Diamonds in the Rough

“Oh my god!” Lacey gasped, “I love this song!”

The whole damn world is just as obsessed with who's the best dressed and who's having sex, who's got the money, who gets the honeys, who's kinda cute and who's just a mess. And you still don't have the right look and you don't have the right friends. Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends. High school never ends.

“Dance!” She said pulling Gena up from her bar stool.
“We can’t dance to this!” Gena laughed, “We have to mosh!”

Lacey stopped dancing and threw her fist up in the air, bouncing up and down on her toes. Gena followed and soon the two of them were heading to the open area of the bar to recruit a few more ‘moshers’.

“I’ll be right back,” Valary said in a sort of hushed tone. Jasey nodded.

“They look like complete dorks out there,” Leanna chuckled.
“Agreed,” Jasey laughed, “But they’re our dorks.”
“Yeah,” She sighed contently, “They are.”

Lacey and Gena stayed out on the floor for another song. Who cares what it was, they weren’t going to remember in the morning anyway.

Jasey turned back around on her bar stool, taking another sip of her margarita and finishing it off.

“I’ll be back,” Leanna said getting up. Jasey nodded again. She looked back over and Lacey and Gena and just smiled.

“Excuse me?” A male voice called next to her, “Is this seat taken?”

She twisted around and saw a very nice looking man with hazel eyes and dark brown hair standing next to her.

“Nope,” She said with a slight smile.
“I’m Ryan,” He introduced, extending his hand for her to take.
“Jasey,” She said shaking his hand.

“Why are you all alone over here?” He asked, sitting down next to her.
“Oh I’m not alone, all my friends are just running around.”
“That’s an excuse I’ve never heard of before,” He smiled.
“It’s the truth though,” She said eyeing him up.

He looked toned and tanned under his deep purple v-neck and black hoodie. She saw he had grey skinny jeans on and purple and black Nike dunks. Those were the shoes that her cousin always wore.

“Are you from around here?”

He nodded, “My band and I live a few blocks from here. They all left for a Colorado ski trip and I stayed behind.”

“You skipped out on skiing to stay here at the beach?” She asked a little surprised.
“I’m not really a cold weather person,” he shrugged.
“I love snow.”

Insert awkward silence here.

“So, a pretty lady like you is sitting all by herself at a bar full of lunatics,” He said attempting to flirt with her.

“I won’t deny that I’m pretty,” She answered sweetly, “But I will correct you on the lunatics part because these people are some of my best friends.”

She shot him a look that clearly read ‘back off.’ Like he was going to listen to that.

“Oh come on! You can’t be friends with half these people here!” He argued, “They look like they should be in some freak show or something!”

“Excuse me?” She said appalled, her eyes getting wider.

“You don’t even look like you fit in here! They all have tattoos and weird piercings. You don’t look like you’re having any fun either, so why don’t you just come with me Jasey?” He said reaching out towards her.

She stood up from her stool and backed away, “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not going home with some douche like you.”

“You will if I make you,” He sneered, trying to grab her arm.

Unfortunately, he was stopped half way by someone’s fist meeting him square in the jaw.

Jasey’s eyes went from this Ryan man to whoever had punched him.

“I heard you two arguing from over by the back door,” Brian said, shaking his fist a little to get the shock out of it.

Jasey stood there with her jaw dropped. Ryan stood back up behind Brian, burning holes into the back of his head with his eyes.

“Brian,” She spoke.
“What?”
“T-Turn around-d,” She trembled.

He turned around and Ryan caught him in a head lock. Brian’s face started turning red and he used all of his strength he had to elbow Ryan in the chest. Ryan’s arms flew off of Brian and he looked more pissed than before.

Ryan took a swing at Brian but missed. Brian threw another punch and hit Ryan again in the nose. Red, sticky blood started pooling on his face as he took another swing at Brian, this time, hitting him in the eye. He struck again and cut Brian’s lip.

Anger was boiling in Brian’s blood as he threw the final punch at Ryan, leaving a nice bruise on his left cheek. Before Ryan could fire back, a few of the guys who had noticed them fighting came over and pulled Ryan off of Brian.

Jasey stood there with her hand covering her mouth. She was terrified of what just happened and at the same time, she was a little awhed by what Brian had done.

“Lacey and I saw,” Gena panted, rushing over to Jasey’s side, “Are you alright?”

Jasey nodded, “I’m alright, but I don’t think Brian is.”

The two girls glanced over at Brian. His lip was bleeding and his right eye was starting to get a little dark. He also had a few minor cuts on either of his cheeks.

Gena looked back at Jasey, “Why don’t I take you both home?”

“Yeah,” Jasey answered quietly. She took a few steps towards her injured loved one.

“Come on,” She said taking hold of his hand and guiding him out to Gena’s car.

“Here,” Gena said grabbing an old shirt from Zacky’s clothing line out of her trunk and tossing it at Brian, “I don’t want blood all over my car.”

Jasey opened the back door to Gena’s navy blue Honda Civic for Brian. He slid in all the way to the other side and patted the seat next to him with his free hand. She gave a little smile and sat down next to him.

“To your house Jase?” Gena asked, starting the car up.

Jasey’s eyes quickly looked to Brian’s. She hesitated for a second, “I think we’re going to go to his.”

Gena nodded and backed out of the parking space, turning on to the road and heading to Brian’s.