February 6th, 1991
"You good there Annie?" Laura turned to me from Chris' passenger seat.
I snapped out of my daze, and turned to her.
"Yeah, I'm just a bit scared I'm going to die in this car" I looked into the rearview mirror and stared at Chris. "I don't think engines are supposed to make that sound, buddy,"
"Oh please, this car has lasted me a longtime, it'll be fine" He shrugged, while swerving just to fuck with me.
"How did you even get a licence? Like seriously?" I crossed my arms. "You drive as if a three year had taken control of the wheel, except the three year old is probably a better driver than you!"
He chuckled, "What licence?"
My eyes widened, "Excuse me?"
"He's just joking Annie, he has a licence" Laura reassured me.
"If you say so," I rolled my eyes as we pulled into a driveway.
"Okay.. Who's gonna run in and grab Matt?" He sighed.
"I'll do it! Anything to get out of this car for 5 minutes! That's five minutes left that I don't have to explode!" I quickly got out and ran into the flat.
"Hey Matt, are you ready?" I called out. Despite how much I love banging people's doors down, we didn't have the time, so I thought it was be appropriate to just run in.
"Just a second!" I heard shuffling, like a lot of shuffling coming from inside.
I leaned on the wall beside the door and called through, "You're not doing anything illegal there are you?"
"Not this time!" The shuffling stopped and out came Matt, looking a bit scuffed. "Hey... Annie right?" He held out his hand.
I was a bit confused by the gesture, but went along with it.
"Okay, lets go! I don't want my sister to die in that car!" I called out as I ran back outside.
As we got in the car, Chris and Laura must've also recognised the state Matt was in.
"You good there Matt? Looking a little scruffy there" Chris turned to face him.
"Yea, yea I'm good" Matt nodded his head.
"Alright then.. Let's go before we miss the set" Chris back out of the driveway, while hitting the mailbox.
"Oi! Watch my mailbox!" Matt chuckled.
"Jesus Christ! Did you get a driving degree at clown college?" I laughed.
"As if he could even get accepted into clown college" Matt whispered to me.
8:00pm
"Fuck, I haven't been to a club since Finney forced me to see Nirvana back in Olympia" I shouted over the music to Laura.
"These guys are kind of like Nirvana, but dumber," She replied with a smirk on her face.
"Hmm... I don't know about that. Layne is one of the more... Behaved guys i've encountered here," I laughed.
"Oh yeah for sure, I barely know Layne, but he is pretty sensible compared to... Others.." Laura said while looking over people's shoulders. "We should move to the front, it's so much better up there" She grabbed my arm and started pulling me through the people.
"When are they even coming on anyway?" I yelled at her
"Uh, they should be on any minute actually" She said.
We were so close to the stage we could touch it, closer than I'd ever been before. Trust me, I've had my fair share of gigs.
Layne soon walked out on stage, followed by three other, long haired guys. One of which was the guy I saw passed out at the new years party. I think his name was Sean or something.
"Uh, you guys are probably here for Soundgarden, but uhh, we're gonna play you some songs first" Layne stuttered into the microphone and the crowd cheered.
I had literally never heard of Alice in Chains before, but damn they were good. Layne's voice was unmatched, nothing like I'd ever heard before.
Not to mention the guitar, drums and bass. I should actually check these guys out. After the set had finished, Laura pulled me backstage.
"Woah, woah. Are we allowed back here?" I grunted.
"Yea, you know Layne pretty well" She said confidently.
"Hey Annie, did you like the set?" Layne said from behind me and nearly gave me a heart attack.
"Yea! You guys were so good!" I pulled him in for a hug.
"Hey, where's my hug?" A man with similar curls to Chris emerged from behind him.
"Oh this is Mike, Mike this Annahlise. Laura's sister" Layne gestured to me.
"You're the other Mike!" I beamed.
"Yea, Mike S. Remember me" He patted his chest, waved and left.
Then, another figure approached us. Sean.
"Hey! You're definitely Annahlise!" Sean said, looking me up and down.
"Oh really? How'd you know? Last time I saw you, you passed out" I said sarcastically.
"Shut up! That was one time!" He shrieked, embarrassed.
Layne furrowed his eyebrows at him, "That was definitely more than one time, don't even lie"
I smirked and patted his shoulder, "We've all been there"
"Mike and I are getting drinks, Do you wanna come?" He asked.
"Are you paying?" I questioned him, while hinting at him to pay for me.
He out his hand to his chin and started tapping it, "Hmmm, how about you stop talking about the new year's party, then I will"
"Deal, let's go" I said while waving to Layne.
As I sat down on the wobbly bar stool, Mike slid me a bottle.
"You're not gonna drug me, are you?" I joked as I opened the bottle.
"Nah, don't have any on me sadly" He said while chugging beer, "Also, that's more of a Sean thing" He added and Sean nudged him.
I shook my head and laughed at their stupidity. Even if it was drugged, I never let a chance of free alcohol slip.
Sean looked back, and then whispered something to Mike. As I tried to listen to what he was saying, I turned to my side to see a guy with long blonde hair, slipping into the empty seat next to me. I'm pretty sure it was the guitar player, the only member of Alice in Chains I hadn't met yet.
He observed me with his hand on his chin.
Not gonna lie, he was pretty hot
"Umm, do I know you?" I asked, weirded out.
"Maybe..." He answered, blankly.
I turned my whole body to face him, "Who are you and what do you want with me?"
He burst out laughing, "Hah! Stone was right! You are easily annoyed!"
"Oh shut up! You know that ass hat?" I said, embarrassed.
"Know him? Oh we go way back honey," He said proudly.
"Well, that says a lot about you, doesn't it?" I grimaced.
"Damn, I thought Stone was kidding! You ARE scary!" He laughed.
I groaned, "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Like you've never heard of me? I really have to work on you.." He muttered.
I gave him a death stare, "Answer the question, who are you?"
He smiled and rolled his eyes, "My name is Jerry"
My eyes widened.
This was Jerry! God he really is a nightmare.
"Oh dear God, I've definitely heard of you" I put my head into my hands.
"And I've sure heard a lot about you, Annie. Especially from Stone" He grinned and leaned closer to me, "Between you and me, I think he just has a fat crush on you, he won't shut up about you"
"Please, don't give me any more nightmares than I already have" I laughed.
"Oh shit, Soundgarden is on! Come with me!" Jerry got up and dragged me off of my stool.
"Hey, watch it fuckwit!" I said as I almost tripped over.
"Wow, they are pretty good," I muttered.
"Not as good as us though" Jerry leaned in.
I looked at him and grinned.
He certainly knew how to push people's buttons.
As I scanned the crowd to look for Laura, I noticed four girls, who looked a bit too familiar for comfort.
Steph, Zarley and Sara.
What are they doing here? Go back to Olympia you narcs.
My face dropped, and so did my heart.
"Just take it you big pussy. It's just a needle, it's worth it" Zarley grinned and slid the needle across the table.
Sara put her hands on her hips and snarled, "You can't be friends with us if you're a wuss, I mean come on! We all do it! It's not that hard and it's completely worth it!"
Should I be doing this? I don't want to be lonely again...
"Okay" I shakily sighed.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Hey, you okay?" Jerry whispered to me.
"Please, don't let them see me" I whimpered and discreetly pointed to them. "Those girls, they ruined me"
He glanced at them and then looked at me sincerely.
He quickly wrapped his hand around my shoulder and took me the other way.
I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit embarrassing for him to see me in such a vulnerable state, but at that moment, I wanted to die. It didn't matter if I was being a scaredy cat.
"Where are we going?" I quietly whispered, feeling very weak and numb.
"Out the back, no one goes there" He assured me.
I slowly nodded and closed my eyes, letting him guide me out the door.
"Here, they won't find you here" He sat me down on the concrete, and he took his place next to me.
"Thanks.." I muttered.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's up with them? They came up to me earlier and tried to flirt with me, it was kind of embarrassing."
"I um, I don't really want to talk about it" I hung my head, trying not to cry.
"Hey, hey" He grabbed my face, "It's okay, you don't have to tell me"
"I'm sorry I dragged you out here... You can go back in now, I'll be alright out here" I said, not really meaning it.
"Nah, I'd rather be out here with you" He said cheerfully, "Your interesting"
I looked up and smiled at him.
"So are you"