Navigate Me

I sighed and closed the door behind Ash. I slid down against it and put my head to my knees. I heard feet shufel towards me and I was ready to hit Mike if he came close to me. Someone's arms draped around me and I looked at them through my hair, thankful to see it was Curtis and not Mike. Curtis brought me closer to him and pet my hair.

I looked up at everyone in the room and realized I was crying. I never cried. I hated Mike for doing this to my twin and I. I stayed in my position, curled into Curtis, feeling too weak to get up. All this emotional baggage felt like an extra fifty pounds. The door opened behind Curtis and I and Curtis's torso fell back and I fell into his lap. I looked up and saw Vic peering down at me.

"Talia, are you crying?" He asked, steping over Curtis and I and holding his hands out so I would get up. Instead I pulled him down into my lap and held him like a teddy bear. I put my head on his shoulder and grumbled, "No, I just have something stuck in both my eyes."

Everyone in the room laughed, including Mike. I shot him a death glare, "You're not allowed to laugh, Fuentes." I spat, "I hate your guts." I sounded like a four year old, goddamnit. Not that I cared in the least, as long as it got my point across.

"Wait, wait, wait. What happened?" Oli asked, sitting up and off of Kim's lap, her red curls getting stuck to his face. He blew them away and Kim giggled, then held her hand over her mouth. I smiled at her through my frustrated tears.

"Mikes an asshole and we got in a fight and now my twins gone and I'm crying and alone with you freaks and British weirdos and I don’t know what to do." I cried like a two year old again. Everyone in the room looked at me with those 'oh-you-poor-thing' expressions and Curtis wrapped his arms around me. I put my hand ontop of his and noticed it was bleeding. "Oh, fuck!"

"What? Oh, ew. Why are you bleedin', love?" Curtis asked.

Vic started giggling from my lap. I looked at him questioningly as he turned around and faced me. He started singing "I keep bleeding! I keep, keep bleeding love!" I smiled at him as Curtis grabbed my hand and looked at it, asking me again, why I was bleeding.

"She punched me in the face." Mike said, his voice monotone, "Twice."

I threw Vic off my lap and got up, getting back in Mike's face. "You deserved it and I will do it again right now, you motherfucker!" I said maliciously, smacking him across the face. Jaime put his arms around me and brought me across the room, near the door again. I looked at Jaime and gave him a tight hug. I blew out a breath of air and pulled away. "Fuck this, I'm going to go get tea." I said, walking off of the bus.

Jaime followed me outside, "Talia-" I turned around and looked at him, my eyebrows knit together frustratedly. "Don’t be mad at me, Tals."

I sighed, "I'm not mad at you, I think my face is fucking stuck this way. I hate Mike. Tell him that, please. Over and over. And then tell him that when I get my hand to stop bleeding I'm going to kick his ass!" I screamed, loud enough, I was sure they could hear me in the bus. "Actually, I'm going to tell him myself-" I said, opening the door to the bus again and finding Mike, "Watch yourself, fool."

I closed the door again and started walking fast. Jaime had to jog to keep up with me. "Talia, about what we talked about before-" Jaime said, stopping me. I looked at him softly. "Are you sure your sister likes me? Because I dumped my girlfriend a few days ago for Ash and well, I don't like being alone. You know that. That’s what my old girlfriend was doing, just filling a void, a security blanket. But I do like your sister."

"She likes you too, Jaimito," I cooed, touching his arm. "Now, if you'd let me, I'm going to go get tea and set up for the show." Jaime nodded and gave me a hug. I bounded off and got my tea.

- - -

Chad cackled as I put up the hoodie on the wall. "I can't believe you punched Mike, baby T." He put up a yellow PTV shirt with a werewolf playing basket ball on it and looked at my fist. "You gave him a good black eye there. He had a hand print from baby A's slap for like two hours."

I shook my head, "Fuck Mike. He's an asshole and if he does one more shitty thing, I will take him outside and fuck him in the street!" I said, glaring at a PTV poster. I took a sharpie and drew the devils' horns on Mike.

Chad started cracking up, "I'm sure he'd like you fucking him in the street!"

I choked and looked at Chad menacingly, "I was quoting Pinapple Express, you dumb shit!" I took a sip of my tee and took a seat inside one of the merch bins. Ash and Tony walked up to us and Tony started talking to Chad, then looked at me and smiled, continued talking to Chad, and finally looked back at me, realizing I was sitting inside a plastic bin.

"Talia, you do realize you are not merch, right?" Tony asked. I nodded and Ash plopped herself down in my lap.

"Hey twinny." We said at the same time, hugging eachother. "I have tea, do you want any?" We asked eachother at the same time. Everyone around us started looking at us in awe. We both rolled our eyes.

Ash popped up out of the merch bin and helped me up. "Fuck this! I'm over this shit! I want to party and go around and party and, twinny lets party!"

Tony looked at Ash like she was crazy, then asked me, "Is she drunk?"

I shook my head and patted his cheek with my left hand, "No, honey. This is what happens when she doesn’t want to be mad anymore. Ash! Come back here, stop petting Four Year Strong's beards!" I shrieked, running after Ash and jumping on her back as she pet all of FYS's faces. They laughed and I smacked Ash's ass. "Giddy up, sexy cowgirl." I drawled.

Ash ran us into the pit and danced around with me on her back, making her way to the front. Vic looked at us and started laughing in the middle of his song. Most everyone's eyes were on us again and I held onto Ash tighter. "Lets blow this joint, horsey."

After the concert was over, Ash and I did our usual merch-selling routine. We stood up on the table and held up a piece of merch each. Today, I held up the purple and yellow 'Yeah Boy!' shorts. I started screaming, "BUY SOME BOOTY HUGGING SHORRRRRRRTS, I PROMISE YOU JAIME PRECIADO AND HIS BASALISK HAVE BEEN IN ALL OF THESE DFISHBOOTYHUGGINSHORTS, I KNOW YOU ALL WANT HIM TO VISIT YOUR CHAMBER OF SECRETTTTTTS!"

Tony walked by us, then stopped to watch us.

Ash started screaming, finishing my sentence, "YES EVEN YOU BIG MAN WITH GAGUES! Sup?" She asked, nodding at Tony.

"I'm in the band." He said, laughing.

I shook my head, "Big man with gauges here wants some booty huggin', Preciado wearin' shorts!"

We continued, carrying on like that for hours, selling more than three hundred dollars worth of merch. Near the end of the night, when all the bands came back to their merch booths to see what they earned, Ash and I hopped off the table and sat in an empty merch bin again.

Tony looked at us and laughed, "I'm going to start thinking you guys are merch. I might want to buy you." He winked.

"Nuh uh, Tones. You can't buy my love. My love is free!" I sang, swinging my arm around my sister. I heard someone scoff and Mike's head came into view. If that boy wasn’t careful, he was going to end up looking like something from the movie Fight Club.

Mike stepped in front of Tony and looked at us. We hissed and he locked his jaw, preparing to say something. Ash interrupted him, "What do you want, chimp fucking bastard."