"Peaches? You okay?" Dane asked, concerned. He leaned toward the door, wanting to know that she was fine, but not wanting to invade her privacy, either.

He heard something that sounded vaguely reassuring, and turned to look at the other guys, who were gathered in a bunch behind him. They were standing outside the blue bathroom, where Momoko had ensconced herself about two hours before.

It was the day of the gig at Polo. Momoko had gone in to shower, and simply hadn't come out. It was nearly time to leave.

"Momoko?" Jude stepped up to the door and tried, after giving everyone a wide-eyed look of concern. "Nearly time to go, love. We've already loaded all the gear and all. You about ready to come out?"

Momoko made a sound that made the boys heads lean back.

"That sounded sort of snarly, I think." Tommy said. "Maybe we should leave her alone for a few?"

"We have to go, though. We have to set up and run the sound check and everything before they open up." Sully ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

In the bathroom, Momoko was sort of panicking. She'd awakened with butterflies in her tummy, and, as the day wore on, the butterflies had begun to fly around, faster and faster, until, by the time she showered, they'd been zooming around like dragon flies.

She'd resolutely put them out of her mind and put her makeup on, going a little heavy, doing her eyes with care, knowing they were her best feature. A couple of times, she'd knelt by the commode, sure she was going to hurl, but nothing had happened, so she'd moved on to her hair, putting a couple of braids into it but leaving it down, braiding in some very colorful strands that would show up under the lights.

She heard the worried remarks of the boys from outside the door, and felt bad for them. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

All of them jumped back in a body at being confronted by Momoko, dressed only in a towel, looking absolutely incredible.

"I'm nearly ready. I just have to get dressed, and I have my clothes picked out already. Just give me five minutes," she said grimly, heading for her bedroom.

They all stared, reveling in the scent that trailed after her, of shampoo, soap, perfume, and makeup.

"You guys, look," Dane said, opening the bathroom door wider.

"Wow." Jude's voice was filled with awe.

The bathroom looked like a women's salon had exploded. Every flat surface was covered with some sort of women's beauty accoutrement: eyeliner, hairspray, brush, foundation, powder, perfume, antiperspirant, lotion, and some mysterious things the boys had never heard of or seen before..

Sully picked up a tube of something called "Yum Yum Lip Syrup," opened it and sniffed. What could it possibly be for?

Dane had picked up something that looked like a pen, but it had a cardboard thing kind of shaped like a moon on the end of it.

Mysterious. And unfathomable.

While they were in there exploring, Momoko was getting dressed in skinny jeans, her lucky pink heels, and a pink tank top with a loose lace blouse unbuttoned over it. She exited her room to find the boys exploring the havoc she'd wrought in the bathroom.

"I'll clean it up later, if that's okay?" she said, making them jump at the sound of her voice.

"Wow, you look, uh--" Tommy began.

"Yeah, you look really--"

"Your outfit's really--" Sully and Dane said at the same time.

"Pretty," Jude finished for all of them.

"Do I look like the lead singer of a band?" Momoko asked worriedly, fussing with her shirt, tucking it in, untucking it, then tucking it back in. "In or out?" she asked the boys.

"Out," Dane answered. "It's going to come out while you're moving around, anyway, so why not start out that way?"

Momoko nodded and pulled it out, showing her tummy and belly button in the process. She shooed them out of the bathroom and grabbed what she'd need to touch everything up at the venue.

"Okay, I'm ready." She nodded at everyone, smiling for the first time, melting the heart of every one of them. "Let's go."

They headed out into the warm, summer evening, piled into the van, and drove the few, short blocks to Polo.

"You know, we're going to have to grab a few people to roadie and crew for us within the next month or so," Sully remarked. "For sure after the road trip to Pennsylvania? I think the Battle of the Bands thing is going to be huge, and we aren't going to have time to be running around and setting up our own shit."

"It would be best if we had a manager, that's what we need," Jude said from the back.

"Agreed," Sully responded with a nod.

"So, do you go out and look for one, or do you wait until someone offers? How does that work? Is it like an agent?" Momoko asked.

"No, you can hire one, we just never were in a place where we thought we needed one," Dane told her. "But these last few months, things have kind of been happening for us, so we're kind of in a place where we really need one now. It all kind of piled up at once, you know? Needing a road crew, needing a manager, getting into the Battle of the Bands--"

"Boy, Marshall really picked a shitty time to decamp," Momoko said, shaking her head. "And for Mangled? What in the hell was he thinking?"

"Thank you, Momoko," Tommy said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"He always fancied himself as more of a serious rock and roller, that was his problem," Jude said. "He was always pushing us to do more hard stuff, said we were too fluffy or some such."

They'd arrived at the venue, and began the serious business of unloading the van and getting the stage set up. Momoko did her share, putting her hair up in a bun for this part of her job. They got their equipment up on the small stage with quick efficiency, and Momoko tried to help without getting in the way, learning so she could be more help next time.

"Hold on, hold on," Momoko said at one point, catching sight of the chalkboard sign that had been set out in front of the club.

"Tonight: Peppermint Silk
Featuring new lead singer
Momoko McDaniels"

It was colorful and had flourishes and was very pretty. Momoko took a picture of it, smiling.

"Peaches, turn 'round, I'll take a snap of you next to it," Jude offered, seeing her.

Momoko obliged, pointing at the sign and jumping up and down as Jude took the picture.

Some of the men who worked at the Polo saw her carrying stuff and pitched in to help, feeling bad to see a woman doing the heavy lifting. They flirted with her and sat her at the bar, offering her drinks and just letting her sit. She just laughed and did other things, like hooking up the amps and making sure the lights were adjusted properly.

Once they began the sound check, the employees at the club were riveted. The boys in the band exchanged knowing looks, seeing how she brought all activity in the house to a standstill as everyone stopped what they were doing to watch Momoko onstage.

Her body moved smoothly as she sang, torso and hips undulating in rhythm to the music. As usual, her eyes were closed, and her hair fell forward as she nodded in time to Tommy's beats.

She looked around a couple of times, asking with a thumbs up how it sounded to random people in the house.

When the song was over, she called to the bouncer, who was already on the door, how it sounded.

"Awesome," he called back, giving another thumbs up.

"Thanks, Billy," Momoko said into the mic, smiling.

The band checked a few other songs, a few other points when they got extra loud or extra soft, to make sure they knew what to adjust, and then they were finished.

"So now what? We just hang out in the back until 9:30?" Momoko asked.

"Pretty much," Dane responded. "Welcome to the glamorous life of a rock star, Momoko McDaniels."

They found the room in the back that was assigned to them, and pulled out their phones.

"This is actually not that bad," Tommy told Momoko. "Sometimes it's barely the size of a closet, and there's hardly anyplace to sit. It's been a while since we've been in a venue like that, though."

"We're coming up in the world," Dane said with a smile. "Lately, they have actual dressing rooms for us, like this, and they give us food and drinks and everything."

"I've hitched my wagon to the right star, I see," Momoko said with a laugh.

The door opened, and someone stuck their head in. "Ten minutes, guys," he said. Then he looked at Momoko, becoming human. "And good luck, Ms. McDaniels." He gave her a starstruck smile before closing the door.

Tommy gave a wolf whistle. "What was that? Good luck, Ms. McDaniels?" He pulled Momoko onto his lap. "Did we just meet your first groupie? Hm?" He leaned in and kissed her neck.

"Don't tease me," she begged. "I'm nervous enough." She put her palm on the side of Tommy's face, pulling it close so she could rub cheeks with him, his stubbly one on her smooth one. "Man, I can't believe a week ago I was auditioning for you guys and now I'm here doing this."

Tommy kissed her again, this time on the cheek. "You're going to knock them on their asses, Peaches. You'll see.

The other three made general sounds of assent, reaching out to pat her wherever they could reach, her arm, her shoulder, her thigh.

"We should go, guys," Dane said, rising. "You ready?" he asked Momoko.

She nodded, exhaling sharply.

"Hands?" Jude said, placing a hand in the middle.

Everyone put a hand in, with Momoko's small one on top.

"Peppermint Silk on three. One-two-three, Peppermint Silk!"

They filed out of the room and down the narrow halls of Polo to take the stage.

The clapping and whistling of the crowd could be heard before they opened the stage door, and Momoko rode the sound all the way on to the stage. She walked to the mic and grabbed it as the lights went up, and heard the familiar chords of the opening number on the piano and was carried away.

She tried to remember to open her eyes while she sang and looked out at the audience, which was made up of more women than she thought there would be, considering this was a bar and night club. But considering the looks of the guys in the band, why should she be surprised?

The women up front were doing everything but flashing their boobs at Jude and Sully, she noticed, and she cut her eyes over to them as she sang, shaking her head slightly. She did notice, though that some men in the crowd were giving her appreciative glances as well, nodding along to the music as they held their drinks or their dates.

The song, a rocking, rollicking number called "Touch Me," ended, and the audience went wild, clapping and cheering.

They went right into their next three numbers before Jude officially introduced her, though it should've been obvious to anyone by then that she wasn't Marshall. Momoko had worried that she might even get some boos from people who were expecting Marshall, wanting to see him, and were disappointed that he wasn't there; he must have some fans of his own, after all?

But that didn't seem to be the case, and no one seemed to care that Marshall McCloskey had been replaced by a shortish, half-Japanese girl.

"Now we're going to slow things down a bit, if that's okay with you," Momoko said into the mic, smiling and giving her best sultry look to the crowd. And as she sang "Let's Be Alone," she went from Jude to Sully to Dane, moving against them in what could only be called a very suggestive manner, rubbing against them and their instruments.

She saw surprise and desire in Sully's eyes when she leaned against him, pressing the weight of a warm breast into the arm that held his guitar.

When she made the same maneuver to Jude, he shook his head at her.

She gave him a small smile.

"Naughty girl," he mouthed back.

To Dane at the keyboard, she parted her legs and nearly straddled him, making him roll his eyes as he looked at her, clearly in agony.

She couldn't reach Tommy behind his kit, so she merely gave him her best come hither look, blowing him a kiss and running her hand down her body.

It had been totally unplanned and unrehearsed, and was a total hit with the audience, as they went wild, clapping and hooting.

Momoko McDaniels was a hit.

🎸 🎤 🎸 🎤 🎸 🎤 🎸

After the gig, Momoko was surprised to find people waiting to meet them at the back as they were loading up their gear.

Groupies, she said to herself. At least, that's what they were as far as the guys were concerned. She wondered if the conversation they'd had earlier in the week was going to get in the way of them getting together with any of the pretty girls waiting for them.

"Nope, sorry, I'm exhausted, I'm just going straight home, alone, Katie is it?" she heard Jude tell a barely dressed twenty-something blonde who had her hand on his arm.

On her next trip to the van, she saw Sully saying no to a pair of women who were being quite persistent.

Apparently, the conversation they'd had earlier in the week was being taken very seriously by the boys.

Wow.

As she was loading up her mic kit, she saw Dane sending away a very good looking man, of all things. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. All of the guys were very metro-sexually handsome, if that was even still a thing.

"He was really hot, Dane," she teased. "Not your type?"

"Are you kidding?" Dane replied. "He wanted to know if I thought he had a chance with you, Momoko. I said no way." He goosed her gently, then patted her rear end and boosted her into the van. "Now get this gorgeous ass into the van, please, I'm exhausted, I want to go home."