A Rock Prince with a Vengeance

“Hey Bri, the floor is wet, so be careful,” my best friend/boss, Jenny, warned me.

“I got it, I go-ahhhh!” I screamed as I slipped on the wet tile, and spilled coffee on my brand new outfit. “I guess I don’t.”

“You okay kid?” Jenny asked as she handed me a towel.

“Yeah, I guess. That’s going to leave a bruise though.”

In case we haven’t met before, my name is Briony McCarthy, and after my little incident, you can see that I’m the clumsiest 24-year-old on the face of the earth. I’m pretty below the height average standing at a proud 5 foot 4, my hair is black and blue, I work at a coffee shop, and I have the most weird, yet rare, eye color: gray.

If I haven’t mentioned yet, Jennifer Elizabeth Smith is more than my best friend, she’s practically my sister. We met in kindergarten while we were fighting over a swing, yet some odd reason we instantly became friends right after that. Strange, right? By the time my 13th birthday came around the corner, my parents died in a deadly car crash. After my fear of being put in an orphanage somewhere far, far away, Jenny’s family was gracious enough to welcome me into their home with open arms.

Now you’re probably wondering why how in the world did we end up working at a coffee shop? Good question. The day I turned 17, we thought it would be badass to drop out of high school with our ex-boyfriends and run away to a better place. At that time, it seemed like the best idea in the world, but in reality, we had nothing under control. We never got enough money to even buy a car, we ended up becoming homeless, and my boyfriend of 3 years broke up with me because I got pregnant (several weeks later I found out that I had a miscarriage). Since that day, Jenny and I have been working at Java Coffee Shop ever since because nobody else would hire high school drop outs.

Since landing a job here, I’ve been eternally grateful that Jenny got promoted to manager within six months of starting our jobs because anyone else would have fired me years ago due to my clumsiness.

“I know you’ve have had a rough day, and you’re shift is almost over, but I need you to do me the biggest favor ever for me,” she said.

I sighed, “What?”

“Can you do the last shift of the night and close the place at midnight?”

“Why me? Why can’t Brad and Melissa do it? I’ve already worked my ass off for 8 hours today, I’m hungry, tried, and I need to feed Zero.”

“Because Kevin and I are going out on a date tonight to celebrate our two year anniversary, and Brad and Melissa both called in sick today. Please, can you do this for me just this once?”

“Depends, what’s in it for me?”

“I’ll give you the rest of the week off.”

“Today’s Friday. I’ll only have one day off.”

“Okay, okay, umm….I’ll give you all of next week off.”

“Done deal. Now you two have fun tonight.”

“Thank you so much girl. You don’t know how much this means to me,” she said as she left. Now that she’s gone, what am I suppose to do in an empty coffee shop for the next four hours?

*3 ½ hours later*

“Thank you, come again,” I said in the fakest, pleasant tone. I now remember why I didn’t pick the last shift: I hate the City of Evil when nighttime came around. To me, there is nothing creepier than this; you’ll never know who you will encounter, especially in this part of the city. I’m just glad that I can finally close up in approx. five minutes.

*Jimmy’s POV*
“Jimmy, I think we should call it quits, man. We’ve been searching for hours, we looked in almost all the buildings throughout the City, and I’m getting’ pretty damn tired,” Johnny complained.

“Nope. I promised Matt that I wouldn’t come home until I find the girl no matter how long it takes,” I said proudly.

“Well if we’re going to continue this, can we at least stop for some coffee before I pass out?”
“If coffee’s what you want, then coffee is what you’re going to get. To the coffee shop away!” I pressed down hard on the gas pedal.

“Whoa, man; slow down. We just passed one.”

“Johnny! I see a girl in there! Do you think that could be her?”

“With the luck we’ve had today, I’d say that chances are slim to none.”

“Gosh, you can’t ever see the positives in anything. I have at least SOME faith.” I said as we walked into the shop while the cashier was cleaning off the counter.

“Hey um can I have a large coffee?” Johnny asked.

“Sure, that will be three bucks. Be right back,” she said as she turned around.

“Here ya go. Have a nice night.” She handed Johnny the coffee in exchange for the three singles.

Before we left, I looked up to see her eye color; I noticed that she had grey eyes! It was her!
“Jimmy, Jimmy,” Johnny said, but I completely ignored him.

“Hey, umm…Jimmy,” the girl said, which caught my attention, “it’s not polite to stare.”
“Oh well, um, I’m sorry about that. Umm, well, later,” I said as Johnny and I scurried out of there and into the van.

“Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude that was her! I swear that it was her!” I spazzed out and hit Johnny on the arm multiple times.

“Ouch man, you don’t have to hit me. So what are you talking about?”

“Sorry, random Spaz attack, but I SAW HER!”

“You sure?”

“Yes! She had gray eyes!”

“Then I’ll have to take your word for it. So how are we going to kidnap her?”

“We’re going to follow her home, break into her house, and kidnap her, duh! Don’t you watch those criminal movies and TV shows?”

“Apparently not.”

“Look! The shop close, and I can see her walking home now! Let’s go!” I whispered as I began driving the car slowly, yet carefully.

Several blocks later, I believe we’ve found her destination. I saw her walking into an apartment complex. I’m pretty sure she lives on the first floor on the third room to the right because after I saw her walk in, the light immediately turned on.

“Kay, Johnny, we’re goin’ in. Do you have the rope and bandana?”

“Yea. I’m not too sure about this couldn’t we get arrested?”

“Not if we’re very careful. Besides, we’re the Prince’s best friends; Zacky could bail us in a jiffy.”

“Well since there’s no way for me to get out of this now, let’s hit it,” he said as we exited the van and went straight for the apartment room; the third one to the right.

“You sure this is it?” Johnny asked.

“I’m as positive as a pregnancy test.” I said as I knocked on the door.

“Hold on,” she said, then five seconds later she opened the door.

“Aren’t you th-,” she said before we attacked her with our rope and bandana.

“I got her hands! Tie her up quickly!” I demanded.

After a few kicks, head butts, and nail scratches, we finally got her tied down.

“And off to the Vengeance Manor, away!” I said as Johnny and I carried her wiggling body to the van and threw her into the trunk.

“I hear sirens,” Johnny said worriedly.

“Already on it.” I slammed on the gas pedal and off we were down the street.

“Jimmy, can yo-.”

“Shut up! I know how to drive,” I screamed as I took a sharp turn, which caused the girl to scream uncontrollably. After that we were finally in the garage, save and sound.

“Jimmy, I thought I would never say this, but that was actually pretty fun and accelerating,” he said.

“I know right? I told you it was fun!”

Once we were in full park, we headed out toward the trunk and carried her out into the manor. Again, she would not stop screaming.

After Johnny and I put many, many hours into finding this girl, I’d have to say it was worth it.