“Finally!” Vic suddenly busted through his front door and sang at the top of his lungs, creating an echo in his house.


“What in the world?” I stared at him incredulously, sitting at the kitchen table with Mike.


“I’m cleared to sing!” he sang again.


“Yay!” Mike and I both exclaimed.


“We ought to have band practice soon,” Mike yawned. I stared at him.


“What?” he asked.


“Ought?” I giggled.


“Shut the fuck up,” he rolled his eyes.


“Spence, do you have work again today?” Vic asked.


“Nope! I am off on the weekends!”


“Good,” he grinned mischievously for an extended period of time.


“What’s wrong with you people?” Mike stood up shaking his head and both of us.


“No, Mike, you’ll want to hear this,” Vic said before Mike walked away from our weirdness.


He raised an eyebrow at him.


“We’re having a party!” Vic sang.


“Fuck yeah! It’s been so long!” Mike bounced up and down in excitement, and then he grabbed his shoes.


“Where are you going?”


“I’m getting booze, obviously! Anyone want to join me?”


We shook our heads, laughing at his enthusiasm.


Once Mike left, Vic stared at me for a minute. “May I help you?” I laughed.


“Finally, he’s gone,” he grinned mischievously again. I tilted my head to the side, but before I could say anything, his lips crashed on to mine.


“Fuck!” I muttered, shooting up in bed. I shook my head at my dream. Although, a part of me wished that it wasn’t just a dream…


I lazily made my way over to the kitchen, making myself some toaster strudels. “Hey, you,” I nodded over at Vic, who was already eating a bowl of cereal.


“Sup,” he nodded. For some reason, I felt suddenly awkward, as if he knew that I dreamed about him kissing me. I shook the thought out of my head. “Guess what?”


“What?”


“I go to the doctor’s today. I probably will be cleared to sing,” he grinned.


“Yay! I hope so! I want to hear your new stuff!” I smiled eagerly.


“Who says you get to hear it before everyone else?” he mocked.


I squinted my eyes at him and stuck out my tongue. “Because you love me, obviously,” I joked.


“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said, sending me a crooked smile. I heard my toaster strudels pop out of the toaster, so I took that as my perfect opportunity to turn around and blush.


“Hey!” I smacked Mike as he took my toaster strudels before I could reach them.


“You snooze, you lose,” he smiled broadly, and I rolled my eyes. I took one from him and put two more in the toaster for us to share.


“Damn, I love these things,” I said to myself, enjoying the warm strawberry filling, the flaky pastry, and the sweet icing.


“Well, while Spencer’s in her own little world over there, I have a proposal to make,” Mike spoke up. I didn’t bother looking up, finding that I was, in fact, in my own little world… lost in the deliciousness of toaster strudels… a pastry that is unfortunately small and easily finished quickly…


“That sounds awesome, Mike,” I heard Vic say. I giggled at myself. I literally didn’t hear their conversation, as I was too busy enjoying my toaster strudel.


“What sounds awesome?”


“If Vic is cleared to sing, we are going to have a house party tonight, along with a mini-concert for local fans,” Mike informed me.


“That sounds like a lot of fun! But, are you sure you guys want fans to know where you live?”


“We will do the mini-concert first, down the street somewhere, and when it’s over we will come back here for the party,” he clarified. I nodded. When was the last time I went to a party? Oh, right. Never.


“I am going to go now; my appointment is in half of an hour!” Vic jumped up in excitement, but I could sense some apprehension. The cut in his throat did a number to him; his voice was croaky for a few weeks even after the coma where the majority of his injuries healed. The doctors wanted to play it safe and make sure he didn’t bust his vocal chords by singing too intensely too soon.


“Do you need one of us to go with you?” Mike asked, sensing his nervousness, too.


“Yes, please,” he said quietly.


“Spence, you go with him, and I’ll call the guys over to start planning the party that we are going to have no matter what,” Mike smiled, speaking in a reassuring tone. “Unless you need your little brother to hold your hand?” he mocked.


“Fuck off, Michael,” Vic chuckled.


“Don’t call me by my full name, Victor Vincent,” Mike glared playfully. I rolled my eyes and decided to go change into real clothes while they fought.


I couldn’t understand why I was so nervous, all of a sudden. This was Vic for crying out loud. We’ve been practically inseparable all week, and we’ve been through a lot together. Maybe it was because I was starting to like him as more than just a friend…


I shook the thought out of my head. No, I couldn't like Vic like that. Unless he liked you like that, too… No, no, no… It would complicate everything.


Everything happens for a reason…


I shook my thoughts out of my head and quickly changed into different clothes. I threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, a Nirvana tank, red vans, and my black beanie, letting my dark hair fall naturally. I quickly applied some red lipstick for a splash of color to top the outfit off, feeling rather satisfied with my appearance. I don’t normally wear tank tops that show off my shoulder tattoos often; actually, this was the first time in a while where I have actually put effort in my appearance. The recovery period after the near fatal events involving Drew Sanders was mostly spent in sweatpants and oversized t-shirts.


“Meow,” Mike called when I walked into the kitchen. I flipped him off.


“Looking edgy, babe,” Vic winked. I rolled my eyes.


“I think I just got ready in world-record time,” I said with a bow, playing it cool, despite the fact that I was internally blushing.


He chuckled, and then we headed out.


“How does it feel?” I asked.


“How does what feel?”


“Your neck,” I clarified. “Do you hurt anymore?”


“Not really. It used be tight and hurt, but I barely notice the pulling anymore,” he explained. I winced, imagining how uncomfortable that must have been. “Everything is great, now,” he smiled reassuringly.


“Good,” I said, exiting the car. As we walked into the doctor’s office, he gripped my hand tightly.


“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know why I am so nervous.”


“Doctor’s offices scare the shit out of me, too; it’s no big deal,” I told him. It was true. I hated the smell of doctor’s offices. I hated the appearance of them. I hated everything about them. The way they were so neat and sterile, despite the fact that only bad things happen in them. Don’t even get me started about hospitals.


“Yeah, and I think I’m still a little sensitive,” he added, subconsciously tapping his scar lightly with his free hand. I knew exactly what he meant. The doctor touching the mark was inevitable, but also terrible. The careful contact could be enough to bring on a flashback on how he acquired the cut in the first place.


“How are you?” I asked suddenly as we sat together in the waiting room.


“I’m great, I told you,” he said.


“No, you know what I mean. Physically you’re healed… but mentally…”


He shook his head. “I try not to think about it,” he said. “Nightmares aren’t fun, I’ll tell you that, but I’m fine,” he said. I could sense some uneasiness in his words. I felt horrible for him. God only knew what he had to endure in Drew Sanders captivity…


“Thanks, Spence,” he said.


“For…?”


“For asking. Nobody ever asks. They kind of just skate over the topic, afraid to bring it up,” he squeezed my hand. I smiled softly at him.


“Victor Fuentes?” a nurse appeared in the threshold of the room.


“Yeah,” Vic stood up, squeezing my hand one last time before following the nurse out of the waiting room.


I waited, not thinking about anything in particular. I forced my brain from thinking about anything serious. Naturally, my brain was stubborn. I didn’t want to think about Vic and what he went through, I didn’t want to think about how I felt about him… if I actually felt something…


So, I pushed the complicated things out of my head and thought about Tony, instead (not like that was any less complicated). Tony was always lighthearted and fun, but I would never forget that he killed Drew Sanders. More importantly, I would never forget that he killed Drew Sanders for me, for us. No matter how evil a person is, though, killing, I was sure, was a hard thing to do. So, I wondered how he was handling it. He has yet to indicate that he was struggling with the concept of what happened, but that worried me. However, we were all full of adrenaline at that moment… Tony, especially…


I clutched on to Vic like my life depended on it, holding my hand against his horrific cut, hoping that I wasn’t hurting him any more than he was already hurting. He was barely alive in my hands. I could feel it. I could feel his body lose weight with the lack of blood. He felt like a rag doll. He felt like almost nothing.


But I still held on to him, watching Tony punch my worst nightmare square in the face. And then Mike joined, kicking out the devil’s legs. They kicked him repeatedly, and Tony bent down and punched him several times in his face.


“This is for Vic,” he hissed, kicking him in the gut three times. “This is for torturing my best friend,” he added, kicking him a few more times. “This is for Jaime,” he said, now kicking the bloody Drew Sanders in the face three times. I looked over at Jaime, who was gasping, holding onto his stabbed stomach. There was nothing I could do for him, right now. “And this is for Spencer,” he yelled, kicking him again. “This is for making an innocent girl’s life a living Hell,” he growled, and then he reached for the knife.


“Mike!” Mike looked up, and I motioned him to hold onto Vic. He raced over and took over, mumbling something about doing what I have to do. I stumbled over to Tony, begging him for the knife. I wouldn’t let Tony kill for me. I couldn’t let him do that. He’d have to live with it forever.


“I already have to live with the death of my best friend, Spencer,” he said, referring to the almost dead Vic. “This will hardly add anything to the pain,” he muttered. “I won’t let you kill, Spencer. You are too good. You don’t need this,” he said, and without another word, he pierced Drew Sanders’ chest with the knife.


Drew Sanders smirked one last time. I will never forget the smirk as he flicked open a lighter, dropping it onto the kerosene covered floor.


I’ll never forget the horror spread across Jaime’s face as the fire barreled towards him.


I’ll never forget the torn look in Mike’s eyes, as he had to make a split-second decision: dropping his good-as-dead older brother to rescue his best friend.


I’ll never forget the way the fire engulfed everything, destroying everything, filling my lungs as I gasped and making debris fall around me.


The memory ended sharply with the feeling of nothing. I couldn’t remember anything else. All I knew was that something heavy fell on my head as the fire blazed around me. I shivered.


I wished now that I had chosen to think about Vic as opposed to Tony. I didn’t like thinking about this memory in the daytime; I already had to deal with it at night in my dreams.


I looked up to see Vic in the doorway, filling out papers. He looked up at me at the same time, a smile spread across his face. He gave me the thumbs up, and I smiled. The image of his badly beaten body was now fresh in my mind, so his smile and thumbs up instantly washed it away. He was alive, and he was okay.


He finished filling out the paperwork, and then he swiftly walked over to me, hugging me tightly.


I pulled away from the hug carefully, studying his face. He looked so happy. I felt so happy. He knew, and I knew, that this was more than just being cleared to sing again. This was about moving past the horrific events that we endured. This was about moving forward into a new chapter. A happy chapter.


He interrupted my thoughts, kissing me lightly on the lips. I smiled. I couldn’t help the new thought that was prancing in a field of flowers in my head: finally.


This was about all of us getting through together. This was about closing one door to open another.


“Come on, Mr. Bieber,” I winked. “We have a party to plan!”


All bad memories pushed aside, all terrible things forgotten.


It was finally time to celebrate.

Notes

(Forgive me for my little Toaster Strudel rant in there... i was hungry and i haven't had those in forever ;P)
Okay so i intended for this to be a filler, but it turned out to be longer than i was initially planning...but still kinda filler-ish... but drama always ensues at PTV parties ;) I'll try and update soon



Thanks so much to everyone who has commented and subscribed and all that good stuff :D