You're All I Need

"Imogene, don't make me go to bed without you." Tommy whined.

"Why? If you want to grow up to be a big, strong dinosaur, you need to sleep." I said, pushing him back through the doors to my old bedroom, where we would all cram into my bed. He resisted.

"Vince is gonna rape me."

"Vince will not rape you, Tommy. Go to bed."

He finally gave in and trudged into the bedroom. Vince looked up. "Hello there, Tommy. We'll have a good time tonight. You wait and see." He said jokingly. Tommy squeaked and glanced back at me.

"What did I tell you? Bitch, if I die tonight, you can't come to my funeral!"

"Fine with me. Goodnight." I shut the door and ran smack into Ralph. "Hi, Ralph. What brings you here?"

"I live here."

"Mick, Rose-- you assholes, go into the closet!" Vince screamed from behind the door.

"Oh yes." I nodded, looking back at Ralph.

"WHAT PART OF 'GO TO THE FUCKING CLOSET' DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" Vince yelled again.

"Shut up, Vince. They can go anywhere they want to." I elbowed the door.

"No. They're scaring Tommy."

I opened the door and sure enough, Tommy was in the corner in fetal position. I looked over at Mick and Rose and rolled my eyes.

"They're hugging."

Nikki emerged from under the bed. "That's what they want you to think!"

Vince poked his head out from under too. Nikki got up and purposely stepped on him, laughing about it.

"Dammit, and you call me the fatass!" Vince gasped. Nikki just skipped along, pretending nothing happened. I helped him up and set him on the mattress, ordering Nikki to join him.

"Go to sleep. Right now. If you don't, I'll have to punish you."

Vince sat up. "I'm not going to sleep. Punish away." I rolled my eyes and slammed his head into the pillow.

"You're disgusting," I muttered.

"I'm playful." He wiggled around.

"Bastard." Nikki screeched and slapped Vince across the face, making Vince jump up to strangle him, shouting every profanity known to man. I sighed and let them go, exiting the room. Ralph stood there looking sick to his stomach.

"So what do you think about them?" I gave him my best toothpaste-commercial mile.

"I hate them."

"Y-you what?"

"They have no manners and they look like women. Especially Vince."

"Vince just so happens to be amazing, and I spend most of my time with him more than all the others."

"Probably because you two are having sex every minute of the day."

I gasped and turned to him. "We are not! I'm still a virgin!"

"They starve you, too. You lost, like, twenty pounds since last time I saw you."

"We weren't exactly millionaires, were we? We couldn't afford it!" I snapped. We were nose to nose now, shouting insults at each other. "They take better care of me than you people ever have, anyway!"

"Oh, smashing glass over each other's heads and going to bars and strip-clubs are great ways to raise a kid, yeah!"

"I'm not a kid!" I stomped my foot. "And they don't smash glass over my head! Tommy and Nikki do that to each other but not to me."

"It doesn't matter! They're ruining you!" He grabbed my arm and I snatched it away.

"No they aren't. They're only making me better! All you did was complain about everything and bitch about how I forgot to turn off the stove again!" I hissed.

"You could have burnt down the house!"

"I wouldn't have cared! I hate your constant whining!"

"I hate all you've become over the past few months! Mom and Dad talked about it as you were putting the boys to bed. You're not going back to California! You're only gonna get hurt by them, they're bad people. We're only doing this cause we care about you!"

I bit my lip and tried to stare him down. But I had to run back to my room before I split his lip open. I charged through the door, slamming it behind me. The bed shook as I flopped down onto it, still fuming over everything.

"Imogene, you're on my legs." Vince popped up.

"I don't care."

"Well, I do. So get the fuck off." He spat, kicking his legs underneath me.

"No. Shut up." I rolled over and curled up into a ball, trying not to cry. He slipped his legs out from under me and crawled over.

"You okay?"

"No." I swatted a tear from my cheek, hoping he hadn't seen it. He smoothed my hair out of my face and smiled down at me.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"NO."

"Does someone need a hug?"

I didn't answer. A hug sounded good right now, but I refused to say yes. It would break the no chain.

"I'll take that as a yes." Vince snaked his arms around me and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. "I hate seeing you sad, babe. Talk to me."

"I'm not sad. It's just... you're so fat it makes me cry." I said quickly.

"No, I'm not fat. You said so yourself, remember? And come on," He lifted his shirt up. "I got a fucking six pack."

I giggled. "How come you can make me happy again when I'm completely miserable?"

"Cause I'm your buddy, that's how." He kissed my cheek softly. "Please tell me what's wrong. Buddies have to know this shit."

"My brother's a dick, is that enough?" I nestled my head into his neck, feeling clingy at the moment.

"No, I need more detail."

"Well, my family thinks you guys are bad examples, and they decided that I'm not going back with you. After one night," I groaned. "So you guys have to be little angels for the next few days, alright?"

"You got it. We wouldn't be the Crue anymore without our Imogene."

"You will someday. We're gonna drift apart and I'll be seeing you on TV and crap and think nothing of it. We'll forget about each other and never talk again, probably." That thought practically ruined my night.

"Don't you dare say shit like that. We're legally adopting you, and I'm getting you surgically attached to my hip."

I chuckled. "As I said on New Years, if I'm not sick of you by then." I hit him playfully.

"And as I said on New Years, we'll be married by then."

My head snapped up and I looked at him. "Married?"

"Yep. Well, it's getting late. Let's go to bed." He pushed the covers onto me and we fell asleep in a matter of seconds.