“Do you have a place to stay? Or rather, a place that you want to go back to right now?” I asked Octavia as we left the police station.
“I… My apartment didn’t suddenly disappear.” She replied. I stopped and looked at her.
“Do you want to go back there? You’re still pretty shaken up. And either way we need to go back to my place and see what I can do about your ruined clothes. It’d actually be pretty cool if you crashed with me tonight too, I don’t make out with just anybody in the middle of a night of drinking.” I said in retort. Her face had fallen at first, but her mouth twitched in a smile by the end of it.
“I wouldn’t know… first kiss.” She said. Her face flushed up when she saw my dumbfounded expression. Hell I could even feel my cheeks go a few degrees warmer.
“Really? Damn girl, you need to get out more…” I said with a chuckle. She giggled back and we started walking again.
“I’d say sorry for stealing your first, but since you were drunk I don’t know if it counts.” I continued as we went. The first kiss was usually pretty special, something you never forget. I don’t know about you but I don’t think having such a traumatic experience directly after something you never forget is something you really want. She was silent for a little while as we neared my building.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’m sorry… you took a bullet for me, saved my life…” She said. I almost dropped my keys. That’s certainly one way to look at it.
“Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, why did you do that? And why are you helping me so much now? I mean I’m grateful of course but I don’t even know your name…” She said as I sat her down on the couch. I facepalmed. Literally facepalmed.
“Veronica Ramona Scratchen, at your service. But that name’s only for family and pillow talk. You’re no sister of mine, so unless you decide you want me to be your other first just call me Vinyl Scratch.” I said, giving an exaggerated bow when I gave my full name.
“U-Um… Alright.” She stuttered. I laughed and picked up the small pile of blood spattered clothes from my bedroom and plopped it down in front of the couch. I plopped down next to Octavia and closed my eyes, putting my hands over the pile.
“I saved your life out of instinct, and I’m helping you now because that’s not even halfway up the list of shit I’ve gone through. I know how hard and devastating it can be. Tell me, if it weren’t for me doing what I’ve been doing, what do you think you’d be doing?” I asked as my hands lowed electric blue and the blood and dirt and grime that coated the clothing seemingly peeled off of the material and dissipated into nothing. Octavia was surprised by both the expert use of magic and the question.
“I… I don’t know… Probably still unresponsive or in a shock induced coma in some hospital or royal guard station…” She answered. She gained a somber look as she sort of stared at the floor. I sighed and laid down on the couch. She was still sitting on the end cushion, but I had my legs along the back of the thing sort of behind my head. Lucky for her my feet didn’t stink.
“Well it’s nearly 8 in the morning and we’ve been up dealing with paperwork. I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. Bed’s good and the blanket’s clean, I never use the damn thing so don’t worry about leaving me on the couch. I’m probably going to get a call from the owner of that club sometime between noon and midnight so I recommend getting some sleep. Last time something like this happened I had to argue with him for hours about my hazard pay.” I explained, closing my eyes.
“I… um… alright I guess.” I heard her say. She quickly got up, I dropped my feet onto the cushion the second she did, but sort of stood there a few moments. I opened an eye to see what was up and she was staring at me. I followed her line of sight to my abdomen, which was exposed under the tank I wore. There were a few older scars, but the most recent one was nearly as big as the rest of them combined. It looked almost like a second belly button, but I knew it’d smooth out after a couple days.
“Don’t worry about that. I keep my scars as marks of triumph or lessons learned. It’s not even my biggest.” I said, smiling slightly and I closed my eyes again. I really was exhausted, I lost quite a bit of blood. Before I fully dozed off I heard her go into my room and the soft creaking of the springs in the bed shift.
I was out, and I was out for a while. My phone, which was on the arm of the couch, woke me up like I thought it would. I had the thing set to vibrate so it wasn’t some obnoxious ringtone.
“Hello?” I said when I picked it up. I didn’t bother looking at the number.
“Vinyl Scratch?” The voice asked. I didn’t recognize the voice.
“Yeah, who’s asking and why?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I looked over at the clock and saw it was getting to be around 7 in the afternoon.
“It’s Frank, my brother owned the club.” He said. I remembered the name.
“Right, how’s that going anyways? Must be a bitch to pay for…” I said with a yawn.
“That’s… kinda why I’m calling you. You practically ran the place so he always told me if he ever croaked the place is yours.” Frank explained. I froze.
“Wait, Will died?” I asked. I liked that bastard.
“One of the four dead was him, one was some rich guy and the other two were the two robbers. He always kept a rifle under the counter.” He said. I remember that, I’ve seen him pull it out many times. Even use it before.
“At least the bastard went down fighting… So what, is the place in my name now?” I asked. He paused for a few seconds, probably trying to think of how to say whatever it was he was saying.
“Well, technically yes but legally it’s under my name. I guess you could say I’m offering you a promotion to co-owner.” He explained. Now it was my turn to think for a while.
“I can’t stand all the official stuff and that business stuff. You do all that crap and let me decide my own pay every week and I’ll handle at the direct stuff, like fixing it back up or paying for shit I break. We can deal with the fine details later, I’m still exhausted from getting shot right now and I’m looking after the daughter of the rich guy that got shot.” I explained, standing up and walking over to the kitchen.
“I heard about that, alright. I can get some guys to the club tonight to start cleaning up, if you’re up to it you can oversee it.” He said as I put some coffee on.
“I might, I dunno. We’ll talk later, I don’t have the concentration to try and think of words right now.” I said, yawning as I stood at the brewing pot.
“Right. Take care, hopefully this all works out.” He said. I hummed in agreement and hung up. I tossed the phone over in the direction of the couch, it bounced a bit but my aim was good enough. It startled Octavia, who had walked out of the room. It nearly hit her.
“Your boss?” She asked.
“Not exactly, I’ll explain later. My paycheck is gonna be a little late obviously so if you’re hungry you’re buying. Coffee’s on me, though.” I said, filling two large mugs and holding one out to her.
“Thank you, and I can buy something for us no problem.” She said. Thank Celestia, I was starving.
“Awesome. I need to head to the club later tonight to go and see what I can do to help clean the club up. The pocket in your jacket has been vibrating like crazy for the past few minutes, by the way.” I explained, pointing towards where her renewed clothes were piled. She nodded and retrived her phone from it.
“Good lord, twelve messages and twenty missed calls… I guess you do care sometimes, mother.” She said, more to herself. I raised an eyebrow.
“Now that sounds quite a bit like how I am with my family.” I said. Unofficially changing my name wasn’t just because it sounded cooler. She chuckled and started looking them over.
“The Philharmonic name is split between my mother and my father, so to speak. The business was my mother’s and the musical prowess was my father. They split up and, with my career as a cellist just starting, I lived with my father. She wasn’t exactly happy about that and all but disowned me. Seems she’s heard about what happened, though. I’ve never seen so many apologies in one place before.” She explained.
“Philharmonic sounds damn familiar, and I know I never knew your last name when I heard of you.” I said with a shrug. Contrary to what I may seem, I actually owned a few of her recordings. I never looked at the titles of any of them, though. I probably saw it a bunch but never cared enough to remember.
“Well I suppose I should go and visit her to show her I’m alright… I owe you my life, I think that if she really does care she’d like to meet the person that saved it. I guess I owe you my sanity too, now that I think about it.” She said. I thought for a little bit. I haven’t been to the rich district in quite a while, and hey if she’s buying breakfast-lunch-dinner-whatever it is right now then the rich district is one of the best places to get it from. I shrugged.
“Sure, why not? On the way back we can stop by the club. I love rich people food when it’s not in those stupid fancy restaurants. Rich people quality with poor people portions.” I said. She laughed at that and took her clothes into the bathroom to change. I finished my coffee and grabbed my phone. There was a knock on the door, then. It was either one of two people, and I hope it’s a cop.
I was wrong.
“Sup.” The landlord said. I groaned.
“Look Francis, rent isn’t due for another few days and I got shot this morning. I am not in the mood to deal with any of your bullshit today.” I warned. His grin fell and he stood up straight, his face getting rather serious.
“Rent is due when I say it’s due, and I have a feeling you’re a little short on cash at the moment.” He growled. I saw his eyes looking me all over. If I had the decency to care when he gave me that look then he’d probably be dead or in traction by now, instead I crossed my arms and sighed.
“We signed a god damn contract, you know the kind that lets me sue you for all you’ve got if you break it? Yeah, that one. That contract says you can’t demand rent prior to the agreed upon time. You also can’t raise the rent unless either quality of life or living conditions improve, so you can’t pull that shit again either.” I reminded him. He gave me a look that had a mix of anger and something else in it.
“You and your technicalities… If it weren’t for that damn thing this would be the least-” He started. He poked at my new scar, which hurt like a mother fucker. He didn’t get any further because I had grabbed his hand and nearly broken his wrist with my right hand alone, the left was cocked back ready to slug him in the face.
“Touch me again and you’ll wish I’d have shot you.” I growled lowly. I swear he would have pissed himself if I hadn’t let him go then. He scrambled back, holding his wrist. I slammed my door shut and turned around to see Octavia with a mix of surprise and worry over her face.
“Place as good as this has it’s shitty sides…” I mumbled, holding my head. My headache had decided to return at that moment and it was not helping my mood.
“I guess so… We should go now, before he comes back. Some fresh air and a good walk will help calm you down again. I’ll get you whatever you want, too.” She said with a little smile. I exhaled deeply to vent out some of the anger and nodded. He was lucky he was gone when we left or I may have slugged him just for the hell of it.
---
“You know how I said I recognized your last name?” I asked as we stood in front of her mother’s house.
“Yeah, figure out why?” Octavia asked. I nodded. I must say, I sure as hell wasn’t expecting this.
“That’s where my family lives…” I said, pointing to the house next door.
“We were neighbors?” Octavia asked as she knocked on her mother’s door.
“Shit, guess we were. Until I was about thirteen you wouldn’t ever have recognized me, though.” I said with a chuckle, shaking my head. I was quite the sheltered rich girl in my early days, believe it or not.
“Oh my, Miss Octavia. It’s so good to see you alright.” A butler said after he opened the door. “Your mother’s been worried sick, which is certainly a sight for sore eyes.” He continued, both of them chuckling.
“Good to see you too, Nigel.” Octavia said. He stepped aside to let them in.
“The family next door is here to give her company, I dare say she needed it. Having their young daughter around seems to calm her down.” Nigel continued. I smiled.
“That’ll be Emerald, always making people smile.” I said, following Octavia in.
“Friend of yours?” Nigel asked, confused.
“You could say that.” Octavia said with a shrug. I winked to the guy and followed. This house was even bigger than the one I grew up in, but I still wasn’t all that impressed. Even when I was into the richy rich stuff I never really liked the look of the houses around.
“Octavia! Oh thank the heavens you’re alright! You haven’t been responding at all and the police had no idea where you were I was worried something had happened to you too!” A woman exclaimed and practically tackled Octavia in a hug. She seemed surprised about it.
“Sorry about that, I was sleeping most of the day today, exhausting morning.” She said in reply to her mother.
“But you weren’t in your apartment, I called the landlord and she said you hadn’t even returned yet.” The woman retorted, holding the girl at arm’s length.
“That’s my fault, she was with me. It’s never a good idea to be alone when something like that happens.” I cut in. Everyone looked towards me. Besides Octavia’s Mother there was another woman, a butler, the woman’s husband and a girl not even in her teens.
“And you are?” The man asked. I chuckled. Figures my own father wouldn’t recognize me. I grinned as the girl ran up to me. I picked her up in a hug and we both laughed.
“Mommy, Daddy, it’s Veronica!” The girl exclaimed. I left to live on my own when I was thirteen, five years ago, I just couldn’t stand my life here anymore. I had found my passion with music, and not the kind of music my parents approved of. I learned at a young age, though, to always do what you think is right. Hell, they may not agree but I don’t regret it.
“Veronica? Is that really you?” My dad asked, a bit embarrassed he didn’t recognize me. I put Emerald down and took my shades off, put my hair up into a loose tail like I always used to and adopted my old accent.
“Yes, Father, it really is me.” I said in one of the most innocent voices I could still muster. I pulled my hair back out, but kept the shades off, as I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorway.
“Your Daughter? What brings you here?” Octavia’s Mother asked.
“I was the DJ and practically ran the club where everything happened last night and this morning. Octavia thought I should come along since I saved her life. Not the first time and not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me before, at least I didn’t cause it.” I explained. They gave me a confused look.
“Mother, she pushed me out of the way and was shot because of it.” Octavia said. Their looks all turned to surprise.
“Big Sis, what are these?” Emerald asked, pulling the hem of my tank up a little bit. She was referring to the dozen or so scars adorning that part of my body. I pushed the tank back down with a giggle and knelt down.
“Trophies and reminders. That big one that’s still healing is the one I got for saving Octavia over there, though they’re the kind of things you don’t want to be getting. They hurt and normally they’re reminders of something stupid or wrong you did.” I explained softly to the girl. I may not have been too fond of my parents, but I loved my little sister with everything I had.
“Good lord, is the city really that dangerous that you’d get hurt so much as to have that many scars?” My Mother asked. I stood back up and looked at them, Octavia was talking lowly to her Mother.
“Everywhere is dangerous. That’s not even half of the scars I’ve got, I don’t let the healers and medics get rid of them so that I’ll always have the reminder of whatever happened with me. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, or learned the hard way the true nature of some people. Plus, DJing in the middle district gets interesting past midnight on open bar nights.” I explained. It rarely happened, but I could be serious like that if I wanted to.
“I don’t care about your scars, you’re still my big sister.” Emerald said with a happy grin in her fancy little dress. I smiled and patted her head; her hair emerald green like her name.
“And I love you to death you little ball of green. Octavia, you know where it is. I’ve gotta go and help clean up the club. Good seeing you all, I’m glad I came.” I said. Octavia nodded and continued talking to her mother while my mom and dad got up.
“Damn me for what I’ve said, it at least looks like you’re still a good person even if you’re not the person we wanted you to be…” Dad said, walking over to me and putting his hands on my shoulders.
Wow, I was not expecting that. I mean it was totally cliche, but still.
“Now that I’m looking, I suppose you still are rather stunning with your hair and attire as it is.” My mother said. It was sort of an awkward compliment, but I smiled anyways. I hugged them, then.
“Hey, I may be Vinyl to everyone else, but there’s a reason I still answer to Veronica to you guys. I never really held much against you.” I said. I pulled back and we smiled at each other.
“Are you at least maintaining some semblance of your image as a lady out there?” Mom asked, her expression told me she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear that answer.
“Lady? lord no, when the drinks start flowing there’s not a thing in the world that can maintain that. But, I know what you’re asking, and I may have had my fair share of drunken makeout session with people I had just met, that’s as far as they got.” I answered. They both sighed in relief and I turned to leave, but Emerald grabbed my hand.
“Big Sis, are you going to let Octavia get farther?” She asked. All three of us stared at her for a moment. She probably had no idea what we had meant, but I had to ask.
“What do you mean by that?” I almost stuttered out. She giggled.
“I know you like her, I may not be old enough to like other people like that yet but I can still see it. Are you going to kiss her? Or if you have, are you going to kiss her again?” The little girl asked. I almost burst out laughing. I kissed the girl on the forehead.
“You are the smartest little twelve year-old I have ever seen. And yes, I plan to do it again if I can.” I said and stood back up in full. As I turned to walk away I winked at my parents. Dad deadpanned and mother shook her head, but it seemed more like a good natured ‘oh brother’ sort of thing.
“Before you go, miss Veronica…” I heard and turned around to see the family Butler.
“Sergei, almost forgot about you. Still being worked like a dog?” I asked. He chuckled and we hugged, he was my best friend back then.
“A pampered dog perhaps. Anyways, a lot of your old things are still at the house. If you’d like I can have them sent over to your current place of residence.” He explained.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not too sure if my current place of residence will stay that way at the moment, and I have everything I need. I might stop by eventually, if for anything else than just to visit. We can talk about it then.” I said. He nodded, we clasped hands, and I left.