Told Me You Hated My G n' R Shirt. Shoulda Known Better, This Was Never Gonna Work.

When I come to in the morning, I don't immediately recognize where I am. Upon a little closer inspection, I realize that I'm laying on a couch, with my head on someone's arm. I look and see that the arm is tattooed and is wearing black nail polish, and that's when it hits me. I remember working merch lastnight for My Darkest Days, then coming back to Matt and Sal's apartment with the girls to party.

I look down at myself and see that I'm fully dressed, which is a good thing since I'm on a couch in the middle of the apartment. I faintly remember Sal dragging me down on the couch with him before I passed out.

I carefully get up and sit on the edge of the couch. When I look back at Sal, I see that he's yawning and opening his eyes sleepily.

"I'm surprised I'm not naked," I say to him.

"You weren't in the mood."

"Wasn't I?"

"No. You said that if I touched you, you would cut my dick off and feed it to me."

"And you listened?"

"What can I say? I'm quite attached to my dick, Shayna." I laugh at him and stand up, grabbing my clutch purse from off of the coffee table.

"I'm gonna go freshen up a little in the bathroom," I tell him.

I go into the bathroom and shut and lock the door behind me. Then I pee, toss my hair up into a messy bun, and get my travel sized tooth brush out of my purse, using the guys' toothpaste to brush my teeth. While I'm brushing, I open their medicine cabinet and look at it's contents. A box of condoms, a half open bottle of Jagermeister, and a bottle of Advil. I take the bottle of Advil out and pour three tablets out on the counter next to the sink, then put it back in it's place. Then I grab the box of condoms and look inside. There are four in the package, so I take one out and put it in my purse for myself. You can never be too careful, and like my PE teacher said in High School, never deny a free condom.

I spit my toothpaste into the sink and rinse my mouth out with water, then I take a shot from the bottle of Jager, and swish it around in my mouth like mouthwash, spitting it out after thirty seconds. I look in the vanity drawers for a washcloth, but come up empty handed. After a thorough search of the bathroom, I find a package of baby wipes, so I use one of those to wash my face, clearing it of any make up that might have ran overnight. When I'm done, I look like a new person. Now if only that Advil would kick in.

I walk back out to the living room and find Sal sitting on the edge of the couch, looking very hungover. He looks up at me and manages to smile a little at me when I come out.

"Thanks for lastnight, gorgeous," he says to me.

"No problem, baby. Anytime you need me, I'm right here." He stands up and reaches into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Here, I've got the cash we made lastnight, I'll give you your cut now," he says. I grab his hand to stop his movement.

"Like I told you and Matty the other night. You don't have to pay me for this," I say, hooking a finger on the collar of his black undershirt. "Well just say that you owe me, now." I kiss him on the lips and he grabs the side of my face, slipping his tongue into my mouth. I grin as I pull away, running my tongue over his lip. He smiles at me and I smile back and turn and walk towards the front door without saying anything to him.

On my way to the door, Matt comes out of his room, with Madison standing right behind him, wearing only one of Matt's button down shirts and her panties. I run my fingers over Matt's chest and smirk at him.

"Hey, baby girl," I say to Madison, leaning down to her level since I'm much taller than her in my high heels, and kiss her on the mouth. I can feel Matt and Sal staring at us, but I ignore them.

"Is Jackie still here?" I ask her.

"Yeah, she's getting dressed."

"Well, tell her to hurry up and I'll meet you guys downstairs in the lobby."

"OK," she says, running back down the hallway towards Matt's bedroom.

"Bye boys," I say to the guys', blowing them a kiss over my shoulder as I walk out of the apartment.

Sal and Matt's apartment building is mostly occupied by senior citizens and college kids, so I get a lot of stares as I strut though the lobby and sit on a couch there. The old people stare with their mouths open with disapproval, like I'm going to hell for wearing shorts or something. And the college kids, depending on the gender, look at me the same way, unless they're guys, then they think they have some chance with me.

I get my phone out and text a good morning message to Jason, then read a couple other texts that I got overnight. A guy who fits into the college kid category, sits down beside me, but I don't hardly look up at him. He's wearing dark colored jeans, an NYU hoodie and New Balances. His dark hair is combed forward on his forehead and gelled, so he looks like one of the Backstreet Boys in their hay day. I try not to pay attention to the fact that he's staring at me, and keep looking down at my phone. As if on cue, Jason calls me.

"Hey merch girl," he says when I answer.

"Hey baby," I say, trying to ward off the unwanted attention from college boy.

"Where are you?" he asks me.

"Waiting for the girls to come down from the apartment."

"Oh you're still over at Matt's."

"Yes. What are you doing?"

"Not a lot. Oh yeah, your mother called me."

"Oh Jesus, what did she want?"

"She wants you and I to come to her office at Universal so she can talk to us about some things involving your father."

"What about him?"

"She didn't say. She said that she wanted to deal with it in person, though."

"OK, so what does this have to do with you?"

"Would you have answered your phone if she had called you?"

"Good point."

"I assumed that she wanted to come because she knows that you wouldn't come by yourself."

"You know, I am so sick of her doing that. She thinks that if she can con you into doing something that I'll go along and do whatever she wants me to do. Like you're some kind of bargaining chip or something."

"You aren't the least bit curious?" he asks.

"Of course I am. I just don't like the way she goes about doing things. And what's up with her being at Universal? I thought she worked at Sony."

"She got traded."

"Traded? Like in the NFL?"

"I guess so. I didn't ask a lot of questions."

"What time do we have to be there?"

"Twelve thirty." I look at my watch and see that it's eleven thirty now. I see the girls coming down the hallway together and walk across the lobby towards me.

"Alright, well I meet you at my place in a little bit, then. I've gotta go now, the girls are here."

"OK, I'll see you in a bit. Love you."

"Love you too." I hang up the phone and stand up to greet the girls. I hook my arm through Jackie's and we strut out onto the street.

"So, Sal was all over you lastnight. What happened?" Jackie asks me as we walk the busy streets of New York.

"Nothing happened. We slept on the couch, and that was it."

"Matt said that you two looked pretty comfy this morning," Madison says.

"Matt was looking to start something, that's just Matt. You know that." She shrugs her shoulders a little. We go into Starbucks and get coffee's to go, for on our walk back to the condo.

Some might call this the Walk of Shame, since we're all still dressed in our party clothes from lastnight and we don't exactly look as pure and wholesome as some of the other people we're walking amongst, but I don't think of it that way at all. Still, we gain looks from people who think they know what's going on, when really they don't know the half of it.

When we get back to the condo, the girls go to their rooms to go back to bed, but I get dressed to go with Jason to this meeting with my mother. I can only imagine what this has to do with my father. Probably nothing. This was probably just her last ditch effort to get me back in her good graces. I button the black blazer I'm wearing, and go into the bathroom to apply another coat of red lipstick. I leave my hair in the messy updo that I put it in at Sal's earlier, then head out.

I find Jason waiting for me in the lobby area, standing with his hands in his pockets. He's wearing black jeans, a concert t-shirt, a black cargo jacket, and rimmed eyeglasses that he wears sometimes. His red hair is messy and curly on his head. He smiles when he sees me, and kisses me on the forehead.

"How was lastnight?" he asks as we walk out of the building.

"Fine, I guess." I watch as he hails a taxi. When one finally pulls up to the curb beside us, we get in and Jason gives the driver the route to the Universal Records office. We don't say much to each other on the drive to the office, but we do make small talk about the night before.

When we get to the large building that houses Universal Records, we go inside and ask the lobby clerk about how to get to my mother's office. She tells us the directions and we get on the elevator and take it to the twelfth floor. I look over at Jason in the elevator, and see him leaning against the wall, looking up at the floor numbers as they tick by. I sigh aloud and he looks over at me.

"Just be cool. It'll be fine, if it's not you have my full permission to clock her and run like hell out of there." I laugh a little and look down at my shoes just as the elevator doors open up.

We step out into the hall and walk in the direction that the woman told us to go in. We find the office and before we go inside, Jason knocks on the door lightly. I hear my mother's voice say to come in, then Jason pushes open the door and we go in. She's sitting behind a desk that has a computer on it. I see that she has some pictures, but I can't see who or what they are of. There is a big picture window behind the desk that faces out to the city. I see that there are raindrops on the window, which means it started raining in the short time that we've been here.

My mother smiles and motions for us to sit down in the two chairs that are sitting across from her.

"I'm glad you both could come. How are you?" she asks, very business like.

"Fine," I say quietly. Jason just nods his head. She smiles again.

"Good. Now, I'm sure you're both wondering what pretenses I've called you here on. I'm sure I sounded quite ominous when I said that I wanted to talk to you both regarding Steve."

"Yes you did, but I'm sure that was the point, wasn't it, Heather?" Jason says, kind of snidely.

"I can promise you that there was no point. I just didn't want to get into something on the phone, and only have half of the story out there. I much rather speaking about important matters in person, so everyone knows where they stand." I roll my eyes a little, looking away from her so she doesn't see me do it.

"I wanted to let you both know that there is going to be some money of Steve's placed into an account of mine later this week. I also plan on leaving to go to Europe as soon as it's placed there, for a much needed vacation. I don't know when I'll be coming back to New York, but as soon as I know, I will let you know."

"Money? What money? Where is that coming from?" Jason asks.

"It's money that Steve left for me, that was never put into my hands."

"What do you mean it was never placed into your hands?"

"It was in Steve's will left to me, but over the years I've had to fight with the people dealing with his trust to get it."

"The people dealing with my father's trust have been placed under strict orders by me, not to give you a red cent of that money," I say, a little sharper than I first meant to.

"Yes well, that order has been set aside because they can't deny me what was left to me by your father."

"Why wasn't I made aware of this?"

"I'm letting you know right now."

"No, I mean by the people I entrusted my father's money to. The lawyers and the financers, why didn't they tell me this was going on? Why wasn't I aware that you had been trying to get this money for all these years?"

"I can't say why they didn't make you aware of this, seeing as it's your money and you're the power of attorney for your father's trust." I look over at Jason and see that he's staring out the window behind the desk with a blank look on his face.

"So this is how it's going to go, huh Mom? You get more money, and leave again. Just like before. Except this time, it's money you don't deserve. You haven't been around here in how many years, and you're still managing to weasel more money from my father and me." I stand up and start to pace around the small office.

"I was supposed to get this money, Shayna. It was always supposed to be mine. And, it's only coincidence that I'm leaving after I get this money. I was already planning on going to Europe, and it just so happened that I found out this week that I was getting the money, so it all worked out."

"Worked out for who, Mother? For you, definitely. But what about me? Does it all work out for me?" I slam back down in the chair I was sitting in next to Jason.

"How much money is it?" he asks her. I look from his face to hers.

"Twenty Thousand dollars." My mouth drops open, and Jason shakes his head in disbelief.

"As I said before, it's money that Steve left me in his will before he died."

"That's fucking bullshit, Heather and we both know it. You two were broken up when he died, and that will was made before he dumped your sorry ass. His real will didn't leave you anymore money than what you got when you left the first time. It's not bad enough that you waved that fake ass will around when he died, trying to get what you claimed was your fair share when you knew it all belonged to Shayna, now you're still hanging on to that bullshit. Then you call us down here to let us know, like you're doing us some favor by telling us that you're leaving again-"

"Fuck you, Mother," I say, interrupting Jason. They both stare at me, my mother with her mouth hanging open. "Fuck you. You take that twenty thousand dollars, and go to Europe and don't come fucking back. I haven't needed you for a long fucking time, and all you've done since you've come home is cause shit and steal my money. So you know what? Fuck it, I'm done with you." I stand up and run out of the office as fast as I can towards the elevators.

I slam the button to go down and jump in the first door that opens, before Jason can come out and find me. I love Jason dearly, but I don't want to see anyone right now. I hit the button to go to the lobby and relax a little when I feel the elevator start to move. I lean against the back wall of the elevator and put my head in my hands and start crying. I can't believe this is happening again. It's not the money that really bothers me, I mean it does, but it's not like her taking twenty thousand dollars is going to make me broke by any means. This whole thing just sucks so bad, and as good as it felt to tell my mother exactly what I've been wanting to tell her since she left, I wish that I hadn't given in to her and let her know how bad she's hurting me.

I feel my heart sink when the elevator door beeps before I reach the lobby. I don't need anyone to see me crying by myself in an elevator, and I really don't want to see anybody right now. I wipe my eyes on the sleeve of my blazer just as the doors open. My mouth falls open when I see whose standing on the other side. Cody. He grins at me and steps inside.

"Going down," he says to me. I roll my eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Right then, I burst into a fresh set of tears. I mean, uncontrollable sobs. Cody raises his eyebrows and reaches over to stop the elevator, then puts his arms around me, trying to comfort me. I sob into his shoulder, making a wet spot on his jacket from my tears.

"Easy, baby. Shh," he says softly, resting his chin on the top of my head. He gently pulls me down so that I'm sitting on the floor with my back against the wall, and he goes down on his knees beside me. I wipe the last of my tears away and he reaches out and takes my chin in his hand.

"You OK?" he asks. I nod my head and keep wiping my eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry about that, how embarrassing. Just crying for no good reason. All you did was ask me a question."

"I don't know a lot about women, but I know enough to know they don't just cry for no good reason. You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to, though."

"My mom works here," I say, sucking in a shaky breath.

"OK. Did you get in a fight with your mom or something?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I grab the hand rail and pull myself to my feet and he stands up too. I push the button to move the elevator again. I wipe at my eyes again.

"So, what are you doing here?" I ask him.

"Label meeting about the new record." I nod and we ride the rest of the way down to the lobby in silence. When the doors open we step out, and I stop and look around to see if Jason made it down the lobby yet.

"What are you looking for?" he asks me.

"Jason. He was here with me, but I don't really want to see him right now."

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"And go where?"

"I don't know, anywhere." I think for a quick second.

"Yes."