling that he didn’t care much for this James person.
James glanced at Peter. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Sophie looked at Peter in surprise, her eyes bugging as if she had forgotten he was in the room. “What? No! No, this is just Peter, he was on his way out. Not a friend, not a anything….” She began making shooing motions out back to the club, a pleading look in her eyes.
“Uh, sure….I’m on my way out….” Peter got up and walked out of the room, stopping behind the curtain that made for a make-shift door. He pulled it open just far enough to see inside. Because of the noise of the music and the club behind him, he couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but it was obvious they were having a fairly heated discussion.
Several moments went past, and Sophie was saying something. She made the mistake of turning her back to James. Although he was back away from her, he crossed the room quickly and grabbed her by her arms from behind and he began to shake her. Sophie tried to fight away, but he was a lot stronger that she was. Peter took this as his cue to reenter the room.
Peter could never remember the details of the fight that followed, being too caught up in the moment, but the result was that he and James both ended up crumpled on the floor, bruised and bleeding in various places. James got up first.
“Fine!” He exploded. “I’m leaving, Louie. When ever you want to come back home, you’ll know how to find me.” And James left, hopefully to never be seen again.
Sophie knelt next to Peter, who wasn’t quite sure about getting up yet. “Are you okay?” She asked pityingly.
Peter picked his head up and, with Sophie’s help, sat up part of the way. “Yeah, I think so.”
Sophie shook her head. “When I get a hold of Niles, I’m going to kill him….” She turned around so she was facing Peter. She touched his face, making him flinch slightly. She winced.
“Sorry….Well, you don’t look too bad.” She gently touched the area just under his left eye. “I’ll get you some ice….” Sophie stood up. “Now don’t go anywhere.” Peter laughed, still not thinking he could even stand up. Sophie left the room.
While Sophie was gone, Peter reflected on what had just happened. James must have been the guy she was with before she left the village. He obviously wasn’t a very nice person, and Peter couldn’t blame Sophie for being more cautious about dating people. Although, since he had rushed in and rescued her, maybe Sophie would be more likely to go out with him now.
****
By the time Sophie came back, Peter was feeling a bit better about sitting up, and had moved over to the table. She knelt in front of him and set the ice on his cheekbone, where a very colorful bruise was beginning to show. He reached up and put his hand over hers on the bag to hold it in place. “You got it?”
He nodded and she pulled her hand away, standing up and pulling up a chair next to him. “I am so sorry this happened, Peter.” Sophie chuckled sadly. “I’m afraid I’ve become a hindrance.”
Peter shook his head and worked his jaw a bit. Talking wasn’t going to hurt he decided, but he made a mental note not to yawn any time soon. “This wasn’t your fault….I don’t think you’re a hindrance.”
Sophie smiled at him a bit miserably and looked like she was about to say something, but just then Old John and his band returned from off the platform.
“Hey, Sophie you’re up….Whoa, what happened to you?”
Sophie answered for Peter. “James showed up,” she said as she reached for her guitar. “Pete, you don’t mind if I….”
“No, no….I’ll still be here when you get back,” Peter assured her. She laughed a bit and walked off backwards.
“John, keep a good eye on him,” she pointed and glared a bit before she reached the platform.
Fred dealt the cards and the guys played a few more rounds of poker while they were on break. Peter begged off on this one, preferring to listen to Sophie’s voice filtering through the room as he watched the card game before him.
Not soon enough, Sophie was finished and came back for the final time. She told Old John and the others goodnight as they walked off, and packed her stuff up. “Do you feel up to walking home, Pete?”
“Yeah, I think so….” Peter had discovered that at some point he had hit the floor rather awkwardly with his knee, so walking was somewhat painful, but he thought he could make it home.
They made it nearly half way there before Peter knew he had to sit down. Sophie cut a detour into a small park where benches lined the walkway. “Maybe you should see a doctor,” Sophie suggested as they sat.
Peter shook his head. “No, doctors cost money, and I don’t have any.”
Sophie nodded and looked at the ground. They sat in silence, waiting for Peter to feel ready to walk some more.
“Why’d he call you Louie?”
Sophie shrugged a bit. “That’s my middle name, or Louise rather. James always thought that ‘Sophie’ was too old fashioned and proper for me, so he renamed me. That was always his name for me, but then Niles started calling me that, and it just snowballed amongst friends. I didn’t go by ‘Sophie’ again until Myrtle and I left.”
“You left because of James?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah.”
Peter sat and studied his feet for a moment. “Did he ever do anything like this to you?”
Sophie looked back at him, all emotion draining from her face for a moment. She looked blank, and then she looked away to answer. “A few times, yeah.”
“I wish that I’d hit him harder,” Peter said determinedly. Sophie looked up at him sharply, looking surprised for a moment before smiling.
“Thank you, Peter.”
It wasn’t too much longer until they were able to continue on, this time making it all the way home. This time, Sophie walked Peter up to his door. The both stood there awkwardly for a few moments, each remembering vividly what had happened last time.
Peter had decided that since he had rushed in and rescued her, the least Sophie could do for him would be to let him kiss her. He took a deep breath and moved in; most unfortunately, Sophie hadn’t been paying any attention and had quite abruptly looked away to the side. Peter was already to close to move away or to course correct to pretend like he was doing something else. As a result he ended up kissing her ear.
They both froze. Peter had bypassed embarrassed and had moved on to paralyzed by humiliation. Sophie was concentrating very hard on not laughing, knowing how embarrassed Peter must be. A long moment passed before Peter got up the courage to move away.
Sophie was still trying not to laugh. Peter shook his head. “I’m sorry…..I am such a dummy.”
“I don’t think you’re a dummy.”
Peter looked over at her. “You don’t?”
“Of course not. I think that you have a very untainted view of the world, and to some people that might seem naive or dumb. Personally, that’s one of the things I like the most about you.”
Peter felt his face heat up, but pleasantly so. Sophie smiled at him and kissed him on his cheek (the one that wasn’t bruised), told him goodnight and then she went home. For the first time in nearly a month, Peter felt honestly happy.
It wouldn’t last.
****
The next morning Peter woke up at a decent hour for a change, blinking awake to the sounds of Michael getting ready in the bathroom, whistling while he dried his hair. He looked a bit surprised to see Peter up. “Hey, buddy, it’s nice seeing you for a change before noon….” He paused as he noticed Peter’s face.
“Whoa, man, what happened to you?”
Peter had been practicing his excuse in his head. “I ran into a door.”
“With your face?” Mike sounded dubious.
Peter nodded. “Yep. Smack into the door.”
Mike sighed and shrugged a bit, silently saying ‘I know you’re lying, but I’ll buy it for now because you’ll tell me the truth when you’re ready’. Mike didn’t know he was this easy to read, but his bandmates had long since learned the difficult language of Nesmith.
Peter got out of bed, realizing quite suddenly that yes, his knee still hurt, and he got ready for the day. When he went downstairs, Davy was busy cooking breakfast. Still on his no-dating pledge, he had decided to improve his culinary skills. The results were not yet spectacular.
Mike had obviously forewarned the others as to how Peter looked because as he sat down neither Micky nor Davy said a word. Highly uncharacteristic behaviors, Peter thought.
The day went past quickly and smoothly. After breakfast, Peter and Micky washed the dishes while Davy and Mike set up the equipment on the platform in the living room so that they could practice for an audition they had that afternoon. They practiced for a while, then packed up and went out for the audition. It was for a band to play at a retirement party being thrown for an elderly woman. The Monkees had felt certain that the polka band would win the gig, but it had actually come their way this time. They decided to go for a celebratory lunch at the little Italian restaurant they knew near the pad.
The rest of the afternoon went by quietly, only to be interrupted by Hilda, who blustered into the apartment full of nervous excitement followed by Myrtle who looked perplexed.
“Oh, I have ze best news,” she exclaimed, pacing about.
“What?” All five of the others asked simultaneously.
“Oh, ve must vait on Zophie. She should be here soon…..”
“Where is Sophie?” Peter asked, knowing she was usually home on Saturdays.
“The manager of the club where she works called and asked her to come down for a meeting. Apparently he has some news for her,” Myrtle said, sitting next to Micky on the couch. Peter thought that Sophie must have told Myrtle about what had happened the night before, because she didn’t ask about what happened to him.
Several moments went by, Hilda not getting any less flustered. Finally, Sophie knocked on the door and came in, waving a note. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Oh, I have ze best news! I vould like to share it vith all of you…sit, sit!” She waved Sophie towards a chair.
“Today, I had an interview with Herbert Zigler….”
“The record producer?” Davy asked, wide-eyed.
“That’s ze one! And I thought I vas just going to be a receptionist, but zen, Mr. Zigler told me he vanted me to be his personal assistant! I said yes, and he gave me hiring bonus! So I am taking everyvun out for supper!” As Hilda got more and more excited, her accent got thicker, but the others got the gist of ‘hiring bonus’ and ‘supper’. They all cheered for her, Mike getting up and hugging her.
Everyone began to make their way to the door to go out, but Myrtle stopped Sophie. “Hey, what did Mack have to say?”
Sophie shook her head. “Nothing important. Let’s go….”
“He didn’t fire you did he?” That got everyone’s attention.
“Why would he? No, it wasn’t that. Let’s go….”
Myrtle could tell something was wrong. “Then what did he say?”
Sophie stopped with her hand on the doorknob and sighed. “Fine. If you must know, he wanted me to come and meet this man who was in the club the other night. He liked me and just happens to be a record producer and he wanted me to sign with his label.”
There was a moment of silence before everyone started congratulating Sophie at the same time. Myrtle waved them quiet. “But that’s good?”
Sophie looked down at the floor for a few seconds. “It’s in Chicago.” Everyone went quiet.
“So you aren’t going to sign,” Myrtle asked hopefully.
Sophie looked back up, her face blank. “I’m going on Wednesday to check out the studio, then I’ll decide whether I want to stay or not.”
Myrtle looked like Sophie had slapped her, never entertaining the notion that her friend would one day move on. Mike cautiously looked over at Peter. He looked completely heartbroken, tears welling up in his eyes. Sophie briefly looked Peter’s way, too, but winced and turned back to the door, this time opening it. “You guys go out and celebrate. I don’t think I’m in the mood any more.” She slammed the door behind her, just as Peter collapsed on the couch, once again feeling as if the house was coming down around him.
