Glitter

"Regan are you ready yet? Jesus! You've been in that bathroom longer than Ronnie's been in jail!" Nason yelled banging on the door yet again.

"Suck my non-existent cock Nason!" I snapped back.

"Maybe later now move your ass Radke! I'm going to wait in the car." he said and a moment later his steps faded away.

Today was the day that Ronnie was getting out of jail. Nason, Jacky, Derek and I were all piling into Nason's Explorer and heading to pick him up. Nason was the one driving and he was annoyed as all hell at me for taking so long. I had warned the guys that I needed the bathroom early to get ready but did the listen? No. Because I'm shorter and the only girl I ended up with the last shower. Now they were paying the price.

I hadn't seen my brother in 2 years and I wanted to look good. I'd chosen my favorite pair of jeans, a black and white striped t-shirt, a pair of red rhinestone gauges, black and red jelly bracelets and a small black star stud in my labret piercing. Once I had all my jewelry and such on I'd straightened my hair and done up my eyes in black liner and red shadow. With a spray of my favorite perfume I was out the door.

"Happy now?" I asked as I climbed in the back seat beside Jacky, my favorite Iron Fist heels in my hand.

"Yes. Now let's go." and we pulled out.

We hadn't gotten far down the road when my back pocket began to vibrate. I maneuvered in my seat and pulled it from my pocket. A smile crossed my face when I saw the picture flashing across the screen under Max's name.

It was a picture of the two of us curled up in bed together the morning after our hook up. I smiled at the thought.

"Are they still asleep?"

"Of course they're asleep! Max is snoring dumb ass!"

"Fuck you Robert."

"Will both of you shut the fuck up? Take the picture Mike."

There was a snap and a light flashed through my eyelids.

"What the fuck?" I grumbled and opened my eyes to see Monte, Craig, Micheal and Robert crowded around the foot of the bed.

"I told you she was awake!" Craig replied.

"I wasn't until you four decided that it was a good idea to play paparazzi." I replied.

"What's going on?" Max asked groggily from beside me.

"Your friends decided that they wanted to snap pictures of us sleeping." I replied.

"That hurts Regan it really does." Craig said poking his bottom lip out.

"What? The fact that you came in here and invaded our privacy?" I asked.

"No that you don't consider us your friends." he said.

"Oh in the name of all that's holy! I do consider you guys friends. But when you pull shit like that you're his friends." I replied.

"Oh! So you really don't not love us?" he asked.

"Yes Craig I really don't not love you." I smiled.

"Yay!" Craig yelled and jumped on the bed and hugged me.

"DOG PILE!" Monte screamed and a few moments later I was pinned under five massive bodies, my boyfriend (who'd suddenly jumped awake) included.

"Does the fact that I'm naked under this sheet deter you guys at all?" I asked.

"Nope. If anything it makes us want to more." Micheal said with a smirk down at me.

"Monte you're brother's a perv!" I yelled.

"Oh c'mon Regan you know you're gorgeous." Monte laughed.

"Besides we'd never do anything like that. You're a kid sister to us." Robert replied.

"What about Max?" I asked.

"Everyone except me. To me your a hot piece of ass that I just happen to be dating." he smiled and there was a slap on my ass.

"Yeah because what we did last night would be pretty messed up." I replied with a laugh.

"What's going on in here?" I heard Jessica ask from the doorway with a laugh.

"Jessica! Help!" I yelled reaching out from the piles of bodies on top of me.

"Sorry Ray but your on your own." I heard her laugh and walk away.

I lay there for a few more minutes, "You guys are morons." I said.

"Yeah but we're you morons." I heard Robert laugh from above me.

"Unfortunately. Now unless you want me to piss the bed I suggest that all five of you get the fuck off of me now." I warned and instantly all of them jumped off as fast as they could.

Shaking my head I wrapped the sheet around me securely and picked up my clothes and headed across the hall to the bathroom.

Still smiling I opened the text.

Max:You left yet?

Me: Yeah after Nason practally dragged me :P

Max: ?

Me: I took too long getting ready because everyone decided that the one person out of the 4
of us that takes the longest should get a shower last. Losers.

Max: I'm sorry babe....I'd let you shower first...or at least with me....;)

Me: Down boy...there's going to be plenty of time for that when I come home.

Max: Do you really have to stay at Nason's? I mean...can't you stay at your Dad's?

I sighed. I was staying at Nason's for a couple of days after my brother got out. He lived about an hour away from Max's place which was about 15 from Dad's. I knew he wasn't serious about wanting me to stay at Dad's. Even if he didn't get along with Ronnie he understood how much my brother meant to me.

Me:No...now we're almost there. I love you.

Max: Love you too

I locked and slid my phone into my back pocket as we approached the prison. Nason drove into the parking lot and found a spot. I slipped my feet into my heels and stepped out of the van. The four of us walked up to the front of the prison where Ronnie would be coming out.

"What time is it?" Derek asked as we waited in the cool lobby.

"Five til seven." he replied glancing at his watch.

No sooner had the words left his lips than the door opened and I got the first glimpse at my brother since he'd been arrested. His hair, cut short when he first went in was long again. He was toner and he looked healthy, not like the strung out version of my brother that had existed earlier.

"Nason!" he yelled and ran straight over to Nasty and gave him a huge man hug.

"Welcome back to the outside bro." he smiled hugging Ronnie back.

"Jacky! Derek!" he said and hugged them both before his brown eyes landed on mine.

I opened my mouth to say something but he spoke first, "Who's the hot chick?" he asked looking me over a small smirk on his face and a blush in his cheeks.

I glanced at the others who had burst out laughing as soon as he'd said it. I couldn't believe that he didn't recognize me.

"Ronald Joseph you did NOT just act like you don't know who the fuck I am." I said looking at him.

"I really-REGAN?!?" he said as who I was registered in his brain.

"No shit Sherlock!" I replied and threw my arms around him.

He hugged me back tightly and I buried my face in his neck, tears falling down my face.

"Jesus you've changed!" He said pulling back so he could look at me.

"It's not a lot." I replied.

"Yeah it is! You dyed your hair and...you got tattoos and piercings. What happened to the little girl that I left?" he asked tucking a strand of black hair behind my ear.

"She grew up Ronnie." I laughed wiping the tears from my face.

"I see. Now c'mon lets get the fuck out of here." he said and put his arm around my shoulders and the lot of us headed back to Nasty's car.

Ronnie, Derek and I climbed into the back. Ronnie kept his arm around me the whole time and I leaned my head on his shoulder. It felt good to have my big brother back. For the first time in a long time I felt safe.

The guys all talked as we drove back to Nasty's but I just stayed quiet. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say to them or to put in the conversation I just didn't feel like talking. We arrived back at Nason's and climbed out.

"So what's for dinner?" Ronnie asked as soon as we walked into the house.

"Your choice bro." Jacky replied.

"Hmm...PIZZA!" he said smiling like a 5 year old.

"Sounds good." Nason said and started dialing the number.

Thirty minutes later we sat in the living room with boxes of Pizza Hut sitting in front of us. Ronnie almost dived for the boxes before all but ripping them open and pulling out a slice of pepperoni and shoving most of the slice in his mouth.

"Oh my god...this is fucking amazing." he moaned through a mouthful of pizza.

"Food not so good in prison?" Derek asked.

"That's an understatement." Ronnie replied reaching for a second slice.

Another moan rolled from his mouth as he ate it and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ronnie do you want us to leave you and the pizza alone? I really don't wanna see you jizz yourself." I replied and the others laughed.

"Fuck you Regan." he said and threw one of the couch pillows at me where I sat on the floor.

However his aim was off by a lot and instead hit Jacky's glass of soda that sat on the table. It knocked over and splattered all over me. I froze as the ice cold drink soaked through my clothes and stared wide eyed at my brother.

"WHAT THE FUCK RONNIE?!?" I laughed breaking out of my trance.

"I'm sorry! I meant to hit you!" he replied.

"Yeah well you still got me." I replied and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Nason asked.

"Going to change my clothes duh." I replied and headed to the guest room where my bag was stashed.

I grabbed my pajama bottoms, my favorite tank top that read 'Come To The Darkside We Have Cookies', my glasses and contact lens cases, bunny slippers and hoodie from my bag. Once I was sure I had everything I snagged my purse from the kitchen and headed across the hall to the bathroom and grabbed a quick shower and pulled on my pajamas and glasses.

Dressed I began to rummage into my purse before finding my pill box. The familiar signs of withdrawal were starting to loom over me. I took one of the pills from the case and rubbed the coating off before pulling out my compact. I opened it up and carefully crushed the pill and arranged it into 2 small lines before rolling up a dollar from my wallet and using it to snort the powder.

It burned a little but soon passed as I felt the familiar tingling spread through my body. Usually I didn't snort the pills but tonight I needed to. I wanted a quick high so I could get back to my brother. I quickly snorted the other line before cleaning up my mess and shoving everything back into my bag and walking out.

When I walked back into the living room I saw the guys watching TV, Ronnie nowhere to be found.

"Where's Ronnie?" I asked.

"Apparently had the same idea as you and went to get a shower." Jacky replied.

"Oh. I'm going outside for a smoke." I said a little jumpy from my high.

I pulled my ciggeretts from my bag along with my lighter and walked outside to the patio and sat down on one of the reclining lawn chairs. Pulling a ciggeret from the pack, I put it between my lips and lit it up before laying back and looking up at the starry sky. I took a long drag and blew out the smoke watching as it curled and twisted in the air above me.

I couldn't help but think of the fact that Max was the one to give me my first ciggerette when I was 14. Ronnie had caught us, bitched me out then beat the hell outta Max for it. I didn't smoke again until after all the shit that started going down with Ronnie. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't hear the patio door slide open.

"There you are."

My head whipped around and I saw Ronnie walking toward me in a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt, his hair still wet. He walked over to the stack of lawn chairs and found one like mine. The metal scraped loudly against the concrete patio as he drug it toward my chair before setting it down.

"So since when do you smoke?" Ronnie asked looking pointedly at the cigarette in my hand.

"Since about 2 years ago." I said with a smirk.

"Those things will kill you." he said but none the less grabbed the box of Marlboro's from where I'd sat it at my feet and used my lighter to light one for himself.

"So what have you been up to? You've been really quiet tonight and I haven't been able to get much out of you." he said.

I shrugged, "Not much to tell. Moved to Tuscon a while back with my boyfriend, he dumped me, I moved back here about a week ago." I replied.

"That's about the same story Nasty's been giving me. C'mon give me some details. You used to tell me everything." he said nudging my knee.

I laughed, "I didn't tell you everything Ronnie."

"Well what you didn't tell me I eventually found out. Now talk...and start with those." he said and pulled down the sleeve of my unzipped hoodie and pointed to the menagerie of ink on my arms.

"Well to be honest it started as a way to hide my scars and ended up as a shit load of tattoos." I replied.

"I always told you not to get tattoos and I leave you for 2 years, come back and here you are covered. Plus you have all those holes in your head. Like you really needed another one. You're going to let all the air out of your head." he said.

"Fuck you." I replied smacking his arm with a laugh.

"Well then tell me what happened with your boyfriend...Gerry. Why'd he break up with you?"

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair and took a drag from my cigarette, "Well first off it was Garret and it was less of a breakup more of an abandonment. He got addicted to heroin and cocaine, found some stripper whore bitch and the two of them ran of and went to New York. We were already 4 months behind on our rent because he used all the money for drugs so I packed up and came back here."

"I can't believe that you hooked up with a druggie Regan. You of all people should know better." he replied.

I shrugged, "When I met him it was only pot but then his friend got him into harder shit and before I knew it he had picked up a hooker and ran off." I replied.

"I'm sorry that happened Regan. It's probably somehow my fault." he said ran his hands over his face.

"How is your fault that I hooked up with a loser?" I asked.

"I should've set a better example for you. I'm your older brother. I mean Riley was obviously never going to and Dad was working his ass off all the time...it was up to me. I mean it's bad enough that you ended up with Max and he-"

I cut him off, "Look can we drop that? It's the past. And it's not your fault. End of story." I said.

"Well I'm done with all that shit. I'm cutting everyone in my life that's involved in that shit out completely. No one around me is going to do drugs and I'm not going to go back to them. I came close to losing everything before and I'm not going to do it again. I'm done with that shit." he said dropping his cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with the toe of his shoe.

"We'll both do it Regan. You can forget about Garret and Max and all that shit and I'll forget about the drugs and everything else from before. We'll make it Regan. I promise." he said his eyes bright with happiness and excitement.

I bit down on my lower lip. I should tell him now. Tell him that I'm not done with Max. That I'm actually far from it. That we're back together.

I should tell Ronnie that I'm on Oxys. But he said that he was cutting everyone that was involved with drugs from his life. Would he cut me out even though I was his sister?

In the end I decided that I should keep my mouth shut. I didn't want to deal with his lecture about Max and I didn't want to lose him. I don't think I'd ever really had Mom, Riley wasn't going to be there for me and even though we talked almost daily while I was in Tucson Dad had become distance once Ronnie had gone to jail. I couldn't lose Ronnie too. Plus he looked so happy. Who was I to ruin it?

"Deal." I finally said and he smiled bigger.

He pulled me close and hugged me, "I love you Regan." he said and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you too Ronnie." I replied and tried to ignore the knots that were forming in my stomach and the nagging voice in the back of my head that was screaming at me for lying to my brother.