Irresistible Refrain

37

I pounded on my brother’s door with my fist.

“Hold up. I’m coming.” I heard his muffled reply through the door before he opened it. “What the hell!” he exclaimed when he saw me. “What’d you do to your hair?”

“Cut it, obviously,” I threw back as I brushed past him to enter the room.

“What’s going on, Lace?” he asked when I turned around. “Where’s Bryan?”

“I don’t know.” I blinked back the burn and avoided looking at him. I sank on the mattress and smoothed out the wrinkles in the comforter. “I asked him to wait for me. To give me some time to get my head sorted out. He didn’t like that plan.”

“Damn. I’m sorry.” Dizzy dropped down on the bed and glanced at me, eyes filled with questions I didn’t really have the answers for. Not yet at least. I was working on that.

The haircut was symbolic. The long feminine locks were gone, lopped off. Out with the old, in with the new was my motto going forward. From now on it was just me and my retro 1960’s Twiggy hairdo that practically screamed, “This chick can make it on her own!”

There is one thing I know, I thought as I ran my hand over the ear length strands it was going to take some time to get used to. “I’m not going back to Seattle.” There were just too many memories there.

“Kinda late to be deciding that.” Dizzy looked at his watch. “Our plane leaves in a couple of hours.”

“I already paid the change fee.”

“Where you gonna go then?”

“Vancouver. I have some unfinished business at Black Cat. Things I need to make right. I think it’s probably as good a place as any to start over.”

“Ok.” The lines between his eyes smoothed out. “No reason for me to go back then, either. I’ll come with you.”

I laid my head on his shoulder and let out a breath. “Diz, I have to do this on my own. Anyway what about the band?”

“What band? No War, remember?”

“Still. The rest of the guys are in Seattle and they need you there.”

He nodded while his eyes searched mine. “You’re sure about this?”

It was my turn to nod.

“Alright.” He exhaled. “But you’re not alone. I’ll be just a phone call away.”

He put his hand on mine. “I’m you’re big brother. I know I have problems of my own, but we’re family. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He held me back by the shoulders and his lips formed an encouraging smile. “I know you can do this, Lace. If any of us can bounce back from all this shit, it’ll be you.”