New York: Allie's War, Early Years

But I was jealous. I couldn't really pretend I wasn't.

And this chick, in particular, was beginning to get on my nerves.

To make things worse, she was from San Francisco like the rest of us, which meant she flew all the way out here to be a pain in my ass. She showed up as a regular fixture right around the time they started playing Eye of Morris songs on the radio, especially Jaden's "Under Dark Sky," which had been the love theme for the indy movie.

She fixated on Jaden himself pretty quickly, which wasn't that surprising given that he was fast becoming the front man for their five-person band. Jaden did most of the lead vocals and played guitar; he was also six-one with dark brown hair that he dyed jet-black, shocking blue eyes and a firm jaw, and for his shows he tended to dress like a young James Dean. He was on the skinny side, like a lot of musicians, but his body wasn't bad, either.

So yeah, I had to just swallow it.

Girls had liked Jaden even before the band started to take off, of course. But something about this new crowd, the ones who just wanted to catch a rising star, was even more unsettling. A magazine did a spread on him when his song really hit after the movie released, and he got this flood of fan mail, including a lot of naked pictures and a handful of marriage proposals. Not quite sidewalks full of screaming girls yet, but enough to make me nervous, sure.

But I hadn't expected his number one fan to show up in New York, too.

It didn't help that she knew how to play to her assets. Her clothes were always skin tight and revealing on top. She wore blood-red lipstick on pouty lips and her hair tousled in that 'I-just-had-sex' look. She also laughed at everything Jaden said, even when it wasn't funny, and used that as an excuse to push those same breasts even further into his face.

I wasn't sure how long I was supposed to be okay with her hanging around, honestly. I'd already started to fantasize about accidentally plowing her face into a wall.

I glanced at Cass after they passed, and she raised a pointed eyebrow, folding her arms under her own ample chest. I recognized the look there. I knew Cass would have plowed the groupie's face into a wall already, or at least given her a good scare. She had a lot less tolerance for that kind of thing, especially women who played games with her.

Or maybe she was just less of a doormat.