Alone at Six

"Are we going to eat now?" I asked for the eighth time. We'd finished with autographs, helped clean up a little, and made sure all the merch guys and girls that had been in the incident were okay, again. It was four AM and I was starving.

"Yes, Andy!" Jake finally yelled "We're going to eat now!"

"Yes! Let's goooo!"

"God, guys and their food." Sandra said, taking her time out of the door.

"Girls and their speed!" I pushed her along faster outside. We were almost to the buss when Trina stopped us.

"Guys! The guys have some questions about" blah blah blah. I want some goddamn food. My stomach growled and twisted and growled some more as Trina talked on and on about making sure nothing like this happens again. I think she heard my stomach becasue she looked over, smiled, and started talking slower.

"Hey, Six." Sandra nudged me from behind "Isn't that your friend over there?"

I turned to see what she was talking about. All my friends were back home or listening to this ongoing thing coming from Trina's mouth. But sure enough, there sitting on the curb was Cole, messing with something in her hands.

"Don't corrupt her!" Sandra yelled after me as I headed towards her.

The closer I got, the clearer I could hear the melody flow from her mouth. "And later on I'll cry my stupid eyes out. Later on I'm crying like a baby and yeah baby, don't get so disappointed. I am not what you anticipated."

I sat down next to her and she jumped, dropping her phone and . "Hello to you, too." I smiled.

"Oh, sorry, hi." She said taking her ear phones out "I'm Cole."

"I know. We met earlier." Did she really not remember?

"Right, sorry." I guess she didn't

"So, what are you doing?"

She shrugged "Just waiting."

"Huh. Did you ever find your friend?"

She shook her head no. "I called a few times, no answer."

"Oh. I'm sure she's fine."

"Yeah, she probably is." looking over at her she had the same look on her face, misery. She just flipped her phone and over and over in her hands.

"Where are your CDs?" I asked, realizing she wasn't carrying anything besides what was in her hands.

"I was, uh, in that little outbreak. Someone snatched them."

"Oh, I'm sorry. So, uh, what are you waiting for?" Nothing I was saying made her happy or started a conversation. I felt like I was playing twenty questions and losing.

"My ride." She sniffled. "My ride home."

"How long have you been waiting." Genuine curiosity caused me to ask. Most people left hours ago and it was freezing outside.

"About three.....hours." Her voice got low on the last word and she turned her head a little ways from me.

I looked away from her, getting that she didn't want me to see her face "Why not take a taxi?" I kept going. This was the closest thing to a conversation as I was going to get and I wasn't going to let it slip away.

"They, uh. they got my wallet, too, in the mess."

"Oh" I didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say.

"Biersack!" Sandra called over to me. "Come one, we're leaving."

It didn't feel right to leave Cole here alone. Her almond shaped eyes were shining like they'd flood at any moment, her slightly burned hands were shaking, and it didn't seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon.

"Hey, Cole. You wanna come with us? We're gonna get something to eat then we can drive you home."

She put her hands out, palms up showing a few more burns. "No money, remember?"

"No problem. Our treat."

She shook her head after thinking for a second. "No, I'm good."

"Come one." I said standing and holding my hand out to her. "If you spent the money to watch us spaz out on stage then why not come have civilized conversation with us for free?"

She looked at my outstretched hand then pushed herself off the ground. "Okay"

"Okay then." My hand dropped, feeling unusually awkward as she followed me to the buss. Sandra greeted us when we walked in.

"'Bout time Biersack. Hey babe." She winked at Cole. Ah, Sandra. No matter what sex, she'll flirt with you.

"Hey." Cole said, almost a whisper.

"Cole, this is Jake, Jinxx, Ashley, and Sandra. Guys, this is Cole."

"I fucking love your name." Jake said

"Same." Ashley and Jinxx jinxed and Jinxx won a soda.

"Your outfit is giving me a orgasm." Sandra perved.

"Wow, Sandra." I said "Nice way to creep her out."

"Hey, Cole." Ashley called "Why are you coming along with us?" Blunt, as always.

"She's just coming for a ride, Ash."

"A ride? Kinda dangerous to go to a concert with no way home, don't you think?"

"He's got a point." Jinxx chimed in.

"Yeah-" I kicked Jake before he said anything else stupid and Sandra was smart enough to keep quiet, thank god.

"Hey, can I use the bathroom?" Cole asked.

"Yeah, right over there." As soon as the door shut I turned to Ashley "What the fuck was guys!?"

"What?" Ashley held his hands up "It was a logical question."

I ran a hand over my face and turned the radio up a bit. "Guys, she's not having a good day. Her friend ditched her at the show, she was picked for her CDs and wallet at the merch table, and her ride totally bailed on her. She was waiting for three hours." I felt bad for putting her business out there, but they should at least know why I brought some random chick with me without any warning.

"Wow, that's bad."

"Yeah, Jake, it is. So can we keep the questions to none?"

"Yeah yeah." With a wave of her hand, Sandra hopped off of her bed "What's taking her so long? I don't take that long to piss."

I shrugged. "I don't know, she might not be peeing."

"She's taking a dump?"

"No, Sandra. I meant crying. Which means we gotta make some noise so she wont feel uncomfortable coming back out here."

"Shit!" Jake yelled "Ashley, there's a huge fucking spider behind you!"

"The fuck!" Ashley leaped down and landed right on Jake, a cracking sound coming from the impact.

"Ashley!" He yelled "Get your ass off of me!"

"There's no fucking spider, you ass!"

Jinxx laughed almost maniacally and soon him and Ashley were wrestling on the floor, sending Jinxx, Sandra, and I up onto the, bed, couch, and counter to get out of the way. Just to my delight, Cole came out of the bathroom hearing this spike in noise and pretty soon Ashley had Jinxx pinned to the ground with a arm around his neck.

"Tap out or I brake it!" He yelled.

Jinxx hit the ground like a retarded bird trying to clap and Ashely let go of him.

"You see this?" Ashely said to Cole "This is why you don't joke about there being a spider. It's just not safe."

Cole came pretty damn close to smiling then, and I noticed her eyes were pretty dry, before her phone range. "Hello? Hey Lilly. I'm sorry......" Her voice faded as she moved farther away.

"Nice one, Jake." I said patting his shoulder.

"Yeah. Next time, you're being tackled by Ashley. I'm not going to keep doing that."

"Wimp." Ashley called

"Uh, hey, guys?" Cole came back, a new wetness to her eyes.

"Yeah babe." Sandra answered

"Do you think maybe you could drop me off at my house first? My step mom is pretty mad I'm out this late."

"No problem. Hey, how old are you anyway? You still get hounded like that?" I can't say I wasn't wondering the same thing.

"I'm only seventeen. My birthdays in October." Damn. Underage.

"Aw, we got ourselves a young one! You can still have underage sex!"

"Really Sandra," I said "you sound like a pedo bear. Like you're planing on rapping her."

"It's not rape if you like it."

"Statutory. She is underage."

"Whoa, guys!" Jake cut in for Cole's sake "How 'bout some directions to that house?"