Roadie

It was late into the night by the time we managed to get settled in. Vivian, their mother, was a very nice woman and welcomed me just as she did the others. All my worries about my stay here vanished as soon as a home cooked meal was placed in front of me. There is nothing better than a home cooked meal by someone who surely knows what they're doing.

"Vivian, this is delicious!" Tony said, food spilling from his mouth as he spoke

"I agree, Mom, it's amazing," Vic added moments later

Mike, with a mouth full of food, nodded vigorously in approval alongside Jaime, who was too busy shoveling fork fulls of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"They're right, it's delicious, Vivian. Thank you so much," I said, trying my best to be polite.

She smiled brightly, obviously proud of her work and offered everyone seconds. The boys all accepted, but I was way too full and had to decline. While the others continued to stuff their faces, I ventured off to explore the house. Maybe it was rude of me to peek around a house that wasn't mine, but curiosity killed the cat, right? I spent a good fifteen minutes walking around the house, seeing everything I could see. I had pin pointed all of the bathrooms, which doors led to bedrooms, and even found my way into the back yard which was beyond amazing. That's exactly where I was when Vic found me, not that he was looking, but we happened to cross paths. He sat down in the hand crafted chair next to mine and passed me a cup.

"It's Absolut, you're favorite," He didn't even look my way, just carried on drinking whatever liquid was in his cup and staring off into the distance.

I offered a weak smile that he didn't even see and took a long sip of my drink. If tonight was going to be as awkward as it is now, I needed to be drunk. We sat in silence for a few moments before Vic finally mustered up the courage to talk.

"I'm really sorry about what happened back at the motel. That isn't like me, you know that," He looked to me for the first time, a pleading look in his eyes," I guess it was just the stress from the bus breaking down. That's no excuse, but it's all I've got."

He tipped his glass back and finished off the rest of its contents. Apparently, he needed to be drunk just as bad.

"I'm sorry, too. I over reacted, I shouldn't have stormed off like that. I just, why didn't you come looking for me? Why all the others, but not you?" I had to know. That very question had been burning inside all night, it was eating me up.

He sighed, "I tried, I honestly tried, but Jaime... He was so pissed at me for what I said, he thought it would be best if I just laid low for a little while. To not make things worse. I wanted to apologize sooner, but I was sure you wouldn't accept it."

Now it was my turn to sigh. I did accept his apology, I had to. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice showed that he truly was sorry. He really did mean what he said. I tipped my glass and finished it off.

He laughed, "That's my girl. Come on, Mama has some bottles stashed in the basement, I'm sure she won't notice if they're gone."

He stood and offered me his hand. I laughed, I felt like a kid again, sneaking my dad's wine bottles and getting drunk with my friends. I accepted his hand and followed in suit as he dragged me through the house and down the basement stairs. The others were still set up at the kitchen table, bullshitting with Victor about guy stuff. In the basement, Vic opened up a tall cupboard and inside held heaven. There were bottles of everything, almost anything you could think of was there. Automatically, I reached for a bottle of Absolut, which was half full, and a bottle of Pinnacle. Vic chose whiskey, which wasn't surprising, and then closed up the cupboard.

"We can hide out in my room until these are gone," He stated before creeping back up the stairs.

The boys were still in the kitchen and Vivian was setting up the pull out couch in the living room. We managed to sneak by and up the steps unnoticed. Vic lead me into a room, which was apparently his, and closed the door. He flipped on the light and locked the door. I plopped down on the bed and cracked open the Absolut. The room was small and very Vic-like, which made sense since it was his room. The walls were littered with band posters, his desk covered in note books and papers, which I assumed were songs. The bed sheets and duvet were all black and the curtains were drawn open, revealing a nice view of the city. Vic situated himself at the other end and took a swig of Jack Daniels. I couldn't help but to giggle. Here we were, two adults, locked in a childhood bedroom drinking his parents alcohol. I felt really young again.

"What's so funny?" Vic asked, obviously curious as to why I had the giggles.

I giggled again, "Were locked in your room drinking your parents alcohol. What are we, teens?"

He laughed at that, "If were being teens again, we oughtta get sloppy drunk tonight."

I nodded in agreement and chugged a decent amount from the bottle. It made my head spin, but I loved the feeling.

⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓ ⚓

An hour or so later, I was down to less than a half bottle of Pinnacle and was shit faced drunk. Vic had finished off his share and was laying in the middle of the room on the floor. I was standing close to the bed, bottle in hand, shouting about a brilliant idea I had, which really wasn't so brilliant.

"Vic, like, think about it! We could go outside and go swimming like right now and it would be the coolest thing ever, but like, your parents are gonna know were drunk so we have to act super normal, okay?" I don't really know why swimming seemed like such a good idea right then, but for some reason, it felt like the coolest thing in the world.

Vic jumped up," We have to be so quiet. We gotta tip toe across the floor so they don't hear us."

We managed to make it safely down the stairs and started to tip toe down the hall to the living room. Little did we know was that everyone was propped up in the living room, relaxing and watching something on T.V. Vic and I stopped dead in our tracks as they all turned to look at us. I tried my best to hold back my giggles, but was defeated. I erupted into a fit of laughter, which then caused Vic to start laughing as well.

"Victor, have you been drinking?" His mother asked, standing and coming over to us,"Come here! Oh, you smell just like alcohol, you have been drinking!"

Vic stopped laughing and puffed up his cheeks, trying to hold it all in.

"Mom, I'm really not drunk, I swear. I don't even like drinking or alcohol. We just really want to go swimming," Vic said, looking to me for help, but I was too busy holding back laughter.

"You're going to bed. No swimming while drunk, Victor, you know the rules."

When Vic shouted "but mom!" in response, the whole room erupted in laughter. He sounded just like a child that wasn't getting their way, which in a sense, he was. I accepted defeat and turned to walk back upstairs.

"You're sleeping with Vic tonight?" Jaime asked

I guess I never really thought about that when I headed off this way.

"No, I'll be back down," and with that I trudged back up the stairs with Vic in tow.

Vic and I went back to the way we started off, one at each end of the bed. The hype of our drunk had ceased and faded into the relaxed, chill type of drunk. The kind in which you just want to have a heart to heart with everyone and everything. Vic's eyes were already looking half lidded and heavy. I assumed that after today's events he would be exhausted, but adding alcohol to the mix must have made it worse. I felt myself slipping into the comatose kind of drunk, in which all I want to do is sleep and sleep forever. I situated myself under the covers, stating that I was 'just cold' and fought to keep my eyes open. Soon enough, Vic joined me a the top of the bed, stating he was also cold. He nestled under the covers, his breath hot against my neck and his arm snaked around my waist. I didn't mind. It actually felt kind of nice to have him there.

"You are so beautiful," He said quietly.

I smiled,"And you're drunk."

He nuzzled his face deeper into my neck and pressed a light kiss to my skin, sending shivers up my spine. I wanted to believe that he didn't mean it, that he was just drunk and saying things, but I couldn't seem to convince myself.

"No, I mean it, Sutton. You're stunning. I love everything about you. You're smile, your laugh, even the way you pick at your skin when your nervous."

He noticed that? I thought I kept that on the down low.

"Good Night, Vic," was the last thing I said before drifting off to sleep.