Disaster • Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

[nineteen]

Indi's POV

"Indiana Hunt, if you don't get up off your ass in the next five minutes, we're leaving you here."

Rose's voice broke through my dreamless sleep.

"Wuh?" I groaned, rolling over. The morning sun was shining bright through Alicia's apartment window, hitting me square in the face. I'd slept on the couch, and my back could definitely feel it.

"We're supposed to be at the cabin in an hour," Rose said, grabbing my blanket and yanking it off of my body.

I rubbed my eyes. "What are you talking about?"

She looked like she wanted to strangle me.

"The guy she met at the club," Alicia called from the kitchen. "We're meeting him and his friends up in the mountains near Estes Park."

Right. I remembered now.

"Not like I spent all fucking night telling you about him, or anything," Rose snapped, disappearing into the guest room and reemerging moments later with a wad of clothes.

"Put this on and brush your teeth," she said, throwing the clothes at me. "We should have left like thirty minutes ago."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"We tried," Alicia said. "Six times."

"I packed a bag for you already. We might be up there until tomorrow," Rose said.

"You must really like this guy," I said, standing up and making my way to the bathroom. "Are you sure he isn't luring us up to the mountains to chop us into pieces?"

"Get dressed, Indi," she said, rolling her eyes. "We're already late enough."

• • • • • • •

Rose was rushing me around so much that I didn't have a chance to think about last night until we were halfway through the mountains.

It all seemed to come back at once as I stared out of the backseat window at the endless, wavering sea of pine trees below me-- the alley, the dancing, the fight, the bathtub, R-Kelly interrupting our almost-kiss, blood running down Alex's perfect skin...

But I blocked the memories out quickly before I could think about it too much. There was no point in remembering it anymore.

My head still kind of hurt from our collision in the bathtub, and I still smelled faintly of sweat and cigarette smoke. I hoped whoever this guy and his friends were, they didn't get too close to me. My scent alone could scare them off.

Rose and Alicia both looked great. Alicia's tight, red curls had been straightened out and she was wearing a tank top and cut off shorts.

Rose's golden hair fell in perfect waves on her shoulders, and she was wearing a yellow sun dress she'd bought for our graduation a few years back.

Then there was me. The outfit Rose had thrown on me was my favorite pair of jeans (tragically worn, scuffed at the bottom and ripped at the knee) and a crumpled black Bowie t-shirt I'd had since I was thirteen. I had time to brush my teeth, but not my hair. So naturally, I looked like shit.

But I liked it that way.

"So where did you really go last night?" Alicia asked, catching my eye in the rearview mirror. She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Nowhere," I said. "Just had to get some air."

"Funny," Rose said, turning around in her seat to face me. "Because the bouncer could have sworn he'd seen a girl with the same gray sweater leave out the front door with a guy. A bloody guy."

Shit. They knew. I scrambled to come up with something to tell them. I mean, I could tell them the truth. Rose already knew I'd met Alex and the station, but for some reason I didn't want them to know I'd spent last night with him.

Maybe I wanted it to belong to him and I alone. The only thing we'd ever share.

"I was waiting for you to tell me yourself," Rose said, her eyes narrowing a bit. "But I guess that's not going to happen."

"I forgot about that," I lied. "I was... on my way out to get some air when I saw some guy get punched at the bar.  I helped him outside.  That's all."

She didn't look convinced.

"It wasn't a big deal," I told her. "Really."

"Well," she sighed. "When you decide to tell me the truth, I'll let you have the aux. But for now, you're going to have to suffer through an entire Top Country Hit's album as punishment.

"Nooooo," I groaned. "Please, have mercy on me."

Her and Alicia laughed wildly as I covered my ears. This was going to be a long ride.