Homecoming Queen (Such a Shame, Shame, Shame)

Hooked Up With the Wrong Someone

Bam got off the couch early in the morning and scratched down a note, sliding it under the door to Rikki's room before collecting his clothes and getting dressed. The phone on the coffee table buzzed, the name "Greg Savant" popping up during the vibrations before it started blaring a rock song, Rikki throwing open the bedroom door and stomping over to the table before stepping outside, only to open the door again.

"What am I doing, I live here, you go stand out there." Bam shrugged and walked into the hall, placing his back against the wall and yawning. Inside the apartment, Rikki was talking at a frantic speed in italian before saying "I get it, I get it, tell him to fuck himself. I'm done, and if he doesn't leave, I'm getting the cops."

"Rikki, you never got a divorce, legally-"

"Greg, that bastard doesn't deserve a verifiable divorce, I'll sign the papers and send them back over there, I'm done, completely done. If they don't put him in jail for stalkng me even after I left for six months or even the domestic abuse then they've failed as law enforcement agents. Now I have to go. Goodbye." Rikki snapped her phone shut and hurled it at the door, the plastic thing breaking into pieces, Bam jumping up and knocking on the door.

"Hey, you okay in there?"

"Just, go away..." Rikki said, attempting to be foreceful but sniffling and letting out a little whine undermined that attempt. Bam placed his hand on the doorknob, not opening the door, he was as good as a stranger to her right now, maybe worse, It was kind of ironic, the asshole who broke her heart concerned about another asshole breaking her heart.

"Rikki, come on."

"No, I hate you goddamnit." Bam sighed, she was back to that, and he didn't blame her,

"Fine, hate me, but I'm not leaving until I know you're okay, I at least owe you that after last night." The deadbolt slid back, Rikki standing in the doorway, feeling small and scared. she always got that way around men after he was brought up.

"Rikki, what is it?"

"Fucking drop it okay?" Rikki shouted, flinching back as Bam moved his hand, Bam froze, quickly dropping his hand. This wasn't any side of Rikki he ever saw, petrified and shaking.

"Rikki, I'm not going to- hit you...." Bam said quietly, Rikki shaking her head.

"Sorry Bam, but I need you to go. I- I need to be alone." Bam was about to obey, halfway to the door before turning around and letting Boss out of Rikki's room, the dog growling at him.

"Hey hey, it's okay, I'm not putting the moves on her anymore, she's upset and you're good at being fluffy and really fucking adorable, so go, do your thing." Boss seemed to understand, clicking his way into the living room and laying his head in Rikki's lap, she patted him absently as Bam slowly eased himself into the floor, moving slowly as he'd learned quickly. he sat facing her, unsure of what to do, so he just watched her pat Boss before sliding to her left side, carefully lifting a hand to rub her shoulder. Rikki flinched back like she'd been shot at, but calmed down a little, Bam watching her again, wondering how bad it must have been to scare a wild girl like Rikki, to break her into a quivering, shaky mess.

"Thank you." Rikki said, her voice had lost it's life, it's passion. She was a shell now. But Bam didn't move his hand. No, he slowly moved an arm around her shoulders, holding her still.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Calm down Radi- Rikki." Bam slipped up again, she was no longer his Radio, a wide eyed scabbed up skater girl, she was Rikki, an adult. Where he refused to grow up, Rikki had done so much too quickly.

"Nobody's going to hurt you..." Bam said, more to himself this time, he'd hurt her and a bunch of other girls, twenty in the last month. Not physically, he was better than resorting to fists. But he wasn't good enough to treat his latest girls with respect, he wasn't good enough to keep Rikki- then Radio, from crying and running off to Chicago and then to Italy. He wasn't good at all in fact, but now he was going to fix it. He didn't know how he was supposed to stop this, but he was going to. He didn't want to hurt someone like Rikki had been.

"Everything hurts in a way Bam. Boss here has cancer. They gave him a year at best. Hurt. Graduation meant success, but it also meant leaving. More hurt. The man I was supposed to spend my life with blamed me for the misscarrage, even though he was the one doing the beating. Even more hurt. See Bam, nothing is ever just okay, it always ends up the same, no matter what. With hurt. A person may not hurt me, but can you keep fate at bay Bam? I'll never be okay, not by a long shot." Rikki was crying now, the tears flowing freely. So they sat there, the womanizer and the broken muse. Sitting there in silence, only her silent sobs and his careful hushing breaking the silence.

"I'm so sorry. I know I'm not the person you want around, especially the way I am now." Bam whispered, Rikki just shook her head.

"No matter if I want you around or not, you're just going to keep persisting. There's still some of the old you under this man-whore facade, you just don't remember who the old you is."

"Or you know, I'm just a whore." Bam said, Rikki sighing and leaning on his shoulder, forgetting that she hated him, forgetting how he treated girls, right now he was a shoulder to cry on, and that was what she was going to need.