My head hurt so terribly when I woke up, I was sure I was going to die. I was laying in my bed, my horrible, unclean, unlaundered bed. Once I realized I was laying in a germ infested kingdom of dirt, I almost jumped out of my skin. I had goose bumps and my hair stood on end, my mind rushed. I threw whatever blanket was on top of me off and quickly collected my things to take a shower, I needed one, right that second. I don't think I ever scrubbed my skin so hard in my life.
After finishing up my morning sick, I finally wandered downstairs after realizing I needed to get some kind of work done today. I checked the laundry schedule and marked myself down, wrote out a meal plan for the next two weeks, and straightened up the living room before laying down a towel and flopping myself down on the couch. I immersed myself into desperate housewives for the afternoon, well, for about a half hour until the resident biker came down the stairs.
"Hey! I wanna know how hung over is hungover?" He asked laughing rudely. My head ache couldn't even begin to tolerate him. He took the remote from me and sat down in a chair, changing my channel faster than I could object.
"Please," I whined. He wasn't listening.
"As if I give a shit! It's your own fault," he smirked, the big stupid bully. I rolled over, turning around so I couldn't see him and was preparing to ignore him.
"I heard you threw up on Sasori, like total upchuck all over him!"
I sat up, spinning around.
"I did what?" I exclaimed, I vaguely remembered stumbling down stairs last night but after that it was all dark. Hidan, I believe his name was, clad in his old rock band t-shirt and leather jacket, black jeans and combat boots laughed in my face. Jesus Christ what else couldn't I remember? Hidan kept talking, and made it clear to me that not only was he very selfish, but he insisted that all of the attention was on him. Every sentence started with I but somehow came back around to make fun of my hang over, as if I was going to give in to the teasing and snap at him.
"I heard you were a pretty big alcoholic yourself," I spat finally, groaning at the shrillness of my own voice.
"I'm not a alcoholic you dumb cunt," he swore, I snickered.
"That's what I keep telling myself too," I added and pulled my hands up to lay them over my face. He was quiet for a few seconds, I heard him rustling in his coat pocket.
"You gonna yell at me if I smoke in here?" He asked, I heard the click of a lighter, he'd lit the end of his menthol cigarette anyway.
"I'm not sure what your talking about, I never saw anything," I said flatly, and I litterally couldn't see anything. In reference to the rest of my body, my stomach felt the worst. It churned in a bubbling way that made me think I might throw up again any second.
"You got gas in your motorcycle?" I asked, he grunted in response.
"Would you drive me up to Walgreens or something?" I sighed, lifting my hands from my face and worsening my head ache with the influx of light.
"Later," he said, standing up and walking out of the room. I wasn't sure if he ment he'd take me later or if he was saying goodbye. A few hours of desperate housewives later, Kisame came home from work, smelling strongly like chlorine and his hair was slightly damp.
"So uh, I thought I'd be the first one to tell you that you threw up all over Sasori last night, he's pretty pissed," Kisame retrieved another bag of chips for today and sat down in the chair Hidan had been sitting in. I didn't bother to tell him that the leather clad asshole had beat him to it. I didn't answer him, just rolled back over.
"I gotta ask, why are you laying on a towel?" The life guard asked between handfuls of chips.
"Germs," I muttered, "do you have a car Kisame? I need to go to Walgreens."
"Sorry squirt, I'm in for the night," he replied. Of course he was. Deidara and Sasori came home next, fallowing the same unofficial arrival time schedule the house used every day. Deidara patted me on my head and sat down at the other end of the couch, shoving my feet over. I couldn't see Sasori from where I was sitting, and that was probably a good thing. Deidara and Kisame chatted a little bit before Deidara flicked my hand that lay on my hip.
"Want some aspirin?" He asked, I nodded and he was gone for a second, and returned with nothing but a glass of water. Apparently he'd run out, but he'd still thought he had a few left. I'd known him for a total of three days, and already I could see we were taking turns being the 'older sibling.' He was a lot like me, he'd probably been the only child at home, or maybe the favorite child, and got all the attention, but now that he was alone and now that I was alone, we both wanted somebody to cling to. We both wanted that attention back.
"Kakuzu 's home," Kisame mumbled, standing up and leaving the room. I was confused for a minute, but then I realized I was going to get my ass chewed out. The door opened slowly, and the foot steps on the floor seemed calm enough, but the accountants voice did not match. I couldn't see him, the back of the couch was to the door, and I didn't want to see him.
"Where is she," he seethed. Deidara didn't say anything and Kakuzu commanded him to leave the room too. He huffed and walked out as I sat up. I wasn't ready for this, my heart pounded and my breathing quickened, I pulled my knees to my chest and I was sure my eyes were wide as he walked around to face me.
"You are so god damn lucky I can't fire you, because your ass would be on the curb right now!" Kakuzu growled, his voice rising until he was screaming and my eyes were watering, "how unprofessional can you get? It knew it was a mistake to hire a mealy mouthed, pathetic little thing like you, your unqualified and inexperienced! This is not a doll house where everything is fine and dandy, you don't just live here, you work here! Not to mention, do you know who had to fucking clean that up?"
I choked a little bit, near hyperventilation and unable to answer him.
"Don't do it again!" He shouted finally, and I could finally feel my feet enough to jump off of the couch and take myself through the kitchen and into the back yard. I hid myself on the side of the house, leaning against the siding in the hot afternoon sun. I was on the verge of a panic attack and stricken by unbearable anxiety.
I was gonna get fired, I was gonna be homeless, I'd never get to go to college, I'd end up in debt, my parents would reject me, all of these crazy things filled my head, impossible things that would result in my subsequent death or failure.
"Hey there,"
I jumped, my eyes snapped open (I hadn't even realized I'd closed them) and my breathe caught in my throat. A man was standing in front of me, he was my age, maybe a few years older, taller too, with short, unkept black hair. He wore an awful color blue shirt with a bright orange lanyard around his neck.
"What's the difference between an old bus stop and a lobster with boobs?" He asked, smiling calmly.
"What?" I breathed, finally exhaling the air I'd taken in.
"It's a joke, guess the answer," he said, making a spinning hand motion as if to say 'go on.' I thought for a moment and then shrugged slowly.
"Ones a crusty bus station, and the others a busty crustacean," he smirked a little and snickered at his own joke, "you don't get it do you? That's okay, I'm Tobi."
"Kimi," I mumbled.
"I heard Kakuzu yelling and I figured I'd get in on the action," he laughed again, "I live in the building behind this one, there's a gate behind the hedges over there," he motioned, jutting his thumb behind him, "I haven't seen you around before."
"I'm uh, supposed to be the new building manager," I sighed, "but um..."
"That's okay, the old mans got a stick up his ass anyway," he said, referencing Kakuzu, "come on, it's Friday right? Call take out for the house and get Deidara, we'll go do something fun."
I wasn't exactly sure about him. He clearly had prior knowledge of the house meal plan and knew the other tenants, but he also knew Deidara, someone I sort of trusted. I fallowed his idea and ordered pizza for the house that night. I laid it out and got Deidara some before I called the rest of the house for dinner.
"God damn it, who let him in here?" Hidan groaned, and I was about to ask what he was talking about when Tobi spoke up.
"Ohh ho ho Hidan that's not very funny! You wouldn't say mean things about Tobi in front of his face would you? Oh wait, you might actually, I forgot that you aren't quite up to standard in the brains department," Tobi giggled, his voice getting higher and he seemed to take on another personality.
"Call me stupid again maggot," Hidan growled, grabbing a plate and going to sit down.
"I never said you were," Tobi chirped. The other house tenants seemed to downright ignore him, save for Deidara. The blonde sighed when he saw him, and took the plate I was handing him, and the three of us retreated to the living room to let them eat. I refused food, with my stomach the way it was I couldn't bear it. It seemed with Tobi around, it seems we were being avoided.
"Me and miss Kimi want to know if you'd like to go have fun with us, would you buddy, old pal, would you?" Tobi asked, his voice sing song like a child.
"Sure, whatever," Deidara mumbled in an annoyed tone, "Kimi, would you go up to my room and get the black bag from under my bed and lock the door?"
I didn't reply but I did stare at him for a minute. He wanted me to go into his room? Get under his bed? Not only the germs he probably had, but I didn't want to know what teenage boys keep in their rooms.
"There's nothing bad up there, it's fine," he urged, shoving his face full of breadstick and garlic butter. Reluctantly I did as I was asked.
Deidara's room was not fine. It reminded me of my old apartment I shared with my friends with trash, bottles, and clothing litterally every surface. His bedding was white, and the box spring has no skirt, so it was easy to find the bag long before I'd bent down to pick it up.
"Might I ask what your doing?" Sasori's level voice came from the doorway, and I don't think I was ever on my feet so fast.
"D-Dei, uh, Deidara asked me to get his b-bag," I stuttered, facing the redhead while I clutched the black canvas bag in my hands. He cocked an eyebrow.
"I um, I'm very sorry that, um, I threw up on you, I'm sorry," I said hurriedly. I wanted to get it out there and over with as fast as I could no matter how embarrassing. He seemed to think for a moment before he answered.
"I accept your apology, however, I don't forgive you."
I sighed deeply.
"Could I make it up to you somehow?"
"I'll think about it," he replied, and walked the opposite way down the hall, into his room and closed the door. There was no reason to panic now, I told myself, he was gone and I could calm down.
I brought the heavy black bag downstairs, and with every step I took a metallic rattle hurt my headache more than I could handle. When I arrived in the living room, Deidara was leaned towards Tobi, speaking with him in a hushed tone, but once he noticed me, he sat back up straight and cleared his throat.
"Is miss Kimi ready to go? The dynamic duo Deidara and Tobi are ready to become the dynamic trio!" Tobi threw his arms out as he spoke, bending his thumbs and pinkie fingers back to show me the number three on each hand. Deidara stood up, took the bag from me and without another word we left the house via the back door, we were threw the hidden gate when Deidara proceeded to start ripping Tobi a new ass.
"I don't understand why you have to do that Tobi, that voice is horrible, you look like a three year old with all of those exuberant hand motions, and you talk in fucking circles."
"Gotta keep up the image," Tobi replied, his voice deep and back to normal. He cleared his throat a few times between the inside of his house and the back gate. He was only a few seconds grabbing his keys from inside, and a few seconds after that the three of us were in his car. I hadn't even thought to ask where we were going.
"I'd like it if you kept this a secret Kimi," he said, looking threw his rear view mirror at me as he smoothly cruised around a corner, "I pretend to be an idiot to avoid quite a few not so choice people in my life... not that it matters, I'll just deny it anyway."
I made a motion to zip my lips quietly and I watched him smile through the mirror.
"Where to?" He asked, turning momentarily to Deidara, but then back to the road to flash some asshole with his bright lights on.
"Down town, I saw a fresh painted wall the other day when I was at the bank with Sasori," he answered, pulling a spray paint can out of the black bag. That explained the rattling. He shook each can individually, laying out colors in his lap after he'd finished. Blues, reds, lots of blacks and whites. We pulled over down town and parked and I paid the meter. They'd clearly intended to leave it like they intended to leave me, so jogging to catch up with them was my only choice. This made me nervous, inner city's were usually surrounded by bad parts of town, no matter how nice this mini business district was. We walked past the bank Deidara had mentioned and a few buildings down was a blank white wall on the side of a closed down coin shop. The shop was on the corner, so this wall faced the nonexistent traffic. Tobi and I sat down, leaning against a lamp post facing the building. There was a brick planter that went around the side of the building filled with dead plants no one bothered to pull up and Deidara, after putting a black bandana around his nose, hoisted himself on top of it with a black can of spray paint and started on a curved shape.
"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed only to be shushed. I wasn't sure what I'd thought the paint had been for in the first place.
"Keep it down!" Deidara hissed, "it's fine, there just gonna paint over it again later. That's the point, I only paint in places I know they'll get rid of it. It's fleeting, every work is unique and it's only here for a short time," he smiled a wicked, twisted smile as he rounded off an edge. My hangover wasn't making my stomach do flips now, it was him. Tobi stood up and crossed the street, ducking into a party store and returning with a bottle of whiskey and a can of coke.
"Take a drink," he said, throwing back the bottle. I opened the can and sipped it, but no sooner had I brought it to my lips did he take it back and proceeded to pour it into the whiskey bottle, and then back into the can very carefully.
"I shouldn't," I told him, but he shoved it back into my hands.
"I shouldn't either," he smirked, "we got our designated driver putting on a show and life's good. Relax okay?"
I shouldn't drink this, I knew that and I knew myself. I could see myself developing this problem when I moved in with my friends, I'd been the first to turn twenty one and by extension became the booze buyer. I'd been living here three months before I decided to move out, my pervious friends owed me too much money and were only contributing to my problem, and I knew this was a mistake. It was a mistake, a huge mistake. I took a swig anyway.
Deidara was busy with his mural, I wasn't sure exactly what it was just yet, some kind of abstract with a mixed light blue back ground, a green center spiraling outwards and some oval shaped objects that were beginning to look like birds.
"What's in the center of an island?" Deidara called, not taking his eyes off of his master piece.
"A star," Tobi returned. An hour and two empty drink cans later, Deidara stepped away from the wall, he pulled his bandana away from his face and presented it to us.
"He fishes for compliments," Tobi whispered, standing up to litterally give his friend a pat on the back, "this might be the best one yet!"
The wall had been painted in an aerial view of an island, almost spider like with the sandbars around the main land form. It was covered in greenery with bright sandy beaches, and birds circling it through the clouds. At the very center of the island was a star shaped pond, just a few shades lighter than the ocean. The paint he used was probably good quality and the shades astounded me. It wasn't particularly large, but it wasn't small either, about an arms reach in every direction.
"It's so pretty, I didn't know spray paint came in so many colors," I muttered, "where'd you learn to do this?"
"Rich kids get bored," he said, "not to mention, I was born with this amazing gift, this is a talent."
It seemed like a crime for someone to paint over this, I couldn't believe he was alright with just... abandoning this to be destroyed. It didn't seem to effect his ego any.
"It certainly is," Tobi beamed, seemingly just as proud of the painting as Deidara was.
We stood around a while longer, admiring our friends work and then left without so much as taking a picture. I'd be gone three days later. We went back to Tobi's house after, he had a two liter, movies he'd pirated off of the Internet and I was invited to stay the night. I thanked him, but insisted that I leave for my own room. I walked back home, locked up the house and climbed the first set of stairs. As I walked past each door, I tried to remember who's was who's. The Uchihia's were first on the left, Kisame was across from them. Hidan's door was black and beat up, so his was easy. Sasori's door was at the end of the hall, the door was plain, a light colored oak and I noticed as I neared it that it was ajar. I reached my hand out to shut the door for him when it opened by itself and the red headed occupant stood lazy eyed in the bright light.
"Could I help you?" He asked, his voice monotone and tired sounding.
"Oh, I was just going to shut your door for you, I'm sorry," I said, trying to sound genuine. Had he known I was here?
"That's alright," he droned stepping out of the room and closing the door, "I'm going downstairs."
I hastily moved out of the way and he stepped by me without another word.
"Uh, Sasori," I said a bit louder than I'd wanted to, and instantly regretted it.
"Yes?" He said, turning around to look at me with the same uninterested expression.
"Would you like some company?" I asked, my words sort of muddled shyly together.
"No, " he replied, considering it slowly and thoroughly for a moment, "good night," he added as he turned his back to me and walked down the hall and down the stairs. He hasn't said it in a mean way and I wasn't insulted, but he hadn't been polite either.
That was okay, not even considering Id vomited all over him the night before. I vaguely wondered if he thought I was drunk. Sasori was a different kind of person than I was, and I accepted it. I opened the door at the very end of the wall that closely resembled a closet, the door that hid the stairs up to my bed room, and once again feel asleep in the empty, dirty room that held my entire life to fall asleep in my chair.