CASTIEL MASON
"I like your car," Nelly says, climbing into the passenger seat of my truck. She tosses her backpack on the floor, but holds her precious guitar carefully wedged between her knees. I've never seen someone so obsessed with their instrument.
"Thanks," I mutter, climbing in beside her. I pull my smartphone out of my pocket and hand it to her before rolling the windows down to get some air in here. "Plug in your address." She does as I say and hands me my phone back. Aurora Avenue. How sweet. I start up the engine and start driving. It seems rude to just sit here and say nothing, so I wrack my brain for something to ask her about.
"How do you like school?" Really, Castiel? Is that the only thing you can think of?
"School's school," she shrugs. "It isn't awful, it isn't great, it just...is."
"You ever play hooky?" I ask, actually curious. I wouldn't be surprised, judging by the way she acted in class today. She laughs and taps her guitar case.
"Yeah, actually. I used to go out with my old boyfriend Evan during the school day."
"Your old boyfriend?" This I gotta hear.
"I dumped his sorry ass a long time ago," she says with a cruel laugh. "Everything was great until I found out that his older brother had offered to give him five hundred bucks if he got me knocked up."
"Uh, TMI."
"Sorry, you're right. What about you, though? Everyone has a tragic love story, right?" I sigh and readjust my hands on the wheel.
"Not me," I lie.
"Oh." She actually has the nerve to sound disappointed. "Well..." she hesitates, "I hope you never do." She must be tired, because she's not snapping at me like she was earlier. Maybe it's just because I don't have her guitar anymore. But since I lied, I can't bring myself to say thanks. After a few more minutes of silence, she brings up Amber. Now it's my turn to laugh.
"What do you wanna know about that idiot?"
"Well, for starters, why does she stalk you?"
"She stalks me?"
"Uh-huh. When Kim and I left her and her friends were listening in on you guys. She also told me to stay away from you..." Well, then. That's slightly creepy. I'll have to have a serious talk with Amber tomorrow.
"Madly in love already, are we?" I tease Nelly.
"Right. Keep telling yourself that, hotshot."
"Oh, I will, princess. Pretty soon you won't be able to hide it."
"Shut up. And I thought it was ginger?"
"Nah, princess suits you."
"I will take that as a compliment."
"Whatever makes you feel better." We tease each other back and forth until she stops me in front of her house.
"Stop! This is it!" A woman with the same orange hair as Nelly is sitting out on the front porch steps of a quaint white farmhouse, looking down the street anxiously. When she sees her daughter in my car, her face lights up.
"Nelly!" she shouts, standing up and running to the car window. "Honey, I was so worried! Simon said you wouldn't come home with him! Where were you?"
"With him," Nelly says shortly, opening the car door and thrusting her backpack into her mother's arms. She slides out with her guitar on her back. Nelly's mom looks up at me and gawks, taking in my chain necklace and my dyed red hair. I have to give her some credit, though; at least she tries to be polite and non-judgmental.
"A-and who is this, honey?"
"This is Castiel," Nelly answers, giving me a flirtatious wave. "Isn't he gorgeous, Mamma?" Ah, I see what she's doing. Revenge on the mother for marrying the nerd. Well, I can play along, especially since I'd probably do the same thing in her shoes.
"See you tomorrow, babe," I say, reaching across the car to pull the door shut. "Don't miss me too much."
"I'll try not to," she giggles, blowing me a kiss. "Bye!" I smirk and pull away, leaning to my left to see what happens in the rear view mirror. Nelly's mom stares after my car in horrified shock as Nelly prances inside, obviously very pleased with herself. I imagine there will be a lot to talk about at their dinner table tonight.
Meanwhile, there will be absolutely nothing to talk about at mine.
I take my time driving home, and when I pull into the garage, it seems even quieter than usual, probably because I had someone to talk to a few minutes ago. And now it's just me. I fumble with the keys in the dark, eventually finding the one that unlocks the garage door. As soon as I walk in, Demon starts barking like mad.
"I'm coming, boy!" I holler. I don't know why I talk to my dog like he's a person; it never works. He just keeps barking.
I have to keep Demon in the basement all day, otherwise he'll destroy the house. Dad's orders. If he decided to come home one weekend and saw so much as a snag in the carpet, I'd be dead and Demon would be gone. The only reason they let me keep him in the first place is because otherwise I'd be completely alone in this monster of a house, and then I'd destroy it. My dad isn't near as bitchy as my mom is, but I'd like to stay on his good side for as long as possible.
It's not so bad I guess, living on my own. Shopping for groceries is a pain, but otherwise I don't really care. Or, that's what I tell myself. Truth is, my parents pretty much abandoned me as soon as I could drive; and they made me get my driver's permit as early as possible. They call once a week to make sure I'm not dead, but otherwise I never hear from them. Most of the time they forget to call, though. When they do come home, which is maybe once every six months for a weekend here and there, Mom spends most of her time catching up with her socialite friends over glasses of wine, and Dad plays poker in between mugs of beer. It's a charmed life, that's for sure.
The second I open the basement door, Demon attacks, knocking me to the ground, jumping excitedly and licking my face.
"Hey, buddy," I say in an uncharacteristically high voice reserved especially for my dog. "I know, I know, I'm glad to see you too. Okay, let's let Castiel up now. Okay, thank you. Good boy!" Demon races over to the door that leads into the backyard, and I let him out to do his business. When he comes back in, he's still excited to see me. I'm guessing it's because this was the first day all summer I haven't been with him the entire day. I take him everywhere with me during the summer, even Lysander's. I allow myself to smile again at the memory of Lysander calling me to say that Demon had destroyed Rosalya's new dress. As upset as Leigh was, it was probably the highlight of my summer, because I spent the rest of it chasing Demon around the beach and working out as a recreational activity to minimize the amount of time spent busting out my eardrums with my electric guitar. The good thing about is now I've got enough muscle to beat up idiots like Nathaniel King.
He's such a stupid dog, Demon. But he's probably the only thing in the world besides my guitar that I can say I love without a doubt. Everything else in life is expendable.
I toss Demon his bat chew toy and go upstairs to my room to change into something more comfortable and try some of Lysander's new chords on my electric. I absolutely love my electric, don't get me wrong, but somehow I almost like the intimate sound of Nelly's acoustic better. That was a great sounding guitar. It's really no wonder why she loves it so much.
While I'm changing, the tickets to the Stars from Nightmares concert fall out of my pocket. I finish pulling on my sweats and just stare at them on the floor, pulling the front strands of my hair back in a half-ponytail. Those stupid tickets are so frickin' important, and yet I'm resisting an inexplicable urge to throw them away.
It's because I'm scared, I realize. I'm scared to face her. It's my stupid ego, too. When she and her...our friends got that record deal that didn't include me, I was tossed to the backseat. Now she's on a whole new level.
"Sorry, Cas," she had said, "but it's either you or my dream." Apparently, I wasn't very high on her list of dreams, which sucked, because she was high on mine.
And there I go, getting all sentimental. This has to stop happening. It just has to. I kick the tickets under my bed and grab my guitar. After turning the amp all the way up, I come down hard on the strings, striking a chord that causes my ears to ring and Demon to go nuts downstairs. It also causes me to snap a string.
"Damnit," I mutter under my breath. Maybe Nelly had a point, being nervous about me. I don't have any more spending money, either. I spent all that on the stupid tickets. Irritated beyond belief, I call up Lysander.
"Hello?"
"Lys, can I borrow forty bucks?"
"Why?"
"Snapped my strings."
"Are you serious?"
"No, I'm calling because I miss you! Yes, I'm serious!"
"Cas, I'm not sure if I have forty bucks on me..."
"Well, what am I supposed to do, then? I can't play with five strings!"
"Why don't you ask that girl? She might have some you can borrow."
"I don't have her number and her mom already hates me. I can't just walk up to her house." Lysander pauses before asking his next question.
"What did you do, Castiel?"
"We just put on a little charade. Innocent fun. But the bottom line is, I'm not exactly welcome there."
"Hmm..." Lysander considers my predicament. He knows I'll go crazy if I can't play. "Are you sure you don't have her number?"
"Why the hell would I have gotten her number?"
"Did you give her your phone to find her house?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did you check your contacts list after? If she didn't put her number in your phone, I'll get the forty bucks from Leigh."
"Fine, I'll check. If it's not there, I'll call."
"Good night, Castiel." Lysander hangs up and I scowl as if he can see me through the phone. Begrudgingly, I open my contacts list and look through. My jaw drops when I see her first name, written next to a winky face. That little...
I press her name to call her. When she picks up, she sounds confused.
"Who's this?"
"You're a clever little princess, aren't you?" I snicker. She laughs at the sound of my voice.
"Castiel! I wondered when you'd find that."
"I was right. You are madly in love."
"As if. I just wanted to see if you'd notice. It didn't take you too long, I'll give you that."
"Lysander predicted it," I mumble.
"Ah, I see, so he's the smart one," she laughs.
"Listen, you wouldn't happen to have any spare guitar strings, would you?"
"Depends on why you're asking."
"I snapped mine."
"Ha! I knew you were trouble!"
"Shut up and answer my question."
"Yes, I have one extra set."
"Can you bring them over?" I ask, cursing myself for the eager tone in my voice.
"Nope. Grounded."
"Grounded?"
"For hooking up with, I quote, 'the first delinquent I saw.'"
"Your mom actually thinks we...?"
"'Fraid so, hotshot." Well, this conversation is officially awkward.
"Can I come get them, then?" I ask.
"Grounded also means no visitors."
"Throw them out the damn window!"
"Language..." she chides in a singsong voice. "If you need them that badly, I'll bring them tomorrow morning, how's that?"
"I really need them tonight."
"I can't get them to you tonight!" I pause and think if there's any way I can get them.
"What if I came over?"
"What part of no visitors do you not under-"
"No! What if I came over to 'apologize' to your parents?" I do the air quotes even though she can't see me.
"Parent," she corrects sharply. "And what would that accomplish?"
"I could come in, you could sneak me the strings." Nelly sighs, and I hear her fall down backwards on what I'm guessing is her bed.
"I just don't understand why this can't wait 'til morning. It's seriously less than twelve hours away; you can live without your guitar for that long."
"That just proves how much you don't know me."
"If I don't know you, then why are you calling me asking for strings?"
"'Cause Lysander's broke and I spent all my money on concert tickets for us this weekend, and you're the only other person I know who plays! I'm a little desperate here."
"You're going to a concert?"
"Don't you dare change the subject."
"No, no, I just meant, maybe we could work a little something out."
"Meaning..."
"Who are you seeing?"
"Stars from Nightmares," I say, forcing the words out.
"Ooh, really? Kim was telling me about them during lunch today. Are they any good?"
"They're alright," I seethe. I do not want to talk about that band with her.
"Gimme the second ticket and the strings are all yours," she offers. I clench my fist and bite my lip. There she goes again with her bargaining.
"The other ticket is for Lysander. My friend," I growl.
"Well, I'm not going to give my guitar strings to someone who's not my friend," Nelly snaps from the other end.
"I'll call you back," I grumble. I hang up the phone and call Lysander again.
"Her number seriously wasn't in there?"
"It was. And she has the strings. But she wants another deal." Lysander lets out a low whistle.
"What is it this time?"
"She wants the other ticket to the concert." I pause, waiting for Lysander's response, but he gives none. "Look, I won't give to her if you want it."
"Castiel, you know what, this is actually great, because I have no interest whatsoever in seeing that band." Lysander's words shock me.
"Really?"
"I'm not a huge fan of their kind of music, and I really don't like being in a crowd. If you give her the ticket, I won't be offended."
"Thanks, man, you're the best." I hang up and call Nelly back.
"So?" she asks in an expectant tone.
"You can have the ticket."
"Cool! And you don't have to 'apologize' to my mom. I'll throw the box out the window. Look just behind the ridiculous bushes with the yellow flowers."
"Cool, thanks, princess."
"No problem, hotshot. I was never gonna use these strings anyways. I don't break mine." I huff indignantly as she hangs up on me. She really is a little brat, isn't she? But at least she came through with the strings.
I don't bother putting my jeans back on or redoing my hair. Nobody's going to see me, anyways. I decide to bring Demon, though. Poor guy's been alone all day. He hops into the passenger seat of the truck like it's where he belongs, and I head back to Nelly's house.
The lights are only on in the left side, so I'm guessing they're having dinner or something. I can't help but imagine the fight that's no doubt going on right now.
"Nelly, I can't believe you would do that just to spite us! That boy is trouble, I'm telling you right now!"
"For the last time, I didn't do anything."
"You should've seen her in class, today, darling. She was sleeping!"
"Nelly! Sleeping in your father's class?"
"I was only pretending, and we got the work done."
"I'll bet that nice boy with the silver hair did it all by himself, didn't he?"
"Maybe."
"ELEANOR CARTER!"
Ha. I almost feel bad for the girl. Almost. Personally, I wouldn't mind having someone around to yell at me to get a haircut or to turn down the amp every once in a while. I mean, I wouldn't get the haircut or turn down the amp even if they asked, but still. It's awful hard to rebel when you don't have anyone to rebel against.
As promised, the box of guitar strings is behind the bushes decorated with yellow flowers. The little princess even has the brand I like. Who would've guessed? I tuck the box under my jacket and go back to the truck.
"Got 'em, boy," I tell Demon, scratching him behind the ears. He whines appreciatively and thumps his tail against the seat as I drive back home. I think I see Nelly's porch light come on, but by then I'm too far down the road to be sure. Eh, I'm probably just paranoid.
When I get back to the house, I hook up the new strings and get back to playing. The only way I can ever clear my head is through my guitar; it's like my own personal type of venting. Working out in the basement works too, but it usually makes me more angry than relaxed. I don't even know what I'm playing half the time when I guitar-vent, and it always ends up being noise instead of music, but there's just something soothing about the vibration of the strings against my fingertips that calms me down; makes me forget whatever I want to forget. Right now I just want to forget about everything. About the blasted concert, about Nelly, and most of all, about her, about her big blue eyes, about the way her voice sounded when she said my name...
GOD, CASTIEL, GET A LIFE!
I kick the volume up a notch and strum harder.
I'm really lucky we have a lot of land. If we didn't, I'd be getting angry calls from the neighbors all the time.
I play until my fingers are worn down to the bone, and by then my head is finally clear. I might actually be able to sleep now. After setting my guitar down and unplugging the amp, I lean over the balcony overlooking the family room and call Demon upstairs, breaking the household rules. He bounces up giddily and starts making a place for himself in the pile of dirty clothes at the foot of my bed. I scratch him behind the ears before pulling back the covers and climbing in.
I don't know how long I stare at the ceiling. It feels like hours, but it's probably only about ten minutes before my eyelids start getting heavy and I give in to exhaustion.
Another great day tomorrow...
Hope you guys are liking it so far! Any reviews much appreciated :)
By the way, I know nothing about guitars, but I'm pretty sure that acoustic guitar strings and electric guitar strings are different, and they don't cost forty bucks. But who said My Candy Love was realistic? Oh well :D
~Ava