shalalala

“Davey.” More stern now, fingers popping the button into the safety, “Lenore … she and Zach are out of town. Their apartment, uptown. He won’t know. There’s security. Doormen … cameras. Fancy locks.” Was he even listening? Teeth found her lower lip, pillowed themselves there, “Fuckboy.”

“What yea, I hear you. Maybe? He could probably track us there. He might hurt you. We need to go,” he said frantically unsure if he had already said all of that. “We don’t have time for that Rue.”

Slowly she reached her hands over his, keeping her touch light. “Breathe …” She wasn’t sure if it was for herself or for him. It seemed important to do it. His scattered behavior was scary. “Just breathe. He’s gone.” But she wanted to be sure … wanted to check. She knew he wouldn’t ease until they were both sure he was gone. “He was just here when I got out of the shower … touching things. Looking around. He just tried to tease, that was all.”

“We need to leave. I don’t want to be here when he knows where we are. We could go to a hotel, a motel, a fucking trash bin, something. Just not here. Quick – Grab what you can,” he said frantically, running from her touch, the panic coming back through his blood. He ran to the room and dug his suitcase from under the bed. “Do you want to bring anything specific, necessity or something?” He yelled down the hall for her. He didn’t know what to do and she didn’t deserve this deal of stress on her but he was just so lost.

He didn’t open his eyes. He dare not, knowing that it would fuck him to see her slam the door in his face. She’d disappear after this, he knew … So he savored it. He dared to press his lips into hers at her venomous kiss, to respond to her. Maybe she’d stay long enough to slap him. Maybe he’d get more than just a taste of her when he swiped his tongue long his lower lip after she left. He was stupid. He deserved it.

She backed away from him, his eyes closed, sure he was a dick for leaving and a dick for thinking that apologizing with her could get him anywhere. “You mean nothing,” she spat at him. Knowing that you still have a place with her is dangerous. It gives you leverage, even if you do hold a place, she won’t let you know that easily. Stepping back, she forced herself to turn around and slam the door, making an echo throughout her apartment and the hallway. He deserved it. 

“The cops won’t care whose money it is. You were in prison, and you’re not welcome here, you weren’t invited in. You don’t have a key. Get out.” As to how she found the calm in the moment Rue wasn’t sure. Instead she took a step forward, pressed a palm to Davey’s shoulder to catch his attention – to snap him out of this transition. “Davey …”

Davey jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and somehow that caused him to snap out of the blood thirst he was in. “Fuck–” he said dropping the bat and cupping her face in his hands. “Did he touch you? If he did, fucking tell me so I can kill him. The fucker deserves to die. Tell me– What did he do?!” He was panicking. He didn’t know what to do. It had been so long. He was an adult now but back than he was just a kid. It was different. All so different. 

Unassisted by liquor, he meant … though anything he felt there was a sham. It was all just to hide the things inside, the swallow the pain and trouble and everything else he was too chicken to hold onto and deal with on his own. “Go ahead. Hit me. I know you can knock me out, so do it. Punch some sense into me.” Goading the dragon was not smart. She’d breath so much fire he’d ignite immediately and immolate. It was the least he deserved.

“Something real,” she repeated, wanting the same thing but he wouldn’t hit her. No one will– they know she’ll go crazy. She’d become even more frighting. Why did he want her to hit him so bad. Why would he want that temporary fix instead of something he was used to. Her fucking mind was turning into stew with the amount of turning the gears were doing. “I fucking hate you,” she said before crashing her lips onto his. He fucking deserved this. He deserved to taste what he left behind. 

It wasn’t right. She shouldn’t enable him. And instead of waiting for him to respond, to go after the man, she unlocked the phone and began to dial the police. Before she hit the call begin button she waited. “I tried to tell him to get out …”

Davey’s hands were shaking and his heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to crush his ribs. As Rue brought  the bat out, he took it without even looking at her because if he did, he knew that he would change into something better and right now he wanted to be something different. “You fucking talked to her?! You had the fucking gut to come to my home and talk to her?” With one swing the bad hit the wall next to his father. “Leave,” he shouted and another swing of the bad going right at his fathers head but he ducked, just like Davey knew he would. “I’m going to give you to the could of three to leave and if you don’t, I’ll break every bone in your body.” 

Edgar only snickered as he came up from the swing aimed for his head. “You won’t break me, but she might call the cops. And I’ll just say I was invited in because well – It’s my money that paid for the shit hole and if you prove that I’m breaking and entering, I’ll personally jump off the roof now. But you won’t, and son– I raised you better than a bat.” 

“I won’t remember this conversation tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to leave you. I didn’t want to say anything remotely close to goodbye. I don’t have any real reasons, explanations for your questions.” Silence took him again, choked off his words quite suddenly and when he took the chance to breathe he calmed himself. “I can’t stop looking at you. That’s the problem.”

“It’s good to know we still keep the same habits. Well you did and you already apologized so it’s whatever you want to do at this point.” Her anger only flourished from then on, “You’re fucking with my head and I need you to stop before I punch you again.” She meant what she said but she didn’t move away, it felt like she only had gotten closer. She was mixing adrenaline with emotions and her anger was shifting and she needed it to stop.

It would be wonderful, in this moment, to have telepathy. Better to connect right to Davey, to warn him. Though she knew that telling him to stay away would only bring him closer. The moment he walked through the door the shit would hit the fan. It was fucked no matter which way it was sliced. “Goodbye.”

“Okay, why the fuck is the door unlocked?” Davey spoke as he slammed the door shut with his foot, smiling over at Rue immediately. He dropped his case and walked over to her but he knew that something was wrong, it was a feeling that raced through his veins. He followed her eyes and his whole body stilled at the sight of the devil. He can’t say he was surprised though. Alarmed, yes, but he knew this was coming. He tried his best to have a straight face. “Rue. Can you go get the bat?” 

Back he went still, willingly pressing his back into wall she had previously clocked him in. Fingers pushed into his hair again, brushed it away from his face, though he wasn’t brave enough to glance at her. The rage in her eyes would melt his damn face. “I just wanted to apologize. That’s it. That’s it.”

“I fathomed the idea of you. I took time for you. I was fucking honest. I’m sorry that wasn’t enough for you.” 

“He’s not like you. He’s good.” The word felt like a joke, but in comparison to the nastiness that seeped from this man’s pores … Davey was just incapable. That’s how well she knew him, to know he was incapable of whatever unspeakable things that daddy did. “Still waiting for you to leave.”

“He’s not good. You’re not good, I’m alright but he is not, what you call, good.” He shook his head. He knew his welcome would be ending if Davey wouldn’t show. He had to. “I won’t leave till my son shows up.” 

“I’ve got a series of shows, actually.” His voice was quiet, as if he were being punished by his parents for stepping out of line and with a demand of explanation … he knew it wouldn’t be enough. “I left because we got signed. Not … I should have called, yeah.” But it was hard to admit that he wasn’t sober enough to remember how to unlock his phone. He was sure Gabriel kept it in his back pocket, or at least on his person. In this moment he was so aware of how unprepared he was for Emmy … so sure she wouldn’t answer. Handling her fire was almost impossible, and impossible now more than it ever was before … when he knew her better.

“I know I blew what I had. I know you don’t let people in. I know … I have no excuse. It’s all shit.”

It was hard to be hate someone who had finally reached their goal, “Great, congratu-fucking-lations. I meant here. Like, in my general area, in my fucking building, right in front of me. Why are you right in front of me, Mikhail?” She huffed and leaned against her door. She could tell that if the door was closed she would have done something really reckless and demented but now it was like yelling was her way of  keeping him around. “You did blow it, you blew it big.” Her voice was raised and her eyes were still filled with rage but now there was a hint of sadness in them. 

“You let me down.” 

“You’re acting like a child, could have fooled me.” If it really was who she thought … if Davey came home to this … Rue knew he’d lose his shit. It would be a monumental meltdown, something to set back all of the progress she had worked so hard for. He was made of too much glass for something like this. “So you found him, hm? I always heard that parasites find good hosts real easy. Makes sense.”

“How long have you known him? what’s he like? And no, I’m not done with the questions because you know once I leave here, I’ll only find him again and do the thing a proper parasite does. Infect him. Him? A good host? He’s probably worse than me, but hey – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, you know this.” 

He hadn’t expected any less.

Apologizing would be shit but it was better than walking away again. It took a long second for him to push away from the wall, to ball his hand into a fist and give the small tap that wasn’t at all expecting to be let in. “I’m an asshole,” Mikhail breathed against the door. If she could hear him or not wasn’t a thought. “I ran. I needed to run. I can’t stay in one place for too long. I can’t deal with my life being so fucked up all the time. There was so much shit going on, so much more than you knew. It wasn’t fair. I should have let you know.” Now he was rambling. If he knew Emmy at all she was at the furthest side of her apartment, plugging her ears just to spite him. “I’m a coward,” that didn’t quite cover it, “I’m sorry.”

Even Mikhail knew that his greatest talent was running. It was built into his people, but Emmy hadn’t deserved to be abandoned. With a sigh the Romany shifted his hand from his jaw to the mane that had loosened from its lazy knot at her hit, brushing through it and pulling the rest out of the low tail.

As soon as he said his life was fucked up all the time she lost it, she took a glass that was sitting on her counter and she threw it across the room so it met with a brick wall. “Fuck!,” she screamed, her rapid breath making her move to the door to swing it open again. She say him with his hand on his jaw. She didn’t feel bad one bit about that. “You’re life is fucked up? You’re life is fucked up?! Please save me the fucking story Mikhail, you still had people that fucking gave a shit about you so I’m sorry that my fucking affection, which is super fucking rare, wasn’t enough for you. Trust me, if I hadn’t of met you the same god damn day I did, then I would’ve been gone – long gone. I run. But I didn’t because I had a fucking obligation to the people I cared about.”

Looking back at the glass that had shattered on the wall, she knew she was gonna cop the money from him for it. After all, she basically had none left. “You’re such a selfish fucking dick!” She pulled at her short hair, “Sorry doesn’t fucking fix it! Telling me what you should of done doesn’t do shit for me! A simple fucking text, email, call or god forbid a meeting was too much right? Telling a girl you want to be more than just friends and then just dropping the fucking ball and leaving? I fucking let you in!” She took all her force again and shoved him. “I fucking let you in and you did this, you piece of utter shit!” 

“Why would you come back here? To see what shit show you left behind? You already fucking left once and there was apparently a solid fucking reason that I can’t seem to find, but why? Why the fuck would you come back?!” 

“I’m aware of how awful little boys can be. I’m looking at one who doesn’t understand the value of personal property. Were you invited? Doubtful. Breaking and entering … not something the cops in the city look at lightly.” She fought not to step back as he neared, but she kept herself alert. The bat wasn’t far, she could make it and grab it before he had a chance to move forward again. “I could take a message. You could come back later. Basically, get the fuck out.”

“But I am not a little boy and please, without my money, this property wouldn’t even belong to a person. The only place I was ever invited to was a county prison so no, not invited but I’m sure the guardians of this fine city would love to take a ride with me.” Edgar only snickered. “I won’t be coming back because I’m not leaving.” 

He had fled New York with his tail between his legs, gone so quickly to Los Angeles that he was sure the change in time zones hadn’t been registered even once. It was only a matter of time before they dragged him back to that cold, East coast city. After all, Manhattan was the home of so many concerts and beginnings. It was easy to run after all of the drama with that selfish little girl, and then all of the drama with Emmy.

There was a name he hadn’t spoken in months, but it was constantly on his mind. She was like water: impossible to catch and keep, always slipping between fingers, the only hope to clasp it for a little while was to cup your palms and drink deeply. He hadn’t had the chance for that. It was a loss in his book – considering how quick he was to destroy so much for the girl made of water. His only regret was not trying harder.

Mikhail wasn’t even sure if she still occupied New York when he got there. It took a lot of bullying from old connections before he figured it out, before he got an address … before he got the stones to try. Three days he had been pent up in his fancy hotel suite before he got the balls to leave it and stroll downtown to the hastily scrawled address. It took twenty minutes for him to knock. Some part of him hoped she wasn’t home to answer.

Hearing a knock on the door, a groan left her lips that haven’t spoken a word to anyone all day. Sometimes it’s better to quiet and away from anything than be in the face of someone else due to the fact that she couldn’t keep her opinions to herself. Her feet made their way to the door and swung it open. Emmy’s heart stopped and her lips parted. The color from her face was drained and all that was standing before the stranger was a lifeless version of herself. 

He fucking left, no he didn’t even have the fucking decency to do that, he just didn’t come back. After the trip to Florida, that was it. No other word, no matter how many times she had reached out – fucking useless. You hear about kids who’s parents went through a divorce and the kid just sits there, in pitch black memories, wondering if it was their fucking fault. That thought raced around her mind for ages, was it her? Was it his ex? Well she wouldn’t exactly know now, would she? 

Coming out from her nightmare down Elm Street her eyes felt like they were burning, the rage she felt almost shook her body. Without speaking a word she stepped out into the hallway and brought her fist back to swing through the air and collide with his jaw. She put all her energy and weight into that punch. Waiting briefly for him to react, she stepped back into her apartment and slammed her door shut. 

Emmy sighed in frustration and walked over to her cabinet  and grabbed the first bottle she saw. She screwed off the cap and slammed it on the counter and took two large pulls. “Fuck sobriety.”