Scattered Black Roses

“What took so long?!” Rena rolled down the window and stuck her head out.

I walked up to my car and asked, “Didn’t I text you?”

“Yeah, so?” she slunk into the passenger seat.

The door opened with l ease, but once I got it open I slid in the car and closed it behind me. As I reached for my seatbelt, I realized that I forgot to get rid of the extra tickets. “Hey, Rena, I still have the tickets.”

Rena sat up and put her head in her hands. Her brows furrowed as she pursed her lips. “I have an idea!” she moved her head up from her hands.

“Does it involve me?” I asked tentatively as I started to drive out of the parking lot.

“Actually, no. I got the tickets for free through a radio giveaway,” she smiled.

I got to Rena’s house quick, but her idea was simple enough for me. “See you tomorrow!” I called as Rena opened the car door.

“See ya!” she slid out of the car and pulled out her cell phone.

I waited until Rena disappeared behind the front door of her house.

My house was only about a block from Rena’s so I made it home with good time. I locked my car, threw my backpack strap over my shoulder, and locked my car. Yes, I was still wearing my second set of clothes, but I didn’t care if my parents saw or not. Too many problems were inside my head for me to care about my parents’ opinions. Good thing, the only moving thing in my house was my dog, Skipper.

After a long sigh I walked upstairs and pulled out my phone. Hey, Derrick, what’s Benn’s #?

Not even a minute later there was a reply with a ten digit number on it. I replied: Thanks ;)

No prob good nite–Rick

Later-I saved Benn’s number and dialed it. It only took one ring before I heard Benn’s voice. It wasn’t calm or bored; instead he was yelling at someone.

“You need to get a real job!” Benn’s voice was harsh.

A woman shouted back. “I do have a real job!”

“Yeah, well sleeping around with all these different men is not a real job!”

“Bengi, I can’t do anything more! I didn’t finish high school because I was pregnant with you!” It sounded as if the woman was crying.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Why, Benn? Jay used to always call you that.”

“Yeah, well it’s different when it comes out of the mouth of a hooker!”

There was long pause before I heard something like a crack of a whip in the background.

I immediately hung up and threw the phone away from me. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. It was so devastating hearing such a brutal argument. Silently, I hoped that Benn wouldn’t notice that I called. Even more, I hoped that he wouldn’t call back.

Much to my luck, Benn called back, “Hello?”

“You called?” he droned.

I said nothing. It was impossible to after hearing that kind of argument. He hung up without saying bye to me again. Benn sure knows how to save his breath. It paid off though…

The morning and afternoon were a mega rush. Choosing what to wear was difficult, but in the end I ended up wearing a low cut white shirt with a small open circle in the front. A pair of dark jeans and black and white sneakers were the end result.

I grabbed my wallet and walked out to my car. Once I got to the car, I slid into the back seat and changed into a red and black corset with black skinny jeans to match. All my clothes fit in the bag perfectly as the second set.

The minute I drove up to Rena’s house, Rena came out of the front door. She had on dark blue skinny jeans and a green low cut shirt with a white rim. She also wore her trademark orange headband.

Rena got in the car quickly and smiled at me, “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither.”

I backed the car out of the driveway and drove on to the main road.

We finally made it to the concert twenty minutes later. There was a long line at the entrance, but thanks to Rena, we got to cut in front of everyone. She had skills.

We finally made it to our front row seats in time for the concert to begin.
After a few songs, lights scrolled the audience for someone to come up.

“Ah, there’s the lucky contestant!” the singer with wild red hair and the same eyes as Derrick.

The light shined right on someone, “Come on up, redhead!” We looked back and saw it was Derrick. Wow. Next to him Benn tried to hold back a laugh, but failed as Derrick trudged up the stairs to the stage.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Derrick,” he mumbled.

“Well, Ricky, my boy, you want to bring anyone up?”

“Well, actually, Benn should come up here!” Benn stopped laughing.

“Come on up, Benn!”

Benn frowned and as he was pulled onstage.

“Do you two mind if I sing a song you two wrote a while back?”

They both shot him a look that definitely said “no”, but he ignored it.

The singer wrapped his arms around Benn’s and Ricky’s shoulders as if to keep them from escaping.

It turns out the song was amazing! The lyrics were enticing and the instrumentals were breath-taking. Well of course the song was going to be good because two hot bad boys wrote it.

“Well the last song of tonight probably wouldn’t be like this if my band wrote it, so I’d like to thank my son and his friend, for writing it. Thank you and good night!”

Rena and I stared at each other in pure amazement. We had no idea that one of them could be related to a rock star, but then again, we kind of had a good idea since Ricky looks a lot like Rob Garnell… and we already knew Benn’s last name…

Meanwhile after the concert, Derrick and Benn returned to fighting.

“Why the heck did you have to bring me up there?!” Benn shouted.

“You laughed!” Derrick retorted.

Benn punched Derrick in the shoulder.

“Ow, you know I’m fragile!” Derrick whined.

“Did you hear that too?” I felt awkward.

“Yep, you heard right.”

Those two never ceased to render me speechless.