We Stitch These Wounds

Later that night we all sat around a bonfire talking and catching up. I had my head in Ronnie's lap and my feet in Andy's lap. Emily was sitting on Jake's lap and Sammie was cuddled into Jinxx's side. Jacky, Ashley, and CC were spread out around the fire.

"So how long have you been sober for my former addict?" Ronnie asked as he pushed some of my hair out of my face.

"Well my fellow addict. I stopped using right after you went to jail. It kind of woke me up. I was with you earlier that day it could have been me... you know. By the way the whole 'Hi my name is Ronnie I'm an addict.' on the album I can't help but smile every time I hear it."

"Well I did get it from you. I can't believe you introduced yourself to people like that." He replied with a laugh.

Everybody was looking at me like I was crazy upon him saying that. "Let me clarify ... I didn't introduce myself to everybody like that just other druggies. As we were getting high I would say 'Hi my name is Miranda I'm an addict don't piss me off and I'll be your best friend piss me off and I'll be your greatest nightmare.' What was the point in lying?" I asked with a laugh. I sat up and crossed my legs. "While we're on the conversation of you quoting me in your song what's up with using.'If we are born to die and we all die to live. Then what's the point of living life if it just contradicts?' That's like my favorite quote! I think I deserve like 50% royalties."

"50%?!" Ronnie and Jacky both shrieked in unison?

I started laughing uncontrollably. "Chill I was just kidding or am I?" I asked wiggling my eyebrows.

Ronnie pushed me and I lost balance and fell into Andy's lap. "Miranda ... ugh I mean Payton what happened to your leg?" Ronnie asked as he ghosted his index finger on the 6 inch scar that run up my right leg where there was a slight divot.

"I brought a gun to a knife fight and got stabbed." I retorted rolling my eyes.

Jake stood up and walked over to where I was sitting. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw my leg causing me to start laughing my ass off. "Seriously?! Why haven't I seen that before?!" He nearly shrieked.

I took a deep breath trying to stop the laughter. "No I didn't bring a gun to a knife fight it's a saying. It's how the rebuilt my hand." I said as I held up my hand for them to see. "They took skin, veins, fat, and muscle from my hand to rebuild it. I'm 22 and I've had lipo on my hand and leg. I had like a mountain on my hand for like 4 months they put a lot of fat in my hand so I wouldn't break the bones that had been sawed down. You haven't noticed it before cause I've either had a long skirt on or pants. I don't mind my scars but I hate when people I don't know ask what happened. I've started making up stories I think my favorite is 'The government put a chip in my hand so I decided to get it out on my own and when I didn't find it I figured they put it in my leg instead' I get very odd looks when I tell people that, and usually they slowly start walking away. I love it!"

"You know even my dad thinks you died.Which reminds me come here..." He said pulling me into his lap and pulling out his phone to take a picture. "Dimples he'll recognize those anywhere." He said as he poked my cheek making me smile even bigger. The camera on his phone flashed and made a shutter sound. He waited a second before he turned it around to look at it. I had a huge cheesy dimpled smile on my face and Ronnie was poking one of my dimples with his mouth opened a surprised look on his face. 'Look who I found ... how the dead have risen.' He typed at under the picture.

"I demand a copy of that!" I said as I snatched his phone out of his hands and added my number below his dad's. I hit send and then handed the phone back to him.

"Soo ..." Emily said taking a sip from her beer. "Why aren't you drinking?" She asked pointing at my bottle of water.

"I took a pain pill earlier and I don't like the feeling I get when I drink on them." I said with a shrug.

My phone started playing 'Good Girl Bad Guy'
"You've got pep in your step
You live your life with no regret
How you look when you are wet
Is something I can't forget
I just wanna kiss your lips
The ones between your hips
If I cash in all my chips on you
Then baby I'd be rich

So come on
Sexy, please text me
I'm ready for you
So come on
Waiting, I'm begging
So please get here soon"

Ronnie and I burst out laughing.

"You've got a text." CC said holding up my phone.

"I know it's that picture I sent myself from Ronnie's phone." I said trying not to laugh.

"Nice ring tone." Jacky said laughing.

"Oh you have no idea." Ronnie said laughing even harder.

"Oh please don't tell me that's something he's said to you." Jake said grimacing.

"So Andy what's up?" I said changing the subject.

"Oh my God Payton I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again!" Jake whined causing everyone to laugh.

"Hey I'm not the one that wrote the song and I surely didn't come up with that!" I defended myself.

Jake glared at Ronnie. "Hey I thought she was dead I was just trying to keep her memory alive." Ronnie put his hands in the air defending himself.

"Wait you gave him the clap?!" Ashley yelled laughing as he remembered the end of the song.

"No!" Ronnie and I yelled in unison.

"I've been STD free since 1990!" I said with a huge smile on my face.

"You were born in 1990..." Jake said confused.

"That's my point." I said rolling my eyes. "Sometimes I swear you're blond!"

"Nope that's Andy!" Jake yelled pointing in Andy's direction.

"You couldn't tell by talking to me though!" Andy retorted rolling his eyes.

"And it's curly!" I shouted poking his slightly wet hair.

"Oh my God you can tell you and Jake were raised together you both are fucking loud!" Andy said covering his ears. Jake and I both stuck our tongues out at him. "See!" Andy said pointing a finger at each of us. "Same fucking reaction. If one Jake wasn't enough now I've got two to deal with."

"But you see I'm better then he is." I reasoned as I climbed out of Ronnie's lap and sat close to Andy. "You wanna know why?"

"Sure." Andy said humoring me. "Why are you better then Jake?" He said with a slight chuckle.

"Cause I've got all the right parts." I said with a wicked grin on my face as I grabbed my breast and jiggled them with my hands.

"Payton Jade Maddox!" Jake yelled causing me to look at him.

"Did you say something Jacob Mark Pitts?" He cringed at the use of his full name.

"Please wait until I'm not in the general vicinity before you start enticing my band mates, or friends, and please take your hands off your breast." He said shaking his head at me

"You know you sound just like your father." I said crossing my arms and huffing. "God I can never have any fun!" I said kicking the sand causing everyone to laugh at my child like behavior.

"Let's play a game!" Emily shouted

"Truth or dare?" Ashley suggested.

"No! Marco Polo!" I shouted bouncing up and down in my spot between Andy and Ronnie.

"The beach is too big to play Marco Polo." Jacky reasoned.

"You know you were easily becoming my favorite guitarist here, but now that you disagreed with me I think it's Jinxx." I said mock glaring at Jacky.

"Score I'm the favorite!" Jinxx said as he fist pumped the air.

"So ... Truth or dare Jade?" Ashley asked.

"Truth?" I asked unsure if I trusted Ashley with a dare.

"Are you sure? That seemed like a question then an answer." Ashley replied.

"I was a little unsure if I could trust you with a dare." I answered. "Now CC truth or dare?"

"Wait I didn't ask you a question!" Ashley protested.

"Yes you did! You asked me if I was sure and I replied so therefore you asked me a question." I said giving Ashley a wink.

"Go Jade for being technical!" Sammie yelled giving me an air five since there was a fire pit in our way.

"Umm ... Dare!" CC shouted bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"I dare you to ..." I looked around at all the people sitting around the fire pit. "I dare you to take a picture of your dick and let me pick a name out of your phone to send it to. I promise it wont be mom or dad or anything like that."

"That dare sucks!" Ashley said. Just then I got an idea. I grabbed my phone and turned off the ringer while CC walked a few feet away and took a picture of his member.

"What are you doing?" Andy asked watching me.

"Oh just watch it will be amazing." I whispered to him.

CC walked back over with his phone and handed it to me. "Don't judge I'm a grower not a shower."

"I didn't plan on it." I said with a smirk as I typed my number into his phone. "I'm keeping your phone until I get a reply now go sit down." I said as I pointed to his seat. I handed CC's phone to Ronnie. "Read me off Ashley's number." I whispered as he did I forwarded the picture of CC's penis to Ashley's phone. Ashley's phone started ringing and I tossed the phone back to CC. "Here you go dude."

"What did they say?" He asked as he caught his phone.

"You'll see in a second." I replied as Ashley reached in his pocket for his phone.

"Did you just?" Andy asked nodding over in Ashley's direction.

I just smiled in response.

"What the fuck some random number just sent me a picture of a penis!" Ashley yelled throwing his phone.

"I guess someone thought you were a girl when they saw Ashley in their phone." I said with an Evil smirk.

"Oh ya I have Jade's number now!" CC said when he figured out what I did.

"Oh my God Jade really?!" Ashley screeched.

"Well you said my dare sucked so I had to make it more interesting." I said giving him an innocent smile.

"Emily truth or dare?" CC asked.

"Dare." She replied calmly.

"I dare you to kiss Jade!" He shouted crossing his arms as if it would intensify his challenge.

"I ... I d don't k know" She stammered a little shocked from his dare.

I stood up and walked around the fire to over to where she was sitting in Jake's lap. I pushed Jake's face out of the way and kissed her on the lips for a few seconds before pulling away. She looked at me shocked. "I had a feeling that was a timid dare for CC." I said before walking away.

"Dude you did it!" CC said bouncing up and down like a it was the first time he had seen two girls kissing. "Yeah and I've done much worse."

It took Emily a few seconds to recover from the shock. "So ... Ronnie truth or dare?"

"Truth." He replied.

"Why haven't you or Jade dated?" She asked curiously. I know Sammie and Emily have been wondering this since Andy interrupted or chatting session earlier.

"Well ..." He began as he thought about the answer. He looked at my face as he tried to think of an answer. "Usually one of us were usually dating someone else and the few times that we weren't I didn't think that she would go for it. I was surprised that she ever had sex with me to begin with I didn't want to push it. I always thought that she was better then me ... There is just something about her that's just so pure, and innocent,almost angelic. Despite what she has done, or been through it's still there. It's still there I see it now." He answered with a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Aww...." Emily and Sammie both cooed.

Ronnie's phone started ringing. "It's my dad someone can take my turn." He said as he got up and I followed knowing why his dad was calling.

"Hey Pop's!" He greeted as we continued to walk away from the group of our friends. "Hold on just a second I'm going to put you on speaker phone." He said as he wrapped one of his hands around my waist pulling me closer.

"Hey Papa Radke!" I said as Ronnie put the phone on speaker phone holding it in between us as we walked.

"Miranda? I thought ..." He began but broke off.

"I'm not dead. I flipped my car and was in the hospital for a while. I came close to dying, but it didn't happen. God doesn't want me yet." I said with a laugh.

"Oh my God!" He said completely shocked.

"What happened?" He asked I could tell he had a million questions running through his head. I was honestly surprised that Ronnie hadn't asked this question yet, but he never was one to push me to talk about things. When and if I wanted to talk about things he knew I would on my own.

Ronnie sat down on the sand pulling me into his lap. "Well do you remember Joel the guy that I had been dating?"

"The guy with the spiky hair?" He asked a little unsure.

"You dated Joel?" Ronnie asked shocked.

"Yes." I replied to both of their questions. "Well he over dosed and died September 1'st. I had locked myself in the house the for weeks. I only left to go to work and that was it. One of my friends talked me into going out and having a few drinks with her. When I got there everybody kept asking me about what happened and everything and I got really upset and left. I was crying on the way home and I noticed that I was speeding I started applying the break and out of nowhere my tire blew and since my foot was on the break it jerked to the left and I hit the side of the highway. I flipped for 660 feet. There were pieces of my car scattered for an 1/8 of a mile they had to shut down the highway." I took a deep breath.

"Oh my I'm so sorry!" Papa Radke said sorrow laced throughout his voice.

"Oh don't be I don't remember the much of the wreck I remember hitting the side of the highway and closing my eyes I remember the initial flip ... I think and the next thing I knew I woke up in my car all the windows had been broken out and I was in pain. I looked down and saw blood everywhere. Apparently while the car was flipping my hand went threw the window the skin, veins, and tendons were ripped off of my hand. I dislocated my thumb in two places and the bones in my hand and wrist had been sawed down. Apparently I punched myself in the face and I had a hematoma on the left side of my face. I was unrecognizable when I got to the hospital and was rushed into surgery. I have no idea why people were saying I was killed, maybe they saw my car and just assumed, but my mom thought it was a good idea for us to move and start over again. So two weeks later when I was released from the hospital we moved to Texas. It took 7 surgeries to get me back and function, but I'm good and back to normal." I said as I appraised my left hand.

"Wow..." both Ronnie and his Dad replied in shock.

I laughed. "Like father like son."

"So how did you and Ronnie run into each other?" Pops asked curiosity in his voice.

"Well you remember how I told you about my Dad?" He grunted in response he hated my father. "He died a couple months ago and I got a job out in L.A. and I'm staying with Jake my brother I told you about."

He was silent for a second. "The one who plays guitar?"

"Yeah that's the one." I replied in conformation. "Well he and his band know Ronnie they actually toured together not to long ago."

"Yeah you've met him he's one of the guys from Black Veil Brides." Ronnie added.

"Oh wow ...Well I'm glad you're alive and doing well. I'll let you guys go, but I'd like to see you again sweetie."

Ronnie and I said our good byes and started walking back to our group of friends. "So why did you leave letting everyone think you were dead?" Ronnie asked when we were about twenty feet away from everyone else.

I stopped walking and looked at him. "Well I didn't like the way most of the people were talking about you and treating you like shit when you were in jail so I didn't feel the need to clarify things up with them they weren't worth my time and as far as I cared they could think I was dead; I wanted nothing to do with them. I didn't know that my mom hadn't told your dad I was alive."

Ronnie smiled down at me. "Well I'm glad you're still here. I thought I was going crazy when I saw you earlier today. I thought I was seeing things." He said as he leaned down and kissed my lips. My stomach started doing flips. My whole body was tingling when he pulled away. I had kissed Ronnie before, but never had had I felt like this when he kissed me. I smiled at him and we walked back over to our friends.

"Payton." Was all I heard as Ashley saying as I sat down. The next thing I knew Andy's lips were on mine and for the second time tonight my stomach was doing somersaults. He pulled away and I blushed.