I'll Be Here Waiting

Alcohol, sure it tastes good (most times), & makes ya feel all warm & fuzzy inside while you're running around obnoxiously making a fool of yourself. Yea, it's always a good time when some alcohol is involved.

But there is also that negative effect to it. Those mornings when you awake to a pounding headache, not remembering a single detail of the previous nights antics. And wondering how in the Hell you got home to begin with. Oh yes, it's always such a lovely time when some alcohol is thrown into the mix, especially for those in Southern California, because as they say, California knows how to party.

Danni was just know awakening from her peaceful sleep only to be bombarded with the most intense head pain she had ever felt. It was as if someone had maliciously hammered one thousand razor sharp nails into her skull. Looking around at her surroundings, it took a minute or two for her to finally realize she was lying on her own living room couch.

Movement could be heard in the distance, sounding to her that there was someone in the kitchen. She very slowly began to rise from the couch to investigate, nearly stepping on an unconscious Johnny Christ who was laying face first into the carpet. Carefully stepping around him, Danni eventually found her way into the kitchen where she found Zacky & Brian.

Zack was casually sitting at the table, reading the mornings paper while sipping on a hot cup of coffee. Danni came to join him, making sure to pick the seat with the farthest possible distance between them as she placed her aching head upon the wooden surface.

"Coffee?" Brian, who was leaning against the counter next to the freshly brewed pot of coffee, asked. Danni shook her head now with an incoherent mumble.

"Tylenol?" He tried again.

"Uh huh!" She said, shaking her head yes this time in eager anticipation.

Seconds later Brian had both a bottle of Tylenol & a bottle of Gatorade sitting in front of her.

"How the fuck did we get home last night?" Danni asked while popping the lid off the medication before taking three of the small reddish pills.

"Val & Michelle drove you all home because everyone else was too fucking wasted to move." Zack spoke from behind the news article he was reading.

"Oh my God, he fucking speaks!" Danni yelled hands thrown into the air from dramatic emphasis.

Zack's head peaked from behind the paper in a dangerous death-glare of hatred.

"Danni, what the Hell happened to your neck?" Brian asked, staring oddly at the right side of her neck.

Danni just stared at him dumb-founded. "Huh?"

"Your neck, here's a big fucking hickey on it!" Brain exclaimed.

Now Danni was really confused. "What?" she asked, rushing to examine it in the silver metal of the toaster. Sure enough, on the right side of her neck sat a half dollar sized purple & red hickey.

"Where in the fuck did that come from?" Danni exclaimed, now even more puzzled than before.

"Well maybe if you hadn't been so fucking wasted last night, you would've remembered practically fucking JB!" Zacky yelled, tossing the newspaper aside.

"Who fucked JB? & what the fuck is on your neck?" Johnny asked, holding a hand to his throbbing head as he made his way over to the coffee pot.

"Dude, where the fuck did you come from?" Brian asked upon seeing him.

"Yer mom?" Johnny replied.

"Ya know what Zack, fuck off! You've had a stick shoved up your ass ever since I got here. Why the fuck do you care if I made out with Jason anyway?" Danni asked, screaming over Syn & Johnny's ongoing voices.

"I don't care! I stopped caring about you a long time ago, sweetheart!" He tried to retaliate.

"Well it sure doesn't seem that way, Zack. I think you're just pissed cause I made out with JB & not you!"

Hands were flying, tempers were rising & all Hell was about to break loose in a matter of seconds.

"Fuck you Danielle! I'm done with this conversation!" And with those last words Zacky was gone. stomping up the stairs in an enraged frenzy, slamming as many doors & making as much noise as humanly possible.

"Well I walked in on the wrong part of that conversation. Got any Tylenol?" Johnny stated.

"Table" Brian replied dryly, finger pointed at the white bottle sitting on the kitchen table where Danni was still seated, a mocking smile upon her pale face.

Upstairs the chaos was only beginning to take shape.

"She thinks she can just waltz in here & disrupt all of our lives! Whose she gonna fuck next? Johnny or Jimmy! The nerve of that girl!" Zacky was screaming to Taylor while frantically ripping his bedsheets from he mattress.

"Why do you even care what she does, babe?" Asked Taylor, who was standing next to the door way with her arms crossed about one another.

"I don't care, I just don't want any of my friends getting caught up in her shit!"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Zack, who are you trying to kid?"

"Excuse me?" Zack asked with a hint of attitude from his place on the floor, collecting all the dirty clothes that were thrown about.

"Don't play dumb, Zacky. That's all you've done since I met you. Bitch, bitch, bitch about Danni! If you didn't care about who or what she did then you wouldn't be complaining every five fucking seconds!"

Zack was just staring at her in bewilderment. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He was stalk still as he stared upon her.

"Ya know what, I can't deal with your High School drama anymore, Zack. You obviously have some issues you need to work out with yourself." Taylor spoke as she turned toward the door, her brown curls swaying as she walked.

"Taylor! Wait!" Zacky yelled as he followed her down the stairs.

"Come on Taylor, what're you doing?"

She was stopped in front of the door, hand on the door knob, back facing Zack.

"Goodbye, Zack." And with that farewell she was gone, closing the door in his face without even bothering to face him before leaving.

He just stood staring at the door for a moment, fists clenched before practically running into the kitchen where Brian, Johnny, & Danni had all been listening intently. He rushed up behind Danni, slamming both hands down onto the table, on either side of Danni's frail body.

"I hope you're fucking happy!" He spat into her left ear, picking up her full coffee cup & throwing it like a baseball against the wall.

Danni flinched as the glass shattered, her eyes fixed above her glasses in an angered, almost fearful stare as tears began to sting them. But she refused to let them fall.

"Zacky!" Brian screamed, not believing the behavior he was witnessing from his best friend.

All Zack did was stick his middle finger in the air as he stormed like a hurricane outside toward his car.