Part 4: Back for Good
It had been nine months since they'd all seen each other, Estin had flown out to see Paige once, and Jay to see Tarynne, but Amir and Morgan had only spoken on the phone and via the Internet.
Finally, the day came when the band was to start recording the new album and the guys wanted Estin, Tarynne, and Morgan to be there while they did it. Excited, Estin woke up early that and took her usual morning shower. She paid extra attention to all the details, making sure to shave her legs three times to ensure she didn't miss a single hair.
Once out of the shower, Estin got dressed in one of her favorite outfits and called Tarynne. They talked for a while about how awesome it was going to be to see the guys again and to be there while they recorded the new record. After she'd talked to Tarynne, Estin called Morgan.
"What do you think Mir's gonna say about my hair?" Morgan asked Estin, scared of what Amir's reaction might be to her recently dyed hair.
"Well, I don't know for sure, but I bet he'll like it." Estin assured her friend.
"I better go, I have to call work and remind them I'm leaving town." Morgan said as she hung up the phone, cutting off their conversation.
"Oh, s***, I better call too" Estin said to herself frantically. She called work then went to put on her makeup. She had just finished when the phone rang. She answered in
"Hey hun, how's my girl this morning?" It was Paige. "When does your plane leave?" he continued.
"Oh crap, my parents have my ticket, I need to go over to their house to pick it up before I can leave." Estin said nervously.
"Well, they have to take you to the airport anyway. Why is your ticket at their house in the first place?"
"That's true. Oh and they ticket is at their house because they hold on to important stuff for me so I don't lose it."
"Yeah you would lose it" Paige replied jokingly.
"Very funny hun! I love you."
"I love you too!" Paige replied as he hung up the phone still not knowing what time Est's plane left.
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Morgan sat anxiously on her bed watching the clock tick slowly. "Come on, come on!" A taxi was supposed to be there to pick her up for the airport in half an hour and Morg couldn't wait to see Amir and hear his reaction to here hair. Finally, Morgan heard a car outside and then a knock on the door. "Here to pick up Morgan Donner." The gentleman at the door announced.
"That's me, thanks for coming on such short notice" Morgan replied as she grabbed her luggage and followed the cab driver to the car. She got in the back of the yellow taxi and told the driver where to go.
"Why are you going to the airport? Where are you headed?" The cab driver asked to break the silence while on the way to the airport.
Morgan sat starring out the window of the taxi, watching the road pass by, when she heard the driver's question. "I'm going to California to be with some friends while they record their next CD."
"You have friends that are in a band, huh?" The young cab driver asked interested in the fact.
"Yeah, one's a little more than a friend but, let's not get into that considering you are a cab driver." Morgan responded to the driver, getting rather uneasy thinking about her flight out to California.
"Nervous about the flight?" The driver asked. Morgan shook her head and whispered "No" then she was quiet for the rest of the drive.
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Tarynne threw her suitcase into the back of the silver limousine that sat in front of her home, the chauffeur stood holding the door open as she walked toward him. "Thank you," Tarynne said as she got in and saw a bouquet of flowers on the seat beside her. She checked the card and it was from Jay.
"Hey babe, sorry I couldn't come pick you up, but I sent this limo for you to drive you to Cali in style." Tarynne read as she imagined Jay actually saying the words on the card. "I know you don't really like planes so this will get you here to me. I love you, Jay." She finished as she put the card in her purse and turned on the TV.
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Estin got to her parent's house and set all her luggage on the front porch and sat down beside it waiting for her dad to come home. About thirty minutes after Estin had arrived there, her dad pulled up in his simple, gold, Buick LeSabre and parked it in the driveway. "Hurry, or we won't get you to the airport in time." Her dad yelled from the car window.
"It's not like you want me going in the first place," Estin said to her dad with a hint of cynicism she got in the front seat and they drove off toward the airport, it was silent the whole way there.
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Morgan's flight was supposed to arrive in California at 3:00pm and Amir was there waiting for her arrival. As Morgan walked through the airport to where she was to meet Amir, she became increasingly restless thinking about what Amir's reaction would be to her hair. She finally got to where she was supposed to meet him and despite her immediately noticing him, it took Amir a minute to recognize Morgan.
"What did you do to your hair?" Amir asked as soon as he saw Morgan.
"I dyed it a couple weeks ago, why?" Morgan answered.
Amir rolled his eyes and took a deep breath grabbing Morgan's suitcase from her and heading to the front of the airport where a limo was waiting for them.
"Are you going to talk to me or not Mir?" Morgan asked frustrated with him.
Amir handed Morgan's luggage to the driver and got in the limo quickly, followed by Morgan who sat in the closest seat to her despite Amir sitting clear across the car.
"I guess this means you don't like my hair" Morgan said to Amir and turned away from him.
Estin's dad helped her check her luggage then sent her off wit not much more than a "goodbye have fun." Her dad was never thrilled about the whole Orgy thing and since the girls had become friends with them he really wasn't happy.
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Estin walked to gate 115 and checked to see if there had been any flight delays. "Ten minute delay, good for me, I would have missed it otherwise." She said to herself as the lady at the ticket counter announced boarding of Estin's flight. Estin headed to wait in line, she'd be toward the front of the plane so she didn't bother being in too big of a hurry.
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Tarynne had fallen asleep in the limo while watching TV; she heard the phone ring and quickly woke to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey babe, where are you at?" Jay's voice greeted her.
"I think we just crossed into Nevada, I'll probably be there at about noon tomorrow."
"Ok, well Morgan just got here and she and Mir are sorta no talking, Mir's mad at her for dying her hair." Jay explained to Tarynne.
"Yay, sounds like you have a fun night ahead of you, what time do you expect Estin?"
"Um, her flight was delayed ten minutes or so, so I think she should get her to the house in about four hours so at about 2:00 am."
"Who's picking her up?" Tarynne asked to make sure her friends were taken care of.
"Paige and Josh are gonna go to the airport around midnight to wait for her." Jay replied amused by Tarynne's need to keep track of her friends. "I'll make sure she gets here alright, and that Morgan has someone to talk to about the Mir thing."
"Ok, sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow, love you."
"Love you too"
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Morgan sat on the floor of the recreation room of the house they'd be recording at; she starred up at Jay as he came in to talk to her. Jay sat on the couch and looked at Morgan with an adoring glare. "So, you wanna talk?"
Morgan looked at him embarrassed. "No, not particularly, it's just hair dye, my life's not over, I'll get it stripped."
"You don't need to do that, it's actually quite becoming if you ask me, Mir will get used to it."
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Estin held tight to the armrest of the padded, first-class airplane seat as the plane descended upon the runway. Estin hated landing at night, especially on the coast. Once she'd gotten off the plane she walked inside the airport and scanned the group of people waiting for Josh and Paige.
Josh spotted her first, "Hey Estin, over here!" he shouted when he saw her.
"Hey Josh, hi Paige." Estin said as she ran to Paige's arms, and gave Josh a high five as she embraced Paige with her other arm.
"Let's get you to the house, you look exhausted." Paige said to her as he wrapped his arm around her and placed his hand on her hip.
"I am exhausted, you got that right."
The three of them grabbed he bags and headed to the silver, Yukon XL that waited outside to take them to the house. Once inside, the tree talked a while but Estin quickly fell asleep.
Paige carried Estin inside trying not to wake her, he took her to one of the ground level bedrooms instead of their room upstairs and laid her on the bed giving her a kiss on the cheek as he left the room and flicked off the light. He'd talk to her in the morning.
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Morgan had fallen asleep on the floor of the rec room, so Jay had simply covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep in peace. The next day he planned to spend with Tarynne and had to get his beauty rest, so he went to his room.
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The next morning, Estin woke at about 10:30 am to find all the others awake and ready for day of leisure before they started recording in the next couple days. Ryan, Josh, and Bobby were outside swimming, Amir was in the rec room moping, Morgan and Jay were outside waiting for Tarynne, and Paige was in the kitchen getting some coffee.
Estin walked into the kitchen and came up behind Paige; she wriggled her hands up under his raggy black T-shirt and stroked his tummy.
"Hey gorgeous, you slept late." Paige said to her as he turned around and gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead.
"Yeah, well I was pretty tired after a flight that got in at 2:00am." Estin replied as she put her hand in Paige's and they walked out to the porch where the others were. "When is Tarynne supposed to be here?"
Jay leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his iced tea and thought for a minute. "Well, she left at noonish yesterday and the driver's supposed to drive straight through making it about a 24 hour drive, so I'm guessing she'll be here about 12:30."
"Cool, I can't wait for her to get here, it's tough not having our morning phone conversation." Estin said happily as she settled in to drink some coffee and talk to the guys. "Hey, where's Amir?"
"Oh, well he's still being an a**hole and moping in the rec room" Morgan answered hostiley.
"Is he really mad about your hair?" Estin asked.
"Yeah he's really mad about her hair, and who knows why, because we all think it looks great." Ryan said as he got out of the swimming pool and wiped his face with a towel.
"I'm glad someone likes it." Morgan commented as a smile finally flashed across her face.
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Tarynne watched the clock, it was 12:00, she should be there any moment, excitement filled her body as the pulled up to the house and the driver got out. The driver opened the door and Tarynne got out.
Tarynne walked inside and wandered around finding herself in the rec room with Amir. "Mir, what's wrong?"
Amir looked up at Tarynne "You're here, when did you get here?"
"Just now, why are you down here all alone?"
"I'm down here all alone because I was an a**hole to Morgan and now she's hanging out with Jay, and I don't know how to apologize to her" Amir answered Tarynne's question.
Tarynne sat down beside Amir and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry Mir, I'm here for you if you want to talk."
"Just stay with me, I hate being alone." Amir begged as he looked into Tarynne's eyes. "Damn your eyes are pretty." He commented as he pushed a piece of hair away from her face.
"Thanks" Tarynne replied shocked as Amir kissed her. An awkward feeling came over the room and Tarynne got up. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go say hi to everyone" she said breaking the awkward silence and walking out of the room.
"Tarynne! When did you get here?!?" Estin exclaimed when she spotted her friend at the back door.
"Est! Hey, I just got here about 15 minutes ago. Where's Jay?" Tarynne responded joyfully.
"Jay went upstairs with Morgan, she's depressed over the Mir thing." Ryan answered as he hugged Tarynne hello.
"Well, I'm gonna go find Amir again, tell Jay I'm here." Tarynne said as she went back down to the rec room.
"Are you mad at me for kissing you?" Amir asked when he saw Tarynne in the door.
"No, why would I be mad? I just don't want to come between you and Morgan." She replied.
"Nothing could come between us that hasn't already. I'm just so damn lonely and it's my own fault; her hair is actually rather pretty, the long, flowing, ebony strands."
"That's all you have to say to make her come back to you" Tarynne pointed out.
"But the damage is already done." Amir uttered as he reached to hug Tarynne then caught himself drawn to kiss her again.
Tarynne didn't hesitate to kiss back; she and Jay had a rather unconventional relationship when it came to the possibility of something happening with a mutual friend of theirs. For example, it was ok for Tarynne to mess around with Amir as well as it would be for Jay to mess around with Morgan or Estin.
Besides, just as Tarynne hadn't hesitated, Jay had found himself consoling Morgan in his private bedroom.
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Paige and Estin were outside watching Bobby, Ryan and Josh goof around in the pool; they were talking about some stuff and finally came to the subject of Jay and Morgan. "Where are they anyway?" Paige asked suddenly.
"Last Ry and I knew, they were upstairs in Jay's room" Bobby replied getting out of the pool. "Well, Jay was in his bedroom and Morgan was taking a bath to relax in Jay's Whirl Pool tub." He added suspiciously.
Estin looked at Bobby with a look of disbelief. "Somehow, I just don't believe Morg and Jay would do that, Jay loves Tarynne too much, and I know Morg and Mir will make up."
"If Tarynne and Jay are so in love, why is Tarynne doing that with Mir?" Josh asked as he looked into one of the basement windows that peaked into the rec room. He saw Mir and Tarynne in a rather provocative position on the pool table.
"Woah, remind me not to play pool tonight" Ryan joked when he saw what Josh saw.
Estin sat quiet for a moment, she seemed worried about her friends, and she couldn't help but wonder why Tarynne was sleeping with Amir, had she and Jay had a fight? Confused, Estin went inside to sit alone in her and Paige's room for a while. Paige followed but she quickly shooed him away.
"Jay and Tarynne were so damn happy, just last night Jay said he couldn't wait to see Tarynne." Estin spoke to her favorite teddy bear with a puzzled tone. "I better talk to Tarynne and find out what's going on cause this is puzzling."
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About half an hour passed and Tarynne went upstairs to find Jay who she still hadn't seen. "Jay," she shouted through the closed door to his bedroom.
Jay answered the door and held his long index finger to his lips. "Sshh" he whispered "Morgan's asleep in here."
"I just needed to tell you Jay," Tarynne whispered back as Jay came out of the room into the hallway. "Before anyone else tells you, I wanted to let you know that I slept with Amir."
"Oh, OK." Jay replied shrugging it off "Thank you for telling me. I missed you in my arms last night."
"So you and Morg had sex too huh?" Tarynne replied anxiously.
"Yes, but I know she was thinking of Amir the entire time. Regardless of how happy she was to finally be with me."
"That sounded cocky," Estin said as she entered the hallway and walked toward them. "Sorry for eavesdropping, I'm just happy you two are ok."
"Oh, were you worried because of me and Morgan?" Jay asked Estin.
"You and Morgan, and Tarynne and Mir."
"Well, rest assured, our relationship is fine, we're pretty flexible when it comes to friends." Tarynne told her best friend.
"So, how are we gonna get Mir and Morg back together so we can focus on our relationship" Jay asked the two girls standing with him as he gestured to himself and Tarynne.
"Amir is pretty apologetic about his actions, we just need to get him to tell Morg." Tarynne told Jay.
"So, why don't we leave them in the house alone tonight?" Estin suggested.
"They could still avoid each other, it's a big house." Jay responded. "But, we could lock Morg in the studio downstairs and have Amir go into the sound room and tell her over the audio system how he feels." Jay suggested ecstatically.
"Good idea!" Tarynne exclaimed throwing her arms around Jay's neck and kissing him lovingly. "We'll do that!"
A couple days passed, the guys started recording the first song for the album, Jay and Tarynne didn't know how to maneuver their plan exactly but they knew it would fall into place somehow. Ryan, Amir, and Paige recorded their parts for the song first, then Bobby added and finally, Jay. Once Jay was finished, the guys asked Tarynne, Estin, and Morgan if they wanted to sing on a little part of one of the song, so they shoved the girls into the studio and had them record.
When the girls finished, they stood waiting for confirmation from Josh Abraham and Jay that the track had recorded right. A voice came over the sound system but it wasn't Josh or Jay. Morgan looked beside her and noticed her two best friends were no longer standing beside her, then she heard her name.
"Morgan" Amir's voice said over the speaker. "Enough is enough, let me out of here" Morgan shouted back as she tugged at the doorknob of the locked door.
"Morgan, just listen to me" Amir responded compassionately. "I f***ed up, the minute I saw your hair, I wrote you off, I paid more attention to the Morgan outside instead of the one I truly love." Amir began his apology. Morgan sat on a stool in the studio, her arms crossed and her eyes starring at the ceiling. "I just didn't know how to react, and by the time I finally figured out how, I had already reacted the wrong way." Amir continued. "Your hair is actually quite becoming, I just didn't want o admit that."
Morgan looked through the Plexiglas in the sound room at Amir and scowled. "Very nice apology Amir, I just don't know if I can accept it from someone who broke my heart." She spoke words full of animosity. "It's gonna take a lot more than a romantic 'I'm Sorry' to win me back."
Jay and Tarynne looked at each other, distress across their faces, as they listened to Morgan cutting Amir down. Where had they gone wrong? Morgan never would have behaved this way before she loved Amir.
"I loved you, and you shrugged me off because I altered my outer appearance, I loved you and you didn't love me enough to get over the effects of a little hair dye." Morgan continued with anger. "You're not forgiven." She halted and slammed the headphones she was wearing down on the stool. "Open the God damn door." Were the last words she screamed as she ran out of the room and up to her bedroom.
Estin and Paige followed Morgan upstairs and sat down with her, Morgan refused to talk about anything related to Amir and quickly shoved her friends out of the room. She did the same thing with Tarynne as well. The only person Morgan was willing to talk to was Jay. When Jay came up to talk to Morgan, the next morning, he sat down beside her and tried hard to convince her that Amir did love her, but his efforts failed.
"Amir doesn't love me, and neither do you, the only thing the two of you want me for is sex." Morgan accused "Granted, that isn't a bad thing and it would be fine if Amir didn't make me believe he actually loved me."
"Morgan! Listen to yourself, listen to the words coming from your mouth, how dare you accuse Amir of only wanting you for sex, that's bulls***!" Jay tried to reason with Morgan.
"I don't think it's bulls***, why else would he get so mad at me changing my physical appearance?"
"I can't answer that but, I know he loves you." It was Jay who was the only on who knew Amir's plan for his time with Morgan, and it would surely prove Mir's love if he could just get Morgan and Mir talking.
Jay left Morgan to get some rest and sleep off her anger and went to find the others. He went out to the back porch where he found Ryan, Bobby, Tarynne, Amir, and Josh Abraham chilling with some drinks. "Where's Paige and Estin?" he asked curiously.
"They were swimming a while ago, then Estin went to take a shower and Paige disappeared soon after," Bobby replied.
"I don't think a shower is what Estin had in mind," Josh added with a sinister smile. "And it's about damn time!"
Jay laughed and sat back in the chair, which sat empty beside Amir and Tarynne. Grasping Tarynne's hand with his left hand, Jay looked over at his friend Amir.
"I guess I can take Morgan's 'present' back to the store now. Even though they probably won't take it back because of the engraving." Amir whispered to Jay disinheartedly.
"No, that gift is your only hope of proving you love her." Jay whispered back, convincing his friend there was some hope. "Go put it somewhere where she'll see it, and make sure the inscription is facing up." He instructed.
Amir stood up and wriggled his hand into his pocket pulling out a dainty silver chain necklace. Anchored on the chain was a silver guitar pick charm that read "AD+MD" Amir knew it was cheesy but, he also knew it was a good way to show he cared.
A he scaled the stairs to Morgan's room, Amir's heart beat quickly, it'd been running a mile an minute since the night he'd picked Morgan up. He hadn't smiled since that night either. Amir walked into Tarynne's room which was joined with Morgan's by the bathroom, he walked into the bathroom and placed the necklace right next to Morgan's other jewelry where she'd be sure to see it when they went out that night.
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The clock struck 6:00 PM and everyone started to get glammed up, Jonathan Davis was throwing a huge birthday party for Head and had invited everyone under the sun, even Estin, Tarynne, and Morgan.
Morgan walked into the bathroom and washed her face and did her makeup, Ryan was gonna be up in a second to help pick out her outfit so she quickly styled her hair and went into her room without noticing the additional piece of jewelry on the counter.
Estin was getting dressed upstairs in Paige's room and Paige was helping her with her makeup. Jay and Tarynne helped each other get ready after taking a shower.
Amir and Bobby stood next to each other in front of a large vanity mirror that covered the wall of their joint bathroom. Bobby was still in his sweatpants despite the fact he only had thirty minutes before they were leaving.
Finally, right before they were about to leave, Morgan ran into the bathroom and grabbed her jewelry to put on in the car. They all got in the car leaving an empty seat for Morgan beside Amir. Morgan reluctantly sat down and began putting on her bracelets as Jay drove them to the party. When Morgan came across the necklace Mir had planted she gazed at it and flipped the charm over to read the inscription. Tears banked in her eyes as she read the initials "AD+MD", she tried to hide the tears from Amir.
The others watched Morgan nervously as she studied the charm showing no gratitude as of yet. She looked up from the charm and made eye contact with everyone in the car except with Amir, her nearly passionless look stunned them all, finally, she looked at Amir but made no eye contact. She ran the tip of her thumb over the initials engraved in the smooth silver, an indescribable solemn look on her face, Morgan extended her cautiously feminine hand and grabbed Amir's turning it palm up as she lifted her head to stare into them.
A hush fell over the car as everyone prepared themselves to hear the worst. Morgan opened her mouth and took a deep breath; she cleared her throat and began to speak. "This is, the most incredible thing you ever could have done." She said as a smile shot across her lips and she threw her arms around Amir.
Everyone around them breathed a sigh of relief and they all proceeded to hold various conversations until they got to the party and Jonathan greeted them at the door. "Glad to see you two are on better terms." He said to Amir and Morgan when he noticed them standing so close together they might as well be sharing a single pair of pants.
Morgan gazed into Amir's eyes and flashed him a loving grin. "I'm glad things are better too." She told Jonathan.
"Well, come on in, enjoy the party and don't for get to tell Head happy birthday." Jonathan concluded as he stepped out from in front of the door and let his guests into the house, pointing them to where Head had just been.
Part 5: Just like Heaven