Al shrugged and shook her head, “Whatever. You have some crazy rules though, that’s for sure…” She looked around. “You sure you’re going to be OK living here though? I mean, it’s not exactly the Ritz… or even a Holiday Inn.”

I looked around at the piles of stuff laying around the place. The concert and music posters hanging all over the dirty walls. The galley-style kitchen with the drippy faucet and dirty dishes. The clothing belonging to the other girls strewn around the place.

“I admit, it’s not the nicest place in the world, Al. But I can afford it, and its mine. I’ve never had my own place before, so this is the first step, right? Besides, I’ve lived in worse…”

Al reached over and hugged me. “Well Shane, if you ever need to get away from the obvious estrogen den that you have just planted yourself in the middle of, my door is always open.”

I thanked Alice for the offer, went back out and got my small duffle bag out of the truck, dropped it on the futon along with an old set of sheets Bette had given me for the futon, and headed out the door behind Alice, heading towards The Planet.

We met up with Dana, were halfway through coffees, when Kit joined us. She was on a sober streak at the time, and her energy level showed it. She started telling us about a gig she had coming up soon in town and made us promise that we would come to see her show. Marina sat down with us, and the five of us chatted for a while. Alice’s phone rang, and she answered. After speaking briefly to Bette, who was apparently in the middle of quite a story, she glanced at her phone before quickly interrupting Bette to tell her to call my phone, as her battery was dying. She hung up then looked at me.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I think I’m in for an adventure this evening, and if I’m going, I’m bringing you down with me.”