Chapter 3
The next morning was quiet in the pad. Micky had gone out with Gemma to the movies again and stayed over at her’s. Davy had been out on a date with a new chick he’d met and obviously persuaded her to let him spend the night with her.
The guys had fallen asleep watching a movie after a takeaway pizza and Mike a couple of bottles of beer that Ronnie had given him for helping her out. They’d woken up early in the morning when Mike had rolled over and fallen off the couch onto the floor, pulling Pete down on top of him, so they decided to head off to bed.
Mike and Pete hadn’t slept much during the night and they were now in the shower together. Mike had just stepped out, leaving Pete washing his hair. He was just putting some pants on when he heard the phone ring, so rushed out to the living room to answer it.
He picked the receiver up on the third ring. “Hello? Oh Mrs. Straus, what a surprise. Are you wanting to talk to Pete?” He was just about to shout him.
“No, you’re fine, if he’s busy. Ginny and I were wondering if you’d like to go to lunch with us? Young Micky was telling me about the restaurant his girlfriend’s family own. It sounds like a good place to have a family lunch.”
“That would be nice. I know where the restaurant is, but there’s only me and Pete home right now. He’s in the shower and the other two guys are out, but we’d love to come.”
“Good. How about we make it between twelve thirty and one? I’ve already asked Annie and Christine and they said yes. If Davy and Micky do come back in time, please tell them they’re invited, and don’t worry—it’s my treat. See you later. Bye, Michael.”
Mike was hanging up when Pete came out of the bathroom. “That was your gran. We’re meeting up with your family later for lunch—that okay with you?”
“Yeah that’s fine, but I want to call at the music shop near the studios. A friend told me they’re getting some new instruments in today—a clavinet. I need to have a look. One of them would be so cool. You don’t mind, do you?”
Mike could see the look Pete was giving him, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to say no to him. He never did. Pete seemed to have a knack at getting his own way. “No, it’s not far from the restaurant, so of course it’s all right.”
Pete hugged Mike tightly. “Thanks, Michael. Where are we having lunch?”
“We’re going to Gemma’s parents’ restaurant. Your gran wants to eat there.”
“We’ve not been there yet, have we? What kind of food do they serve? I imagine that they cater for vegetarians.”
“I’m sure Micky said it’s like a family friendly place. He likes the food there, but he’ll eat more or less anything. I think you’ll be okay there.”
“Are Micky and Davy gonna be coming with us if they get back in time?”
“Well they’re invited.”
As Mike was saying that, both Micky and Davy came in through the front door.
“So funny. It’s like magic— we were talking about both of you and then you suddenly appear from out of nowhere.” Pete laughed.
“Hey, Micky was bound to turn up in time to go for a free lunch. He has a built-in radar.” Mike laughed along with Pete.
Micky turned around from getting a soda out of the ice box. “What’s that, guys? We’re going out to eat? I’m well up for that. Wasn’t it supposed to be your turn to make lunch today, Pete? I’m sure the food’s gonna be so much better wherever we’re going.”
Mike slapped Mick around the back of the head. “Come on, your cooking’s not perfect. It’s mainly sandwiches when it’s your turn. You best be on your best behaviour when we’re out.”
“Why, where we going?” Micky replied, rubbing the back of his head.
“You should know the place well: Gemma’s parents restaurant, Pete’s gran says you told her about it and she thinks it’s a good place for a family meal for all of us.”
“Me and Davy aren’t their family though,” Micky answered.
“The four of us are family! We’re like brothers and have been for years—well apart from mine and Mike’s relationship changing. You two are like Nick and Chris are to me, but I spend more time with you.”
“Thanks, Pete. I’ve only got older sister and you three would be my first choice of big brothers,” Davy said but stared straight at Micky. “But sometimes he’s more like a kid brother…an annoying one.”
Micky was about to dive on Davy when they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Davy ran to answer it, finding Annie there carrying a few trash bags. “Morning, Davy. Hi, guys. Can I put these bags in your car, Mike? They’re full of my old maternity clothes. I thought you can pas them onto Ronnie and Vicky—it’s a shame to just have them lying around at home.”
“You might need to use them again,” Micky said, taking the bags from her. “I’ll go put these in the trunk,” he shouted on his way outside.
She waited until he came back in to reply. “I really doubt it, Micky. I’m happy with just the twins. Two children are enough for me. I’m lucky having one of each.”
“Well, there’s plenty of us to help if you decide you want another. How about it, Davy, you up for helping Annie out? Or how about you, Mike, but that would be a little odd having a baby with your boyfriend’s sister,” Micky said the latter pulling a face and shaking his head.
“It’s okay, Micky, and don’t worry, Davy, I don’t need help from either of you. I could never ask you, Mike, even if I did want another. It would be too weird.”
Pete was looking at all of them. “I’m glad about that. My sister and partner…I don’t even want to think about that. You agree with me, don’t you, Michael?” Pete saw Mike nodding back at him. He went over to the sink to get a drink of water.
Annie looked around at the four of them. “I better get back to the car. I’ve left Christine on her own with the twins. We’re gonna do some grocery shopping first then meet you all at the restaurant. We’ll see you all soon.” She went out of the door.
Later on, they were all at the restaurant enjoying themselves. Mike was happy as he realized why Micky liked the place so much—it had a buffet set up in one half of the main room, and there was something for all of them to eat, even plenty of vegetables and things for Pete.
Annie had started the twins, who were now five months old, on the occasional solid meal, and a waitress brought some mashed potatoes and gravy for them. Annie fed Summer while her mom fed Dylan, who seemed to have quite the appetite, his fingers neatly grabbing some of the food he was eating.
“Look at him, Micky. He takes after you, trying to eat everything as quick as possible! You been teaching him everything you know?” Davy pointed at Dylan while he nudged Micky.
“I was wondering if any of you would like to see a bit of LA?” Mike asked Pete’s mom, gran and Chris. “You could go and see the Hollywood walk of fame, Grauman’s Chinese theatre—there’s the stars and the footprints…”
“I wanna go see a movie, and see the Strip,” Chris pleaded with his mom. “This place is so different to back home.”
Micky looked over at Mrs. Thorkelson. “I’m going to a drive-in with Gemma tonight, and Chris is welcome to come with us. We can drive you up and down the Strip, get some food in a diner and drop him back at the hotel not too late, or he could stay in the spare room at the pad.”
“Oh, please, Mom! Let me! Peter and Mike will be there too, and one of you can take me to the hotel in the morning, can’t you?” He looked straight at Pete.
“Gemma will look after him, Mom, and we’ll get him back to you early tomorrow.”
Mike nodded in agreement.
“Ginny, the boys are quite responsible. You need to trust Chris—it won’t be long until he’s leaving home and going off to college and at least he’ll be nearer to you than Peter or Nick was. Give him a chance to prove himself.”
“All right, Chris, you can go, but you need to be back at the hotel before ten in the morning—we need to get ready for the flight home.” Chris stood and walked over to his mom and gave her a big hug. “Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Gran.” He winked at her, then at Micky.
Soon they were in Hollywood. Annie and Christine had gone back home as Christine needed to get ready for work, but Davy and Micky decided to join them. Micky, being a local knew more about the place. He’d already called Gemma who was gonna pick him and Chris up when they’d finished. She said she’d bring her sister along to make it a foursome.
They first went to the Chinese theater and were looking at the handprints. Chris found it funny to find Roy Rogers’ and Trigger’s, and also Gene Autry’s and his horse Champion’s. Mrs. Straus was looking for the movie stars’ handprints, putting her own hands into the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner and Bette Davies.
Mrs. Thorkelson had her camera with her that she’d brought it for the naming ceremony. She’d taken some photos at the family lunch, and now she was snapping away at the various stars’ prints.
“This is cool! Shame Nick and Claire went home yesterday. He’d liked this,” Chris said as his mom took his and his gran’s photo in front of the theatre. She then took Pete’s and Mike’s.
Mike took the camera from her so she could have hers taken with her mom and sons. They seemed to be having a good time, Mike thought, and Mike himself was enjoying doing tourist things. They then moved along to the Walk of Fame to look at the stars on the sidewalk.
Davy went off first to meet a chick at the Santa Monica mall. Micky and Chris waited for Gemma and her sister to arrive to drive them to the movies. Mike was going to drive Mrs. Straus and Mrs. Thorkelson to the hotel but first he stopped at the music store so Pete could go in and have a look at the new keyboards they’d got in.
Mrs. Thorkelson decided to stay in the car while the other three went inside to look. Mike decided to look at what new records they had in, and Pete and his gran were looking at the clavinet he’d talked about earlier. Mike picked up the latest Beatles and Kinks albums and went to join them.
“If you want it, Peter, I’ll buy it for you,” Pete’s gran was saying when Mike stood beside him.
“No. Gran, it’s too expensive. You can’t do that. I’m gonna put down a deposit and get one when I’ve saved enough. I’ll have it soon. It sounds great, Michael. It’ll be good to try on some songs.” Mike listened to him play a short piece, neither of them noticing Mrs. Straus disappearing along with the records Mike had put down for a minute.
The owner of the store came up to them to tell Pete he needed to box the instrument up as it had been sold. Mike saw Pete looked disappointed. “Is this the only one you have?” he asked the guy.
“I’m afraid so, but a lady over there bought it.” Pete’s gran came over. She passed Mike a bag with his records. “I’ve got you some picks and guitar strings as well. I reckon you always need spares.”
“Thank you,” Mike replied, looking surprised. He pointed at the keyboard and a sad-looking Pete. “Is this anything to do with you as well?”
She gave him a sweet, innocent look, one that he recognized from Pete. “I couldn’t resist. I saw how happy Pete was just seeing it, but it’s his now. He can’t refuse a gift from his old gran, can he?”
Pete’s smile got wider and he pulled his gran into a big hug. “Thank you! I love it. You’re the best.”
The owner came over to Mike. “Where do you want this? You got a car outside?”
“Yeah, follow me.” Mike took him outside and they put it into the Monkeemobile’s trunk.
“Has Mother been buying Peter another instrument?” Mrs. Thorkelson asked Mike, who just replied with a nod. “She knows that’s what makes him happy. Have you got room for it?
“I guess we’ll be able to make a space on the bandstand,” he was replying as Pete and Mrs. Straus came out and got into the car. Mike drove first to the hotel to drop off Pete’s relatives, then he and Pete went back to the pad.
Farther along the Strip, Micky, Gemma, Chris and Maria had finished at the drive-in and were looking for somewhere to eat. Gemma pulled the car into a space at Stan’s drive-in coffee shop. “Here good for everyone? It’s a while since I’ve been here.”
A waitress soon approached the car with menus for them all. “Can I get you guys some drinks? Malts, milkshakes or sodas?”
They all decided to get strawberry milkshakes, and they all ordered cheeseburgers and fries.
“The food here is great,” Micky said to Chris. “You might even catch the odd TV star here.”
“I’ll pay for everyone’s meal as a thank you. Mom gave me some money and you paid for the movie. There should be enough left for some dessert too. I’ll get Mike and Pete a doughnut as well.”
Micky noticed that Maria and Chris seemed to be getting on. They were talking about applying to colleges and what they wanted to study. Maria was hoping to go to USC or Berkeley so she wasn’t too far from home. Chris explained how he was going to try and get away from his dad, even though the family had hope he’d go to the university where both his parents taught.
“He’d got a girlfriend,” Micky whispered to Gemma. “He doesn’t seem like Davy, so he won’t be making a move on her.” He laughed.
After they’d finished eating, the waitress came back with the bill and a bag of doughnuts, and Chris paid, giving her a generous tip. “Where we going next, Micky?” he enquired. “Is there anywhere that has any bands where kids our age can go?”
Micky checked the time and knew there was still time to go to a club nearby that allowed under-eighteens until ten, so they decided to go there. There was a band halfway through a set, so they found a table and Micky ordered a round of cokes while the girls used the ladies’ bathroom. Chris and Maria went off to dance near the stage, leaving Micky and Gemma on their own.
“It’s a shame Chris isn’t gonna be around much longer. Maria likes him. It’s been a nice chance for her to get out the house and spend some time with a boy. She’s always in her room studying, so it’s good to see her enjoying herself. Thanks for this, Micky.”
“I’m sure she’ll meet someone soon, maybe even at college. There’ll be lots of guys around her age, and she’ll get to know other girls that she can have a social life with. She’s cute, a younger version of you. Let’s just not introduce her to Davy.” Micky laughed.
Mike and Pete spent about an hour at home working through a new song Mike was writing. He helped Pete make some space to put the clavinet on the bandstand. He checked the time when they’d done. “Let’s call it a day. We need a break. We can go see how the girls are doing and take those bags of Annie’s clothes for them.”
Pete had a quick shower, while Mike tided up a little and soon they were on their way to the Dive. It looked busy when they arrived. Christine saw them and came out from behind the bar. “Ronnie’s upstairs if you’ve come to see her. I’m not sure what’s wrong but we’ve not seen her for ages, since she finished a meeting earlier.”
“Do you think she’s overworked? She seem tired yesterday,” Mike asked her.
“I think she is a little, but she’s trying to promote the club and get us more known. She’s worried about losing our regulars to other clubs. I’ve told her, I can help her out with as much as possible, but she’s stubborn, doesn’t like anyone doing her job or taking full charge.”
Pete stared over at Mike and had a cheeky smile on his face. “Sounds just like you a little, don’t you think, Michael?”
“Hey, babe, I’m trying my best to be more laid-back like you. You’re helping me change. We’ll go upstairs and find the girls.”
Pete followed Mike up to the girls’ living room where they found Ronnie, busy on the phone and agitated. She hung up after a few minutes. “Have either of you seen Vicky today?”
Both Mike and Pete shook their heads to say no. “Isn’t it her shift at the hotel today?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, it should be, but they called me. She hasn’t turned up. I’ve called the school and she left there just after lunchtime. I’ve been ringing around all our friends and no one’s seen or heard from her all day. I’ve run out of people to call.” She burst into tears and the guys sat either side of her. Pete passed her a box of Kleenex and Mike pulled her into his chest.
Ronnie looked up at Mike. “I’m really worried. Where could she be? She can’t have just disappeared!”