Wanted

“Where’ve you been?”

“CHRIST!” Eliza screamed, whirling around.

“Uh, no,” Zacky said, standing in the hallway in just a pair of shorts, holding a bowl of cereal. He pointed a finger to himself. “Vengeance. That was insulting.”

He smiled to let her know he was kidding and her heart tried to calm down. He took a bite of cereal and followed her into the living room where he’d been watching television.

“So, where ya been?” he asked again.

“Coffee,” she said, holding up her cup.

“So, where ya been?” Zacky asked again, seemingly knowing.

Eliza sighed. “You know where.”

“How come?”

“What are you, my mother?”

“No, I’m curious is all.”

“I had a nightmare last night, and I went to his house.”

“Was it about him?” Zacky asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yes,” Eliza said, her throat tightening.

“Okay,” Zacky said and slurped his milk.

Eliza blinked as she watched Zacky’s attention go back to the television. That was it? She unzipped her jacket and shrugged out of it, getting comfortable on the couch.

“Is that all you wanted to know?” Eliza pressed.

“Well, you’re okay, you’re not missing, and you’re back now. That’s all I care about.”

“So you don’t care where I was?”

“You weren’t in any danger, why else would I care?”

“I was with…”

“I know who you were with, Eliza. Just because my girlfriend doesn’t approve doesn’t mean I don’t. We’ve been through this. I think it would do more damage than good if you guys weren’t together. Did you two talk?”

“Actually, we did. We talked about a lot of things.”

“So, you two are alright?”

“We’re getting there,” Eliza said, sipping her coffee just as the front door opened.

“Oh, good! You’re awake!”

She leaned her head back to see Jimmy jump over the back of the couch and land beside her. Without saying anything, he immediately grabbed her coffee and started drinking it.

“Hey, fuck you! We’re not doing this again,” she said, claiming her cup back.

He’d drank more than half of it. She frowned at him while he smiled widely. Zacky mumbled something through a bite of Fruit Loops.

“Nah, I’m good. I don’t like Fruit Loops anywho,” Jimmy said, shaking his head.

“You knew what he said?” Eliza asked, incredulous.

“Uh, yeah. He asked if I wanted some cereal.”

“Okay,” Eliza said, blinking rapidly.

“So, I woke up this morning and realized we didn’t really celebrate your birthday last night. I feel kind of bad about it.”

“I had fun, that’s all that matters,” Eliza said, smiling and shaking her head.

“Well, that’s not all that matters,” Jimmy said, pulling a wrapped box from his back pocket.

It was silver with black ribbon around it and she smiled as she pulled the ribbon off. She took it and tied it around Jimmy’s wrist. He laughed as she continued to open her present.

Inside of the box, she found a silver cuff with a skull skeleton key molded into it. She smiled and launched herself at Jimmy, wrapping her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her back and he squeezed her. She pulled back a bit and looked at Jimmy. He was smiling, but there was a weird sadness in his eyes that Eliza couldn’t place. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ask him about it, because just then Wiki and Thomas came downstairs. Not a minute later, Katie came down, her hair in curls all over the place.

Within minutes, Wiki and Jimmy had set up a session for the both of them to play drums.

“My cousin plays drums, too, and I learn a lot from him, but I think it would be fucking amazing if you would jam with me,” she said to Jimmy.

“Who’s your cousin?” he asked out of curiosity.

“His name is Arin. He’s been playing since he was like four, which is how I got into playing.”

“That’s cool,” Jimmy said, nodding his head. “Yeah, dude. I’ve got the kit in the basement at the house. We could totally go over later. I mean, the house is pretty much fucking set up for the party; all I have to do is a bit of cleaning up for tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Wiki said, smiling.

“Shit,” Katie said, coming from the kitchen to the living room. “We don’t have any fucking aspirin. I need to run up to the store. Anyone wanna come with?”

“Oh! Me!” Thomas said, immediately standing up. “I need my magazines.”

Eliza rolled her eyes. “I’m heading upstairs to shower.”

She waved bye to Katie and Thomas and stood up from the couch. She looked at her bracelet now on her free wrist and then up to Jimmy. He wasn’t talking to anyone and his face wasn’t guarded. Something was wrong and she was concerned.



Several hours later, everyone had showered and gathered at Jimmy’s house. Eliza, Thomas, Wiki, and Katie had brought their costumes with them, planning on just getting ready there. Zacky had gone to Brian’s to help him with something, and Matt, Val, Dom, Nisa, Hunter, and Kelly were going to Los Angeles for a little bit of shopping before coming to Jimmy’s.

Eliza was lying with her head on Katie’s lap while Katie played with her hair. Thomas was sitting on the other couch flipping through his magazines. Wiki and Jimmy were in the make-shift studio he’d built in his basement, going through different beats and rhythms.

“I love that Britney Spears is making a comeback,” Thomas said while flipping through a couple of pages.

“I like her body,” Eliza said with her eyes closed.

“Before or after her meltdown?” Thomas said, pausing in his reading to look at the girl.

“Definitely before,” Eliza said, and they both smiled. “I do like that song ‘If U Seek Amy’, though. That song is fucking hilarious.”

“You’re a pervert,” Thomas said before going back to his magazine.

"All the boys and all the girls are begging to f-u-c-k me," Eliza sang. Thomas flipped her off.

“Have you noticed something different about Jimmy?” Katie asked quietly.

Eliza’s eyes popped open and she turned her head to the left to look at him in the studio.

“Other than the fact he’s taking this beard thing way too seriously? Yeah, I have. He’s like… not himself, ya know?”

“Something’s wrong,” Katie mumbled. “I hope these parties make him feel better.”

“I still have no idea what we’re going to do for costumes on Saturday. I’ve got one for tonight and tomorrow, but I had no idea we were going to do a four-day booze binge.”

“I think Val has something in mind—”

“Hey, Eliza, do you know an Emily Summers?”

“No?”

“She’s talking some serious shit about you. Well, it wasn’t about you directly, but you’re mentioned in this article and it isn’t good.”

Katie let go of her hair and Eliza sat up, taking the magazine from Thomas’ outstretched hand. Katie scooted closer to her as she read out loud.

“Emily Summers, the daughter of John Summers, the Crude Oil King, speaks about what it’s like growing up in the spotlight.

We asked her how she felt about being a fashion icon compared to the growing trends. “I’m constantly in the media and so I take every precaution to make sure I look my best. I see people like [music artist] Eliza Grey (her band is Shades of Grey) in pictures and she just looks so unkempt. It’s like she’s just woken up from whatever nasty bed she’s crawled out of and just went out. I think kids shouldn’t consider her a role model or even look to her for fashion. People like her just don’t care what they look like and I think that translates to the younger girls and is bad for them.”

“Uh, excuse the fuck out of me. When the fuck have I looked horrible in any pictures? By the way, thanks, Thomas. That article was directly about me.”

“Well, there was that day—”

“Shut up, Katelyn,” Eliza said, shooting her an evil look. “Who the fuck is this bitch? I mean, I realize I don’t have the best fashion sense, but this girl is just ridiculous.”

“Everyone knows that prints were so last year,” Thomas said, flipping through another magazine.
“This is still ridiculous. I am so mad right now,” Eliza said, throwing the magazine down. “Who the fuck is she?”

“Who is who?” Wiki asked, coming out of the studio.

“Some snooty little fucking—”

“A girl in a magazine is criticizing Eliza about the way she dresses.”

“What the fuck is wrong with the way she dresses?” Jimmy asked.

“Who is she?” Wiki asked at the same time Thomas said “Absolutely nothing!”

Eliza picked up the magazine and flipped to the page of the article. She handed it to Wiki and Jimmy leaned over her shoulder to read with her.

“Emily Summers…Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“It’s because she’s a major bitch,” Thomas said, nodding.

“She’s dating my cousin!” Wiki cried after a minute.

“Wait, she’s dating Arin?” Eliza asked, confused. “She criticizes me for how I dress when Arin and I have just about the same style?”

“Except for the fact you’re a girl, you’re kind of right,” Wiki said, agreeing.

“You know what I meant,” Eliza said, rolling her eyes.

Katie’s phone rang and she moved to the other side of the room. Eliza looked at her phone.

“Holy shit, it’s almost five!”

“Well, fuck. Everyone is going to be arriving soon!” Jimmy said before he rushed upstairs.

Once he left, it was a given that everyone else needed to go get ready, too. All of the girls had decided to coordinate costumes this time, and were going as Disney princesses. Eliza was going to be Sleeping Beauty, Val was going to be Cinderella, Katie was going to be Belle, Wiki was going to be Snow White, Annisa was going to be Ariel and Kelly was going to be Jasmine.

The girls were all going back to Katie’s house to get ready. Thomas was staying at Jimmy’s with the guys, and Eliza walked up to Jimmy’s room where music was blasting from to tell him she was leaving.

He was lying on his bed, his hands resting underneath his head, his feet tapping along to the music. His drum pad was resting on his lap and his sticks were on either side of him.

“Whatcha doin, fuzzy? I thought you'd be getting ready for the party, since 'everyone will be arriving soon'.”

His head lifted slightly and when he saw her, he smiled. He instantly raised up until he was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“I was just thinking about a couple of new songs we’ve been working on for the next album.”

“That’s cool. I just wanted to let you know we were heading to Katie’s to get ready for the party.”

“Awesome. Hey, I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Shoot,” Eliza said, coming to sit on the corner of his bed.

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Uh, nothing that I can think of,” Eliza said, confused.

“I want you to stay here tonight. I wanna hang out with you tomorrow.”

“Oh, sure! I’d love to!”

“Good,” he said, smiling.