Cry’s P.O.V
The shrill beeping of my alarm dragged me from whatever dreams I’d been having, reminding me it was almost 7 and I had to get ready for tonight. For a moment I found myself considering whether to stay in bed, sleep an extra hour and show up a little late...Pewds wouldn’t mind. It’s not like he would fire me...or would he?
Yeah, I should probably get up.
Dragging myself out of bed, I grabbed my glasses from the cabinet and trudged into the bathroom to shower. It seems I’ve become nocturnal these past few days but I wasn’t all that bothered about it. It was always nice when I left the craziness of the club to walk home down the quiet, sleeping streets, to steal quick glances at how calm the ocean was during these hot summer nights. Most people missed out on that stuff; they only ever saw it when it was crowded with people.
Once my drowsiness was washed away I pulled on my clothes, some simple grey trousers and a black shirt, and found myself messing around with my hair for longer than usual.
I’d say I didn’t know why...but I did. It was because of him, that guy who always makes me feel like I have to look my best. It’s just....he always looks so...Urgh.
I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at my reflection. What? I can appreciate a good looking man. That doesn’t mean anything. A small smirk crossed my lips and I found myself rolling my eyes at my own thoughts as I tugged the draw open, expecting to find the mask placed neatly where I’d left it this morning...but it had disappeared.
Oh shit.
I ducked down, pushing the random things around the draw and hoping to find the thin plastic somewhere beneath this rubbish.
Shit, shit, shit.
Panic was beginning to rise within me as I thought about having to do all that crazy shit at the club without it, with people actually know who I was, being able to recognise me on the street. Somewhere deep inside I knew this fear was irrational but it didn’t stop it from making me feel cold.
“Shy!” I yelled as I yanked my draw out, tipping all the crap out onto the floor but the mask was still nowhere to be seen.
Leaving the mess behind, I dodged over it and began searching the apartment, but all I discovered was that Shy was also missing. I grabbed my phone, dialling his number and waiting for him to answer.
“Cry?” he finally answered. I could hear people talking around him, guys laughing and yelling.
“Hey...where are you?”
“Just out with some mates,” he replied and the laughing grew quieter, showing he was walking away from whoever it was. He sounded a little odd though...
“Oh, okay. I was wondering if you’d seen my mask anywhere?” I asked but had to repeat it a moment later when there was no reply.
“Mask? No, sorry....Listen...I’ve got to go, bro,” he half laughed down the phone.
“Shy? Are you drunk?”
I heard him laugh louder before a shattering noise filled the phones speaker.
“Oh fuck,” he mumbled before laughing again. “Just knocked a vase over.”
“A vase? Shy, where the hell are you?”
Then someone yelled ‘Dude!’ from his end.
“I’ll...I’ll see you later,” Shy told me before hanging up the phone quickly.
I was left for a moment, all thoughts of my mask gone as I wondered what the fuck was going on with him. He hadn’t sounded himself at all, almost drowsy, as if he was half asleep.
I think I would have tried to call him again if it wasn’t for someone banging on my door.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket and pulled the door open, revealing Pewds, who was leaning against the banister across from me.
“Ready?” he asked casually, pulling his sunglasses down his nose a little and giving me a quick wink. It had become an odd routine, him coming to my apartment and walking with me to the club... Well, I say routine but it only really happens when he’s at his flat too. He’s usually already at the club way before my shift starts. Nevertheless, it’s nice on the odd occasion we get to walk together, gives me some company now Shy’s always out.
I shook my head at him and retreated into my room. “I don’t think I can come in tonight,” I called as I had one last rummage through the clutter on my bedroom floor. Pewds seemed to have followed me in and was leaning against my door frame, frowning down at me.
“What happened here?” he asked.
My eyes lifted, seeing him shift and step closer.
“I’ve lost the mask...I always put in here but I went to get it and it’s gone,” I explained. A realisation crossed his eyes and he crouched down to help me shove everything back into the draw as I fixed it back into the dresser.
“Did you leave it at the club?”
I mulled over the idea for a moment, remembering how it had been right next to me on the bar but I couldn’t remember whether I’d picked it up on the way out. Sometimes I really wish my memory wasn’t so shit.
“It could be,” I answered.
“We can always get you a new one if it isn’t,” he told me and I began wondering whether he thought it was strange that I needed it so much. I’m the type of guy who will try just about anything to avoid ending up in a situation I don’t want to be in. That mask, it was almost felt like my cover, as if it was alright for me to actually be myself while I was wearing it because most didn’t know who I was. I don’t know. It’s hard for me to even understand it myself but at least Pewds seemed to have some understanding.
“Yeah...yeah, you’re right," I finally said and took a deep breath as I pushed the draw closed now everything was back inside.
“So, don’t worry about it, Cry,” he smirked and brought his hand to my shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Quit freaking out. It’s just a piece of plastic,” he added.
In a way he was right, that was all it was and here I was panicking about its absence when I’d just come off the phone with my brother who was possible drunk and could be anywhere and I don’t have the slightest idea. Sure, I’m more worried about where he was and what he was getting into than the possibility of him being drunk.
I shrugged my shoulder a little when I noticed Pewds still hadn’t removed his hand and went across the room to grab my wallet.
“We better get going or we’ll be late,” I told him and hoped I was right in thinking Shy was alright, that he could look after himself now and I need not worry about him so much...but he was my little brother. I’ll always worry no matter how old he is, especially after the state he’d been in the other night.
I locked the apartment door and followed Pewds down the flights of stairs until we hit the sidewalk and began heading to the club. It’s usually impossible to shut him up when we walk together but today he hardly spoke a word. His eyes remained hidden behind the dark sunglasses, his hands concealed inside his trouser pockets so there was no way of me guessing what was up. I wasn’t even sure if anything was wrong with him. Maybe he just had no words to say.
But this was Pewds I was talking about and something must be wrong for him to be this quiet on a Saturday night.
“Is everything alright?” I finally asked as we walked past the now-familiar pier. The nights were starting to draw in quicker as September approached but the sand was still lit with a warm, orange glow as I looked down over the railings.
“Hmmm? Oh-uh...yeah,” he answered but it was as if his thoughts ran away with him again as soon as he’d spoken. It only made me more curious.
“Seriously, is something bothering you?” I pressed and he turned to me, finally removing his sunglasses and dropping them in his shirt pocket.
“Cry...if I needed you to do something, would you do it?” he asked. Well, that wasn’t what I’d expected. My curiosity began to roll back in, not wanting to know what he was thinking anymore.
“That depends on what you need me to do,” I replied honestly.
“What if it was something really important?”
I frowned at him a little more.
“I think it would still depend on what it was.”
He nodded slowly to my answer and we lapsed into silence for a few minutes longer as I began wondering what the hell he was talking about.
“Pewds...”
“What if I needed you to speak with someone?” he asked, cutting me off
“Who?”
“A guy.”
“Why?”
“Let say I just really needed you to, would you do it?” he asked and turned to face me again. He held my gaze intently and I could tell, just by the way he was acting, that whatever he was going to ask me was something I wouldn’t want to do. Then something clicked.
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Listen, if you gave me this job just to make me feel like I owe you something then...”
“No! What? Cry, no. Just...just forget I said anything,” he murmured but I wasn’t about to let this go so easily.
“I’m being serious. You can’t expect me to...”
“Cry.” He grabbed my arm, forcing me to a halt and narrowed his eyes at me. “I know you don’t owe me anything. I only gave you that job because I saw how much of a hit you were with that mask. I was asking for a favour, as a friend...but it was hypothetical so it doesn’t matter,” he told me but by the end his eyes had wondered from mine, staring at something behind me.
I turned back, trying to find what he was looking at but all I could see was a man with a snake tattooed onto the side of his head. He had his arm around a tall, black haired lady...wait...was that the girl I’d seen coming out of Pewds’ apartment?
“Come on,” Pewds told me, pulling me forward just as the bald man caught me staring at him. His eyes focused onto me before flickering to Pewds and smiling almost wickedly... A sudden coldness began to settle inside of me, and it wasn’t just because of that threatening smile but also because of how much it seemed to disturb Pewds.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“Who?” he asked back but I knew he was just being annoying. He pulled me across the road and I couldn’t help but look back, seeing the bald man ask the woman something that made her look over to us. There was no doubt they were talking about us.
“Pewds?”
“They are some...old friends,” he finally answered.
“Isn’t that the girl I met the day I moved in?”
“Jennifer? Yeah.”
I stopped my questioning then as I remembered the attractive lady who’d obviously spent the night with him. I didn’t like that, the thought of it...that knowledge. Judging by how he was acting now I guessed he didn’t like seeing her with someone else. Maybe he actually had feelings for her? Strangely, I found myself not liking that either.