River and I made our way back into the living room, joining the rest of the crowd in conversation.
"The craziest thing I ever did?" One of the man asked another. "I couldn't even tell you."
Keanu laughed and plopped down besides River and I.
"Come on, man. You never did anything fucking stupid?" Keanu questioned.
"Nothing that really stands out." The man answered back, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one.
Flea looked to me and smiled.
"Carmen, what's the craziest thing you've ever done?" He asked me.
All eyes, especially River's, turned right to me.
"I don't know." I said honestly.
Piper flailed her arms and laughed, looking to me.
"I know the craziest thing you've ever done!" She yelled.
I tried to send her a pleading look, hoping she would realize not to embarrass me. To my luck, she continued on.
"When our high school football team went to the state championship," she started, and I immediately recalled the story.
"Shut up!" I yelled jokingly to her.
"No!" River insisted. "Tell it!"
I shook my head and buried my face as Piper continued.
"It was a tradition for all of the seniors to get drunk at the state game. So, all of our friends went all out. You know, chugging whatever we could find. And we got Carmen so fucked up that when we scored the winning touch down, we snuck upstairs above the other schools' students and got her and a bunch of our friends to throw up on them." She laughed.
Simultaneously, the whole room howled.
I shook my head, laughing slightly at my own stupidity as everyone else seemed amused.
"We ran out of there so fast we almost broke our legs." Piper concluded, picking up a beer bottle and taking a drink.
"Yeah, well I was young and dumb." I defended, slouching into River's arm.
"Speaking of young and dumb," Flea started. "How about some good, old fashioned racing?"
All eyes narrowed around the room.
"Alright, who against who?" Keanu asked.
One of the men stood up, pulling a blonde haired girl along next to him.
"Jackie and I will take one car." The man said.
River soon stood up, looking confident and sly.
"Then, Carmen and I will take the other." He challenged.
Internally, I was shaking my head.
"I'm going with Rio!" Flea yelled, running over to us and grabbing our arms.
Piper and Keanu joined us as well, and we started for the car.
-
I sat alongside River as the sound of revving engines filled the empty streets.
Surrounding us was everyone who had once occupied Keanu's house, as well as our opponents in the car next to us.
"Okay!" A girl yelled, standing in between the cars. "On your mark."
I looked to the back seats that held Flea, Keanu, and Piper; all hanging from their seats and out the window.
"Get set,"
River locks his fingers with mine quickly, keeping one hand on the wheel.
"Go!"
The car starts and the wind rushes. Looking back, I see Flea, Keanu, and Piper all laughing hysterically.
They scream and yell multiple things to our opponents and the nearby pedestrians.
"We rule the world!" Flea screams, before falling into his seat.
We're all laughing now; the wind takes all my breath out of me but I can find it in myself to smile.
Going faster than ever, my body is in a complete rush.
River and I exchange a quick glance and smile, and then his eyes go back to the road.
We stay this way for a while; flying down a mostly empty street until we finally reach our destination.
The Viper.
I don't question it, though. Rather, I allow River to open my door for me as he guides
me inside.
Flea, Keanu, and Piper follow.
-
"I just want a quick drink." River explains, making sure that I'm still on his arm as we reach the bar.
He stands next to me as I sit on the bar stool.
"Drinks on me!" He yells, capturing the attention of most people in the room.
I glance around The Viper and examine the crowd that is occupying it tonight. As usual, quite rowdy.
Flea rushes over to us and grabs a shot from River, scarfing it down and placing his hands on our shoulders.
"The Peppers and I are going to preform for a little bit." Flea says, looking to the small stage in the corner.
I notice workers are setting it up.
"Alright, man. Have fun!" River yells as Flea shuffles his way through layers of drunken bodies.
I slouch slightly in my chair and watch as the bartender hurriedly hands out drinks.
River passes me one but I refuse.
"I'm good, thanks." I insist.
"Are you sure?" He questions.
"Yeah, I'm going to see who's here." I answer before getting up and walking aimlessly into the crowd.
-
Our usual booth is occupied, so I find Piper towards the stage.
She's talking to Flea about something; their discussion looking slightly heated.
After I can tell that they've calmed down, I watch as they kiss quickly and begin to head towards them.
On my way over, I bump into a strong body.
"My bad." I insist, beginning to scoot past them without looking.
"Hey, hey!" I hear a voice say.
As I turn around, I'm revealed to Corey Feldman.
Awesome.
"I know you!" He yells, pushing his long hair behind his ears.
"Oh, hey." I answer in attempts to sound excited. "How are you?"
"Awesome! Is River with you?" He asks me, glancing behind me.
"Yeah, he's at the bar. You should go say hi, I'm sure he'd like that." I insist.
Corey smiles warmly at me and begins to walk away. He hesitates.
"Oh, by the way, Corey should be here soon." He says before heading off.
-
The night was escalating faster than ever. Swarms of different people bursted through the door and began causing problems with the rest of us.
Within an hour, 3 fights had already broken out and been moved to the streets.
Thankfully I had found Connor amongst the chaos.
Hoping to ignore the many issues that roamed in the Viper, I decided to approach him.
"Woah, hey!" He yelled, embracing me. "Long time no see."
"Tell me about it." I laughed, stepping out of the way for a gang of obvious bikers.
"I'm actually so glad you're here," Connor started. "I was thinking, you know, if you still are looking for a job, we have some openings."
I widened my eyes at him.
"Oh, gosh. I don't know if I could handle working here." I admitted.
He laughed and placed his hand on my shoulder.
"It's not too bad." He informed me. "They wouldn't make you do anything crazy."
Before I could speak, I was interrupted by a loud crash; it sounded like broken glass.
Even over the Peppers' loud music, heads turned towards the direction of the bar.
Connor pushed me aside and took off in that direction as I followed curiously.
"Hey, hey!" Connor yells. "Break it up!"
It must be a fight.
Through the speakers, I hear Flea's voice yell and the Peppers' music soon stops.
"Woah, woah." Flea half says, half yells through the microphone.
I glance back at him and watch as he jumps off of the stage, pushing past everyone who lies between him and the fight.
He looked panicked, and in return, I looked the same.
Shoving countless bodies out of my way, I'm revealed to the scene.
River.
His hands are gripping the collar of a man's shirt who is repeatedly trying to hit him. Next to him, 6 other men are fighting.
To get a better look, I'm pushing everyone out of my way. Despite how hard it is, I finally get to the front.
"River, stop!" I yell to him, but he doesn't hear me.
I've never seen him so angry as he connects his fist to the face of a man I've never seen.
At the same time, Flea pushes past me and runs to the scene.
"Rio!" He yells, wrapping his arms around River's large body and attempting to pull him back. "Hey, hey. It's okay. Come on, River!"
Again, he won't budge.
Behind me I hear a swarm of people ask, "River? River Phoenix?"
I glance at them and watch as they look at each other in shock.
Amongst them, my eyes catch sight of Corey in the distance. He doesn't seem to see me, so I turn my head back around.
In a rush of panic I sprint to River and begin to push him back.
The moment I step in front of him he looks to me and calms down.
Softly but angrily, he pushes me away from the fight.
"Stay back, okay?" He asks me, but doesn't wait for my response as he hurls himself towards the man again.
Suddenly, security rushes in from all sides.
I feel a pair of strong hands shove me back, causing many others and I to fall to the ground.
As they pull apart the fight, River looks at me.
"Hey!" He screams, pointing to me as best as he can. "You can't just push a lady down like that! Especially when it's my girl friend, huh. Who did that?"
He tries to reach for me but their grip on him is too tight.
I watch as they shove River and the other fighters towards the entrance to kick them out.
Hurriedly, Piper rushes over to me and grabs my hand to help me up.
"What the fuck was that?" She asks me, examining the broken glass and chairs that scattered area.
Questionably, we looked at each other.
"I have no idea." I answer.
In the distance, I see Corey looking at me.
He sends me a sympathetic look as we stare at one another. I know he knows that happened.