Riding in Vans With Angels

Scarlet and Nick had waited what seemed an age for someone to answer the door. Finally it was wretched open, and as she stared at the man before her, Scarlet realised he hadn’t changed. Something stirred inside her, the small remnants of feelings long buried.

“Robbie.” It was a curt greeting, the kind that conveyed that this was no social visit.

She was disappointed to see a can of beer clutched tightly in a pale hand, annoyed slightly to see his eyes bloodshot with booze despite the fact that it was barely past 3 in the afternoon. He looked at her with glazed eyes, his clothes hanging off an extremely thin frame.

Her first impressions had been wrong; he had changed, though not much. He seemed a lot smaller than the boy she had known in University, seemed almost like a shell of his former self.

“You here for Rivers?” He asked, and she was shocked to see how leery he seemed as he looked her up and down, hunger and desire reflected in his brown eyes.

Nick noticed too, and suddenly his arm was around her waist, holding her protectively to him.

“He’s here then?”

“Sure he is.” He stepped back, allowing room for them both to squeeze in. “Surprised you weren’t here earlier. Thought you cared about him ‘Let.”

Let...

Her eyes narrowed at the name only he ever called her, the name she hadn’t heard since he’d muttered it in his sleep as she’d shifted away from his body.

He walked in front of them into the living room, and she found she wasn’t surprised to see a young teenage girl sitting on the sofa, eyes glued to the TV playing some daytime crappy program, in the same state of immobile drunkenness as Robbie was. His eyes roamed over her, and again she saw that hungry, leery look in his eyes.

Part of her felt jealous that it wasn’t just her, part of her felt sickened that this is what he had become. He gestured to a shut door, and she slipped out of Nick’s grasp to step towards it as Robbie threw himself onto an armchair, taking a swig of his beer.

“So you must be Nick.” He stared with open hostility at the dark haired journalist, as Scarlet pushed open the door and stepped into the dark and dingy bedroom.

Robbie’s fingers drummed on the arm of the chair as Nick crossed his arms, wishing Scarlet would hurry up so they could get the hell out of there.

“I’d be careful if I were you man.” Robbie reached out, grabbing a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table. “She got a lot of people looking out for her.”

Nick raised an eyebrow, studying this low life with obvious contempt. “Next time I need advice from a good for nothing piece of shit, then I’ll come to you.”

He suddenly found himself slammed against the wall – Robbie had moved much quicker than he would have expected. His right arm was across Nick’s throat, the cigarette clutched tightly between two fingers on the end, the hand curved in a half-fist.

“Like I said mate, I’d be careful.”

“Stop it!” Scarlet’s voice came from the doorway, where she stood with her arms crossed, fury and anger blazing in her eyes as she stared at the two men. She was on the verge of a breakdown, she could feel herself boiling over. Behind her Rivers appeared, a drunken grin on his face as he took in the sight of his friend pinning the prick against the wall.

She stormed past Robbie, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and pulling him back. She realised the girl hadn’t moved, and as she left she spoke loudly and clearly to Robbie, “make sure she gets home.”

In the van, she lit a cigarette as she called Gwen, watching Rivers and Nick leave the house, stalking down the path towards the van.

On the drive home, with Arctic Monkey’s When The Sun Goes Down playing, the only sound in the van, she replayed the sight that had met her when she’d gone into the room to find Rivers.

She hadn’t expected to find him fine and dandy, so to speak, but then she hadn’t expected to find him half naked in a room completely closed off to all forms of natural light. She supposed she should feel grateful that a, he was alive and b, he wasn’t with another girl.

He had let out a pitiful moan as she’d whipped open the curtains, allowing the late afternoon sunlight to sweep in. The room stank, of sweat and alcohol, so she had opened the window and taken a deep breath before whirling around and facing him. He’d pulled the covers over his head, so she grabbed the end and yanked them off.

He stared at her from under the mop of hair which had fallen in front of his face, sticking to his skin thanks to the sweat. “Scarlet!” He called happily. “You come for some drinks?”

“No,” she grumbled “I came to take you home, wanker.”

“Love you too babe.” He let his head fall backwards as she scanned the ground, searching for his t-shirt. She found it buried under his jacket, and threw both at him.

“We’ve been worried sick.”

“Why?” He asked from under the t-shirt.

“Because you disappeared for four days, idiot.”

Because of the tone in her voice, he pulled the t-shirt on over his head. Then she’d heard the slam, and stalked angrily to the door.

She pulled the van into the car park provided for their block, and together the three of them stepped out. When they reached the flat, Sapphire showed none of the anger that still bubbled inside Scarlet. Instead she went into anxious mode, fluttering around and making cups of tea, asking Rivers if he was alright. Scarlet gladly accepted the glass of wine that Gwen offered her, and gestured towards her room. When Nick moved to follow, she shook her head.

In her room she revealed to Gwen what had happened, adding in just that Robbie had been an old University friend, the guy who had introduced her, in a sense, to Rivers. Gwen vaguely remembered him from her few visits to Scarlet before Christmas that year, and recalled the sense that something should, would and could happen with Scarlet and Robbie. But she did not voice these thoughts, just listened until Scarlet reached the point where she had phoned Gwen.

Then she burst into tears.

“I felt sick with worry for him Gwen, wondering where the hell he was. It hurt, because I didn’t know if he was alright. And he was there drinking for god knows how long!”

Gwen tried to comfort her friend, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and holding her.

“And on top of that, to see him with Robbie...it’s like it’s my fault or something. If I had stayed in touch with him, or thought of him earlier, then it wouldn’t be like this.”

Gwen knew the drummer well enough to detect the underlining meanings behind her words. “Scarlet, what happened with you Robbie?”

Scarlet sniffed twice, wiped a hand across her eyes and struggled to stop crying. “Promise you won’t tell Nick?” Gwen looked almost shocked at the mere suggestion, and Scarlet carried on. “I slept with him, in our first year...right before I left. Actually, it was the night before. I’d already decided I was leaving but didn’t tell him and just...went. And now...he’s a wreck.” Gwen went to offer that it was not Scarlet’s fault, but was cut off by Scarlet’s hand waving in the air. “Not because of what happened, at least I’m pretty sure it’s not because of me. But...something’s happened. To him and Rivers, they’ve changed so much...I guess we all have...but still...if I’d known earlier...”

“You couldn’t have stopped it happening.” Gwen cut in. “You can’t blame yourself for everything.”

Scarlet nodded, sniffed once more and stood up. She re-did her makeup, covering up the fact that she’d been crying, and together her and Gwen went back to the others. Rivers was slumped over the table, snoring softly, and Sapphire sat drinking her tea. Nick walked towards Scarlet.

“C’mon babe, you need a night out.”

“What about...” She gestured towards the sleeping form of Rivers.

“They’ll look after him.” Nick indicated towards Sapphire and Gwen, who both nodded eagerly knowing that Scarlet needed a date with her boyfriend.

Reluctantly, Scarlet left with Nick, and as she looked back Gwen called “He’ll be alright Scar.”

The drummer nodded slowly before shutting the door behind her.

Barely an hour later and the two girls had Rivers tucked up in his bed, safely out of harm’s way. They had flicked on the TV and were enjoying re-runs of Sex & The City when Jade bounded in, green eyes lit up with excitement.

“Oh no,” Sapphire took in the way Jade glanced around the room, a grin plastered to her face “this cannot be good.”

“Shut up.” Jade laughed. “Now, where’s Scarlet?”

“Nick took her out.” Gwen explained, raising one eyebrow. “What is it Jade?”

“We’ve been invited to a party.” Jade was practically squealing. “One of the students invited us.”

“Us or you?” Sapphire questioned, as she and Gwen cast each other weary glances.

“Definitely us, all of us. You, me, Scarlet, Nick, Melody, Rivers...” She waved a hand through the air. “I thought it’d be a good idea, you know, after...” She gestured towards Rivers’ room “you know, and Lucy said the more the merrier.”

At the name, Jade’s eyes lit up even more, and as she realised, Sapphire nodded, knowing how much this party actually meant to Jade.

“OK, well I’m up for it. We’ve just got to see if the others are.”

Initially Scarlet was weary of the party, thinking it wouldn’t be such a good idea after Rivers’ three day drinking binge.

Sapphire talked her around, first by saying that Rivers was going anyway so she might as well be there to keep an eye on him, and secondly by explaining that this party seemed to mean a lot to Jade.

So, like a convoy, the members of Fallen Angels and The Lamberts plus partners, totalling a number of twelve, arrived in their vans outside the large three story house that belonged to Lucy’s parents. Scarlet and Melody, being the drivers, were the only sober members of the large group, as they had all met at the pub beforehand to have a few pre-party drinks.

Luckily, Lucy had said all of them could stay over for the night, after Jade had told her how many of them were going.

The hostess herself answered the door, pleasantly pissed, and quick introductions were made. Lucy smiled warmly. “Pleasure guys – love the music, by the way.” With the niceties over, she stepped back and ushered them into the house.

The booze was flowing and music was pumping as the two groups drank and mingled, splitting up to go to different rooms, meeting up with various members every so often for a quick chat before going their own ways again.

Scarlet climbed the stairs to the second floor, in search of the bathroom. She’d been doing a few shots with the rest of the Angels plus Nick and Melody, in order to get drunk enough to make up for the time she’d lost not drinking at the pub. Somehow, and she surprised herself with this, she managed to make it to one of the three toilets in the house. Luckily there was no queue for this one, and in she went.

Making her way back to the stairs, she stopped outside a shut door, taking a deep breath of the sweet smell that filtered out through the gaps. Smiling to herself, she pushed the door open to take in the sight of six University students lounging around a blank TV screen on sofas, chairs and the floor, passing two long joints around.

“Hey.” One of the girls greeted her. “An Angel, right? Love you guys – you are awesome.” She drawled in a posh English accent, her eyes glazed over and bloodshot from the weed. Scarlet smiled back at her, and was invited to join the circle.

Happily she chatted with the students, enquiring about their courses, talking about the band, hearing them all admit that they’d been to at least one Fallen Angels gig.

“Your bassist is kinda cute.” The English girl admitted, passing the joint to Scarlet.

“Rivers?” Scarlet became thoughtful. “I guess...never really looked at him like that. He’s dating my sister.”

“Aw.” The girl pouted. “That’s a shame.”

“I’d so do your lead guitarist.” One of the boys called out, causing a few of the others to break out into laughter.

“Yeah? Good luck with that.” Scarlet replied with a soft smile. When both the current joints had been finished, Scarlet stood up. “Cheers guys, but I think I’d better find my boyfriend.” She brushed down her t-shirt, holding up her middle finger at some of the groans that followed her sentence, and the typical whipped noise that followed the jeers. Laughing, she left the room and went downstairs.

She found Sapphire easily, talking to a lanky blond haired guy who bore a striking resemblance to Lucy. As she approached the guitarist, the boy smiled warmly at her.

“You must be Scarlet.” His voice was light, cheerful, and Scarlet nodded. “Nice to meet you. I’m Joey, Lucy’s brother.”

“Ah.” She shook his outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you Joey. You look a lot like your sister.”

He frowned. “Yeah, a lot of people say that.”

“More handsome, of course.” Scarlet finished, feeling more risqué thanks to the alcohol and weed. She turned to her friend. “You seen Nick?”

“Nope.” Sapphire tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and Scarlet saw something in her eyes – a flicker of desire and hope as she glanced at Joey. “Sorry Scar.”

“No problem.” Scarlet smiled happily, seeing a similar look of desire in Joey’s eyes. “I’ll catch up with you later. See you Joey.”

“Bye Scar.”

She didn’t find him downstairs, so returned to the second flood. In another room, she stumbled in on Gwen in a very private moment (luckily with clothes on) and stammering apologies, she stepped back out into the corridor. Outside the door she chuckled to herself, ran a hand through her dark hair, and carried on searching.

The urge inside her was growing, and she tried the next room, part of her almost worried she’d stumble in on another scene like she had with Gwen.

But the scene next door could not be more different. Melody and Rivers paid her no heed as they argued and yelled, insults flying back and forth between them like bullets. They were too caught up in their own drama; they’d have no idea where Nick was, and she knew they would not appreciate her interrupting.

So once more she staggered into the corridor, leant against the wall and logically crossed off the parts of the house she had been in.

She never knew what kind of effect weed would have on her – after all, a lot of the time it depended on the weed itself. How dry it was, how strong it was. Sometimes it made her ramble on about the meaning of life, sometimes it made her giggle non-stop like a crazed lunatic. Often it made her sleepy, a desire taking over to curl up and sleep.

Then there were the times like tonight where a different kind of desire took over, that made her whole body ache and tingle. On more than one occasion it had driven her to the phone, calling Nick and asking him to come over to her flat, if he wasn’t there already.

With each passing second the ache was growing. She needed to find him.

So she headed down the corridor, took a turn that would lead her to the stairs up to the third floor, and bumped into Jade sitting in the large bay window that overlooked the huge garden.

“Hey.” She mumbled, and Jade turned her head and smiled at Scarlet.

“Hey.”

Scarlet was momentarily surprised; Jade seemed to be the most sober of all of them. Considering how much she had drunk before they arrived, how she had seemed when Scarlet herself was sober, this was even more of a shock. Something was wrong with her friend, and so putting her hunt for Nick on a temporary hold, Scarlet squeezed into the space on the large windowsill.

“What’s up?” She asked, carefully surveying Jade’s face as the blonde blushed ever so slightly.

“Nothing.” Jade replied, returning her gaze to stare out of the window. “A lot of people know who we are here, don’t they?” Her voice was low, soft.

“Yea.” Scarlet leant forward. “They all seem to have seen us play, at one point.”

The two drifted into silence, both lost in their own thought, until Scarlet spoke up.

“Why you up here Jade? You should be partying downstairs.”

Again a blush scattered across Jade’s cheeks. “I’m waiting for someone.”

“Lucy?” Scarlet asked, raising her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Jade spluttered, stumbling over her words. “WhywouldIbewaitingforLucy?”

Scarlet put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, squeezing it ever so slightly. “Because if I wasn’t with Nick, and a hot guy invited me to a party then I’d sure as hell go. And I’d wait to see them if they asked me too.”

“What makes you think it’s like that?” A flash of anger crossed over Jade’s face, and she hunched her shoulders defensively, eyes narrowed as she continued looking out of the window.

“Because I saw the way you looked at her when we came in, and the way she looked at you. Jade, it’s OK...I kind of know.”

Jade let out a soft sigh, giving up in defeat. “How long Scar?”

“Have I known for? Well I guessed when we were in school. Worked it out when I came back from University.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jade asked, the look of defiance and anger back in her eyes.

“I didn’t think you wanted me too. And I was kind of waiting for you to tell us.”

“Oh.” Jade looked at Scarlet for the first time, and the drummer realised how much lighter her eyes looked, like a weight had been lifted from them. “You really think she likes me...like that?”

Scarlet grinned. “Looked like.”

Jade returned the grin. “Thanks Scarlet. Oh....I saw Nick go upstairs a bit earlier. Said he was looking for the other loo; someone was in the one on this floor.”

“Cheers.” Scarlet climbed off the sill and started walking towards the stairs.

“Scarlet...” She paused as Jade called her name, and turned to face her friend. “Don’t...mention it to the others, will you?”

Scarlet smiled softly. “’Course not.”

“Thanks Scar.”

“No problem.”