Settle for Nothing
His mom lets her in and tells her he's in his room. When she gets there, he's sitting on the floor at the end of his bed, listening to some piss-poor grunge/metal/hardcore wannabes. He looks like shit and the room's a fucking mess. She nudges his leg with the toe of her boot and he looks up at her.
"What?"
"Thought we were goin' out."
"We have to? God, listen to these guys ..."
"Yeah, great. So, we're not goin' out?"
"I've got some weed, you want." He starts to skin up.
Doesn't even notice the purple bruise on her cheekbone.
He gives her handfuls of cheap lighters, CDs with the alarm case attached, jewelry snatched from revolving stands. Doesn't care if she wants them or likes them. Just once, she thinks, it'd be nice to get something he paid for.
She opens her wallet and it's five dollars lighter than it was that morning. The next week, it's a ten that goes missing.
Okay, paid for with his own fucking money.
When she breaks up with him, he tells her to keep the presents, like he's being a big man about it.
Even the demons can tell she's pissed off.
He pounds those skins the way she pounds on vamps' faces. He doesn't know when to stop, like sometimes she doesn't know.
He thinks he's the heart, not the engine room. Thinks being able to keep time means he can make time with any skank who's impressed by a guy who spends six hours practicing, one hour on a stage with twenty people watching, and fifteen minutes proving how he can only get a good rhythm going with a pair of sticks in his hands.
But, the day he says, "Listen, I wrote ya a song …" is the last straw.
She sounds like a fairy tale. Only this time, the princess gets to kick ass and save the guy. Gets the guy. Gets the boyfriend who takes her nice places, buys her nice things, isn't stuck in a dream that'll take them exactly nowhere.
"I bet she's beautiful."
"I have no idea."
"Why can't I meet her?"
The woman hesitates. "The Council has to consider these things very carefully. They're waiting for the right time."
Faith looks at her. "She doesn't even know I'm alive, does she?"
Her Watcher smiles, wraps an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry. She will."