"Your Lies Keep You Alive.."

"Ami,let's go!",Imani yelled.

"In a minute",I called over my shoulder,"Should I get the light green laptop case with daisies or the blue case with the peacock silhouette?".

She groaned,"You hate birds".

I made a face recalling the bird attack from when I was 4,"No I don't. I just dislike them...alot".

"Then get the green one and let's get outta here!".

Imani was losing her patience and I was doing everything I could think of to stall.
I didn't want to go to that diner and like hell would I let my sister come face to face with the asshole that ruined her.

"I...think...I'm..gonna...get-".

"Oh for the love of God!",Imani tore both items from my hands and ran to checkout.

"There!",she slammed the trunk down and jumped into the drivers side,"We're done and I'm fucking starving".

I started panicking.

I didn't know whether Ronnie worked or if he had anything to do,the second Imani had dropped him from her life so did I.Though I vaguely recalled hearing something about him on the radio.
Had his band finally hit the big shots? or had I imagined the whole thing?

"Buh..but..Iman-".

"NO BUTTS!!",she yelled as she hit the gas and tore off lightspeed.

"Imani! Slow down! You can't..damnit..can we..go back Mani!! I need other things!",Imani glanced over at me before signaling and twisting the wheel for a left turn.

"Like what?".

She didn't give me enough time to make something up.So she hit the gas pedal again and in less than 10 minutes we were pulling up into the diner Imani had seen yesterday.

"Emily's?",Imani smiled,"I hope it's something worth the waiting.'Cause it’s the only time that I ever feel real.
Thunderstorms could never stop me,'Cause there's no one in the world like Emily.."

I'd been trudging behind my sister mumbling about other possible necessities until I heard Imani sing and froze.

Ronnie had sung that song to her while she was in the hospital almost comatose from all the drugs,he hadn't bothered to replace her name in the song.

Instead telling her,"You'll forever be my Emily".

He had visited Imani one other time after that but seeing her and knowing that she couldn't remember who he was,was too much for him and he never returned.
I had seen him hanging around that Max kid that Imani warned me not to go near but being that my sister was enough of a wreck I never bothered to mention it to her.

"Imani,where did you hear that song?".

"It's a song?",Imani looked puzzled but shrugged it all off,"I don't know.It just kind of came to mind".

In the very pit of my stomach,I felt no good could come of this.

When we were seated and the waitress had taken our orders not forgetting to compliment Imani on her tattoos,I lifted my hand and started chewing my nails nervously.

A habit I had since been rid off.

Both of us sat on one side off the booth and kicked our feet up onto the seats across from them.We were always together and doing little things like sitting side by side just lessened that feeling of being alone.
My eyes kept flicking back and forth between the door,the window,and the clock on the wall.

Imani took notice,"Ami.You okay?".

I dropped my hand like it burned my lips,"I'm fine! Super fine,super great! Fantastic! WHY?!".

"Alright,calm down",she laughed,"Just asking".

Fly by Sugar Ray filled the restaurant and while Imani tapped her boot with the beat, the two of us looked out the window together and admired the city.The beach was only a few blocks away and the waves crashing down were breathtaking.

A bell ding'ed and my head immediately snapped towards the door,my cheeks burning red when I felt Imani staring at me and heard a cook call out an order.

"Are you waiting for someone?".

I blinked,"What?No,of course not!".

The waitress from before,Irene her nametag read,walked back over and set down 2 fresh lemonade's in front of us.

Small thank you's and a friendly nod were exchanged between us three.

"I can't believe you've already met someone",Imani sipped her drink.

"What?".

"Awww c'mon,spill! What's his name? What's he like? Is he cute o I bet he is!",she rambled.

I would never admit to the small almost nonexistant crush I once had on Imani's best friend.

"Ewwww Imani!That's gro-",there was no bell.No noisy entrance,no nothing,and yet there he was.

Standing in front of a large group of men I didn't recognize but all that mattered was that I knew him and he knew me.

And Imani.



Ronnie

"Yeh shurr yeh din't jus' imagin' the whol' thin'?",the heavely accented voice drifted into the room.

I whirled around to face all of my bandmates,Jacky being the one who had asked the question.

"It was her!You wanna know how I know?",I didn't wait for anyone to answer,"Those fucking eyes man!Those turquoise golden speckled eyes!".

"What about gold eyes?",Nasty walked into the studio with a 6pack of beer.

"They're a Temp family treasure!She had them!".

"Who?".

Nasty looked to the rest of the guys:Derek,Mika,Ryan,and Jacky.The silence said it all.

He spoke as directly as he could,"Ron?".

I raised a hand to stop him,"Don't say it".

"I'm just trying to help yo-".

"How the fuck is throwing it in my face that she doesn't fucking remember me going to help!?",I yelled,"Get it through your thick goddamn skull Nasty,I love her!I knew all along I loved her but I didn't know how much until I lost her.And the part that fucking kills me,that keeps me awake at night is that she's not dead,I'm dead to her.Not even that.."

I had hit them where it would hurt,the tension could be cut with a knife and all the sympathy stares aimed at me could've burned holes right through me.
I was so lost in thought that I didn't hear Derek's footsteps as he came up behind me.

"Ronnie..."

That was the last straw,I reached up to cover my face letting all the tears of frustration pour out of me.I didn't care that the guys had all gone quiet and were staring at me.My heart had fallen out of my chest.

In an instant I dropped my hand and grabbed all of my hair,pulling it to one side revealing a quickly fading black tattoo.

'Forever' it read with a small red heart next to it.

I turned my back to my friends and pointed at it,"See that?".

They all nodded.Of course I didn't turn around to see that but continued anyway.

"I was her 'Always',she was my 'Forever'..that's what she would say everytime she finished a conversation.We went in to get these tattoos a few days before the tragedy",I sighed,"I just need to know.What if she sees me and it all comes back to her?What if she loves me too?".

There was no possible way that they could deny a poor mans one true desire.

Jacky stood up next to Derek,"Le's go the'".

Nasty,Ryan,and Mika were already out the door.

"Huh?".

Derek smiled at us,"Let's go find her".

We were tearing down the LA road back to the usual hangout,Emily's,me acting like a little boy bouncing in my chair.This might be my one chance to fix it all.

The second the car stopped I ripped the seatbelt off and ran full throttle towards the front door,it was wide open and standing outside I could see them.

Her sister Amira was next to her,talking to her,smiling at her,making a face at her,and finally catching sight of me.

I hadn't even noticed that my bandmates were all standing behind me,following my eyes and catching a young girls in return.

"There...",my voice was below a whisper.

I had lost all trail of thought and senses when Imani lifted her gaze and caught sight of what her sister was so enveloped in.

Confusion flooded me as I watched Imani's stare turn from curiosity to sheer anger and...disgust?

She slammed what I assumed to be money down on the table,grabbed her sisters hand and pulled her out of the booth before making her way up to me.

I felt my heart at the base of my throat,heard the pounding in my ears as she charged forward.

All the guys were frozen under Imani's death glare.I heard a few of them actually gulp.

"You sick pervert!",she started,"How do you live with yourself!".

She motioned at Amira who was very interested in the floor,"She's only fucking 16!A little teenager not even legal!You disgust me!".

Oh so it was disgust in her eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out.

"I don't know nor want to know how you two met but if you come anywhere near her,if you so much as think about her I'll have your ass in jail faster than you can breath!".

With that Imani pushed past our whole group,dragging her seemingly embarrassed little sister behind her.

The 6 of us watched as Imani drove away,only turning back once to send me one last glare.

I stood there,paralyzed.

"Soo..",Ryan broke the tension,"She seems nice".