“You boys were amazing! I’ve never heard a sound like yours before,” she gushed, putting a hand to her chest in disbelief.

“Well, music just comes to us so naturally,” Davy explained with a grin on his face, “We barely ever rehearse; I get so much free time…”

The woman laughed hotly, “Well, how very sweet. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. You are the Monkees, no?”

“Yes, that’s right. We are the Monkees,” Mike confirmed. “And you are?”

”Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself. My name is Laina Sandrine. My girlfriends have spoken so highly of this place and of you so I thought I’d come check it out.” Laina paused, looking each of the boys of and down. “I see they were right…and not just about the music.”

Laina smacked her lips and she turned away from the bandstand, satisfied with the feelings she induced in each of the band members, and hopefully the drummer the most. She was not surprised when she felt an arm on her shoulder. She turned to find Micky staring at her.

“We’ll be playing for another hour if you’d like to stick around,” he spoke, seemingly not nervous around her presence. She felt relieved knowing this. The less nervous he was, the easier it would be to get him back to Mr. Zero.

“Well, I actually have to be getting home. Besides that, I can’t miss my bus. I’ll be here for hours.” Laina said.

“Bus? No woman as gorgeous as you should have to take a bus. I’ll take you home.” Micky offered. He held out his hand behind his back, feeling Mike slip the keys to their car into his palm without her noticing.

“You would? But I thought you were going to be playing for a while longer. You’re the drummer, they certainly can’t play without you.”

”They don’t mind, and neither do I. Really.”

”All right then, just let me get my purse and we’ll go.” Laina rotated, reaching an arm out to grab the handle of her black handbag. Micky turned towards Mike, smiling his thanks, as he followed Laina out the door of the club.

“Hey, Mike. Why’d you let him go like that? She was right, we can’t play without him.” Peter said.

“It’s been a long time since he was smitten with a girl. Besides, if I didn’t let him go, he would be chewing me out for it because I made him look like a kid who can’t make his own decisions.” Mike explained.

“How come you never do that for me when I meet a girl?” Davy asked.

Mike simply replied, “No comment.”