𝖪𝖭𝖤𝖤 𝖲𝖮𝖢𝖪𝖲 | 𝖶𝖠𝖱𝖱𝖤𝖭 𝖱𝖮𝖩𝖠𝖲

𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐖𝐎 - 𝐇𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄: 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐁

𝗝𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗘: I remember that day when Billy and Graham came home. To tell us Teddy Price was going to hear us play.

"Um... hey."

Graham's waving frantically to his brother as he walks out of the store, who hasn't noticed yet.

"Hey, hey, hey. Billy."

He honks the horn to get his attention, while Billy gives him an irritated, questioning look.

"What?"

"Teddy fucking Price just walked in behind you. Right there."

"Teddy Price?"

"Yeah, he just went in there behind you."

Graham motions for him to hand over the groceries in a hurry, as Billy keeps glancing behind him.

"Give me the shit. Give me the... Give me... Give me the shit."

"Come on. Go, go, go, go."

"Okay, okay."

Billy had rushed back into the store, and eventually he had followed Teddy Price out of the store, and had gotten back in the van after a few moments of conversation.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?"

"He gave me his card. He gave me his card."

"Dude! Oh... shit. Whoa."

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗡: They came in all like, excited and shit. My first thought was they got into my stash.

Eddie and Jamie, along with Karen, Camila and Warren look up when Graham and Billy burst through the door, practically buzzing with excitement.

"Are you two high or something?"

Graham is out of breath, a bright smile on his face.

"You guys- you guys will not believe what just happened."

The other band members wait with expectant looks for Graham to say more, but Billy cuts him off.

"Teddy fucking Price gave me his card at the grocery store."

That catches everyone's attention, getting all of them up and off the couch. Jamie shakes Graham's shoulders excitedly.

"Seriously?! Teddy Price?!"

Graham responds with just as much enthusiasm, shaking her shoulders vigorously.

"Teddy fucking Price!"

"Do you realize how fucking insane that is?!"

"I know!"

𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗠: Most of that night is a blur. There was... a lot of drinking and drugs.

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗡: Yeah, I don't remember shit about that night.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶..."

"𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳..."

"Fuck."

Camila sighs, bringing up another suggestion.

"Why don't you try that one, 'Daybreak'?"

"That's a Bowie rip-off, Cam."

"Okay. How about 'Blind Alley'?"

"No, it's not good enough. It's just not."

"Okay."

As Billy gets up, his keys jingling while he does so, a voice calls out from the doorway.

"Hey, Cam?"

Camila looks over to the doorway, her eyes softening when she sees it's Jamie.

"Hmm?"

"Can I, uh... talk to you for a minute? Unless you're busy."

Camila shakes her head softly, starting to get up from the bed, walking out of the room after her.

"No, I'm not busy. What's up?"

Jamie seems slightly hesitant to speak about whatever's bothering her, her eyes downcast towards the ground.

Camila noticed quickly, reaching out to place a comforting hand on her arm.

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't know who to talk to this about, really. I, um... I got a message from my parents a couple days ago."

Oh. So that's why she's seemed off lately. Camila doesn't know the specifics of what all her parents put her through, but she knows enough to know it was downright cruel.

"What... what did they say?"

"They, uh... they said they know I'm in the band. And that they can't wait too see me again."

"What? They're coming here?"

Jamie takes a slightly shuddering breath, before nodding.

"To California, yeah. They said they heard about us from somebody."

Camila isn't quite sure what to say. She couldn't ever understand what she'd been through with her parents, but she knew that this wasn't easy for Jamie, not in the slightest.

She brings her in for a tight hug, trying not to let the shaking Jamie's having right now get any worse.

"Oh, Jay... I'm sorry."

Jamie's clinging tightly to her, almost like she doesn't want to let go. But Camila just lets her hold on for as long as she needs to.

After a few moments, she pulls away, wiping at her eyes, and the mascara underneath them. She scoffs as she wipes her tears away.

"I'm sorry. You must think I'm pathetic for crying about something like this..."

Camila is quick to reassure her, softly brushing her bangs out from her face.

"You're not pathetic, Jay. You're stronger than them, I know you are."

The expression on Jamie's face is one of surprise, almost like she wasn't sure what to say, or hadn't been expecting her to say that.

Jamie clears her throat, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I better get back. Karen will kick my ass if I miss anymore of Taxi Driver."

Camila nods, starting to head back into her and Billy's bedroom, before turning around once more.

"You know you can always talk to me. About anything."

Jamie nods, with a barely existent smile as she goes back to her and Karen's shared bedroom.

When she flops back down on the bed, Karen's paused the film, waiting for her to come back.

"Did you tell her?"

"Yeah. I told her."

Karen wordlessly invites her to lay her head on her chest, and she does, as Karen unpauses the movie.

It's been just them for such a long time, it's been a little weird getting used to the others. But it's... nice.

They've become a family, regardless of their non-blood relation. Something she's never had before.

Maybe life isn't so bad after all, maybe nothing her parents said was ever true. But then again, it's hard to erase years of teaching.

Years of being abused, neglected, mistreated by people who hated her. Sometimes, she swears that she can still hear her mother's voice, berating her, telling her she's completely and utterly useless.

It's like she'd had such a bad life for so long, she wasn't sure how to not feel like she was still living it.

But maybe, just maybe, it really would be different this time.