Chapter 2:

Nothing but to spend time with chicks at stores

Micky parked the Monkeemobile at the curb near the grocery store. He turned off the ignition, stepped out of the car, and headed to the grocery store.

The place was very crowded. The people seemed like they were on a rush. Micky grabbed an empty shopping cart near the cash register and went to an aisle filled with baking materials. He pulled out the list from his pocket and read the first item and kept reading. His eyes narrowed at the list of things he needed to buy. Holy shit, that was a lot! Dozens of eggs, carton of milk, cereal, pancakes, orange juice, ice cream, and donuts, blah, blah, blah.

It took him two hours to get all the items they needed. Micky was damp with sweat as he carried several grocery bags, one by one, into the backseat of the car. He went in the driver seat, fastened his seatbelt, started the ignition, and headed home.

Micky angrily knocked at the door, blaming the others, inwardly, for going to the grocery by himself. The door flung open and Peter stood at the front porch.

"Help me!" Micky shouted at Peter, gesturing at the bags he had put earlier on the pavement. Peter hesitated, but he helped him.

"Hey Davy, Mike, we need a hand over here!" Peter called out from the living room and Davy came out from his room he shared with Peter and helped him and Micky carry the bags.

"Blimey! Are there more of these?" Davy asked Micky.

"Yup, it's at the backseat of the car."

Mike, who was reading the newspaper at the dining table, stood up and helped the others to put the bags at the kitchen counter. Few minutes had passed, the boys sat on the living room couch, and Mike turned on the TV.

"How long have you been at the store, Mick?" Davy asked.

"Two hours! The place was filled with people and I have no time. I didn't have enough money, so I took some things that were cheap," Micky sighed heavily. "I have to take a shower. G' day."

"But Micky-"

"I said good day!" He went upstairs to his room, and slammed the door shut.

He laid his back on his bed and stared at the plain, blank ceiling. "When are they going to realize that my birthday's in two days?" He kicked off his shoes, hard enough that it flew across the room and hit the wall. He went to his closet, picked up his clothes, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Micky decided to go to Lenny's Boot Shop to meet his friend Celina Phelps. He met her when the guys went bowling with one of Julianne (Davy's girlfriend)'s friends and Micky helped Celina how to bowl. The guys talked, played, and told flat jokes (mostly Peter and Mike) with the girls. Micky was quite fascinated by Celina. He wasn't much for shy girls, but Celina was really an exception. She had been shy at first, but Micky had been revelling that half hour spent at the bowling alley, with Micky teaching her bowling. He tried to get her to open up and get to know each other. She wasn't talkative, but she asked questions. Micky imagined that she had learned more about his life in those thirty minutes than his roommates had learned in two years.

She was petite, curvy, with long, thick, very curly, brown hair that had yellow streaks at the ends of it. She had beautiful smile with braces on her teeth- Micky didn't know why, but he found that attractive- and had big brown almond-shaped eyes that she almost look like a mouse.

She was sweet, smart, and funny, self-contained, warm and affectionate, who didn't mind showing she care (without over-doing it) and who have lots of "cool".

He strolled inside the store, and the lovely scent of newly arrived boots, clothing, money, and cologne greeted him. A saleslady was folding clothes and turned around to look at Micky. He recognized that it was Celina and she ran up to him and hugged him. Micky hugged her back, not wanting to let go of her at the moment,and he stroked her hair, and loving the vanilla-scented perfume she always use, that reminded Micky of vanilla ice cream. He hugged her even tighter.

They broke their hug apart, and they fidgeted, getting nervous, not knowing what to say to each other. Micky took a quick glance around the place; there were women at the store whispering and muttering, looking at Micky and to Celina. They had envy looks on their faces, and Micky worried that they might tackle him or chase him since he's famous and the drummer in the group; Celina hugged a Monkee, for Pete's sake!

Micky cleared his throat. "Is this a bad time to visit you, isn't it?"

Celina knew what he was talking about. "No, this is not the bad time and don't worry; the girls or crazy Monkee lovers whatever you call them, won't rip your body apart and tear your hair, eyes, your clothes, or... you're wonderful, yet goofy face off." She looked down at the floor, hoping Micky didn't notice her face turning hot red.

Thankfully, Micky just laughed. Celina looked up at him and smiled. They stared at each other for what it felt like hours. Micky's heart pounded, adoring Celina's brown eyes. Suddenly, Celina cleared her throat.

"So, um Micky- wait... let's start over- Hello, good morning to you sir, how can I help you today?" Wow, she's really quick on picking things up Micky thought.

"Same thing to you my lady," Micky, tried to play along, and pretended to lift a hat off his head and put it back on, as a sign of a greeting and gave her the goofiest face he could muster. "Do you have one of them, um, double-breasted t-shirts?"

"Yes, we have. Please, follow me." She giggled and guided her to a rack of clothes near a fitting room. Micky went stark and picked an enormous gang of clothes he could find, for what a money can buy, but then he took out his wallet and looked inside it. He turned to look at Celina.

"What's wrong, Mick?"

"How much do these clothes each cost?"

"Six dollars and ninety-nine cents." She looked over Micky's shoulder, and saw two dollars inside.

"Man, I'm four dollars and ninety-nine cents short. It's okay, I'll buy it next time." Micky recalled the time that he spent all his money at the grocery store buying all the items for God-knows-what Mike, Peter, and Davy needed it for. Micky sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Oh, Micky. Are the guys bothering you?" It came out of the blue. Celina caught him off guard.

"What? No! No, there's nothing wrong between me and the guys." Micky chuckled nervously, but Celina looked straight through his eyes, telling him she was serious. Micky finally gave up.

"Mike, Pete, and Davy were acting so strange lately. I saw them at the back deck talking about something, not even letting me know what's happening. Before that, I asked them if they could help me go shopping, and excuses spilled out of their mouths. I knew something was up, so I decided to go by myself and Mike gave me a long grocery shopping list, but I bought only few items, because the place was getting crowded. And when I came back, I was sweating and tired as hell, and they just acted normal like nothing's been going on."

"Tell you what; meet me at the Lakeview Restaurant in about forty-five minutes; I'm working half- day today, so I could offer you some food for free. How's that sound for a tired, stressed Monkee like you?"

"Sounds good to me." Micky gave her another hug, not caring what the other women in the store thought about them. Celina hugged him back and gave him a peck on the cheek, which made Micky blushed.

"I'll see you later." Celina chirped.

"Yeah, bye." Micky gave her a wave and left the store, revelling the time where Celina kissed him on his cheek. And for the first time, all of Micky's worries were gone.

Micky waited outside Lakeview Restaurant for Celina to meet him. He felt safer talking to her than his friends, especially Mike and Davy. Davy would just keep bothering you, and following you-nonstop- until you decided to give up. Micky came to realize it was partly because Davy was just one of those people who likes to study people and their facial expressions, and partly because they were close; he was really good at catching people off guard. He wanted to feel one of his friends out first- maybe discover something that might give an advantage in figuring out what the hell was going on and never missed an opportunity to put his considerable intuition to use. He was one of those people with a rare gift for ferreting out problems, instinctively trying to help people who were troubled. Davy was another man; he was very deep, not shallow. If there was one thing Davy was good at when the situation called for, it was being direct and that's his approach he took on for his friends- and someone else's.

Discussions on serious subjects, it would turn Mike on and charge his mental batteries. Above all, Mike simply hated dishonesty and phoniness; he got dead serious if you were not going to tell him what was going on. He was quick enough to figure it out by catching you completely off guard and hitting you right between the eyeballs! Out of nowhere, Mike would quietly say something with a straight face that actually put those around him rolling in the aisles. "I know you're lying, but I'll buy it for now because you'll tell me the truth when you're ready," He'd say to his friends. Mike didn't know he was this easy to read, but his bandmates had long since learned the difficult language of Nesmith. One thing he was really good at, was that he had a sharp memory and never missed any damn details on what you told him. You couldn't fool that Monkee.

Aside from Peter, he was all ears when it came to talking about secrets. He doesn't pry by asking too many questions, but he always told their friends that it wouldn't work out if they don't solve the problem, and he doesn't want his friends to get mad at him, putting his nose in someone else's business. Somehow, he's careful, considerate, and harmless on what came out of his mouth. "Think first before you speak," he said to himself. Keeping secrets and not telling a soul was his way on handling things. But Peter was uncertain if he either would be involve in the situation or just let it be, since it wasn't his problem. The others felt the same way, but it wasn't right for them to leave it and not discuss it. They always had their backs, knowing that they supported one another, and not wanting themselves to get hurt.

That's what friends are for, right?

Micky decided to go inside and wait. Burgers, fries, and salads wafted through his nose. He felt his stomach grumble. Just looking at the food spread around the table while people ate, it was so mouth-watering and the smell of the food was very intoxicating. He shook the thought and licked his lips. Maybe I should start eating without her then Micky thought, but then he realized he didn't have enough money.

"Fuck," he muttered to himself and found a vacant table at the corner of the restaurant. As he sat down, he saw Celina joyfully, trotting like a horse towards Micky; he loves it when she's so full of energy and filled with enthusiasm. Micky loved girls that were hyper, giddy, and fun, not caring what people thought about themselves. Happy-go-lucky was the best term for a chick like Celina. She hugged him; once again, people would stop and stare. One of the family's daughters had envy, yet desperate looks on their faces; Man it felt so good to be a Monkee! Micky smiled to himself.

"Hey, am I late?"

"No, you're just in time. Please, sit." He offered to pull a chair for her and she sat down.

"Thank you."

"You're quite welcome." Micky sat across from her and called a waitress and took their orders.

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened?" After they got their food- Sandwich club and OJ for Micky, and Macaroni and Cheese for Celina- Micky told her everything.

"Well, they must've been busy and forgot your birthday, but maybe they're throwing you a surprise party or something. Now, don't expect that, but that's happened to me before. Don't feel too bad this has happened to you. Remind them. People have such busy lives and guys can be the worst about remembering special dates, even if they are not busy. Make sure you let them know how that felt. If it's the end of the day and they haven't said anything, if I were you, I wouldn't confront them, but pretend to be talking to someone on the phone regarding your birthday while they are around."

"Honestly, a birthday is just one day of the year," Celina continued. "If you communicate with your friends enough to believe in your friendship, one day shouldn't make a difference. Yes, it is a special day to celebrate the day someone came into existence and into your life, but forgetting a birthday doesn't mean they forget you exist." Celina had a point. How come Micky didn't thought about that? But then again, he wasn't so sure about it. Were his friends really talking about his birthday back at the pad or was it something else? Should he even remind them about his birthday?

"I'll think about it later."

"Speaking of your birthday coming up on Friday, where do you want to go?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, my birthday present for you is taking you anywhere you want to go."

"Anywhere?" Micky repeated.

"Yes. If you could take a vacation anywhere in the entire world, where would you go?"

"Across the Freeway to Burbank, where the poppies grow. Later, I might spend a weekend in Palm Springs, and late at night, I used to have a camera to bring with me every time I'm bored and had nothing to do... until Peter broke it. But take me to Sunset Strip; I'd love to drive down and take time to snap a photo (if I have one) of exposures of street lights and others cars driving by. How about you?"

"I want to go to London. You know, they have those groovy double-decker red buses, along with driving on the opposite side of the road. I wanted so much to be around young people and go to small restaurants and listen to them talk. You wouldn't think there would be a communications barrier in another English speaking country, but there is. They have a very different way of describing things and their sense of humor is different."

"Like Davy?"

"Maybe. But I want to meet the Beatles, especially Paul McCartney! You're lucky, you met them a few months ago." Celina faux- pouted.

"You sure are a Beatle freak." They talked for hours; Micky could barely eat his food, but he didn't care. They laughed, told their childhood memories, their embarrassing moments; the time somebody had stolen the hub caps off Micky's brand-new GTO before he met the other three and became the Monkees for whatever reason, and the time where Celina had a pool embarrasment; and this made Micky almost choke on his food.

"It was Thanksgiving weekend and I went to Massachusetts to see my friend Terryn and her brother. Little did I know that her fourteen year old brother invited his friend who was eight years older and British. His name was Brandon. Last time, I met him and he was an idiot, being a lovey dovey (almost) twenty-one year old, I thought he was soooo cute! So we were playing Apples to Apples with my friends and Brandon. When he said this really lame joke, we all started laughing I snorted really loud, not only that, but my friends had a swimming pool so when we were changing, I picked this really cute bikini with a padded top and when I saw him, I fell! He had a smallish six pack. Anyways, when I was jumping off the diving board, Brandon pulled my bottles off! I went red and ran to my friends' room."

"What a Randy Scouse Git!" They both cracked up, and this time Celina snorted loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear. Some people stared at them awkwardly, and some left their table that was close to them. They both settled down, catching their own breath.

"Oh, man. That was so funny." Celina picked up her handkerchief and wiped the tears out of her eyes. She was unconscious of the fact that she was bursting into tiny fists of hysterical laughter, which Micky found quite cute.

"I know. I hope we get to do this again." Micky smiled and stared dreamily at her. He took her hand in his; it was so small, smooth, warm, and delicate like a baby's hand. Celina squeezed his hand, and Micky squeezed back. They stared for a really long time with tiny sparkles in their eyes. Micky wouldn't let go of her, and Celina was doing the same thing. Micky's tough day back at the beach house, dissolved along with all of his worries and he was happy, as long as Celina was with him.