Ch88 Bitchin Groupie

Wes stood up, grabbed Janet’s hand and frowned at his father. “Dad, you…uh... staying here long?”

“I don’t know. I’ll leave whenever Wendy kicks me out, I guess,” he replied, laughing when she playfully punched him.

“You can camp out on the couch for all I care,” she retorted.

“Wow, a sleep over. Cool!” Donny said.

“I should be back around nine, I hope, but it depends what they did to the computer,” Wes said, not at all happy with what he considered inappropriate banter.

“Well, I may see you then. Drive careful,” Donny said, then he turned back to talk to Wendy, completely ignoring them. "Hey, have you called your sister yet?"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me!" Wendy said.

Reluctantly Wes and Janet said their goodbyes, left the dinner table and went out into the foyer. Jasmine followed them with Troy close behind her.

“Janet, please let me come with you,” Jasmine pleaded, completely ignoring Troy scowling beside her.

Janet slipping into her jacket and shook her head. “Jazzy, this is my first time. I can’t just bring you without him knowing. This is like a real audition for me,” she said.

“Then we can audition together. You know we sing exactly alike. He’ll love us together.”

“No, Jazzy, I’m not gonna ambush Luke like that,” Janet said. “It would just be awkward if he only wants one singer.”

“So, you want all the glory for yourself, is that it?” Jasmine huffed, folding her arms over her chest. “You just don’t want him to hear me at all. You’re afraid he’ll like me better!”

Janet gaped at her. “You actually think that? This is Luke’s deal, Jazzy. I have no say in any of this. If he needs another backup singer, I’ll tell him about you. I already did, but he didn’t ask me to bring you along today, so…no. I won’t have you push your way in without an invitation. I’m sorry if you think it’s mean…”

“It’s more than mean, Janet. You’re being a selfish bitch!” Jasmine shouted.

"Jazz, that's not fair," Troy interjected, only to be hushed.

"Shut up, Troy. This is between me and my bitch of a sister," Jasmine shouted.

Janet looked as if she’d just been slapped in the face.

“Hey, that's enough!” Wes shouted, placing both hands on Janet’s trembling shoulders and steering her out of the door. “Don’t you dare call her that ever again. Now I wouldn’t take you to Luke's if Janet begged me to, ever!”

They left the house, leaving Jasmine to stomp her feet like a spoiled little brat. 

“Oh, I hate her! Why should she get to sing on stage with Luke and not me? I even sing better than she does and she knows it,” Jasmine whined.

“Sometimes you amaze me,” Troy said, slowly going to the door.

“Where are you going?” Jasmine said.

“What do you care? You’re too busy waiting for American Idol to make a star out of you.” Troy then grabbed his letter jacket and also left.

Jasmine stomped her foot again, muttered indistinguishable words and went up the stairs in a furious huff making as much noise as possible.

“Baby, don’t listen to her. You’re right not to bring her if Luke didn’t specifically ask for her,” Wes said to Janet. He hugged her before allowing her to enter the car. “She’s just jealous.”

“I thought you’d want me to bring her,” she said, her voice muffled in his chest.

“Why?”

“So, I didn’t swoon at his feet. Jasmine would beat me to it,” she said, pretending what Jasmine said didn’t cut her like a knife.

He smiled and kissed her. “You’re a hundred times better than Jasmine,” he whispered, holding her tighter.

“You’ve heard her sing?”

“Not talking about singing, Babe. Get in, we’re gonna be late.”

 * * * * *

“Call me when you’re done here, okay?” Wes said, pulling up to Luke’s house. “I have no idea how long I’ll be, but I’ll try to be quick. I keep telling them to stay away from the porn sites, but they won’t listen to me. Loads of crap on those sites just waiting to infect your computer and…”

“And how do you know? You often go to those sites?” Janet asked, smirking.

“No,” he said, rather indignant, then he smiled. “I prefer playboy and I keep it under my bed where it won’t hurt anything, especially not my computer.”

Janet laughed. “Sorry!” she said, hopping out of the car.

“Remember your promise!” he shouted before roaring away.

She waved and watched him go until his taillight went around the corner and disappeared. She sighed and went up the walkway to the front door. There she knocked before she noticed the doorbell and she tried that too.

“Yeah, I heard ya the first time.”

Janet stared up at a man who could only be Luke’s father. They were virtually identical except for the twenty or so year difference.

“Hello, I’m Janet Fummel and…”

“Kinda old to be selling girl scout cookies, arencha?” he said.

“Uh…I’m not selling girl scout cookies,” Janet replied.

“Too bad. I got a craving for some,” he said, rubbing his flat stomach. “So, uh…what are you here for? Too old to play with Rayne.”

Janet found this a very odd thing to say. She turned around and looked at the sky checking for clouds, but all she saw was an abundance of stars and a sliver of the moon. “No rain yet and I wouldn’t play in it anyway. I kinda like staying dry. I’m just funny that way.”

He burst out laughing and shook his head. “No, I meant my daughter Rayne.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot. I met her at the engagement party," she said. At the blank look on the man's face, she added, "The one for Danny and Rebecca…last Sunday…remember?” Janet said.

“Vaguely…got in pretty late that night…or morning…fell asleep at church. Father Brimstone kills me,” he said.

“He does that to everybody. Anyway, you’re Mr. Tramaine and…”

“Don’t call me that! Mr. Tramaine is my father. I’m Randy.”

“Um…okay, well, I’m here for Luke and…”

He suddenly looked as if all his dreams had come to fruition. “You one of his groupies?” he asked excitedly. “Cuz that kid could sure use to get lai…”

“No! No, I’m definitely not a groupie. I’m here…to…uh…for backup…I mean to sing back up for him,” Janet rushed to say.

Randy could not have looked more disappointed, but he soon rallied. “Backup singer, huh? Cool. You any good?”

“Um…that’s up to Luke I guess,” she said, wishing to God Wes had stayed with her. This guy was just too much.

He crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked her up and down. “You look hot enough…with the right clothes. You have to have stage presence though. Go head, sing something,” he said.

“Uh…what, right here?” Janet shrieked.

“Yeah, if you ain’t no good, you can go home, cuz you can't stay here. I won’t have my boy hanging with untalented hacks,” he said.

“Dad? Who is it? Is that Janet?” Luke called from the other room.

To Janet’s infinite relief Luke showed up shoving his father out of the way.

“Stop harassing my friends, Dad!” he snapped, pulling her inside the house.

“Hey, I gotta protect you from groupies, even if they are bitchin',” Randy said.

Luke rolled his eyes and whisked Janet as far and as fast away from his father as he could. “I’m sorry about him. He’s just weird. Come on. Alana’s been anxious to see you. You should have come straight to the music studio in the back. ”

She turned back to wave at Randy, He winked at her and she could have sworn he was mouthing, “Luke’s up for a threesome!” while making an obscene gesture.

"Yes, I will definitely go straight to the music studio next time," Janet said. She vaguely wished she had brought Jasmine. She would have loved being called a bitchin' groupie.