Stuck in Lawndale
By Neal C.
Ch 3.
Party!
I was headed toward the shower, having
had a fairly intense jam session with Trent, when I heard Jane talking from
behind her door. Now I'm no snoop, but
I had to pause and listen when I heard what Daria said.
"So
you guys are having problems?" Daria asked
"Well
not problems really."
"Then
what? I mean Neal seems like a...
decent guy."
Ha! She can't bring herself to say nice.
"That's just it, despite the
anarcho-punk exterior he is a really nice guy. Maybe he's too nice."
What? Too nice?
"What
do you mean?"
"Well,
we've been going out for almost a month and he... well he just isn't very
intimate."
"Excuse
me?"
"Well
we kinda make out but... well he's too nice. We've gone together for a month and he hasn't even tried to feel me
up."
"Should
he have?"
"Well,
yeah. I mean all my other boyfriends
have. Hell even guys who weren't my
boyfriend. Remember Bobby
Big-head?"
"Yeah,
I still have that bonus sock. Have you
considered that he might just be of a higher caliber than those guys? Maybe you should talk to him about it after
the party tonight."
Party?
"Yeah, maybe I should."
Then
they changed the topic and I retreated to my room to think. It was about an hour later when the knock
came.
"Hey
man." Trent greeted as he entered.
"'Sup
Trent."
"Nothin'
much. Uh Jess is here and we were
going... uh going to...uh."
I get it, he's supposed to get me out of the
house. "The pool hall?" I'll let 'em all have their fun. Hell I've never had a surprise party anyway.
"Yeah, the pool hall. You wanna come along?"
"Sure,
let me throw my boots on and grab my wallet."
"Cool,
see ya downstairs." With that he
turned and walked out, looking a little relieved.
I
threw my boots on and grabbed my wallet, then headed downstairs. I didn't see Jane or Daria. Maybe
they're avoiding me... Nah, probably getting supplies, it is a party after all.
I walked outside and saw, much to my
chagrin, the Tank. And Jesse was at the
helm with Trent riding shotgun. I
heaved a sigh and opened the side door.
"Sorry,
there's no seats in the back." Trent said.
"So
I noticed. Hey Jess."
"Hey."
With
the greetings done, we drove off. Trent
and I spent the next two and a half hours getting our asses royally
kicked. Jesse was something of a pool
shark.
"Rack
'em up." Jesse boomed.
"Nah."
Trent cut in. "It's time to go."
"Why?"
Jesse was baffled. "I'm havin' fun."
I
pretended not to notice as Trent stamped on Jesse's foot and jerked his thumb
at me.
"Oh...
right. Cool."
It
was already dusk outside. We got to the
parking lot and were walking to the Tank.
"I
call shotgun." I said.
"Cool."
I guess Jesse didn't mind.
"Hey
what about me?" Trent asked
"First
come first serve." I told him.
"Oh
really?" With that he ran off toward the Tank.
Reminds me of my friends in high school.
"Hey!" I was about to run
after him.
"Don't
worry, it's cool." Jesse said before I could run. "Here." He
handed me the keys to the Tank.
"You
sure this is cool with Max?"
Jesse
shrugged. "Max don't mind if I
tell him not to." He grinned and flexed his arms
I
rolled my eyes. Just like high school.
We walked on towards the Tank. Trent was sitting in the passenger seat
looking smug. In a friendly, three guys
bonding at the pool hall sort of way. I
knocked on his window and jangled the keys. That burst his bubble pretty quickly.
I
climbed into the driver's seat and Jesse clambered into the back of the van.
"Okay,
where to now?" I turned to Trent.
"We
gotta go by Jesse and Max's dive. I
left some lyric sheets there, I gotta pick 'em up."
Probably for the party. Leave it to Trent and Jesse to forget
something I'm not supposed to see.
I drove for about ten minutes, with
Trent and Jesse periodically spouting directions. Finally we arrived at Jesse and Max's "house". It was a very run down warehouse on the
waterfront near the edge of town. It
had probably seen its better days in the twenties.
"Shack
sweet Shack." Jesse intoned from the back.
"You
live here?"
"Yeah,
Max's grand dad was in the shipping business."
Trent
opened his door and climbed out followed by Jesse. Trent turned to me.
"Coming?"
"Uh,
sure." I hope this place hasn't been condemned.
We walked across the broken concrete
towards the garage door that was used as the main entrance. It was dark out and Jesse fumbled for the
latch for a few moments. Finally the
door slid up and we walked inside. Then
the lights came on.
"SURPRISE!!"
Everyone yelled. And quite a few people
were there. Some I recognized, some I
didn't. But Jane, Daria, Nick and Max
were standing in front surrounding a large cake.
I
stood there slack-jawed in astonishment. Damn it. They got me.
Then Jane bolted forward and jumped up
on me. Her legs were around my waist
and arms around my shoulders. I wasn't
prepared for it and she knocked me off balance. I stumbled backwards right into the door, which Jesse had closed. I banged my head but kept my hold on Jane.
"Whoa!"
She yelled.
"I've
got you." I said, regaining my balance. Then I kissed her, a real smoker.
After
we came up for air she said, "You sure do."
I
sat her down on her feet. Then rubbed
the back of my head self-consciously, while I looked at all the people who had
seen that. I'm not really one for
public displays of affection... or embarrassment.
Daria
walked up. "Are you all right?"
I
smirked and crossed my eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine... but I didn't know you had a twin."
"Ha,
ha."
"So
what's this party for? Not that I'm not
thankful or anything, but in case you haven't noticed I'm not really a social
person."
Jane
started ticking the reasons off on her fingers. "Three things actually. First, You've been her exactly one month today. Second, We will have been dating for exactly
a month tomorrow. Third and finally,
Daria and I both got accepted at the University of Connecticut in
Lawndale."
"Why'd
you invite so many people?"
Jane
smirked. "We didn't, but Nick and Max knew, so everyone else in town did
also."
I kissed her on her forehead. Then turned to Daria, and hugged her. She was shocked to say the least. "Well, Congrats. College, big step." I said, to both of
them. "Thanks for the party guys, it really means a lot."
Jane
hugged me. "No problem, now lets party."
The
Party went well. Mystik Spiral took the
stage and played. There was a definite
"band party" ambience to the place. You know when you've been to a band party. Loud music, usually by the band hosting the party. In this case Mystik Spiral. An inordinate amount of alcohol. And some dancing, of course at this party it
was slam-dancing.
Jane
and I walked around. I talked to people
I knew, and Jane introduced me to the people I didn't. We ran into Axl and Monique.
"'Ello
Jane. Ew's this?"
"Hey
Axl. This is Neal."
"Hey."
I said
Monique
sized me up. "He's cute."
I
looked at Jane out of the corner of my eye. She looked very cold. "Hands off Monique. He's mine."
Monique
put her hands up. "Geez get a grip. He's not even my type..."
Jane
and I started to walk off when Monique mumbled. "'Sides, it's too easy to
steal candy from babies."
Jane
spun around. "What!?"
I
gently grabbed her shoulder and leaned in to whisper. "She's not worth it,
let's go." Jane haltingly
nodded. I pulled her closer and we
walked off.
We
walked to the "bar". It was
composed of a series of turned over crates piled with bottles of booze and
plates of food. I turned to Jane.
"Was
this your Idea?"
"Nah,
it was the Spiral's. Not that I
mind."
I
nodded in agreement. Then the music
stopped. And Trent spoke through the
PA.
"Will
Neal please join us on stage."
I
turned to Jane. "You put him up to
this didn't you?"
She
grinned. "Guilty. I've never seen
you play, just heard it. Go on, I wanna
show."
I
rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'll perform." I turned to go. She tapped me on the shoulder.
I
turned and she kissed me on the cheek. "For luck... Uh and I need to talk
to you after your set."
The
crowd parted for me as I approached the stage. It was actually a disrepaired lift platform. I cautiously climbed up onto it.
"So
what are we playing?" I asked Trent.
"Dunno,
Janey put me up to this. What do you
want to play?"
I
thought about it for a moment. I hate performing, damn butterflies...
that's it!
"Okay guys I got a
plan..." As I explained my idea
all the guys started smiling. It was a
smile of conspiracy. "Okay, Jesse
go get everything else set up. Give me
the signal when you're done."
Jesse
nodded and jumped off the platform. I
turned to the mic and flipped it back on.
"Okay
everyone, we're taking a break to decide what to do. Be back in a few."
We
stood on stage and waited until we saw Jesse climb a pile of crates off to our
left. He waved and I nodded. I turned the mic back on.
"Hey
everyone, havin' a good time?" The
crowd cheered. "Great. Well since Jane engineered my appearance
before you, this next song goes out to her. Hit it!"
Trent
and Nick started the guitar & bass intro for Crazy Town's Butterfly. The lights dimmed as I looked over the crowd. I began to sing.
"Come, my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come, my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Such a sexy, sexy, pretty little
thing. The artsy chick who's got me
hung on her loving.
And I ain't gonna lie, 'cause your lovin'
gets me high. So to keep you by my side, there's nothing that I won't try.
Butterflies in her eyes and the looks to
kill. Time is passing and I'm asking
could this be real.
'Cause
I can't sleep I can't hold still. The
only thing I really know is, She got sex appeal.
I can feel, too much is never
enough. Always there to lift me up when
these times get rough.
I
was lost, now I'm found, ever since you been around. You're the woman that I want. So Yo, I'm puttin' you down."
I
jumped and landed on my knees at the front of the stage.
"Come my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy.
Come my lady. Come, come,
my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy."
I stood as the guys played the bridge to
the second verse.
"I don't deserve you. Unless it's some kind of hidden
message. To show me life is
precious, then I guess it's true. To tell the truth I really never knew 'til I
met you.
I was lost and confused, twisted and used
up. Knew a better life existed, but
felt
that I'd missed it. My lifstyle's wild, I was livin' like a wild
child. Trapped on a short
leash parole, and police files. So Yo, what's happenin' now? I see the sun breaking into dark
clouds.
And a vision of you standing out in the
crowd."
At that moment the lights went out
completely exept for the strobe and the footlights. And Jesse, stationed on the crates flipped on the mini-spotlight
and trained it on Jane. I motioned her
towards the stage as I sang the chorus.
"Come my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my
lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go
crazy.
Come my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy."
She got to the edge of the stage and I
pulled her up while the guys improvised a bridge for the action.
"Hey sugar mamma, come and dance with
me. The smartest thing you ever did was
take a chance with me. So, whatever tickles your fancy. Girl it's me and you like Sid and Nancy.
So sexy... almost evil, talk about the butterflies in my
head. I used to think that happy
endings
were only in the books I'd read. But you made me feel alive when I was almost dead.
You filled that empty space with the love
I used to chase, and as far as I can see It don't get better than this.
So butterfly here is a song and it's sealed with a kiss, and a
thank you miss."
Then I kissed her. Trent skipped a beat but was able to pick up
the song for me.
"Come
and dance with me, so come and dance with me.
Come
and dance with me, so come and dance with me."
Then Jane and I
broke the kiss and I picked the tune back up for the last chorus.
""Come my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy.
Come my lady. Come, come, my lady. You're my butterfly. Sugar baby.
Come my lady. You're my pretty baby. I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy."
Then I picked Jane up the way you would
to carry a bride over the threshold, she's remarkably light, and jumped off the
stage. She tucked her head in the
hollow between my neck and shoulders and whispered.
"I
thought you were going to play your guitar." She smirked.
"I
said I'd perform, not that I'd play. Besides I can't play and sing at the same time anyway."
"So
what are you doing now."
"Well
I'm going to embarrass the hell out of both of us by carrying you outside. You said you wanted to talk to me
anyway."
She
looked up at me thoughtfully. "I don't think we have to."
"Well
I'm still carrying you out. I want to
talk to you."
"Okay."
Again
the crowd cleared the way as I walked towards the door. But this time they were cheering and leering
and whistling. I got the the small side
door and opened it. Exiting into the
cool of the night. I sat Jane down and
we walked down the pier looking at the reflections in the water.
"Okay,
so what did you want to talk about?" She asked when we got to the end of the pier.
I
sighed. No way to put this smoothly, so here goes. "I know you aren't
exactly happy with the way I've been handling our relationship."
"No,
after what you did tonight..."
I put my hand up for quiet.
"Just listen for a second okay. Now I like sorting through my emotions about as much as Daria does. But I've been giving them the once over lately. And one thing keeps popping up. You know what it is?"
"N..No."
"It's
the fact that I... well I... Jane, I love you. I haven't been acting like your normal teenage guy because I respect
you. And I really don't wanna fuck this up. I didn't wanna drive you away. But now that I know what you want, I'm more than willing to have a more
physical relationship."
"How...how
did you know?"
"I
heard you and Daria talking." Now she's gonna be pissed for a few days.
She smirked. "You're as bad as
Trent. I really need to get a thicker
door. So I take it that you knew about
the party."
"Kinda,
I knew you were having it but I didn't know it would be here."
She
nodded. "Well let's get back in there before Daria or Trent get any weird
ideas about what we're doing out her."
So
we went back inside and watched the party unfold. After it was winding down and
most people had either left or passed out where they stood; Daria, Jane and I
found the inhabited portion of the warehouse. The rooms were obviously offices at one point. But they had been renovated to serve as a kitchen, bathroom,
living area and three bedrooms.
Jane
showed us around the place. Everything
looked like you would expect the apartment of two twenty-something grunge
rockers. Clothes, pizza boxes and other
assorted detrius choked the floor and most other flat surfaces. The only room up to health standards was the
guest bedroom. I cleared off the table
in the kitchen and we all sat down.
"So
how was your night Daria?" I hadn't seen her since the start of the party.
She
shrugged. "Same way parties always
go. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't get asked to dance, not that I
would have. Mystik Spiral was playing
so the music was... interesting. Uh,
your act was kinda cool, even if it was pretty sappy."
"Sappy?"
"Yeah,
you changed part of the first verse to fit Jane, and it is a love song... after
a fashion."
"Well
I liked it." Jane chimed in.
"So
what do we do now?" I asked. I
looked at the clock, it was two in the morning.
"Well,
since the band is passed out in the warehouse and anyone in any condition to
leave already has. The question is do
we sleep here or walk back to Jane's." Daria said. At that moment Jane yawned loudly. "Well
I guess that answers that."
"Okay,
you two take the guest room, I'll sleep on the futon."
"Always
the gentleman." Jane said.
"Hey,
chivalry ain't dead."
"Yeah,
just paralyzed from the waist down." Daria said.
"Well,
G'night." I kissed Jane on the forehead.
With
that we went to our separate domiciles. I flipped the futon down to it's bed position and got undressed to my
boxers. This was certainly an interesting day.
I
laid down and closed my eyes. Well what next? Then the pad on the futon shifted with the
weight of another person. I opened my
eyes and in the gloom I could make out a human form.
"Jane?"
"Got
it on the first try." She fumbled around for a minute.
"What
are you doing?"
"Getting
ready for bed, Daria's already asleep. So I figured you might like my company."
My
eyes went wide. "Uh, I know I said I was ready for a more physical
relationship, but don't you think it's a little early for..." I couldn't
voice the words.
"You're
sweet. No I just want to actually sleep
beside you on the same bed. Nothing
more than cuddling. I mean I'm not
ready for... that either. Hope you
don't mind me borrowing your shirt. I
needed something to sleep in."
"That's
fine. What about Daria?"
"She
came prepared."
"That
sounds like Daria."
"Yeah."
Jane laid down beside me. I curled up
around her possesivly and put my head in the hollow between her neck and her
shoulder.
"G'night,
love." I said.
"'Night."
For
the first time in a month, I didn't dream of a life left behind. Or of the fears of a new world. I dreamt of the future. It was perfect. It may have not been Connecticut. I think, maybe it was Vermont.
Authors
Notes: Am I mushy? Hell yeah, I may put on a cool exterior but
deep down I'm a hopeless romantic. Am
I actually a "nice" guy. Unfortunately, I am. You know
what they say, nice guys finish last. Well this is my fic and I'm finishing first for once, Dammit. Yeah the Raising Arizona parody at the end
is the corniest thing I've ever written, but it had to be done. As always, If you have comments, suggestions
or criticism email me at NetUrza@hotmail.com
Also Daria and the rest of the Daria Cast belong
to Mtv Which is chained to it's
pimp, Viacom. Butterfly belongs to
Crazy Town and whatever record company has the ropes through their bondage
bracelets.
