Possessions
Chapter 1
By: Makena
You are formally invited to Aaron Escolopio and Raemie Bergman's Wedding
Friday, June 20th
At the United Methodist Church in Waldorf
R.S.V.P. to the -- residence as soon as possible
We look forward to seeing you there!
~*~*~*~
Benji put the invitation down and looked about the bus. Nobody said anything - they were all doing their own things, which involved playing PlayStation, drawing or writing.
"Is this right?" he asked, slightly in disbelief. Joel looked up at his brother from across the table, pausing in his writing.
"What?" he asked. Benji held the invitation up for Joel to see. Joel glanced at it and shrugged. "I guess," he replied. "I didn't really read it."
"Dude," Benji said, reading it again. "It's an invitation to Aaron's wedding."
"I know." Benji frowned slightly and glanced over at Billy, who was sitting in the overstuffed chair near the door, sketching random drawings in his sketch book. He sighed and looked over at Paul, who was playing football on the bus' PlayStation.
"Is this right?" he questioned again to anyone willing to answer. Billy glanced up from his note book at the invitation.
"Yeah," he replied. Benji glanced at his invitation again.
"But... why?"
Billy laughed. "It's not that big of a deal, dude," he said, his face expressing amusement. "It's a wedding."
"I know," Benji said with a slight sigh. "But... it's Aaron's wedding. Remember how well we get along?"
"Er, yeah," Paul said, pausing his game and glancing quickly at Billy. "Umm... he said he's trying to put that behind him or something. Thinks you can be cool now."
Benji sighed. He knew Paul was trying his best to lie to him, but he saw right though him. The truth, he realized, was that Aaron felt bad for his loss and wanted to some how make things okay between them. He got up from the small table, leaving the invitation behind. The four - Chris, their new drummer, was now there - looked between each other, Chris more confused than anyone.
While Chris had been informed of the accident that had happened over a year ago and that the twins and Aaron hadn't been on the best of terms for a while, he still remained confused about the recent situation but found it better not to ask.
Benji walked back towards his bunk and sat down, rubbing his eyes. He sat on his bunk for a minute in silence before glancing at his pillow. He sighed and lifted the soft white pillow and grabbed a picture that had been lying face down. He looked it over and gently ran his calloused fingers over the figure of a six-year-old boy that lay sleeping next to a picture of himself on a blue couch. He smiled slightly at the picture.
"Hi, Gavin," he said softly. He looked the picture over again and sighed before softly kissing it and placing it gently placing it back under his pillow. He laid down, lost in thought but not wishing for a drink. He was finished with alcohol.
Instead, he thought about her. Again.
'Fuck,' he muttered to himself. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Get out of my head.'
He sighed and rolled out of bed once he realized that he wasn't going to be able to forget about her and he dashed out towards the main area where everyone had resumed their normal activities, minus the fact that Paul was now beating Chris over the head with his own drum sticks.
"Joel," Benji said desperately, walking towards the table Joel was still sitting at. "Joel - I need something to do." Joel looked up at his brother with a questioning expression, pausing again in his writing.
"Uh... why?"
"I need something to do," Benji continued, still desperate. "Something to take my mind off... stuff..."
Joel nodded, finally seeming to figure things out. He sat up a little and began to tear some sheets of paper from his note book and handed Benji a pen.
"Write a new song," he instructed. "We need new songs for our album." Benji nodded and sat down to begin his song. It, of course, wouldn't get his mind off her.
'I wonder what she's doing now?' he thought as he began to write some notes down on his lined paper.
---
She woke up but didn't open her eyes fully, listening for whatever had made her wake up. A few seconds later, a ring came from the phone on her desk and she groaned, her head pounding at the sudden noise. She waited for the phone to ring again before she slowly turned over. Suddenly, she seemed to run out of bed space and she fell to the hard wood floor.
"Whoops..." she muttered, quickly propping herself up and opening her eyes. She glanced at the phone as it rang again and she finally stood up, reaching for the white receiver.
"What?" she muttered into the phone, plopping herself down on her computer chair that sat behind the desk.
"Hey, nice to talk to you too, Makena," a familiar voice said from the other end.
"Sorry, Shannon," she mumbled. "It's a little early."
"Makena... it's almost noon."
"Yeah," she admitted. "Too early." Shannon laughed.
"So what's up? How's your book coming?"
Makena yawned and turned her lap top on as she opened the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a half empty bottle of vodka.
"Okay," she replied. "I gotta take a break from it for a while, though. I'm going back to Waldorf."
"Hey, awesome!" She paused. "Wait. What the hell for?"
"Aaron's getting fuckin' married," Makena replied, leaning back in her chair as she yanked the top off her vodka bottle. "I'm a bride's maid, so I sort of have to go."
"Who's he getting married to?" Shannon asked.
"This girl... Raemie or something. Yeah... that's her. I don't really know her, but it's kind of like that whole "My Best Friend's Wedding" thing - no close friends or something."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shannon laughed.
"Eh... I do," Makena said, taking a swig of her vodka.
"Anyway, when are you coming down?" Shannon questioned. Makena squinted and looked at the calendar that was hanging on the wall.
"Uh... tomorrow, actually," she said with a slight laugh. "Wow... time flies when you're drunk." Shannon laughed.
"I don't get it," she said suddenly, but still laughed.
"Never mind," Makena said, closing her eyes a little. "Anyway, I'm gonna be there for a while - the wedding isn't for two weeks - so I'll stop over at your place before I go to my hotel." "Awesome," Shannon said. "What hotel?"
"The Holiday Inn by that Methodist church."
"Wait... what time does your flight get in?"
"Umm... around three, I think."
"Oh. I work until five - you can come by, though."
"Yeah. Okay." Makena paused and glanced at her lap top, noticing that it had froze. "Shit. My fucking computer froze."
"Damn technology," Shannon laughed.
"Tell me about it," Makena said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I gotta go if I'm ever gonna have a chance to write between computer crashings."
"Alright," Shannon said. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye." Makena hung up and put the phone back in it's cradle on her desk before she restarted the computer. She spun around in her chair while taking another swig of her drink, looking around her apartment.
She lived in a small, one room apartment (minus the bathroom) that had a balcony that was accessible by a large sliding door that covered most of the wall. Outside sat a collection of green plants surrounding two lawn chairs and a small, round coffee table.
The inside was furnished with a small kitchen that sat next to the door, a book shelf, a liquor cabinet, a desk, a large bed and some other plants. Makena took another swig before capping her bottle again and putting it back in the bottom drawer and opening up a word processing program. She sighed as she looked at what she had written.
'Fucking memories,' she thought to herself before placing her fingers on the keys, beginning to type more into her story. 'After I swore I'd never think about that again...'
She paused in her writing, glancing at a framed photo that sat next to the phone. She picked it up and looked at it, taking in every detail about the two figures displayed. Finally, she put it back down on her desk and reached for her vodka bottle again.
"Well fuck," she muttered, unscrewing the bottle and taking a swig.