Stories from the Back of His Motorcycle

Light.

I couldn’t remember a time when light had been so painful. It was like millions of tiny pricks piercing my eyes as I rapidly blinked away the pain. When I finally came to terms with it, I realized that the curtains were wide open and the sun was shining directly onto my figure. I brought a hand up to cup around my forehead but it didn’t lessen the sun’s glare.

I raised myself up, swinging my legs around to perch comfortably on the end of the bed. On the bed which was definitely not my own. My hands gripped the sheets tightly as I narrowed my eyes at everything around me, scrutinizing every visible atrocity this room supported. The covers were bright pink, a Disney Princess beaming up at me from under an array of rainbow butterflies. It was sickening from the Cinderella poster to the miniature castle figurine sitting under the window. Either I was in some weird parallel universe where I suddenly adored the color pink a bit too much or I was in a little girls’ room.

As soon as I stood up I felt the effects of yesterday’s alcohol, not to mention the small lump forming on the back of my head from whatever blow I’d received. It wasn’t unbearable but it was unpleasant enough to slow me down on my way out into the hallway. That should teach me for thinking I could just drop all of my troubles for a bottle of liquor.

Almost instantly I recognized where I was and let out a relieved sigh. For a minute I had toyed with the horrifying idea that I was taken to some unknown person’s house. Even though I was still fully dressed and not sore, I was wary. Watching too many movies puts you more on edge when waking up to unfamiliar surroundings, even if they are bright pink.

A disgruntled and scary looking Delia moved out of the door beside me, as if she’d just woken from death. Normally, I would have been there with an Advil and water but last night had been different. Last night I hadn’t been goody-goody-Alice-who-remains-stone-cold-sober-throughout-the-evening-in-case-someone-needs-her. I had been tipsy. I had been with Vaughn Hart.

“How did we get back here?” I asked Delia as she slumped past, probably on her way downstairs to get some painkillers. She just shrugged, completely none the wiser but not really caring how we’d ended up at her house. We were here. Delia accepted and moved on.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, blaring far louder than it ever had before. I grimaced before pressing it to my ear, hastily just trying to stop the piercing noise sending waves of pain through my head.

“Hello?”

“Alice! Where have you been? I couldn’t get hold of you at all last night!” Mom’s voice was shriller than usual. I could barely comprehend her words enough to think darkly there was a reason for that.

“Yeah… I’ve been at Delia’s. My phone was on silent so I didn’t hear it ring.” Lies didn’t come naturally to me but I had experience lying to Mom. It was ironic really; the one person you shouldn’t have secrets from was the exact person I’d had to practice deceiving over so many years. She held too close and simultaneously managed to push me away.

“Well can you get home please; there are plenty of things that need doing around the house.” I heard it in her voice then – under the layers of calm was the tone that told me she was about to cry. I’d heard it many times before, usually accompanied by a bitten lip or a frantic hand sweeping aside dark hair. I always wondered why, in her weakest moments, she had to reign me back in so violently when all we then did was pretend that she wasn’t sobbing and that Dad was barely there at all. Pretending that everything was okay. Stepping over the broken furniture. That was what I had to look forward to at home.

“Sure Mom,” I closed my eyes and leant heavily back onto the door. I had to support her no matter how much I loathed her for it. “I’ll be there soon.” I hung up quickly, not wanting to hear how hard she fought the tears or, even worse, if she just let them come. There were many things in the world I could handle but, this early with a semi-hang-over, I couldn’t manage this.

“Delia?” I hugged myself while walking down the stairs to try and find her. I needed to tell her I was leaving, not that she’d probably realize I was even there. When she was hung-over I might as well have not been.

A low groan answered my call which I followed into the dark living room. Delia’s parents were on a short weekend break and, not trusting fickle Delia with her younger sister’s care had taken her along too. The house was ours which was just as well. Her Dad would probably have grounded her again for getting drunk and I’d have to eat breakfast around a painfully awkward table.

“De?”

Another moan. I raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. Last time I checked Delia’s voice wasn’t that low. I could trace the faint outline of a body lying squarely on the sofa and it definitely wasn’t feminine. “Josh,” I sighed “you’ve got to get up. Delia’s parents return in a couple of hours and her Dad will have a cow if he -.” I had just pulled open the curtains, turning to survey what I took to be Delia’s snoozing boyfriend only to find two distinguished eyes blinking at me.

“Josh?” Vaughn rubbed a hand over his face slowly.

“I guess not…” I trailed off, rooted in shock and from another wave of throbbing caught in my head. He was sprawled across the entire length of the Martins’ full four-seater sofa obviously shattered with bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair. He looked about as composed as I felt. But, of course, he still managed to make it look good for him.

“Alice,” he murmured softly. I cautiously took a step closer to the sofa, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Can you shut those curtains and keep your voice down? You’re giving me a headache.”

“How courteous,” I snorted, quite recovered from my spell of surprise “just what the hell do you think you’re doing here anyway? In case you haven’t noticed this isn’t exactly your house.”

“Not yours either,” he grumbled.

“Delia is my friend. Friends stay round friends’ houses. You are not a friend.”

“Shhh,” Vaughn turned over so his face was pressed into the arm rest. I scoffed incredulously but decided to temporarily admit defeat. He wasn’t my problem. I had enough of them already and today he wasn’t one of them.

“Delia!” I raised my voice deliberately, satisfied by the groan it provoked in the boy behind me.

“What?”

I turned sharply to find her in the kitchen, resting her no doubt pounding head on the table top. I sighed and took over – instinct leading me blindly. There was an Advil and glass of water by her a minute later after I’d downed one of my own. “Thanks,” she croaked “I feel like shit.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her bluntness which had carried through from her pain. She wasn’t one to curse so it was always amusing to hear her form the alien word over a normally such clean mouth.

“You know Vaughn’s semi-conscious body is littering your Mom’s favourite sofa right now, don’t you?”

She managed to crack a smile “he’s still there? I thought he was a figment of my imagination to be honest, I mean what girl can really claim that she woke up to find the Vaughn Hart sleeping on her sofa?”

“It’s strange how proud you sound of that fact.”

“I am proud; I might just go in there and take a few photos for proof.”

“Oh God,” I screwed my face up in disgust “you’ll just fuel his already universal ego with that kind of talk. He isn’t a God Delia, he’s just another boy.”

“No,” she rested her head back onto the table top calmly “he isn’t.”

It was pointless arguing with Delia anyway but with a hung-over Delia it was just stupid. And tedious. Not to mention boring.

“I’ve got to go De,” I pushed myself up from my chair as quietly as possible “Mom wants me.”

“Shit, that reminds me. Parents are home in a while,” she muffled her groans into the wood.

“At least this time there isn’t sick in the carpet and drink spilt on your shoes,” I said, trying to be helpful.

“There’s a boy in my living room. A hot boy but a boy nonetheless. My Dad’s going to go ape shit.” My mouth couldn’t help but curl up at the use of the word for the third time in a few minutes. She was really on a roll, either that or really hung-over. “Take care of it will you?”

“Oh no,” I had already started to shake my head before she’d even finished her sentence. “There is no way I’m becoming a body-cleaner just to save your sorry ass. Do it yourself, you’ve got a good few hours.”

Delia rose groggily to her feet and looked me in the eye – her presence less than impressive due to how short she was. “Look at me Alice; you know I can’t do anything when I’m like this. Please just get him out of here? I’ll love you forever and ever, I don’t want to be grounded again. I’ve had enough of pining away my days with only homework and my cell phone for company.” I held my tongue about how she had pretty much covered how I spent my days.

“Fine,” I closed my eyes in defeat “just let me borrow a top or something so I don’t smell so bad.”

Delia grinned as best she could in her state and nodded. I turned away, grumbling about how pathetic I was, before ascending the stairs to steal one of Delia’s favorite tops – the one with the one shoulder strap – which I had no intention of giving back. This was her unspoken payment to me. I was her Mom and she gave me clothes.



The issue of how to move Vaughn was somewhat harder than I had originally thought. Delia had retreated back up to her blacked-out room where it was safe and dark. I, on the other hand, was stood downstairs staring at the unmoving boy as he snoozed obliviously on.

“That’s it,” I muttered angrily before switching on every available light so the room became some kind of glowing drainage of power. Instantly Vaughn toppled off the sofa in shock and landed unceremoniously on the floor face-down. I couldn’t help but smirk. It was funny to see just how far Vaughn could fall, but also a little disconcerting. If Vaughn Hart wasn’t invincible then just who was?

“Get up. Now. We’re leaving.”

“Not now Mother,” his tone still managed to be mocking even if it was half disguised by the carpet. I snarled and took a menacing step closer to him.

“Don’t make me make you.”

He snorted but pushed himself up slowly off of the floor anyway. “I’d like to have seen you try.”

“Shut up, you’re just lucky Delia didn’t call the police about some stranger breaking and entering her house.”

His eyes were still unfocused but they managed to meet mine securely enough. “That’s rich Alice. A few minutes ago I could have sworn Delia came in here and took a few snap-shots of my half-unconscious body.”

I groaned miserably “she really did that?”

He just shrugged, a smirk working its way into his features “I’m used to it.”

“You’re used to being practically stalked?”

“They don’t like it if you call it stalking, I think they prefer the term ‘preparing themselves for the future’.”

“Preparing themselves for the future?” I furrowed my brow in confusion.

“When we get married,” he smiled grimly “and they give birth to my third or fourth child. Their fantasies differ but the underlying plot is still the same.” I snorted in amusement, locking eyes with his dark orbs for split second before turning on my heel. There was some nagging twitch in my stomach, one which pushed forgotten images of past dreams into my head. Dreams far too close to Vaughn’s description.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I paused at the door to wait for him, glancing back as he pulled on his worn leather jacket. Normal people experiencing a hangover as extreme as him wouldn’t look nearly so good as Vaughn did. It was that accidental beauty again – the one making girls’ hearts melt without even having to run a comb through his hair. The one making me chew on my cheek as I watched him approach, suddenly painfully aware that I wore no makeup and just how close his body came to mine before I stepped outside.

I hadn’t been expecting the warmth. There was no blast of cold air as the door opened or suffocating chill caressing my skin. In only a one-shoulder top, jeans and a cardigan I didn’t feel the need to shudder away the cold. It seemed as if spring was starting to alleviate its bitter temperatures, allowing us to revel in something other than scarves and boots.

“That’s a good question,” Vaughn fell into step beside me “as is ‘why are you wearing such a fancy top to walk home in?’ Is it for me Alice? Do you think that I will suddenly confess a deep irrevocable love for you if you expose more of your shoulder than usual?”

A bad mood descended upon me as quickly as it had evaporated at the prospect of better weather. “The only deep irrevocable love you seem capable of feeling is for yourself and your huge ego. I wouldn’t waste a top like this on you so don’t flatter yourself and stop evading my question,” I snapped irately. My hands buried themselves deeper into the cardigan consciously.

“What was I doing in Delia’s house at ten in the morning on a Sunday? Maybe Delia and I share something special going on,” he grinned darkly, eyes flashing with the mischief evident behind his words.

I just rolled my eyes, carrying on faster down the path. It was and always had been a blessing that I lived only a few minutes walk away from Delia’s house – the amount of times I’d had to dash over quick to dry her eyes and run back home to deal with Mom were ridiculous.

“Or maybe it’s because I helped a very disgruntled but sober Josh drive you and Delia home before crashing out on the couch. Forgive me for not being able to run home but it is quite a while away.”

“What?” my momentum faltered as I absorbed his words, trying to make sense of them.

“You were about as sober and conscious as a dead drunk. What was I going to do, leave you there?” His eyes were focused on something in the distance. Something I tried to follow but couldn’t find.

“I don’t know…” I bit my lip, chancing another glance at him only to find his stare had shifted onto me. “You know what I would have done.” And it was true; I would have just left him there. Because Vaughn wasn’t vulnerable or alone, he had everybody in the world and was as tough as stone. But there was that nagging again telling me a different story, one that I wasn’t prepared to stop and listen to.

“I guess so. But just the thought of leaving you there in that state… and Delia of course… it just wasn’t happening. You may think a lot of bad things about me but at least you can’t say that I’m heartless.”

I shifted uncomfortably, glad that his eyes were no longer on me. It was odd how awkward this had become and how desperately I wanted to just be home, when usually that was the last place I yearned for. “Where’s your motorcycle?”

“Still at Josh’s, I’m headed there now to pick it up. I also left my last cigarette there so I haven’t really got a choice,” it was almost nice to see him smirking when before it had been so tense. I could see my door now – the chipped one that looked out of place with the backdrop of an average house. I didn’t want to say out loud that Josh’s house was three miles in the opposite direction because I was positive Vaughn knew this.

“Wait a second,” I paused at my driveway and turned to watch Vaughn curiously, his hands were twitching from what I could only assume was not having a cigarette. His fingers curled around the invisible stick before clenching into fists. “How did you ‘help’ Josh exactly?”

He deliberately relaxed his arms and ran one through his disheveled hair. His muscles flexed and, for a split second, I forgot entirely where I was. And who I was. A half-smile tugged up his cheekbones into something I had never seen before. I wondered idly if anyone else had ever seen it or if it was a flash of Vaughn he kept secret. There was a lot he seemed to hide away behind those dark eyes.

“You didn’t think I’d let Josh have all the fun and carry you in did you? I may have been pretty tipsy but I wasn’t stupid. How many opportunities like that are going to come around?”

I didn’t know what to say, my mouth was hanging open too much for words to be properly formed.

“Bye Alice.”

I watched him walk back the way we’d come. His hands were shoved into his pockets and a warm breeze was burning his figure into a haze of lost tears. I smiled at him, not that he could see me. I just stood and watched him walk away for a long time, to the point where I felt the familiar tug of duty bring me inside.

It wasn’t late but for some reason I felt exhausted. Vaughn Hart was doing something to me and I knew I should be worried. Worried that it would disrupt my own little perfect world I’d been trying to carve around myself since forever. Worried that he’d find out the darker secrets in my life, the ones I couldn’t bear to face without fear of losing my composure. Yes, he was doing something to me but, instead of running away, I was drawing nearer. Because Vaughn was making me feel better in ways I hadn’t thought possible since I was a little girl and life was easy. I shut the door quietly, an unexpected smile seeming impossible to wipe away.