Creating a Life of Trends and Make-Believe

Jenna stared at me, eyes narrowed as she sat on my bed, her legs crossed in some strange way. I could tell she was annoyed with me. It had been a week since the whole situation with Vic and the necklace, and I had only told her today. We sat in silence, and I for some reason had the urge to laugh. I mean, it was Jenna; I could hardly take her seriously. Especially when she crossed her arms, and gave me a look a disappointed parent would give to their kid.

“Why the fuck did you not tell me earlier?! Do you know how important that ring is?!?! And you’ve gone and lost it, you idiot!” Jenna swung her arms around in a stressed manor, whilst I sat there trying not to laugh at her.

“What have you been doing? Wallowing in self-pity for the last week?!”

Yes. Yes I had been. I had sat there and thought about how I may never see Vic again, and how lonely I was. To be honest, anything I could pity myself for, I did. But the ring- that was the main thing playing on my mind-the little piece of jewellery meant a fucking lot to me, and now it was gone.

I looked back up at Jenna and she was glaring at me, but a slight smile playing on her face.

“I take that as a yes. Right, c’mon. We’re going out.” She pulled on my hand, and dragged me out of the room which I hadn’t moved from over the last few days. I shouted a hurried goodbye to Matty, and we were out of the door before I heard a reply from him. As we walked, my mind drifted off and I could feel myself zoning out. I wasn't thinking about anything in-particular, just emptily staring at the pure blue sky; today was a fairly pleasant day. But still, that couldn't shake my slightly down mood- I was really missing Vic today.

Something caught me off guard, and pulled me out of my daze. Surprisingly, Jenna laced her fingers in my own, gripping onto them rather tightly. I stared down at them, confused. Her hands were considerably smaller than my own, and extremely soft. It was strange, in comparison to Vic's strong, supple hands I was used to. For some unknown reason, I found myself blushing at the action, but brushed it off as a friendly action. Truthfully, I was uncertain as to what to do- do I reciprocate or pull my hand away? A nagging voice in the back of my head told me to let go, this should be Vic not doing this, not Jenna. However, I ignored it, deciding it would be more awkward if I just snatched my hand away. So instead, I gave her hand a light squeeze.

We walked like that; hand in hand down numerous back streets that I had never ventured down before. They seemed to go on forever, each leading off to another, then more would trail off. It was like a maze. How Jenna knew where she was going was beyond me. After sometime, we came to a halt in front of an odd looking shop. Its attire was similar to that of Jenna's cabin. It had those dream catchers in the dozens and other things in relation to them hanging outside. The thing that made smile though was the soft sound of a guitar filling the air. It was so calming, it was almost hypnotic. Jenna grinned at me and led is into the shop, letting go of my hand in the process.

Caramel eyes stared back at me in curiosity as I just stood there. The man in front of me had matching hair to his eyes, and his fringe was swept to the side, held down by what looked like a whole can of hairspray. It was styled in a messy way, but suited him well. He looked fairly lanky, and wore a Blink 182 shirt with black skinnies. Also, I noticed he was holding a guitar. Ah, he must have been the one playing. Jenna coughed abruptly, pulling both my own attention and the stranger’s attention to her.

"Alex, this is Kellin. Kellin, this is my buddy Alex." Alex put down his guitar and took an exaggerated bow, hinting to me he had a playful personality.

"It’s nice to meet you, Mr Quinn. Vic was an awesome dude." Alex smirked mischievously. My eyes widened. I didn't mention my second name, or Vic?!

"How did yo-" I tried to get my words out, but Jenna cut me off before giving me a chance to finish. Damn, can I get a word in here or not?

"Knock it off, Alex. He freaks out easily." She playfully smacked him, and turned back to face me.

"Ass-hat over here is a mind-reader. Don’t take it personally, he’s just nosy." Ok, more blunt than I was expecting.

“Hey! I’m standing right here! I’m so not nosy. Anyway, what brings you here, Jenna?” Alex’s voice trailed off as he motioned for us to come through to the other room, which was just full of beanbags. The room suited Alex’s carefree personality. We all sat ourselves down, me on Alex’s left, and Jenna on his right. Alex casually flung himself backwards onto the beanbags, so he was lying down. He rested his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. Hmm, I guess properness isn't his thing.

“Well, c’mon Jenna. What do you want?”

“Amaranto Brujería” Jenna said, in an almost hushed voice.

Alex actually sat up. He stared straight at Jenna, giving her a serious look for a brief moment, before returning to his spirited persona. What were we meddling with here? This book sounds like serious business… dangerous.

“Ha, yeah, of course you are.” The caramel haired boy waved his hand in a dismissive way. Did he not believe Jenna? I didn’t get it.

Jenna’s bright blue eyes turned unfriendly, and she seemed to challenge Alex.

“Listen Alex, I know you’re all fun and games, but I am not. This is no joke. We need that book, and soon. You know I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”

Expectedly, Alex’s reaction was pretty much untroubled- a simple rise of his eyebrow. With that, he stood up, and stuck his head around the door frame.

“Yo fuck nuts, we got visitors!” Alex turned back around, giving us the ‘thumbs up’, and smiling triumphantly.

“WHAT?” A voice bawled back. Alex rolled his eyes, and mumbled a few curses under his breath.

“Can’t you fucking hear?! Get your ass down here, now!”

A couple of thumps and bangs later, another guy appeared… with nothing but boxers on. The man was slightly taller than Alex, and half of his black hair was dyed bright blonde- spiked up and hair sprayed. I looked at Jenna with a confused face, to which she just laughed. Great, that’s really going to help. Naturally, I diverted my eyes from the near naked man across from me, keeping my focus on the ground.

“Dude, what the hell? At least put some pants on first! Jack, we’ve been through this; you can’t come down without any fucking clothes on, you’ll scare them off!”

Jack just scratched his head, and turned to wave at us. Seemingly, he had a similar attitude to Alex, just less caring.

“Hellooooo Jenna! And…ermm” Jack squinted his eyes at me, confusion playing on his features. “Dude, who’s the other one?” Jack whispered to Alex, but it was quite inconspicuous.

“Oh. Kellin, this is my imbecilic friend, Jack Barakat. I apologise on his behalf for the lack of clothing.”

Jack flat-out ignored Alex, and made his way across the room, positioning himself right next to me. He was a very smiley person, and he seemed extremely happy, almost too optimistic. Clumsily, Jack slung his arm around my shoulder, and looked at me curiously. I took into the similarity between his and Vic’s eyes; both were a rich brown hue, except Jack’s were duller. Then again, I saw Vic as perfect, so in my opinion, nothing could live up to him.

“Firstly, what are you doing here? You seem like the wrong sort of dude to be meddling in stuff like this.” Jack’s eyes shone with slight concern as he kept his gaze fixated on me. It was like he was trying to solve a puzzle in his mind as he spoke to me.

“Well, we need this book. It’s called… ermm. Hold on. Oh yeah, Amaranto Brujería. “The taller man didn’t even flinch at the name of the book, unlike Alex. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

“Kellin, do you know what you’re getting yourself into here, dude? That book is dark, dark stuff. I can’t even remember the last time we had it. Can you Lex?” Alex shook his head lightly and sat back down.

“Hey Jack, Kellin had a telepathic ring. Vic must have cursed it some shit before he got dragged back down. “This seemed to spark Jack’s interest, along with my own. “Yeah. But the idiot lost it mid-link, so now Vic has it, for fucks sake.” Alex now turned his attention to me.

“Do you know how hard it is going to be getting that thing back? I can’t even guarantee we’re going to be able to get it back. As for the book, Kellin, I’m not promising anything. For now, you’re gonna have to settle with something else. Jenna, could I have a word?”

They both excused themselves from the room, leaving an awkward silence to linger over Jack and I. That was until I let my curiosity get the better of me.

"Hey Jack."

"Hmmm."

"Do you know Vic?" I knew I was being intrusive, but Alex talked as if he actually knew Vic personally, and since Alex and Jack were close, I felt as if Jack would have known Vic as well. Not only that, but I felt less intimidated by Jack. He seemed a genuinely nice guy, a bit docile, doesn't care about much, but pleasant nonetheless.

"I did when he was alive, yeah. I haven't seen him for years though. The last I heard was that Mike was dead, and then bam! Vic was gone. You know, his parents didn't even bother to put Vic a gravestone down. It was if they erased him from their family. Pretty sad, isn't it dude?" Jacks eyes resembled that of a hurt puppy, and it broke my heart a little. That long with the fact that Vic's family disregarded him completely.

Jacks hand on my shoulder drew me from my thoughts, and I looked back at him, curios.
"Hey, I know you miss him. Like I really know. You radiate such negative emotions Kellin, it almost scares me: despair, loneliness, hopelessness. You're pretty down in the dumps?"
The hand on my shoulder gave me a comforting squeeze.

"Yeah, exactly. Ha, you're like one of the Empath things." I laughed lightly, intending for it to be a joke, but judging by the serious expression etched onto Jack's face, he didn't find it at all funny.

"That's because I am an Empath. Everything you're feeling, I feel just as strong. Why do you think Alex and me live in a secluded area? I can feel everyone's emotions, and it gets pretty overwhelming, so you know, I like to stay away from people. Kinda sucks. I get bored so easily, and I'm constantly fucking hungry." Jack laughed near the end of his sentence, but it was only half-hearted.

"Hey man, sorry. I can be pretty insensitive sometimes. I'm not used to all this supernatural stuff. I don't fit in at all; I'm just your everyday boring human."

"Maybe, but not everyone happens to be in a famous band, with chicks throwing themselves at you left, right, and centre. Aw dude, I would kill for that. Also, out of curiosity, how do you know Vic?"

"Well, you know about his little deal, don't you? The concept of it all and everything?"

"I did hear about it." Jack's voice was slightly solemn, disappointed in a way.

"Well, for some reason, I could see his spirit, or whatever. Long story short, that got him to hell, he didn't want to go, I didn't want him to go, I saw him at a gig I was playing, and here I am today. I don't even know why I'm still bothering with him." I sighed, fed up with everything.

"Love and longing. The feeling of being needed. Vic needs you. That's why Kellin. Good luck buddy. I'm gonna find some clothes, and something for you. Be back in 5!" Something for the road, eh? Ha, whatever it was, I bet it was going to be good. Jack seemed like a pretty fun dude, even though he could be quite deep when he needed to be. I sat there just twiddling my thumbs, looking forward to whatever surprise my newly made friend had for me.

"Kellin, my man, this will blow your mind." Jack chucked me a glass, and wiggled a deep green coloured bottle at me. I wasn't sure what was in it- presumably alcohol of some sort. I really wouldn’t mind being pissed at the moment, it may hopefully distract me from Vic for a bit. I watched as Jack poured a rather exotic looking liquid into my glass. It was tinted a slight orange colour, but seemed to almost glow. Excited, I took a sip of the liquor, and was greeted by an array of different flavours. I couldn't really distinguish them very well, but I certainly liked the taste, and feeling it gave me. Almost immediately, I felt all giddy. This shit must be pretty strong.

"Yo Jack, what is this?!" I giggled at the end of my sentence, content with how bemused it made me feel.

"You know what Kellin, I don't even fuckin’ know. It Alex's, he seems to sneak it from somewhere! He’s such a sneaky bastard." Judging by Jack's already slurred words, he had had a bit more than I.

We continued sipping the peculiar liquid until my head was spinning, and I felt on cloud nine. Between the two of us, we had drunk a bottle and a half of the stuff, and my thoughts were getting pretty foggy. I laughed at pretty much everything Jack was saying- the guy was hilarious. I don't even know what we were on about, I just laughed anyway. Jack and I were balling over some dick joke he had told, just as Alex and Jenna returned.

"Christ where the fuck have you two been? I've missed you Alex!" I exclaimed, my words all jumbling together to make one messy, unintelligible sentence.

Alex narrowed his eyes in suspicion and glared at Jack, then me. It didn't even faze me. In my eyes, everything was great. So great, that I took it upon myself to walk up to Alex and embrace him in an alcohol fuelled hug.

"Alex, you’re the best. Thanks so much, it means sooooo much." I slurred. A half-appreciative pat-on-the-back was given to me before Alex practically peeled me off him.

"Jenna! You can take this lovely man now, he's all yours!" Sarcasm dripped from Alex's voice, but I just chuckled and walked, well stumbled back over to Jack.

"I looove you Jack, my dear. Until our next encounter, sailor." What even was I saying? Well, whatever it was it made Jack erupt into more laughter. Another bottle of the orange stuff was wavered in my face, and I gladly took it.

"Thanks again Alex, looks like I'm this idiots carer for the night." Jenna delicately waved goodbye, where as I frantically threw my arms around. What nice guys.

Somehow, we made it back to Jenna's cabin, me miraculously in one piece and undamaged. I could see it, and I was eager to sit down.

"Jenna, you don't know how amazing he is though. He has these fuckin amazing eyes, I could get lost in them. And his gorgeous hair. Oh my god, his arms. Have you seen them? I've seen them. They make me all happy, Jenna. He makes me happy, and tingly! You know that tingly feeling? But he's bad because he got me smoking but I don't care because when he's shirtless, actually no, naked even, it's a great treat. It makes me all sexually frustrated thinking about it. And, oh my god his-"

"Jesus Christ, Kellin. Shut the hell up. You're making my head hurt. I just had to put up with half an hour of you rambling about mermaids." Jenna huffed loudly and drew some weird ass symbol into this dust stuff to unlock door. Awesome.

When we got inside, Jenna practically shoved water down my throat, trying to sober me up, and after 15 minutes, the elated silly feeling was leaving me slowly. But it was still in my system, so my obnoxious, confident persona was still pretty strong, I could just talk a bit more like a human now. I shuffled closer to the Australian girl, a question resting in my mind. I knew she was concentrating on all of these books Alex had given to her, but I needed to ask her this.

"Hey Jenna." She flicked her eyes up from a book with Latin writing in it, looking slightly pissed off with me. Cute.

"This better be pretty dang important Kellin Quinn."

"You know before? Why did you hold my hand?" I waited for a flustered response, but it never came. Instead, she closed the heavy looking book, and smiled softly.

"Well, I could already tell you were having a pretty shitty day anyway, and you looked so pained. I don't know, I guess I don't like seeing you like that. It just felt natural. I'm sorry if I, well, if offended you." I shook my head violently and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into my chest. She happily cuddled into my side, and it felt nice to hold someone again after all this time.

"Thank you for everything Jenna. It means a lot. You're really a great person." I rested my head on top of hers, feeling slightly drowsy.

"I'm sure your opinion will change by tomorrow."

"And why is that?"

"’Cause I'm sending you to the underworld Kellin. I'm sending you to Hell."