I walked back in the direction of my apartment, my head down. I hated having to walk home late at night like this, but it was necessary because I didn’t own a car.

“Hey, miss!” someone called out to me. I wasn’t frightened, though; this happened almost every night. I just kept walking, not even looking up. I had pepper spray in my, and I was strong; I could kick someone’s ass if necessary. Living alone for six years had its perks—I could easily defend myself.

“Hey!” the voice got closer, but I kept walking, rolling my eyes.

“Excuse me,” you dropped your wallet, the man said, his face sincere.

“Oh, I did?” I asked. I didn’t even realize that I had dropped my wallet; I thought it was tucked safely in my purse.

I knew I shouldn’t let my guard down, though—I was naturally suspicious of this man. I looked through my purse, pretending to look innocent. Ah, there was my wallet. Right where I put it.

I looked up at the man nicely. “I can’t believe I dropped it!” I said in fake astonishment, slyly toying around for my pepper spray.

“Happens to the best of us,” he said, flashing me a wide smile. I shivered lightly; they were perfectly straight, almost to the point of sharpness, and they almost sparkled they were so white.

“Can I have it back, please?” I tilted my head to the side. He smirked, so I jumped into action. I whipped out the pepper spray and sprayed it in his face, causing him to yelp back in pain. My heart was racing from the adrenaline, and I wasted no time running away.

But I wasn’t fast enough. “You think you’re clever, eh?” he spat, and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. He had gripped my hair and ripped me backwards, causing my neck to crack painfully.

“No!” I yelled loudly. The man just laughed as he ripped me back up, gripping my sides tightly. I tried to kick backwards at his sensitive area, but he had strategically placed himself away from the threat.

“Yes,” he growled, and then he gagged my mouth. I could hardly breathe, and, for the first time in a long time, I was scared. “Come on, babe, we are going for a boat ride,” he whispered roughly in my ear as I continued to try and wiggle from his grasp, which only cause him to hold me tighter.

Everything after that blurred together. I felt pain, but I couldn’t see; I tried to think about something else as I was mutilated. I was violated. Tortured. I knew I was going to die the second he threw my semi-conscious body on to the floor of the yacht.

I felt like I was going to be sick… everything was swaying, and my body was so lifeless that it rolled into the side of boat as it moved roughly in the waves.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the man spat angrily, grabbing me by the ankles.

I tried to tell him that I didn’t move on purpose, but my voice was useless.

“Dave, grab her arms,” he ordered. Rough hands grasped my wrists as the leader dug his nails into my ankles. They picked me up, swinging me slightly. If I wasn’t nauseous before, I sure was now.

“One…” the swung me again. “Two…” back and forth, back and forth. “Three!” they yelled in unison, and my stomach dropped as I found my self freely flying in the air. I felt momentarily peaceful, until something cold slapped on to my back.

The stinging sensation of hitting the water only lasted momentarily as I splashed in it, sinking down from the impact. My body lingered about six feet under the surface, and my eyes were open, so I could see the bubbles around me from the force of me landing in the water. The water was almost refreshing—the way it swam through my various injuries, washing out the blood. The water turned red around me… I slowly rose back to the top, but I didn’t stay up long.

Waves tumbled over me, and I had no energy—or even will—to try and swim. Soon enough, I was swallowed by the ocean. I felt my self sinking and sinking and sinking…

Lower and lower and lower… I hit something hard, and then I could no longer feel a thing.


I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. It was just a dream. No, a memory. I closed my eyes, trying to recover from the events that slowly replayed in the back of my head. I sighed, convincing myself to not be scared over it because there was nothing I could do about it, anyway; it was in the past. I shook my head and forced myself to forget about it; I was not going to let that, although terrible, event rule my life. I had better things to think about, like where the hell I was, now. I studied my surroundings, quickly realizing that I was in a car.

I looked around, spotting another person. My head was foggy from sleep, so it took me a few minutes to realize that it was Vic.

His tousled hair swept messily around his head, and his face was fairly placid. At times, though, his features would twist or he would grimace, and I wondered what he was dreaming about. He looked so innocent, so calm, so… beautiful, and I couldn’t resist admiring the way his lips slightly parted revealing his front teeth, the way his chest slowly raised and fell with each breath he took, the way his head suddenly slumped to the side in his sleep.

I all of a sudden became very guilty for staring at him. I felt like I was intruding or something, because people were so vulnerable when they slept, their faces relaxed and their expressions out of their control. They couldn’t disguise their emotions, they couldn’t protect their real feelings… everything was displayed as real as it could be.

I peeled my eyes away from him, settling back in the seat. I nuzzled my head into the pillow, trying not to think about anything in particular. My nightmare was still fresh in my mind, but I continued to force it away.

All of the bad shit that has happened to me, though, has made me a better person—I liked to think that, at least. Of course, I have my weak moments, but I was more strong than anything. And, as cliché and ridiculous as it sounded, it led me to Vic, and I couldn’t help but enjoy having him as a friend.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a whimper from my left. I turned, seeing Vic, his facial expression no longer relaxed, but now tense, twisted, and sad. A small tear rolled down his cheek.

I decided that I couldn’t bear to see him sad like that, even if it was in his sleep, so I gently shook his shoulder. “Vic…” I whispered, biting my lip from nervousness. I hated to wake him, but he clearly wasn’t sleeping peacefully.

He stirred quietly, and a few more tears escaped from his eyes. The trailed down his face, stopping at the corner of his mouth. “Vic…” I repeated softly, and this time his eyes slowly fluttered open. His brown puppy-dog-like eyes stared up at me in confusion, the surface visibly watery from tears that were building up and the area around his pupil slightly bloodshot.

“Wha…?”

“You were crying in your sleep,” I said lowly.

“Shit,” he mumbled, wiping his eyes feverishly with his fists.

“You okay?” I asked softly, tilting my head to the side. He nodded, laughing slightly.

“Do you ever dream something that seems so stupid when you wake up, but while you dream it feels so real and makes sense?” he asked. I nodded. “Yeah, I think that just happened to me,” he sighed, sitting up.

I was momentarily distracted with the way his eyelids drooped heavily from tiredness and the way his voice was husky and coated in sleep—it was all strikingly attractive. I shook the thoughts out of my head, speaking. “What were you dreaming about?” I asked.

He paused for a moment. “I don’t even remember,” he chuckled, sniffing back the remaining tears. I slightly frowned; something in his expression gave me the impression that he wasn’t telling the truth. Something flickered in his eyes—awareness? Sadness?—I couldn't exactly tell, but I also didn’t expect him to open up to me about it. I shrugged it off, though, not wanting to be nosy.

“Hm, what time is it?” he asked to himself, checking his phone. “Seven-thirty in the morning,” he recited.

“Wow, we actually slept for a while, considering we slept in a car,” I noted. He nodded in agreement.

“I need to stretch out,” he said. He opened his car door and nearly rolled out of the car, hitting the sandy ground with a thud.

“Careful there,” I said a little too late, chuckling as I got out of the car, too. I yawned, stretching up on my toes and reaching for the sky with my fingertips.

“I’m going to call Mike,” he said, pulling out his phone again. “Maybe I’ll wake him up,” he wiggled his eyebrows and grinned evilly as he dialed Mike’s number. I rubbed my neck with my hand, feeling the stiffness already. My back hurt, too; I guess it didn’t help that I was already sore and hurt before this.

“You okay?” Vic reappeared out of nowhere, and I slightly jumped when his hand touched the small of my back. “Sorry,” he said lowly

“Oh, no, you’re fine,” I said quickly, immediately cursing at myself for my stupid reaction to both his touch and his words. “Just a little sore,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Oh, right… I can’t imagine,” he said lowly, his eyebrows furrowing, as if he was actually trying to imagine why I was so injured. I didn’t want to talk about it, though, just like he didn’t want to talk about his dream.

“So, I told Mike what happened. And he doesn’t want you to stay with us, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you here,” Vic said with a frown. I knew he was kidding, but I made my face fall in mock sadness. “Oh, shit, I’m just kidding,” he noticed my down facial expression and immediately reached out to comfort me.

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “So am I,” I rolled my eyes with a smirk.

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I guess we should go then!”

“Vamos!” I said as we piled back into the car.

“You speak Spanish?” he asked. I laughed lightly.

“I took it in high school,” I said. “But not really,” I added.

“Oh, hmm.”

He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. “Eres muy linda,” he said, and, even though I had no idea what he said, my insides jumped at the sexiness of his voice. The combination of his morning voice and the Spanish made my stomach do flips.

I tried to contain my flustered feelings, though. “What does that mean?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he smirked. He also looked very aware of the effect his even meaningless words had on me, so I stuck my tongue out at him.

“I’ll look it up, later,” I said. “You better hope it’s nothing bad,” I threatened. He laughed.

“That’s cheating!” he said.

“Well point me to someone who speaks Spanish and I’ll ask them!” I said.

He pointed his thumbs at himself. “I know a guy,” he winked, causing my stomach to flip again.

“Oh,” I said. I guess I should have figured he spoke Spanish because he just did. I felt stupid.

“But I’m not telling you, so you’ll have to ask my brother,” he added. I pouted.

“Fine,” I said, a smile forming on my lips even though I wanted to look mad. “So, you are… Spanish?” I asked.

“Half Mexican,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s cool. Do you like tacos?” I asked goofily.

“Uh, duh! I make the best tacos, actually. Ooh, I’ll make them tonight!” he said.

“What other Mexican things are you good at?” I joked.

“Well, darling, I’m just a painter, and I paint million dollar houses,” he said with another smirk, his eyes flashing with playfulness. It sounded like he was making a reference to something, but I was unsure as to what it was.

“Ugh,” he said suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We are in the middle of nowhere, and I’m hungry,” he said. Just then, I became aware of the emptiness of my stomach.

“Woah, I don’t think we’ve eaten since breakfast yesterday!” I realized.

“Holy shit, you’re right. I’m so sorry I am so unprepared,” he shook his head. “I am the world’s worst road tripper!” he frowned. “If only I remembered to bring… Krispy Kreme donuts,” he wiggled his eyebrows, and I stared at him curiously. “Yes, those would tide me over until we got back. Sigh,” he said dreamily. He slowed the car down and pulled to the side of the room, a new smirk forming on his mouth. He got out of the car, and, before I could question his odd behavior, he went to the trunk and took out a box.

“Oh! Wait a second,” he winked again, returning to the front seat.

“How did you get these?” I exclaimed excitedly, eying the box of delicious donuts.

“I got them when we were getting gas yesterday,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I figured we would need something,” he said, popping the lid up. We each took one, and I grinned.

Before we dug in, we looked at each other and ‘clinked’ our donuts together, as if they were glasses, simultaneously saying, “Cheers!”

VIC’S POV

The rest of the trip went by fast. We talked about everything—nothing of important substance—but still everything. I haven’t been able to talk to somebody like this in two years, and it felt amazing.

I felt totally refreshed and relaxed, my mind flickering back to my nightmare only sporadically. It was the same nightmare I had every night; the same memory I had to relive: Spencer’s shooting. Normally I couldn’t function in the day because the memory continued to tear me up inside, but not today. Today my mind was… distracted.

“Welcome back!” Mike cheered when we walked inside the house.

“Hello, Mike,” we greeting him.

“Did you guys have fun?” Mike asked, sending me a wink when Charlie wasn’t looking. I made it a point to smack him when she wasn’t around.

“As fun as sleeping in a car and driving for fourteen hours can be,” I said. “But, yeah, we actually did, I think,” I said, looking at Charlie. She smiled, agreeing.

“Yeah, it was fun! He taught me how to like music,” she said. Mike’s eyes popped out of his head.

“You didn’t like music?” he gasped.

“Dang, what’s with you Fuentes brothers being so shocked that I didn’t like music?” she laughed.

Mike stared at me disapprovingly, already figuring out that she was ignorant of our occupation in a band. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, you like it now, which is all that matters,” I grinned at her.

“Did I just hear that someone doesn’t like music?” all of a sudden, someone raced into the foyer, sliding with his socks and nearly falling over as he screamed. “Oh, hey,” he turned, nodding at Charlie. “You must be Charlie,” he said. I internally cringed; that made me sound creepy. But, then again, we were all too focused on the person’s outfit. I figured out that it was Tony, though…

“And you must be kidding,” she said seriously, staring at him. I nearly doubled over in laughter.

“What?” he asked.

“Tone,” I laughed, shaking my head.

“Oh!” Tony fumbled, taking off his storm trooper helmet. “Hey, there,” his face was redder than our specialty Pierce the Veil hot sauce, and we all laughed hysterically.

“That’s a cool helmet you got there,” she said, amused.

“You bet it is, Miss Lady,” Tony said, leaning on the wall and holding the helmet on his hip. I shook my head, still trying to recover from his dramatic entrance.

“I’m Tony,” he finally properly introduced himself. “And I am sorry to hear that you don’t like music,” he said sadly.

“You too?” she shook her head. “And I do like music, now!” she said, softly smiling in my direction.

I smiled back, enjoying the swarm of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

“Is Jaime here, too?” I asked.

Mike shook his head. “He’s out with Jess,” he said. I nodded.

“I’m feeling taco night tonight,” Tony said.

“I’m glad you said that, Tony. Charlie also learned that we are all of Mexican descent. Oh, Mike! She has a question for you,” I grinned.

She blushed lightly. “I can’t remember what you said!” she whisper-yelled in my direction.

I smirked evilly at her. “That stinks,” I said.

“Ugh, okay. I think he said something along the lines of: ‘Seres muy lento’? I don’t know if that’s right or what that means,” she said, furrowing his eyebrows.

We all laughed; that was definitely not what I had said.

“Yeah, Vic didn’t say that. That means ‘slow being’, so…” Mike laughed.

Charlie scrunched her mouth to the side. “I don’t know now!”

“Can’t help you then!” I teased.

“Aw, come on,” she stuck out her bottom lip in the most adorable way possible, but I resisted.

“Nope,” I said.

“Fine,” she sighed, rolling her eyes playfully. “I’m, uh, I’m going to change into real clothes,” she said grabbing her suitcases.

“Do you need help?” I asked. Mike snorted and choked on something. “Oh my God, with the damn suitcases!” I clarified, my cheeks reddening.

Charlie laughed. “Nah, I’m good,” she said. “Thanks though,” she winked so only I could see, and then she went to the guest room with her suitcases.

I glared at Mike. “This is for earlier, by the way,” I said, smacking his arm.

“What did I ever do to you?” he asked incredulously.

“‘Did you guys have fun’?” I said with a pronounced wink, imitating him from when we first walked in.

He laughed. “Oh, right,” he said.

“And this is for earlier, too,” I said. Mike flinched, preparing himself for another hit, but I pulled him into a hug.

“Aw,” Tony said from the side. “Group hug!” he giggled, putting his arms around both me and Mike.

“Gay,” someone said with a cough. I pulled back to see Charlie smirking at us in the doorway.

“That was fast,” Mike said. She shrugged her shoulders.

“I decided I was comfortable,” she grinned, hugging herself in my t-shirt.

“Very well, then,” Mike said.

“You sound like an formal business man, Mike,” I scoffed.

“Don’t talk, Vic. You sounded like an old man earlier, ‘Kid’s now a days’,” Charlie imitated me.

I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Vic, you’re twenty-nine years old. You don’t say those kinds of things until you are at least sixty,” Tony informed me.

“I feel like I am sixty,” I mumbled, rubbing my achy back.

“Oh, yeah, Tone, they had to sleep in the car last night,” Mike told Tony.

“Why? That’s so funny. Sorry about your back, old man,” Tony said, and I rolled my eyes.

“Because I don’t know. It just happened,” I said quickly, not wanting to get into the full story.

“Hm, okay then. So, what are we doing today?” Tony asked as we all plopped down on to couches in the living room. I felt the air shift beside me, and I smiled at Charlie who had placed herself next to me. There was a tingling and electrifying sensation transferring through our almost touching legs.

“Can we call Himes? Family taco night? Jess can come, too,” I suggested, and Tony looked enthusiastic with the plan.

“Most definitely,” he grinned, taking out his phone to, I assumed, text Jaime.

“So, how do you guys all know each other?” Charlie asked.

“Well, believe it or not, Mike and I are brothers,” I said. She sarcastically gasped in surprise. “And Tony and Jaime, I don’t really know where they came from, to be honest,” I said, shooting Tony a look. I was being half honest, too—Jaime and Tony seemed to belong to an entirely different planet during their moments of silliness.

“I know exactly where I came from,” Tony said confidentially, putting on his Storm trooper helmet and storm trooping his way out of the living room—going God knows where.

“See what I mean?” I said, looking at Charlie who looked widely amused.

“Himes and Jess are coming in three hours,” Mike announced, standing up abruptly.

“And where are you going?” I asked.

“Smoke,” he shrugged his shoulders, and I gave him a significant look before he left.

And just like that, it was just me and Charlie again.

“So,” I said, feeling the awkwardness begin to weigh down on us again. “Want to get out of here for a little while?” I asked desperately, realizing how much I hated to be in this house. Memories were in every room, every square inch, and, as happy as I was spending time getting to know Charlie, I still felt hurt on the inside. Yes, the past twenty-four hours I have done an excellent job concealing these feelings, but they still existed. Whenever it was quiet in this house, I felt like someone was stabbing me from the inside out.

“Sure,” she said. We stood up and walked out the door. We didn’t really discuss where we were going, and I suddenly felt the ground shift underneath me—we were now walking on sand.

“Walk on the beach?” I asked.

“S-sure,” she said with a stutter.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, Charlie,” I sighed at myself in frustration. I was so selfish to get out of the house in order to avoid unnecessary flash backs that I forgot that the beach was a bad memory for her.

“No, let’s walk,” she said confidently, kicking off her shoes. I stared at her warily, at first, but I ended up taking my shoes off, too, enjoying the way the sand meshed in between my toes.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, worried.

“I’m fine, really,” she said, nodding. And she really did look okay, which surprised me. “I need to face my fear, anyway,” she added. I stared at her, amazed by her strength. If I was in her shoes, it would be taking every ounce of energy to fight the horrible memory that associated with the beach, but she was in her own shoes, and she handled it very well.

“You’re very strong,” I blurted out.

She blushed slightly. “It’s the only way,” she said. What about being weak?

We were walking close together, and occasionally our hands would brush against each other. A strong part of me wanted to grab her hand and hold it in mine, but, ironically, the weak part of me that told me it would be a bad idea wouldn’t allow it.

I felt shame creep up inside of me. Charlie experienced a harrowing ordeal, not to mention faced abuse from her landlord, and she is strong. She doesn’t cry at night or breakdown during the day like I do. I was the definition of weak, and weakness was an unfamiliar concept to her.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, her hand continuing to brush against mine.

“Nothing really,” I lied. I listened to the crashing waves and the birds in the distance, suddenly feeling peaceful. “It’s so peaceful,” I said. A sudden feeling of confidence slammed into me, and, for some reason, the desire to hold her hand grew larger and larger as we continued to walk. So, I gently slithered my fingers through hers, praying that she wouldn’t have a weird reaction.

I waited a few minutes, expecting her to jerk away or say something, but the reaction never came. She held on to my hand, but she also brought her entire body closer to me, so our arms were touching each other.

I didn’t realize how long we had been out until we returned back home. I was so caught up in her company—walking, talking, holding her hand—that I paid no attention to the time.

“Vic!” I was greeted with a giant hug from Jaime when we walked in the front door.

“Er, hey man!” I said as enthusiastically as possible.

“Hi,” Jaime smiled at us. “Hey, I’m Jaime, and you are Charlie. And this is Vic,” he slurred slightly.

“Okay, who gave Jaime alcohol?” I asked the house, rolling my eyes. I received multiple grunts and one enthusiastic me! before Jaime wobbled off somewhere.

“I’m sorry in advance for the shenanigans. I don’t know why they think they can drink on taco night,” I frowned.

“Speaking of tacos! I have to go make them. Join me,” I dragged out the last words in a silly manner, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the kitchen. She giggled. I prepared the meal skillfully as the other guys fucked around and Charlie kept me company in the kitchen.

They were delicious, as usual, and Charlie was impressed. Jaime for some ungodly reason decided to get drunk, and Mike’s head was with the stars he was so high. Tony, despite sitting at the table with his poker face on—also known as his Storm trooper helmet—was surprisingly calm.

“They aren’t normally like this,” I defended them.

“You’re a liar!” she giggled, knowing she was right. “It’s funny, really,” she grinned. “This has been fun,” she said.

I nodded in agreement. “You’re pretty cool, Charlie,” I found myself saying.

“You’re alright, I guess,” she smirked. I nudged her playfully, and then we all settled down to watch none other than Star Wars, to Tony’s excitement.

Charlie sat next to me, of course, and my stomach flipped a thousand times because she was so close to me. I haven’t felt this full of butterflies in years…

Notes

Sorry, the ending's crap. There's going to be a time jump... I was going to have this and the next chapter I wrote combined as one, but then I decided against it because I figured the time jump would be even more confusing. And you get the idea, right? They're going to spend a few days together, and it's going to be nice. I just had issues writing all of that for some reason