The Correlation Between Peppermint and Eyeliner

Dark Day Part One

I dunno if you guys are confused or not, but I divided Chapter 21 into three parts, because it was UBER long. Like, reaaaaaaallllllllly long. So, just read the next three chapters. Happy baladed Valentine's Day! I wrote quite a bit the past few days, so be prepared. This chapter is BIG. BIG things happening. Hidden messages and stuff are in it, so beware. Mwaaahaahaahaa! *cough* *hack* Okay, well, I don't got much to say today. So just go ahead and read the chapter, with the three installments. COMMENT, pweeeeeeeeease! Comments give me encouragment! lol Grab a pickle on your way out. Mmmmmm....pickles.... I like pickles.... *goes to get pickle*

CHAPTER 21
Part 1

King for a day! Princess by dawn!
Billie woke from his slumber and reached for his cell phone. He grabbed it off of the table and glanced at the number. Unknown Caller
“Hello?” he answered groggily. He looked over at Alex, who was asleep beside him.
“Hey, Billie, it’s Jen.”
“Oh, hey. You need to talk to Alex?”
“No, I don’t need to talk to her. I was just wondering if Alex told you what today is.” She sounded a bit happy, but quiet, which was different from what Billie had seen her before.
“Uhmm, I know that yesterday was her birthday,” he said. “But she didn’t say anything about today.”
“Well, you’re gonna want to get a lot of Oreos and lots and lots of extra chocolate chip ice cream.”
“What for?”
“Comfort food.” She said quickly. “And make sure she stays away from booze. Give her support, even if she makes you get out. Don’t let her near any musical instruments, and whatever you do, if she wants to be depressed today, let her.”
Billie was confused. “Jen, what is all of this for?”
“Today is her ‘dark day’. And she’s going to be in a weird mood this entire day, but let her come to you. Don’t pressure her into anything.”
Dark day?”
“I have to go back to work. Just take care of her, okay?” and with that, Jen hung up.
Billie stared blankly at the phone. Well, I suppose I should do what she said, Billie thought.

*
Billie did as Jen said, following her directions. He was still confused as he mentally listed all of the things she had told him.
Number one, get lots of Oreos and ice cream. Number two, no booze. Number three, give her support. Number four, no musical instruments. Number five, let her be sad.
Billie couldn’t figure out why today was so not special. Alex hadn’t said anything, so should he believe Jen? Hell yes, because Alex was probably just avoiding it.
Billie pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, after driving around for a half hour looking for it.
He walked in, and went straight for the cookies. Better make it double-stuffed,Billie thought when he stood in front of the variety of Oreos. Then, he went to the freezer section and looked around for (what Jen had said,) extra chocolate chip ice cream. BINGO! Billie spotted a gallon of the special ice cream, picked it out of the freezer, and walked over to the express lane.
He had successfully managed to get in and out of Wal-Mart without any teenies spotting him. But after all, it was nine o’clock in the morning.

*

He drove back to the hotel, still dumb about the whole concept of Alex’s “dark day”.
Billie walked up to the room and prepared himself. He didn’t know why he was so nervous all of a sudden, because she could be perfectly still sleeping.
But she wasn’t.
He looked around the room, but saw that she wasn’t there.
He sat down the cookies and put the ice cream in the mini fridge that was beside the door. “Alex?” he decided to call for her.
No answer. She’s probably just hanging out with Tre or something, Billie thought.
He walked around the bed and to the bathroom door. The light was on; he could tell.
He knocked a few times on the door.
“Yeah?” he heard Alex’s voice answer back. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t full of energy. It was frumpy, and bland.
“You okay?” he asked, seeing the change in her voice.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” Her voice was crackly, but stable.
Billie hesitated for a second. “Can I come in?” he knew she wasn’t going to the bathroom, her voice was too close.
She didn’t answer. It was a little scary for him, because he didn’t know what to expect.
He slowly pushed the door open anyways.
Lying there on the bathroom floor in her pajamas was Alex, staring up at the ceiling.
“You okay, baby?” he asked, seeing her plain expression.
The shower was running behind the curtain, sending steam all over the bathroom, and surrounding the mirror and anything in its path.
She still locked her eyes on the ceiling. “Mhmm.” It was a quiet ‘mhmm’, and it was featureless and nonespastic.
Billie looked at her for a while, studying her flumped body on the floor, her nonexistent mood.
He lay down beside her, and stared at the ceiling also, as if he were planning to stare at the same spot on the drywall.
“What are we staring at?” he whispered, not meaning to be humorous, but it turned out that way anyway.
She didn’t say anything. She just kept looking at the ceiling.
After what seemed like minuets, Alex finally let her head turn and look at him. They were face to face, and now he could see the bleeding colors of her night before eyeliner, her sad expression.
“Have you ever lost something?” she said, her voice soft and on the verge of crying without tears.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She sniffed. “I lost something.” She turned her head and looked up at the ceiling again. “Big time.” She whispered.
She was quiet for a while after that. Billie stood up. He felt like he needed some assistance. “I’m gonna go outside for a little bit. You just, uh, stay comfortable.”
He walked out of the bathroom slowly, then made his way out of the room. He went to Tre and Mike’s room, which was a few rooms down from his.
He opened the door and found Tre sitting in front of the television, his hands glued to the playstation controller and his eyes pasted to the screen.
Mike was on the bed, changing the strings on his base.
“Hey, Mike?” Billie said, which made Mike look up in surprise.
“What’s wrong?” Mike asked, obviously detecting the unsureness in Billie’s voice.
“It’s Alex. I think,” he scratched head. “I think there’s something wrong with her.”
“Like what? Is she sick?” Mike looked worried.
“No, I don’t think so. But Jen called today and said a whole bunch of stuff about how today is Alex’s ‘dark day’ and she’s always depressed on this day or something.”
Mike ruffled his eyebrow for a second. “Dark day?”
Billie nodded. “Yeah, that’s what she said. Dark day.”
“That’s, uhm, different.”
“Yeah. Alex is on the bathroom floor right now, just staring at the ceiling.”
Mike thought for a moment. “Maybe she’s just depressed.”
Billie sat down. “Yeah, maybe. But I think she ‘lost something.’”
“Lost something?”
“She said that she ‘lost something’.” Billie thought about it for a second. “I don’t know if it’s a metaphor, or what, but she’s not herself. At all. She doesn’t sound like her.”
Mike sighed. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Jen said I just have to give her support and let her come to me.”
“Then that’s probably what you’ll have to do.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Billie said a little absentmindedly. He got up and walked out of the room, on his way back to see Alex.

*

She was still on the bathroom floor, eyeballing the ceiling as if she were staring into space.
“Alex?” he whispered over the noise of the shower, which wasn’t pouring out steamy water anymore.
She looked over at him.
“Are you okay?” he slowly asked, hoping she wouldn’t go all psycho on him.
She shook her head slowly and looked at the ceiling. She finally broke down and come apart in tears.
He dropped down to the floor and picked her up. He cradled her in his arms and held her tight, letting her cry onto his chest.
“Shhh…its okay...” She rocked her, supporting her as well as he could.

*

Alex finally came out of the bathroom after she stopped crying. She had discovered the holy comfort food; Oreos and chocolate chip ice cream.
Billie still didn’t know what it was all about, but he still went along with it.
She sat on the floor and stuffed a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She reached over to her suitcase from where she was sitting, and unzipped the front pocket. Billie watched her as she pulled out a Polaroid picture, and laid it in front of her.
She hadn’t said a word since she cried. It was starting to worry him. It was her ‘dark day’, apparently, and it wasn’t what he had expected.
She took another bite of ice cream, and winced at the coldness. She stared at the picture, studying all of the features of what she had lost.
Billie peeked over to see her, and found the sight of the picture. It was of an old, cherry red Fender Stratocaster, held by a very excited Alex. Her eyes were then filled with ecstatic excitement, bright compared to her eyes filled with sadness and droop today.
On the white label part of the Polaroid, is what caught Billie’s eye. It was the hand-written words “R.I.P Peppermint”.
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Billie thought. He had spent the last hour or so confused as hell, just trying to give her support and let her not talk.

*

Alex put down the tub of extra chocolate chocolate chip ice cream that was now empty after her last bite, onto the floor beside her. She sniffed, her nose still runny from her tears, and from looking down at the picture. She felt a little guilty, for she had ignored and left Billie out in the dark on this whole thing. She didn’t want to ruin what she had with him. Not after getting this attached. She didn’t want to have him mad or upset with her. She didn’t want him to be offended and completely feeling like she was keeping something from him.
But today was the day she always did this. This was the day she couldn’t help it. This was the day when she lost her enthusiasm unwillingly, and it was replaced with sadness. Always on this day.
Alex rubbed her hand down her face, and noticed that Billie was still watching TV, which he had been watching for the past hour, or what seemed like forever.
She cleared her throat and got up, stretching her legs that had been in the Indian-style. Billie looked up, amazed and curious, but trying to hide it. She looked at him with unreadable emotion, that she couldn’t even read herself.
“I’m going to step out for a while.” She said quietly. She walked over across the room, and outside the sliding door, onto the balcony, grabbing her cell phone on the way out.
The view from the balcony would normally catch her breath, with the bright sun overlighting the tall buildings and outlining the shadows that lay on the ground of cars going by, and people living their daily, happy lives. But today she looked baldly at it, not even caring to notice the poetic scenery that engraved the city’s atmosphere.
She opened the flip on her phone, and limply dialed the number to Jen’s cell phone. The aftertaste of the ice cream remained as the beeps of the tone rang in her ear. After three bleeps, she heard the voice she had called for. The voice that was her comfort, the voice of her best friend.
“Hello?”
“Jen. It’s me.” Alex said flatly and no enthusiastically
“Alex. Hey, how are you doing honey?” she asked comfortingly, showing the caring in her voice.
Alex sniffed. She could feel the tears swelling up in her throat. “Not so good.” She let out a shaky breath.
“Are you hanging in there?”
Alex felt a tear come down. “No.”
“Have you talked to Billie yet?” Jen’s voice was like a mother’s—companionate and always soothing to solve out problems.
“No.” Alex sniffed as a few more tears fled her eyes. “What am I supposed to say? Am I just supposed to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry that I can’t be happy, I’m a bit fucked up on this day’?” Alex sobbed calmly.
“Alex, Alex, calm down sweetie. Yeah, you should say something like that.”
Alex took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Tell him. I don’t know how to tell him everything about my... I don’t know how to-“ Jen cut her off before Alex could break down entirely.
“You just have to tell him, you just have to tell him the truth about everything.”
“But I don’t know if I can, Jen. I don’t know if I can.” She shook her head, and the tears flung down off of her cheek.
“Listen, listen baby.” Jen comforted. “You have to be strong. I know that you’ve never had to tell anyone before, but you have him in your life now. He needs to know. He can’t be in the dark.”
“Jen. I’m scared.” Alex sniffed. “I’m scared he won’t…I’m scared he’ll think of me different. Jen, I don’t want him to think different. I want him to keep being with me. I love him. I know I love him, Jen. I know I do.”
“If he loves you back, he’ll keep loving you. He won’t think different.”
“But what if-“
“Alexandria, you have to trust him. You have to trust him.”
Alex wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She paused for a while, calming herself.
“Thanks.” She sniffed.
“No problem, babe. Just hang on, and call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye.” And Alex closed her phone after she heard Jen’s phone hang up.
She rubbed her face and took a deep breath. She walked over to the glass sliding door, and saw Billie, lying on the bed, not yet aware of anything; innocent.
She slid open the door, and went inside. He slowly looked at her.
She cleared her throat. “Billie, I have to tell you something.”

*If you thought THAT was long, imagine how long it would be if I had all THREE parts with it! lol