My Little Raspberry

"Gwen! Which are the words to that extremely aggressive Green Day-song again?"

Brendon had stormed in the next morning, not even bothering to knock on the door. He found Gwen sitting by the table in nothing but a large towel around her body, suggesting she'd just gotten out of the shower.

"One, there's something called knocking. Two, now we're even about seeing each other half naked. Three, why do you want to know them?"

"One, I stopped doing that years ago. Two, I've seen you naked before. Three, just write them down!"

There were no point in arguing with him. She scribbled down the words in Platypus and threw the paper to him.

"Great." He took a deep breath. "Dickhead, fuck face, cock smoking, motherfucking, asshole, dirty twat, waste of semen! I hope you die!"

She wasn't ready for him screaming them out with the all the air his lungs could contain. After finishing the last word he looked absolutely broken-hearted, tense shoulders and his eyes showed tracks of extreme exhaustion.

"Sweetness? How are things?"

"It fucking sucks. I thought she was different, y'know? And then she goes completely behind my back. I just didn't know anywhere else to go."

"And you did just right. Hold on a second." She hurried to her room to put on some decent clothes and then came back not long after. "Come, sit with me on the couch, and tell me."

"You remember the woman I met three weeks ago?"

"Uh-huh."

"Her name is Layla by the way. Well, I felt something when I was with her, so I continued seeing her, and have been for the past three weeks while not working with music. And I told her a lot of shit, about myself, all of my flaws, things from when I was little that I wanted to forget. I trusted her with them... and now every fucker in Vegas knows about them, and soon the whole fucking planet."

"Are you saying she went to the media with it?"

"Absolutely, and of course she includes everything about our sexual life and how "easy" I was to get in bed the first night. I'm a fucking whore. And my parents are gonna read it. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Y'know, you live in America, which means that you can sue for basically anything, and that's what I think you should do."

"You are not going to say you're gonna kill her?"

"Fine, I'm gonna kill the bitch, but I really don't deal with things that way. My part is just taking care of my best friend."

She let him rest his head against her chest while holding her arms around him protectively. He just reminded of a lost child, not knowing if he should go to the desk or look himself if his parents had disappeared while they were in the store shopping.

"Leave the killing-part to Betty."

"She's just talking too."

"I know, but she does it more dramatic."

"Thanks."

There was a moment when she just let him find his breath again from listening to her calm heartbeat and chest going up and down. Sammy, who had been out buying some kind of breakfast, came into the apartment and put the bags on the table, but couldn't take her eyes of a page in the paper she was reading.

"Why does this article start with "Friday nights can be filled with exciting events in this small part of Vegas. That night was the Battle of the bands held at the pleasant bar Benny's. I could see friends get together to chat in general and loving couples sitting in corners, using the dark to their advantage. I'm here to find something exciting, and something exciting I find..." and then there's a lot of shit about you, Brendon?"

"Great, now she's one of the fuckers."

"Why does it say here how its like to have sex with you?"

"Ask that fucking Layla. She's the one eager of spreading the word!"

"Are you saying that chick you met three weeks ago is a journalist? That she was only using you to get a good story? That just fucked up."

"Thank you, but I'm kind of aware of it."

"Just stop it, both of you. You, you are suing that bitch, and you, show some support about this. Brendon doesn't want to be reminded about half of that at least."

"He should have thought about that before telling her."

"Oh yeah? Have you ever really thought about what Matthew really is doing in L.A?"

"He's making a record with his band."

"Of what you know, dear." Sammy was silent for a second.

"Excuse me," she said and went to the other side of the room with her cellphone in her hands.

"It would be kinda cool if he was reporter too," Brendon said, and showed a smile for the first time this day.

"God bless that smile of yours."

"God bless you."

"Amen."