New York: Allie's War, Early Years

The club was a lot bigger inside than I'd been expecting, even looking at it from the outside. Four stories of blacked-out windows, with the main stage on the ground floor more than a hundred yards from where we were standing. It felt more like being inside a black-painted warehouse than a bar. The upper levels all had DJ dance floors with different themes. Those sometimes housed smaller live acts as well, although the show that night would pretty much spill over to all the other rooms, since the headliner was a biggie, even for New York.

Jaden told me that they were expecting full capacity, around 1800 people.

It wasn't quite the Coliseum back home, not yet, but still, pretty crazy compared to some of the venues I'd seen him play in before. It was more than twice the number of people as that show in Santa Cruz, and that had seemed enormous to me at the time.

I was impressed, I couldn't help it.

"Come on," I said. "Some slack, okay? This is a big deal for Jaden..."

"I get that," Cass said. "I really do, Al...I just don't care..."

I rolled my eyes at her, snorting a little in spite of myself. "And you wonder why he doesn't want to hang out with my friends...?"

She blew her bangs out of her eyes, rolling them back at me, only with more dramatic flair.

"Jeez louise. It was a joke, Allie..."

"Sure it was," I said, snorting again. "Look, we just got here, didn't we? So chill for a few minutes. Drink some coffee. Give Jon crap for a while, if you have to bug someone..."

"Hey!" Jon said reproachfully, looking up from where he'd been doodling on paper at the bar.

"...It won't kill you to be supportive," I added to Cass. "To me, if you can't be civil to Jaden..."

"I'm civil," Cass said. "I'm plenty civil. In fact...I'm practically an honorary member of your relationship committee..."

"Not lately you haven't been."

"He's been a big-headed, obnoxious ding-dong lately, that's why..." Cass retorted. "The groupies are turning his hair gel into meat tenderizer..."

I fought the smile off my face, gesturing as if she'd just made my point.

"Even so," I said.

"But why are we here?" she said dramatically, drawing out the last word with a kind of exaggerated affront. "Seriously, Al. I thought we were going to have fun in New York this time? Isn't that how you talked me and Jon into coming here in the first place?"

Jon looked up from the drawing long enough to take a sip from his customary soda water with lime and laugh at Cass' words.