The Artist

Jack and the Victoria

Jack

I RUB MY face, feeling crazy over this. My phone sits on my hand, staring at me almost as long as I've started at it. Jesse's squeezing my stomach as he sleeps and I'm tempted to push him off me but… it's Jesse. Jesse's a baby most of the time but I know he can handle what life throws at him. I'm awaiting mom's call but she doesn't call… or hasn't for the last three weeks.

I want to call her but I don't want to interrupt her from important work again. I look at the phone, and for that moment, I realise she won't call and that she's forgotten us but I quickly reprimand myself, thinking it's impossible. Scratch that. Very unlikely. Yeah.

I turn back to Jesse who stirs and blinks up at me before his eyes close again, having forgot what he saw just now and shifts to a more comfortable position. I scoff, "what a baby?"

There's a text on my phone and I unlock it before figuring out it's a text from Spike. I think it is because I see his name but I'm not sure. The number is familiar though.

Still, I nearly delete it but I get a glimpse of the word, 'There' , so of course I'm curious. The message is read loud and clear:

078 6493

Hey,
Is Spike with you over there?

I don't recognise the number but I know who it is. That Victoria has just about pissed me off right now. How did she get my number? I call her with the same number she used to contact me. She answers on the first ring. "Tell me spike is with you!," She says, her voice panicked. The background sounds almost as panicked when I hear someone say something inaudible.

"What happened?" I ask as I stand up, looking for my keys to my car. Spike wouldn't run off like that. And most importantly, he's old enough to remember how to come back on his own. So them getting all panicky like this is kinda annoying. There is silence. A short pause before she replies, almost fast enough for me not to hear a thing as she says, "Nothing," she coughs, before saying in a slower pace, "We all had a long night and…" I head towards my father's collection of cars and I take mine before getting in.

"And?" I probe. Jesse walks in and frowns at me. I look away from him and start the car. He jumps in and I can feel Victoria withdrawing, "He walked in on Joey and Evan arguing and he misunderstood something." I nodded absently. I don't know who Evan and Joey are and I don't care either. They aren't important to me. Spike…isn't. Not after what he said. Especially since he doesn't want to get better. "From what I heard, Spike just needs to cool off and since he lives there, he'll come back on his own."

"But…" I picture Victoria looking at me almost panicked. I scowl. I really don't like her. Jesse puts her ear on the back of my phone, trying to hear the conversation. I put the phone on my other ear and Jesse scowls at me. "He left pretty fast. You should've seen him." I should've. But I didn't. Spike doesn't want to talk to me and I know why. I could see how jealous he was when I kissed all those girls. It was cute. Pretty funny too.

"Are you smiling?" Asks Jesse. I wipe the smile off my face as Victoria calls my name. "Yeah," I answer and Victoria asks if I'm alright.

"Are you busy?" I'm ninety percent positive she could hear the other cars around me. I nod. Then I realise she can't see me so I say instead, "Just wait for him." I hang up right after as a car honks at me.

Jesse just looks at me. I don't say anything. Jesse is gonna say it anyway and even if he doesn't, It would be a big favour. He looks ahead and I keep driving. I don't know where exactly I'm going but I know I'm going somewhere. I change directions, deciding to go to a bar nearby. As I park, I look at its name. The Coldwell. Couldn't they had gotten a better name? I walk inside, my brother following. The bar is small and wooden. It looks freshly renovated, though and It does kinda look warm, in a way.

Infront is a mop of blonde hair with a strong physique. Anyone could see he exercised often. When a glass of clear liquid is given to him, however, I could see his pale but smooth hand reaching across to take it. I walk swiftly toward him and take the glass from him. He turns to me, his eyes filled with anger but he calms down, realising it's me.

"Oh," he says. I don't say anything and just sit beside him. I know if I say something, things won't go as smoothly as I planned. "You came to get some drinks, right?" I notice spike isn't wearing that stupid hat today and thank goodness. I hate looking at that thing. His ear piercing, however, just gives me an erotic image and my penis starts to harden. I shift uncomfortably.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, slowly. The sooner we get out of here, the better and the only way to do that is to avoid an inevitable argument. Spike smiles at me wryly. "I see you brought Jesse. Did you bring your girlfriends as well?" It sounds like he's tipsy and I don't know how to take that. I look back at the glass he ordered and drink it. It tastes like Gin and it burns my throat when I swallow it. Still, it tastes really good. "No. Spike, I just did that because you got blown by someone else."

Can he blame me? I had to see his delicious penis in someone else's mouth. That. Was very horrible. I don't like the fact that someone else has to handle him like that. It's just not right. Spike blinks before reaching over to hold my hand. "Let's start over. Right now." I give a small smile before I reach over to kiss him. "I'd like that," I reply. I sneak my hand over and stroke his thigh. His cheek begins to pinken as he pushes my hand away. "Stop it."

I chuckle before I take his hand again. "We'll go on a date tomorrow, right?" I ask him. Spike looks surprised, as if he's seeing an entirely different person. "Uh…" he pauses before saying, "Yes. Yeah. Yep." His face creases in embarrassment and I have the urge to laugh.

Jesse taps my shoulder and hands me his phone. I take it and look at the message. Dad expects us home right about now but I look back at Spike who looks at me as if he's seeing me at a new light. I hand the phone back to Jesse and tell him to leave as soon as possible. "And you?" I shrug, inwardly a nervous wreck. "I'll follow up, just go," I say and he leaves. I decide to drive Spike back to his house but I stop once we're a few blocks away. After Spike calls someone to take his car, I turn to him. "So what's really going on?"

"We had a fight, really," he slurs. I look at him warily, noticing how he has a deep frown on his face. He looks really upset. I turn my head lopsided. "It's nothing serious. We're the bestest Friends out there!" He turns to me with a massive grin as he narrows his eyes. That's almost like a Vulture: dangerous, preying and deadly. I shift away slightly, only to be blocked by my side of the door. "We were a gang, you know? Had our own band."

When he says that, it doesn't sound like an average fun happiness type of gang. In fact, he makes it sound way scarier than it should be and suddenly, I'm startled by how little I actually know about Spike. What do I actually know about him?