Arriving at Gus's house was nothing short of interesting.
The brown house was crowded with people in every corner. But because of the long trip, Piper and I avoided each and every one of them.
Thankfully, Gus was kind enough to allow Piper and I to share his guest room, insisting that every one who had previously been in it should leave.
The room was small but fine sized for Piper and I to share.
It was mostly empty, with one decent sized bed and a window. A small desk occupied a corner on the far side of the room.
"Why do I feel like we always get thrown around from place to place?" Piper asked as she shoved her sketchbooks into the desk.
"Because we do." I answered, sitting on the bed.
Piper finished unpacking her notebooks and turned to me.
"What do we even do now?" She wondered, crossing her arms. "The boys' are working from this point on. We're basically just on our own."
I laid back and kicked off my shoes to the floor.
"I don't know," I confessed. "But I'm going to bed. That ride was rough, and Frank needed to fuck off."
Piper laughed and sat on the bed next to me.
"I can't believe we saw that jarhead." She stated, laughter seeping from her voice.
I shook my head and closed my eyes.
"What an asshole, trying to act like we're all best friends when he was such a raging douchebag." I recalled.
"Idiot," Piper mumbled under her breath. "He was just trying to look cool and shit. I mean, come on, you know he knew that was River with us. He just wanted to look like the better one."
"That backfired," I laughed, smiling to Piper. "Frank looked like such an idiot compared to River. It was like putting a tricycle next to a Rolls Royce."
Piper laughed and laid back on the bed, holding her stomach.
"Like comparing Tinker bell and Superman." She insisted.
We both burst out into laughter and looked to each other, a sense of calmness coming over the room.
"It just really pissed me off. And then on top of that, it made River all uncomfortable the rest of the time." I remembered.
Piper got up and shook her head, beginning to change into boxers. She shuffled through her clothes and threw an extra pair at me.
"River showed him who was boss," Piper said, shrugging. "I'm sure Frank sat down and questioned his entire life afterwards."
I laughed quietly and got up, putting on the boxers Piper had given me and a white t-shirt.
Then, we both laid down, completely consumed in thought. Half an hour later, we were sleeping.
-
"You'll never catch me!" I hear River yell as I'm still sleeping.
I stretch my eyes open as hard as I can to see the clock that revealed it was four in the morning.
Confused, I remained in bed, listening for any indication as to what was going on the living room.
I was much too lazy to get up.
"That's cheating!" Flea yelled, followed by a loud bang and houl of River's laughter.
"Hey, I don't cheat!" River defended.
"I hate to break it to you, Rio, but you just cheated." Keanu said just loud enough for me to hear.
I rolled my eyes and got up, wrapping one of the small blankets around me as I exited the room.
The moment I walked out my eyes were greeted by bright yellow lights and silhouette running to me.
Before I could keep track of who it was, they had already ran behind me.
Their hands were on my shoulders as they hid behind me. At the same moment, Flea ran over to me and I heard River's laugh roar throughout the house.
"You can't use Carmen as a barrier, River!" Flea yelled, jumping at me.
I quickly ducked and moved out of the way as Flea continued to chase River in circles through the living room.
Are they seriously playing tag, right now?
Keanu walked over to me and smiled, tiredly.
"I've been watching these monkeys run after each other for probably two hours now." He said, leaning against the wall.
I shook my head at their immaturity as River jumped over a chair and tipped it in front of Flea, causing him to fall on his face.
"I got you again, man!" River yelled, darting past me and locking himself in the bathroom.
"How old are you again?" I yelled through the bathroom door.
"Twenty, ma'am. Twenty one next week." River said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Right." I joked, heading back into my room.
As I closed the door behind me, I heard a faint scream from River. In the same moment, Flea's fists pounded against the bathroom door.
"You can't hide in there forever!" He yelled.
"Watch me." River replied.
I shook my head as I laid back down, completely zoning out the rest of their childish behavior.
"We're dating two five year olds." Piper's muffled voice said.
I laughed and laid back down, helplessly falling into a sleepy haze.
-
By the time I had officially awaken for the day, it was 11 in the morning.
Feeling somewhat refreshed after being woken up by River and Flea's foolishness, I headed into the living room.
I was greeted by a tired Piper and no one else; everyone must have left for filming.
"Rise and shine, bitch." Piper joked, sprawling out on the couch.
"Good morning to you, too." I answered, taking the seat beside her.
"What do you want to do today? I'm pretty sure it's just you and me." She said sadly.
I thought of all the things we could do today, but nothing seemed to stand out. That is, until I recalled what River had told me the previous night.
Twenty one next week.
"I'm pretty sure River's birthday is coming up," I told her. "Maybe we should go look for stuff for him."
Piper rolled her eyes and flung herself off of the couch, thumping against the ground and yawning.
"Just give him a good lay and he'll be fine." She groaned, laying face down on the floor.
"Piper, I'm serious." I laughed, kicking her leg.
"So am I!" She yelled. "What else does he need?"
"Come on, I don't want to go alone." I told her, slouching back on the couch.
She got up and looked at me, crossing her arms.
"Alright, whatever. Let's just go. And you better buy me some damn lunch for making me do this." She told me.
-
After fulfilling Piper's need for eating, we headed all over town.
Well, mostly all over. Because we didn't know our way around town, we tried to stay as close to the house as we could without getting lost.
Once we had finished two hours of shopping, we concluded that we wouldn't be able to find anything. That is, until a music shop happened to catch our eye.
Walking inside was smokey and smelled of the freshest nicotine. I ignored it as we walked throughout the store, glancing at every record and guitar in sight.
"Can I help you?" A man asked as he approached us. Clearly a worker.
"I'm just looking for a birthday gift." I told him.
"That's cool. Anything particular in mind?" He questioned, leaning against a shelf of CD's.
Before I could answer, Piper spoke up.
"You need to get him a guitar," she started. "But it needs to be nice. Like, really sick."
The worker's attention turned to Piper.
"We do have some nice guitars in the back," he started, guiding us to the corner of the shop. "What's the lucky man's name?"
Piper flashed me a confused look as I ignored his flirtatious comment.
"River." I answered calmly.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Hm, quite the name. I've only met one River in my whole life." He joked, turning his attention back to the guitars. "It was pretty cool though. River Phoenix came in here a few times, believe it or not."
Piper and I laughed as he turned to us, his face reddening.
"What?" He wondered. I could tell he felt embarrassed.
"He's the one I'm buying for." I told him.
The worker soon laughed mockingly to me. Soon enough, he calmed down, realizing my serious tone.
"Wait, you're serious?" He asked.
Piper and I both nodded, crossing our arms.
"Well if that's the case," he started, slightly impressed. "I got the thing for you."