Fight inside
How long has it been? It felt like years at this point and I was very afraid my life had lost any meaning to it. For how long had I paced these white floors? Why was I even here?
Ding.
Oh right, the popcorn.
My feet carried me to the black microwave, to take out the package and pour the contents in a clear glass bowl Vikkie had already prepared and left on the counter. The King’s had settled in the living room on the brownish couch, which Vikkie told, had belonged to Dev’s granddad. Along with those disturbingly beautiful paintings scattered along the hallway. Half naked zombie girls. I mean, I found them fascinating, but for a man in his good years? I probably would’ve liked the guy. Rest in peace grandpa King.
Along with the King’s, there was this girl Joanna. First I saw her when we were dining. She looked very young, but to my surprise, she turned out to be twenty one. One of those girly girls. They both were getting ready for a party later in the evening, so obviously, not willing to miss out on the newest Dracula movie, their make-up had been brought down stairs and scattered all over the coffee table.
"Ryan, whatcha think? Cat eyes or smoky eyes?" Jenny questioned as soon as I walked in the living room. Knox was sitting in the armchair and typing something down on his iPhone.
"That depends..." He raised his head, noticing I walked in the room carrying the bowl of popcorn, "Either you’re the sister of Devious Knox, or you’re the groupie of Andy Biersack."
I placed the bowl on the table and took my seat in Ryan’s lap. "Since when do you know how Black Veil Bride’s groupies look like?" I questioned. He arched his eyebrow. "Okay, forget I even asked." I felt his phone vibrate under me.
"So, Meg, when are you going on tour?" Ryan’s dad asked as Dev pulled out his phone from his pocket.
"Maybe next year." I shrugged, "I don’t know really, we have to finish the album. I mean, yeah, we have a couple of shows in between, but they’re just one night gigs. Besides, me and Chris have this judge thing we have to do and I’m still teaching at the Musician’s Institute."
"It seems your hands are quite full, honey," Vikkie commented, bringing her eyes away from the big tv screen.
"She likes to have it all." Ryan stated proudly, before putting his phone away and leaning in a kiss.
"Who was it?" I asked quietly.
"Scott. Looking for company to go raiding the bars."
"You work as a teacher?" This Joanna girl questioned, as she put her mascara on. Jenny shoved an elbow in her ribs, whispering something in her ear, making Joanna nearly take her eye out with the mascara brush. Looked like she had the same anger management issues as miss Bailey.
"Yeah, but only part time."
"By the way, that’s how I met her." Ryan added, getting attention from his dad.
"Don’t tell me you know her from the time you went there..."
"Dad, that’s not possible knowing she’s twelve." Jenny cut in, in between drawing her cat eyes.
"And a half." I corrected. God, these people. Was it so hard to get it right the first time?
"Jenny, can I have a word with you?" Vikkie stood up, stern look on her face.
"yeah, sure." She sighed, before following her mother in the kitchen. Good god what wouldn’t I give to have a mom like Vikkie. One who cares for me, instead of one who sucks the very last drop of blood out of my body.
"So, you guys are going to the party?" Joanna questioned, finishing her look with a red lipstick.
"I don’t think I’m very suitable for college parties." Dev laughed. "Diluted beer and drunk teens aren’t really my thing."
"Oh..." Her face dropped. Having a crush on Devious Knox never is healthy, but she looked like a smart girl and I believe she would figure it out sooner or later.
"He’s old..." I explained to Joanna, bringing a smile on her face. "That’s just the way of saying he’d pass out somewhere in the very first hour."
"Hey!" Ryan senior protested, "If he’s old, then what am I?"
"You’re..." Hmm... I couldn’t come up with no witty lines that wouldn’t insult him.
"You’re fucking ancient, dad," Ryan laughed out.
"And cranky," Vikkie walked back in the room, "Don’t forget cranky."
The door bell rang in between the laughter taking over the living room.
"That’s probably Chris," I said, standing up.
"I’ll get it!" I heard Jenny shout from the hallway. Okay?
"Hey, lovely, is Meg around?" I heard Chris’s voice as I entered the room.
"Present." I smiled seeing him and going past Jenny to hug Chris. He smelled of cigarettes and his aftershave which could make the girls go fucking mental. I stepped back, eyeing him from head to toe. He had made his hair even more untamable with a doze of hairspray, and when I came to inspecting his clothes, I noticed him looking nothing like Chris at all. He had a black button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, dark blue denim’s and polished shoes. "Has someone died? I haven’t seen you this fancy for... well... never."
"Nah. Had dinner with my parents." He said, flipping his hair back. Jenny was still standing beside, her eyes glued to him and, I swear, if he’d do the hair trick again, she would melt. Chris noticed that and arched his eyebrow amused, asking what’s with her. I shrugged, stepping out on the porch and closing the door behind me and right in front of Jenny’s face.
"So what did you want to talk about?" He shrugged. "You have nothing to say to me?"
"I just wanted to see a person, who’s not crazy."
"And I’m the one?" I chuckled.
"As unbelievable as it is, yeah, you are..." He sat down on the porch, raising a cigarette to his lips. "Trust me, if my cat could talk, I’d talk to him, instead of you."
"Ass..." I laughed, giving him a slight shove, before joining him on the steps.
"It’s the truth!" He lit up the smoke. "Anyhow, I’m thinking about ditching the band and becoming a professional gamer."
"I hope you’re joking, otherwise I’ll murder you."
"I’m serious!" He exclaimed, taking a deep drag, "You can’t imagine the amount of video games coming out this month. I have to do them all, it’s my duty as the citizen of the US." His hand landed on the right side of his chest. I rolled my eyes.
"The hand goes on your heart, that’s first of all..." I corrected him, by moving his hand to the middle of his chest, "Secondly, what’s that nonsense you’re talking about? Is it Paul?"
"Well... It’s not Paul, it’s just... his vision of the album."
"You know we all have the say in the matter, so why don’t you just tell him you don’t like what he’s creating?" Cause I really had no idea, what he’s creating. I hadn’t been at the studio recently. "What does Bails and Frank say about it?"
"I think Bailey’s going insane, she hasn’t been sober for quite some time now and Frank’s afraid of everyone. Even his own shadow. I doubt he’s going to say anything to Paul, even tho he too doesn’t like the poppy vibe he’s creating."
"Poppy vibe?" I frowned.
"Yeah, he’s going for a soft sound, like Red Hot Chilly Peppers..."
"What?" Okay? RHCP was a great band, there’s no denying it, but we weren’t RHCP. Not even close. "Can you please explain me one thing... How does Paul imagine to make an RHCP type of hit with his voice? He sounds exactly like Andy Sixx and we don’t see him singing Britney’s songs, now do we?"
"You should tell him that."
"No, I should kick him off the band for going behind my back!" I exclaimed.
"Are you?" Chris blew out a gray cloud, looking very much excited.
"No..." I sighed. "We need him. Even tho he’s a douche."
"So what are you going to do?"
"On Monday I’ll come to the studio, right after the lessons at the Institute. Hear what he’s got."
"Okay, I guess that fits. I’ll have time to finally finish Alien Isolation." He replied dreamily. "So..." He looked back at the front door, "You’re partying with Dev’s folks, now?"
"Yeah, tho his sister hates me."
"Many people hate you. It specially chicks. That’s really nothing new." He smiled, trying to ease off the whole situation.
"Yeah, but it’s different, when it’s a person from inside the family." Yeah, sure, I could be quite oblivious towards the hater-skater people, but somehow, Jenny’s case made me really frustrated
"Well, your mom hates you and it’s not a big deal." He shrugged.
"Oh god, don’t bring her up," I glared at him, "She came by, can you imagine?"
"What do you mean ‘came by’?" He stared in to the deep.
"Exactly what it means. She showed up on my door steps."
"Why?"
"Begging for money."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"Ten years ago. Maybe a bit more. Who the hell even remembers..." I sighed, but I did. I remembered... I remembered those nightmare like nights I experienced while trying to get to my dad. I didn’t have money, I had one t shirt, one hoodie, jeans and a pair of combat boots, and guess what - I was wearing them all day everyday until me and my trustworthy companion mister Les Paul got to my dad. Around the time when I got to Santa Monica, I had lost a "couple" of pounds, was paler than an albino and basically reminded a hobo, which I indeed had been for those two weeks. Dad didn’t even recognize me when I showed up on his porch. He threatened to take Barbara to court, if it wouldn’t have been for my plea of mercy.
"And now she just shows up and asks for dough? Seems very motherly of her." He snorted, " And you? What did you do?"
"What do you think?" Like it wasn’t so obvious? "Slammed the fucking door straight in her face."
"I admire you, Twinks... After everything you’ve been through and still you’re not being a bitch about it." His hand rested on my thigh in a soothing gesture.
"People don’t need to know, Achilles..." I sighed, leaning against his side, as his arm snaked around my shoulder. "You didn’t have to know." If only it wasn’t for those meddling kids... Actually, there were no meddling kids, I just thought that sounded cool... Anyhow, if my laptop wouldn’t have needed repairing, Chris probably never would’ve found the former police report I had fully forgotten about in the never endless pile of documents and basically... just all kinds of crap.
"I’m still convinced you had to press charges against that douche..." He caressed my upper arm. See, while he was "fixing" my computer, in reality, he was just putting his nose where it did not belong, while I was upside down drunk and sleeping. First he found the police report, then came the numerous hospital bills he stumbled over, and when I woke up, he started giving questions, until we both came to a conclusion of Barbara’s latest husband (which she found in Vegas and married the same night, by the way) being a psychopath with real anger management issues. As for my mother? She was a cheap actress, who tried finding her luck in the bottom of every bottle.
"Just... let it be." I sighed, "It’s the past and I don’t wanna think about it."
"Okay, just let me say this last thing..."
"Fine. What?"
"You do realize what would go down if someone found out you’ve been violated by your step dad? That’s a big chunk for haters to chew on."
"Maybe that’s why you should stop talking about it, genius?" The memories let alone were painful enough, I didn’t need him reminding about it every two seconds. I knew what would happen if someone would find out. And whatever you’re thinking is wrong- no, the people who hate me wouldn’t feel sympathetic towards me, they’d make up stories about how it had affected me to the worst and that’s why I’m a stripper now. Students, who had experienced my bad days at the Institute and still holds the grudge would claim I’m unstable and incapable of being around children, my future child care rights would be taken away... If you’re famous and you have something to hide – hide it like Taiwanese girls hides their dicks.
"Stop talking about what?" Jenny and her perfect timing. Note the sarcasm. With a heavy sigh I looked back over my shoulder to see her arms crossed over her Jack Daniel’s shirt. Seriously? JD? She eyed us suspiciously. Most dissatisfied she seemed about the way Chris was holding me. A smirk engulfed on her face as Ryan showed on the porch with a cigarette between his lips and a phone pressed against his ear as he greeted Chris with a nod.
"Next week? Yeah... next week sounds great, Viper." He lit up the cigarette. "Yeah, okay... I’ll talk to her.. ‘kay. Bye. " His eyes stayed on me for a moment, before he looked over to Jenny, who had arched her eyebrow on him. He inhaled the nicotine, before blowing out a grayish cloud right after. "What?"
"Can I have a word with you?" She started. "Privately?"