A/N: Yeah... This story is totally off the wall crazy. There's drugs, drinking, sex, violence.. You name it, I probably wrote about it somewhat. If you are too young or if you don't like reading that type of stuff, just hit the back button now. You've been warned!!! Chapter One - It Takes No Guts
"Ugh, stop it Luna!" I rolled away from the uninvited puppy kisses, pulling my blanket over my head along the way. She whined and I groaned. For just a moment, I felt like I was back in my old life.... Then I remembered that I had a dog to take care of now, something pretty new to me.
No Jess, No jail, I reminded myself for probably the billionth time. I had a new life, a better life. I had things worth living for.
"Alright," I yawned, then scratched her furry little head. I led her through the house to the back door and then let her go out and pee.
It was a bright, beautiful day for March in West Virginia. None of the furious winter seemed to have remained on all the freshly cut lawns that I could see from here. I opened the door again and stepped out into the sun, testing how warm it actually was. Not bad.
Luna came running, relief clear in the way her tongue lolled from one side of her little Husky mouth. Her blue eyes were the same shade as the sky today. I smiled at her; she was like a piece of my soul these days, almost like my child or something.
I was a total dork sometimes.
"Hey Baby Girl," I said softly as I leaned over to pet her. I baby-talked her way too much.
The neighbor to my right came out of his back door and glared in my direction. I called him Albert because I had no clue what his name was, and he looked a whole lot like Einstein.
"Problem?" I asked him like the bitch I easily was, straightening up with my hands on my hips. He fervently shook his head no and went back inside. I rolled my eyes at him. Pussy.
Lu and I went back inside and I filled up her food and water, then lit up a smoke. It was already two in the evening, my usual wake-up time, and I needed to get my shit together to be out by the time Mom got off work. I mean, I loved the woman but we tended to clash. On everything.
I went into my room and found something to wear, then headed to the little adjacent bathroom to get ready. I found the pint of vodka under the sink and figured I'd be starting early today. I liked being ahead of everyone else.
I dressed up today, wearing my favorite thigh-high boots and a tight little steel gray micro-mini dress. I looked fucking awesome.
I was totally finished getting ready around my third or fourth shot, so I poured the rest into a half a Sprite and slipped on my shoes.
"Whiskey sippin' Mountain mama, in them tall black boots.."
My ringer never got past there. Ever. That was my song.
"Hey," I answered unenthusiastically.
"Where are you? Practice is in an hour."
"No shit," I laughed. "I was just leaving, I should be there in ten minutes." Ana and I hadn't missed a practice in months. The last time was because it was impossible; I'd been in jail still.
"Good," she laughed heartily. "And then you and Darrell can get it on and - "
"Ana, what the hell? What the fuck are you talking about?" The thought almost made me hysterical. I didn't "get it on" with anybody. Not anymore, at least.
"You two want eachother so bad it makes me horny!" She squealed laughter. I was walking down the street now and someone in their yard turned to look at me because they could hear her.
"Hush. People are staring."
"Fine," she gave in easily. "Want to play some before we go? I learned a new riff yesterday."
"Yeah, sounds good."
I popped open her front door and entered her room with the phone still to my ear.
"Finally," she said, hanging up and rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. She lifted up a bottle of Seagrams 7 and shook it at me happily.
"I still beat you," I told her, shaking my own bottle. "First thing this morning."
"Wow, you make a better alcoholic than me, Liz. Good for you," she giggled. She loved to tease me.
"Hey, they tried to tell you in AA," I laughed. We'd been to a bunch of meetings back in the day, a result of a few underage consumption tickets piling up between the two of us. I'd hated it, but it sure beat the hell out of jail.
Ana pointed at me and then at the guitar we shared.
"Nah," I told her, plopping down on her bed and taking a swig from my bottle. I was actually entertaining her words about me and Darrell. "Play something for me. I'm bored."
"Okay." She picked up the guitar, our baby, and started strumming out 'Nutshell' by Alice In Chains. I loved the song but it was too detrimental to my mood this morning, so I sort of blocked it out.
"Ready to go see our boys?" she asked, suddenly right beside of me.
"Let's fuckin' go," I smiled. "Bring the 7 and 7."
We walked the three little blocks to the even worse side of town until we reached the big white house with the giant red nosed pit outside, staring us down defiantly. He was actually only for looks; he was the biggest pussy of a dog I'd ever met. There were two chihuahua's inside that were more to fear.
"Hey Girth McGirth," I said to him sweetly while he wagged his tail like an idiot. He was a sucker for the ladies. The front door popped open and Richie stood there smiling.
"Hey Legs. Ana," he geeted happily. "Vince's not here yet."
We both knew that was more for her benefit than my own. She'd had a thing for our favorite local bands' guitar player for two years now. The only one who never noticed was him, because if he did they'd definitely be together. She and I had made up a stupid rule years ago that we'd never make the first move on any guy. I'd broken it plenty of times, but she had to push on and be a trooper. I think she was really just scared he wouldn't feel the same way, which was actually just flat out ridiculous. He'd be lucky to have her.
Ana was kind of short and had a soft, curvy frame. She had beautiful long dark locks and a clear, olive toned complexion, big brown eyes and full pouty lips. She was cute as hell.
I was almost an opposite; I was tall and thin, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. I was pale as a ghost no matter how much time I spent outside, with freckles across my cheeks and nose. My features were angular, where her's were very soft. We made a terribly hot duo. And we definitely knew it.
We walked inside where Darrell was practicing vocal exercises and Hart was tuning his bass. Darrell stopped when he noticed us and walked over to tower the both of us.
"Hey, beautiful," he said with his wonderful blue eyes on me, flashing that panty-melting smile he was so lucky to have. I mean, I had great teeth, but good lord.
Darrell was a huge hunk of sexy man meat, standing at a good six foot three and weighing well over three hundred pounds of thick, pure muscle. He had the strongest features I'd possibly ever seen and his arms and calves were covered in ink. He was the manliest man out there, and he was just my type. Gorgeous.
"Hey yourself," I smiled. I reached in my purse and grabbed my bowl and my fat sack of stinky buds. It was my own special blend called Melon Berry, a mix-up of Blueberry, Strawberry, the extremely rare Blackberry, and Watermelon with just a hint of Sweet Tooth. It'd taken me years to breed it out until it was just right, and people practically begged me for it by the ounces.
"Wanna smoke up guys?" I winked at them.
"Hell yeah!"
I packed while Richie rolled one and we all sat in the classic circle and started toking. I smoked this weed every single day but it still never failed to blaze me out by the third hit. I'd probably be rolling around laughing by nightfall.
"Sorry guys," Vince said as the door suddenly popped open. "Bragg was asleep."
"Hey," Ana said to him shyly from her seat beside me on the couch. Vince smiled and walked over to the lap top, then started playing Superjoint.
"Fuck yeah!" Darrell hollered, headbanging. "We should cover 'It Takes No Guts'. We'll make Legs play rhythm." He winked at me.
"I'd do it," I laughed. "I already know it."
"Yeah, but all you know is the leads," Richie said, passing me the spliff.
"Rhythm's easy once you have the leads down though. It'd be fun for you too, Animal," I laughed. Richie banged his drums just like that muppet, and he had him tattooed on his right hand. The first time I met him he showed it to me and then told me that he and Animal shared the same two passions in life: "Drumming, and Wo-mern." Ha.
"I'd rather do a Down song. Or Pantera."
"Everybody does Pantera," Darrell said to Hart, rolling his eyes.
"Figure it out later," Ana said smoothly, putting the joint into an ashtray while I stashed my piece back in my purse. We'd seen alot of fights break out between those two. "It's four o'clock and I want to hear some god damn music!"
She sat back down beside of me and we drank together while we got to enjoy our own little private concert from the absolute best musicians in southern West Virginia.
A/N: It's hard to understand right now. Review or PM and I'll try to explain a little better. Updates will probably be infrequent and random so if you want to keep up, put me on alerts or check back every week or so. I'm trying, guys!