Piper and I accompanied River, Flea, and Keanu to the train station; the day had finally come that they would continue filming.
Upon our arrival, we met up with Gus and the street hustlers that River had interviewed the night before. Not to my surprise, Gus approached me privately.
"I'll look out for him," he told me, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Don't worry."
I folded my arms and looked to River who was messing around with Keanu on a bench.
"Thanks Gus. Just make sure you call me if anything,"
He cut me off.
"Nothing will." He promised, placing his hand on my shoulder.
Though I didn't believe him, I nodded and walked side by side with him as we approached them.
Quickly, River ran to me, embracing me in a bear-hug.
"I'm going to miss you." He said, sounding stressed. "But I'll be happy to get away from this bad town."
I couldn't help but furrow my eyebrows at him.
"What do you mean?" I wondered.
He shrugged and looked around the room, stalling.
"Hey, why don't you just come with us?" He asked me, sending a smile to Gus.
I watched as Gus widened his eyes and shook his head, furiously.
"You've already rented my house out to all of your friends, River," Gus answered. "There isn't enough room."
River threw his arm around me and shook his head.
"There's always room for one more." He suggested confidently.
Piper and Flea turned to us and threw their hands up.
"Hey now, I didn't know this was a plus-one event. I want Piper to come, then." Flea insisted as Piper nodded.
"I'm not staying here by myself. Who would keep me sane?" She questioned.
All attention turned to Gus as he put his hand to his forehead and sighed.
"No. No way, I already told you this. There is not enough room." He repeated, clearly losing hope. "Carmen, Piper; you're lovely girls. But there is not enough room for all of us in my house."
As usual though, River wouldn't budge.
"Come on, Gus!" He yelled, slightly laughing.
I stayed quiet, not wanting to upset him and sound childish.
After multiple begs from River, Gus shook his head one final time.
"Okay," he started. "Whatever. But if you keep lending the house out to anyone who needs it, I'm not going to be happy." He said, speaking like a father to River.
"Yes sir." River and Flea said in unison, sarcastically saluting an irritated Gus.
-
Since the train left in an hour, Piper and I hurriedly gathered together everything we needed.
With 10 minutes to spare, we arrived back at the train station and took our seats.
"Idaho, here we come!" Keanu yelled, causing us all to laugh.
River sat next to me and kissed me quickly.
"I'm so glad you're coming," he said, his smile radiating off of his face. "I didn't want to have to leave you again."
I laughed and leaned on him.
"Now you don't have too." I responded.
Flea looked to us and began to mockingly blow kisses in our direction.
"How cute." He joked, earning a punch in the shoulder from River.
We all glanced at each other and smiled; everyone seemed excited to be getting back to work. Even the street hustler's smiled wider than I'd ever seen.
"All my children," Gus started, sighing. "Now I must take care of all of you."
River laughed and leaned over, kissing Gus's cheek with passion.
"And we must take care of you!" He yelled.
-
An hour into the journey to Idaho, we found ourselves playing 20 questions. It was Scott, a street hustlers, turn.
"Hm," he started, skimming his eyes over the room. "Carmen."
All eyes turned to me as I awaited Scott's question.
"How sexy is River?" He asked, emphasizing the word 'sexy'.
All of us laughed as I felt River nudge my shoulder, a small but noticeable smirk on his face.
"Only the sexiest." I responded, causing every one to laugh yet again. "Okay, Keanu."
Keanu's eyes narrowed on me as I thought of my next question.
"If you had to go gay for one man in this room, who would it be?"
The question peaked everyone's interest, triggering multiple raised eyebrows.
Keanu, though, didn't even have to think.
"River, of course." He answered, blowing kisses to River.
"Same to you, baby." He responded, leaning over to kiss Keanu's forehead.
I sparked a sarcastically offended look on my face, turning to River.
"Are you cheating on me with Keanu?" I questioned.
Before River could send back a smart remark, Flea stood up and slammed his fist on the table.
"I thought we were dating!" Flea yelled, making River laugh.
Not to my surprise, Piper looked to Flea.
"What the hell!" She laughed, pointing to him. "So you're cheating on me?"
We found ourselves all laughing at the chain reaction.
"I'm a slut," River said, laughing. "What can I say?"
When the laughter had finally ended, Piper nudged my shoulder.
"Carmen, do you remember Frank from high school?" She questioned, drawing in the attention from the boys.
"How could I forget? Why?" I wondered.
I watched as Piper pointed to a boy with brown hair who had been sitting near us. Suddenly, it clicked in my head that he was Frank, my old boy friend, that I hadn't seen in years.
His eyes turned to us and he smiled widely, getting up to approach me.
"Holy shit, is that Carmen?" He asked, smiling to me. "And Piper?"
We both nodded and reached over, allowing him to grab our hands.
"Crazy seeing you here." Piper started.
"My parents live in Idaho, remember?" He asked. "Carmen, you're still as cute as I remember."
I laughed awkwardly as all of our attention turned to River.
"I'm River." He said quickly, standing up to shake Frank's hand.
He seemed clueless to the very sarcastic smile that River was playing off. Again, his acting skills were in full force.
"I'm Frank." He introduced.
The tension was obvious to all of us as River remained standing.
"So, are you an old friend of Carmen's?" River wondered.
I answered before Frank got the chance to speak.
"He was my first boyfriend." I said, playing it off.
River glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. Then, turned his attention back to Frank.
"She's the best girlfriend in the world, isn't she?" River asked him, turning to me and putting his hand on my face.
I sent a slightly sympathetic look to Frank, who's flustered expression was not hard to miss.
When he realized what was happening, he stepped back.
"Well um," he started, glancing between River and I. "I'll see you around, Carmen."
"Maybe you will and maybe you won't." River said, channeling his inner Chris Chambers.
I watched as Frank's eyes widened.
"Wait, River Phoenix?" He wondered, connecting all of the pieces together.
All of us nodded as River smiled, intimidating him. It was almost like a sense of cockiness came over him.
The mood shifted in the room as Frank stepped back, waving to Piper and I.
"It was good to see you." He said, and soon walked off.