(Very)Long Chapter
Jamie's POV
"Is it your birthday?"
"Hmm?" I groggily hum, lifting my tangled red head up. Bright, colorful- near neon- plastic tubing offends my tired eyes. My joints stiff up from sleeping in odd angles in the tight space. Under me, Riley cushions my body from the plastic sky tube. A little boy curiously watches us, a rush of hustle and bustle loudly filling the venue.
We didn't... no, how could we spend the night here?
"What?" Riley rouses, stirring under me. He glares at our surroundings through half lidded eyes. Taking in the rowdy noise of hyper children, Riley deducts that we've unintentionally stowed away here till morning, and lets out an annoyed groan, running his hands over his face.
"Is it your birthday?" The child repeats, "Is that why they let you have a sleepover here?"
"What's today?" Riley sighs, not at all bothered by waking up here.
"November 17."
"Yeah," Riley groans, sitting up and bumping his dark ahead against the plastic tubing with a thud. "Ugh, fuck, yeah it is." Running off to tell his mother Riley cussed, the kid hastily crawls away into the tunnels.
"Wait, is it really your birthday, Riley?" I ask, rocking on his lap as he shifts around like a restless cat.
"Yeah." He grumbles, sorely rubbing his cranium.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not a big deal." He shrugs indifferently.
"It's your birthday-" I start.
"It's too early for this." Riley cuts me off, waving around at the little kids excitedly screaming as they play around us. "It's not the weirdest place I've woken up on my birthday, but the most irritating. I can't hear myself internally scream with all these rugrats. Lets leave. Quickly." Nudging me, Riley hurriedly tries to escape the sky tubes behind me, right on my heels the whole time.
"You know, this view of your ass is making my birthday pretty decent."
------
Ignoring the ache in my wrists, I carry on whisking as fast as I can mange. This is my seventh bowl I'm stirring. Meanwhile, I have three different cakes baking in my too tiny oven- it's like using an easy bake. Tubes of frosting and dozens of cake toppers litter the small space on my counters, not leaving much room left for the many mixing bowls of batter.
Absent from my apartment, Riley dropped me off home, and went off mumbling something about that mysterious Nate of his.
Having no clue how long he'll be, I whisk a bit faster.
------
Riley's POV
My scabbed knuckles loudly knock against the apartment door, each clack furthering my anger. I've been out here knocking on Nate's door for about twenty minutes now like an idiot. I know this asshole is home. Nate doesn't go into sunlight. Like a bum, he usually sleeps off a hangover and whatever drugs he took the night before till evening.
"Shut the fuck up!" The door shakes in its frame as something bangs against it on the other side. The door nearly comes off its hinges as it violently swings open like the gates of hell. Stark naked, nostrils flared, light colored eyes bugging, Nate fills up the doorway like a nasty monster from mythology.
"Riley," he seethes "mate," the corners of his mouth twitch upward into a sadistic smirk.
"Don't mate me." I growl, "you don't leave 'mates' " I spit the word out like it's something foul in my mouth, "to die like a dog."
"Die? That's a bit melodramatic. You're standing right here in front of me. Not dead in a ditch." Nate waves off. "Though, you don't look so hot, mate." Nate chuckles, prodding my yellowing black eyes.
"Don't!" I growl, dodging his dirty hands. I knows where those fingers been. There must be a different STD on each finger, and a different blood type on each knuckle.
"Riley, Riley, Riley," Nate starts, walking off into his trashed apartment, giving me a horrendous view of his chaps. Lingering in the doorway, I force my eyes to glare at a spot on the wall so I don't see every tattoo on Nate's ink covered body. He makes me sick. "It was business. Just trying to make a livin'. Didn't know those pricks had a meaner bite than a bark."
"I thought you were right behind me. Honestly." Nate holds up his arms in surrender, but he madly eyes me like I'm a piece of meat he'll sink his fangs into.
"Fuc-" I start, only to get cut off by a muscular arm trapping me into a headlock. Throat closing up, each short breath I fight to take burns. My windpipe feels like it's being crushed under a collapsed building. My fingers desperately try to pry Nate's arm off, the nails scratching at the ink.
"Riley, mate," I can barely catch Nate's words over the panic pounding of my heart ramming against my ear drums. "I'll make it up to you. See, I got a birthday bash all ready to go for you. You know what? I'll even give you paid leave! Yeah, why the fuck not?! A week without jobs, and I'll still pay you half since it's your birthday!"
"Shhh... shhh..." Nate hushes my coughing fit. Seeing red, I jab my elbow as hard I can mange into Nate's side. As if Nate feels pain at all, his grip loosens just enough for me to rip away from his frenzy. Each gasp of air feeling like God's gift.
"Haha, now there's that fighting spirit!" Nate lets out a booming laugh. "But if you so much as pinch me again, Riley, I will bash your fucking teeth in." Nate's laughter dies out as his knuckles crash into the side my head so suddenly and so hard, I feel pain ache through every muscle in my body. The ground worsens the pain as I collide into it, every cut, bruise, scrape, bump, and gash feeling searing pain. It's like getting hit in the face with a damn brick.
"Everyone will be at the warehouse. Even the goddess herself will make an appearance." Nate laughs like the mad hatter. "See you tonight, Wiley Riley." Nate chuckles, smacking my cheek too hard for it to be a playful pat, then locking me out.
------
Fuck Nate. Fuck this. Fuck life. Fuck, I have to fix this damn doorknob. Covered in freshly formed bruises, I limp to a stop outside of Jamie's broken door.
I need to fix this fucking stupid doorknob.
"Fuck." I harshly whisper under my breath, I push the door open.
"Fuck!" At first I think I have to fix every light bulb in the apartment, only to realize the dark apartment isn't lit by flashlights, but dozens of birthday candles. Tons of cakes take up every space of available flat surface in the apartment. Sheet cakes, round cakes, big cakes, small cakes, over decorated cakes, simple cakes surround me like a bakery exploded in here. Hundreds of skinny birthday candles brighten the room with the magnitude of a roaring fire.
"Happy birthday." Jamie's small voice cuts through the silence. Illuminated by the warm dim of the birthday candles, she sheepishly hovers by the kitchen, disheveled. Covered in flour, colored by bright frosting, with sprinkles sticking to her red bun, she nervously grins at me. Even looking like she got mugged by the muffin man, Jamie looks drop dead gorgeous.
"I didn't know what cake was your favorite, so I just baked every cake I could think of." She explains.
"You did what?" A rush of frigid cold seeps through me at Jamie's words, leaving me sore and aching. Jamie overexerted herself because I couldn't even tell such a small thing about myself? I'm such an asshole. Who the hell do I think I am to go out my way to be such a dick to Jamie? My insides sting as I watch every birthday candle flicker, taking in every once of effort this must have demanded.
"That's carrot, that one is strawberry shortcake, this one is cheesecake, this one is marble, that one is Victoria sponge, that one-" Jamie is cut off as I cross the small room in four big strides, and cup Jamie's flirty face. The flour sticking to her freckled face feels scratchy against my hands. Looking up at me, I can see the warm candle light glowing in Jamie's green orbs.
"Why? Why did you do all this?" I plead for a good reason. I need an explanation, not a cheap, sappy one, but one so fucking good it answers all of life's questions.
"Today is special, if today hadn't happened then I wouldn't have you in my life at all. And I can't imagine my life the same without you, Riley." Jamie's explanation warms me, warms my skin like sun bathing, warms my heart like I drank something pipping hot, warms my soul. With a need to be close, my forehead gingerly falls against hers. My thumbs rub lazy circles into her dirty cheeks, making her sticky hands come up to grasp the rough hands cupping her freckled face. Life not the same without me of all scumbags of the world? I matter to someone. I matter to her. For the first time in twenty two years, I actually like my birthday.
Being this close to her I can see the adoring spark in her green eyes, a spark that's vividly bright and spectacular to look at. Jamie's red head bops as she rises on her tippy toes, the tip of her nose leaving a dusty trail of flour across my freshly bruised cheek. My head lowers.
And my phone rings.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" The moment ruined, wasted and gone, I yank my phone out my back pocket. I feel a rush of hot air across my cheeks as Jamie lets out a heavy sigh.
"Riley! Mate!" Maybe it was Nate's booming voice, or the killed mood, but Jamie steps away till her back hits the wall. "Where the fuck are you, you fucking fuck?!"
"Busy." I grunt into the phone.
"Get your ass down here, birthday bitch!" Nate orders. "Or I'll cut you off!"
"What was that about?" Jamie asks.
"Some asshole threw me a bash, but I rather get punched in the head than go. Unfortunately, I have to stop by." I answer, having an urge to take a Tylenol at the thought of Nate.
"Can I come?"
"What?" Jaw dropping at Jamie's request, I feel my stomach lurch up. Jamie and Nate in the same room sounds like a nightmare.
"I'd like to meet your friends." She shrugs.
"You'd hate my friends." I fire.
"It's your birthday, I want to spend it with you." Jamie insists, her voice filled with nerves.
"Trust me, you wouldn't have fun, Jamie."
"Maybe I would. I just want to be with you on your-"
"You'd hate every minute there." I interrupt her. In the dim lighting I can see the light die in her eyes, and her freckled face slack.
"It's your birthday. You get to celebrate whatever way you like." Jamie tries to force a smile, but fails. Something in me feels like it dies at Jamie's act. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Let me blow out as these candles so it won't burn the apartment down while we're gone." I give in.
------
Loud music makes my heart race. The crowd of cheering people dancing around us causes goosebumps to rise across my skin. The wildness surges through me like fire. The colorful flashing lights make me feel like I'm surrounded by falling stars and comets.
This rave is fucking incredible. Everything outside this warehouse doesn't matter. The cold can't affect the heat coming off the dancing bodies, noise can't be heard over this blaring music, pain can't conquer with this much carelessness. Right here, right now, we're untouchable, we're high, we're mighty.
Flour free from a quick shower, Jamie keeps bumping into my side as we wonder through the mob, trying her best to avoid physical contact with the wild party goers. She's wearing a cute top that I didn't know she had, a nude color one that exposes her freckled shoulders, and shows off curves I didn't know she had.
"Riley!" My mood immediately sours at an Australian accent.
"Stay here!" I shout over the music to Jamie, taking off into the crowd before she has a chance to ask questions. I catch a sight of Jamie's red hair as she stands alone and unmovingly, staring after me as I disappear into the sea of people.
"Mate!" I force myself not to cringe at the one booming voice that somehow manages to be louder than the music. Nate slaps both of my cheeks as he cups them with a white knuckle grip.
"You came, you fucker!" Nate screams into my face. Barely managing a curt nod, I force myself to stand just a bit taller. "Happy fucking birthday, you fuck stick!" Nate clutches my bruised face so tight he'll most likely leave fresh bruises. I don't have to be this close to smell the powerful stank of alcohol reeking off Nate. If he didn't develop such a strong tolerance he'd be incapacitated somewhere on the ground. His pupils are so dilated there's more black than green.
I hate him. Just the sight of him ruins my birthday, ruins my week, ruins my damn life. He's the personification of everything that makes this world awful.
"Have a drink! You have to have twenty two shoots before the hour is up!" He orders, forcing a dirty shoot glass hard against my split lips. Pulling by head back by a fist full of hair, Nate forces me to down the hard liquid.
"I'm gonna get two more!" I lie, breaking away from him. I couldn't get back to Jamie fast enough. She cracks a smile up at me, but I can hardly see it through the dim lighting.
"I told you, you wouldn't have any fun!"
"I am! I am!" She tries to convince me by moving her hips to the music. It wasn't a strip tease, nor was it a ballet, but it was enticing to look at. Suddenly, movement in the corner of my eyes catches my attention.
Then I saw HER. My heart breaks out into a wild mess in my chest at the gorgeous sight of her. There, in the heart of the dance floor, she dances like there's nobody else in the building, though everyone near her watches on in awe. Under the colorful lights she looks so god damn radiant. Wild, free, extraordinary, as if she's lightening in the night sky, and the rest of us are just looking up at the sheer magnitude of lightening.
"Robin actually showed up." Nate's loud voice pulls me back like someone jolting me awake from the best dream of my life. "Slick one that one. Always comes and goes as she pleases." Nate hungrily licks his lips as he eyes Robin. My hands curl at my sides, shaking with the need for impact.
"And who is this fox?" Nate bites his teeth in Jamie's direction, like she's his next prey. Jamie stares me down with a hard look, like she's looking at me for the first time in her life.
"Ayy, babe!" Nate demands Jamie's attention in a loud roar that goes with his trade mark smirk. My heart suddenly stops beating, coming to a dead halt in my chest. I never wanted Nate to even look at Jamie. With such a mob, I didn't think they would even be on the same side of the room together. But, Nate is looking at Jamie like he's going to destroy her.
"That's not my name." Jamie simply states, and goes off into the crowd. Nate's head nearly snaps as he follows her red hair through the crowd. Jamie hadn't pissed him off, no, she did something much worse. She denied him. Jamie challenged Nate.
"Oui, who was that fire crotch? One of yours?" Nate ignorantly labels her, objectifying her so much he's not referring to Jamie; the independent, capable, level headed girl who cares, but dehumanizes her. My nostrils flare as an ugly sound comes out of my mouth.
"Seen every inch of that ginger bod, yet?" Nate wolfishly grins, and I have to fight the urge knock every single tooth out of that grins.
"... I actually haven't seen her naked yet." I grudgingly admit, with a nasty taste in my mouth, I stuff both fists into my sweatshirt so I don't hit him. I feel so shitty. I don't want to talk about Jamie like this, especially to Nate of all people. With a nasty looking smirk, Nate lets out an ear ringing booming laugh.
"Of course you haven't, you wanker!" He madly howls, bending over to laugh. "That one," He points in Jamie's direction, "that one has a dangerous look in her eyes, mate."
"What fucking look?" I growl with hunched shoulders. Nate holds up his arms to beckon at the rav like it's obvious.
"The look. She sees the point in things." He smirks. For the first time since I meet Nate, he actually kind of makes a bit of sense. Glancing at all the strung out people, high off god knows what Nate sold them, I can now see the emptiness in their dilated eyes staring up at the bright lights searching for meaning.
"I'm going to go piss." I lie, heading in the direction Jamie went off in.
"Luck with that, pencil dick!" Nate hollers, easily swallowing a mysterious pill without liquid. Trying to get away from the maniac as fast as possible, I push through the crowd. Something tugging at the back of my heart makes my feet stop, and I take one last good look at her, Robin. Ignoring every bad thing in the world, Robin dances likes she's high off life. She probably is high.
Swallowing thickly, I force my feet to move.
"Hey," the night air feels like ice against my skin. Balancing on the edge of the curb, Jamie studies the empty street. "Jamie." Saying her name makes me breathe a bit easier.
"It's quiet out here." She yawns, rubbing her green eyes.
"I knew you wouldn't have fun." I grumble. A taxi lazily crawls down the street, the yellow paint job a bright contrast against the black and blue of the city life. Jamie waves it over, nearly bumping into a fire hydrant in her effort.
"You're going home?"
"Yeah, I'm tired. This isn't really my cup of tea." She nods with a sigh.
"Alright, lets go." I hold the door open for her.
"You're not coming." Jamie, hovers behind the yellow door, looking up at me with a knowing look. "It's your birthday party. Stay. Dance with pretty girls. Drink. Have fun." She places her hand on my chest as if she's about to push me away.
"But what about you?"
"I'm going straight to bed. So stay. You'll have much more fun here. You know it. I know it. Nate knows it. Have a blast." Jamie insists. Through the darkness, I can easily see that look on her face. The same look she gave me just minutes ago. Like she's looking at someone she's never known, and trying to get know a stranger.
"Get this girl home safely." Deciding to let Jamie be, I shove a fifty into the driver's window, giving him a warning look. The driver nods in understanding. He better treat her like she's Cinderella, and this is her fucking carriage.
"Happy birthday, Riley." Is the last thing Jamie says to me, before driving off into the darkness.
PSA: I don't want anyone to start hating Robin just because she's a female character that maybe threatens Jamie's and Riley's dynamic.
She's a different kind of woman than Jamie, and that's ok. She's not a slut,
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