The Only Medicine

It becomes apparent over the course of the week that Jessica isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, she’s there for band practice on Saturday afternoon, and she and Mike fuck all night Saturday night, to mine and Vic’s delight, and she’s there most of Sunday morning as well, and Mama and Papa Fuentes think she’s wonderful. I fix a smile on my face and remain pleasant by day and then write songs by night about how much I hate her. I don’t know whether she stays the night on Sunday night, but she’s not there when Mike arrives to pick me up Monday morning. She sits at our table every lunch time and they talk and canoodle and leave me feeling thoroughly left out. I spend my lunches texting Vic, who sympathises—we’re both not big on public displays of affection.

Friday comes and I’m waiting by Vic’s car again for Mike to finish class. We’re rehearsing again and then heading to some party that Mike’s been invited to. Like last week, he’s late. I know he has Biology with Jessica last period on a Friday and I know that’s the reason why and I try not to seethe about it.

I’m draped over the bonnet, texting Vic, when Mike appears hand-in-hand with Jessica. I roll my eyes and slide off the hood as they approach.

“Hi,” Jessica says as they approach.

“Jessica’s going to come watch us practise,” Mike explains, “then she’s coming with us to the party.”

“Right.” I grab my bag and bass case off the ground and hop into the back seat.


Vic is surprised to see Jessica when we get to the house.

“Um, hey,” he says, giving me a quizzical look.

“Jessica is coming with us to the party, so I told her she could come watch us practise first,” Mike says.

Jessica takes a seat on the couch. It was weird enough having her there for the last practice; playing to a crowd is fine, but playing to one person is very odd.

“Um, right. Okay.” Vic picks his guitar off its stand and starts tuning it.

We practise a couple of our new songs. I scream my lines and try to look as ferocious as possible. I don’t know if Jessica even likes our music, but she claps politely after every song.

“You should write a song for me,” she flirts. Mike grins at her.

“This next song is called ‘Jessica’,” I say into the microphone.

Jessica looks at me curiously.

“Um, I’m just kidding,” I say awkwardly. What a fucking idiot, Mia. “Uh, do you guys want to practise some of the old stuff as well?”

We play some of our older original songs, and then my fingers start getting sore, so Mike suggests we stop and just start drinking instead. Mama and Papa Fuentes are away for the weekend, so we don’t have to worry about them walking in on us. There’s no beer in the fridge, but Jessica has a fake ID, so she and Mike take Vic’s car to the liquor store.

“Oh my god, she’s so annoying,” I breathe to Vic once they leave.

“Tell me about it. Why does Mike keep bringing her to practice?”

“I know, right? It’s weird.”

“We should steal his bourbon while we’re waiting.”

I chuckle. “Serves him right. You should grab it, though. I don’t want to go through his underwear drawer.”

Vic laughs and heads out the door to fetch it. I get up and put my bass back in my case. I can’t believe the first heat of Battle of the Bands is next week; we’ve got seven songs written now, which will hopefully be enough. Each band gets a twenty minute set and there’s eight bands in total. I can’t help but feel nervous—it’s going to be our first time performing our original music in front of a crowd. Well, except for Jessica, but I don’t think she counts.

Vic comes back with a half-full bottle of bourbon and a pack of cards, so we decide to play a simple drinking game, Red or Black. The idea is that one person holds the deck and the other person has to guess whether the top card is red or black. If they get it wrong, they take a shot. If they get it right, the person with the deck takes a shot. Three in a row and you swap over.

Mike and Jessica take way longer than they should, and when they come in the garage, Jessica’s hair is dishevelled and Mike has a fresh hickey on his throat. Vic is absolutely seething, I can tell, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Have a good trip?” I mutter.

Mike notices the bottle of Jack on the floor in front of us. “Oh, what the fuck! That’s my stash!”

I shrug. “We were thirsty and you guys took forever.”

Mike glares at me. He’s got a black plastic bag in each hand, which he then sets in front of us as he sits down. “We didn’t have enough for beer, so we just got some bottles of cheap wine. So, you know, gimme back my shit.” He snatches the bottle up and takes it back to his room.

Jessica reaches into one of the plastic bags and pulls out a bottle of wine. Ugh. Bubbly wine. I hate wine. Mike comes back in with something to drink it out of—apparently there were no clean wine glasses, so he’s got mugs. Jessica pours us each a glass.

“What were you playing?” she asks.

“Uh, just Red and Black,” Vic replies. “Do you guys want to play something?”

I’m hesitant to play anything that involves truth or confessing feelings or admitting things that you’ve done, so I pray no one suggests any of those sorts of games.

“Nah, Red and Black’s all good,” Mike says.


We’re all pretty sloshed by the time we get to the party—I don’t even know whose party it is—but I’m feeling good. In fact, Mike and Jessica spent most of the ride here making out at the back of the bus, and I didn’t even care. Okay, maybe I cared, but I’m telling myself that I didn’t.
Mike and Jessica disappear into the throng of people, but Vic and I stick together. I know he feels awful about ditching me last time, even if he doesn’t admit it. We spot a couple of familiar faces in the living room; Jaime and his friend from the last party. I can’t remember his name.

“Hey Jaime,” Vic greets him as we walk over.

“Oh, hey guys!” Jaime pulls us both into a smothering hug. He’s a very touchy-feely person, which would usually bother me but it doesn’t because I’m drunk and feeling good.

His friend gives us a shy smile.

“I’m so sorry; I’ve forgotten your name,” I say to him.

“Tony,” he replies.

“Ah yeah, that’s right! I’m Mia.”

“I remember,” he smiles.

“That makes me feel bad for not remembering your name,” I laugh. He’s cute. He has a kind face. “So, um, you ready for Friday?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m actually pretty nervous,” he admits. “We’ve played a bunch of times but I always feel nervous.”

“I know what you mean. This is our first time playing original songs.” I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell someone who’s technically our competition that. I don’t really care, though.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I know.”

Vic joins in the conversation. “Mia’s been writing heaps of good songs, though. She’s an awesome songwriter.”

I blush. “Shut up! Vic does most of the writing.”

“She’s the real talent, though.”

“You’re full of shit,” I laugh.

We end up spending most of the night chatting with them, and they’re actually really nice guys. They’re the year below Mike and me and go to our school, but I don’t feel like I’ve ever seen them around before. I tell them this and they admit that they spend most of their lunch times in the music room. That makes sense. I never thought about doing practice at lunch times, but it’d be kind of hard without Vic and his guitar to tie all the music together. And it sounds like they book it out every lunch time anyway.

“You guys should pop by on Monday,” Jaime suggests. “We could jam for a bit.”

“That could be good,” I say, “although wouldn’t that be a bit like fraternising with the enemy?”

Jaime laughs. “Oh, yeah!” He puts his hand up in my face. “We shan’t speak any further. Good day, sir,” he jokes.


Drunk. I stand, swaying, in the hallway, waiting for person in the bathroom to finish so I can use it. I don’t feel like I’ve actually drunk that much, but when I count up the drinks in my head, I realise I have. I’m going to blame it on the wine from earlier. Thinking about the wine brings up a bad taste in my mouth. Fucking Jessica. Stupid Mike.

The person finishes in the bathroom and I take their place. I can generally track my drunkenness by how willing I am to sit on the toilet seat in a stranger’s house. I hate it. I’m too drunk to squat without falling over.

I wash my hands and open the door and Vic’s standing there.

“Mia!” he cheers.

“Vic!” I cheer back, falling into his arms.

“You are my beautiful princess and I love you,” he says, giving me a squeeze.

“I love you, too.”

“Hey, hey, do you know who you should love?” he slurs, holding me at arm’s length. He doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “I think you know. You’ve been talking to him all night.”

I frown. “Uh, do you mean Jaime or Tony?”

“Yeah!”

“Wait, who?”

“I think Tony likes you,” he says, wrapping one arm around my shoulders as we walk back to the living room. “You should ask him out.”

“Uh, Tony has a girlfriend,” I laugh. “He told us, like, five times.” Actually, that might have been Jaime—I can’t remember.

“Oh, what?” Vic looks put out.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to try match me up with anyone.”

“But you’re my beautiful princess!” Vic insists.

I hug him again. “I know, and I love you, but I don’t really want to be with anyone at the moment.”

Actually, I’m surprised that I haven’t seen Jane tonight—I’m sure that she’s friends with a bunch of the people here. Perhaps she’s at a different party or something. I smile at the thought. I’m thinking about Jane and I’m not on the brink of tears about it. That’s got to be a success. I’m surprised that ending things with her could make me feel so good.

We find Jaime and Tony in the kitchen. They hand us back our drinks.

“Um, I meant to ask earlier; are you guys dating?” Tony asks shyly.

Vic and I look at each other and laugh. We’re used to people not really understanding our relationship. To be fair, we spend a lot of time touching each other and professing our love for one another, especially while drunk, so it must be confusing for people. I’ve also had people ask if Vic is gay, which he finds hilarious.

“No, we’re just best friends,” Vic says, giving me a squeeze. “Mia’s like my sister.”

“Sorry, had to ask,” Tony says, taking a sip from his cup. He looks like he’s trying not to look embarrassed. “You guys are really close.”

“We’ve known each other for, like, ten years,” I tell him.

“N’aww!” Jaime says, pinching my cheeks sloppily.

“So where’s your brother tonight?” Tony asks Vic. “I don’t know if I’ve seen him here.”

Vic and I look at each other again. “Probably defiling one of the empty bedrooms with his girlfriend.”

Jaime bursts out laughing. “Oh man, seriously? I hope they didn’t do that at my party.” He pauses. “Actually, pretty sure I caught you in one of the bedrooms at my party.”

Vic turns bright red. “Oh god, that’s so embarrassing.”

“Vic doesn’t remember much from that night,” I laugh, pushing him good-naturedly.

“So embarrassing,” he repeats, shaking his head.

I look over his shoulder and spot Mike weaving out from the hallway. Jessica isn’t anywhere to be seen. He must see us, since he’s coming over.

“Oh, hey bro,” Vic says. “Where’s Jessica?”

“She’s being sick,” Mike says.

I snort. “That bad?”

He glares at me. “Shut up, Mia.”

Jaime, Vic and Tony exchange a look. For some reason, Mike’s response makes me furious.

“Why don’t you go check up on your girlfriend?” I snarl.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Vic looks between us, alarmed, then grabs Mike’s arm and pulls him away. I stand there and watch them go, seething.

“What was that about?” Jaime asks after an awkward pause.

I drain my cup. “I dunno.”

“I thought you guys were friends?” Tony says.

I shake my head. “We are. I don’t know why he’s being a dick.”

I try to stop being annoyed at Mike, but I can’t help it. I can only hope that Vic is talking some sense into him. I keep drinking with Tony and Jaime (although I realise now that Tony’s actually just been drinking Coke this whole time) until Mike and Vic come back. Jessica is slumped against Mike, barely awake.

“Oh, what the fuck,” Jaime says. “How drunk is she?”

“Pretty drunk,” Mike admits. “We had quite a bit before we came here.”

“We should take her home,” Vic says.

“I can give you guys a ride, if you’d like,” Tony offers. “I was thinking of leaving anyway.”

Mike nods and we say goodbye to Jaime and head out.

Notes