And I Thought Everything Was Going To Be Alright

Chapter Eight - James

I had woken up to loud music playing. It took me a while to identify what it was, but I eventually worked out that someone had put Mötley Crüe on.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes sleepily, then kicked the bed covers off and swung out of bed. I could smell popcorn, and walked out of my room.

I found James standing in the lounge room, dancing around to 'Smokin' In The Boys Room'. He was jumping around the lounge room from chair to chair and pretending to play the guitar horribly. Not to mention that he was singing really horribly along to the words.

It took a lot of effort not burst out laughing at him. When the song finished I bursted out laughing. His reaction was priceless.

"Oh my god- how- how long have you been standing there? Did you just see that whole thing? Oh my god! What ever you do don't tell the boys! They don't know about this-"
"Settle down James," I said between giggles, "I'm not gonna tell them."
"G-good," he replied before he added, "you can't even tell Alec."
"I'm not going to," I replied with a smirk, "now where's that popcorn I can smell?"
"On the kitchen bench." James replied quietly.
"I didn't know you could make popcorn."
"I didn't know I could make popcorn." He replied with a smirk.
"I didn't know you listened to Mötley Crüe."
"And?" He replied flopping down onto the lounge chair.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because no one knows."
"You are so boring. You do realize the boys like Mötley Crüe too, right?"
"I don't care."
"James."
"Katie." He replied.
"You are annoying."
"And you're not?"
"Nope! Not at all." I replied happily. James rolled his eyes as I sat down on the lounge with the bowl of popcorn. I had a couple pieces of popcorn before I asked, "So where are the boys?"
"No idea. They just said they were going somewhere."
"Didn't they tell you where they were going?" I questioned.
"Probably, but I don't remember. I wasn't exactly sober when they told me."
"Oh."
"Yep." James replied.

"Did Adam-" James cut me off.
"No, Adam did not smoke any weed this morning. Why?"
"I thought he'd get worse."
"Why's that?"
"After Blake.." I couldn't finish my sentence. I didn't want to believe he was dead. To me he wasn't. To me he was always alive.
"Well as far as I know he hasn't tried to OD on anything, so he should be alright." James replied.
"Alright." I replied quietly.

We sat there in silence for a minute or two before James said, "I've gotta go. My brother is still at home alone."
"You have a brother?" I asked.
"Yeah, and he needs his big brother. So I've gotta leave you here."
"Can't I come?" I asked.
"I didn't think you'd wanna see my house." James replied.
"Of course," I replied, "I'm taking this popcorn with me."
James laughed.

Oooo~oooO

When we arrived at James' house, which was an old block of apartments, a little pug in a green beanie ran up to us. The beanie was way to big for its little head, but it didn't seem to mind.

"Puff!" James exclaimed as the small dog run up to us. They dog wagged its tail furiously at him and barked. James leant down and pat the dog, which smothered his face with kisses.

James stood up and continued walking inside. He swiped his pass, and the doors opened. We walked in, the pug following close behind, with his claws clicking on the tiles.

"Why's it like that?" I asked.
"The lock?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Cause it's an old apartment building, and because if I don't have any security systems then people might steal my pot."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Not to mention my two other pugs and Joseph."
"Joseph?"
"My little brother."
"Oh.."

By this time we were stepping in an elevator. James pressed level 10, the very last floor in the building, and the elevator took us up. We didn't have many apartment buildings in Alikardica. This was one of the first ones that I saw that wasn't on the outskirts of town. Although those ones were ten time bigger and were for the richer population. We were considered as hicks to the richer kids.

When we reached the top floor, I noticed that instead of having a hallway, it lead straight into the room. The room was covered in plants. The roof had vines hanging down from it, and of course there was a lot of weed on the ground.

A little boy with sun-bleached golden hair ran over to James. James smiled. "Hey, Bro." James said.
"Hey, James." Joseph replied. I assumed he was Joseph, because there was no other kid in the building.

Two other pugs ran over to James. A little grey one, and a brown one, that was a little darker then Puff.

"The grey one is Scarlet, the other is Snuggles." James said.
"Aww." I replied as all three pugs jumped on each other.

"So these like your guard dogs?" I asked jokingly.
"Nope. I have a wolf and a Shepard for that."
"What?"
"Alice! Blaze!"

A husky, and a German Shepard rounded the corner. They ran at James at full speed. I was terrified. The jumped on James and tackled him then proceeded to lick his face. He laughed and tried to scold them. "Stop... It!" He finally managed to say. The got off and sat down right away.

"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Yes. I need these dogs just as much as they need me." James replied.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"They were-" James started, then yelled at Joseph, "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT SNIFFING COKE?! Fucking hell Joseph! Stop taking fucking cocaine. Weed I can handle, but not coke!"

I turned around to see Joseph, standing there with fear in his eyes, not mention the fact that he was twitching a little.

"It's not coke! It's Panadol."
"Oh, for God sakes! You are what? Ten years old! Stop it! You can't take shit like that in my house!" James yelled.
"I'm sorry James." Joseph said running away.
"I swear to god, that boy."

I looked at James with a confused expression. "Oh, this is my parents fault. That's why he lives with me. I don't like how they let him take drugs. Yeah, marijuana is alright I suppose, but not anything else."