Carolina ~ A Slash Love Story

Rock Mountain Way

"Now, you have to stay here- on the bus- until I get back, alright?" Nikki said as he wiped the blood from my face for the final time. "I'll be back in a little bit, so you just lay right here, okay?"

"No, I wanna go with you," I whined as I threw my arms around his neck, doing my best to cling to my best friend.

"Honey, as soon as Izzy sees you, we're both in trouble," he reasoned. "You got hurt when we were supposed to watch you. When you were in our care."

"So?"

"So your brother might not let you hang out with us anymore if he sees that you're hurt," he said softly. "You don't want that, do you?"

"No!"

"I don't either, so you'll just have to sit tight for a bit. And then when the show's over, I'll be back and I'll bring Tommy, too, okay?"

"Promise?" I asked, feeling tears fill my eyes at the idea of being left alone.

"I promise. Terror Triplet's honor," he said as he saluted me. He pushed a bit of my teased hair away from my face as he leaned away.

"Okay," I said with a pout as he struggled to get me to stay in his bunk.

"Sleep, Carolina, please."

"But I'm not tired," I complained.

Nikki knew better than to argue with drunk me; every one did. No semi-sober person, or any other drunk could make me do anything if I didn't feel like it. Their only advantage was that I was smaller than them and that they could carry me if I was being stubborn at an inappropriate time.

"Okay then, play solitaire or something. I think Tommy left some cards on the table up front," he said. "Behave," he mumbled before kissing my cheek and exiting the bus.

Well now what was I supposed to do? It was just me, and I wanted to party. When I had no one around me, things happened one of two ways, and neither way was the best.

When I was drunk, I would do stupid shit, like play with fire- or try to spit fire, whatever came first (it's about the same thing), or break bottles, or even throw things out of the windows of a moving bus. Any idea that floated into my alcohol impaired mind was a good idea as far as i was concerned.

When I was sober... well I'd try to do the same thing, only I understood the consequences when it didn't work out and knew how to get out of them. If I had been drinking, I wouldn't be able to talk myself out of trouble, or I wouldn't understand if I was going to be arrested. I had a thing for self destruction now and then, and if I got too freaked out, I would completely break down and melt into a messy puddle of emotions, eyeliner, and hairspray.

Standing up and breaking out of my thoughts, I stumbled over to the table, looking for Tommy's cards. Of course, nothing was ever where it was supposed to be, and there were only four cards on the table; the two jacks and two instruction cards were the only things on the table- well the only things I was interested in.

The ashtray was absolutely stuffed with cigarette butts, beer tabs and bottle caps littered the table, scratching and denting the finish of the wood, one of them had stuck gum to the wall, and it appeared that eyeliner was smudged into the seat in the dining area. Scraps of paper and random guitar picks were also strewn across the table for no apparent reason, but the rest of the playing cards were nowhere to be found.

With a huff, I made my way back to Tommy's bunk to look for them, hoping that I wouldn't be greeted by a gross sight of panties hanging from the wall or something. As soon as I pulled his bunk curtain open, however, I was not met with a disgusting sight or smell, but the ever so faint, yet familiar smell of cannabis.