After coming home from dropping Destiny off at the airport, Bam did not say anything to Ville, which surprised the Finnish man. He had been expecting a barrage of abuse along the lines of 'You fucking asshole, what did you say to her, why can't you just be nice, it's not like it was a big deal anyway blah blah fucking blah', but no. Bam had merely come home and gone straight to bed, shooting Ville a strange glance along the way. It was triumphant, knowing and, dare he say it, a little bit guilty. He was confused, yes, but not enough to follow it up. Who cared anyway? Destiny had turned out to be a lying, scum-sucking whore. He didn't care what Bam or anyone said, that girl did not have a decent bone in her body.
The rest of the week passed almost in complete silence. Whenever Ville was in a room with any of the other guys, they all gave him funny looks, but didn't say anything. Bam seemed to have locked himself in his bedroom, only coming out to eat. April still came around a couple of times a week to clean the house up, attempting conversation with Ville and the boys, but no one was very forthcoming, so she soon gave up.
It was now two weeks since Destiny had left, and no one had heard from her. Ville sat alone in his room, staring out the window. In three days he would be returning to Finland. He had never been more anxious to go home. He just wanted to get out of Castle Bam and forget that this particular visit had ever taken place.
As he stared vacantly at a passing butterfly outside his window, he heard a faint knock on his door.
"Come in." he called out.
The door opened to reveal Ryan Dunn standing in the doorway.
"Hey man, could we talk?"
Ville smiled. He had always liked Dunn. The man was the most sane of Bam's friends, and he and Ville shared the same dry sense of humour.
"Of course. What's on your mind?"
Dunn sat down on the end of Ville's bed and sighed.
"It's not what's on my mind dude. It's what's on yours. You gotta call Destiny."
Ville's small smile disappeared.
"I don't 'gotta' do anything, Ryan. I never want to speak to her again."
"Why? Just because you saw a few guys walk out of her room and found some naked photos online? Seems like a pretty stupid reason to cut someone out of your life. If I did that every time I saw one of my friends nude on the internet, I'd have no friends left at all. And that includes you."
Ville remained silent. He knew he had overreacted, but he was still hurt.
Dunn sighed again.
"Look, man, all I'm saying is maybe you should hear her side of the story. You know Bam better than anyone."
And on that cryptic note, the shaggy-haired blonde man stood up and left, leaving Ville to attempt to decipher his last words.
Two weeks back in LA and Destiny felt like she had never left. She was reconnecting with some of the friends she had made in rehab, as they were the only sober people she knew. She planned to go and spend a few days in New York with Corey and Chrystal. The two had met in rehab and had recently become engaged. Weird how things like that worked.
She also needed to buckle down and find a job. She had always had a talent for art and an affinity for tattoos, but she had no qualifications to speak of, and she didn't know if anyone would be willing to take her on as an apprentice, but she decided it was worth a shot. She still watched LA Ink religiously and when in one of the episodes Pixie, the pretty pierced receptionist, quit, Destiny jumped on the opportunity.
On a sunny California morning, she walked back into High Voltage, resume in hand, and straight up to the front desk.
"Hello, welcome to High Voltage. I'm Kat. Anything I can do for you?"
Destiny smiled at the heavily tattooed woman behind the counter.
"Yeah. Remember me? Destiny."
"Oh yeah!" Kat exclaimed. "The self-portrait, right?"
Des nodded and Kat leaned across the counter, pulling her into a hug.
"I like what you did with your hair." Kat complimented once she pulled away.
Destiny ran hand through her hair and smiled.
"Thanks."
"So, what can I do for you?"
Destiny cleared her throat.
"Well, I heard that Pixie quit, and I really need a job."
Kat beamed at her.
"That's great! We really need a new receptionist."
"I was also wondering if, on top of that, I could maybe come in and learn how to do tattoos." Destiny asked hesitantly.
Kat thought for a moment.
"Do you have any experience?"
Des shook her head.
"No, but I've been drawing for years. Here, I brought these for you to have a look at."
She placed her portfolio on the counter and Kat picked it up, flicking through it with great interest.
"Wow. These are good. These are REALLY good." she said, closing the book and handing it back to Destiny, who smiled and thanked her.
"Well, look, it would be great if you could do the whole reception thing and how about, on alternate weekends you can come in and I'll show you the ropes of tattooing?"
Destiny grinned.
"I'd love that. When do I start?"
Kat glanced down at her schedule.
"Come in next Monday and we'll get you started on reception, then you can start to do your training next weekend. Sound good?"
"Sounds great!"
"Okay, well, see you on Monday."
Destiny left High Voltage with a grin on her face that lasted the rest of the day. She was finally pulling herself together.
Bam didn't know what to do. On the one hand, Ville had deserved what he got. On the other hand, Destiny didn't. And on the third hand, he didn't know whether to simply own up and tell his friend the truth or just carry on with the charade.
He had never meant for it to end the way it did. He had though that Ville's gentle nature would stop him from every personally confronting Destiny. She was never supposed to have any clue why Ville was pulling away from her. But Bam had been wrong. He had simply pushed the envelope too far by posting the mock-ups of Destiny online. It had been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.
Bam Margera was not used to feeling guilty. He was used to pulling off a prank, having a laugh at the unsuspecting victim and then moving on. But this was different. He hadn't wrecked a car, or a house, or someone's clothes. He had ruined a relationship.
He jerked his head up out of his pillows as he heard someone knocking on his bedroom door.
"What?" he called out.
"Are you dressed?" answered a voice he recognized as Dunn's.
"Since when do you give a shit?"
"Look, dude, I wanna talk to you and I don't wanna have to have your junk staring me in the face while I do it. Are you dressed or not?"
Bam sighed.
"Yeah, I'm dressed. You can come in."
The door opened and Dunn stepped into the room, closing it behind him.
"What do you want?" asked Bam.
"Look, I'm not gonna lecture you because I know it won't make any difference. All I'm gonna say is this: Ville is not an idiot. He will figure it out eventually. Wouldn't you rather just tell him now and get it over with? It will be easier than just waiting for him to put two and two together. And you know he will."
Bam sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah, I know, but hopefully by the time that happens, he'll be far away, back in Finland and I won't have to deal with it."
Ryan put a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Look, man. You destroyed his friendship with Destiny. You know how he felt about her. I can assure you now that, no matter where he is, he will come back to the States just to kick your ass when he finds out what you did."
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, Dunn. Now piss off."
Dunn sighed as Bam buried his face into his pillow once more. Bam Margera was a lot of things. A jerk, a jackass, a prankster, a millionaire. The public knew him as all of these. But there was one that no one ever saw. Bam Margera was a coward.
