The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (2 page)

The headline read
Sibling Rivalry-not on
your life. Wonder Twin powers, A
ctivate
!
 

Lex smiled at the ditzy quote from the
70's cartoon.
Super Friends
was still shown on the cartoon channel
late at night. The show
featured
alien
teen
age
twins with supernatural powers
who were
being trained
by the likes of Su
perman
and Wonder
W
oman
to become crime fighters in the Justice League
.
Yeah, well, retro seemed to be the hot ne
w thing
these days. Everything from the 70’s was
enjoying
a brief renaissance.
Even the modern
Superman TV seri
es,
Smallville
,
featured the superh
ero twins in an episode
and various adult cartoon shows parodied the cartoon wonder twins. 

The headline was not far off point. The hard rocking red-haired guitar playing twins were causing a sensation. Their image popped up everywhere
as the record company launched them into the media spotlight via
talk shows and
magazine interviews.

Lex recognized her. He knew Jessica Kelly was
his soul mate
and
their spirits were destined for a reunion.

Chapter Two

Success.

The word
hung there, empty and
alluring
--
until one achieved it. 

In the l
ast year, Jessie and her brother were
on MTV
twice
as guest hosts.
They appeared as
guest judges on
American Idol
and
were featured on Conan
. They had been
interviewed by every magazine in the mus
ic i
ndustry and they made
this month’s cover of
Rolling Stone
. 

Jack and Jessie
. T
wo members of a
five member rock band. It bothered
her that she and Jack were continually being
pushed into the spotlight
by the execs at their record label
at the ex
pensive of the other three
members
of their rock band
.

Fender Guitar wanted Jack and Jessie Kelly to sign on as poster models. The promise had been that wherever music stores sold Fender Guitars, their smiling faces would grace the walls as they stood back to back, each strumming a Fender model as a promo. Aside from endorsing Fender as their guitar of choice, theoretically selling Fender to the masses of teenage guitarists, it would provide the Kelly twins with added fame and recognition, unlimited free guitars of any model they wished over the next three years, and a tidy income for the modeling. Jessie was still going over the contract with their manager and an attorney before they actually signed the deal.

Jessie
was lying
crossways
on her
bed clad in a Packer
s
’
T-shirt. Her bare
legs
were
propped
again
st the wall. Her ankles were crossed and a bare foot rested
a
gainst the cool plaster
above the headboard
.
Her
hair was loose and free, dangling over the edge of
the bed as her head hung
over
the
edge of the
mattress
and she gazed at her world from upside down.
With her guitar resting across her belly, she grimaced and started plunking out a heavy metal riff with the speaker cranked to block
the s
ounds from the next room
.

Her efforts were not appreciated. L
oud thumping on the
other side of the wall told her
the couple
heard her nasty rendition of Alice Cooper’s
Poison
and
they
weren’t the least bit amused by her impromptu serenade to their lovemaking.

Jessie sat up,
placed her guitar in the stand
and stretched.

“Hungry? Or did they spoil your appetite, too?” She asked the black dust mop beside he
r bed. A soft groan answered
as the
black
Scottish
terrier’s
tail wagged
. “Come, Duncan.”

The smell of
coffee embraced her as she descended
the spiral
iron staircase. Curious, she peeked into the kitchen to see which one of guys would actually be up at the ungodly hour of nine in the morning.

Steve
Walker
sat at the kitchen table with his bare feet pro
pped on the glass surface,
torn and slashed
black
jeans his only attire. His stark costume blended wi
th the post-modern
black and white kitchen. Long brown hair was uncombed as it hung in clumps about his slender shoulders.
Multiple earrings lined each ear and skulls resembling the catacombs adorned one bare shoulder
. The keyboardist
had
a cigarette between his teeth as
he
played air guitar and
waited for the magic brew to complete the cycle. “Serenading the happy couple?
I heard you down here.
”  He
removed his coffin nail from his lips and
blew a wreath o
f smoke in her direction while giving her an amused smile
.

Jessie grinned
back at him
. “
Yeah,
Alice Cooper’s
Poison.
”

“I know.” Steve’s eyes took an evil g
leam. “The question is this
; which one is
truly the
lethal
one
-- Kyra or her
lover?”
He raise
d a chestnut brow.

“You are such a Goth
.
” Jessie teased
. “It was just the first song that popped into my head upon waking to the
headboard slamming the wall adjacent
to mine.
”

“On
one hand,
” He lifted a long, slender finger, “
Kyra could
be the proverbial black widow, killing her lover and ea
ting him after they mate--” Steve mused, “O
n the other, we could consider our bl
onde bombshell a
willing sa
crifice to a long line of adoring fans
who seem captivated by her
36-B
charms.”

“Save it for the next writing session.” Jessie returned
. “You’re
poetic, i
n a
morbid sense.”

“Love you, too,
Babe
.
”
Steve winked, knowing
she hated being called ‘
Babe
’ by anyone. “That reminds me, I’ve
managed to scratch
a few lines down last night. N
ot much, but I’m open to
collaboration
. We’re
due to turn in prelims
to the studio for the next CD
in two weeks
.”

“Like I could forget.” 
Jessie replied
. Since their c
elebrated success this past year,
Jessie and Steve were the only members of
Heartless
who took their obligations to the record company seriously. The three other members of the band followed after th
eir own vices, be it drugs, sex
or the ever-present cameras that stalked them about tinsel town.

After filling Du
ncan’s dish, Jessie poured them each a generous cup
of coffee. She
swirled sugar in Steve’s cup,
handed it to him and
then jumped up on the
smooth black granite
counter, allowing
her bare legs
to
dangle comfortably. 

Steve tossed his cigarette butt into the sink with
a flick of his wrist
and
waited for Jessi
e to scold him. When she didn’t
he looked disappointed.  “Think
its
love this time?”

“It’s always
love
as far Kyra is concerned. I just hope she doesn’t get hurt again. This one has that
aura about him. He’s too much like
Darrell.”

Darrell Brookes was the
ir
drummer.
With
bleached
blonde hair closely cropped
and styled into short, sharp points, a
dimpled smile and
the ever present
Ra
y-Bans
, their
drummer
cultivated a
Billy Idol image.
And,
Darrell
was a bit of a man whore
, often coming home from his
conquests to flirt with Jessie
as if she should find
him attractive after lis
tening to him brag about his conquests with
other women.

“Kyra likes this new
est
victim.” Steve said. He gave Jessie a significant look before taking
a long swig of his coffee. “They came home about dawn, claiming they were getting hitched.” His look said it all, he didn’t approve of Kyra’s latest lover anymore then Jessie did.  “The drummer for Lex dating our back up guitarist? Conflict of interest,
Big Time
.”  He place
d his feet firmly on the floor and leaned
forward to give Jessie a level look. “
One of them will always be on tour.
It’ll never work.”

“Kyra has never been serious about the music. It was always just another chance to party down and meet guys.”

“That’s wh
at worries me.” Steve stood and
moved to the counter to pour himself a second cup of coffee. “We’ve just arrived, come into our own. And if you and I are right, we’ll be searching for another back up guitarist bef
ore the next tour.” He grabbed his pack of C
am
els. “Let’s sit
on the patio
near
the beach, so they w
on’
t
over
hear us
.” 

Jessie snatched up her mug and followed him outside and down the long staircase that led to the sun deck near the shore. The Malibu shoreline was glorious; sunshine, salt
y air
and the smell of wet sand. It was
pristine and refreshing.  It was another world,
situated
just
a few miles outside of LA.  M
ajestic and serene, a celebrity haven from the pressures of the paparazzi.

“Want to take a spin down to Santa Monica later?”

Jessie shrugged. Steve was her best fri
end, her soul mate, the one guy aside from her brother
she knew she could
truly
co
unt on. Lately,
Steve was
proving
more reliable than her twin.

“We can cruise the pier.” Steve cajoled. “That way you can have those disgusting black bean
and sweet potato
burritos while I eat corn dogs and fries.”  

“Sure. Let’s just swim in
a vat of lard. Yuck
.
”

“You could stand to gain a few pounds, I won’t have you looking like those walking corpses they call models.”

“And you cou
ld quit smoking.”

“Back off,
Babe
.
”  Steve held up a hand to deflect her well-honed strike. “Hey,
get a load of that,
lover boy’
s going to confer with his boss.
” Steve mused as he watched Kyra’s boyf
riend walk through the iron gate
separating their law
n from that of the infamous Lex. The rock star just happened to be out on
his deck
adjacent to theirs and not more than twenty feet away, reading the paper and soaking up the sunshine.