AN: This is one of my most favorite chapters so far. I really like writing for Angelica because I tried to illustrate her personality as a more grown-up version of herself from the Rugrats series and so on. So, she's still a bitch. Just a lot more strategic in contrast to being all-out mean. She's got a little wildside too, which I hope feels right to everyone.

Oh, and a special thanks to 10MidnightArrow11 for all of the great reviews! (: This one's for you!


Angelica Pickles.
August 29th 2009

"Where the fuck am I?"

When I say this out loud, I really am truly concerned about my whereabouts. But I mean, I'm not that worried. This happens to me a lot, you know. In fact, my summer mornings usually start this way. Or... afternoons, in this case. Who the fuck wakes up in the morning during summer anyway?

I find my way to a bathroom, but on my way there I take a look around. The walls of the room alternate from shades of dark blue and white, and there are these posters of sports cars and half-naked women. I'm obviously in a guy's room.

Well... that's a relief. At least I didn't wake up next to some girl.

I laugh to myself and finally get to the bathroom, running the water to wash my face. Before I can cup a handful, I take a look at myself. There are these nasty bags underneath my eyes like I haven't slept in weeks and my hair and makeup are completely fucked. When I see this, I can start to feel the comedown even more so than I did waking up.

That's what cocaine does to you. It picks you up, makes you fly: then drops you off like a cold hearted bitch.

I guess that's why I like her so much. We have a lot in common. I laugh to myself again and start to scrub my dirty face in my hands.

I've been fucking around with Snow White for about 3 or 4 months now. Starting high school, the most I did was steal cigarettes from my mother and smoke with my friends in the girl's room. After awhile, I smoked weed... but I didn't like the high. Sitting around and being lazy isn't really my thing. I tried acid, but I always wound up having bad trips. I found cocaine after I started dating my ex, Trevor. Even though we broke up, we still hang out. He's always getting me into some crazy stuff.

By the looks of it though, I'm not at Trevor's house. I wonder if I ended up going home with one of his boys and for some reason can't remember it, but right when I start to pick my own brain, a guy walks through the bedroom door.

I look at him through the bathroom mirror and I immediately notice that he's shirtless. Then I notice the top of his head, covered in crazy black hair. Then I see his face, and... wow, is he is gorgeous. If this is who I wound up sleeping with last night, then I can take my walk of shame with no shame at all.

"Morning, beautiful," he says and he smiles. And oh my god. He has perfect, white teeth and pouty lips. I start grinning like crazy. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine, and you?" I wink at him, hoping he mentions how awesome our night was.

He shrugs, grabbing a random shirt from off of a chair. "I can't say the same. The couch in the lounge isn't too comfortable. But I'm alright." He smiles again and this time I don't.

Confusion strikes me. "The couch? You mean you didn't sleep with me?" slips out of my mouth but I don't regret it in the slightest.

He smirks this time and cocks an eyebrow. "I mean... I completely would have. But you were blown out of your mind. I wasn't going to use the night to take advantage of you like that. So I let you sleep and put a couple benzos and a cup of water beside you to ease your comedown." His eyes sweep the room to the nightstand right beside his bed, and sure enough... there are a few pills and a glass of water sitting right there. "But it looks like you haven't touched them."

I sigh and rub my eyes, feeling a migraine slowly creeping behind my skull with an angry buzz. "Yeah, but I sure do need them." And I make my way back to the bed and sit down, taking a pill and the water to chase it down. "So... who are you, anyway?"

He sits beside me, running a hand through his wild, awesome hair. "Name's Manny. Well... Manuel, actually."

"Which one should I call you?" I ask.

Manny shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever you prefer. And what should I call you?"

"Angelica," I say, expecting him to cringe. I always wondered why my mom decided to give me such an... old name. Why couldn't I be Ashley? Or Amanda? Something normal, you know? Thinking this, I look up at Manny and realize he's still got that stupid grin on his face.

"Angelica is a very pretty name," he says.

I know he's just saying that but I laugh and push him a little. I'm feeling the benzo start to kick in, so I decide to call my ride before I get too carried away here or pass out. I look over at Manny and I say, "Well, buddy... it's been nice meeting you, but I gotta get going. Where are we?"

He shrugs. "Brentwood."

And I press my cellphone against my ear while it rings. It takes forever, but to my surprise, my little cousin Tommy answers on the first try.

"Hello?" He answers like he's 85 year old and retired. He sounds disgusting. I can imagine that he looks pretty worse.

"Good morning, shithead. Where are you?" I ask and I see Manny look at me from the corner of my eye. I ignore him.

Tommy sighs on the other end. "I'm at home, Angelica. Hungover. Why, do you need picked up?"

I smile. He knows me too well. "What was your first clue?"

He answers automatically. "That's the only time you ever call me."

"That's right," I reply. "I'm still in Brentwood," And I look at Manny for the address.

"14 Sunset Drive." He mutters. I repeat the address back to Tommy and he asks that I give him about 20 minutes. That he'll be around soon & we end the convo.

"Was that your boyfriend?" My latino hottie asks and I almost choke laughing.

"No! It was my cousin. He's coming by to pick me up." I sit back down on the bed and wink at him. "Why, were you jealous?"

Manny smiles again and leans into me. "A little..."

"Please," I scoff and for some reason, we kiss. I swear to you, it feels like fireworks are shooting through my chest. My heart is racing a mile a minute, but it feels as if everything around me is moving slowly. I figure it's the pills. Manny, for some reason, tastes like peppermint and he smells exactly like a boy should, only better. It turns me on, and I push him back against the mattress. He doesn't fight back one bit.

"Making up for last night, huh?" He laughs and I'm about to say something back but it I remember that I don't know a damn thing that happened last night, so I just kiss him again. Rougher this time, and he kisses back with the same intensity. I trail a hand down his chest and to his zipper and right as I'm easing it down he stops me.

"Wait."

"What?"

"I just... I can't yet. We can't. Not like this."

"What?!"

Manny's look never changes, not even a little. He's dead serious. "I don't know, Angelica... It's like..." He stops and sits up and I find myself in his lap, leaning against his chest. "I don't know you, but I'd like to get to know you more. We talked a lot last night while you were fucked up on blast," he stumbles a bit. "I - I mean, we both were, and I just know that, like... you're different, you know?"

Whatever he's saying just sounds like a whole mess of words to me. But it sounds nice. I try to be patient and wait for him to explain more. "No... what do you mean?"

"I can't describe it. I just know you're different and I don't just want to fuck you the way I fuck everyone else." He says.

I give him a look that tells him how stupid that sounded. It was such a dumb and random statement and yet... those words appeal to me in some way. I let it hang there in the air above us until I realize he's waiting for a response.

"Okay..." I say slowly, digging my phone back out of my pocket. "Put your number in there."

And he does.

And we spend the next couple of moments holding each other and looking into each other's eyes. It's weird, but it makes me feel different than I've ever felt with anybody else.

Right when I'm about to climb off of him, the bedroom door opens.

"Manny, if there's any laundry you need done, you need to-..."

We both look up and there's a girl standing in the doorway, holding a basket of in the scene before her, she raises her eyebrow and shifts her weight to the other leg. "Who's this?" She asks slowly.

Manny's expression changes and he's giving her the same stupid smile that he's been giving me. "Maya, this is Angelica... Angelica, this is my sister."

The two of us size each other up the way girls do, and then I ease myself away from Manny to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you," I say, since I have a feeling that the two of us are going to get real used to seeing each other.

I can tell she doesn't think much of this by the way she lets go of my hand. She looks back to her brother without taking a second to think about it. "...Laundry? I just got Lil out of here not too long ago, and I want to get some chores done before mom and dad get home."

"Lil?" I happen to say this out loud and Maya looks back at me, this time like I actually exist.

"You know her?"

I nod in response. "Yeah. We grew up together, I guess. She has a twin brother." Maya nods her head as well, getting ready to respond to this when the doorbell rings. Before I can get up, Maya is already out of the doorway. "Cute girl." I mumble and Manny shrugs his shoulders.

"Her head's in another place right now, I guess. She's usually more friendly." He says, wrapping an arm around my waist as we make our way to the living room. I see Maya inviting Tommy in, placing the basket down on the floor and they're sharing a laugh. He pulls her into a hug.

"I never would have thought you lived so close," Tommy says. "By the way, is Angelica around? ...That's the reason why I'm here. She's my cousin."

I wave a hand in the air, pulling Manny along and we join them. "Yoo-hoo!"

"Hey, Angelica," Tommy says, not looking at me; but at my new boytoy instead. "Is this your... boyfriend or something?"

I shake my head. "We just met. But since you two are already acquainted, would you want to go out and get something to eat? We can do lunch." I say. Tommy rolls his eyes over to Maya and she laughs and crosses her hands behind her back.

"That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea, actually." She says, smiling at me while Tommy is smiling down at her. I take it as a sign that he likes her or something, even though he's still with Kimi and all. Whatever. Maya seems nicer anyway. She turns to her brother. "Manny, you wanna take Angelica?"

A look of shock crosses him and he reaches forward to take his little sister in his arms in a tight hug. "What? You don't want to ride with your big brother?" His accent is thick, and I laugh at they way they tease each other. It sort of makes me wish I had an older brother or even some type of sibling. My mother had her tubes tied right after having me. Guess she couldn't handle childbirth too much.

Or raising a kid for that matter. I spent most of my time at Tommy's since my dad was stuck with some stupid desk job and my mom worked for a business corporation, which led up to her 4 year affair with her assistant Jonathan. I can't really say that affected me too much though. Being with Tommy and the other kids most of my life kind of provided a sibling role for me, so I guess I was just grateful for that, if nothing else.

"Does that mean you're riding with me then?" Tommy says to Maya in a quiet voice. She looks up at him and nods and he drapes his arm around her shoulders. She doesn't protest one bit. I watch my lame ass cousin try not to crack a smile. "Okay, so where are we going anyway?"

I place a finger to my lips. "Hmmm... I'm feeling like italian today. So maybe we can go to Romano's? Thankfully it's not far. It's right beside the Finster's coffee shop." I say, watching Tommy tense up when he realizes how close the restaurant is to his girlfriend's father's business.

But, like the Pickles he is, he pulls on his poker face and gives me the most charming smile he can muster. "Sure. Romano's it is."