Cold Mattresses

Three days left.

Three days left and I’d hardly hung out with my best friend. Which admittedly is kind of my fault; I didn’t want to run the risk of seeing Kate. I mean, the girl seems nice and all but that’s just the thing. She seems nice, she puts on a good show but I’ve seen glimpses of her being anything but.

The way she talks to Mike and the others doesn’t exactly build her up either. Maybe that’s why whenever she appears at our get togethers me and Mike duck off somewhere else or sit there and antagonise her.

But as I said, there was three days left until I left for tour with my friends and I was still in need of raiding closets, well technically I only had one left seeing as whenever I walk the necessary distance of three houses to the house Vic and Mike share I always leave with a shirt or two of theirs and I don’t even need to see Jaime’s closet, he just brings me a shirt or two whenever he knows he’ll see me.

Shaking off those thoughts I zoned back into the cartoon that was starting up and smiled at the original intro before the show changed storylines. There was a slight clang from the kitchen before Leia appeared with two glasses of coke, her eyes moving to the television in surprise as she walked around the couch; setting the drinks on the coffee table as she did so.

“I didn’t know Cartoon Network still showed Billy And Mandy.”

“They don’t, they hardly ever play the good cartoons. I bought the first couple of seasons when I went out with Jaime yesterday. Figured we needed to get new stuff to watch while cooped up on the bus.”

“Good job, buddy. I don’t think I could handle another Ren And Stimpy episode. I hated the show when it was on Nickelodeon and I hate it all the same on DVD.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned forward for my glass. “And yet you're wearing one of their tee shirts.”

She shrugged as she leaned back into the couch. “I hate them but the shirt was cool.”

“That’s the biggest oxymoron I’ve heard in a week.”

Leia rolled her head across the back of the couch to look at me. “Just a week?”

I nodded. “We’re friends with Gideon and Jaime, a week is enough.”

“True,” Leia agreed as she turned back to the cartoon. “Man I forgot how much I love this show.” I watched as Billy sat unmoving while screaming “Destroy us all!” as loud as he could. This was not my childhood but definitely my teenage years.

“I just wish they played the good shows like they used to,” I mutter as I sipped my coke.

“Yes. Like Ed, Edd N Eddy.”

“And Johnny Bravo.”

“What about I Am Weasel?”

“Nah, more of a Courage The Cowardly Dog kinda girl.”

“I wish they played the old Scooby Doo.”

I turned to Leia. “Which one? What’s New, Scooby And Scrappy Doo, the one where they were all kids or Where Are You?”

Leia shrugged. “Any as long as it’s not that fucking Mystery Incorporated. Man I hate that show, it creeps me out.”

I nodded and just as I was about to say something Leia turned to me with a smirk. “Speaking of things that creep me out how’s the psycho hose beast?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Leia rolled her eyes and sat up, crossing her legs under her and rested her elbows on her knees. “Are you seriously going to let the beast come between you and your best friend? The dude who you’d spend every waking minute with? I remember high school dude, you and Tony were conjoined at the mother fucking hip you were around each other so much. I’d go to your place and he’d be there chilling in the corner of your room strumming your guitar while you quiz him on his homework. You guys were each other’s first. You handed your V cards over to one another.”

I sighed and shifted to mirror Leia on the couch. “I know what we did, Skywalker, I don’t need a reminder. But right now, I don’t think I can handle it. Kate gets to me in ways that no one has managed before. It’s like she knows I like him and flaunts her status around me.”

“So flaunt back. You’re Tony’s girl, have been long before she came into the picture. Show her that you don’t need an invitation to be around him. That’s the one thing I always loved about you two, you never needed to announce anything. If you were going to his place, you’d rock up and walk straight in and he and his family wouldn’t care less.”

Leia paused before nodding along with her though process, eyes going glassy the same as they always do when she thinks. Gideon and Vic liked to joke around saying that Skywalker was feeling the force whenever they noticed. It wasn’t long before she turned to me with a smile.

“Come to think about it, it’s the same with Vic and Mike. You guys got so comfortable around each other that you didn’t need say anything about coming over. Hell, Mike walks in whenever the hell he wants.”

“That’s true, the amount of times he’s walked in on me while I was changing is ridiculous. Then again, the same can be said for me walking in on him.” I shrugged. “We’re family, Leia. Vic and Mike are my brothers from another mother and we treat each other as such. If it weren’t for Mike walking in at odd moments he wouldn’t have found me in the kitchen.”

Leia winced. “I still have nightmares about that. I hate that I brought you something with walnuts in it.”

“It’s not your fault; nowhere on the packaging did it say walnuts.”

“Alice, you went into anaphylactic shock, passed out and spent a week in hospital.” I watched as Leia smiled slightly. “Mike never left your side, he was so freaked out. I remember when he called saying he found you and that you guys were at the hospital.”

“I got so many stuffed animals.”

Leia rolled her eyes. “That’s what you focus on?”

“Well yeah, each animal represented one of the guys. I got a turtle, a monkey, a giraffe, a weird dragon zebra thing from Jaime and that hectic bear that you punked out for me.”

“How exactly did we get on this topic?”

“I don’t know, last I remember we were talking about the hose beast.”

Leia nodded and leaned forward to grab her glass off the coffee table before focussing back on me. “What’s the jungle saying that you have tattooed on your ankle next to the Phantom and Devil?”

I felt my eyebrows furrow as I looked at Leia, trying to understand what the hell my tattoo which I had in representation on my mum had to do with anything. “Ah, It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. Why?”

“And why did you get that tattooed?”

This was getting confusing. “You know why, because my mum loves the Phantom comics and that is her favourite saying.”

She smiled, “Man I love your mum, she’s so cool.” Leia shook her head. “Anyway, what I’m saying is that that saying pertains to right now. Are you willing to let Kate walk all over you or are you going to go in guns blazing and take what you want?”

Okay, I hate to interject right here but I really think that Leia might be losing it. All that purple dye must have leeched into her brain or something because I’m pretty sure she’s using old western movies as a foundation for my relationship with Tony.

White tipped fingers snapped in front of my eyes. “Allycat, stop zoning out; live on your feet. Go and make the moves on Tony, go be your awkward self and use those pickup lines you found. Don’t let Kate walk all over you is what I’m saying. Show her that you were there first, find a way to show her who is boss, mark your territory.”

I smirked at the idea of how I’d mark my territory before snapping myself out of it with a groan. Leia watched me with an amused light shining in her eyes. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

“You need to get laid.”

Fuck man, no truer words have ever been said.

Notes

Any errors found were put there intentionally. (They weren't but I can't bothered fixing them with this headache so just deal.)

Sorry it's been a while, I'm sick (again) but I punched this out with a headache because I hate leaving you guys hanging for long periods of time. There's a bit of insight with Leia and Alice and glimpse into Alice's background with the boys. I hope you enjoyed.

Title credit: Bring Me The Horizon