Book 1: She's A Little Runaway (Izzy Stradlin)

Twelve

● Reyna ●

“Really?” Stevie asks. “You’re really not going to come around the apartment anymore?”

I shake my head, continuing to mix the margarita the biker dude asked for. “Not until I get a genuine apology from him.”

Stevie sighs. “I’ve known that dude for a long ass time now. He’s not going to apologize because that would take a major blow to his ego.”

“Then that’s his problem. You guys know where to find me if you want to see me,” I say, sliding the drink over to the guy. He mumbles a thank you before turning back to the stage. We have a cover band playing tonight, and they aren’t half bad. 

“Rey,” Stevie whines. “Please just come back to the apartment. You can ignore Izzy all you want.”

I narrow my eyes at my little brother. “No, Steven. I don’t want to be around him at all.”

He rubs his face in frustration. “Will you please stop being so childish?”

“You’re really saying that to me right now? You threw a hissy fit the other day because I ate your candy bar.”

“That was my candy bar! We’re flat broke so that was my last chance to have one for a long time!” Stevie says. He shakes his head. “That’s not the point. The point here is that you just need to make up with Izzy! All he did was lie to you.”

“I don’t deal with liars, Steve.”

“Rey-.”

“It wasn’t a small lie either! He told me he broke up with Alex. He didn’t. I had to find that out by Slash telling me. Don’t you think I have a right to be mad?”

“You do, Rey,” He says. “I’m just saying that it’s not good to hold grudges. I don’t know what’s going through his mind right now, but he’s been moping around ever since you left the apartment last week.” He stays quiet for a moment. “And I know for a fact that he broke things off with Alex the next day.”

I roll my eyes. “How could you know that? How do you know that he didn’t just lie to you too?”

“I went with him when he did it. He wanted me there for ‘emotional support’, but I know he just wanted backup in case her dad was at the apartment. He didn’t want to get the shit beat out of him.”

“Oh,” I say, feeling all the anger go out of me. 

“Yeah, so, I think you guys should patch things up.”

I open my mouth to answer, but am cut off by a voice screeching my name. I turn my head to the door where Alex and Chelsea are storming in. Alex walks right over to me, having to look up at me. I’m a good six inches taller than her.

“You bitch!” She yells.

I raise my eyebrows and look over at Steven who’s trying to hold back confused laughter. I smile kindly at her.

“What’s up?”

“You know exactly what’s wrong!” She screams.

I laugh. “I actually don’t, but I’d love it if you told me what I did.”

“Izzy cheated on me with you!”

This makes me outright laugh in her face. “You actually think that’s what happened?”

“I know that’s what happened! Chelsea saw you and him go out on the fire escape that night! She heard you talking!”

I frown. Didn’t Duff say he was out on the fire escape then? 

“I went out there to eavesdrop! I pretended to flirt with Duff!” Chelsea says, looking rather self-righteous. 

“Well that’s pretty wrong to do to Duff, don’t you think?” I say. “I’m sure the poor guy genuinely believed you were interested in him.”

The response to that was a stinging pain on my cheek and a loud slapping sound. I hold my cheek and look down at Alexandria. I’m too stunned to say anything.

“You’re such a bitch,” She snarls. “I can’t believe I ever considered you a friend.”

With that, she leaves the bar with Chelsea trailing behind her like a lost little puppy. Steven and I look at each other and burst out into laughter.

“That happened,” Stevie says, wiping tears from his eyes.

I shake my head. “I honestly can’t believe that she thinks that Izzy cheated on her with me.”

“Well, did he?”

I shake my head. “Nope. He only said that he was going to break up with her to get with me. I don’t really think that categorizes as cheating.”

“To her it probably is. She’s a great gal and everything, but she takes everything to heart and every little thing can be seen as personal attack.”

“Doubt we’ll ever be seeing them again,” I say, chuckling.

“You never know,” Stevie says, taking a drink of the water I got him. He decided that he didn’t want to be getting drunk while he was having a serious conversation with me. “The world is a small place sometimes.”

I nod, picking up the empty glass that the biker dude left behind. He gave me a forty dollar tip! Nice. I tuck the two twenties in the shirt pocket. I made a good 100 dollars in tips tonight. I begin to clean the glass, faintly humming along to the band’s cover of Stagefright by Def Leppard.

“I think he misses you.”

I look up at Stevie who looks as serious as a heart attack. I sigh. “If he missed me he would come apologize to me. Or at least come and try to talk to me.”

“He’s tried. Every night he would walk over to your apartment, lose his nerve, and walk back home. He just mopes around all day, writing music. He only leaves the apartment to walk over to yours.”

“So, he isn’t mad at me?”

Stevie shakes his head. “No. He just feels really guilty. He got all his anger out when he punched Duff in the stomach.”

“He punched Duff!” I exclaim.

He nods. “He was just pissed at Duff for trying to make a move on you.” He sighs. “Look, will you please just give the poor guy another chance? He’s going crazy without you, believe it or not. We all make mistakes, Rey. He’s beating himself up over his at this very moment.” Stevie stands up, smiling sympathetically at me. “Just think about what I said, alright?”

I nod, taking in a deep breath as I watch him walk out of the bar. I completely forget about my throbbing cheek as Izzy takes over my mind.