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schedule before we have to call in the group therapist and all do our Metallica impersonations? Duncan?”
    “What, mate?” Duncan is up, pacing back and forth behind the sofas.
    “You cool?”
    “Yeah—Gabe—I’m cool. I’m fine.”
    George knows Duncan is the wild card in the foursome. He has the potential to detonate and it worries him. It’s as if he’s just on the brink of being completely out of control but somehow always manages to pull it back in.
    “Good to hear,” says Gabe, “so let’s talk about the acoustic show.”
    The acoustic show is George’s baby—an unexpected treat for the fans—an intricately paired back set, played to an audience of a few hundred. Tickets are only available by entering a lottery on their website. They’ve chosen LA because it’s the city where they recorded their first album and holds a certain nostalgia. Plus they love the sunshine and the sushi bars.
    “We’ve confirmed The Avid in Hollywood for the show. Built in the twenties—got a great vibe. We’ll film the gig and I’m thinking let’s leave it open to interpretation, give you guys a chance to improvise instead of micromanaging the entire evening. You up for that, George?”
    George is not known for his risk taking, but he’s really looking forward to the show and wants to explore what it might be like again without the buffer of a stadium crowd.
    “I’m definitely up for it,” says George, painfully aware that the smaller the gig the greater the chance of being exposed.
    “Oh and I forgot to mention,” adds Gabe, “I heard from Fanny Arundel’s manager. It turns out that she’s coincidentally shooting her video in Vegas at the same time as us. Thought you might be interested in that bit of info.”
    Fanny has had her sights set on George since meeting at last year’s Brit awards, and his lack of interest up until now has only fueled her pursuit.
    George cringes inside. Truthfully, Fanny scares the shit out of him. He’s sure he could never live up to her raunchy expectations.
    “You’ll definitely be into that, won’t you, mate?” teases Duncan, his juvenile tone reminding George of everything he would like to forget.

LEXI
November 7 th , 2009
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
    Lexi is sitting with Meg in her backyard watching Jack and Annabelle play Happy Hippos on the lawn. Meg has remained Lexi’s best friend, except somewhere along the line, they seem to have swapped destinies. It is Meg who has the husband, house, children and dog, while Lexi is always the friend with a ‘story’ to tell. Usually the kind of story that leaves Meg asking, “Why do these insane things always happen to you?” But Lexi realizes that Meg finds her a welcome distraction. She often confides to Lexi that getting married too early has left her itchy. She’s on the subject now.
    “Sometimes I feel like I’m wearing long underwear and I want to rip it off and run through the streets naked.”
    “Really?” says Lexi. “I want to cuddle up on the couch with a man who isn’t Andrew and watch
Before Sunrise
with no mascara on and baggy sweatpants.”
    “Ahh, I know, Lex,” says Meg sympathetically. “You
will
meet somebody. I promise. A gorgeous specimen like you? There is no way you’re going to grow old without baggy sweats and no mascara nights.”
    Lexi knows she’s pretty and has always been complimented on her elegant profile and her green eyes swirled with amber and grey. There is something gentle and open in her expressions and she has an offbeat sex appeal that might well come with the territory of being a fallen prom queen. Her parents only introduced her when she was young as “our beautiful Lexi,” and she came to rely on the label, like it was part of her name, printed neatly in typewriter ink on her birth certificate. But Lexi isn’t so sure how helpful that is any longer. Over the last few years, it seems as if her love life and her career path have been in vicious competition, vying