That Blue Gibson

CH 16

"You know, I kinda love it," Josie laughed as she and Liz walked to her Audi coupe.

"The nineties are making a comeback, you know!" Liz replied, looking Josie up and down.

She had on a lavender taffeta prom dress complete with lace-up back and matching scarf, a score they found in a thrift shop earlier that day. They had pulled her hair back with butterfly clips, added shimmering eyeshadow with white liner and slathered her in body glitter. She looked like she had walked directly out of 2001.

"I fucking love you for doing this for me, Josie," Liz said sliding into the passenger seat.

"And I fucking love you for giving me an excuse to wear this," Josie laughed and backed out of her driveway.

*

Liz scanned the sidewalks around the Chinese Theater while Josie drove as slowly as she could without Travis catching on as he followed in a black SUV.

"There!" Josie screamed and quickly pulled her car to the curb.

Liz jumped out and ran across the wide sidewalk, up to a man sitting on a bench counting a stack of money.

"Hey, man," she said, out of breath. "Can you-"

"Off duty, princess," the man said without looking up. "Go ask Spongebob over there."

"Would $200 and a ride to the Roxy change your mind?" Liz asked, hopeful.

The man slowly looked up at the woman in front of him. "Show me," he said bluntly.

Liz was confused for a moment before realizing he meant the money. She pulled $200 in twenties out of her wallet and discreetly showed him her hand. The man's eyes widened a bit before he jammed the cash he was holding into the neck of his furry blue outfit and stood up.

"Liz are you fucking kidding me?" Travis cried, hopping out of the SUV behind Josie's Audi. "You can't just grab some bum off the fucking street and shove him in your car!"

"No, I know," Liz said carefully placing a giant blue head into the Audi's trunk and closing it, "He's riding with you. In you go!" she chirped, jogging to the SUV and opening the back door for the man.

"I'm not a bum, asshole," the man said as he passed Travis and got into the backseat.

"See? Nice guy. See you in a minute," Liz said quickly and ran back to the Audi before Travis had time to protest.

*

Liz and Josie stood in the long line outside the Roxy waiting for the doors to open. Several people were staring at Josie's frock in confusion, but the girls ignored them. Before long, the crowd suddenly surged forward at the sight of the doors flinging open. When they finally reached the door, Liz saw a white limo parked on the sidewalk with a large FF sticker on the side and felt butterflies rise in her stomach as Josie dragged her to the door. She showed her ticket to a large man sitting on a stool and started to walk inside, but he roughly grabbed her arm.

"Blue sticker means you go back," he grunted and stamped her hand with a blue FF logo.

"Go back where?" Liz asked, thinking for a moment he was about to send her to the back of the line.

He rolled his eyes at her, annoyed. "Backstage. Blue means you're with the band," he waved his hand and another man appeared, taking Liz's other arm.

"This way," he said, pulling her away from the entrance and towards a narrow hallway.

Liz looked back at Josie who was running to keep up. "I don't want to go backstage... Stop!" Liz yelled, causing the man to look back at her. She dug her heels into the worn concrete floor, stopping them. "I want to go to GA," she insisted.

The man sighed, annoyed he had to deal with her, "The band insists you attend backstage."

"I don't fucking care," Liz said firmly. "Can you just take us to the soundboard instead?"

The man shrugged and continued on down the hallway, leaving Liz and Josie in confusion. He began to round a corner when he noticed they hadn't followed.

"This way!" he barked and the girls ran to catch up.