‹ Prequel: Green Porcupine
Sequel: Meant to be

So Close Yet So Far

So Close Yet So Far

"I don't know if I should go, Tom is going to be there," Mel says meekly.
"Hell with Tom! Are you going to stop living life because of him?!" Ramona practically yells over the phone.
"It's just-"
"No excuses, Joey and I are going to pick you up in half an hour and you're coming to this party, you're going to have fun and possibly meet someone better than Tom."
"Fine." She murmurs, "Half an hour then?"
"Yeah, see you then," Ramona says as she hangs up the phone.

She goes into the washroom fixes her hair and puts on some eyeliner. She adjusts her skirt and tank top and heads downstairs.
"Hey kiddo, where are you off to dressed to the till?" Tre asks as she walks past him. He had just gotten back from touring.
"End of the year beach bash."
"That a school thingy?" she nods. "Alright have fun."
"I'll try, got a couple of teachers on my case though."
"Oh yeah, how come?"
"I may have purposely flooded some toilettes at school." Tre chuckles.
"And why would you do that?"
"Got bored one lunch hour," She says meekly.
"Yeah okay, not like I haven't done worse." He says shaking his head, "Is Joey picking you up?"
"Yeah." Tre hisses a little, he hated the idea of Joey ever since the condom incident.
"Alright," He goes off to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Ramona spots Joey's car pull into the driveway and heads outside.

"Hey babe." He says as she slips into the driver's seat. She leans forward and kisses him.
"We have to give Mel a lift."
"No problem," He says as he starts up the car. They drive down towards Mel's house which is on the way to the beach to find her sitting on the front porch. She runs up to the car.
"Looking hot," Ramona says in attempts to boost her friend's self-esteem. "I love your tank top."
"Thanks," She says sliding into the back seat.
"You're going to piss off the cheerleaders," Joey says also in attempts to making her feel better.
"You guys don't have to do this you know," She says buckling her seat belt. "I'm fine, and I know I look great." They can't help but laugh. "Now, I want to piss off as many cheerleaders as possible so let's go."
"Right-o," Joey says starting up the car and driving the rest of the way. "By the way, this guy on my soccer team thinks you're cute."
"Really?"
"Yeah he said so after one of the practices, his name is Wyatt," Joey states.
"Does he have bleach blond hair?"
"Yeah that's him."
"Damn, he's a hotty," Mel giggles.
"Nice guy too, he's sort of old fashioned," Joey says as Mel nods in approval.
"Can you introduce us?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks."

"You're a good guy," Ramona says quietly as they get out of the car.
'Ehh well, I can't just leave Mel sad, I've known her since middle school, she's like my cousin."
"Awe, well that's sweet," She teases. They meet up with Rob, Amber, Sid and Emma at the picnic tables.
"Oh! Oh! Ramona, Mel, Amber! Can you gals dance?!" Emma asks excitedly.
"What? Yeah," Ramona says glancing around at her nodding friends.
"Dirty dance?" she says in a lower voice so the guys don't hear.
"Yeah to a certain extent," Amber says slowly, "What are you getting at?"
"Let's go make those Barbies jealous," Emma says as she and her friends head down to the dance floor.

They start dancing away to the crap music being supplied and some of the Barbies start looking appalled.
"Since when do punks dance like that," One of the head Barbies mutters. Ramona spots Joey and the other guys near the dance floor. Then the group of guys including Wyatt head to the little circle of dancing punk girls.
"Ramona, I wanna try dirty dancing too," Joey says laughing as she puts her arms around his neck.
"Well I guess I can't stop you," she says laughing as he pulls her leg up to his side.
"Hey! Hey! Break it up!" One of the teachers yells angrily. Joey drops Ramona's leg so that both of them are standing on their own two feet without leaning on each other.
"Awe. Big fat meanie," Ramona pouts. "Probably lives alone with her seven stupid cats and wants to spread the misery."
"Now that's harsh, they're probably lovely cats," Joey says laughing.

"I guess it's working out," Ramona says nodding towards Mel and Wyatt.
"Yeah I guess so," Joey says nodding. "I just told him that Mel wanted to dance with him and he turned somewhat giddy."
"Hey Joe," Rob says with one arm around Amber. "There's word of contraband behind the tiki hut."
"Contraband?" Ramona asks.
"Beer," Joey whispers.
"Ahh, sounds fun, let's go." They casually make their way off the dance floor and slink behind one of the tents where some familiar faces from school are sitting with a few cases of beer.

"Hey Joe, Ramona," The one everyone calls Yoshi says.
"Hey Yoshi, what's the deal?" Joey asks nodding towards the case of beer.
"Five bucks per beer or twenty-five for drink till you drop."
"Drink till you drop?" Ramona asks laughing.
"We'll be here all night fifty-bucks and you throw in some weed," Joey says smiling.
"Ahh well for you honey buns, I'll take that deal," Yoshi says reaching into his pocket and producing a joint. Joey pulls some money out of his pocket. Ramona eyed the joint the last time she had a hit was when she was living in New York. She goes over to an open case and grabs two beers.
"See ya later," Yoshi calls out as the two of them walk away.

"Since when do you smoke doobies?" Ramona asks as they walk down the beach away from adult supervision.
"I don't that often," Joey says shrugging. "I guess you can say I'm a social stoner."
"Haven't had one since I left New York."
"Oh really?" he says laughing, "And they wanted to send you back."
"Yeah, I'm better off here," she says as she goes to kiss his lips.
"Heard you guys got a doobie," Sid says as he and Emma sit with them, with their own beers.
"Yeah."
"Care to share?" Emma asks smirking.
"Sure, but let's wait for Rob and Amber," Joey says looking up the beach to see Mel and Wyatt walking towards them.

"Hey guys, mind if we join you?" Mel asks.
"Not at all," Ramona says as the teens form a little circle, just as Rob and Amber join them with a second doobie. They light up and before they know it they're going through uncontrollable giggle fits as they slurp their beers.

"Come with me," Ramona says mid-giggle as she pulls on Joey's arm.
"Are you dominating?" he asks laughing.
"No," she laughs, "Maybe." They walk back to wear Joey parked the car. "Shhh we have to quiet or they'll hear us."
"Alright," Joey says laughing as they go into the backseat of the car.
"This reminds of Blitzkrieg Bop," Ramona giggles as Joey starts to remove her shirt.
"They're piling in the backseat." He takes off his own shirt, "They're generating steam heat." Ramona undoes his pants, "Pulsating to the back beat." He pulls off her underwear.
"Blitzkrieg Bop," Ramona laughs as she puts her arms around her beloved boyfriend.

"Mmm," Ramona pouts afterwards, "My buzz is dyeing out."
"Mine too," Joey says as he puts his shirt back on. "Let's go see if we can get more."
"Yeah," She puts her clothes back on and smoothes out her hair as they get out of the car. They head back to behind the tiki hut where Yoshi and his buddies are sitting.
"Hey Joe, back for more beer," He says getting off the case he was sitting on.
"Uhh yeah, and do you have anymore weed?" Joey asks hopefully.
"Sorry man, fresh out," Yoshi says shrugging.
"Meh okay," Joey goes up to the case of beer and takes two in each hand.

Ramona and Joey head back to the spot of the beach where they were before.
"Where'd you guys go?" Sid asks, apparently still on a buzz.
"We went to do the Blitzkrieg Bop!" Joey cheers causing everyone else to giggle.

Ramona only drank half of her beer, Joey drank the other three in a matter of half and hour then went back for two more.
"Hey . . . ho! . . . .Let's . . .go!" Joey slurs as he puts his arm around Ramona.
"Hey Joey baby, I think you had enough to drink." She says pulling the beer bottle out of his hands.
"You're so smart Ramona, and pretty, and I like the way you moan when we-"
"I think we should go." She says embarrassed.
"Go? Go where."
"Uh, uh back to the car," she says pulling on his arm.
"Oh I like it there," he says as they make their way up the beach.

"Ramona."
"Yeah Joe."
"I'm not feeling so good." Then suddenly he falls to the ground and throws up. "All better."
"Alright, let's just get you to the car," Ramona says helping him up and hoping that none of the teachers would see them. "Gimme the keys."
"No Ramona, this is my car, I drive," she knows she's going to have a hell of a time reasoning with him.
"Please, I just want to try driving it."
"Oooo-kay," He sighs as he reaches into his pocket and produces a set of keys. She helps him into the passenger's seat of the car then goes to the driver's seat and starts the car. As she drives along the small streets she realizes she can't take Joey back home like this.

She makes her decision and drives to her house. She pulls into the garage and helps Joey out of the car and onto the old sofa in the back of the garage. She lies him there on his side and puts a bucket next to him so he can puke in. She then gets back into the car and parks it down the street. She returns to the garage and Joey is snoring loudly. She goes into the house.

"Hey kiddo," Tre says yawning, "How was the beach bash?"
"Oh it was fun, you know dancing to crap music and all that crap."
"Good, good," he says as he heads up the stairs. Ramona goes to her room and changes out of her pot-smelling clothing and goes to bed.