Freak the Freak Out

"Well maybe Tim is just a better driver," said Melissa.

"Oh that would have been worse," said Elaine. "I was in Chrissie at the time."

"Oh," said Melissa smiling.

"Anyway, I've kind of changed my opinion of you," said Elaine. "I hope you at least get your shot to talk to him. But you don't want to be over here. You should probably try to get up front where he'll see you. We've got this section because we want to be here to support Darren. When you join YMN, that's the Yellow Mustang Nation, you're part of a family. But we don't want to be too close to the stage, and have to deal with all of that bumping around. Oh if you miss him here, we're all getting together for a midnight cruise out to our place. You're invited but you need to keep your skanks on a leash. Good luck."

Melissa wandered back over to her friends. Danielle wanted to know how she'd gotten into the reserved section. Melissa ignored her and told Helen that Darren was playing in the show. Before Helen could respond the MC came on and introduced the first singer. He was a chubby guy with long greasy hair like he was stuck in an 80's time loop, who sang an off key version of Ozzy Osborne's, "Crazy Train." The audience never let him finish the first verse.

"They're out for blood tonight," said Sandra. "Usually they give the first few brave souls a pass. I wonder what's different."

Over the next hour 8 singers tried their luck. Of the 8 two were very good and the audience showed their appreciation. The other six were met with a range of approval that varied from faint praise to outright loathing. Melissa expected the audience to chase down and castrate a nearly 50 year old man, wearing pants so tight you could see that he'd stuffed his crotch. The old guy had teased blond hair and tried to sing Rod Stewart's, "If you think I'm sexy."

Another near riot occurred with a guy who sang Poison's, "Ride the wind." From his first few words a crowd of people in front of the stage started booing him. He retaliated by flipping them the bird, and mooning them. It looked like several members of the audience followed him into the parking lot and beat him senseless. Whether it was for the mooning, his terrible singing or just his choice of song, no one knew.

Then things got quiet. Melissa looked around as several members of the band got off the stage and were replaced by others. The original musicians on the stage were just faceless guys who played their instruments well, but anyone could see it was only a job to them.

The guys on the stage now, were thinner and more angular. They had that gaunt drugged out rock star look. These guys looked more like wolves about to feast. They looked out at the audience with an almost unreadable expression on their faces as they made adjustments to their instruments. Then the lights all went out. When they came back up Darren was on the stage alone.

Melissa got really pissed as several girls near the stage whistled at him. She didn't want anyone whistling at her husband. She knew too well the kind of women that came to this club. Oh shit, she was one of them.

Darren smiled an innocent boyish smile and started to play. The only thing accompanying him was the almost quiet pulsing of the bass drum keeping time. It was a catchy little riff but not earth shattering. Melissa smiled at him but he didn't see her. The whistling from the whores near the stage was beginning to piss Melissa off. Then it got worse. Just as the vocals began a monster bass line kicked in and the catchy little tune Darren had been playing became a solid guitar riff. The audience was going crazy.

Jessica was suddenly on the stage with Darren whipping all of that hair around and smiling at him. Darren got into it too and started becoming more animated. The lyrics to the song made Melissa sad. It seemed to be about her and Darren's marriage from his viewpoint. While Jessica sang about frustration and not being listened to. Melissa knew that it was Darren who felt that way. By the time they got to the song's bridge the music had picked up and a bass player, a keyboardist and another guitarist had joined them on the stage. The whole audience was up and dancing.

Melissa felt bad. It was as if Darren, through Jessica's sultry voice was telling the entire audience how shitty a wife she was.

"Nodding your head,Don't hear a word I said

Can't communicate, when you wait, Don't relate.

I try to talk to you, But you never even knew, so,

What's it gonna be,Tell me can you hear me?"

As Jessica sang those words, she realized then just what Darren had been going through, these last few weeks. Did she really ignore him that badly? When they hit the song's chorus the audience was whipped into a frenzy. They were already trying to sing along to the song that five minutes before, none of them had heard.

When Jessica sang the chorus, the whole club erupted.

"I'm so sick of it.Your attention deficit.

Never listen, You never listen.

I'm so sick of it, So I'm throwing on a fit," Jessica was stomping and throwing a mock tantrum as she sang this. The smiles passing between Darren and Jessica made Melissa want to throw a fit of her own.

"Never listen, You never listen," Sang Jessica and Melissa's hear lurched.

"I scream your name, It always stays the same.

I scream and shout,

So what I'm gonna do now, Is freak the freak out, hey!" Darren certainly had Freaked the freak out, thought Melissa. Like a cork exploding out of a bottle when too much pressure built up, her husband had finally blown up and took their marriage along with him.

Melissa noticed that as Jessica sang the song, Darren was mouthing the words along with her as he played. She also noticed that he'd zoomed in on her and was singing directly to her. As the chorus ended with all of the guys on the stage screaming hey. The other guitarist came over to Darren and they played together. Then Jessica launched into the second verse, singing about patience running thin. Did that mean that Darren had given up on her already or just that he was tired of her shit?

Jessica was coming near Melissa now while singing the verse. She pointed at Melissa and the audience near Melissa spread as Jessica briefly walked down the stairs and into the audience. She came right up to Melissa and just as she got to the song's bridge handed Melissa a rolled up set of papers. Melissa figured it was probably a copy of the song's lyrics.

Jessica was back onstage just in time to launch into the Song's Chorus. The audience was singing along now. It was surreal, over five hundred people packed like sardines into a club to sing about the break-up of Melissa's marriage that she herself had engineered.

Melissa could only stand there and watch as Jessica and Darren whipped the crowd beyond frenzy. Some of the people around her were trying to grab at the papers Jessica had given them as if they were a souvenir of some sort.

As the song ended Melissa was shocked even further. Jessica said her name over the P.A. "Melissa Thomas," said Jessica's amplified voice.

"Yes," said Melissa, knowing that no one could hear her. But she was sure Jessica and Darren could see her.

"You've been served," said Jessica. The words echoed out over the crowd through the P.A. "Served...Served...Served...Served.

Then the band was gone. The audience in the club was on its feet cheering and screaming. They were all patting themselves on the back and swearing That Jessica was now their favorite singer ever. Several women that Melissa knew would fuck a snake if they could hold its head still were heading towards the backstage area. Melissa was standing there crying her eyes out. She didn't have to worry about the obvious whores because she had someone far more personal to worry about.

Jessica had personally delivered what Melissa had opened up, and in shock realized, were divorce papers. That meant that Jessica already considered herself part of the conflict.

What had Helen said about her sister. All of Helen's warning came back.

"She won't start until you have the divorce papers in hand," Helen had said.

"She'll be fucking him every night, until he can't move," Helen had said.

"She's younger than us, Prettier than us, And built better than us," Helen had said.

"She's ready to settle down and start having babies," Helen had said.

Chapter 9A: The Regular Ending

Melissa and Helen ran outside the club, just in time to see the long line of Yellow Mustangs leaving the parking lot. She knew where they were going. So there was no hurry.

They got into Melissa's car and left the club leaving Sandra and Danielle to fend for themselves. All during the drive to Tim and Elaine's house they were silent. Melissa thought about everything she had seen tonight at the club.

She'd never have thought it possible but her husband might leave her for another woman. She was upset. She had given that man the best years of her life. He was hers. Her property. No one else was going to come in and ruin it.

When she got to the house it was surrounded by all of the bright Yellow muscle cars and a few others. She parked where she could and headed for the house.

Everywhere she looked she saw people having a good time. The more she saw the angrier she got. She heard people cheering and saw them playing games. She couldn't believe that all of this was going on in the middle of the night. It was nearly midnight.

She did notice though that there was nothing overtly sexual going on, unlike the atmosphere at the club, this was all about fun, not sex.

She saw Elaine and asked her if she knew where Darren was.

"He and Jessica aren't here," said Elaine. "The band got a recording contract on the strength of their performance tonight. Darren and Jessica are still back at the club negotiating contracts. Didn't you notice that his Mustang isn't out there?"

Melissa didn't say anything, she just turned and left. She grabbed Helen and drove all the way back to the club. She was even angrier now, but she had to admit it was her own fault. She had assumed that Darren was with the others. It was sad that as much as he loved that car, she didn't even know what it looked like, other than it was a convertible.

When she got back to the club the parking lot was empty. Around back she did see a couple of limos and the Yellow Mustang convertible. She stormed up to the door and knocked on it. One of the huge bouncers opened it and smiled at her.

"You don't give up do you?" he asked. He turned to look inside and waved to her to enter.

Melissa saw Darren and Jessica sitting at a table.

"Let's go Darren," snapped Melissa. "I'll overlook this whole episode, just this once. Let's go home. We need to talk."

Darren looked at her strangely. Melissa heard Jessica humming and quietly singing. It was that fucking song.

"I'm so sick of it, your attention deficit, never listen," sang Jessica almost inaudibly.

"Melissa, you got the papers didn't you. The ones you got at the show, don't count. They weren't served by an officer of the court. You'll get the real ones tomorrow sometime. This is the best thing for us really. You never really loved me, and I'm tired of being your fucking butler," said Darren.

"So you're just going to run off and play rock-star with your little girlfriend here and forget about our marriage?" sneered Melissa.

"Nope, I already have a job that I'm great at. I don't want to be a rock-star, it's too much work. But neither does Jess. She has a career that she loves too. The only thing that either of us is missing is each other. And as soon as our divorce is final, we're going to give that a try. You should get a lawyer, I'm going to try to keep the house," said Darren. He got up and extended his hand to Jessica. And they left together leaving Melissa there alone with the bouncer.

Over the next few days Melissa got herself a lawyer. He laughed at first at the reasons Darren listed as grounds for his divorce. "He should have gone after you for the adultery. He probably couldn't prove it but he'd have a better time convincing a judge of that than the mental abuse thing."

After their first meeting with Darren and his lawyer, Melissa's lawyer advised her to try and work out a settlement. "He has video tapes of you at the club, with several men doing things that while not showing any type of penetration could lead someone to believe that you have violated your marriage vows. Certainly no married man would want his wife to behave the way you did. The worst thing though is he has tapes of your home life together, that clearly show you screaming and cursing at him on a regular basis."

"You also belittled him in front of others. The worst piece of evidence though is the testimony from the therapist you went to. Since you're covered by his health care, and married to him, he has a right to information about your treatment." He shook his head.

"Just settle this and move on. If we go in front of a judge you won't look good at all," he told her.

Since there were no children involved and the divorce was uncontested. The case moved through the courts rapidly. Three months later, as soon as the divorce was final Darren proposed to Jessica and she accepted. As part of the divorce settlement. Darren bought Melissa out of their house. That gave her enough money to live on for a while, if you could call it living. Melissa missed Darren so much she could barely breathe. The worst part of it was that fucking song. That whole summer everywhere she went she heard that fucking song. Darren and Melissa hadn't gone on tour with the band. The band got another guitarist to replace Darren, and some girl named Victoria as a singer. But the record had Darren playing on it, and Jessica singing. The video also featured them, and that yellow Mustang. The went on TV shows too. They made a bunch of money from the song and went back to their regular lives. That bitch had even moved into Melissa's house.

Melissa ended up moving in with Danielle for a while, it didn't work out because neither of them could control the other. Melissa also blamed Danielle for ruining her marriage.

Two years later Jessica gave birth to the first of their three children, they lived happily ever after.

Melissa started picking up weight, and after her money started to dwindle had to take a job waitressing to make ends meet. She often catches the bus to her old neighborhood and watches Darren and Jessica play with their kids in the yard. She cries everytime, but she can't stop going. She also cringes everytime she hears that song on the radio.

Chapter 9B: The reconciliation ending

Melissa and Helen ran outside the club, just in time to see the long line of Yellow Mustangs leaving the parking lot. She knew where they were going. So there was no hurry.

They got into Melissa's car and left the club leaving Sandra and Danielle to fend for themselves. All during the drive to Tim and Elaine's house they were silent. Melissa thought about everything she had seen tonight at the club.

She'd never have thought it possible but her husband might leave her for another woman. She drove to her house and rapidly typed a document on her computer. She drove to Elaine and Tim's house alone. She was surprised by the number of Yellow Muscle cars around the house. She went to the front door and knocked gently.

"He's in the living room with Jessica," said Elaine. "Hey, wipe those tears away. Do you know what you want to say to him?"Melissa nodded.

"Okay girl, good luck. I'm pulling for you," said Elaine.

Melissa walked into the living room. She saw Darren, Jessica and the rest of their band sitting around and talking quietly. It was like being in the afterglow of great sex. The five people in the room had all participated together in something special.

"Jessica, you sang really well tonight," said Melissa. "It opened up my eyes."

Jessica smiled and thanked her.

"Darren, can we please talk?" she asked.

"I guess we might as well get this over with," he said quietly."I'll meet you at home in a few minutes."

Melissa drove home as quickly as she could. Once she got there she took off all of her clothes and put on the slutty dress she'd worn the other night. This time she left her panties off completely. She put a robe on top of it and sat on the couch. A few moments later she heard the rumble of Darren's Mustang. the car sounded really powerful.

Darren came in and sat in the chair across from her.

"Darren, I don't want a divorce," she said as soon as he stepped into the house. "I know I've treated you badly but I do love you. I just didn't know how much. And I'm sorry I took all of my frustrations out on you over the years. Can we please try again. I'll be the best wife you ever had."

Darren didn't say anything. He just stepped over to their computer and played a video Melissa watched herself screaming at her husband over and over for the slightest of things.

"This is pretty bad isn't it?," asked Darren. Melissa nodded.

"You video-taped us?" she said. Darren nodded.

"My lawyer suggested it to get evidence for the divorce. But as bad as this is I could have forgiven this. But when you went out and fucked that guy and rubbed it in my face. Melissa it hurt too much for me to ever get over," said Darren. He noticed that Melissa was smiling.

"You see," he said. "Even now my pain seems to be funny to you."

Melissa crossed the floor and hugged Darren. He tried to move away but she wouldn't let him.

"Darren, Honey, sit down," she said. "Your pain isn't funny to me. I love you. But this situation is funny. You'll see it too. Someday we'll laught every time we think about this." Darren shook his head, he didn't think that was possible.

"How long have you been recording us," she asked.

"About a week," he said. She smiled a little broader.

"Darren, I'm an asshole," she said. "And I've done worse things, but I can change if you let me. I want to change. I think inside me I've known for a while that things were kind of twisted between us. I think most of it is my fault. I've been blaming you for some things that happened to me before we even met. Part of this is your fault too though. You shouldn't have let me get away with treating you so badly for so long." Darren nodded.

"If I start acting that way again, let me know it okay," she said. Darren nodded again.

"Melissa you act like, we're still going to be together," he smirked.

"We are," she said confidently. "The first thing we have to do is exchange documents. You gave me one at your show. So I'm giving you one now." She handed him a sheet of paper. "Read this." she said and then sign it.

Darren looked at the paper. "This isn't an official document," he said.

"It's good enough for me," said Melissa. "I agree to be bound by it if you sign it."

"Melissa, If you had given me this two days ago before you fucked that guy, whoever he was, I'd have been the happiest man on earth. But it's too late for that now." said Darren sadly.

"How about if I also give up my friends and you and I hang out with Tim and Elaine instead?" she asked.

"Good offer but still too late," said Darren. Melissa was rubbing his arm and looking into his eyes. There was a slight smile on her face. And God damn it he loved her. But his pride wouldn't let that one point go.

"Okay I'm going to have to bring out my big guns," smirked Melissa.

"I love your boobs Melissa, but they're really not even close to being big," said Darren.

"Let's go to the computer again," she said. "How are your video files arranged? Are they sorted by size or date?"

"By date," said Tim.

"Well love of my life, you should have watched your own videos. If you had you'd even know who the guy I fucked was. You'd have seen how pathetic it was," she said. "Then maybe you wouldn't be jealous or hurt."