User blog:SodaCat/Style Chapter 6

Well, in a burst of inspiration for Style, I ended up writing two chapters in one day. Enjoy ; u ;

Bullworth Nights - Style: Chapter 6: Fireworks

Next chapter: To be released!

“Watch your smoke, Lexi.”

Alexis batted Ricky’s hand away sloppily as he reached over to straighten the cigarette that was currently drooping from her lips, irritated. She wasn’t twelve years old, she knew how to keep from setting a house on fire while smoking.

He pulled his hand back instantly, giving her a hesitant look, reminding her vaguely of a kicked puppy.

“I’m fine, Ricky,” she replied drowsily, regretting slapping his hand away.

She turned her head to look at the dirty, stained, deteriorating walls of his room in the tenements. Finally, after spending the first half of the semester locked up in the academy, they’d finally opened up the gates on Sunday.

Being so, Ricky and Alexis had decided to take the week off from classes. They’d met up on Monday right before first period by the gates and had jumped onto Ricky’s BMX and sped away to New Coventry, stopping only to get some cigarettes, bags of chips, and a couple beers from the Yum Yum Market.

Hell, they needed a break. They were both dealing with serious heartache.

Yeah, a four day long break?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">They sat together on the old mattress Ricky slept on whenever he spent nights at the tenements, Ricky sitting with his back against the wall, Alexis laying down with her head in his lap, blowing her smoke away from his face. Around them, crushed cans of Logger beers littered the floor.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“So that bitch jus’ ended things ‘cause she thought you spent too much time with Rusty?” Alexis clarified, her voice slurring as she referenced Ricky’s beloved BMX. That thing was ancient as hell and twice as rusty, hence the name, yet he still worshipped it above any other bike.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Ricky nodded, coughing as he blew out his smoke but instead taking an even profounder draw from his cigarette. “I was just new to the whole ‘relationship’ thing, ya know? I jus’ wish she would’a given me a second chance. Could’a ridden off into the sunset, two of us.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis hiccupped as she nodded, just a little, tiny bit drunk, probably. “Y’know what, Ricky?” she challenged, her voice grave yet still slurred, “Love is for suckers. Fuck your ex girl, and y’know what?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Ricky looked down into her emerald eyes, which were clouded over, she was so drunk. “What?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Fuck Johnny Vincent,” she snorted, emphasizing clumsily on Johnny’s name and taking a long sip from her Logger before then chucking the can to the other side of the room where it landed with a dull clunk.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He nodded, despite the fact that she was insulting the boss. But then again, Alexis had told him what had happened. What Johnny’d done was pretty rotten, not even mentioning Lola to her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Whew, you can barely see anythin’ through this cloud of smoke!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Ricky and Alexis looked up at the sound of Peanut’s voice by the door. Peanut strolled in, kicking aside various empty beer cans and waving his hands to try and flutter away the smoke cloud that had engulfed him from the moment he’d stepped inside. He looked over to the mattress and saw Ricky and Alexis, both clearly wasted and drunk off their minds.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Ricky, aren’t you supposed to be doin’ somethin’?” Peanut confronted, raising an eyebrow at Ricky. He was supposed to be out keeping an eye on that Gord kid for Johnny today, not smoking, and drinking, and cutting class with Alexis. There was no way he was up for any eye-keeping in his current state.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nah,” Ricky replied, taking another draw from his cancer stick and smiling down warmly at Alexis, “me and Lexi got it made right now.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Peanut sighed, making his way over to Ricky and helping him up, minding Alexis. He took the cigarette from Ricky’s hand and stomped it out, ignoring the ashes that spread out on the already dirty wood floor.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">They’d get around to cleaning it, someday.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Come on man, get up,” he commanded, steadying Ricky and walking him over to the door. “Go find Lucky, okay? He’s gonna get you cleaned up.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He walked Ricky across the hall to make sure he didn’t fall down the giant gaping hole in the floor, and then returned to Ricky’s room to find Alexis laying down and still smoking.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Alex, get up, someone’s here to see you.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He strode over to her and picked her cigarette right out of her fingers, stomping it out just like he did Ricky’s.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What’s your stinkin’ problem?!” Alexis hollered, sitting up swiftly and then holding her head to try to calm the spins. Being drunk was real hard, sometimes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Somebody’s here to see you,” Peanut countered, grabbing her arm and forcing her up. He regret it as soon as he saw her wince in pain, but she really needed to get her shit together. He wasn’t about to let her drink and smoke her way to Hell just because she was hurting.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis snatched her arm back, scrambling for the cigarette box that sat on the mattress. He was too fast for her, however, and Peanut had it in his hand and out of her reach in a flash.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“This thing’s almost empty!” he reprimanded, wagging the box in front of her face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She tried to wave his hand away, but missed by a couple of inches. She wished he’d just stay still for a second, all this motion and moving around was getting puzzling.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I just…” Alexis panted, weirdly out of breath, “I just need o-one…”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She set her hand on Peanut’s shoulder, trying to stop the room from spinning. If only she could just lie down again… or have another roll-up.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sighing, Peanut reached into the box and took out a single cigarette. “I’ll give you this if you’ll talk to him,” he proposed, holding the stick between his index and middle fingers.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis nodded, rubbing at her forehead, trying to keep it from hurting so bad. Maybe she’d just gotten a little too drunk. “I’ll talk to whoever it is, Larry, just gimme my cigarette!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He eyed her for a moment, hoping that giving her another smoke was worth having her talk to him. “Alright Alex, here,”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Peanut handed her the cigarette just as heavy footsteps approached from outside of the room, and after only a few brief instants, Johnny stood in the doorway. Peanut looked at Alexis for a second longer, taking her hand off his shoulder and pressing a kiss against her palm, hoping to god this would work. He gave a curt nod to Johnny and disappeared out of the room.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Aw, shit,” Alexis moaned, turning around and slumping back onto Ricky’s bed as soon as she saw Johnny.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He paid no mind to her obvious displeasure and stepped inside anyway, dragging a crate over by the mattress as he made his way over to her. “Damn, Lex, you put Lefty to shame sometimes.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She rolled her eyes and looked away, pulling a lighter from Ricky’s leather jacket’s pocket and flicking it on in an instant. She cupped her hand around the minute flame as she lit the cigarette tipping out of her lips, glaring at the window behind him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Whattaya want?” she murmured, still not looking at him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif""> Johnny set his hands on his knees, taking in a breath. Peanut had warned him that Lex was a mess, but he didn’t expect this. Here she sat, wearing Ricky’s leather jacket, looking like she hadn’t gotten a real shower since last week. Her school blouse was unbuttoned, and he could see her black bra underneath, as well as what looked like cuts all over her torso. Instead of shorts or a skirt, she simply sat there in a pair of black panties, and her long legs were smudged with ash stains from the cigarettes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">God, she was a mess.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I didn’t see you in Chemistry on Monday,” Johnny responded, trying to keep from breaking down. Maybe he was still a little pissed at her for ditching him, and maybe he did think it was stupid for her to act like this just because she was upset at him for whatever reason, but still, seeing her like this didn’t make him none too cheery. He’d never seen her eyes so dead. It weighed down on him like nothing ever had before.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis shrugged, taking a drag from her cigarette and exhaling it out towards the ceiling, watching as the threads of smoke swayed with each other before diminishing into the air around them. She couldn’t believe some people thought that shit was ‘beautiful’. It was so stupid. Everything was so stupid.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I had better things to do,” she whispered finally, her voice hoarse.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You mean hole up in the tenements with Ricky and get wasted?” Johnny snapped, angry.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She looked at him, an odd, crazed smile gracing her lips. “Yes!” she replied, her voice caked in false optimism, as if he were no more than a nonsensical child.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He rolled his eyes, exasperated with her. What the hell was her problem?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Do you even know what day it is, Lex?” he challenged, narrowing his eyes at her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis searched his eyes for a moment, struggling for an answer. What a jerk. How the hell was she supposed to know what day it was?! It wasn’t like this shit was common knowledge. What did the day of the week matter anyway?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Days were for chumps. Chumps like Johnny Vincent.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“’S Monday,” she answered automatically. She and Ricky had left campus Monday, right?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Johnny stood in a flash, kicking the crate he’d been sitting on over onto its side and halfway across the room. God damn her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No, Alexis. It ain’t Monday. It’s Thursday. It’s five o’ clock on fuckin’ Thursday, and you’re still here smoking and drinking like it’s no big deal.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He whipped around to face her, breathing heavily and hating her, no, despising her with all his might. Who the hell did she think she was, just letting herself go off and start destroying herself right in front of him? Nobody was allowed to hurt her, not even herself. He didn’t care what she thought. Nobody hurt Johnny Vincent’s friends, especially not his best friends.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Why don’t you just tell me what your real problem is?” he hissed, leaning in real close to her, expecting her to recoil. Instead, she stretched her neck out so that they were glaring at each other eye-to-eye, mirroring the venom in his eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You wanna know my real problem, Vincent?” she snarled, standing, though their close-up glaring contest remained steady.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He nodded slowly, searching her green eyes for any sort of sign.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“My problem,” Alexis began slowly, eyes scanning over his face, “is that I adore you. But y’know what else? I can’t fucking stand you. Y’know how confusing that is? I want to be close to you all the time and I want the best for you, but right now I’m also fighting the urge to claw your damn eyes out.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Johnny sucked in a breath, unsure. Adore? So that was what this was about? She had a problem with Lola?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">No. She wasn’t allowed to have a problem with Lola—she was supposed to be one of his best friends, she couldn’t have a problem with the girl he loved! She was just being… stupid, that’s what. She was just overthinking that stupid kiss in 9th grade—so what if they’d stayed up all night talking that night, and so what if he thought he was in love with her and she thought she loved him and so what if all he’d wanted that night was her and—

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">But no, she wasn’t allowed to keep hanging onto that and ruin things for him. Things had finally stopped being confusing and terrible when he and Lola had started going out. Alexis wasn’t allowed to just… just ruin it!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“That’s it, huh? You just love me now, huh? Why? Cause I kissed you when I was fifteen?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He watched her face for any sort of reaction, but she stayed the same—angry, fuming. Johnny suddenly felt a very strong urge to hurt her, just like she’d hurt him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah, well, that was the biggest mistake of my life. ‘Cause now, I’m just stuck with you, aren’t I?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Alexis’ eyes widened for a moment, filling up with tears. She stared at him for a moment before taking a deep, deep inhalation from her cigarette, and let her eyes scan over his face and down his body.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Ya ain’t worth the dirt on your shoes, kiddo,” she sneered, blowing all the smoke in her mouth out onto his face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Johnny shut his eyes, clenching his jaw for a moment as he waved the smoke away from his face. He opened his eyes slowly, watching her intently, before placing his hands on her shoulders and shoving her back, lightly enough so that she didn’t fall, but enough to shake her up a little.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She stared up at him, overcome with terror. She shouldn’t have said that. She’d just been trying to push his buttons, but that’d been too far. That was what his mother had said the day she left. Alexis knew better than to use that in a fight.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He looked at her in shock, unsure of what he’d just done. Yeah, what she said had hurt, but that wasn’t any reason to hurt her. She was so little… how could he have just done that?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Johnny watched with child-like mystification as Alexis’ eyes welled up with tears, and suddenly they were streaming down her dirty face with no signs of stopping.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He stepped back, unsure of what to do. There wasn’t any fixing this. Johnny turned on his heel and began walking out of the room.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yeah, that’s right,” Alexis screeched through drunken sobs from behind him, “just run off! Just leave me here alone, that’s your go-to thing to do, huh?! Just blame everybody else ‘cause you’re hurtin’ and that’s all that matters right?! Go! I won’t miss you! I’ll never miss you!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He pushed past Larry, who’d been standing by Ricky’s room just long enough to hear the end of the conversation, as he made his way out of the tenements.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Peanut watched in shock as Johnny stomped on down the stairs, and before long he heard the familiar slam of the front door. Snapping back into the present, he rushed into Ricky’s room only to find Alexis curled up in the mattress, sobbing. She’d crushed her cigarette in her hand, and the smell of burning flesh was quickly filling up the room. He slapped the cigarette out of her hand and pulled her into his lap, rocking her gently in futile attempts to calm her down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Well, that’s what happens when you set fireworks off too soon. Someone usually gets burned!

Next chapter: To be released!