Riot

4. Staying alive

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Julie said out loud to herself, shaking her head in disbelief as she locked her apartment door, her cowboy boots’ heels clicking as she went down the stairs. She opened The Falcon’s front door and faced the black Mustang, parked right in front of it.

Billy's tall figure leaned against the door, while he smoked a cigarette. When he caught Julie’s eye, he tossed it away and blew the remaining smoke off with a smirk. She seemed pissed off and he enjoyed every second of it.

“Hey.” She locked the front door and pushed the keys inside her front pocket.

“Come on.” He motioned for her to get into the car and she walked to the other side.

Yesterday, Billy showed up to see how she was after the attack and she still upheld the bad ass attitude. His new strategy consisted in not to confront, but to unleash it. And what best way than to dare her? If there was one, he didn’t know. Nonetheless, the only thing that mattered is that it worked. If all went well, he was sure he’d break her and win that bet tonight. The day before, he dared her to stay alive while hanging out with him.

“You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m not.” He shook his head lightly.

“What a freaking cheap excuse to spend a night with me, Darley! Of course I can stay alive.”

“You don’t know me, or my life. It's alright to be scared. If I were you, I’d think twice before accepting it. ”

“But you’re not.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Alright, then. A night it is.”

“I’ll pick you up at 8 pm, be ready.” He stated and walked away without a goodbye. He couldn’t hide the big smile playing on his lips.

Now both sat in his car, heading to God knows where. Julie’s heartbeat sky rocketed, but she managed to hold a calm expression.

“So, where are we going?” She asked casually.

Billy smirked. “You nervous?” She laughed sarcastically, which answered his question. “To the Office.”

“The Office? That’s pretty pathetic, you know. Couldn’t you think of a more creative name for the place where you and your little friends gather?”

He rolled his eyes in response and Julie chuckled. This was going to be interesting. What she didn’t know was that Billy had already set up the whole thing. Joe, Bodie and Spink would show up occasionally, since she had already seen them, but the others would play a different role in this game. He wanted to see how she reacted while facing a fake gang confront, just to get a kick out of it. It was that ancient story of protecting the damsel in distress, not that he knew what that meant, to begin with. Saving her life twice was bound to grand him some special thanks.

He finally parked the car in front of an old hospital. The building had clearly been abandoned a long time ago. Despite its advanced age, the structure itself was somewhat conserved.

“Be my guest.” Billy opened the car door for her, acting like the gentleman he wasn’t.

Julie stepped inside, scrutinizing the place with a disgusted expression. The front room had trash around, badly painted walls, new graffiti covering old graffiti, even worse illumination and some kind of smoke floating around. “Cozy.” She ironically muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. Considering that the majority of people, girls especially, would have turned around and gave up on the idea just at the first sight of the place, she rose on Billy’s esteem.

The sudden loud noise of metal pipes hitting the ground freaked Julie out, making her to jump while holding her chest. It being part of his plan, Billy stood still and laughed at her, earning himself a rather suspicious glare.