Let's Watch It Burn

Letty opened her eyes only to be blinded by some kind of bright light. She squinted until she could adjust to the light and looked around. Was she dead now?

"Glad to see you're awake, Miss Montgomery."

Letty turned to the voice, half expecting it to be God. She was a bit surprised to find a middle-aged man with a mustache instead.

"Where am I?"

The man chuckled, "You're in a hospital. You were brought here early this morning."

She nodded, remembering the events that happened last night...er morning. Taking a look over her body, she noticed the wraps on her arms, her leg covered in some sort of bandages and her other foot wrapped and in a brace so it wouldn't be able to move.

"You only sprained your ankle; lucky on your part," the man said, gesturing to the foot Letty was looking at.

"Yeah...who are you?" she asked.

He chuckled again, "I'm Dr. Parker. I put the stitches in your leg and got you all cleaned up. From what those two men said, you were quite the mess."

She looked at him confused, "Two men?"

"The two men that brought you in. They were wearing masks, a bit strange if you ask me, but they were nice men nonetheless."

Letty thought for a moment; she didn't know any masked men.

"Brought me in? How.."

"Dr. Parker!" a nurse called, "You're needed in the ER."

He nodded, "Well Miss Montgomery, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. But if you excuse me, I must be going."

She watched as he briskly walked out of the room, nurse following. How was she supposed to ask questions if no one was around? She sighed and leaned her head back on the pillows. Maybe she could find out more after she took a nice, long, much-needed nap.

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Johnny flipped over onto his other side, trying to get more comfortable. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night. First with the random bleeding girl and then partying when he and Charlie got back. The two told the other guys about what had happened, and now Johnny had been thinking about it all night.

He groaned, figuring he wasn't getting sleep anymore, and sat up on the couch. He had been living on J's couch for some time now. Not that J seemed to mind, but Johnny did. He hated mooching off his friends.

He walked into the kitchen area to find Charlie already there, sitting on one of the old chairs that looked like it could break any minute.

"Hey."

"Hey," Johnny replied, "you look like shit."

Charlie laughed, "Right back at you."

Johnny shuffled over and took a seat next to him, "We the only ones up?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Dil and Deuce left already to go who knows where, J's still sleeping and if I remember right, Douchebag is passed out in the bathtub."

Johnny laughed at Charlie's choice of a name for Matt, "I see."

The sat in silence for a few minutes until Jorel walked into the kitchen and joined them.

"Hey guys."

Charlie and Johnny grunted in response and went back to sitting in silence. Johnny crossed him arms over his chest and leaned back.

He sighed, "What are we doing today, guys?"

Charlie shrugged, "Hang out, I guess. We could go to my place or something."

Jorel nodded, "Sounds good. But, let's get some food first. I'm starving."

Johnny's stomach growled in response and the guys laughed, "I guess I agree."

Charlie turned to Jorel, "Might wanna wake up Sleeping Beauty in your bathtub first."

He laughed, "Right."

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Letty sighed as shewalked limped down the streets of Hollywood. She hadn't exactly been released from the hospital, but decided she wanted to leave. Dr. Parker had been nice enough to let her go, since there wasn't a need for her to be in the hospital. She just had to be careful of her stitches and walk carefully on her right foot. She had refused crutches; the last thing she wanted was to look like a cripple walking around Hollywood. Not cool.

She had no idea how she was going to pay for her hospital bill, especially since she barely had enough money to eat anymore. The food at the hospital was disgusting, so she was in search of a place to get something to get the horrid taste out of her mouth.

She looked up to see an old fashioned neon sign above a small restaurant. She never realized they still had old family places like this around anymore, even if it was just the outskirts of Hollywood. She shrugged and walked inside.

Letty was greeted with the intoxicating aroma of pancakes. The place looked like an old 50s diner, and there was hardly anyone inside. She sat down in the booth farthest from the door and rested her head on her hand.

An older woman came over, "What can I get you, dearie?"

Letty looked at the old woman. She had to have been working here for years, since the place first opened. When she was really young, Letty assumed. She also noticed that her nametag read 'Bea'.

"I'll just have some coffee, thanks."

Bea looked at her disbelievingly, "That's all?"

Letty shrugged. She couldn't afford anything else, and she really didn't want to talk to anyone, let alone some old lady at a diner.

She scribbled something else down on her pad and looked at Letty, "Be right back."

Letty sighed and resumed leaning on her hand, grimacing as she did so. It hurt to do anything. Pain killers never helped.

A ring was heard as the door to the diner opened and four guys piled inside. She payed no attention to them and continued staring at the table in front of her, not looking up once.

Meanwhile, the four guys were all talking, laughing and having a good time. The same woman took their orders and wandered back into the kitchen, bringing out Letty's cup of coffee and a plate of pancakes.

Letty shook her head and gently pushed the plate back towards the woman. Bea stubbornly pushed to plate back to Letty.

"It's on the house."

Letty shook her head again. She didn't need this right now; she wanted to be left alone. Bea smiled sadly and walked away, leaving the plate on the table. Letty sighed. She always drove everyone away, but that was what she wanted, wasn't it?

She looked up and noticed one of the guys a couple tables down was staring at her. Almost as if he knew her, or like he was trying to figure her out. She shrugged it off and drank her coffee, glancing down at the pancakes every now and then.

The next time Letty looked up, not only was the guy from before still staring, but his friend sitting next to him was too. She stared back emotionlessly. Their gazes never left her, but she finally got tired of looking and decided to start eating the pancakes she didn't want; glancing at the men every now and then.

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Johnny couldn't help but look over the girl across the room. Her bangs hung in her eyes as she ate. She kept glancing at him and Charlie, probably wondering why they were staring at her. But he was sure it was the girl they had found last night. If it was, why was she out of the hospital already? She couldn't be better yet.

Matt took notice and turned around in the booth, causing the girl to lift her head and look at him. The expression on her face was blank, unreadable. Matt lifted an eyebrow and the girl turned away.

"She doesn't seem very sociable."

Charlie rolled his eyes, "What was your first clue?"

Johnny ignored the comment and turned to Charlie, "Think we should say something?"

"Like what? 'Hey, we found you bleeding in an alley last night so we took you to the hospital. How ya doin'?' Yeah that'll really go over well. She'll probably think we raped her or something."

Johnny sighed, "I still think we should say something. She's probably freaked out at all of us staring at her."

"I don't think she really cares," Jorel said, turning back from taking his turn to look at her, "she looks like she cares about nothing, about no one."

Johnny looked at her one more time. Her sleeves on her dirty black hoodie were rolled up; revealing that her arms were wrapped with bandages. He watched as she got up, mumbled a 'thanks' to the old waitress, and started limping towards the exit. Yep, she was definately the girl from last night.

Her eyes were fixed on the ground as she passed the table of guys. She stopped next to Johnny, turning to face him. Her dark gray eyes bore into Johnny's, causing him to subconsciously move back a bit. She opened her mouth to speak to him. Her voice sounded forced, like she hardly ever used it.

"It's not polite to stare."