Book Half Unread

"London!" My voice rang through the entire apartment and I wouldn't be surprised that the people across, beside, and above and below us heard me yell as well. The reason for my yelling? Why Lon's disgusting girlfriend of course. "London Nikolas Vlachos where are you?!" I stomped downstairs past my boyfriend and walked straight to the downstairs bedroom that London lived in. I swung the door open and felt my blood boil at not seeing him in his room. Walking back out I saw him leaning against the rail of the balcony. I slid the door open, making him turn around.

"Yes?" His eyebrow was quirked as he looked to me. I frowned and immediately calmed down at seeing a cigarette in his hand. Something was going on with him. I came to know that he only smoked when something terrible was going on in his life.

Stretching my latex gloved hand out, I handed him his girlfriend's thong. "Your nasty girlfriend's been in my bathroom. Why can't she just use yours?" I tried to keep the antagonism out of my voice.

"She does what she wants I guess. What am I supposed to tell her, don't use the bathroom?" He took a long drag and turned his head away as the breathed out the smoke.

Finally I asked him, "What's wrong, London?"

"I got a job."

"Well that's great! What's wrong with that?" I asked, smiling. This was a really great thing. We moved into this apartment mid June and it's been a month. Colin ended up getting a job at Fletchers, a bar and music venue on the other side of the Inner Harbor; the best part was that it was only thirty or so minutes away by walking. I still worked at the Current Gallery. London, however, had only been doing free lance photography for the papers, getting less than a hundred for each photo, and taking photographs for local bands.

"It's for Warped Tour; when they come to Virginia Beach I'm supposed to go and do photography on their featured band."

"It's Bayside this year, isn't it? Oh that's amazing, I like their music! What's so bad about it? You're not making sense, Lon."

He sighed and turned to me. "I have to follow them till the end of the tour. What sucks is that I have to find my own way there to each stop, alone, and I won't be back till almost the end of August."

I stood there silently. Living a month and a half without London didn't seem normal. "Well, what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean, we?" He looked at me quizzically.

"London, you're our best friend. Colin and I aren't going to leave you high and dry. What if we went with you? We could be like your crew."

He stared at me blankly for a minute before speaking again. "Aimee, you are the most childish girl I have ever met my entire life. Do you day dream about unicorns and mermaids too? You two can't just stop your lives to come with me. It's unrealistic."

I was taken aback. "But London-"

"-No, just stop. Why don't you go start dinner or something; it's your night, right?" He flicked his ashes while he watched me intently.

Sighing I turned and opened the balcony door. "London, tell your girlfriend to stay out of my room. I don't enjoy her presence." He waved his hand without turning around and I trudged back upstairs. It was time to spill the news to Colin.

After telling Colin about this, he and I had a long talk. We made a few calls and came up with a plan. The door bell rang; I went downstairs in time to see London answer it. The sight of blonde hair made me want to gag as I went half way up the stairs and called to Colin to shut my door before going over to the kitchen and looking in the freezer and fridge for something to make for dinner. "Guys, we might have to go out and eat tonight. Colin did you do the grocery shopping?" I called, shutting the refrigerator doors.

A stampeding sound of footsteps sounded from the stairs as Colin ran down them. "That's what I forgot! Shit, baby I'm sorry." I shook my head and trudged past him to get upstairs.

"Five minutes… I'll be back." I went upstairs to get out of my sweats. I changed really quick then did my hair and make up before jetting back downstairs. I paused and grumbled to myself as I saw London's girlfriend Valerie sitting with her legs wide open and her shoes propped on the coffee table. Restraining myself from screaming, I walked over and knocked her legs off. "Valerie, this isn't your house."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and went back to watching the television. I sighed and walked over to the kitchen where Colin was sitting on the counter.

"Colin, she's horrible," I cried quietly to him as I stood between his legs and hugged him, pressing my face to his shirt. He laughed and slid off the counter, taking me out to the living room and past Valerie over toward London's room. I swear that girl only came over to watch TV. We've all been to her apartment before and well, we never went back: at least Colin and I didn't.

"Hey London, let's go eat at Blu Bambu," Colin called. The door opened and London stood there with a grin on his face. He loved the Blu Bambu and so did we. It was the first place we ate at when we moved in together. Actually, I think London just liked Chinese food and pizza in general.

"Dude, two seconds to change." He turned back around and we watched as he pulled out a red hoodie and a white V-neck shirt, throwing them both on and pushing the sleeves up. I turned around as he threw his basketball shorts off. He rushed past me and I saw he had thrown on a pair of tight black knee length cut off jeans. "Valerie, get off your fat ass already. We're going to eat."

The four of us walked down Pratt Street. Colin had his arm around my waist the whole way to the restaurant. It took about twenty minutes to get there. I ordered the Golden Honey Chicken Tempura and Colin got the Vegetable Fried Rice. We usually shared our food with anyone who wanted any. London, however, loved sushi and ordered the Double Roll Sushi Box while Valerie got a Cucumber Roll.

Dinner was quick and totally causal. I loved eating with the boys, even if Valerie was there. We all, and when I say that I mean the three of them and not I, went in a circle throwing in dollars until the bill was paid off and then I took care of the tip.

"Guys I'll see you back home. I'm going to take Val home first." London zipped his hoodie up half way, grabbing Valerie's purse for her.

Colin and I stood up. "Okay hon, see you at home then," I said, giving him a hug. He gave me a small kiss on the temple.

"If he decides to come home that is." Colin and him did their secret handshake that they had made up their freshman year at the U; silly boys.

We departed ways from the restaurant, Colin and I heading west and the other two heading north. I stopped half way back to the Zenith and fixed Colin's yellow sweater. He almost reminded me of a bumble bee with his black and white striped shirt beneath it. I looked up to his face. "You think he's going to come home tonight?" I asked him, sliding my arms around his torso. He simply laughed at me and shook his head no.

"You want to…" he trailed off, playing with the ends of my hair.

"I don't know, C. I've never, you know." I hinted at what I was trying to say, attempting to avoid sounding lame. I still failed.

"I guess we should worry about Operation Vlachos instead, huh?" He gave me a grin and kissed my nose. "I love you Aimee. You care so fucking much about people."

"Well, to be honest, I only care for those who treat me right." As we made our way into our building and up to our apartment I went and showered, changing into a pair of purple underoos with white stitching and a size too big white tee.

"So you want to go van searching in the morning?"

I screamed and jumped, turning around to see Colin in his sweat shorts laughing at me. Turning a slight red, I sighed calming down. My hand to my heart I finally spoke up. "What did you just ask?"

"Are we going to buy a van tomorrow?" he asked. He walked over and hugged me tight.

"Yeah. Can I name it?" I asked him, hugging him back.

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to name the van?" I nodded happily. "I guess so, but nothing gay like The Unicorn Fairy or something like that."

"Sure, sure. I'm going to bed; it's getting late," I said giving a small yawn. "So shoo." I gently shoved him to the door.

Once he was on the other side of the door I closed it partially. He smiled at me through the partial opening. "Good night." He leaned in and gave me a small kiss before walking to his room next to mine. I smiled to myself and closed the door before crawling into bed and passing out.

I woke up the next morning and threw on simple black skinny jeans and a white V-neck with a black vest over it. I slipped my feet into black and gold ankle high gladiators. I got ready and easily brushed and arranged my hair neatly before going down to see Colin sitting on the counter and eating a bowl of cereal and another bowl sitting beside him. I kissed him good morning and hopped up beside him. I ate breakfast with him and we headed out, leaving a note on London's door.

We left at nine this morning and it was now noon. We had been looking all morning for a van at three different dealerships. We went to a fourth one and that's where we found the one. After scrutinizing every bit of it, from the cleanliness of the window and television screens and the sound quality of the stereo to the smoothness of the drive and quality of the seats, we bought it without a second thought.

As we drove home Colin asked, "What are you naming it?"

It took the whole ride back before I answered him. "The Big Moose."

When we got back to the apartment we saw London sitting on the couch with bagel bites. It was then we broke out the final plan to him. He was going to take the job on following Bayside and we were going with him in the new van; we already made arrangements at work to take personal leave for two months. I called Jenna and Josh, asking them to just cover for me. It didn't take a rocket scientist to do what I did at The Current. Concerning rent, though, we had already paid at least a month and a half's worth so we wouldn't have to worry until later. He fell silent through our entire speech until the end.

"I don't know, but alright," he said finally, giving us a partial smile. Grinning I gave him a hug.

"You won't regret it. You're going to love The Big Moose!"

He looked at me funnily. "Big Moose? Colin, I think you're dating a crazy."

On the twenty-second we left for Virginia Beach at two in the morning. I spent the day before packing clothes for myself and getting the things the boys would forget like their passports since I didn't have to work today anyway. London decided that he'd drive the whole way there and he took the coastal route. We stopped a few times for bathroom breaks. It was about five in the morning when we needed to stop and find something to eat. He pulled off somewhere at a gas station that was actually a block from the beach. We got chips, popcorn, candy, drinks, and a packet of cigs for London before going down to the beach for a little bit.

We sat on the sand; I was between the two of them snacking on white cheddar cheese popcorn and Jones Soda. "London, how much longer till we get there?" I asked, feeding Colin a piece of popped goodness.

"TomTom says about another hour and a half."

The light of a match made me sigh. "Why are you smoking now?"

"You try driving when it's pitch black for five hours," he muttered. When he finished his smoke we were back to driving and I went to sleep for the next two hours.

When I finally woke up I found a note. They'd gone off exploring and left me behind. Grabbing my cell phone, camera, and my press pass, I got up and out of the van. I used the glare of the sun on the van to brush my hair and took a few tic-tacs before walking off as well, remembering what buses were where. The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater was pretty big to be honest; it was bigger than the normal music venues that I'd only been to, of course.

Here and there I stopped every so often to talk to bands when I found them and took pictures. I found Forever the Sickest Kids and The Maine hanging out together; they were really sweethearts and didn't mind the photographs I asked from them.

I took a few lefts and rights, getting myself lost. With a sigh, I turned to go back when I was hit in the face with something hard, making me drop my Nikon and fall over. I held my mouth, where the pain was coming from, with both of my hands as I laid there.

"Whoa, are you okay? Shit, I'm sorry," someone said. I could feel the sun being blocked from my face. I opened my eyes slightly and froze upon seeing a familiar face. "Aimee?"

"Rian?!" I said, my voice muffled from behind my hands.

"Ah man the guys are going to flip. Are you okay? That football hit you dead on." He reached down and pulled my hands from my face and grimaced. "Shit… Come on; I think I busted your lip. Hey, Pat; we'll finish later."