Drumsticks 2.0

Heaven looked at the empty parking lot. Stared at the empty parking space where the van had been. Glared until it felt that her eyes were going to fall out of her head. Nope. The van was still missing. Heaven closed her eyes for a second, feeling a headache coming on. She scanned the road, hoping that it was a practical joke. Nope, no dice.

So maybe it hadn't been smart to split up and agree to meet at the gate. But the rest of the group had wanted to see a different I-Max movie than the girls, so they went to the last showing which got out ten minutes before the zoo closed, and Heaven and Tarra went to an earlier show. They had wanted to see the monkeys before they left so they had happily spent the last hour walking around the grounds without their friends.

Tarra had called Brendon right before the show was set to start and told him to meet them at the main gates when they were finished and then they'd get some food and head home. Tarra and Heaven had sat at the front gates for an hour waiting for the group. When they didn't show they decided that maybe they had left out the gate closest to where they'd parked. So they'd walked to that gate and waited for another hour.

Two hours after the park had closed and not only were they no where to be found, but all the parking lots were empty and it was starting to get cold.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Heaven snapped, "Lamest zoo trip ever."

"Don't knock the zoo trip," Tarra rolled her eyes, "It’s the after party that sucks."

"Just call Brendon," Heaven muttered with a whine, "I'm cold."

Tarra's pulled her phone out and looked down at the screen, "Shit."

"What?" Heaven asked, frowning at Tarra's tone.

"The battery is dead."

"Fine, hold on," Heaven dug her sidekick out of her pocket and hit the unlock button, "Umm, Tarra? Did you set a password on my phone?"

"No, I haven't touched it. Why...hey, I thought your sidekick was an Id."

"It is," Heaven said looking down at her phone, "Oh, well crap." She looked at the LX she was holding,
"When did Pete customize his to look like mine?"

"I think he did it on accident. He changes how his phone looks a zillion times a day."

"If you were Pete what would you set your password as?"

"I dunno, iloveme?"

"Wentzilla. mfamous. cristi. hemmingway. Argh! I'm gonna kill Pete!"

"I'm cold now," Tarra said, "Okay, let’s go. There have got to be shops somewhere around here."

They linked arms and started walking, "I think I remember there being a comic shop about a mile from here," Heaven said, "They have all kinds of merch there."

"Good," Tarra said, digging through her bag, "Oh look, I have Brendon's wallet."

Heaven laughed, still fiddling with the phone. She tried another password and wrinkled her nose when she was denied.

The walk didn't take too long, unless you counted crossing the busy streets, but they finally made it to the comic shop. They pushed open the door and walked into the warmth of the shop with a hiss. Their cooled skin flushed and started to tingle, almost as if it had fallen asleep. Heaven scrubbed at her arms with her palms and shivered.

"Oh look, a Rogue hoodie!" she said happily and skipped over to it, forgetting the phone for a second.

Twenty minutes later the two girls were tricked out in X-Men gear. Heaven shuffled through a random copy of Preacher. Clearing her throat she began reading out loud.

“Hey, did anyone lose a hand? Cause I just found this one on my ass,” she read out loud to the room, “God, I love Tulip, she’s so hardcore. She and Jesse belonged together.”

Tarra snorted, “They were always arguing. Didn’t they break up a couple of times in the series.”

“Does that even really matter?” Heaven asked, “Besides, there’s not really a relationship if neither of you admit to one.”

“Ah, so it’s not breaking up if there was no title to throw away?”

“Exactly,” Heaven nodded, with a grin.

“This explains so much about you,” Tarra shook her head at her best friend, picking up a copy herself,
“…And I also want to know where I can find a very experienced whore.”

“Two feet in front of you, and to the left,” Heaven snickered. Tarra looked to her left to where a guy was standing, holding a Spock doll and arguing with his friend.

“I’m just saying, he doesn’t resemble the real Spock.”

“Well,” his friend said, “It’s 2007. I mean, Spock’s bound to have had a face lift or something by now.”

“Oh god,” Heaven turned to hide her smirk, “I know I’m a nerd, but damn if I’ve ever been that bad.”

“The sad thing is,” Tarra said, “I thought the same thing when I looked at that action figure three minutes ago.”

“Action figure,” Heaven snickered, “It’s a damn doll.”

“Says the girl who insists her mom call her Gerard Way doll an action figure.”

“Gerard Way is way more hardcore than Spock,” Heaven sniffed disdainfully, “Gerard would totally kick Spock’s ass before Scotty could beam him up.”

Tarra stuck her tongue out at Heaven. Heaven snorted. “Trekkie.”

“Damn straight,” Tarra agreed with a laugh.

“I’m leaving now,” Heaven warned her friend, turning to find The Dark Phoenix Saga, since she’d accidentally spilled a bottle of paint on her old copy. They were both carrying a bag of comics each and heading toward the nearest McDonalds. It was getting windy, but the chill had settled nicely. Especially since they had matching hoodies. (Tarra’s were Gambit and Heaven’s was Rogue.)

"I'm starving," Heaven moaned, "I am so eating 20 McFlurries."

"I bet you can't," Tarra laughed.

"Yes I can."

"Can't."

"Oh, I am sooo gonna do it now," Heaven said as they pushed the door open.

Tarra rolled her eyes and stepped up to order a fish sandwich and a large fry. Heaven ducked up after her and ordered a McChicken and a fry. She paused, and then leaned back up to order two McFlurries. They paid with Brendon's credit card and shuffled to a booth in the back. Heaven pulled out The Dark Phoenix Saga and started reading it, playing with Pete's phone as she went. She was randomly putting in passwords now, hoping for something.

Halfway through her second McFlurry the phone opened and she paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth, "Oh hell yeah!"

She searched through Pete's contact list and clicked on herself. She listened to her ring back tone while she waited. She was humming along with Sigillum Diaboli when he answered.

"This is Pete," she could hear his grin through the phone.

"Yeah, this is Heaven, where the hell are you?" she snapped into the phone.

"We're waiting for you guys to get out of the bathroom," now he sounded confused.

"What bathroom?" she asked, faux cheerfully.

"The bathroom at the rest stop halfway to your house?" it was more a question than a statement.

"We're not in the bathroom, Pete, we're at McDonalds."

"We left you at McDonalds!" Pete shouted. She could hear him whispering frantically to Cristi and Brendon now.

"You left us at the zoo, asshat," Heaven said dryly, "We're still in Omaha."

"What!? You're still in Omaha!"

"Give me the phone," Tarra said, holding her hand out, "Yeah, let me talk to Brendon."

She stalked down hallway and into the bathroom. Heaven could vaguely hear her screaming at Brendon. How could they have gotten halfway to Saint Joe without realizing that the two people who sat on other people's laps weren't in the van. They were friends with a bunch of idiots. Shaking her head she went back up the the counter to order five more McFlurries. She was finished with three of them by the time Tarra came back with red eyes.

"They're coming back to get us," she said stiffly, "I broke up with Brendon."

"Aww, I'm sorry Tarra," Heaven hugged her friend lightly, "Are you okay?"

"No. I'm pissed off. How does your boyfriend not realize you aren't in the car with them. Especially since I rode down on his lap."

"I rode down on Ross' lap. Its not like he was bemoaning my loss."

"You're not dating Ryan. There's a difference. They said they thought we were sitting on each other's laps. They've been waiting for us to come out of the bathroom for half an hour."

"Idiots," Heaven shook her head fondly, "We get to mock them for forever, now, right?"

"Pretty much."

"And you and Brendon are going to make up, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Good. The best thing to hold onto in life is each other," Heaven said wisely.

"Hey now," Tarra rolled her eyes, "No quoting Hepburn if you're not going to follow the advice yourself."

"There's a difference, Tarra. I want William, okay. But I can't have him. Maybe this is a sign. I mean, look at everything we've been through. We were whatever, and then the whole pregnancy thing happened. And, I just. What if William's not supposed to be mine. What if he's supposed to wind up with some girl named, like, Nicole or something?"

"Some times you're really stupid," Tarra said.

Heaven rolled her eyes and stood up to order more McFlurries. They sat in silence while Heaven ate and Tarra read her comics. Heaven lifted Pete's sidekick up a logged on to her livejournal. She typed away furiously, making annoyed noises about updating from a phone. Finally she sighed and sat it down to take another bite.

ashotofheaven wrote Aug 15, 8:39pm:
There was never anything I wanted more than I want you. Maybe this is a sign of what's to come.
Let's face it, I'm pretty bad for you. I'm pretty bad for me too.

I miss your stupid face. Your voice. Your eyes.
Your kiss.
The sheets are colder without you.
___

"I'm going to throw up," Heaven whined, "I am going to throw up and it'll be spectacular."

"I told you not to eat all those McFlurries," Tarra said sagely.

"No you didn't. You said I couldn't eat all those McFlurries. And I did. I just don't feel good, now,"
Heaven clutched at her stomach, "Ick."

"It was kinda funny watching you get brain freeze on the seventeenth one."

"Shut up, Tarra," Heaven moaned, clutching her stomach, "I am going to throw up. I am going to throw up and it will not only be spectacular, but all over you."

Tarra slid away from Heaven on the booth bench with a snort of laughter. Pete's phone rang and Heaven answered it without looking.

"Wentzbag's telephone," she sing-songed.

"Heaven?" William's voice echoed in her ears.

"Hi William," she winced, looking over at Tarra with wide eyes. Tarra shrugged at her, what am I supposed to do.

"Um. How are you?"

"I'm. Good. Fine. Good. I-" she stuttered, "How are you?"

"I'm shitty," William said, and Heaven cringed. Well atleast one of them were being honest.

"I'm sorry," she said, breath hitching. She rubbed at her eyes. She really just wanted her Beckett pillow. And maybe Georgette, her teddy bear.

"This isn't your fault. Not entirely," William offered and she gave a hoarse laugh.

"No. Of course it isn't, but thanks for that."

"I'm sorry," William said and she sighed again, "I don't know what you want me to say. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I hate this."

"I do too. But maybe this is--"

"How its supposed to be? That's a cop out. Why can't we just be what we were?"

"Why can't we just be, William? You're so scene you can't handle labels?" Heaven huffed.

"Jesus Christ, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" William snapped, "It's not the label, its the level of privacy."

"What is so wrong about telling, I don't know, Siska. Or Pete? Why can't it be just between us and our friends? Why is it so wrong that I want to hear it? Look, I have to go, if you want Pete call my phone."

She pressed the end button and stared down at the table. She looked up at Tarra as the door to McDonald's opened to reveal Pete and Cristi. Heaven and Tarra followed them out to the van. Pete poked Heaven on her way in.

"Hanging up in the middle of a serious conversation?" Pete tucked an arm around her shoulder, "When did you become the Cowardly Lion."

"Fuck you," Heaven snapped, climbing into the back seat, "And who let you drive anyway?"

Pete laughed as he shut the van door behind her. He climbed into the driver's seat and slipped on his seat, "I did kinda wonder why you weren't complaining about that on the way home the first time."

"Yeah," Heaven said snidely, "There's your sign."

Pete just laughed again.

BBecks wrote Aug 16, 12:32am:
“The only thing worse for you than you is me
The only thing worse for you than you is me
The life that I’ve chosen to live will take your heart and swallow it