Shit.
Something was burning.
I tugged on my boxers and ran from the outhouse shower and run back towards my cabin. Black smoke was pouring out the windows.
For fucksake
When April decided she was going to be crashing with me until
things cooled over with Ty, I didn’t really have that much choice in the
matter. Honestly it wasn't as great as it would have sounded to have a hot girl move in with you. If you can even call it that.
She never slept over.
She only showed up once or twice a day when I bought her up lunch. With Ty’s being the only decent food placewith in 50 miles being banned created a problem for her.
When she was around we mostly talked. About normal things; music, California and gossiping about the Drifters. She was a little bitter and funny. She liked Alternative bands, wanted to visit Los Angeles. She thought the Drifter guys were cute but undateable.
Anyway, I run into the cabin and find April hunched over the rusted hot plate with a stryofoam Ramen container sizzling on the burner. She’s try to pull it off, put the burnt Styrofoam is fused to the hot plate.
“What are you doing ?”, at this point I’m a little tired of her shit.
“Making something for the road, what does it look like.”
She unplugs the hot plate and kicks the soup over.
“Classy”, I remark as she starts cleaning up.
“Excuse me for not meddling into the ju-ju happy cooking Tirney and Ty are up to”
I stop
“So . . . there is something in the food.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Are you fucking with me, April ?”
“Whatever, we need to get on the road.”
“The road ? You are finally going home ?”
“No”, she pulls on her black cowboy boots to match her black shorts/top one-piece thing, “I need a ride, big guy.”
“Where ?”
“To Reno. Our year round house, or whatever. I just need to get some stuff from the house. I’ll pay for gas and everything. You have the day off right ?”
I did have the day off. I hadn’t been planning on spending it with her. What the hell else did I have to do ?
“I’ll take you but no . . . weird shit. Okay ?”
She looks at me like I’m speaking another language.
“Fine.”
She waits outside the welcome center while I talk Jerry into letting me use his car. I tell him I need to see my parole officer in Reno so he doesn’t think I’m going to cause trouble.
Driving on the mountain road in the daytime is both amazing and terrifying at the same time. I feel like I’m on the edge of the world and one small step and I’ll fall off the edge. The radio stays on a country rock station the whole time, April hums along with some of the lyrics.
Once we get off the mountains April directs a shiny suburb just outside the
Reno city limits. Something about the entire city just seems dusty and quiet. The
house we pull up to is in a new subdivision and has pretty impressive
four car garage and pool out back.
“Your up.”, she says.
“What?” I look at the front door.
“Are you the only ex-con alive who can’t pick a lock ? Ty changed them yesterday. She is so vindictive”
“Are you serious ?”, I can’t believe what I’m about to say next, “Can’t you like go up the pipes or something ?”
“What ? And risk ending up in the sewer or something. Please, besides . . . I need to carry some stuff.”
“Fine, you got a credit card, princess.”
I then stop and realize that she isn’t even carrying a purse, and there isn’t much room in her outfit for a wallet.
I end up scratching up my mom’s credit card to get the door to open. April quickly types in the access code. It takes her three tries before it shuts off.
+1+
Usually when I’m in a girls parent’s house I’m content with
just standing in the hall or outside the apartment complex. This time is different.
I’m curious. I follow her upstairs, the entire house is open with not a lot of decoration or clutter. There are pictures along the stairs of the Cottingley girls at different stages of their lives. A young April is only in one.
Her room is up a second flight of stairs, I gather that is might have been an attic. It’s a lot bigger than mine at home and there are windows on all sides. The walls are covered with Celtic symbols and ironwork. I recognized them from seeing them around the campsite.
Stacked on her desk , bed and floor are old books written in
a language I don’t recognize as human. Her closet is half full of black
clothes and more scary looking shoes.
She grabs a book bag off the door and starts piling the
books in. I remember what Ty said about trying to find out April’s real
name, maybe it was in here somewhere.
I nonchalantly go over to the nightstand which is filled with more what I’m going to call "weird faerie books". There is a tablet sitting on her bed and it turns on when I touch it.
It takes me a while to figure out how to work it, but I see that she has a lot of saved tabs about strange citings in Ireland and old pictures of Faeries . Her e-mail has a lot of flirty stuff from guys most of which start off different
Hey Talia
Yo, Holly I had fun last night
This might sound crazy Ariel but
“What are you doing ?”, she grabs the tablet and tosses it onto a chair across the room.
“Just checking my e-mail”, I say. She knows I’m lying, “You sure go a lot of friends . . . from school “
“School ? Waste of time I dropped out.”
“So what do you do, princess?”
“This”, she looks around her room at all the books and goes over to where a large map of Ireland takes up the wall, “I try to find my family. So I can go home. To my mother, my real mother. ”
It’s the most earnest thing I’ve heard her say.
"And be queen", she finishes.
There are a few crude sketches of ethereal looking women spread through her room. Each one is wearing a big crown and has a pair of black wings. Thanks to cards and posters I never forgot what my dad looked like, but she has no idea what her mother even looks like.
“Isn’t Ty your family ?”, I ask.
“Despite how the story goes the Unseelie and Seelie Queens being sisters is really more of a formality. Distant cousins maybe. Besides I don’t belong with these happy go lucky pretty ballet princess who have seen way to many Disney movies.”
She tosses some more books in her bag and roots around in vases and in drawers.
“Damn, I need some money.”, she says to herself
She sits on the bed across from me and hugs one of the black ruffle pillows to her lap.
“What about you, big guy. I bet you can’t wait to go back to LA”, she plays with the ruffles on the pillow.
“Yeah, I can get fitted for my dealer’s vest and start working on that pension.”
She kicks her foot out and touches my knee with her spiky heel.
“Come on. What do you want to do ? I’ve seen your worst fears Cillian and dealing blackjack isn't it.”
I shrug.
“What are you good at ?”, she tries, "What can you do ?"
“Fighting”, is all I say
She seems surprised by that. She’s seen my nightmares she knows I killed
someone, but I still like to fight. I like winning. I like not being punished for being aggressive.
“Sometimes”, I start and feel embarrassed, “I don’t know. I think about training in MMA”,
I can’t really look at her when I say it because it’s just a
stupid idea. I hadn’t even told my mom or anyone about it. I don't know. . . the money, the glory the girls it seemed kind of cool.
“Yeah, I can see that”, she looks down at her nails, “You’ve got the face for it.”
I'm secretly glad she doesn't say something sarcastic. I take the pillow from her and lean over to kiss her, it's a peck compared to the first time I'd kissed her, but there is a slight tint to her skin this time.
Maybe if I hadn’t been locked away for 2 years I would’ve met more girls as crazy as April. I wouldn’t of thought she was special and I wouldn’t have kissed her. Not the you’re hot let’s fuck kind of kiss, but a I’ve talked to you and I want to get to know you kind of kiss.
She falls back on her pillows, taking me with her. A cloud of sparkly dust filters through the air. I stop kissing her and begin coughing.
“What the hell is that ?”
“Faerie dust”, she coughs too.
“It it dangerous ?”
“I’m kidding. It’s glitter”, she pushes me off her.
She stands and walk towards the window like she’s thinking. She has a perfect silhouette and once again I can’t stop looking at her back.
“Wanna have some fun, big guy ?”
+++
Downtown Reno looks like a playground for the inebriated enough to forget that they aren’t in Vegas. We zoom down the strip, April is in the driver’s seat and I have no idea where we are going.
She has the radio turned up and dances in her seat at red lights, that is when she decides to stop at red lights.
We finally pull up to a bar with a million neon signs and motorcycles parked in the lot. She parks the truck in the back and steps out.
Cautiously I follow her.
“Wait”, she puts a hand to my chest
She unbuttons my shirt and takes off my undershirt, stuffing it inside her bag. I slip back on my button-up but she stops me from buttoning it.
“Just walk behind me, stay quiet and look tough”, she orders
“What are we doing ?”
She walks towards the bar and after a few seconds I follow.
When I catch up she is talking to the bouncer out front and they seem pretty
friendly. Too friendly
She beckons me to come closer and when I do she pulls me inside, the bouncer continues eye balling me.
“April—“
I stop when he make it inside. It’s a huge gimmicky place with a crowded full bar, where 4 or 6 Bartenders are in tight black shirts. There is s second floor stuffed with all types of locals getting drunk and waiving money around.
None of this is what makes me stop.
No
It’s the screaming and cheering in the back coming from the octagonal shaped metal cage in the back. From the elevated entrance I can see a guy being dragged out by black shirts.
There is also a tacky neon sign blinking behind the cage
Amateur Night !
Grand Prize
1000$
“Fuck no”, I say right to April’s face and turn
She stops me, her inhuman strength clenching on my arm.
“You know you want to”, she says, "One of my exes works here. . . we used to bet all the time."
"Is this why you've been all nice with me ?"
"No. I didn't get the idea until Ty cut me off."
"April, I can't."
"You can", she starts taking the bandages of my knuckles, "Besides I already bet on you.”
“You don’t have any money”, I remind her
She lets me go and pulls my empty wallet out of her bra.
I’ve never had to yell at a girl I barley knew but I feel fucking violated. I worked my ass off at the campsite for that money and she had no right.
“You want it back”, she says pointing to the cage, “Go get it"
+2+
The gloves are one size fits all and that’s all I get in the way of protections.
The reigning champion “Bloody Bulldog” is taking on the amateurs tonight. His mouth is bloody and as I step up he spits out one of his teeth.
I’m almost sure it’s done for theatrics.
Almost.
He’s an older guy and is more cut then some of the lifers
at San Quentin. He pounds his fist and stares me down. The crowd cheers at my impending demise. I almost want to cut and run.
I close my eyes and pray I don’t die. Bloody Bulldog notices
this and gets the crowd jeering at me. I turn to see April standing close to
the outside. She has my shirt in her hand and the other on the outside of the
cage. She mouths something to me.
Her lip is quirked and I wonder if this is her way of getting back at me. I smacked her with a calendar now she was going to make sure I got a smackdown too.
I shudder as the cage shuts behind me.
Without warning the guys shoots towards me. I see him move his left arm but his right gets me in the face. I hold my stance as he ducks down and slams his other fist into my cheek. Warm blood runs down my nose.
Bulldog pre-empts my hits and it’s like he’s able to read my body just by the flex of my muscles. He gets me around the neck and brings me down to the floor.
I get one over on him and on top of him on the mat, I think I have the upper hand when he pins my arm back and his thick ankles lock around my neck.
I reach to get leverage but this guy is solid. I try to lift up so I can flip him off me, sweat is dripping into my eyes and I am getting humiliated.
He lets out an an adrenaline filled grunt and I am able to flip him off me. We both stand up and when I go for him, he falls just before I hit him.
The crowd cheers.
This time In my favor. Fuck maybe I can do this.
We are wrestling again and as he weakens I realize that his eyes are closed. I have him in a headlock and his arms are swatting but not at me.
He’s dreaming
He’s having a nightmare
I look to the crowd and April is no longer in the front.
I drop the guy and his eyes open just as the bell dings. The crowd goes fucking wild and I can start to feel my injuries.
I can’t even register what is happening as a guy in a track suit comes but and shakes my hand. A pretty bartender hands me a plate with 10 hundred dollar bills on it.
Out of the corner of my eye I see April has reappeared. She sticks her heel into the cage and climbs halfway up, reaching out towards me.
I’m running high on adrenaline and when I reach her she
leans over the top of the cage and kisses me. She taste like Vodka and blood. Well she taste like vodka I taste like blood. For the first time in a long time. . . I feel like a winner. That feeling doesn't last long.
Afterward people pat me on the back and offer me drinks, which I can’t
accept. I just make a beeline to the front door I need to get the hell out before they start asking for ID.
I’m halfway to the car when I hear the clacking of April’s shoes, I don’t know how she can run in those things.
I'm holding my knees gulping in the fresh air.
“Come on, big guy, the party is in the other direction.”
I press the money into her hands and continue walking to the car.
“Cillian”, she seems confused, “Come on ?”
“April, what was that.”
“That was us winning a thousand dollars. We make a good team, big guy.”
Did she really not get this ?
“You cheated, April. It’s like stealing. He was having an nightmare. One of your nightmares. I should have gotten my ass kicked and handed back to me.”
“You would have won not matter what, you were holding back. ”
“You do know I killed a man with these fucking fist right ?”
“Please”, she says nonchalantly and throws my shirt at me.
“Look, April or Talia or Holly or whatever the fuck your name is this isn’t how I operate. You can shut up and get in the car or fly on fucking faerie dust or whatever back home.”
Her mouth is wide opened and I don't know if she is offended or angry.
I get into the driver’s seat and slam the door. She stands there for once with nothing to say. She folds the money and tucks it inside her bra before getting into the car.
It’s pure silence as we pull out of the parking lot and towards Virginia St. I stop by a drive thru but April keeps up the silent treatment when I ask if she wants anything. That doesn’t stop her from taking a few sips of my Coke.
I pull into a parking space at the drive thru and count my half of the money.
500$
That's more than I'd made after 3 weeks at O'Conners'. Money had never been easy to come by in my family what little we had we held on to, afraid someone would take it.
"That. . . can't happen again", I said, "I'm on parole. I can't go back to prison, April. I just can't"
"Please, so where half the people in there.--"
"No", I reach over to take April's arm so she is looking into my eyes, "I can't go back."
Her hand relaxes on mine and she runs her other hand through her hair.
"You're afraid to go back ?", she says as if finally understanding, "But in your nightmares you aren't afraid of--"
"Maybe some things are buried so deep down even you can't get to them."
She shakes her head as if it's ridiculous but I think she never even considered the idea before. She props her feet on the dashboard and looks out the window peering into the darkness.
“You should come with me”, she finally says.
“What ?”
“When I go to Ireland. When I’m queen you can be my bodyguard. Run away from all of this.”
“Hmpf”, I laugh a little, “I don’t remember there being any men in your stories”
“I’ll make an exception for you, big guy”
“You really think you are going to be queen ?”
“ I know it”, she decides.
"You can't just be a normal girl because"She turns around to face me and smiles like I've said something naive.
"You really don't get it to do you ? Why we work so well together."
"Enlighten me."
"I will" she says in a flirty voice, "just not now. Let's just enjoy the summer, okay big guy."
"Whatever, princess", I mumble.
