Jeff's Beginning

The Throne Room Bar is a grungy hole in the wall located on the strip in the Warehouse District of Lower Manhattan that runs along the Hudson River; it takes up residence with approximately six other clubs that all share the same format and style; it is a club that draws an extreme amount of “Goth” clientele. Although the clubs in the district draw big name bands and performers, they are about the only thing the clubs offer. The walls are all a swirled concrete design, the floor is nasty black tile that has worn in several areas allowing the concrete slab to show through and the ceilings are left open to show all the old, dusty, cobwebbed pipes and heating ductwork that flows through the building. The clubs are grey, grey, and more grey which allows for a very bleak experience. Each club has its own inside venue with the Throne Room, being dressed to resemble something out of a medieval period with pictures of castles and knights hanging on the walls while all the chairs that sit around the tables resemble little thrones. The tables are actually large, empty wood spools that had been used at one time by the electric company for underground cables. They were supposed to represent, albeit poorly, the round table. In one corner stands a replica of a suite of armor; the decked out knight holds a spear in one hand and a battle shield in the other. The waiters and waitresses dress in medieval style clothing and serve draft beer in wooden mugs that hold glass inserts. The bar area is located on the upper level of the club with one set of stairs leading down into the entertainment area. The two sections are filled with tables and the walls lined with wooden benches. The stage is at the far end of the room. Restrooms and a gaming area are located underneath the bar section. The Throne Room is an over eighteen club and ID’s are checked ‘thoroughly’ at the door. If you are under twenty-one, you have to wear a neon stamp of a castle on your hand indicating so. Anybody caught drinking and wearing the stamp is tossed immediately and no questions asked; sucked if you were there with a party or even out on a date. You could encounter almost anything at the Throne Room. For those that believed other life forms existed, it was difficult to tell at times what was the real thing and what was the ‘wanna-be’ since the atmosphere was so Gothic. Drugs floated freely through-out the bar, sex could be bought and exchanged at any given time in the restrooms and couples of various genders could be found ‘exchanging’ their fluids in the dark corners. Occasionally ‘Down Below’, the band which Stevee managed and Jeff was the front man for, would do the club circuit. It usually occurred after a major tour and right before they went into the studio to record. The band liked to try out some of the new music on unsuspecting crowds to see what kind of response it received. Sometimes it made or broke a track that was being considered for recording. Such was the case for the appearance at the Throne Room this particular Saturday evening in September. The Warehouse District was always hopping on a Saturday night with every possible type of person being represented in every sort of way and moving from one place of a particular type to another place of much the same type. In some cases, a group of people would gather and stay at the same club to enjoy their entertainment of choice. ‘Down Below’ had begun the final song of the second set and would be taking a short break when finished. The Throne Room was packed and left with standing room only; the majority of those that stood were in front of the stage covering what was intended to be the dance floor which now looked more like a mosh pit of people displaying their violent, frenzied dancing in a sea of black leather, multi colored hair, studs, and spikes. Jeff looked into the frenzy of people just in time to see Kaiti making her way through the crowd. He caught himself before he missed more than one word in the vocal line that was resonating from his voice. His eyes watched her as she made it to the front of the crowd and locked on her as soon as she stood in front of him. He was glad the lyrics he was singing were comprised of angry words and meant to sound that way. The song was allowing him to put his personal anger into the performance. What the Fuck was she doing here and how did she get into the club? The band completed their set and instead of heading to the back of the stage for a few moments of regroup, Jeff jumped off the stage and grabbed Kaiti by the arms. She thought he was going to pull her into him, but instead, he led her to the side of the stage to a table and forcefully sat her down. Kaitlynn knew he was angry. The look that was on his face and the way he had handled her cut through her like a knife. “What the fuck are you doing here? Do you know how much trouble you are in? You aren’t even old enough to be in this place. How did you even get past the door? Does your brother have any idea where you are?” He ran his hands through his hair and pushed it out of his face. “Fuck Kaiti, what am I going to do with you?” Jeff was yelling, and creating just a tad bit of a scene. By this time, tears of disappointment were falling down Kaiti’s face and she was asking him to let go of her arms because he was hurting her. For sure, there would be finger tip bruises on her biceps concealed by her black leather jacket. Before she could say anything in defense of herself, a tall, beautiful girl with long black hair and dressed in all black, toned down, Goth style came up to Jeff from behind and broke his release on Kaiti’s arms. She wrapped an arm around Jeff’s waist pulling him away and in a much more gentle voice asked what was going on. Jeff looked towards the beautiful Goth girl; shock, mixed with anger, flowing from his eyes and facial expressions, back to Kaiti and then back to the Goth girl again. “Stevee, this is Kaitlynn. She has no business being here because she is not old enough and she is Joe Ryan’s little sister. I don’t know what the fuck I am going to do with her.” Jeff was truly agitated over the scenario. Stevee sat down with Kaitlynn after giving Jeff a brief kiss on the cheek. “Why don’t you go take a quick breather and I will talk with Kaitlynn for a few minutes. I think maybe your head isn’t where it should be right now if you know what I mean, and you need to get back to the band. Don’t worry about things right now. We’ll figure this out.” Stevee knew to remove Jeff from the situation whatever it was; she knew his agitated state could possibly bring out his Jaguar and that was the last thing that needed to happen. Jeff looked at Stevee, nodded his head in understanding and turned back to Kaiti. “You…stay…right…here. DO NOT LEAVE THIS TABLE FOR ANYTHING!!!! YOU HEAR ME?” Tears were streaming heavier than before down Kaitlynn’s face. She was heartbroken and couldn’t believe that this was the same Jeff she had spent the evening with less than two months ago. She didn’t know what to do and was feeling like she had made a big mistake by showing up, not just because of her age, but because she didn’t feel anything but anger coming from Jeff in regards to seeing her. Stevee and Kaitlynn watched Jeff and all of his leather walk away with an angry stride and return to the band. He had held them up and they were waiting for his return to the stage to begin their last set. Jeff was in no mood to perform after seeing Kaitlynn in the Throne Room. He wished he had the time to get inside her head. “What was she thinking by coming here? How was she going to get around this with her brother? Man, this was some deep shit.” The other side of the nickel was the fact that despite his anger, he couldn’t believe she had actually made her way to this hole in the wall on her own to see him. He was majorly torn.