Kat was worried. Destiny was slowly changing, and she didn't like it. She had gone from one extreme to the other with her sleeping patterns. Now, instead of not sleeping at all, she slept far too much, even falling asleep on the gold couches at work a few times. She was always spacey and vague. Her cheeks were hollow, her eyes sunken. She was no longer taking care of her appearance, often coming into work looking like she had just gotten out of bed.
Kat was not an idiot. She knew what was going on. Of course, her suspicions had not yet been confirmed but she knew in her heart that she was right. Destiny had relapsed.
Des wasn't the only friend Kat was worried about. Ville seemed determined to push on with his wedding, even going so far as to move the date up. The wedding was now two weeks away and he showed no signs of changing his mind.
Bam was also on her mind. She had been to West Chester a few times to see him, but her crazy friend was no longer himself. He often sat around his castle, brooding and moping about something she could not get him to open up about.
She hated how she had to watch her three closest friends self-destruct knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. But she knew one thing for sure. She had to get Destiny out of LA.
It was nearing closing time at the shop, and Destiny was sitting on the gold couches, gazing off vacantly into nothingness. Kat slowly approached her, sitting down beside her and shaking her shoulder until she got her attention.
"Hey, Des?"
Destiny took a few moments to acknowledge her. She eventually looked over at Kat with her brown eyes unfocused and a dreamy smile on her face.
"What's up Kat?" she asked, her voice slow.
Kat grimaced.
"I think you need a vacation. I'm headed over to Finland in a couple of weeks for Ville's wedding. It was supposed to be this time next year, but they moved it up. I was gonna take Nikki, but he's on tour at the moment. So what d'you say? Wanna be my date?"
All at once, Destiny's expression changed. Her spaced out eyes suddenly became focused and sad. Her smile disappeared, only to be replaced by a pained grimace. She looked as if she was about to cry.
"You okay?" Kat asked her.
"V-Ville's getting married?" she asked, her voice suddenly very shaky.
Kat nodded.
"Yeah, he and his ex-fiancee got back together a few months ago. I think he's making a big mistake, but he is my friend regardless, so I gotta be there. And I don't feel like going alone."
Destiny's brown eyes filled with tears.
"No, Kat, I can't go to that. Take Hannah. Or Kim. It can't be me." she said sadly.
Kat sighed. She didn't want to come straight out and accuse her friend of being on drugs, so she searched her head for another way to word it.
"Look, Des. You just seem...stressed lately. You need to get away for a while. I'm not taking no for an answer."
Destiny lowered her eyes.
"I am the last person he would want there." she whispered, barely audible.
"Why do you say that, honey?" Kat asked, leaning over to stroke her friend's hair which, she noticed, was all tangled and greasy. "Is it because you guys only met once?"
Destiny shook her head.
"Kat, I... He called me a few days after we met. He...invited me to go stay at Castle Bam with them and...and..." she trailed off and dropped her head into her hands, unable to finish.
Kat put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.
"You can tell me, babe. I'll be the last person to judge you." she assured her distraught friend.
And then, it all came out. Their blossoming relationship, the drunken threesome and subsequent relationship with Bam. The break up. The fake nude photos. The fight and her departure from Castle Bam. And the dreams that had followed. Kat just sat and listened. She now knew what made Destiny the way she was. The poor girl was heartbroken. Not knowing what else to do, she just held Destiny while she cried. And cried. And cried. This had obviously been bottled up for a long, long time. When, finally, the younger woman's tears dried up Kat spoke.
"You just cemented my decision. You don't have to come to the wedding, but please, Destiny, I'm begging you. Come to Finland with me. You need to get away from all this."
Destiny sniffed and sat silently for a moment. But finally, she nodded her head.
Once Destiny got back to her townhouse in Malibu, it was almost midnight. She had paid a visit to Carson on the way to re-stock her stash. She needed it.
She walked into her dark house. Chrystal was asleep, as all the lights and the television were off. Sighing, Des entered her bedroom, following the familiar routine of shutting and locking the door behind her and then retrieving the shoebox from the back of her closet.
Filling a syringe with the sweet substance she needed so much, she sat back on her bed, belt wrapped tightly around her left arm. The release when she injected was bittersweet. It unleashed all the memories. Of her parents, of Scotty, of Bam and of Ville. They were all good memories, but seeing their faces made her sad. And now, she was going to be in the same country as Ville at the same time he got married. She wanted to cry, but she found that she couldn't. It was as if all her tears had dried up.
Suddenly, she thought of herself being the woman in the white dress, walking down the aisle to meet Ville at the altar. He was smiling, holding his hand out to her as she reached him. He kissed her tenderly after the I do's were said. And then whirled her around the dancefloor, whispering his love in her ear.
Smiling, she held onto this thought as she slipped into a blissful, dreamless sleep.
Ville knew he was insane to be doing this. His wedding was two weeks away, and he was not looking forward to it in the slightest. Deep down he knew that Jonna hadn't changed, and that this marriage would just end in a messy divorce. But he couldn't stop himself. He was sick of being alone. He just wanted someone to come home to, and curl up next to in bed at night. Even if that person was Jonna.
The weeks passed quickly and, before either of them knew it, Kat and Destiny were at LAX, standing in a line to board a plane. Destiny had not spoken all day. Kat didn't blame her. She had no idea how hard it was for her friend to be facing up to this.
A voice called out over the PA system for passengers to submit to baggage checks before boarding. Kat already knew that she and Destiny would be subjected to these 'random' luggage checks. It happened to her every time she flew. People seemed to take one look at her, notice all the tattoos and say to themselves 'here's trouble'.
As she had predicted, a customs official soon sauntered over to the two of them, looking as if he thought he owned the place.
"You ladies have been randomly selected for a luggage check. Would you come with me, please?"
Inwardly, Kat laughed at the man's delusions of grandeur. Outwardly, she nodded politely and pulled Destiny by the arm into the little room that was set aside for the bag checks.
The two women answered all the appropriate questions before their bags were opened and searched extensively. Kat's bag was given back to her with no problem. They then started on Destiny's.
Pulling everything out, they were almost satisfied that it was clean. But then, the customs official noticed a slight rip in the lining of the suitcase. Kat's face drained of all colour. She had not taken this into consideration at all. She had known, or at least suspected that Destiny had a drug problem, yet she had decided to invite her on an international plane trip. How stupid could she be!
"Ma'am, do you mind explaining what this is?" the customs officer addressed Destiny, holding up a little baggie filled to the brim with white powder. Destiny remained quiet and stared at the floor. Her silence was all the man needed.
"I'm placing you two ladies under arrest for suspicion of trafficking illegal drugs."
Almost everyone was here. Ville scanned the crowd, picking out the familiar faces. One, however, was missing. Where was Kat? She had promised him she would be there.
Oh well. No time to dwell on it now. The music was starting and any second now, Jonna would be walking down the aisle to meet him.
She appeared, looking like a vision in her white dress. A gasp went up from the audience, but Ville was unmoved.
All too quickly, she was beside him. They were holding hands and the priest was beginning his spiel.
Ville tuned out until it came time to say his I do. Jonna had already said hers, and now it was his turn to commit.
Jonna beamed at him as he licked his lips, listening to the priest go on about a love he and Jonna did not share.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Jonna frowned at him as he glanced down at the caller ID. It was Kat. She would not be calling him in the middle of his wedding unless it was important.
He glanced up at Jonna and the priest, both of whom looked annoyed and impatient.
"Uhh... Excuse me a moment, I really have to take this." he said, wandering off to somewhere he would be hidden from view.
"Kat!" he exclaimed, flipping his phone open. "This had better be good woman. I'm in the middle of trying to get married. Where are you, anyway?"
Kat's voice was shaky as she spoke to him.
"Ville, I'm so sorry. I... I decided to bring Destiny to Finland with me, because she really needed a vacation. Well, we got stopped at customs for a bag check and... and... and..."
"And what, woman! Spit it out!" he said agitatedly.
"Destiny's being held for possession of heroin!" she exclaimed, all in one breath.
Ville went pale.
"She what?"
"I've been suspecting it for weeks. She's been having a bit of a hard time lately." Kat explained. "And I think you know why, Ville."
He was silent for a moment. So she did know, he thought.
"I'm sorry, Katherine, but Destiny is really not my problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a wedding to attend. Mine!" he told her, hanging up quickly before she could protest.
Inside, he felt terrible. Destiny was back on heroin and it was all his stupid fucking fault. He loved her, and yet he had managed to reduce her to this.
Shaking his head, he realized that people were waiting for him. He knew he needed to go through with this. Shaking slightly, he pulled out his phone and opened up a folder in which he kept Destiny's nude shots. He had saved them to his phone so that when he was doubtful of his actions, like right now, he could remind himself that even the most decent of women could turn out to be total whores. He quickly glanced over the photos and walked back out onto the altar, muttering apologies as he did so. In his mind, however, he was still going over Destiny's photos in his head. He didn't know why, but when he had looked at them this time, something about them just didn't seem right.
It clicked. Her tattoos. Where were her tattoos? Destiny had several, yet the woman in the photographs had none. So she had been telling the truth. They were fakes. How had he not noticed before? Ville silently kicked himself, at the same time wondering how they had come to be in existence. Then it hit him like a truck. Bam. Fucking Bam. Hell hath no fury like a Margera scorned. Bam had been trying to make him pay for convincing Destiny to break up with him. Ville felt like the world's biggest idiot at that moment.
Here he was, marrying a woman he did not love, when, halfway around the world, there was a woman who would gladly be at his side.
"And do you, Ville Hermanni Valo, take Jonna to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?"
Ville glanced down at the elderly priest, then out at his guests and then at his bride. This was it. It was now or never.
"I... don't." he said finally casting his eyes to the floor.
Jonna let out a screech.
"I knew you would do this to me, Ville Valo!" she yelled, throwing her bouquet at him him and storming off down the aisle, bridesmaids in tow.
Jesse, his brother and best man, put a hand on his shoulder.
"I just couldn't do it, Jesse." he told him quietly.
Jesse smiled.
"Well, thank god for that."
Ville laughed weakly as he caught Bam's blue eyes on him. Purposefully, he excused himself from Jesse and walked directly to where Bam was sitting.
The skateboarder opened his mouth to say something, but Ville shut it with a swift punch to the jaw.
"I know what you did." he spat, before stalking out of the church, leaving a shocked Bam sitting there holding his face, a red mark already forming. Destiny needed him. And this time, he would be there for her every step of the way.