----
"Where are the fucking towels in this place?" She muttered under her breath, walking through the kitchen in her shoes. Water and mud dripped off of them and smudged on the floor. "Sadie!!" She yelled, throwing open a cupboard. "Sa--" She stopped when she saw the boys standing in the middle of the living room.
Max looked at her hair, a messy brown mess on top of her head. He scanned his eyes down her body, just to see what she was wearing. A purple jacket with lime green buttons and orange outlines for the pockets. Her pants were a powder blue, and her shoes were tall and black, chunky and stylish.
"Hi." He said, a little astounded by what she was wearing.
She looked down at her clothes, noticing the looks she was receiving from not only the blonde, but the tall brunette as well.
"Who are you?" She asked, confused.
Max laughed a bit, taking the situation smoothly, because she seemed wuite younger than the two of them. Things were a lot different when you were talking to someone smaller than you.
"Max.." He trailed off. "You're Pepper, right?" He asked before Jude had the opportunity to introduce himself.
She looked at them both, seeming like she was going to explode at them both for being in her apartment, breathing her air.
But she relaxed and spoke in a sigh. "Yeah, that's me." She looked them over, quite amused with Jude's leather jacket. "You're the new tenants, right?" She smirked a little, slipping off her jacket and hanging it on the end of a chair.
"Yeah." Max answered again, not giving an opportunity for Jude to open his mouth—again. Jude doubted that he could say anything, anyways. He was a little astounded.
She walked past them, kicking off her shoes on the way over to her room.
She opened the door with a little difficulty, because of all of the clothes on the floor, but it gave a sick sort of comfort to the boys when it slammed so abruptly.
"Well, that was weird." Max laughed. "She was kind of hot, though, don't ya think?" He puched his best friend on the shoulder, but Jude was looking at the boots, twisted and neglected on the floor. "Man?" He ran around his friend trying to get a better look at his eyes. "Oh, come on, you cant like her too, man."
Jude looked up from the shoes. "What? I don't… I don't like her, I don't even know her."
Max didn't look amused. "Lucy's a good girl, ok? I grew up with her."
"I know."
Max waited a moment, thinking the words over in his head. "Don't screw things up with her, ok? I don't care how much of friends we are, I'll fucking kill you."
Jude looked over at his friend, laughing a bit, but stopping immediately when he saw the dead serious look on his face.
There was an awkward moment of silence and staring before Max laughed a bit, unsure of what he thought was the right thing to do.
He patted Jude on the shoulder, trying to make up for the stare down, and then walked over to the kitchen.
Jude stared at the boots for a few moments before shaking his head at himself and following his best friend in the kitchen.
----
"Lucy's coming tonight. She's going to be on the train in an hour." Max said, winking at Jude on the other side of the couch.
"Oh?" Jude smiled, thinking of her perfectly straight blonde hair. Her bright blue eyes, the way they shone.
"Yeah. I'm picking her up at the station. You wanna come with?"
Jude thought for a moment. "I don't know, wouldn't that seem kind of odd?" He asked, waving the hand that wasn't occupied with a beer bottle to entusiate his words.
"Clingy." Max filled him in with a better word. "You're right. I'll just meet you at the gig or something, ok?"
"Mkay." Jude took another long sip before looking over at Pepper's door. It swung open, with much difficulty, and she stumbled out.
She looked over at the boys on the couch.
"Beer?"
Max looked down at his bottle. "Yeah…"
Her face twisted into a scowl. She folded her arms and stretched out one of her legs. Jude caught Max staring at it.
"Okay. Here is the one rule I'm going to lay down, okay?" She walked over, her feet slapping against the wood. "Don't buy it…" She snatched Max's beer from his hands. Max looked up, reaching out for it with begging eyes, like a child. "Don't drink it." She took Jude's and took a long sip from it.
"Come on, have some synonym." Max begged.
"Sympathy…" Jude corrected quietly, staring at the bottle. He found his eyes slipping off to Pepper's chest, just to see what there was. She was wearing a green checkered shirt that tied up in the middle. It was hot in the apartment, so it didn't appear that she was trying to be exposed, just trying to cool off.
She thought for a moment. "Fine." She said finally, after some thought. She handed them back their bottles. "My house warming present." She turned to walk into her room. "Oh!" She turned around and walked back over. "I almost forgot." She full-force slapped Jude across the face, and then Max.
"Jesus, you crazy bitch!" Max yelled, having spilled beer all over his pants, now hilding his cheek in pain. "What the hell was that for?"
"I'm not an idiot, I can tell when a guy is checking me out. I don't want you two getting fresh with me. I'm not some kind of one-night-stand, okay?"
She turned and walked back into her room.
The boys exchanged looks before laughing a tiny bit and going back to their beers.
----
Pepper looked at the full length mirror in her room.
Looking at her shirt. Her pants.
She untied the shirt and tossed it in the corner. She looked at herself in the mirror, turning around. Trying to change what she saw in the mirror.
She sighed, finally, and then grabbed a black t-shirt off the bed, knowing that it wasn't too tight, and it wasn't too exposing, like her other clothes.
She held in her stomach and pretended to be tying in a corsette.
She exhaled pathetically, knowing that she wouldn't ever be able to change what she looked like. Or who she was on the inside.
Pepper glanced over at her closet and caught a glimpse of one of her sparkling costumes. She closed her eyes, painfully, then walked over and slammed the closet door, loudly.
She fell on her bed and felt tears welling up in her eyes.
"Is this all I am?" She whispered to herself. "Is this all I was meant to be?"
She closed her eyes and let the tears slip onto her pillow.
After a while. Pepper stood up and looked in the mirror.
She grabbed a hairbrush and sat down in a chair in front of the mirror. She slowly began to brush her hair, singing softly as she did.
One day I'll fly away,
Leave all this to yesterday
What more could your love do for me?
When will love be through with me?
Why live life
from dream to dream
And dread the day
When dreaming
Ends
One day I'll fly away…
Fly, fly, away…
She placed the brush next to her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. Watching the tears roll down her face.