New York: Allie's War, Early Years

"No," he said, grinning at me. "We're here to make sure my sister doesn't go ballistic on some Jaden groupie and start beating on her with a wine bottle...right Al?"

I glanced between the two of them, now fighting irritation.

"It's eight a.m.," I said, repeating emphatically, "Eight a.m., Cass, Jon. And this is what you want to do? You want to talk smack about me and my boyfriend?"

Cass folded her arms. "We wouldn't have to if we were out touring, like you promised..."

I bit my lip, fighting back the retort that wanted to come out. Instead, I walked to the bar and picked up the crappy coffee the bartender scrounged up for us when we told him we'd just come from the airport after taking the last redeye flight of the night from San Francisco.

I'd thought inviting my best friend and my adoptive brother along on this little excursion would make the whole thing more bearable. I was bound and determined to have fun this time in New York, unlike my usual track record in this city, which had involved one near-rape, a stalking, a mugging, and being accosted by this freaky group of bible-belters who decided they needed to save me from the devil...or maybe save Jesus from me, I'm still not sure.

Cass would have said that was my usual track record anywhere, but I strongly believed the freak-quotient to be higher in New York, and to a statistically significant degree.

So far on this trip, I'd managed to avoid any catastrophes, but we'd just gotten off the plane.

Of course, none of this was helped by the fact that Cass was right, in a way. My boyfriend and lead singer of the band, Jaden, had been pretty stressed out and distant for about a month now. It was getting increasingly difficult to predict his moods.

"We can go as soon as they get here," I said, fighting the defensive creep in my voice. I shoved my hands in my pockets. "I just told Jaden we'd help unload the stuff. He said he might not need us, but I want to check in before we split...make sure they're all good."

"Why don't you just call him?" Cass said.

"I did call him," I said, unable to suppress my annoyance that time. "They're probably on their way and he couldn't pick up. We wait a few more minutes. Then we help them carry a few things maybe, and split."

"So we're roadies now?" Cass said, exasperated. "Doesn't he pay people to do that kind of thing now that Eye of Morris is all big-time?"