Lost in Hollywood

Liquid Fire

Sky was wearing a pair of leggings and the oversized, black Slipknot T-shirt, Hawk knew had belonged to Kat. Her hair was collected in a messy bun on top of her head, from which unruly curls and strands fell to her neck. The scars on the side of her head were clearly visible under the baby hair that was still growing to cover them. When she stepped aside and let Hawk enter, he couldn't help but notice how pale her face was, and that her eyes were red-rimmed, a bit puffy as if she'd just been crying.

God— I'm so stupid. Of course, she's been crying, it's only been a week since Luke died.

That thought made him hesitate - maybe he shouldn't have come? She was already feeling miserable - the last thing she needed was for him to pour all his crap on her. It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or anything - she had no obligation to listen to him whining about his stupid issues.

"You coming?" Sky asked, glancing at him over her shoulder, and Hawk forced his feet to move.

"Are you okay? You— you look like you've been crying."

Sky let out a tense breath and shook her head, brushing a couple of escaped strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Don't worry about it, it's— nothing. But what the Hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight?"

"Yeah... something like that."

They had reached the living room - the giant bust of Julius Cesar was still in the corner, the house plants and books occupied every free surface, Napoleon was snoozing in a chair by the window, and everything about this room was so familiar it hurt, momentarily taking Hawk's words away from him. The emotion squeezed his chest, almost unbearable. All the times that he had sat with Sky on that couch, watching a movie or making out flashed through his mind, crushing his heart, filling him with pointless, bittersweet longing.

He stopped to greet Napoleon and to scratch him behind the ear, trying hard to swallow the sudden emotion, to hide it from Sky.

"You want something? Water, or a Coke? Or you know, what I'm having." Sky asked, and Hawk turned to look.

His brows shot up on his forehead as he noticed a bottle of Tequila and a half-full shot glass on the coffee table, next to a tub of melting Ben & Jerry's - Cherry Garcia - that had a spoon stuck into it. There was a blanket on the couch, and the TV was on, playing My Neighbour Totoro.

"You were drinking? Alone? Watching Totoro?" Hawk glanced at Sky, taking a hesitant seat on the couch. "Where's your Dad? I thought he wasn't leaving you alone after what happened at the party—"

Totoro was just accepting Satsuki's umbrella on the screen, as Sky reached for the remote control, and turned off the TV, cutting the soundtrack of music and raindrops, leaving them in silence. Her brows furrowed, making her look annoyed.

"Dad's with Lisa. Apparently, they are having problems - which is probably all my fault. I bet Lisa thinks Dad's not worth the trouble, you know, because I'm always ruining their dates by trying to kill myself or getting others killed... So, anyway, Dad's trying to fix things with her. He... he thought I'd be at Cody's."

Hawk cleared his throat. "But— you're not?"

"I'm not." Sky sank onto the couch next to Hawk. "We had a fight. I left."

Hawk drew in a sharp, surprised breath. A fight? Sky and Cody were arguing? And why the fuck did that make him feel like he was choking, like his heart was suddenly trying to escape through his mouth?

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'd rather talk about the fight you got into," Sky sighed. "But whatever... He— he has a gun. You knew that, right? That Cody has a gun and he pulled it on Kyler?"