Things She Saw

Chapter 1

            “My name is Mori Carnis.” Mori said, nervously twirling a strand of her short blonde hair around her finger.  Mori wasn’t ever really afraid of large crowds, and a class of fifty didn’t seem very big, unless they were all staring at you. The teacher, Mr. B., sighed from his spot in the front of the room.

            “It’s nice to meet you, Mori.” He smiled, but then mumbled “for the third year in a row,” under his breath. Sadly, it was true. Mori and I have been in this same writing class for three years. Not because we’re dumb or anything like that, but mostly because we never showed up for class or when we did, we slept. The little freshmen giggled as Mori sat back down. Personally, we thought it was funny that we’ve been in the freshman comp. Class for so long, since we were very diligent students back in high school. Unless you caught the sarcasm in that last sentence. I stood up next. Mr. B. sighed again.

            “Hey Mr. B.,” I said cheerily.

            “Hello Ms. Grousy, It is great to see you today.” Mr. B. said. I would have probably been his favorite student as a freshman, if I had ever shown up, because I was “gifted” or something. But I’ve never really been into college writing; mostly I write songs for my band and short stories about whatever. As I was sitting down, the bell rang. Everyone quickly ran out of the room before Mr. B. could assign any homework. Regretfully, he is one of those professors who changes the lesson plan from year to year, which means that Mori and I actually had to pay attention in order to pass instead of turning in projects that we had already done. When we got outside to the courtyard, Tyler and JD met Mori and me.

            “So how was the class with the little fish?” Tyler asked. He took the class with us last year, his freshman year. But unlike us, he actually went to class. Mori and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.

            “We didn’t really pay attention.” Mori said with a cocky smile. Just then my cell phone rang, it was Akima.

            “Why hello, darling.” I said when I answered the phone.

            “Who is it?” JD asked.

            “Kima.” I answered. She called to see where we were going to eat for lunch, or in her case breakfast. “How about that new Mexican place?” I asked. Kima had no arguments. Since Kima had no morning classes, she always went out with Mori and me when our class was done. Soon after I hung up my phone rang again, this time it was Mori’s dad. I handed Mori the phone and went to the big oak tree in the middle of the yard. JD and Tyler followed. Mori’s relationship with her dad depended on what they were talking about, and usually when Mr. Carnis called on my phone it wasn’t good. The phone conversation was like every other one, it started out with Mori not listening then Mori getting mad, and concluding with Mori screaming at her dad and slamming my phone shut. When we believed we would be in no immediate danger, we went back to where we had left Mori.

            “I can’t come to lunch with you, and I’ll be late to band practice.” Mori said with a hint of anger.

            “I’ll get you something at the restaurant.” I said. Mori half smiled, until her father pulled up in front of the small campus. Her brown eyes started to twitch.

            “I have to go.” She sighed before putting on a fake smile as she walked to her dad’s old Buick. I walked her to her car, since Mr. Carnis always wants to talk to me.

            “Why hello Oliver.” Mr. Carnis beamed. “How are you today?”

            “I’m doing well, Mr. C.” I answered. Mori got into the car and rolled down the window.

            “How’s that JD? You two are engaged right?” He asked.

            “Yes Mr. C. and he’s doing well.” I sighed. I’ve only told him about a hundred times that week.

            “Well good, good. We have to go now, but I’ll talk with you soon.” He said before starting the car and driving off. JD came up behind me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

            “How pissed is Mori gonna be when she gets back?” He asked. I shrugged the shoulder JD’s chin wasn’t on. We watched the car disappear over the hill as a cloud of dirt followed slowly behind. Minot was the only reason the roads were made. In a small city like Nowere the residents didn’t mind walking in the dirt. But when they built the college, they decided to pave the road because college kids are supposed to have cars, I guess. But it turned out to be a loss, seeing how most of the residents of Nowere are people too old to drive or too poor to. JD walked me to our apartment building down the street where Akima was waiting.

            “Where is Mori?” she asked when she realized Mori wasn’t with us. I didn’t need to answer because Kima already knew. JD left us and we walked to the restaurant. I hate to say we forgot about Mori, but we did. We went to the restaurant and ate the biggest platters we could afford, and since I had JD’s credit card, it was a lot. Once we were completely stuffed, we went to the Ice Cream bar, the only other food place in town besides the hamburger joint. But got nothing for ourselves because we would have exploded, however, we did buy Saylor and Mori milkshakes. “Holy Crap!” Akima exclaimed when we were halfway to the church from the ice cream bar. “It’s almost 1:30! My class starts in five minutes! I be at the church after class!” She yelled as she ran towards the main campus of the college. 

            “It’s a good thing you ran track in high school.” I yelled after her as she disappeared over the horizon.  Actually, she jumped hurtles, which was even better for Nowere because you always had to look out for pets, rocks, and stray grandchildren in the street.  However, running was an easy sport in Nowere seeing how one could walk around the entire city in less than an hour, even for a lazy kid like me… This was good because the milkshakes were starting to melt. I quickly made it to the church where I found Saylor yelling into his cell phone, impatiently pacing in front of the front door.

            “Yeah, you better be almost here or, so help me, I’ll,” He yelled into the receiver until he saw me, “Oh, hey, Oliver!” He said, quickly hanging up the phone. 

            “You’re going to scar that kid for life.” I said handing him his halfway melted milkshake. One of the freshmen at Minot helped out in the church office and was supposed to let us in the church every afternoon for band practice, but he was usually late. Soon a scrawny little kid with long brown hair that hung over his aviator sunglasses peddled up on his bike. He had a white collared shirt on under his oversized green Minot T-shirt. He pulled out a giant set of keys from his jeans pocket.

            “Sorry I’m late.” He stuttered as he made his way up the stairs.

            “Yeah, you better be.” Saylor said, towering over the kid as he tried to unlock the door. Saylor was intimidating to most people with his glaring bright green eyes looking out from behind his jet-black hair that hung in his face and the fact that he was 6 ft. 6 with a very athletic build made him seem even scarier. The kid, after nervously fidgeting with the keys, opened the enormous wooden door that led into the atrium of the church. 

            “There you go.” The kid stuttered. Saylor walked in without giving the kid a second glance.

            “Thanks.” I smiled.

            “No problem.” He smiled back. “If you need anything, you can call me.”

            “No, I think we’re good.” I said walking into the church. “Saylor?” I yelled into the darkness as the door slammed behind me. The atrium was almost pitch black except for the EXIT signs above me and at each end of the hall.  “Saylor, I know you’re hiding so just come out.” I said once my first call stopped echoing.

            “Boo!” He yelled jumping out in front of me. I just punched him in the stomach. “Damn.” He said holding his stomach.

            “You need to be nicer to that freshman kid.” I said walking to the end of the hall and turning the lights on. Saylor went the other way towards the front entrance of the sanctuary.

            “He’s only nice to you ‘cause you’re hot, you know.” He yelled from the sanctuary. I laughed. I had never really been called hot until college, and, even though it was my third year, it was still kind of weird. I mean, I had always known I was hot, but never been told until college.

            “And what is wrong with that?” I asked going through the stage entrance of the sanctuary.

            “Taking advantage of the kid is just as bad as intimidating him.” Saylor said raising an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes. “Hey, don’t get smart with me.” He said acting tough.

            “You want to fight, little boy?” I asked trying to be tough.

            “Let’s go, girly.” He said, standing up as straight as he could. Even at 6ft2, he looked pretty intimidating. So, I stood on my tiptoes but only got to about 6ft5.

            “Are you two fighting again?” JD asked as he walked into the sanctuary.

            “Yes.” Saylor said, pushing my shoulder and knocking me off balance.

            “What did I tell you about fighting?” JD said sternly to Saylor as he put his arm around my waist. Then he sort of half smiled. “You got to grab her right here.” He said grabbing my side. Unfortunately, it was a well-known fact amongst the band that I was very ticklish.

            “Or, right there.” Saylor said grabbing the side of my neck. Another unfortunate trait of mine when being tickled is to fall to the ground, rendering myself pretty much defenseless. So I ended up rolling on the ground with JD and Saylor tickling me when Akima and Tyler walked in.

            “You three are weird.” Tyler said walking past us to the back where his drums were.

            “Kima! Save me!” I yelled between laughs.

            “Don’t worry, Oliver, I’ll save you!” She said heroically before she ran and tackled Saylor. Once Saylor and Akima were fighting like the loving siblings they are, JD was easy to handle. Of course, the fact that JD lets me win all of our fights might have had something to do with it.

            “Hey, aren’t we gonna practice?” I asked still on the floor.

            “Or at least set up for the show tonight?” Tyler asked setting down his bass drum, which shook the tiny stage with a thud. JD helped Saylor, Akima and me to our feet and we all set up the stage. JD went up to the sound box as we all plugged into the system. We all had the hands free microphones, not the ones that attached to your shirt but the ones that went over your ear, plus in ear monitors, which was very high tech for the old hand-me-down sound board. Then there were our instruments. Saylor had a bass and electric guitar, Akima had an acoustic guitar and a fiddle, I had a keyboard and the church’s piano, and then Mori, whom wasn’t there to set up yet, had and electric guitar hidden somewhere backstage. Tyler also had to put a screen in front of his drums so that they wouldn’t over power the other instruments.

            It was a long tiring process of checking each microphone and instrument and then setting each person’s in ear monitor to exactly the right place so that they could hear everything. But JD always did a good job and never complained. But when the check was done, we practiced a few songs then went to the gym across the street to play basketball. Some other students from Minot were there, so we had a pick up game. Naturally, with Saylor’s intimidation, JD and my height, Tyler’s shot, and the other team being a bunch of freshmen, who idolize our band, we won… all three games. It was about 4:00 when Mori finally got back.

            “That was the gayest thing ever!”  She said angrily walking onto the court in the beginning of the fourth game.

            “What was?” I asked trying not to run into her.

            “My meeting!” She said completely oblivious to the game going on around her. “We freaking sat there for two hours before the receptionist was like: oh, I just remembered, he didn’t come in this morning because he was sick. Can you believe that?!” She asked angrily throwing her hand out and almost clothes lining Saylor and one of the freshmen. I was amazed at my multi tasking skill of listening to Mori and playing Basketball at the same time. And Mori’s inability to realize she was in the middle of a game.

            “Yeah!” I yelled excitedly as I made a basket from half court. “No way! Two hours?” I asked Mori.

            “Exactly! And they think I’m the one with mental problems!” She said. Just then one of the freshmen on a fast break tackled Mori. “What the hell? Can’t you see me standing here you retard.”

            “Can’t you see we’re playing here?” the freshman said angrily, it was the kid who worked in the church office. “I mean, I’m sorry.” He stuttered when he realized who it was.

            “How about you get off the court, so we can play, psycho.” Another one of the freshmen said. Mori glared at him.

            “How about you say that again, so you can see what happens, bitch.” She glared. For someone as small as Mori, she was very intimidating when she was angry. The freshman quickly surrendered to her glare and the group left without finishing the game.

            “I guess we won.” Saylor smiled picking up the basketball that had flown across the court when the freshman decked Mori. He bounced it a few times and shot the ball towards the goal on the other side of the court. He completely air balled, but Tyler caught it under the net and made the basket for him.

            “Let’s go practice.” Mori said. We walked out the front doors of the gym, which faced the church. “Or maybe play.” She said seeing the parking lot full of the college students that came to our shows. Our band worked and performed at the church. Sundays and Wednesdays we lead “young adult” bible study then on Fridays we put on a concert. It actually made good money for a bunch of college students. We also worked at the church, since we are there all the time we thought we would at least do something useful for them.

            “No way, it’s not even 4:30!” Akima said looking at her watch. “The show doesn’t even start until 7:30.”  We walked across the street to see why everyone was there. There were two police cars and caution tape around the side door that led to a storage room. Mr. Carnis was standing inside the taped area.

            “Dad, what’s going on?” Mori asked pushing her way to the front of the crowd.

            “There was a break in,” he paused for a second and pointed behind him. “I’m sorry.” He sighed as Mori realized what he pointed to. It was her guitar. Mori had spent the entire summer before our freshman year at Minot saving for her guitar.  She loved it like her child. The guitar handle was broken off and only hung on by one of the strings; the rest had been ripped off and were nowhere to be found. On the back, “DIE” was carved into the red paint. Mori screamed before ducking under the tape and running to her guitar.

            “Is everything else okay?” Saylor asked turning pale at the thought of his bass receiving the same fate.

            “Uh…” Mr. Carnis said looking at the ground.

            “What?!” Saylor yelled. We all ran through the storage room. The storage room led to a large room in the back of the church, and then you had to go a long roundabout way to get to the sanctuary. Once inside the sanctuary we found our instruments had come to a lesser degree of the same fate. The strings on Saylor’s bass were cut, Akima’s guitar was stabbed in the back a few times, the piano chords that hooked my keyboard into the sound system were stolen, a few of the strings in the piano were cut, and both sides of Tyler’s bass drum were kicked in.

            “This guy is going down!” Tyler said angrily.

            “According to him, we are.” JD said from the balcony. He held up a piece of paper for us to see. It was one of our band flyers. Each head was carefully cut out of the picture on the flyer and “DIE” was written in thick red permanent marker.

            “That’s a wonderful and comforting note.” Saylor gulped.

            “You should see what the soundboard says.” JD sighed. Naturally, we all ran up there to see what was written. Spray painted in florescent yellow was “I’m gonna kill her.” None of us knew how to react.

            “Mr. Carnis!” Saylor yelled running down to the atrium. We heard his footsteps stop. “Uh, guys, you might want to come see this.” Saylor said from the atrium. Slowly we went down into the atrium. Saylor was standing in the middle of the room under what looked like a piñata.  He turned it around so that we could see the heads cut out from the flyer taped on the dummy’s face and “I will kill her” written in red ink all over the front of its body.

            “Mr. Carnis!” We all yelled as we ran out the front door, around the side and to the back where the police were.

            “Mr. Carnis, I think there is something they missed.” Tyler said.

            “Where?” He asked. “Show me.”

            “It’s in the atrium. We’re not going back in there.” Tyler answered. Mr. Carnis went to the atrium and returned with the dummy.

            “I think we have a problem.” He said. His face was very pale as he looked at the dummy. We hadn’t even realized that it was hanging by a noose made from the missing guitar strings and piano chords. We all gulped as he set the thing down next to Mori and her guitar.

            “I don’t think we’ll be having a show tonight.” JD said, staring at the dummy nervously. We were all a little nervous, especially the girls.

            “Hey!” Mr. Carnis said clapping his hands together. All five of us jumped, but he did get our attention away from the dummy. “How about you go out to that club y’all like? It’ll be on me.” He said cheerfully. “I’ll even send some of my guys with you, so… you know” He sort of trailed off.

            “Yeah.” Saylor said trying to lighten the mood. “Yeah, that would be great.” He smiled. “Don’t you think?” he asked, nudging me in the ribs with his elbow.

            “Great.” I squeaked. We quickly walked back to our apartment jumping at every sound and glancing behind us every few minutes to make sure no one was following us. When we got to the apartments Mr. Carnis’ men went in first to check the rooms and when everything was cleared, we were let in. The first thing JD did was put his shotgun beside our bed. “What is that for?” I asked pointing at the gun as I opened one of my dresser drawers and pulling out a shirt.

            “Protection.” JD answered. He walked over to the dresser, pulled out a slinky tank top and switched it with the T-shirt I was holding.

            “It’s fake. How will it do us any good?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes but no one else knows that.” He said crossing the room to the closet and pulling out a crisp, white, button-up shirt for him to wear. “It’s all for intimidation, scare tactics, you know.” JD explained and smiled at me.

“Whatever.” I sighed.

“Don’t be scared.” JD tried to comfort me as he took off his T-shirt and crossed back over to me while putting on the nice shirt.

“JD, even if I wasn’t scared, I still don’t think a toy gun would seem very comforting.” I said.

“That’s why I’m here.” He said pulling me right up next to his chest. It felt good just to stand there with JD’s arms around me.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I sighed with relief. I stood there in JD’s arms for a few more seconds before I pushed away to change. JD had handed me a bright green, lacy, silky spaghetti strap tank top that looked great with the jeans I was already wearing.

“You look sexy.” JD said buttoning up his shirt.

“I always do.” I smiled. Suddenly, I felt better. It was if the incident at the church wasn’t important or scary. I had almost forgotten about it in that brief second of changing. “And,” I smiled as I went to the closet; “I get to wear my cool shoes.” I had a pair of pointed-toe metallic green heels that had rhinestones in the shape of a heart on the side. They were of course my favorite shoes. After a quick hair and make-up fix, I was ready. JD and I left our room to find Saylor, in a hot pink T-shirt and jeans, waiting in our living room.

“Wow, Oliver, you look hot!” Saylor exclaimed. JD raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you look nice.” He said coolly. “Hey, and JD, I bet Oliver thinks you’re hot or whatever. But I can’t say that because it would seem weird coming from a guy, you know.” Saylor added.

“Let’s go!” Mori announced as she stepped out of her room. She was in a simple black halter-top with a white, black, and fuchsia striped skirt.

 “Mori! I love that!” I said excitedly.

“My dad got it for me today to make up for such a sucky afternoon.” Mori explained.

“Aren’t you gonna comment on how hot your girlfriend is.” JD snapped quietly at Saylor, putting emphasis on ‘your’. I elbowed JD in the ribs and quickly pulled him out the door. “OW!” JD said loudly when we got into the hall. “What the hell was that for?” He rubbed his ribs.

“What was that comment to Saylor for?” I asked. JD sighed and looked at his feet. He always did when he realized he had done something stupid.

“Okay, I deserved something, but that really hurt.” He said still rubbing where I had hit him.

“Well, maybe next time you’ll just keep your comments to yourself.” I said.

“I don’t see what the big deal is. He’s always going on about you and well,” he paused. I didn’t wait for him to finish.

“That’s Saylor. It’s just how he is and we all love him for who he is no matter how annoying he can get. He’s not gonna change who he is because you’re jealous.” I said. JD looked at his feet.

“I’m not jealous.” He said trying to come off as tough.

“Yes you are.” I laughed. “Hey,” I grabbed his hand; “there is no reason to be jealous of Saylor. Got it?” I asked. JD nodded.

“What’s going on out here?” Tyler asked as he came out of his apartment. He was wearing a dark blue polo and black dress pant.

“Nothing.” JD and I said.

“How boring.” Akima said following Tyler out. She was wearing a sparkly sheer top over a tank top and jeans. “Where is Saylor?” She asked just as Mori and Saylor came out of our apartment. We all busted out laughing when they came out because it was obvious they had been making out.

“Saylor, dude that fuchsia lipstick really doesn’t work with your skin tone. Perhaps you should go for a more glossy shade.” JD laughed. Saylor wiped his lips as he turned beet red.

“Come on, let’s go.” Tyler said trying to stop laughing. We all agreed and went down to the front where we met Mr. Carnis and his men. He introduced us but I wasn’t really paying attention three guys went with us. They were all older than us I think the youngest was about the same age as JD. I think their names were, Kyle, Will and Drake, or something along those lines. We all piled into JD’s little truck and the FBI guys followed us in one of their cars. The club we went to was called “The Flaming Olive”. It was about an hour away from Nowere. So we rode for an hour avoiding any conversation for fear of bringing up what had happened that afternoon. When we got to the club, it was about 7:30. 

“Hey, guys. What are you doing here?” The bouncer asked us. “Don’t you have a show?”  The people at the club pretty much knew us as their own. We were in the club five days a week except on Sunday and Monday when it’s closed. Our band even played there once a month but they always had to work around our schedule.

“Yeah, it was cancelled. An incident came up.” Saylor said.

“Well I wish you had called. We could have started your food and everything.” The bouncer said.

“Oh, it’s fine. Besides, we have a few guests.” Saylor nodded behind him at the three guys.

“Oh, well, go on in, I think your table is ready.” The bouncer said opening the door for us. We went up to our table on the balcony saying ‘hi’ to all our friends on the way up. We had the best spot at the front of the balcony with a perfect view of the dance floor and stage and it was right next to the bar. The FBI guys sat at the bar.

“Hey guys! What are you doing here so early?” The bartender asked.

“Our show was cancelled.”  We all said turning a little pale.

“I can tell by your reaction you’re going to need something a little stronger tonight?” The bartender asked. Everyone except for Tyler and I ordered something stronger. We stuck to our usual of soda because, I’m not much of a drinker and Tyler is only 20.  “And what about you three?” The bartender asked the other guys after we ordered. They all got sodas. After about ten refills of everyone’s drinks and three rounds of tequila shot, our food came out.

“Here you go guys.” Our server said setting down our food. We always ordered the same thing for the day of the week so they could serve us without even taking our orders. “We heard your show was cancelled so the meal is on us.” He said as he set the plates down.

“You didn’t have to do that.” I said.

“Come on. You guys are in here every day, always talking about your music. It’s your life. We know something must have go really wrong for your band to be cancelled, and we want you to know that we love and appreciate your music.” The server smiled.

“That’s so sweet.” Mori said.

“Oh, and it was a bribe attempt to get you to play tonight since you’ll have to use our equipment.” The server added.

“I guess since you’re so nice, we can play.” Tyler said taking a bite from his plate. We ate our food as fast as we could before Sirius, the manager, sent one of his boy toys to take us down to the stage. Sirius was gay and proud of it. When we got down to the stage, he was pacing, actually it was more like flitting, in little circles while talking into a headset.

“I was like ‘No way girlfriend!’” he said snapping in the air. “Oh, honey, I have to go, the band is here. Love and kisses, mwah, mwah.” He clicked something on the head set and turned to face us. “HEY!” he said excitedly. “Ohmigod! Mori that outfit is ADORABLE!” He jumped up and down and clapped his hands while trying to hold his clipboard. “Let me see! Let me see!” he ran to Mori. She spun around and her skirt flared out. “Oh I could die!” he said putting his hands over his heart “Oliver, Ravishing as always!” he said looking me up and down. “Kima! Darling! You look gorgeous! Was that the shirt I gave you?” he said rubbing the fabric between his fingers. Then he paused and looked at the boys. “It’s a pity you three are strait, because I would love to just…” he began, but drifted into his own fantasy, then quickly changed the subject. “ SO, the instruments are already set up we just need to get you microphones.”

Sirius led us to the sound booth at the side of the stage and got us wireless mikes. He helped Mori and Akima put their mikes on because the pack had to go down our shirts and into our pocked or, in Mori’s case, somewhere else. JD helped me with mine, and Tyler and Saylor had to deal with their mikes on their own because they didn’t want Sirius to have any excuse to touch their butts. When we were ready, Sirius went out and introduced us. It was awesome; the whole club went wild. So we went out there and played our show and had a blast as usual. When the show was over Sirius was praising us and saying we should be the other house band since the first one is about to go national and won’t be able to play all the time anymore. Even the three fed guys were telling us we were awesome. We went back up to our usual table to find another group sitting there.

“Excuse us, but this is our table.” Saylor said.

“Sorry.” One of them stuttered but another one hit him in the shoulder.

“I don’t see your name on it.” The second guy said folding his arms across his chest. Saylor looked stunned and stared at the guy blankly.

“Did you hear what he said to me?” Saylor whispered back at us after a minute. He leaned over the table and glared down at the guy. “Perhaps you didn’t understand. This is our table, which means you’ll have to move.”

“Well, we’re sitting here, so you can find you a new table.”  The guy said. Saylor froze. I quickly stepped up next to Saylor.

“Saylor, what’s wrong?”  I whispered.

“I don’t know what to do. No one has ever stood up to me when I glare down at them. I don’t know what to do.” He whispered back nervously.

“Hey,” The guy said standing up. “We’re not savages.” He said walking around the table and standing next to me. “I’m at least gentleman enough to let a fine girl like you sit with us.” He said breathing softly on my neck. “You know you want to.” He whispered.

“We’ll find another table.” I said calmly even though I was using every ounce of strength I had to keep from pummeling him.

“Come on, baby.” He said grabbing my hand and pulling me towards him. Then he noticed my engagement ring. “Oh, you’re engaged.” He smiled. “I bet your fiancé is the one steaming from his ears over there.” He looked at JD who was livid. In less than a second the guy leaned forward to kiss me and I felt a rush by my ear and then a crack in front of my face.  Saylor had come from behind me and punched the guy square in the nose. When the guy realized he was bleeding he wound up to punch Saylor back. Just before he swung the first guy stood up.

“Leave him alone!” he yelled. Just then, Saylor and I recognized who he was.

“Ohmigod! You’re that sniveling little intern at the church.” Saylor pointed.

“Wait, this is the hottie from that band you’re always talking about?”  The second guy asked the intern. The intern nodded timidly. “Damn, you are fine.” He said, still holding my arm.

“That’s it!” JD exclaimed angrily. “If you don’t get your hand off her right now so help me…” He threatened.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” one of the fed guys asked as they all walked up from their mysterious disappearance during the whole fight. They all flashed their guns and the group at the table quickly got up and left. We sat down and ordered drinks. Saylor ordered something even stronger than he had earlier because he had taken a major blow to his pride and to his reputation with the intern. After about an hour we were sent a message from the intern who said ‘Sorry about my brother, he is a real ass. Hope you don’t think too poorly of me. Order a round on his tab for payback.” And he signed his name. So we did. We ordered the most expensive drinks and put them on his tab. After that round, we hit the dance floor. Well, Mori and I did while the boys drank and Akima flirted with the fed guys.

“Does she remember she has a boyfriend, or is she too drunk?” Mori asked me after we had watched Akima for a while.

“I don’t know. She isn’t even flirting with the hot one either.” I added.

“Do you remember that you’re engaged?” Mori asked.

“I can look, just not touch.” I smiled.

“You should have told that to that punk earlier.” Mori laughed.

“I should have pounded that guy.” I corrected. I noticed the fed guys making their way through the dance crowd towards us. “Crap.”

“Evening, ladies.” One of the guys said. He was the hot one, I think he was Drake. The other guy, Will, I think, smiled. “Mind if we dance with you?” the cute one asked.

“I wouldn’t, but my fiancé might.” I smiled pitifully.

“Same with me, only he’s my boyfriend, not fiancé.” Mori said.

“Well, that’s cool. We’ll just have to find someone else to dance with.” The other guy said. They walked through the crowd and quickly found two other girls. After a few more minutes, Saylor and JD came down. Saylor was completely trashed and JD was fairly close behind, so of course they made quite a scene.

“What are you doing?” Mori asked Saylor.

“Idunno.” Saylor slurred.

“I think we should go home.” I said to Mori. She agreed, but Saylor and JD had their objections.

“No way! It’s only midnight!” JD complained.

“Fine, you can stay, and I’ll get a ride home with that ass hole who was hitting on me.” I said.

“Let’s go!” JD quickly changed his mind. We got Tyler and Akima and left. When we got home, JD and Saylor were still so wired that Mori made Saylor sleep in his apartment, which Akima and Tyler didn’t seem too thrilled about, and I made JD sleep on the couch. The fed guy that Akima had flirted with slept in their apartment on the couch and the other two slept in our apartment on the floor in the living room. The next morning the fed guys made us breakfast.

“Morning, sunshine.” The cute one said when I walked out of JD and my room.

“You look like shit.” Mori said. She was right. My hair was sticking out everywhere because I didn’t take it down before I went to bed, my makeup was smudged all over my face, and I had an over sized sweatshirt on over my pajamas which were a pair of boxers and my bra.

“At least you’re honest.” I said with a yawn, too tired to come up with a better comeback. I didn’t make it to the table; I lied down on the couch next to JD who still smelled like liquor.

“Do you want any breakfast?” the other guy asked. I breathed in the aroma of bacon and pancakes and syrup.

“To tired to move, but it smells so good.” I sighed.

“I’ll bring it to you.” The guy sighed.

“Oh,” The cute one said putting his bacon in his mouth, “this came for you this morning, Miss Grousy.” He said picking up a large envelope addressed to me.

“What is it?” Mori asked. “Miss Grousy.” She added with a chuckle. I opened the envelope to find a composition book and a letter. The letter read: Miss Grousy, Because you are such a gifted writer with the inability to make it to your classes, I have designed a special curriculum especially for you. This notebook is your assignment for the semester, do with it what you want, but I expect it to be filled and returned to me on the day of your exam. If my requirements are filled, you will pass the semester with a low average. If I am impressed with your work, I might raise your grade. I just don’t want your gift to be wasted because you are lazy. You will not have to show up for classes, but it will raise your grade if you do show for more than the exam. Please at least try to do something, I would hate to have to fail you three years. Mr. B.

PS. Doodles do not count.

“So? What was it?” Mori asked after I read the letter to myself.

“I just got a free ticket through Comp. Class.” I gloated.

“What?” Mori shrieked. She jumped over the back of the couch and landed on JD and me.

“What the?” JD said as he woke up. “Ouch.” He said holding his head. “Why is Mori sitting on me?” He asked after a few seconds.

“That is so not fair!” Mori said angrily.

“Mori, Volume! We’re right here; there is no need to shout.” JD said painfully. There was a knock on the door. “Stop banging on the door.” JD said holding his head.

“You’re totally hung over, aren’t you?” I asked with a laugh.

“At least yours is alive.” Akima said as she walked in the door. “Saylor is still out.” She said pointing back to her apartment. “You have food!” Akima said happily grabbing the plate the fed guy had made for me and shoveling its contents into her mouth. “What’s that?” She asked, with a mouth full of pancakes, pointing at my notebook.

“Her get out of jail free pass.” Mori said angrily.

“It is my semester project for comp.” I smiled.

“This is entirely unfair, because I’ve done just as well in that class as you have.” Mori pouted.

“Oh, yeah.” Akima said shoving a whole pancake into her mouth. “I have yours, Mori. I saw it this morning and thought it looked interesting, but when it was just a notebook, I threw it away.” She pointed back to her apartment.

“What!” Mori shrieked and Ran out of the room. JD groaned and put a pillow over his head.

“You shouldn’t have drunken so much last night.” Akima chuckled as she sat on the arm of the couch right by JD’s head. “You should have known better.” She knocked her knuckles on his head. JD’s whole body twitched with every beat.

“Um,” the cute fed guy cleared his throat. “We’re going to go now. An officer will check in periodically just to make sure everything is well. Uh, call us if anything goes wrong.” He said in one breath. “Bye.” He smiled and quickly went out the door. The other one smiled and ran into Mori as he left.

“Uh, sorry. Bye.” He mumbled as he walked down the hall.

“Kima!” Mori said angrily as she slammed the door.

“Mori! For God’s Sake! VOLUME!” JD cried out in pain.

“Oh, suck it up, or go to your room.” Mori said slamming a pot in the sink.

“Your friends are mean.” JD glared at me as he stumbled to our room.

“I’ll say!” Mori said waving her notebook at Akima’s face. “I don’t know what the hell this is, but it better come off because it’s all in my book.” She said. As she flung the book around, it dripped the unknown liquid all over the floor.

“Sorry, but I didn’t think you would be interested. You never do your homework.” Akima said.

“When it allows me to sleep in and skip class I will!” Mori said. “Kima, you remember in high school. We always did the bare minimum, just enough to get by.”

“Yeah, so?” Akima shrugged her shoulders.

“This is the bare minimum!” She flung the book. “I always settle for the easy stuff! You know that saying ‘When the tough get going, the going gets tough.’” She paused for a second and realized she had said it wrong. “Shit.” She hit her forehead with her palm. “You know what I mean.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry.” Akima said. Saylor busted through the door, swaggered a bit and fell to the floor.

“Please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid last night.” He said as he pulled himself across the floor to the couch.

“Do you mean before or after you trashed yourself?” I asked. Saylor pulled himself up the back of the couch and looked at me with a grimace.

“Now I know I’m drunk, because you look like shit.” He said pointing a shaky finger at me.

“But being drunk is supposed to make girls look beautiful.” Mori said.

“You see how wasted I am?” Saylor asked before falling back onto the floor. “I think I’ll just lie here a while.” He said before passing out. We left him there and went on with our day. About 4:00 that afternoon, Saylor and JD finally woke up and were ready to eat. So we decided to go to one of the two restaurants in Nowere, the Mexican place. As we were walking out the door, Sirius called begging for us to come play at the club because the house band wasn’t going to be able to get there until midnight and everyone loved us. So we agreed, if he promised free food, and went. On the way, I wrote in my notebook.

August 7, 2010

I’m not really sure how to start this, so I’ll start with an intro. My name is Oliver Ann Grousy. Yeah, try growing up with that name. I use to get made fun of in grade school, but I would just tell the other girls that it wasn’t my fault that their mothers weren’t as creative as mine when it came to naming them. Of course I did sometimes wish I were named Christy, or Haley, or whatever it was that the ‘cool’ girls’ names were. But in high school all the girls were envious, so I guess it’s the classic ‘what goes around comes around’. However, now that I think about it, I was giving my mom way too much credit. The whole story behind my name was that my dad wanted a boy, so when my mom was in too much pain to think of a name, I was stuck with his. My father is Oliver Albert Grousy III, which, he jokes, makes me Oliver A Grousy IV, but not for long. In another year I will be Oliver Lewis. I am presently engaged to the love of my life, JD Lewis. We got engaged last year on my 21 birthday and are going to get married next year in September…right after school starts.

I go to Minot School of Arts here in Nowere, TX. (But of course you would know that, Mr. B) Not many people know how to pronounce the city name. They think it has an ‘h’ in it, but that would be ‘Nowhere’, and obviously Nowere is somewhere, so there can’t be an ‘h’. I’m working for a theater major at Minot. I go to school and live with my best friend, Mori Carnis. (And you know her too, Mr. B) She is majoring in art. Mori and I are in a band with our friends Saylor Wynn and Akima Hendry, Tyler Davis, and JD. Saylor, Akima, and Tyler all go to Minot. (JD already graduated from a university up north.)

My band and I play and work at the church. We also play at ‘The Flaming Olive’ club in another city. In fact, I’m writing this while we are driving to the club (thus the messy handwriting). Well, were here now, so I have to stop. BYE MR B!

 

We got to the Club and found Sirius waiting impatiently at the front door. “Oh thank God! I was thinking you weren’t going to make it on time!” He said dramatically as we walked up. “Oh, you’re going to perform in that?” He tisked pointing at our clothes. We were dressed very down compared to the night before. I was in a pair of Capri sweats and a T-shirt. Mori was in a pair of plaid flannel pj pants and a camisole. And the rest were in T-shirts and jeans.

“You didn’t really give us much time.” I pointed out.

“I suppose that will have to do, then.” Sirius sighed. “You just be glad you’re good and I like you.” He tapped his pen on his clipboard. “Follow me.” He turned gracefully and flitted off into the building. The rainbow scarf around his neck flowed in the air as he flitted. We followed him and went through the same things we had the night before. We did an improv. show, but it worked. When we had finished, we went to our table to find our food waiting for us. When the bartender took our drinks, JD and Saylor swore no alcohol for the night. Saylor lasted half and hour before he ordered tequila shots. But after the first round he stopped because “You can’t go to church with a hangover” he told us. That was how he lived. If he knew we would be working at the church the next day, Saylor would order his usual round of Tequila and stop. About 9:00 another band went on stage. They were okay, but Sirius swore we were better… and better looking. Naturally, when he said “better looking” he was talking about the boys. Mori and I went on the dance floor and ran into an angry Mr. Carnis.

“Where the hell have you been?” He asked, as his nostrils flared out. “I have been calling you all night.”

“We were doing a show. What’s the big deal?” Mori said.

“I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation, Mori. We found death threats all over your band’s equipment. When the whole band goes missing, it can mean something very bad.” He said.

“Alright! I’m sorry.” Mori huffed.

“At least call, next time.” Mr. Carnis sighed. As he left the punk from the night before walked up with his little brother.

“Hey babe.” He smiled and put his arm around me.

“Shit.” Mori groaned.

“I bet you think you were hot shit up there last night. First you had a kick ass show then you got those feds to fight for you and then you go ordering on my tab. I bet you think you’re something.” He said.

“I bet I think you’re annoying me.” I said.

“You know you want it.” He said trying to be seductive. I looked up a little bit and saw JD looking over the balcony.

“You’re right. I want you.” I smiled. I could see Mori looking at me funny in the corner of my eye.

“Really? Cause I can,” He said before he pulled me towards him and kissed me.

“HEY!” JD yelled furiously. The guy quickly let me go as the whole dance floor froze to look at him.

“Woo, JD is gonna kill you!” Saylor laughed down at him. The guy was petrified and just stared at me with rage, confusion, and embarrassment all in one.

“Congratulations, you’re a dead man.” JD said when he got down to where we were. The guy stood there for a second then ran for his life. The crowd quickly went back to dancing.

“That was awesome!” The little intern said between laughs. “I’ve never seen him so scared in my life.” He laughed as he walked out of the club. JD turned to me.

“I knew that would work.” I laughed.

“That’s 'cause no one messes with my girl.” He smiled. Just then Sirius came through the crowd with his prance-like run.

“What’s all the commotion?” He asked.

“Some guy was bothering me.” I answered. “But JD took care of it.”

“Well, I’ll just make sure he isn’t allowed in here again.” He said making a note on his clipboard. He then flitted off back to the stage.

“Well, now that he’s gone, I think I’ll go back up to our table.” JD said.

“Okay, bye.” I said kissing him on the cheek. Mori and I kept dancing until midnight, when the house band arrived. The house band was awesome, but we were too tired to dance. So we went back up to our table with everyone else. Another group of people had sat at the table next to ours and was being obnoxious. Somehow the guys ended up in some card game with them. Not being a big card player myself, I had no idea what they were playing but Saylor was winning regardless. Saylor ended up winning eight hundred dollars before the other group gave up. Then, being the nice guy Saylor is, he split his reward evenly amongst us and gave the extra back to the other group. Of course with $133 each that only left two dollars for their group of nine. After the card game it was almost 3:00 in the morning, so we left since we had to be at church in six hours. We crashed the second we got home.

“Ugh.” JD moaned as the alarm went off. He felt around on the nightstand for the alarm, knocking a few things off in the process. Finally he turned it off. “Crap.” He moaned looking at the clock.

“What?” I asked still half asleep.

“We have three minutes until were supposed to be at the church.” He said trying to force himself out of the bed. It was good that the church was only a minute away, but that still left us two minutes for waking everyone up, showering, eating, getting dressed, and putting on makeup (for the girls, of course). Unfortunately, we couldn’t skip Sunday school because each of us either taught or helped get ready for the service.

“Three minutes? That would be a new record.” I said getting up.  I quickly went to Mori’s room. “You have two minutes!” I yelled while banging on the door. I could hear Mori mumbling curses as she got up. I then went to the other apartment; Akima and Tyler were at least up and showering, Saylor was out when I went into his room. “Get up. You have one minute.” I said taking his blankets and pillow.

“You suck, Oliver.” He yelled at me as I walked out of the apartment. I left his bed things in the hall so he would have to get up to get them. I then went back to my apartment. JD was in the shower and Mori was eating when I got in. I went to find the least wrinkled thing I could wear to church, but JD had already set me out a dress. I went and took a ‘shower’ in Mori’s room, which was actually a jump in, rinse off, and get out.

“Thirty seconds!” JD yelled as I was putting on my dress and mascara. At exactly 8:58 and 50 seconds everyone met in the hallway and we left. “One minute and fifty seconds.” JD smiled.

“Now that is a record.” Saylor laughed. We got to the church twenty seconds before Sunday school started. Saylor had high school, I had fifth grade, and Mori and Akima had kindergarten. JD and Tyler helped set up for the service. Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone in any of our classes so we slept in the high school room because they had pillows. Around ten JD and Tyler came up to the room and tried to wake us up but ended up falling asleep. At twelve JD’s cell phone rang, waking everyone up. He had to go to work, which meant we would have no mode of transportation to get out of Nowere. Of course, Mori and I had plans to go to the mall with some of our friends from high school, and we needed a ride.

“I have an idea.” Mori smiled taking my cell phone from my purse as we were walking home. She dialed and called someone. “Daddy?” She asked when her father answered. “I’m good. Yeah, Oliver and I were going to the mall but we’re afraid to go alone, can you send some of your guys to take us?” She asked sweetly. She waited for her father’s reply. “Okay, daddy. Love ya.” She smiled as she closed my phone. “I just got us some dates to the mall.” She said triumphantly.

“Yeah, but everyone knows I’m engaged to JD and you’re dating Saylor. They’ll probably think it’s weird.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but they’re just as shallow as we are and my dad is sending Drake and Will.” She smiled. I looked at her blankly. “Drake is the cute one.” She said when she realized I didn’t know names.

“Oh, okay.” I said still indifferent to the matter. It wasn’t long before the guys showed up at the apartment. When we got to the mall our friends, like Mori had predicted were very impressed with the guys. Thankfully for them, two of the girls had also brought their (now) fiancés, so the guys got to talk while the girls got to shop. After about an hour and a half we left. When we got back to the apartment Mori and I invited the guys to hang out. Drake and Will were really cool and fun to hang out with. When we came to our apartment, the door was unlocked so we went in. But something didn’t feel right. Mori grabbed the baseball bat that was in the umbrella basket by the front door. Mori and I were a few steps in the door and the guys were out in the hall. For some reason we didn’t let them go in before us. Which turned out to be a really stupid idea when a giant man dressed in all black stepped into the living room from Mori’s room. Mori and I screamed as he pulled out a gun as big as we are. Mori threw the bat towards the guy as we ran out. The bat hit the guy across the face, giving us enough time to get out before the guy started shooting.

Poor Drake and Will only had their little hand guns for defense. When Mori and I sat down, we realized bullets had skimmed us both. I had a burn on my shoulder and Mori had a cut across her temple. Even with their little handguns, Will and Drake shot the guy out the window.

“You two okay?” Will asked putting his gun in his holster. Drake had gone inside to clear everything.

“A little.” Mori touched the cut in her head, she was bleeding.

“Come into the light so I can see.” Will said helping Mori up and taking her to the doorway.

“Everything is good.” Drake said as he came out. He looked down at me as Mori and Will went inside. “You okay?” He asked. I was in a slight daze so he asked again.

“Oh, yeah.” I said snapping out of the daze. I lied but he didn’t seem to notice. He helped me up and we went inside. The first thing I did was go to the broken window and look out.

“He’s not down there.” Drake said.

“What?” I asked still in a somewhat daze.

“The guy. He got up and limped off. I saw him.” Drake said.

“Oh.” I said slowly backing away from the window. It actually wasn’t a window.  It was a sliding glass door that use to lead to a balcony. But the balcony mysteriously disappeared before we moved in, so now it’s just a window. I sat down on the couch next to Will, who was nursing Mori’s wound. Before he had finished, Mr. Carnis had come in.

“What happened?” He asked looking at Mori’s cut.

“A man had broken in while we were gone and shot at the girls when we came back.” Will said. Mr. Carnis turned Mori’s head so he could see the cut. It wasn’t that deep of a cut but at the angel it was at, if it was a quarter of a degree more it would have gone through the front of Mori’s head, that’s what Will kept telling her.

“You are the luckiest kid I know.” Mr. Carnis said a little uneasy. He then turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I lied again. Mr. Carnis noticed the burn on my shoulder.

“Does that hurt?” He touched it. It stung a lot but I tried not to let it show.

“A little.” I managed to say. Just then JD and Saylor came in.

“What the hell?” Saylor said noticing the broken window and bullet holes in the walls. He then noticed Will putting a bandage on Mori’s head. “What happened? Are you all right?” he quickly asked. “Did you get shot?”

“There was an incident, a bullet skimmed me, but I’m fine.” Mori said coolly. Saylor stared a Mori in awe that she could be so calm after being shot at. JD didn’t say anything. He just took me by the arm and led me to our room. The second he shut the door I started bawling. JD held me against his chest for god knows how long as I cried. I didn’t know why I was crying, I probably tried explaining it out loud to JD, but I didn’t know what I was saying. After a while Mori and Saylor quickly slid in the room so that no one in the living room could see in.

“You okay?” Saylor asked. I shook my head. I had stopped crying by then but JD was still holding me. “Come here.” Saylor said taking me away from JD. Saylor sat me down on the bed and he sat next to me. As we sat there, I realized the front of JD’s shirt was wet from my crying… which was the only reason why JD let me go. As I regained my composure, JD changed his shirt. And then we left the room as if nothing had happened. Akima and Tyler had come over while we were in the room and had already been told the whole story. More fed guys had also come and were setting up and alarm system incase another break in happened. The thought that kept going through my head was that someone wanted to kill us and would have succeeded if they shot a quarter of a degree more.

 

Chapter 2

     Mori’s View on Death:                                                                                                            

Aug 10

                                Death is stupid. Oliver and I have now successfully escaped the cold grasp of death twice with only minor injuries this time… at least for being shot at from point-blank range. The first time was when I had just turned ten. It was raining very hard that day and my mom could barely see out of the windshield of our car. Oliver and I were sitting in the front seat without our seatbelts on… which didn’t end up so well. Through the watery blur that was the front of the car we could barely make out where the road was. This, in turn, caused my mother to lose control of the car. We started spinning and went off the road. As we spun across the grass, I was thrown from the car and blacked out. The next thing I knew was I was in a hospital bed three days later. I had bashed my head pretty good and was thought to be in an uncorrectable cataleptic state of being. When I woke up, I was told that Oliver was also thrown from the car and hit a tree with her shoulder. She now has a metal plate for a shoulder… which is always interesting to go through airport metal detectors with. My mother, however, was not so fortunate. She also had been thrown from the car and then run over however many times because the car was spinning over her. Luckily she died when she hit the ground and felt no pain… from what the doctors said. Death is mysterious in so many ways. People talk about it as if it were a person, sometimes man sometimes woman, sometimes good sometimes evil. In Mexico, they celebrate death and almost make fun of it because, unlike Americans, they do not fear death because it is all part of life. It is funny that death to some represents the most evil of evils and yet is sometimes referred to as an angel. My own name is Latin for death, and I fear it as much as anything. People fear death because they fear the unknown… and it is most definitely unknown what happens after death.

 

     A few weeks had passed by with no unusual events. Mori’s head was healing quickly, my burn had turned into one of the many scars on my shoulder, and the event of the shooting was almost forgotten. However, it is hard to forget when Mr. Carnis doesn’t allow you to go anywhere without a heavily armed FBI escort provided. The frequent phone calls from him, and of course the constant blinking red lights from the twelve cameras in the way-too-high-tech-for- a-bunch-of-college-student’s- living-room alarm system, which was generously provided by him. One night, while I was trying to lull myself to sleep by staring at the ceiling fan, JD randomly shot up.

            “It’s the 25th.” He said.

            “Yeah?” I asked as if he thought some great revelation had suddenly struck him and I was expecting a mediocre answer.

            “I should give you your birthday/ early wedding present now.” He smiled as he got out of bed. He went to the dresser and pulled something out of the drawer.

            “JD, you know we promised not to talk about the wedding until next month.” I sighed as I rolled over to face him. He quickly turned back to face me, hiding whatever it was behind his back.

            “I was thinking about that,” He said as he walked back over and sat down on the bed. “I don’t want to wait another year to get married.”

            “What are you talking about?” I asked even though I didn’t want to know the answer. JD smiled and leaned back against the headboard.

            “Why can’t we get married this year?” He asked.

            “Because my parents would kill me. Besides, we already have the date for the church next year, and your mother would kill you if you didn’t let her help plan the wedding.” I explained trying to destroy whatever idea he had.

            “What if we got married and then got remarried at the church next year?” JD asked. I sighed; I knew he would keep pressing the matter until I asked him what he wanted.

            “Okay, fine. What is your plan?” I asked. He held up four plane tickets, one for me, one for him, one for Mori, and one for Saylor. “Vegas?” I asked somewhat disappointed.

            “You hate it, don’t you?” He asked almost as disappointed as I was.

            “I just never really wanted to get married in a Vegas chapel. I always wanted a big church wedding with all my friends and family. Not elope in Vegas with Mori and Saylor as witnesses.” I said trying to be nice even though I absolutely hated the idea. JD sighed and was quiet for a while.

            “Well,” he said after a few moments, “I already got the tickets. We’ll just go for fun.” He smiled. “And the trip isn’t until Christmas break, who knows how you’ll feel then.” He added probably for guilt.

            “I might change my mind.” I said to make him feel better.

            “Love you.” He said kissing me. He got up to put the tickets back when there was a sound in the living room. “What was that?” He asked and dropped the tickets back on the bed as he crossed the room to the door and I quickly got up and got behind him.

            “JD, what if it’s that guy?” I asked nervously. He turned around and kissed me again. He held me for a few seconds and let me go.

            “I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” He smiled. I was still very uneasy; a knot had formed in my stomach and a lump in my throat. JD slowly opened the door. Right across from our door stood the guy who had shot at Mori and me. “Hey!” JD said to the guy. He obviously wasn’t thinking. BANG! BANG! Two bullets had gone through JD’s head and he fell. I screamed and fell beside him. He was dead but I kept screaming. I heard Mori’s door open, four more shots and then a brief moment of silence (except for my screaming.) Then a shotgun fired twice. The gun was dropped and Saylor was at my side trying to pull me away from JD. I, still screaming, was also crying and practically unable to breathe. I heard Mr. Carnis’ voice and then Saylor and Mori yelling at him and the other FBI agents.

            I was still wailing and attached to JD. It took about five (I couldn’t really see because I was crying) FBI agents to get me away from JD. They then had to carry me to the couch because I couldn’t even walk, which wasn’t very fun for them I imagine because I was pretty much dead weight. Mori and Saylor were still yelling at the FBI guys but Saylor had sat next to me and I was wailing into his shoulder. He then had to carry me out of the apartment and down to the car because I had attached myself to him.

            By the time I had gotten to the police/FBI office (I don’t really know what it was called) I had somewhat calmed down. I wasn’t crying as hard and my breathing was all shaky and heavy and I was shaking really bad, but no screaming. Mori, Saylor and I were taken to an office of Mr. Carnis’ new partner, or assistant, as Mr. Carnis liked to call him.

            “My new assistant will be here soon to help me get your statements.” He said looking at his watch. I don’t know why he kept looking at his watch, because none of us were going anywhere. Pretty soon Drake walked in. “Ah, agent Stone.” Mr. Carnis smiled. “Is Kyle around?” He asked.

            “Yes, sir.” Drake said. Mr. Carnis then turned to us.

            “Saylor, Kyle will get your statement. I’ll take Mori. And,” he turned to Drake, “you take Oliver’s statement.” He motioned for Saylor and Mori to follow him and they were gone. Drake turned to me.

            “Miss Grousy.” He smiled and bowed his head a little.

            “Drake or agent Stone?” I asked.

            “Agent Stone.” He smiled. “I’m officially and agent now and the title makes me feel special.” He kind of laughed. “Please sit down.” He motioned towards the couch behind me. I sat as I was told and he rolled his chair over in front of me and sat down.     “So, what happened?” he asked. I then told him everything I could remember, since half the time I was screaming. That took about two minutes. “I’m really sorry, by the way.” He added at the end of my story. I think I said something after that but I don’t remember. Then Drake looked at me. I was covered in blood. I was wearing a robe that the fed guys got me before we left the apartment over my bloody pajamas. And, as you remember, my pajamas are my bra and a pair of boxers. “You want to go take a shower?” He asked.

            “I don’t have any other clothes to change into.” I said.

            “I’ll find something.” He smiled.

            “And, I don’t have any thing to shower with.” I added.

            “I’ll get you something to shower with.” He said. “Wait here for a sec.” He got up and left. He came back after a minute with some shampoo and soap. “I hope this will be okay.” He said handing them to me.

            “Yeah, it’s good.” I smiled weakly.

            “This way, madam.” He smiled and led me to the women’s locker room.  He left and I got into the shower. I started singing “Amazing Grace” for some reason. I guess it was because JD always said that he wanted that sung at his funeral. As I was finishing the song I turned and saw Drake out of the corner of my eye.

            “Holy sh-!” I exclaimed trying to cover myself with my hands.

            “I can’t see past your shoulders, don’t worry.” He said before I finished my sentence. “You have a beautiful voice, by the way.” He smiled.

            “What are you doing here?” I asked. He put a towel over the stall door and frowned as he held up a bright orange prison jumpsuit. “Oh my god.” I sighed.

            “Sorry, it’s the only thing we had.” He apologized. “I really liked that song you were singing.” He said setting the jumpsuit on the ground. “I’m a huge fan of your band also.” He leaned against the wall across from the shower stall. “You know what song I really think is interesting?” he didn’t even pause for me to answer. “That one you wrote, ‘good girls are bad girls who don’t get caught.’” As he was saying the title I laughed.

            “You think I killed JD.” I laughed.

            “What? Why do you think that?” Drake asked innocently.

            “I watch cop shows. They always talk to the girl a second time if they think she’s guilty.” I explained. “So obviously you are coming and talking to me again because you think I’m guilty. But that was excellent how you tied my singing into the song into the whole you think I did it thing, brilliant.” I said.

            “Okay, stop making fun of me.” He said somewhat offended.

            “No, I mean it.” I smiled “I’ve never seen an implied conviction go so smoothly. You just slipped it in without missing a beat or losing your cool or anything.” I paused. “I’m impressed.”

            “Really?” Drake asked. “I was working on that for a while. I didn’t really think you would catch on so easily. I had a whole conversation planned out and everything.” He smiled.

            “Wow. Despite the fact that you think I’m guilty, I’m very impressed.” I congratulated him. I had finished my shower and was drying off. It was then that I realized Drake had picked up the jumpsuit and was holding it. “Can I have that?” I asked I asked pointing at the hideous orange suit.

            “Sure.” He extended his arm but didn’t move.

            “I meant bring it over here.” I said.

            “Can’t.” He smiled. “I’m not even really supposed to be in here. I have to stay on this side so that the camera won’t see me.” He smiled. Up in the back corner was a small surveillance camera that pointed at the stalls but the wall across from the stalls was out of its view. I sighed and wrapped the towel around me.

            “You are a real jerk.” I said stepping out of the stall.

            “That hurt my feelings.”  He said trying to be pitiful. “I think you owe me and apology.” He said.

            “And I think I would like to get dressed.” I said reaching for the jumpsuit, but Drake moved.

            “The wet look really works for you.” He said looking me up and down.

            “Yes, well as much as I love standing here dripping wet in my towel, I do need to get dressed.” I said grabbing at the jumpsuit again. This time Drake handed it to me. I quickly stepped back into the stall.

            “I’m sorry.” He said sympathetically. “For being a jerk and all. I’m just trying to lighten the mood because of you know.” His voice trailed off.

            “Do you have a knife or something sharp?” I asked not really paying attention.

            “Uh, yeah.” He said tossing it to me kind of confused about why I would need a knife. He then went on talking but I wasn’t listening.

            “I need your shirt.” I said interrupting him. Drake looked a little shocked. “Or your jacket.”  He had a kelly-green track jacket with turtles on its back that looked really warm, and since I was freezing I was hoping to get the jacket.

            “Why?” He asked hesitating to hand me his jacket.

            “To wear, duh.” I said rolling my eyes.  Drake handed me his jacket. I put it on and stepped out of the stall.

            “Whoa.” Drake muttered under his breath. “You cut the jumpsuit.” He added quickly. I did. I had cut a pair of extremely short shorts out of the entire jumpsuit and had Drake’s jacket for a shirt. I handed him the top half and the rest of the legs of the jumpsuit. “Uh, thanks.” He said trying not to make it obvious he was checking me out.  “Follow me, please.” He said clearing his throat. As we were walking out of the locker room a few girls walked in and looked at Drake funny. Kyle walked by just as we walked out.

            “Hey, you’re not supposed …to… be… in… there.” He trailed off as Drake handed him the jumpsuit scraps, put his arm around my waist and kept walking while Kyle checked me out as I walked by. Drake took me back to his office and I sat down on the couch.

            “When can I leave?” I asked. Drake laughed.

            “As of right now you are under my care for however long it takes us to find JD’s killer. I’d make myself comfortable if I was you, Miss Grousy, you’re gonna be here for a while.” He said. I fell back on the couch with a sigh. I lied there for a while until Drake’s watch beeped.

            “What time is it?” I asked sitting up.

            “One.” He said looking at his watch.

            “Happy birthday to me.” I sighed before falling back on the couch.

            “What?” Drake asked.

            “Nothing.” I sighed and laid out across the couch. He didn’t say anything after that; he just turned back to his desk and began working. I tried to go to sleep but I couldn’t get settled because my mind kept going back to JD. I could see the blast from the gun and then another and then JD falling and that image was replayed over and over in my mind for who knows how long. I suddenly snapped out of my daze when Drake stopped typing and stood up. “Hmm?” I asked, not knowing if he had just spoken to me.

            “What?” he asked. Obviously he didn’t say anything.

            “Nothing, I was just thinking.” I said.

            “Oh.” He said sitting back down. He started to go back to his work but stopped and turned to me. “Are you okay, really?” He asked.

            “What?” I asked not really knowing how to answer his question.

            “You’re taking everything pretty well for having your fiancé shot to death in front of you.” He said.

            “Do you still think I had something to do with his murder?” I asked somewhat offended.

            “No, no.” he said sympathetically. “I just mean, if you want to talk or anything” He said.

            “Well I don’t.” I said somewhat bitterly.

            “Okay, that’s cool.” He smiled and started to get back to his work when Mr. Carnis came into the office.

            “I need to talk to you for a second outside.” He said to Drake. Drake left with him and came back quickly with a file.

            “So,” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be finding the killer soon, so I am going to have to fill out a file for you and put you into a protected living/ protective custody type thing.” He said a little uneasy.

 “Huh?” I asked not understanding anything he just said.

“You, Mori and Saylor are witnesses to a high profile crime and therefore must be under constant Federal surveillance. And we, here at the office, believe it would be safest for you to live with one of the agents, and seeing as how I have the largest house you are living with me until further notice.” He said

“So you have to file paper work?” I asked.

“Yes.” He said opening the file and taking out a pen. “Your full name please.”

“Oliver Ann Grousy.” I said.

“Oliver Ann?” he smiled. “I like that.”

“Next Question.” I said impatiently.

“Age and date of birth.”

“22 and today.” I said sadly.

“Today? That’s… nice I guess.” He said uneasily and then paused. “You said 22, right?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, you make me feel old.” He laughed.

“Wait, how old are you?” I asked

“29, my birthday is in January.” He said.

“You’re not that old.” I laughed. He then proceeded to fill out the rest of the paperwork by himself.

“You tired?” he asked after finishing. I was already asleep, and his question woke me up.

“I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t waken me up.” I said annoyed.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” He apologized.

“That’s okay, can I leave?” I asked.

“You, at this moment, aren’t even allowed outside of my office for security purposes.” Drake said.

“But what about Mori and Saylor? Where are they? Can’t I talk to them?” I asked trying to find some way to get out of the office.

“They are staying here, and no, you aren’t allowed to talk to them for other security reasons.” He said nervously.

“What, do you think this was just a big conspiracy?” I asked.

“Some information has come to our attention that makes us suspicious of all of your motives.” Ha said.

“The insurance policy?” I asked. “I’ve already thought of that maybe posing as a motive.” I said noticing Drake’s suspicious look.

“It was a one million dollar policy.” He said.

“Naming me the benefactor.” I stated. “JD had started a new job and with one little change, he saved the company over 3.5 billion dollars. They offered him the insurance policy along with all sorts of benefits to keep him there. But JD would have been making one million annually if he hadn’t have been murdered. He was more use to us alive then dead.”

“Right.” Drake said a little guiltily.

“You know, Agent Stone, I’m very tired. So if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go back to sleep.” I yawned.

“Uh, would it seem really awkward if I slept on the couch with you?” Drake asked. I looked at him with a little confusion. “You didn’t think you were the only one who needs sleep around here?” he asked with a laugh.

“Fine.” I sighed. “But you have to lie on that side.” I pointed to the other side of the couch.

“By your feet?” Drake asked.

“I don’t kick.” I told him.

“Yes, but if my head is here then my feet will be in your face. And I sometimes do kick, and would hate for you to wake up with black eyes and a bloody nose from me kicking you.” Drake smiled.

“If you try anything, I swear,” I started.

“I wouldn’t even think of doing anything.” Drake smiled and lied down next to me. Within a few minutes we were both asleep. The next morning we both woke up at the same time. Realizing I was right next to him I tried to move away, but the back of the couch was there.

“Your couch wasn’t made for two people, was it?” I asked.

“You seemed to sleep well regardless.” He pointed out.

“Well, you have to get up.” I told him.

“Why don’t you get up?”  He asked. I knew he didn’t want to get up so I had to think of something. I don’t know why, but I went with the first idea that popped into my head.

“Because this jacket is partially unzipped and I don’t want to risk getting up and flashing you.” I said pulling the zipper down a little bit but slowly enough that Drake wouldn’t notice. Drake just smiled, he looked up as he grabbed the zipper and pulled it up.

“I’ve dealt with plenty of naked women; a half undone zipper doesn’t bother me.” He said. I was still a little shocked that he had actually zipped the jacket up. “So, now you can get up.” He smiled.

“I don’t want to.” I said.

“I don’t want to, either.” Drake said.

“Well one of us has to get up.” I said. “And by one of us, I mean you.” I added.

“Okay, neither of us want to get up so I guess we’ll both have to stay here until you decide to get up.” He said.

“Fine, I’ll wait until you want to get up.” I said. So we lied there for a long time waiting for the other to get up.

“Is it just me or is this a silly thing to be arguing about?” Drake asked after a few minutes of silence.

“You know you’re right. You should get up.” I smiled.

“I don’t want to get up.” Drake said.

“Why don’t you want to get up?” I asked. Drake looked a little shocked that I asked the question.

“Uh,” he said a little uneasily, like he didn’t want to tell me the real answer. “Because I like laying here.” He sighed.

“You like laying here?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s comfortable, warm, and good company.” He smiled.

“Are you flirting with me, Agent Stone?” I asked.

“Maybe.” Drake smiled. I didn’t really know what to do. I felt weird because my fiancé had just been murdered this morning and I enjoyed Drake’s flirting. I almost felt guilty about it. But for some reason I stayed there. We laid on the couch for about an hour, just talking.

“Okay, it’s been an hour.” I said looking at the clock. “How about we both get up at the same time and call it a truce?”

“Okay, one two three” Drake counted and we both got up. Drake looked at his watch. “Hey I have to do some work; you can just hang out in here if you want.”

“I’d rather talk with my friends.” I sighed. Drake thought for a second.

“Mori is in the shower. I’ll let you go to the bathroom, but you have five minutes.” He said.  “Take this watch; it will beep when you need to come back.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and quickly went to the bathroom. “Ri?” I called when I got in.

“Oliver? What are you doing in here? I thought we weren’t supposed to be talking to each other.” Mori said.

“Yeah, Drake let me come in.” I smiled.

“How’d you get him to do that?” Mori raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” I said starting to feel guilty again. “I spent the last hour laying on the couch in his office with him. Just talking with him.”

“What?” Mori asked surprised.

“I know. I feel terrible about it.” I sighed.

“Well, it’s not really your fault. I definitely would have done the same thing if I was in your position.” Mori said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I said feeling a little better.

“So, how was it?” Mori smiled.

“Comforting.” I said. Just then the watch beeped.

“What was that?” Mori asked.

“I have to go.” I said. As I was going back to Drake’s office I ran into Kyle as he came around a corner. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I should have been looking.” Kyle smiled.

“I was going back to Drake’s office. You know, since I’m not supposed to be out of it.” I said.

“How long have you been up?” Kyle asked.

“Not very, why?” I asked.

“Have you had anything to eat?” He asked.

“No, not yet.” I said.

“Well, come on.” He smiled. “Let’s get you some food.”

“But I really need to get back.” I explained.

“Don’t worry. It’s okay if you’re escorted by any officer. And I’ll tell Drake you were with me.” Kyle smiled. I was actually starving, so decided to go with him. In the break room there was a wall of vending machines, a counter with a sink, coffee maker and all the coffee stuff, and a microwave, there was a giant freezer/fridge by the door that was bigger than I am. “We have a wide assortment.”

“I can see.” I looked at the vending machines. There were four. One with drinks, one with chips, one with ice cream and the last one was cookies and candy.

“If you want something more food like we have frozen breakfast burritos in the freezer.” He said. He opened the freezer door, revealing any kind of hand-held, pocket-pack frozen food ever invented.

“That sounds great.” I smiled.

“One breakfast burrito coming up.” He said taking out the frozen box and extracting the last of the frost bitten contents. “They’re kind of old, but they still taste fine.” He said putting it in the microwave. In one minute and thirty seconds the burrito was finished. It tasted fine even though it had been in the freezer for a few months, or at least that’s what Kyle told me.

“It’s good.” I told him.

“That’s good.” He smiled. “Don’t tell Drake you had one though, he says they’re too old to eat.”

“He says a lot of stuff.” I said.

“So, you like Drake?” Kyle asked.

“He’s okay, I guess. Why?” I asked.

“I’m just going to say, you aren’t the only girl to sleep in his office, if you catch my drift.” He said. “But you two would be good together.”

“What?” I asked somewhat offended.

“No, I’m just saying, you are the perfect compliment to him.” He said. “You’re fun, spontaneous, and free spirited. Drake plays by the books more.”

“And doesn’t eat Burritos that have been in the freezer for a few months?” I added. Kyle laughed.

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Just don’t do anything too crazy with him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll just warn you. Drake is a womanizer; everyone in the office knows he is. Some, okay most, of the women who come in here are attracted to his charm and looks and things get serious between them. I just don’t want you to get into something that you can’t handle.” Kyle said.

“Saylor talked to you about me, didn’t he?” I asked.

“A little, but as a friend I felt like I needed to warn you. Not that I think you would do anything, but I don’t know about Drake.” Kyle said. Of course he had to play the ‘friend’ card. So then I felt bad for feeling upset at him.

“Thanks, Kyle. I’m glad you were looking out for me.” I smiled. I wasn’t mad at him anymore, I was mad at Drake.  I went to his office and stormed in. I slammed the door behind me and went to his desk. “Any ideas you might have of sleeping with me better vanish right now or so help me,” I threatened.

“Relax, I don’t want to.” Drake said. “Wait that sounded wrong. I don’t want to sleep with you not because I don’t find you attractive. I actually find you very attractive, you’re a beautiful girl that any guy would want to sleep with, except for me because I don’t want to sleep with you because,” he started trying to make it sound better.

“Just stop talking.” I said impatiently.

“Sorry, I get nervous in confrontations.” He said nervously. “Especially when it’s a beautiful girl like you, because” he started again.

“Drake! Shut up.” I yelled.

“Sorry.” He said. I sat down on the couch as he returned to his work. “Who told you I sleep around?” Drake asked after a few minutes.

“No one said you sleep around. Kyle said you have had a few serious relationships with some of the women that come in here.” I told him. “The fact that you sleep around was only implied, and now you just proved you did because anyone who didn’t sleep around wouldn’t have thought of it.” I added.

“So I’ve been in a few relationships that are totally based on physical things, but I have been in serious relationships also.” Drake tried to defend himself.

“How many?” I asked.

“More than you, I bet.” He said.

“Well duh! Practically everyone has been in more relationships than me.” I said. Drake looked at me inquiringly. “I’ve had one other relationship before JD.”

“One?” Drake asked trying not to laugh. “How can you have had only one other boyfriend?”

“I didn’t date in High School.” I informed him.

“Makes sense, high school boys are weird.” Drake said. “They’re still going through puberty and can only think about sex.”

“Don’t all guys think about sex?” I asked.

“Yes, but adults also think about food, sports and their job.”  He smiled.

“But mostly sex.” I said.

“Yeah, but that’s not the point.” Drake said.

“Then what is it?” I asked.

“Well right now, instead of thinking about sex I’m thinking of all the work I have to do before I go home.” He said.

“So I should leave you alone?” I asked.

“You can ask Agent Carnis if you can talk with Mori or Saylor.” He said, waving me away. I went outside and found Mr. Carnis.

“Hey, Mr. C.” I said.

“Oliver? Did you cut a jumpsuit?” He asked noticing the shorts I had cut.

“Oh, yeah. Was I not supposed to?” I asked. I didn’t know if it was against prison-jumpsuit code to cut it or anything.

“Well, it might be a little distracting to the work environment.” He said as Kyle and Will walked by, checking me out.

“Hello, Mr. Carnis.” They said as they walked by and then stopped and came back. “Hello, Miss. Grousy.” The smiled.

“Hello boys.” Mr. C said.

“Would you like us to take this fine young lady somewhere more comfortable?” Kyle asked.

“Actually, I was going to ask you if I could go talk with Mori or Saylor.” I told Mr. Carnis.

“Well, I have Saylor in my office. We were just going back.” Kyle said.

“We can take Miss. Grousy with us if you would like.” Will said.

“I think you should go back to Drake’s office.” Mr. C told me.

“He sent me out. He has a lot of work to do and he thought it would be more entertaining for me to stay with one of my friends.” I told him.

“We are not here to entertain you, Miss. Grousy.” He said sternly.

“Well, we were going to watch a movie. And what could be more entertaining than hanging out with three friends and watching a movie?” Kyle asked. Mr. Carnis stared at him for a few seconds.

“Fine, you may watch the movie and hang out with the boys.” He sighed. Will and Kyle smiled. “But only until Drake has finished his work and then you will go back.”

“Yes sir.” They said. They grabbed my arm and took me to Kyle’s office.

“Oliver?” Saylor asked a bit surprised to see me when I came in. He then saw what I was wearing. “You look,” He paused to choose his words wisely, “nice.” He smiled. I knew he wanted to say hot, so I felt complimented.

“Thanks.” I said sitting next to him on the floor. “What movie are we watching?”

“Only the best movie ever.” Kyle said. I don’t know what the movie was but it was a total guy film. Lots of fighting, cussing and sex. Take out the last one, and it was a pretty good movie. When the movie was over Kyle called to Drake’s office to see if he was finished with his work; he was. So I went back to his office.

“What did you do to Agent Carnis?” He asked when I got in.

“What are you talking about?” I asked thinking it was something bad.

“He came in and took over half of my work away and said that he would get someone else to do it.” Drake said.

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. He came in and told me to take it easy today because I seemed to be working too much.” He said with a smile.

“Really?” I asked astonished.

“Yeah. Whatever you did or said, I hope you keep doing it because this is sweet having nothing to do.” He smiled.

“So what do we do?” I asked. Drake thought for a second.

“I don’t know. This has never happened to me.” He said. “If Agent Carnis gives us permission to go without him, I can get Will and Kyle to take you and Mori back to your apartment to get your things.” He said. “But only if you want to. If you don’t, I can get some of the guys to go get your stuff.” He added a little uneasily. I hadn’t really thought about going back to the apartment, but then I realized I would have to because that was where my clothes and stuff were.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I said feeling a knot form in my stomach.

“Are you sure you want to? I mean we don’t have to, if you don’t feel like it.” He said sympathetically.

“No, I’m fine.” I said ignoring the knot. I felt it slowly disappearing as we drove back to the apartment. However, it grew even larger when we went back in. They had cleaned the apartment of any sign of what had happened. It was actually cleaner than any time we had lived there.

“You want me to help you get your stuff?” Mori asked.

“Mine and JD’s stuff, please.” I said. Mori smiled and went with me. When I walked into the room I saw the plane tickets JD had bought. “God, I feel so stupid!” I said grabbing the tickets off of the bed.

“What?” Mori asked.

“He bought us tickets to go to Vegas over Christmas break because he wanted to get married this year and I got upset about it and now he’s dead and I can never change my mind about it and trust me, I would get married in a Vegas chapel no matter how cliché it is just if it meant having him back. But now I can’t because he’s gone forever and I was upset that he just wanted to get married.” I said in very few breaths.

“Wow.” Mori said, amazingly able to understand me.

“And now I feel stupid because I was upset about something so trivial.” I said.

“Well, at the time, I’m sure you felt like it was a big deal.” Mori said comfortingly. “Come on, let’s get your stuff.” She opened my closet while I went to JD’s. When I opened the closet I saw a beautiful wedding dress.

“Oh my gosh.” I sighed as I took it out. It was the dress I had always imagined. It was beautiful in its simplicity. It was plain white with a halter top with rhinestones around the waist. It was perfect.

“When did you get that and why didn’t you tell me?” Mori asked angrily.

“Uh, I just got it today and, hey I got a wedding dress that I found in JD’s closet.” I said. Mori’s jaw dropped.

“You mean he’s had that for god knows how long and didn’t even tell you?” She asked. I nodded. “That jerk!”

“I know!” I agreed. “I can’t believe he never gave this to me!” I said angrily.

“It’s gorgeous, though.” Mori pointed out.

“Yeah it is!” I said holding it up to me.

“Rub it in why don’t you.” Mori said.

“What? The fact that my fiancé was killed or the fact that he got me this dress?” I asked. Mori sighed.

“Okay, I’ll give this one to you.” She said.

“Good, let’s finish getting my stuff.” I said. Mori and I had three boxes each for all of the stuff in our rooms. One of mine was all JD’s stuff though. Saylor had one, but that was mostly because he borrowed JD’s stuff all the time. So we loaded the seven boxes in JD’s truck and Drake drove us to his place. Yeah, it was a loft.

“This is freaking awesome!” Mori said when she walked in.

“You live here?” I asked in amazement. It was like a loft from a movie or TV show. Everything was so cool. You know how on TV shows you see stuff and think that would look so cool in my house. That’s how the loft looked.

“Yeah, it’s nothing much.” Drake smiled. “Okay,” He directed us. “I only have two rooms. Mori and Saylor, you can stay in the guest room and Oliver, I’ll let you have my room.” He said pointing upstairs.

“What, where will you sleep?” Saylor asked.

“On the couch.” Drake said.

“No, I’m not going to kick you out of your room.” I said.

“It’s fine.” Drake said.

“I’ll sleep on the couch; you stay in your room.” I told him.

“Why? Are you afraid you’ll find my secret journal that I hide under my pillow?” He smiled. “Oh, dang. I shouldn’t have told you that now you know where my diary is.” He added with a laugh.

“No, I just feel uncomfortable sleeping in another man’s room that I hardly even know after my fiancé, whom I love with all my heart, just died.” I said.

“Good reasons.” Drake smiled. “Do you at least feel comfortable putting your stuff in there? Because, I don’t want it to be just left out here.”

“Okay, I can do that.” I said.

“Good.” He said taking a box and starting upstairs. Mori and I followed carrying a box together, since we weren’t strong enough to carry it by ourselves. Saylor followed us with another box. He took us to his room, which was huge and very busy. We set the boxes down and then moved the rest into Mori and Saylor’s room. And then it was time for dinner. I sat on the floor in Drake’s room looking in my boxes while he sat on the bed. “You want to get something to eat, or do you just want me to make something?” Drake asked me.

“I don’t care. Ask Mori or Saylor.” I said looking through my clothes for something more comfortable, since I was still in the jumpsuit shorts and Drake’s sweatshirt.

“Yes but that would require me to get up and go into their room and probably interrupt something they are doing.” He said. “Besides, you’re the one whose fiancé just died; you should get to choose for comfort food and stuff.”

“Italian.” I said.

“What?” He asked.

“Anything Italian.” I said.

“Pasta girl?” he smiled. “Me too, except I’m not a girl.” He laughed.

“Well, that’s good.” I smiled.

“So, pasta. What about that pasta place?” He asked. I laughed.

“I live in Nowere. We have a hamburger joint, a Mexican place and an Ice Cream parlor.” I said. “When I’m out of Nowere, it’s the Flaming Olive.”

“Right.” Drake laughed. “Well, we have this little Italian restaurant a few blocks away that is really good. I eat there all the time with,” he paused to keep himself from telling too much, “friends.”

“Friends?” I asked. “Like the many Kyle was telling me about?”

“So you want to eat there?” he asked avoiding the question, and obviously did.

“Sure.” I said.

“Okay.” He smiled. “You change, and I’ll make reservations and tell Mori and Saylor.” He said leaving the room.

“Wait, what do I wear?” I asked.

“Something nice.” He said. I wore a plain green spaghetti-strap dress, with my cool green heels. “That looks, very nice.” Drake said. He was wearing black dress pants and a dark blue oxford shirt.

“Uh, you can’t be checking me out.” I told him.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Because I said so.” I said. He laughed.

“Come on.” He smiled.

“What about Mori and Saylor?” I asked.

“They are doing stuff; they’re going to meet us there, or at the Flaming Olive.” Drake said. “So it’s just you and me for now.”  He smiled.  We went in his car, which felt weird after riding in JD’s truck for the past two years. And he had that truck back in high school. We pulled up to a small Italian restaurant that was very fancy compared to the restaurants in Nowere. They had valet parking and everyone wore these fancy red butler suits. It was kind of strange compared to what I was use to, but a good strange.

“This is much nicer than Nowere.” I smiled when we walked in.

“You like it?” Drake smiled. We walked up to the host’s podium.

“Ah, Drake!” The host said with a very heavy Italian accent. “I see you have one of your lady friends tonight.” He winked at me.

“No, Mike.” Drake shook his head. “She’s different. This is my friend, Oliver. She just lost her fiancé, and I’m treating her to dinner.” He introduced me.

“Hi.” I smiled nervously.

“Ah, madam, my deepest sympathies to you.” He said sympathetically. “I will seat you at you’re usual place, Drake, go on in.” he smiled. Drake took my hand and led me to the back of the restaurant that no one else was at.

“You always sit back here?” I asked.

“Yes.” Drake answered pulling out the chair for me to sit down.

“It’s kind of secluded.” I said noticing there were only a few other people around.

“Better for conversation.” Drake smiled.

“So you take all your ‘lady friends’ here?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“You already said you weren’t going to sleep with me.” Drake smiled.

“At least we’re clear on that.” I said. Before Drake could say anything back a waitress walked up.

“Drake, so nice to have you back.” She smiled.

“Yeah,” Drake smiled a little nervously.

“Hi, I’m Molly. You must be the newest one.” She smiled and introduced herself to me. Drake looked down to avoid eye contact with me.

“Uh, no.” I said fairly annoyed. “I’m Oliver, my fiancé just passed and Drake kindly offered to take me to dinner.”

“Bummer,” Molly said. “He’s a good one.” She smiled and walked off.  Drake quickly put his menu in front of his face so I couldn’t look at him.

“How many women have you brought here?” I asked annoyed.

“A few.” Drake said timidly. “Enough.”

“Enough to make everyone here think I’m sleeping with you?” I asked angrily. Just as Saylor and Mori walked up.

“Hey, guys.” Saylor said noticing the awkwardness at the table.

“Oh, thank God you are here.” Drake sighed. However, when they sat down, they made me move next to Drake.

“Have you ordered anything?” Mori asked.

“Not yet, but we have such a lovely waitress, Molly. She’s so friendly; she just introduced herself to me and gave me a bit of interesting information.” I said glaring at Drake.

“Interesting? Like what?” Saylor asked. I knew Kyle had already told him, but he was trying to make it more uncomfortable for Drake.

“Why do you care?” Drake asked quietly to Saylor.

“Because, if you even think about trying anything with Oliver, I will personally kill you.” Saylor answered back threateningly.

“So, I’m starving!” Mori said changing the subject. “When is the wonderful Molly coming back to take our orders?” Drake shrugged his shoulders and a few seconds later, Molly came back.

 “Oh, there are more of you.” Molly said as she came back, startled to see two more people at the table. “Do I need to get you menus?”

“No we looked at theirs.” Saylor answered.

“Oh, okay. What would you like?” She asked pulling out a little note pad to take the orders. We all ordered the meal and Drake ordered wine.

“Wine?” Saylor laughed. “Do you even know how smashed I’m going to get you at the club?” he asked Drake.

“I don’t think so.” Drake said. (Just a note, he got totally smashed by the end of that night.) Our food came out and we ate and enjoyed ourselves in light of the previous annoyance of Drake and his ‘lady friends.’

“Come on,” Mori said after she finished. “We have to be there in an hour.”

“You do remember you’re not in Nowere, right?” Drake laughed. “It takes like fifteen minutes to get there.”

“Hey, forty-five minute early? That would be a record.” Saylor laughed.

“JD was the only one who cared about the records.” I said with a laugh and then suddenly felt like someone had punched me in the chest. My heart felt heavy and started to sink into my stomach.

“Oliver, I’m sorry.” Saylor quickly said noticing my attitude change. I forced myself through it and told myself I wouldn’t be upset.

“I’m fine.” I smiled weakly.

“Come on.” He smiled. “A trip to the Flaming Olive will help you.” He said. Drake got the ticket while Saylor, Mori and I went on. We called Akima and Tyler on the way over, but with us having JD’s car they had no ride; so Drake had to go pick them up. When we got to the club everything was black. Not like the lights were out and stuff, but everyone was wearing black and the room was covered in anything black.

“Sirius, what’s with the black?” Mori asked when we found him. He pushed past her and came strait to me.

“Oh my gosh, Oliver! I am so upset you have NO idea!” he said dramatically. “How are you dealing with everything? If you ever need someone, I’m here for you girlfriend. Whatever you wan just say it. I feel so bad for you, it’s just terrible.” He said.

“I’m fine right now; I’m trying not to think about it.” I said.

“Oh,” he sighed. “Do you want me to take all the black down?” He asked a little nervously as he started to turn on his headset.

“No, the black is fine. Honestly, I’m not going to let it get to me. But I’m glad to see it has affected more than just me.” I smiled.

“Are you kidding? When we heard, we all cried,” He said almost remembering when he heard, “even the straight guys.” He whispered with a smile.

“Thanks.” I smiled.

“On another note, you look gorgeous!” He said eyeing my dress. “Is that new?”

“No, I just haven’t worn it for a long time. It was in the back of my closet.” I said.

“Well, it’s just absolutely wonderful.” He said just as someone called him on his headset. He held up a finger for us to wait right there.

“That dress really is old.” Mori said. “I forgot you had it.”

“Didn’t I get you that?” Saylor asked.

“No, I bought it with your credit card.” I smiled.

“WHAT!” Sirius yelled into his headset. “They are SO fired!” Then he quickly turned to us. “Do you feel up to playing tonight? The other band canceled.”

“Sure.” I said quickly. Saylor and Mori looked at me. “I already told you, I’m not going to get upset about everything.” I said.

“We’ll play when Akima and Tyler get here.” Mori said.

“You are lifesavers!” Sirius said happily then turned and flitted off. We went up to our regular table; one of the chairs had been removed. I could feel my stomach trying to turn itself into knots, but I wouldn’t let it. The bartender gave us all free drinks. And I drank…and drank and drank. None of the really strong stuff, but I did have enough to get things off my mind. By the time Drake, Akima and Tyler showed up; we had had a few too many drinks.

“Are you drunk?” Akima asked us. Saylor laughed.

“You expected different?” He laughed. Drake sat down between me and Saylor and was handed a bottle. Before we had started the show, Drake and Saylor had drunk about fifty alcoholic drinks combined. Mori, Akima and I had about thirty; and Tyler had soda. Then we actually had to do a show, half drunk… Let me say it was quite interesting. At the end of our show Sirius was chasing a man who had come backstage.

“NO! You can’t do this to me! You can’t take them!” Sirius yelled as the man approached us.

“Hello.” The man smiled warmly. “I represent Black Rater Albums. And I have to say you had a wonderful show.”

“Thank you, sir.” Saylor said.

“I was wondering if you were considering going national.” The man asked. Saylor’s eyes widened, Mori’s jaw dropped and Akima smiled from ear to ear.

“You want us to go national?” Tyler asked very stunned.

“Well, you are very good and my company was wondering if you wanted to sign with us. I know it’s very soon after your loss, but that will only promote you more. Tragic life stories are big in Hollywood.” The man smiled.

“So you’re planning on selling us based on JD’s murder and not our talent?” I asked somewhat angrily.

“No, ma’am, I’m just saying as soon as the big time Hollywood people hear about some little band from Nowere that has a tragic story, News reporters will be all over you. And then everyone will hear your music and think you’re really good and albums will sell.” The man smiled.

“We’ll have to get back to you on that.” Mori said.

“What?” Saylor asked. He pulled us all aside. “Are you crazy? This is a once in a lifetime chance.”

“If we’re really as good as he says, another company will sign us later.” I said.

“Yeah, but this guy is from Black Rater! When are we ever going to get a chance to sign with the biggest label company in the nation? If we pass them up, we’ll never go big.” Saylor said. “I vote we take the offer.”

“Yeah, when everyone hears we refused Black Rater, people might get the wrong idea about us and we don’t need bad publicity.” Tyler said.

“Yeah but I don’t want publicity based on JD’s murder.” I said.

“Come on, Oliver. You know JD would want you to do this.” Saylor said. “It’s your dream to sign with Black Rater Albums.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “Because, this is our thing. I can’t take it away from you.”

“Excuse me, sir.” Saylor said. “We have agreed to sign with Black Rater Albums.”

“Excellent.” He smiled. “Here is my card; we will call you in a few days.”

“What!” Sirius exclaimed pretending to swoon from faintness.

“Come on, Sirius. It’s our dream.” Saylor said.

“But I thought we would be together forever.” Sirius pouted.

“Okay,” Saylor smiled and turned to the man. “We will accept, as long a Sirius can be our manager and we play out of The Flaming Olive.”

“Deal.” The man smiled he handed Sirius a card and walked back out to the club.

“Manager,” Sirius asked tearfully. “You want me to be manager? I feel so honored.” He said happily.

“Together forever, Sirius.” I smiled.

“I knew there was a reason I love you guys.” He smiled. “Everything is on the house tonight!” We went back to our table where Drake was waiting.

“What took so long?” he asked when we got back.

“We met a man from Black Rater Albums, and they want to sign us.” Saylor said happily.

“What? That’s awesome! Black Rater really?” Drake asked excitedly as Saylor ordered drinks to celebrate. We all drank for about another hour and then decided to go home, because Drake had to take Akima and Tyler back to Nowere. I rode with Drake so that he wouldn’t be alone, but also because I didn’t want to be alone in Drake’s apartment when Mori and Saylor were celebrating.

“So why did they want to sign you now? You have been playing for like three years.” Drake asked on the way to his loft.

“Because tragedy sells in Hollywood. And with the loss of our sound guy,” I started but trailed off.

“I’m sorry.” Drake said.

“For what?” I asked.

“Because they’re exploiting you through the murder of your fiancé. Your life will be Holywood-ized.  Everyone will be in your business and you won’t walk down the street without everyone yelling at you.” He said.

“Yeah, I guess.” I said.

“Hey, but it will be so great. Everyone wants to be famous.” Drake smiled. We got home without talking much more. I decided to write in my journal before I went to bed.