Piper and I didn't speak the entire walk back to Gus's. Neither of us had anything to say; we were both heated.
I couldn't believe that Frank had the nerve to even speak about River. I mean, what did he expect us to do? Nothing?
We agreed not to tell River about what Frank had said about him, not that River would care anyways. But simply to avoid any more issues that Frank might cause.
When we had gotten back home, it was only 4.
With a couple of hours to spare until the boys returned from filming, we spent the rest of the time in our room.
I changed back into my comfortable clothing and laid in bed, pulling the covers over me and wrapping myself up.
For a while, I watched Piper draw in her sketchbook.
"Do you think you're going to go out tonight?" She asked me, not looking up from her sketch.
I rolled onto my back and looked at the ceiling.
"Mm, maybe. Probably." I told her.
"Yeah, me too." She said, setting down her work. She looked at me, a sense of sadness coated her face. "Can we talk about something?"
I furrowed my eyes at her and sat up.
"Yeah, always." I informed, nervous as to what she might have to say.
"Flea's been acting strange lately; secretive. He doesn't say much anymore and I don't know why." She confessed, sitting against the wall. "It sucks because I like him so much, and I don't know if he still feels the same."
"You know how much he likes you, Piper." I reassured. "But what do you mean he's acting secretive?"
"He just is. He's quiet and never seems interested in anything, and it's weird." She said, getting up and walking to her closet.
I wasn't sure what to say back to her. Clearly, Flea still liked her. If he didn't, he would have talked to her about it by now. That's just how he is.
But something has been off around the house lately, yet I can't point out what it is. Logically, I figured it was because the movie was ending and everyone was beginning to loosen up.
Now, I was reconsidering it.
"Well, how about we all go out tonight and see if anything changes?" I asked her.
"Yeah, that sounds good. And I really need a drink." She confessed.
-
I awoke to the sound of Flea's yelling.
"It's party time!" He screamed from the living room.
At the same time, River stumbled into our room wearing checkered pants and a heavy green coat.
"Are you coming?" He wondered, running his hands through his uncombed hair.
I glanced at Piper who was already buttoning up a collared shirt.
"Uh, yeah. Let me just get something on." I told him, wondering why nobody had woken me up from my nap.
He nodded and closed the door behind him, giving me time to shuffle through a mound of clothes.
"You don't have to look nice," Piper started. "I'm not."
I examined her dull looking outfit and laughed.
"Yeah, I see that." I told her jokingly.
After checking out all of my options, I decided on, to no surprise, a flannel. Then, I tied up my shoes and ran into the living room.
"Okay, I'm ready!" I half talked, half yelled.
All of the boys gathered on the couch and glanced at me, pleasingly.
Piper ran in behind me and smiled.
"Ready?" She questioned.
We all exchanged glances and nodded.
Gus took one final sip of his beer and set it down. Then he stood up, putting his fists inside his pockets, and smiled.
"Let's go, everyone. Time to celebrate a stellar movie." He insisted.
"Carmen is driving!" River yelled.
-
I started up Gus's Rolls Royce and waited for everyone to pile in the car.
One by one, bodies began to occupy the front and back, Piper plopping into the passenger seat.
"Hey, I wanted shotgun!" River complained as he stood outside of the car.
"You made me drive," I started. "So I call the rules. Backseat." I joked.
He laughed and crammed into the back next to Flea, whose smile was the biggest I'd ever seen.
"We're all done," he started. "Finally. Back to having fun."
Gus pulled up next to me on the street and rolled down his window. I could hear the chants and cheers from the street hustlers in the back.
"We'll meet you there." He insisted.
"I'll race you." I challenged before stomping on the gas.
-
After listening to River lecture about the Native American tribes, we arrived at a small but noisy club a few miles down the road.
It looked nothing like the Viper; it was small with a red light up open sign and a crowd of people surrounding the door.
I pulled into the closest parking spot I could find as River, Flea, and Keanu jumped out of the car.
As they ran to the club, Piper looked to me.
Rather than say anything, she smiled softly and unbuckled herself, exiting the car.
I could tell she was nervous for tonight. Most likely, she was worrying about Flea.
She had nothing to worry about though. I was sure of it.
I followed far behind Piper as we entered the club. One thing was for sure, though; the music was just as loud as the Viper.
Led Zepplin blasted through loud speakers as I stumbled around, trying to spot anyone I'd known.
The first person I saw was Gus.
After mumbling multiple "excuse me's", I finally took the seat next to Gus in a red booth.
He was sitting across from a boy I'd never seen before; his skin pale and eyes red. Likely, a drug user.
I made no comment as I sat down, sending a light smile to Gus and the boy.
"Carmen, this is Henry." Gus introduced, pointing to him. "Henry, this is River's girlfriend, Carmen."
I sent him a nod as he widened his eyes at me, weakly.
"Ah, Rio. Good customer." Henry said, throwing me off slightly.
Gus glanced at me and shrugged. I'm sure this was his dealer.
"Good to know." I said.
"Speaking of River, have you seen him?" Gus asked me.
I shook my head and glanced around; nowhere in sight.
"Nope. I just got here."
Henry laughed and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He offered me one.
"I'm good, thanks." I declined.
He nodded and handed them to Gus.
"He's probably in the bathroom," Henry insisted, referring to River. "He just picked up from me a few minutes ago."
Great.
I tried not to react so noticeably to his statement. Rather than speak, I nodded to him and looked to Gus whose attention was already on me.
He sent me defeated look.
"Well, I'm out to get a couple of drinks," Henry said, sliding out of the booth. "Want me to grab anything while I'm up?"
"I think we're good, thanks Henry. That's kind of you." Gus answered.
Once Henry had left, Gus looked to me.
"I meant to tell you," he started, but I cut him off.
"Don't worry about it, I figured." I told him.
He sent me a light smile as Keanu approached our table, sitting across from us.
"You'll never believe who's here." He said, chuckling to himself. "Martha."
"Who?" I asked.
Gus and Keanu looked to me and laughed, patting my shoulder.
"River's first girlfriend." Keanu informed. "Don't worry, she's not weird or anything."
I sighed and tapped my fingers on the table. The night seems to just keep getting better.
"She doesn't even know River or any of us are here though. She'll probably leave before we get the chance to say hi." Keanu said. Moments later, he glanced into the crowd and spoke again. "I stand corrected."
Approaching us was a tall girl with short, blonde hair. Her face was more box-shaped than circled, but she smiled warmly to all of us.
"Hey guys," she said, a thick New York accent was extremely noticeable in her voice. "What are you doing here?"
Keanu invited her to sit with us as he scooted down, giving her room to sit across from me.
She locked eyes with me and smiled, reaching her hand across the table.
I shook it calmly.
"I'm Martha." She introduced.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Carmen."
I had hoped I sounded as nice as I could. I didn't want to make it weirder than it needed to be.
"River's girlfriend, I see." She stated. Her smile was warm and inviting, and I could tell that she wasn't even slightly uncomfortable.
Truthfully, it made me feel more comfortable too.
We stayed quiet for a few moments before she spoke again.
"Gus," she said as she turned her attention to him. "I hear your next movie is supposed to be great."
He nodded and slouched back in his seat.
"I sure hope so. We just finished filming today, actually. So we came out here and decided to let loose a little bit." He told her.
"That's awesome." She said.
-
About half an hour passed.
Gus, Keanu, Martha and I discussed just about everything we could fit in to that short time. Topics ranged from the new movie, to River, to all of the latest media garbage.
It was one of the best conversations I'd ever had.
That was, until Piper approached us.
Her hair was slightly out of place and her face was covered with a slightly nervous expression.
The tension sky rocked as we saw her.
"Hey, you guys need to come with me." She told us. "It's about River."