Jude was startled when he heard the tapping on the door. "Lucy" he whispered to himself, as he came out of a sound sleep. He was dreaming about her again. The girl with kaleidoscope eyes. He couldn't get her out of his mind, and yet he was still angry. Angry at her, and angry at himself. His thoughts were shaken when the tapping began again, now louder.
"Bloody maids" he hissed under breath.
Standing up he walked to the door and opened it only enough to peek out.
'Well, well, well. Look what crawled out of bed." Max smirked and smiled as he did so.
"Max…"Jude paused, and it an instant was in his arms hugging him, and Max was doing the same thing back.
"Come in, come in." Jude exclaimed opening the door wide enough so that max could slide his way in.
Max looked around the room and felt sad. There were no paintings, no scattered drawings lying around, no artwork of any kind. Just empty cartons of cigarettes, empty and full bottles of liquor, and a sad boy standing in the middle of all of it.
"Jude…I love what you've done with the place." Max attempted to liven the mood.
Jude shot him a small smile as he poured himself a glass of whiskey and then did the same for Max.
Max took the glass and nursed it carefully, not wanting to get out of control, which was more than he could say for Jude, who looked hung over but still drank the remains of his whiskey and did so quickly.
"No one's gonna take that away from you man." Max said in a dull tone.
Jude eyed him with curiosity. "Did you come all this way to tell me that, mate?"
"No…but I did however come all this way because I miss you."
"As I do to you, however, don't plan on me coming back anytime soon."
Max sat his glass down and watched Jude pour more into his own.
'Jude…this isn't right, you're drinking, you're not stable…Lucy isn't stable, she's using-"
"Using? As in she is still on cocaine?" Jude's tone sounded sad and almost as if he cared. Max's eyes glistened at this and Jude noticed, he shrugged it off and continued drinking his whiskey.
Max sighed. "Yes, she is using, and it's awful. She won't come out of her room, she doesn't eat, she comes out at night like some kind of vampire. She never says more than two words. All she cares about is making herself numb."
"So you came here to tell me this why?"
"Christ Jude…I don't know what to do. She is my baby sister. I'm losing it, man."
"I already lost it." Jude replied while finishing off his second glass.
Max eyed him up and down. This wasn't the kid he met at Princeton and this certainly wasn't the kid who flew halfway across the world to win a girl back. This was someone else.
"Of all the people in my life I thought you would care the most…about her. And you can't even bring yourself to stop drinking and come on by."
"With all do respect, she asked me to leave."
"And you left, and you didn't come back."
"Well what am I supposed to do? The girl was so fucked up every time I saw her. She would sob all night, and when I tried to be the one to ask how I could help she throws me drinking up in my face and says I'll never understand. And then John-"
"John's not part of the picture-"
"Oh bull shit, John's the reason the girl got into the stuff. She couldn't wait to see Prudence and John and the goodies they had for her. She wasn't the same. She kept sinking further and further."
Jude felt sadness take over and poured himself another glass.
Max reached out and grabbed the glass and tossed against the far wall.
"Max what the-"
"Jude…I came here because I know you're sick, just like she is sick. I came here because I'm your friend. It's clear to me you don't want any friends…I'm sick of seeing her hurt, and you hurt, fuck I hurt, too."
Jude didn't have a response, he looked at the shattered glass and then at Max's shattered face.
"If you want to grow up and come over, you know where to find us."
Max headed for the door and slammed it behind him. Jude felt numb, he felt sick in his own skin, and ran to the bathroom. He heaved up something awful and red and anxiously flushed it down. He moaned as he felt the cold floor hit his head and then something happened, he started to cry. A real cry, not one of those emotional drunk moments he had been having, he cried and he cried hard, for himself, for Max, but mainly for Lucy.
Lucy heard the sound of music coming lightly from the back room of Prudence's apartment. She heard John laughing and she knew what laid behind the door, her escape. She knocked twice and opened the door to find no Prudence, only John. He smiled at the girl with blonde hair and pointed at the mirror covered in lines of white powder.
'You're just in time sweet." He said politely.
She nodded and sat down.
"Surprising to see you out of the comfort of your room." John laughed.
"I needed to get out of there. It's full of memories and thoughts, and people."
John didn't mention Jude. He knew all about him, all about them. Their falling out, and how Jude disapproved of him for sharing one too many lines of cocaine with Lucy and for attempting to get her to stay at his place one night. He shook the idea of the English boy from his mind and handed Lucy a rolled up dollar bill.
She took it with envy and felt the white powder liven up her senses. She felt so good and so numb. No pain, no sadness, just peaceful.
John and her finished off the lines and sat on the couch laughing about the songs on the radio. They didn't make sense.
Lucy felt John's hand brush against her hair and she quivered. She didn't like the thought of him being romantic with her, he wasn't Jude, not even close. He continued to play with her hair and she felt compelled to stay. He smiled and she noticed it out of the corner of her eye. She could hear his breath, deep and long and she knew he was going to make a pass at her. She shrugged and stood up quickly.
"Where are you going?" John sounded angry, and concerned.
"To the store…Sadie needed cough drops and I figured I'd stop here first." Lucy lied.
"Sick is she?" Does that mean no show tonight?"
Lucy felt trapped. "Well..umm, I don't know, probably, she would never miss a show."
John shook his head at her. "You know Lucy…some people aren't made to be liars."
Lucy looked at her feet and sighed.
"I don't know what you mean."
John smashed his hand down on the table causing Lucy to jump. He stood up fiercely and walked towards her. She couldn't move. He leaned down to her height and stared directly into her piercing blue eyes.
"Listen, I know you know about my feelings for you and I can't make them much clearer. You can't come over and get free lines for nothing…not if you aren't my girl. You gonna run back to Jude and paint lovely pictures for the rest of your life? He is not perfect and neither are those paintings. Get the picture Lucy…this is the real world." John stepped back and ran his hand down his face.
"I'm sorry, sweet." He whispered touching her face.
She turned away violently and her lips quivered.
He moved her face back towards his and looked directly into her eyes. "Listen sweet, things will work out. You'll get used to all of this…but like I said, you aren't going to get shit for free, and you're not gonna cop an attitude with me."
Lucy turned around, her whole body shaking from the mix of fear and drugs. She began walking to the door.
"So I'll see you at Sadie's gig." John yelled down the hall.
"Yeah you will." Lucy replied quietly.
Sadie was finishing up her hair when max came through the door. He looked depressed.
"It didn't go so well did it?" Sadie asked.
"Understatement of the year."
Sadie shrugged. "Well, how's the boy?"
"No good. Talk about a heavy drinker. Whiskey is her new past time and he doesn't even draw or sketch or anything."
Sadie looked at Max confused. "Did he mention Lucy?"
"He was concerned when I said she was still using. He ranted about John for a bit, and then became a sarcastic dick."
"Ever think he's hurting, too?"
"He is. And I told him that."
"Yes but Jude is the one who got shunned when Lucy found an out to her problems, and when she started hanging around that waste of life John."
"Why does Prudence let him stay?"
"Prudence doesn't have much of a say. He has been throwing down for rent, and every time she mentions moving someplace else he threatens her."
"Why doesn't someone do something about this asshole?"
Sadie shrugged. "Max…we've all tried different things. JoJo has gotten in his face and made it clear that he isn't welcome here. Do you think that stops him from trying to see Lucy?"
Max shuddered at that thought of this guy standing next to his sister.
As though she knew they were talking about the boy who just scared her lifeless, Lucy walked into the kitchen.
Sadie starred at her with wide eyes.
"Well….I didn't even know you left?"
"Where'd you go…" Max asked hesitantly.
"I could say the same to you." Lucy replied coldly.
Max just sighed and looked at his sister with hurt in his eyes.
Said tried to liven the mood. "Why don't you come to the gig Luce?"
"I plan on it." Lucy said, her voice shaking.
"Is everything okay?" Sadie asked noticing the fear in her voice and eyes.
Lucy nodded.
"SHIT!" Max yelled while looking at Lucy's face.
Lucy held her hand up to her nose and felt the warm blood rushing.
"I'll get a towel!" Said yelled running for the pantry.
"No it's fine, I'll be fine-"
Max cut Lucy off. "Fine? How is this fine? You were at Prudence's!"
Lucy shook her head. "It's none of your business-"
"Oh believe me, I plan on making it my business." Max stammered getting in front of Lucy's face. "What the hell are you thinking? You have to stop-"
At that moment a sharp stinging sensation hit Max's face. Lucy stop there, blood smeared on her face starring at Max, with a single tear rolling down her cheek. Sadie starred at the two.
"Don't EVER get in my face again."
Max just starred at his sister. "Luce…I'm sorry…you've never acted like this before-I don't underst-"
"I don't expect you to understand, but don't ever tell me what to do again." Lucy grabbed the towel from Sadie and slammed the bathroom door, where she broke down into a mess. She replayed John over and over in her mind. And why'd he have to bring up Jude?
Max looked at Sadie in shock. Sadie looked at the floor.
"I have to go to the café to get prepped."
"We'll be fine." Max replied.
"So I'll see you both there right?"
"If I can get her to come."
"Max, don't leave her alone."
