'Every Rhyme Needs A Beat'
Chapter 7: So Whats Your Story?
~*Warning: Some Language and Pure Awesomeness lolz*~
Recap:
~*"Shit!" Beat didn't have time to duck as Potts slammed straight into him knocking him to the floor. "UGH!" Potts covered Beat in the food that he rolled around in. Beat reluctantly held onto the filthy dog. Rhyme fell to her knees trying to help him.
"WHO LET THE DOG IN!"
"Uh oh!" Beat and Rhyme said in unison as they retained the squirming dog. They looked up and saw their manager Mr. Moyota, red faced, standing behind them. Yoyo was cowering in the corner watching the scene unfold before them. Mr. Moyota didn't notice him yet. Their manager took in the damage around him; broken plates, food everywhere, upset customers, and all in all a giant mess. His eyes fell back on Beat and Rhyme. They gulped and exchanged glances.*~
Yoyo waved goodbye as he snuck his blades out of Beats backpack and headed out. He didn't get in trouble when Mr. Moyota came in during the fiasco with Potts. Rhyme and Beat sighed in unison after waving Yoyo off. After Mr. Moyota tossed Potts out he yelled at them for the longest time….well more to them than at them. Lucky for them there were only three couples left in the restaurant during the unfortunate event. One couple got mad, one understood it was an accident, and the third enjoyed what happened. They said it was good, dinner and a show. There was only one refund that night and because Rhyme and Beat was in the middle of it, all Mr. Moyota did was order them to stay after closing and clean up the entire mess. Yoyo still got off the hook.
"I want everything back in place and spotless before you close." Mr. Moyota was putting on his coat and getting ready to leave.
"Yes Mr. Moyota…" Rhyme nodded to him.
"Yes sir." Beat had already began cleaning. Mr. Moyota gave a satisfied nod and walked out the door. Rhyme sighed.
They spent the next hour and a half cleaning up the entire mess and hardly spoke to each other. Rhyme was getting bored with this. She was dusting off an ancient looking jukebox. She didn't know if it even worked, but she didn't know if one even existed anymore either! She looked around for Beat. She didn't see him anywhere so she assumed he was in the kitchen cleaning. Rhyme guessed it was just for show and left it alone after dusting it off. Rhyme stood in the middle of the dance floor and started waltzing around, laughing at herself. She spun around and twirled happily. 'This is what happens when I get overly bored…' Rhyme thought to herself. She had her hands held out like she was holding a partner as she waltzed around. She could hear beautiful music in her head and she danced along with the beat in her head. She was lost in her own imaginary world that she didn't notice Beat watching her from the tables.
Rhyme closed her eyes, she thought she could do a pretty good waltz even though she didn't have a partner. She was nearing the end of her imaginary song when suddenly she ran into someone. "Huh?" She ran right into Beat, or he ran into her. She blushed because he fit right into the waltz position she had. 'He did that on purpose' she thought as the music in her head died down.
"Is this what happens when you're over worked and bored?" He looked down to her. Rhyme just blushed.
"Pretty much." She felt his warm hand in hers and her heart fluttered against her chest which made her blush more. Beat looked so calm. He just smiled and started to dance with her. Rhyme was getting nervous now and forgetting her steps. Beat just laughed and stopped.
"It's kind of late. Ready to go?" He asked as he let go of her.
"Yes!" Her voice rose an octave. She coughed, "I mean…yes. It's late and I'm ready to get back in my blades." She averted her eyes from him and pushed her hair behind her ear.
"Alright then." Beat turned around. "Let's go." Rhyme followed him to the kitchen. She felt so nervous realizing she's been alone with him. She couldn't help but stare at him as he walked in front of her. She noted that he wasn't lanky or scrawny when you actually 'looked' at him. He was really muscular and toned. She could see it even through his work shirt. She hardly knew this guy and there she was thinking about him, watching him. She felt like one of those fan girl weirdo's. She shook her head and tried to stop thinking about him. She crossed her arms and looked away. Beat stopped and grabbed his back pack from the back and tossed her hers. She caught it before it hit her.
"Hey! Warn a person!"
"Sorry. You should have been paying attention."
Rhyme mumbled and walked off to the bathroom and changed out of her work clothes back into her new ones. She came back out and sat on the floor close to where Beat as standing; he already had his blades on. She began pulling her work shoes off. Beat took them and placed them in the office in the back. When he came back Rhyme was pulling out her blades. When she pulled them out she didn't notice a picture escaping her backpack with the blades. The photo hit the floor and slid towards Beat just screaming for him to look at it. He skated over and picked it up. The picture was of a young man and woman. They were hugging in the photo and smiling. The woman kind of looked like Rhyme except woman in the photo had different colored hair, her nose was a little bigger, and her lips were smaller than Rhymes but Rhyme had the same mysterious blue eyes, same shape of her eyes, same shape of her head, and the same dazzling smile. The man in the photo shared Rhyme's hair color which was dark blonde, his full lips, and perfect straight nose.
'These must be her parents.' Beat thought.
"You dropped this." Beat said skating over closer to Rhyme. Rhyme looked up confused then she saw the picture. She blushed again. "Who are they?" Beat asked handing the photo to her. She took it quietly and placed it back into her back pack.
"My parents." She mumbled but smiled.
Beat was wary about asking this but his curiosity took over, "What happened to them?"
"I don't know…I've never met them." Rhyme frowned and looked to the floor guiltily.
"Then how do you know they are your parents?" Beat didn't want to upset her but he wanted to know.
"I don't…but I think its better to have false hope than no hope at all. I know that sounds weird but it makes me feel better. At least I know they are out there somewhere…I think."
Beat stopped questioning her. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable with all the questions. If she wanted him to know she will tell him when she's ready even though it was killing him to know. He wanted to ask her where she got the picture but bit his tongue. She stood up and picked her back pack up.
"Ready when you are." She looked to him. He skated past her and motioned for her to follow. She didn't hesitate to follow.
They made it out the front door after shutting all the lights off and locking the door. Beat pulled out his cell and punched in some numbers, "Hey Gum? Yeah. We had to…oh Yoyo told you? Oh well…what's going on?" Beat heard yelling, laughing, and crashing in the background, "Oh again tonight?? Ok well we'll be back soon. Ok Bye."
"Whats going on?" Rhyme asked curiously.
"They are partying again tonight and are waiting for us to get back."
"NUH-UH! NO!" Rhyme skated back a few feet. "I told you not again!"
"Look it's not me. Let's just hurry back and 'maybe' you can get away."
"Nah…I think I'll just go skate around for a bit." Rhyme shook her head.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'll come to the garage in a bit. Hopefully everyone will be passed out. Later Beat." Rhyme waved him off then started off down the opposite street. Beat sighed and shook his head. He was about to head off to the garage until he remembered Rhyme most likely doesn't know where the garage even is or even have a key to get in. He groaned and turned around heading off after her. He messaged Gum saying they probably wouldn't be back for a while. She messaged back why but he ignored it.
"Rhyme! Hey hold up." Beat raced behind her.
"Huh?" Rhyme turned around and saw him. She stopped and waited for him to catch up. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing. I just remembered that you don't have a key to the garage or even know where it's at." Beat explained.
Realization hit Rhyme, "Oops." She laughed, "I forgot about that. I would have been screwed."
"Damn straight. You don't even know about the other gangs around here and that could be even worse than getting lost."
"Other gangs?" Rhyme gulped.
"Yeah."
"Well…you going to stick with me for a bit?" Rhyme asked hopefully. "I really don't want to go back just yet." she bit her lip.
Beat thought for a moment. He really didn't want to but he didn't want her going off on her own and end up hurt. "Uh…well sure why not." He gave in. 'Whats just one night?' He thought.
"Awesome! Maybe you can show me around then? I'm not really good at directions, or familiar with this place." she sweatdropped and laughed. Beat just smiled and nodded his head.
Their blades rolling against the asphalt was the only thing heard on those streets as they headed off. It was an unusually cold night but neither of them minded, it felt good. Beat began pointing a few things out and talking about some of the gangs and where they stayed and explained how they were all battling for territory. Rhyme nodded understanding. She thought it was all quite amazing.
"This is 99th street." Beat explained. Rhyme looked around it was pretty awesome. She noticed a tower nearby. Beat said that was Benton Tower but some called it Dragon Tower.
"I wanna go to the top!" She said and skated off towards it. Beat laughed and followed her. There were a few people out but they didn't pay Rhyme or Beat any mind as they raced by. Rhyme made her way to the top by climbing to the top of a few buildings using the fire escape and riding along the power lines. When she made it to the top she sat down on the edge. The view was breath taking even though it was dark the lights from the places around them put on a show. Beat reached the top and skated over to Rhyme and sat beside her. "This is amazing."
"Yeah." Beat nodded and looked around. They were quiet for a few moments just soaking in the view. The wind blew around them. Rhyme shivered. "You're cold…maybe we should head back now before you get sick."
"No! Not yet." Rhyme laughed, "I'll be fine." Beat could see the chill bumps on her arms. He rolled his eyes but smiled.
"Fine." He moved closer to her. When he did Rhyme closed the space between her and him without a second thought. It was better than being cold. Their arms touched. He was really warm, Rhyme thought. "You are ice cold!" Beat shivered at her touch but didn't move his arm.
"Sorry." She blushed. He laughed and looked out over the streets below. After another twenty minutes of total silence Rhyme looked to him, "So…what's your story?"
"Huh? My story?"
"How did you get into the tagging business and the gang stuff?"
Beat thought for a moment before explaining. He told her how he ran away from his home when he was seventeen, he was currently eighteen. He used to graffiti when he was younger and his parents wouldn't tolerate it even though his parents didn't care about him they still would get mad at him and beat him if he got caught by the police and brought back home causing them more and more money for fines. He was really artistic but he liked graffiti better. He was a trouble-maker when he was younger. After running away he tried joining some gangs but was shunned from gang to gang over and over again until finally he decided to start his own gang. He told her about Professor K and how he tells them all the happenings around Tokyo including stuff about rival gangs and the police. He finished off with how successful they have gotten and how happy everyone is. "They are my family." He smiled and shook his head.
Rhyme looked to the world below them and nodded quietly.
"What about you?" Beat asked. Rhyme expected him to ask. She smiled and looked up to the few stars in the sky. She didn't answer him automatically. She took a moment.
"Well…I don't really know much about my family. I know when I was younger there was a horrible storm…I don't know what happened but they found me in a store under a bunch of rubble. I didn't have any information other than my name, there was no one else around, and all I had was that picture. I didn't even know about the picture when I lived in the orphanage,"
"You really did live in an orphanage?" Beat asked a little surprised.
Rhyme nodded, "Yes I did." she laughed, "I was a trouble-maker too. The only time I wasn't causing trouble was when I was drawing. Then I found out about graffiti one day. I snuck out and walked around the streets and alley ways and saw all kinds of amazing graffiti. I fell in love with it and started doing some graffiti myself. I got into so much more trouble after that." Rhyme laughed. "They tried to stop me from continuing to graffiti by telling me how bad that was, it was against the law and their rules, and then they took all my supplies away. I just went crazy after that. They finally got to the point where they threatened to kick me out or send me to another orphanage, that was when I was fourteen. I didn't care though. I'd rather have been out on the streets than in that orphanage so I picked the lock to the file room and took out my file. I was going to try and find my family and that's when I found out that I didn't really know who they were in the first place. People there always told me that they didn't want me that's why they left me there, I didn't believe them though, not entirely anyway." Rhyme grew quiet again just in case Beat wanted to ask a question, but he was just as silent. "After reading everything I found the photo paper clipped to the file and I took it. I packed my things up and snuck out the second story window. I climbed down some rose covered lattice. One kid saw me sneaking out and got one of the workers. They called the police and tried to chase after be but…lucky for me I had a pair of blades that I stole when I was ten," Rhyme paused and frowned, "Like I said. I was a bad kid back then."
"I understand. You were young." Beat shrugged. It's not like he was going to call her the spawn of the devil because of something she did years ago but she seemed pretty guilty about it.
"After I grew out of those I managed to find another pair." She sighed and picked up her leg pointing to her blades, "Stole them too." She shrugged. Beat couldn't help but laugh. Even though Rhyme was frowning she cracked a smile and started laughing along with him. "Anyway, like I was saying one of the workers called the police and tried to chase me. I managed to hide long enough to put the blades on and escaped from the police and the other workers. I tried searching for my parents but I never had any luck with finding them so I eventually gave up. I figured if they were alive, or really cared, they would have found me by now. So I decided to travel around. I never stayed in one place for to long because I had nowhere to stay and I started feeling alone. Through my travels I found a new passion besides art, graffiti, and blading…" Rhyme paused, smiled, and blushed but stayed quiet.
Beat was looking away but listening. He was waiting for her to finish the sentence but when she didn't he looked back to her, "What was it?"
Rhyme laughed and blushed more, "It's stupid." She looked up at him and her eyes were shining brightly.
"I doubt it." Beat laughed looking into her eyes for a moment then looking away. "Uh yeah…Well tell me!" He waited.
"Theatre. I want to become an actress." Rhyme grew silent with seriousness. Beat was just as silent. He looked at her wondering if she was just going to bust out and say 'Just kidding!' but she didn't.
He nodded, "I don't really have anything I'm interested in." He leaned back on his hands, threw his head back and looked to the sky. Rhyme copied him but she rolled her head to the side and looked at him smiling. Beat glanced over at her, "What?"
"Why aren't you interested in anything?" She asked lying down on her back facing the sky. She folded her hands together and placed them on her stomach.
He looked down to her, "I don't know…I mean…I do have interests I guess…but,"
"You don't think you could ever do them?" Rhyme finished his sentence.
"Something like that." Beat smiled and lied down beside her with his hands behind his head.
"Well what do you 'NOT' think you could ever do then?" Rhyme asked.
"Well…I want to be a professional blader. You know…like the ones on those x-games and stuff. I wanna be able to do that and own my own shop with blades, boards, bikes, you know stuff like that? If I ever did do that I would graffiti the entire place!" Beat was starting to get into his explanation about where everything would go, what he would sell, everything down to the bathroom design. Rhyme laughed, "What's so funny?" Beat asked.
"You seem to have it all planned out." Rhyme rolled over on her side facing him. He turned his head and looked at her.
"Yeah I guess I do." He smiled.
"I think you should do it though. Maybe not now…but in the future."
Beat shrugged, "Maybe." Rhyme just nodded. Beat thought to himself for a moment, "Hey Rhyme…"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about your family and stuff."
"Don't worry about it Beat. I'm happy now. I've got a new family." she smiled and covered her mouth as she yawned. Beat sat up. He could see a bluish glow in the horizon, "Damn! It's late. We should get to the garage and get some sleep. We have work again at five." Rhyme groaned and rolled over on her stomach and covered her face, "Oh come on. It wasn't that bad and you know it."
"You're right." Rhyme got up on her hands and knees before standing up completely. "Race ya?"
"You're on!" Beat laughed. Rhyme shot off before he answered giving her a three second start.