Dancing in Black and White Photographs

It was nine-thirty in the morning, and I didn’t go to bed till three, mainly because James wouldn’t stop apologizing. Shockingly, this made me the last person to go to bed. Also, DJ’s inquiry of the fairy tale was on my mind. The guy keeps getting stranger each time he talks to me. The thing that bothered me the most was if he had a motive for it or just pure curiosity. Neither would have surprised me.

I got out of my bunk to notice that DJ wasn’t in his, which is peculiar. He’s usually the last one to get up, or so I’ve noticed with the last few days. I walked into the kitchen area to see him just wearing Pajama bottoms and about to take a bite out of something. I quickly recognized what it was when I saw the frosting. I heard a crunch and then a suspenseful pause.

“What the fuck is this?” DJ asked with a mouth full of dog biscuits. He didn’t know I was behind him. I was trying to keep my laughter at bay but a snort escaped my lips. It was really attractive. He quickly turned around to see me with my hands covering my mouth. He spat the food out in the sink.

He rolled his eyes at me when he noticed I didn’t bother covering up my laughter. “Obviously you know what this shit is,” he stated, clearly wanting to know what it was.

I nodded, succumbing to a polite smile. “Frosting and dog biscuits,” I said simply, enjoying every moment of his misery.

He looked at me wearily. “You’re serious,” he said with finality. I nodded. “Did you do this?” DJ questioned, seemingly surprised that I would do it.

I wanted to say ‘yes’ to prove to him that I could do that. “No, that would be Tattoo’s doing,” I clarified, as he put the treats in the trash.

“Figures,” he mumbled, clearly not impressed nor shocked. DJ sat down, and I sat across from him. I glanced out the window, seeing nothing that screamed civilization.

“Are you still bitter about last night?” DJ suddenly asked.

I glanced at him briefly. “Should I be?”

“I don’t know, are you?” he tried, asking in a different way.

“Not really,” I said, giving him a half lie.

“You remember Jacoby right?” DJ asked.

I thought about it momentarily. “Shaddix, right?”

DJ smiled. “Yeah, that’s him. His wife is going to be at this show.”
I nodded. I didn’t even know he had a wife. “Are you trying to get at something?” I asked, not beating around the bush.

“You hang around guys all the time. I know you get tired of it, especially with Nikki and I. So I was thinking you probably should hang out with someone who doesn’t have or act like a dick,” DJ said almost embarrassedly.

I expected this type of thing from James but certainly not DJ. The guy gives me surprises everyday. “You’re so cute, Vampire Eyes,” I cooed. He rolled his eyes at me.

“Was the last part about Tattoos?” I asked, changing the subject for him.

“Of course,” he said, laughing. “Especially after this morning,” he continued.

“Why are you up so early?” I inquired. “You’re usually the last one up.”

He nodded. “I just had a lot on my mind,” DJ said.

“Do you normally have a lot on your mind?” I asked, looking at him from across the table.

“Normally, yes. I’m kind of a workaholic,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Do you normally get up early then?” I asked, thinking this was odd.

“No, this one just affected my dreams,” he said, giving me an unsettling stare.

I decided to change the subject after that stare. “Why do you care if I hang around guys all the time?”

“Every girl, I’ve ever been around needed some female companion,” DJ said, smiling at me.

I shrugged. “I’m probably better off with a bunch of assholes; I don’t connect with girls very well,” I said, emphasizing the ‘asshole’ so he knew who I was talking about.

He just smirked at me. “Don’t like the excess baggage?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said. “Especially, when I already have to watch three grown men and make sure they behave themselves.”

DJ rolled his eyes. “Most of the time I think it’s the other way around and you’re the one who always gets into some form of trouble. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since the last event,” he said almost exasperatedly.

I glared at him. “It’s not my fault that everyone left me in some shit hole,” I said bitterly.

DJ smiled. “So you are still upset about it,” he said knowingly.

I scowled at him. “How would you feel if everyone forgot about you?”

DJ laughed. “Not too good, which was the only reason I was being so persistent before.”

I nodded my head in understanding. “Have you ever met Shaddix’s wife before?” I asked, needing to get the subject away from me. It seems we keep crossing boundaries.

“Only on the off chance. Usually in passing, because they have kids so she’s always taking care of them,” he explained. He saw my nose scrunch up at the mention of kids. “They won’t be here this time,” he said, laughing.

Nikki suddenly walked into the room, looking dead tired. I raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. “Rough night?” I asked pleasantly.

He glared at me. “With you around, yes,” he said, with acid in his voice. “Did you know you snore?” He asked, taunting me.

I scowled at him. “I do not!” I exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh, but you do,” Nikki said, sitting next to DJ. DJ gave him a bemused look but didn’t protest. “Who ate my lovely cookies?” he asked, giving DJ a smirk. DJ rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Nikki took that as a sign that he had. “What about you, Princess?”

I smiled sarcastically. “I saw you buy them. Do you really expect me to eat them?”

Nikki smirked. “Kind of.” I was not going to waste my breath on this asshole.

DJ looked at me and said, “You should be meeting Shaddix’s wife, Ashley, tonight at the after party,” changing the subject before I could throttle Nikki.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you remember what happened at the last party I went too?”

DJ gave me a blank stare. “There’s no tow trucks you can throw rocks at and you know all of us, so you should be fine this time.”

“For some reason I think this is just going to screw her over instead of helping her,” Nikki said while looking through the fridge.

“Why would that be?” I asked him, not amused in the slightest.
“Princess, you’re a walking disaster,” Nikki said, cursing when he found no food.

“It’s not that bad,” I protested.

“It’s that bad,” Nikki and DJ said together. I sighed. The only people who seem to ever agree with me are James and Shaddix. Shaddix doesn’t even really count either.

“I hope your stomach eats a hole in you,” I mumbled.

“We should do something exciting,” DJ suddenly chirped. I gave him a blank stare. “Not like that,” he said, sounding almost offended.

I sighed. “Can you blame me; you’re a perv,” I said matter-of-factly. DJ sighed, and Nikki was shaking his head.

“What did you have in mind?” Nikki asked, sitting next to me causing me to glare at him. We all suddenly realized something: James was still sleeping.

“I’m not getting involved,” I said evenly, not wanting to turn a friend into an enemy. Knowing my luck, I’d get blamed for the whole thing as well.

“Why not?” DJ asked.

“Because I’m going to get blamed for the whole thing!” I yelled.

“Calm down, Princess. I’m sure someone in Florida heard you,” Nikki said exasperatedly.

Suddenly James came in. “What’s with all the yelling?” he asked tiredly.

Both Nikki and DJ groaned in unison. “Fuck, Princess, that was a great opportunity that we just missed,” Nikki said irritably.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I still get blamed for everything,” I mumbled. DJ heard me and started laughing at my predicament. “It’s not funny, Vampire Eyes,” I said dully. He stopped laughing but continued to smile.

“I have no idea what’s going on,” James mumbled, sitting next to DJ so we were all crammed together.

“This is like a family,” Nikki said mockingly, throwing his arm around me.

“I hope to god you’re never in my family,” I said dryly, shrugging his arm off. “And out of all the places you could sit it had to be next to me.”

“You’re just too much fun to provoke,” Nikki said.
“Why can’t you provoke someone else? I’m not the only one on this bus,” I said, sighing at the end.

“Because I can’t seem to get the same reaction out of anyone else,” Nikki said, smirking.

I simply glared at him. The bantering carried on, and I knew it would most likely continue into the after party. Sadly, I think Nikki is right about that. This whole friendship-wife thing will probably not work out.