Dear Insanity... I messed up again.

CHAPTER 4

“Hey! No! Alex!” Gage whined.

          “But you’d better make room for one more band in your line up. We’ll see you there!” She grinned, flipping Gage off. “Right-o. See you then.” She pressed end. “Go pack your shit, boys. Ready the van!” She was so excited. “It starts in California, so we have to get ready now.” She smiled at me, and then paused. “Ivy…?” I glanced up at her from behind my hair. “Move your hair.” She commanded coldly. I shook my head and curled my knees to my chest. “Ivy, you know I’d never hurt you.” I sighed. Knowing I’d never win this fight, I moved my hair and exposed the large bruise. “But I can’t promise the same for that son of a…” I quickly grabbed her hand and looked at her, pleading.

          “Alex, he’s not worth your time. Really though. They’re out of my life for good now. There’s nothing more that you need to do. Just let them drown on their own.” To my amazement, she nodded.

          “Yeah, there’s just ONE more thing I need to do. I need to beat the shit out of him!” She screamed. Alex was beyond pissed. There was no stopping her. She got up and grabbed her car keys and stormed to the stairwell to grab her hoodie from where she had left it. She rounded the corner and ran face first into Luke and Jesse. “MOVE.” She yelled. Jesse was about to jump out of her way, but Luke, who has known Alex for the longest, stood right in her way.

          “Calm your tits girl. Where are you going in such a tissy?” He glared at her.      “I’m going to go beat the shit out of someone.” She was still furious.

          “Oh, no you aren’t. You sit your ass right back on that couch and you tell me exactly what the fuck is going on. Gage told me you’ve been hiding something and you won’t talk about it. Obviously right now is a great fucking time.” Alex was seething. Her temper was going to get the best of her, and poor Luke was going to get exploded on in a second. I got up to go find Gage. Maybe he could calm them both down.

          I ran out of the room and found Gage bent under the hood of the black van. “Gage…” I asked quietly. He looked up. “Oh hey, Little Lamb. What’s going on?” He asked affectionately. He dried the oil from his hands on a shop rag. “It’s Alex and Luke. Alex is going to beat up…” He stopped me.

          “Little Lamb… Who did this to you?” His hands swiped my hair away from my face. I blushed and tried to shrink back into my jacket. “Ivy…” His voice was calm but stern.

          “Mark.” I answered, hiding my face again.

          “I never did like him much, and now I know why. Don’t you hide your face. You’re beautiful, and you’ve done nothing wrong, Little Lamb. Now, what about Alex beating who up?”

          This is why I went to Gage first. His cool head and gentle nature made him easy to trust, and he was very good at keeping secrets.

          “Alex is mad at Mark for this” I gestured at my face. “And Luke got in the way of her going to beat him up and now Alex and Luke are fighting and I think Jesse is in the middle of them.” I answered quickly. Gage grinned.

          “The ever so hot headed chick strikes again. I guess I’d better go put a stop to it before she kills him. Poor Jesse would never even know what hit him.” Gage chuckled lightly before wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “You know, Little Lamb, I sure am glad we’re in this together.” He smiled warmly. I smiled back. We walked into the living room to find Alex sitting on top of a struggling Luke, and a very unamused Jesse sitting on the couch across from her, lit cigarette in hand.          Gage looked at them all and raised an eyebrow. “Alexandria, GET OFF Lucas. Luke, quit trying to baby Alex.” Alex’s eyes darted up to Gage, making sure he was serious. “Alex, don’t make me say it again.” With a good shove, Alex was thrown off of Luke. Luke sat up.

          “Thanks a lot, Alex, my lip ring fell out.”

          “Shut up, ya big whiner.” They both stuck their tongues out at each other. They both burst into giggles. “Hey Gage is the van ready to go?” Alex asked, fixing her shirt and rubbing the blood from her lip.

          “Not quite. Just gotta finish cleaning up a couple of things.” He smiled. “Is everyone packed? Jesse and Luke shook their heads no.

          “We haven’t been home yet.” They answered.

          “Alex, go with the boys and get the rest of their things packed. Be quick, the van will be ready and trailer will be hitched and loaded by the time you get back. And when you get back, we’ll park your car in the garage so no one messes with it, okay?” Alex nodded. “Little Lamb, you’re going to help me with the van, okay?” I nodded. The other three headed to Alex’s car and Alex (in typical Alex fashion) argued with Luke the entire way. “Well, let’s get started. Have you ever changed a car’s oil before?” I shook my head no. “Oh good, I’ll show you how. It’s really helpful.” He opened the garage door and held it open for me. I walked through the door. He looked under the hood. “I forgot, I changed the oil on this last week, so it should be good to go. Shall we see if she starts?” I grinned at him.

          He got in the driver’s side and tried to start the engine. No dice, it wouldn’t start. He frowned at it. “Well, that’s no good.” I chuckled at him. “What?” He asked, bewildered.

          “Hold on, don’t try to start it.” He pouted at me. I reattached the battery cables. “Try it now.” He cranked it, and it started right up.

          “What did you do, magic fingers?” His eyes lit up happily.

          “That’s for me to know, and you to never find out!” I answered, laughing. He jumped out.

          “Out done by a girl!” He exclaimed, sighing. “I give up!” He said. “Let’s attach the trailer and get it loaded up.” He climbed back into the driver’s seat and backed up the trailer and got it hooked up, and checked the lights. They all worked as they should. He backed it up to the garage and I wheeled in the amps using the trolley. Last but not least, we closed the divider in the trailer and loaded Gage’s set and the guitars and Alex’s mic set, and my mic set went in last. “Told them we’d have it done by the time they got back. I wonder what’s keeping them, anyway.” Gage said, his eyes gazing down the street. “Oh well, are you hungry?” I nodded. “Alright, let’s go make some lunch and settle down for a bit before they get back.”     I followed Gage into the house. The loud slam of the garage door made Gage look up from the fridge. I burst into a fit of giggles. He had a piece of turkey hanging from his mouth.

          “Gage… That’s supposed to go on the sandwich.” I said between laughs.          “Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “Sounds like they’re back earlier than I thought. I guess we’ll have to go out to eat.” 

AUTHOR'S NOTE! :D I really hope you like what you have seen. The picture is what Jesse would look like. :]