Seeing Double
Across the Universe
Chapter 2
A/N: Sorry for such a… bleak chapter (it should've been better for the first one) but you got to do what you got to do, right? Well I hope this one is more satisfying and your comments will send me miles! R+R!
"So this is your new place?" Jude threw up his arms and spun as soon as he walked in Max's new flat.
Max followed behind, out of breath. "Oh yeah. Sorry about the stairs."
Jude ignored the comment and started walking, exploring around. "Pretty nice. Where's your roomies?"
"I don't know; probably drinking their asses off at this moment." Max walked through an open door.
"Krist's a drinker? I didn't think Prudence was either." Jude followed him after setting his bag on a torn couch.
"Are you kidding me? Well I didn't really think Prudence was either but Krist's always bringing drunken friends… I don't think he's smashed but maybe-well I don't know. That's not important." Max shut the drawers he was looking in and turned around. "So how do you like it?"
Jude stepped back in the doorway and looked at the crammed space he and Max called a room. There was a window which was located near the far left side; a bed on the far right; a dresser and cracked, stained mirror in between the two and beside the door were 2 garbage bags filled with who-knows-what.
"I love it. But where will you be?" Jude turned to Max who was looking at the tainted carpet.
"I'm taking the living room. As stupid as this sounds, I've been working on this forever. Ever since I heard you were coming back. But enough of this because I'm hungry and I have a job to work tomorrow."
Jude smiled, threw his pack on the bed and followed Max out into the main room; which consisted of a beat up couch, a fridge, counter tops, a cabinet, and some small wooden chairs.
"Well since we have no food whatsoever-frigging Prudence-we have to have take-out." Max took his head out of the fridge and turned to Jude.
"Unless you feel like having beer. Because we have ice cream and beer. Oh and peanut butter. And cookies but they're stale."
"It'll do." Jude peeled off his jacket and tossed it over the couch, followed by a small bag of cookies and a jar of peanut butter. Jude rushed to the couch and opened the cookie bag. Max soon came to the couch with 2 beers in hand.
"Oh shit!" Jude was awaken by Max's yells around the apartment. He rubbed his eyes and tried to locate his shoes.
"Jude, come on; let's go!" Max ran back in the room, trying to pull on a pair of pants at the same time.
"What for?" Jude stood up, and then fell back down. Max handed him a lit cigarette.
"Take this for a second." He did up his belt and pants while Jude took a couple puffs and coughed. Max snatched it back, took a final gust then burned it out.
Max was wearing a cleaner shirt and Jude was still trying to find his shoe.
"Forget your shoe-unless you wanna get fired!" Max snapped and took one off his foot and gave it to him.
"Fired from what?" Jude had to run to the front door and try to get on Max's shoe. Max never cared about these things.
"Your new job! Now let's go." They stepped out the residence and stopped. Max felt his pockets and mumbled. "Got that… have it… keys…"
"What? Am I cab driver too?"
"Well I'm not paying for you… in anyway. So if you wanna keep living here, yes." Jude smiled and followed Max down the stair railing. After 20 seconds, they reached the lobby.
"Okay we have to be there at eleven… Shit. We're already late."
"What's such the big deal? Are they desperate or something?" Jude was jogging with Max the cab.
"Well yes. Everyone's been quitting because of crappy business; no tips, accidents, the regular. So now we're going out of business so I promised a guy here at eleven but we're kinda late for that." They both got in the beat-up cab and Max started it the first try using Jude's trick.
"Okay let's go."
Max and Jude ran into each other a couple more times that day purposely. Max didn't stop asking Jude about Lucy and Jude wanted to figure out why Max didn't want a girlfriend-or if he was hiding someone.
"Jude, I would tell you. I'm not hiding anything and I've had issues with girls." Erasing the fact that he had one at the flat the night before last night.
"Yeah well me and Lucy weren't meant to be." Jude would say.
Max was thinking about that all day. Lucy would call and probably wouldn't approve of Max and Jude living together again.
"I just don't get it. It's frigging Jude! And Lucy! They were in love. I don't want to… Well whatever." Max said to himself all day. He could never finish saying his last sentence.
Finally the suspension was killing him. He called Lucy on a pay phone the chance he could; with him knowing Jude's old number in Liverpool, it was possible.
"Hello?" A deep, gruff voice answered.
"Is Luce around?"
"Why?" The voice cleared up a bit.
"Tell her it's her brother." He wasn't about to have an engaging conversation with this chump.
"Hello?" Lucy's heartwarming voice wasn't so heartwarming anymore. More sad.
"Lucy?" He waited for the impact.
"Max! Oh my God! This is great! How's work? Prudence? Krist?" her voice lightened up.
"Everything's good. You sound upset. Is everything alright?"
"What are you talking about? Everything's great, dandy, fabulous!" She said almost too quickly.
"Yeah well I'm worried about you Luce. I mean, you have a phone! That means big business." He knew that Jude bought it before he left.
"It was a gift from Jude before he left." Her voice softened.
"What about that anyways? You guys were in the deep pit I call love. What made the flame die?"
"Max I don't know what's up with you, but I don't think Jude would want me telling you all this."
"And your gonna respect that. I get it. But you can trust me. He told me some things but he said you should tell me the rest. So here's the best time to do it." Max was lying terribly through his teeth.
"I don't care what Jude says. I just met some new people and then things fell out of place then back in." She said in a small whisper.
"What's his name?" Max asked in the same tone and volume.
"I'm with him because he reminds me of you. I can't do this anymore Max."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Max said louder.
"He's just like you, Max! He looks like you, speaks like you, that's why I love him so."
"What's his name? What's the reason Jude's so depressed right now?" Max yelled louder.
There was silence.
"If you would like to continue, please insert more money. You have exactly one minute before your call ends." Max fumbled in his pockets for more change. He shoved in several pennies.
"It's Kurt. Kurt Cobain." She hung up.
Max did the same and walked out of the booth.
"Kurt… Kurt…"
Meanwhile, Lucy walked past her waiting boyfriend and into the bathroom.
"I can't do this… I can't do this anymore."