The Balcony Scene

I awoke abruptly from a harsh screeching stop. I combed my fingers through my hair looking at the apartments; they weren't what I'd expected when Vic said 'apartments', they were trashy with peeling white colored paint, "Thanks Frank," Vic mumbled to the bus driver as he helped me out of the van. Immediately we we're bombarded by a mob of people, Vic politely said hello, smiling and waving but hastily made his way up the stairs. I almost thought they were going to drag him away. Mike seemed out of it as we trucked upstairs; he lagged behind still clutching the empty bottle. "Vic do we have any coffee?" Mike asked exhaustedly. Vic nodded with a small smile, Tony had been miles in front of us and already had the door opened. "Welcome to la casa," Vic said pointing me toward the door. Despite the crappy exterior, the band's apartment was immaculate, I was almost afraid to touch anything.

"Hey Vic, when you were picking girls up off of the side of the road, did you think about where she's going to sleep?" Mike said pouring himself a cup of coffee. I just stared at my feet, if it weren’t for them I could be free, and if they thought for one minute that I was going to hang around and get mistreated more, then they were dead wrong. I turned on my heels and walked out the door “Jeez asshole," Vic shouted loud enough for me to hear outside the door. I was crying before I got out the door, it wasn't long before I heard footsteps running after me, "Cherrie, wait," Vic called. I stopped "What do you want?" I said not trying to hide the fact that I was crying. "Come back to the apartment, please?" he begged grabbing my arm to prevent me from running. "Why should I... so Mike can insult my presence more?" I asked looking down to avoid Vic's persuading eyes. "Mike is a completely different person when he's hung-over," Vic explained again, but I had made no plans to go back "All I want is to finish what I started," I said in a barely audible whisper. Vic's face fell, "I won't let you," he said with an enormous amount of determination. "Why do you even care, you have more important things to deal with than me," I said finally looking at his face, he looked to be tearing up. "I... don’t know, it’s something about you," he said squinting his eyes jokingly, making me chuckle. "Look, I'll talk to Mike," he said returning to his serious mood. I nodded and began to walk with him back to the apartment, "Where will I sleep?" I asked he bit his lip, like he did so often. "Well you can have my bed..." he said opening the door I sat down on the couch and watched TV with Jaime and Tony, while Mike and Vic went outside.

“Do you want the grand tour?" Jaime asked smiling. I smiled back, nodding Jaime looked around then ushered me towards the kitchenette. "This here, is the shit hole express," he started flinging open the small fridge "These alcoholic beverages are Mike's, I suggest not touching them unless you want to get cut," he said in a mock tour director voice. I just laughed "Here is Vic and Mike's room note the shitty bunk-beds and in-tables," he continued "Oh and the crap load of junk on the wall," Tony added pointing to the sticker consumed wall. "Down this hall is I and Jaime’s room note how plain it is because someone is a dickhead," Jaime said rolling his eyes at Tony. Tony flipped him the bird, "And that concludes our grand tour, oh and this is the bathroom," he finished, pointing towards a closed room with a boy/girl restroom sign on the door. I nodded as if I we're taking note of this and I followed them back to the couch. I stared blankly into space just as I was getting comfortable Vic and Mike made their grand entrance.
Mike walked over to me "Dude I’m sorry, you want to bum one?" he said offering me a cigarette. I said no, of course he just shrugged and went back to drinking his coffee. Vic smiled giving me a thumbs up. I assumed that meant me and Mike were cool with each other, I didn't expect us to become anything close to best friends, but at least now we could mutter a "Hi," now and then it wasn't long before Mike came into the living room "Hey guys, I'm going to go get trashed maybe find some ho in a bar, who's in?" he announced pulling his shirt off and twirling it around. I laughed at him he never seemed to get over a hangover before he was drinking some more. Jaime and Tony left with him I stayed behind and as did Vic again.

"You sure don't party very much," I concluded. "I do too," he said defensively from the kitchen. "Well I never see you go anywhere," I said flipping through the TV guide, "I do go places but I don't drink and exploiting people makes me sick," he hissed not necessarily at me but at the thought of exploitation. "You need to watch it around Mike, he's my brother and I know how he gets when he's drunk, he gets super persuasive, and its hard not to fall into his traps," Vic explained. I nodded but he couldn’t see me from the kitchen. I decided to go sit at the bar that connected the 'dining room' to the kitchen. "Can I ask you an extremely personal question?" Vic asked out of the blue. I nodded "Why were you going to kill yourself?" he asked quietly. I knew he would ask that, I'd prepared an answer but it was a lie. I started to tell him the lie, but ended up spilling about how I'd never had a boyfriend and my sister was ashamed of me and how she was perfect and my family hated me. I had Vic in tears by the time I got done explaining, he came around the corner and wrapped me in his arms placing his cheek on my head. He hugged me tight; I laid my head on his chest and began to cry. He stayed there unmoving, hugging me for so long I didn't think he'd ever let go, but what if I didn't want him to?