"𝑫𝒐 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆?"
Carmen Bailey has had scandal follow her for the entirety of her life, from childhood up until her band 'the dolls' opened for Daisy Jones...
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𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝
Louise: Our album was about halfway done and we still hadn't thought of the title for it. A few names were thrown around, some worse then others, but finally Cindy came up with one we all liked.
Cindy: I should probably be more embarrassed about this but whatever. I had a nickname in high school; never has anything good ever followed that phrase. But I had a nickname in high school - shortstop. As you may or may not know short stop is the position in baseball between second and third base. Use your imagination on how I got that nickname.
Lorraine: The album was coming along fast, especially considering we were writing the songs and then immediately recording them.
♐︎
"Okay but what about 'feelin' like I just lost a friend' instead?" Louise pitched.
"I don't know I kind of like the 'tired of walking round this ghost town again' but the fuck do I know." Cindy responded with her ever present condescending tone.
The girls sat spread out to every corner of the room. Louise sat hunched over in the cushioned chair next to the upholstered coach Cindy and Lorraine had claimed. Cindy's body was draped dramatically over the arm, Lorraine sat with her head hanging off the coach with glazed over eyes. Carmen was spread out on her back on the floor, her hair laid around her like a golden halo. Each girl toked on a cigarette creating a hazy cloud of smoke circling each of their faces.
"I think we should change it to the friend. Fits the song better." Carmen answered, rolling on her stomach and scratching down the note in her book with a pen.
"The fuck does it matter what the lyrics are, the songs are whatever they want them to be. We can all go fuck ourselves." Lorraine muttered.
"Don't be like that," Louise said trying to keep the peace, "we do things their way, play by their rules. Then we make the album we want."
The others girls sat heavy with her words. No one spoke for what felt like eternity, all in quiet contemplation.
"I like the friend thing." Cindy said and the other girls nodded in silent agreement, sitting with the knowledge that Louise was telling them what the needed to hear not the truth.
♐︎
Carmen: I was never really proud of our first album. The studio really watered down the sound we were going for, they heard my accent and wanted us to do some country, folk gimmick. I wore cowboy boots and they put us all in a box.
I started spending as much time in the studio as I could after we finished the initial recording. I didn't want them to change anything anymore than they already did. I would come home late at night, most of the time Dean would have already been asleep for hours. When I would wake up he would already be gone and at his set. While professionally I was so close to getting everything I had never even knew that I wanted so bad, at home I felt like I was living with a stranger
♐︎
"I never see you anymore." Carmen's groggy morning voice rang through Deans ears.
He stood at their sink sipping a cup of coffee. She walked over to him, when he didn't respond, and wrapped her arms around his lower torso while resting her head on his back to listen to his steady heart beat. He turned his head to the side and glanced at the top of her head.
"I never see you anymore." He finally said back, a hint of melancholy evident in his teasing voice.
He turned around and leaned back against the counter supporting his weight by resting his hands on either side of himself. Carmen stood in front of him with her arms loosely crossed over her chest. He smiled down at her with appreciation of the time they spent together now. Her mouth turned downward in a pout, her brows furrowed together.
"I miss you." She confessed leaning her head into his body.
"We'll have more time for each other eventually."
"I don't want a relationship built on eventually's. I want to be with you now." She spoke into his chest.
He smiled at her, "You are with me right now."
"Shut up, you know what I mean." She scoffed.
His smile turned to a serious expression and his hands rested on her waistline. They stood in silence for a moment before Dean finally spoke up.
"What if we got married?"
Carmen's breathe caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if she had heard him right. Her pulse quickened, but she tried to convince herself she wasn't nervous. She knew deep down she wanted this, she felt she had always known. But right now she was so close to having everything she wanted and so was he. They had forever to think about marriage, and she wasn't completely sure he really knew what he was asking.
She finally smiled and said, "eventually."
♐︎
Carmen: Soon enough the album released.
Cindy: The album was a minor success. A couple of the songs were played on the radio but it wasn't a hit by any means.
Lorraine: We were all fucking scared that the label was going to drop us. That our careers had ended before they had ever really begun.
Louise: The label had been talking about doing a small tour for us before the album even came out. However, once it released - radio silence.
Carmen: We all had hoped that the tour would get the word out about us but the label executives had a bright idea.
Lorraine: They wanted us to be the fucking opening act for The Six's 'Numbers Tour'.
