Not Good Enough For Truth In Cliche

So For Now, Take This Down A Notch

"Max is free!" I yelled.
"How?" Omar looked at me.
"I slept with a hospital guy and he discharged Max."
"You slept with someone?"
"Yeah."
"Respect." Omar said after thinking it over.
Max collapsed onto the couch. "Fuck, anyone got anything?"
"Max, are you serious? Did Ash's sacrifice mean nothing?"
"Like, a beer. They're not gonna get me for a beer."
Omar rolled his eyes. "Yes, they would. You're still high from the coke. Cool it."
I sighed. "I'll go tell Craig."
"Okay."
I went to Craig's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Come in."
I went inside. "We're back. Max too."
"Max okay? I thought he was going to rehab."
"Well, plans changed." I tugged on the bottom of my shirt.
"What happened?" He motioned for me to come sit on the edge of his bed, and I did.
"Slept with someone."
"Why?"
"It was with the guy who decided if Max would go or not, and... I took one for the team."
"Shit, that's gotta suck." Craig wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ash."
"Well, you know. He's one of my closest friends. I'd do anything for him."
"You could've called me up, I would've done something."
"Would you have slept with him?"
"If he was gay, sure."
"Wow."
We hadn't done anything since Heroin Night (as Max had jokingly dubbed it), so I was still slightly surprised when Craig leaned closed and grazed his knuckles against my cheek. He wasn't as badass as he seemed, just more of a scared little kid. "Ash, you know I would've traded places, right?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Come on, I would've. I don't care what it would be, I would've done it. And I still will."
"I know."
Craig leaned in closed and kissed me. For some reason, I started to kiss back. It scared the shit out of me that I did, because... Fuck, I promised Ronnie. It's not like I was drunk or high or anything like that. I was completely and utterly sober. But I still let him kiss me and I still kissed back.
He pulled away. "I should let you go."
"Yeah, okay."
"See you?"
"We're in the same apartment right now."
"I guess you're right."
I walked back out to the living room. "Okay, Craig knows."
"Does Ronnie?" Monte asked.
"I'll tell him next time I visit."
"How long has he been in there?"
"It's mid July, so like a month."
"Guys, can we go out tonight? We haven't gone to a club in like, forever." Max groaned.
"I'm game."
"Same." Omar said.
"Three out of six, we're going." I smiled.
"Okay y'all, nine pm. We're going to the place downtown." Max stated.
"Punk place or pop place?"
"Punk."
"Okay. See you guys then."
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"You look cute." Max smiled at me. "Showing off the tattoo, finally?"
I looked at my tucked in black tank top, black shorts, knee-high socks, and Converse. "Yeah."
"Ready?"
I grabbed a camo jacket that I believe was Ronnie's, which was oversized on me. Yep. Definitely Ronnie's. "Yeah."
We stopped at the apartment and grabbed Omar and Craig. Monte and Robert didn't want to come. Craig looked at me up and down. "Ash, you look cute."
"Thanks." I mumbled.
"You gonna pick up a guy?" Omar asked, lightly punching me in the shoulder.
"I wish. I just wanted to dress up a little."
"You got a tattoo?"
"Yeah."
"Nice."
We walked to the punk club downtown. We entered and Max made a beeline for the bar. Omar sighed. Situations was playing. "Of all the songs."
"Darling, what is going on? Honestly that never happened, lying is your favorite passion." I imitated Ronnie's voice.
"You know who that song's about, right?" Max asked, handing me a beer.
I accepted it. "Probably one of the many girls he slept with."
"Max, no." Omar warned.
"No, it wasn't." Max said.
"Who was it then?" I took a sip of the beer.
"You."
"Funny."
"No, it was. Ronnie said it was about the time you two slept together."
"What... How do you guys know that?"
"He got badly fucked and told us. I think it was when we were writing the song. He didn't tell us the story, though." TJ said.
I sighed. "I was... Nineteen? Yeah, nineteen. Ronnie got his hands on heroin, injected. I hadn't used heroin much so my tolerance was low. He was mixing it with God knows what. We decided, while high, it would be a genius idea to sleep together. We woke up the next morning laying naked next to each other. It was my idea not to talk about it."
"Honestly that never happened, lying is your favorite passion." Omar said.
"He'd mentioned around that the whole song was about one night. So basically," Max figured out. "You pulled his hair? You hate to love and love to hate? You took his hand and ran it up your thigh?"
"Yes, yes, and yes." I groaned. "It was hidden for such a long time."
"You could've denied it!"
I noticed Craig had left. "Yo, where's the singer?"
They shrugged. "Stop changing the subject." Omar interjected. "I wanna hear more!"
"There's not much more."
"Did you suck his dick?" Max wondered.
"Shut up!" I reddened.
"She did."
"Oh my God, Ash and Ronnie fucked!" Omar grinned.
"I hate you all."
Craig come back. "Yo, Ash, come dance with me?"
"Yeah, sure."
He took my hand. "You slept with Ronnie?"
"Yeah. It was stupid. One night."
"Like us?"
"I don't know."
"That's fair."
"I'm sorry they brought that up. I was nineteen, it was pretty much my fault."
"No, it's okay, it was three years ago."
"I really am sorry-"
Stopping me mid-sentence was Craig kissing me again. I surprisingly kissed back. His hands slid to my waist and he bent down, allowing me to get off of my toes. He was only a couple inches taller then me, him at 5'7 and me at 5'4. "I really like you." He whispered, hands fumbling to catch my wrists.
"I like you too." I replied, not thinking. There's a part of me that's hoping Ronnie serves the full sentence of five years, so I have extra time to think about how I'm making out with the guy he hates most. The rest of me feels like a massive bitch for doing this to my best friend.
"Do you wanna...?"
"What if they find out? Fuck, what if they tell Ronnie?"
"They won't." He assured.
"Tell Ronnie, or find out?"
"Oh, of course they'll find out. Everyone's gonna know you're mine. But they're not telling Ronnie."
I saw Omar run over, then gasp. He ran off. "Guess they're gonna know right about now." I pointed out.
"Should we go?"
"Probably."
We walked over there just as Omar finished a sentence. "... they were kissing!"
"Who were?" Craig asked all innocently.
"You two! I just saw it with my own two eyes!"
"Yes, and?" Max asked. "They're consenting adults. Literally can do whatever they want."
"Yeah, Omar." I said. "Grow up."
"What's Ronnie gonna say?"
Craig took a step forward. "He's not. You're not gonna tell him."
"You seriously think you can keep this h-"
"Omar, I already have Max's secrecy. Robert and Monte will be easy to convince. If you tell Ronnie, I swear to God, you're out of the band, and I'll make sure you can never join any good hardcore band, hear me?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Now let's enjoy the rest of the night."