Live your
Life
Chapter
4: N.Y. Wild Thing
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Notes: From Travis’s point of view.
They were finally in Miami, after hours and days on the road. The ship was leaving that same evening, and they were all waiting.
It had been a calm morning, without too much arguing or complaining. Travis was relieved to be out of the car, because he was really fed up with Cecilia and Fred.
“I can’t wait to be on that boat,” Connie said excitedly.
“I can,” Nish whined. “I don’t know why I agreed to tag along on this trip.”
“Because everyone else is going, maybe?” Sarah suggested. “Because you’re too coward to be on your own in Los Angeles?”
“I get sea-sick,” Nish said. “Remember when we went on that boat?”
“What boat?” Travis asked.
“Does it matter? Any boat, I don’t care which one. I bet I threw up, no matter what stupid boat it was.”
Travis sighed. “It has to be really windy if a ship as huge as this one starts to rock. They said that it wouldn’t be windy out on the sea.”
“It’s ALWAYS windy out on the sea!” Nish shouted. “I hate this.”
Travis decided to find someone else to talk to, besides from Nish and his complaining. Charlie was over by the cafeteria, buying lots of coffee.
“Thirsty?” Travis asked.
“It’s not all for me,” Charlie explained. “I bought this one for Portman. The other five are for me.”
Travis was about to say something more, when Cecilia interrupted them. She’d been interrupting people for the last four years.
“Guess what?” she yelled. “Guess who I saw? This is unbelievable!”
Travis just stared at her. Cecilia stood still for a second and just breathed heavily. Then she ran off with the speed of light.
“What was that about?” Charlie muttered. “Not like I care. Don’t answer my question, please.”
“I couldn’t, even if I wanted to,” Travis said. “I’ll go and see where the others are.”
He walked over to the rest of the team. They were all still gathered around the tables on the third floor, looking down through the huge windows. Sarah and Connie were leaning towards the window, pointing at something down on the floor below them.
“What are you looking at?” Travis asked.
“Cecilia and some guy. She just leaped into his arms. We’re trying to decide which one’s most insane; she or the guy.”
Fred jumped up from the table. “Who’s that guy she’s talking to?”
“Dunno, but he’s gorgeous! Connie, look!” Sarah smiled.
“You better watch out, Fred, I think I see some sparks between them,” Connie said with a huge grin on her face.
“You can, where? I’m going out there,” Fred whined and put his head against the window.
“I was kidding, you jealous bastard. Sit down and stop with that whole ‘hurt puppy’-look, okay?” Connie demanded and pushed him down on the chair again.
“She’s MY girlfriend! She belongs to ME!” Fred explained with a voice filled with panic.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Hey, Con, do you wanna hang that ‘I’m-a-pig’ sign ‘round his neck or should I?”
Fred gave her an icy stare and got up from the chair again. “I’m going to find out who the guy is. Man, I hate this.”
“The situation, or the girl?” Scott asked from the other side of the table.
Fred didn’t answer; instead he rushed off towards the stairwell and tumbled downstairs. Travis sighed loudly when he heard a crashing sound from below. They hadn’t even got on the boat yet, and everyone was already acting like lunatics.
But they usually did.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Notes: From Fred’s point of view.
Fred rushed over towards the newsstand next to the ticket-booth. He tried to avoid limping all the way there, but crashing into that pole and falling into the chairs next to the coffee-shop hadn’t been too good.
He saw Cecilia by the newsstand with her arms around some guy’s neck. That wasn’t like her. She usually didn’t look at other guys, especially not when she knew that he was around.
Fred ran up to her and grabbed her arm. “Cecilia, what are you doing?”
Cecilia turned around and gave him a worried look. “Hm, Fred, this is Mikey... Michael... Mike... Mikey...” she stuttered.
Fred gave the guy a warningly gaze. “I’m gonna call you ‘Cecilia’s friend’, is that okay?” he said sarcastically.
“Fine with me, can I call you rich, spoiled brat?” the guy answered with a tired look on his face.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that my brothers were here. Is this a surprise party, Cecilia?” Fred muttered. Fine, that hadn’t been the greatest comeback in the world.
“Could you just call him Mike?” Cecilia mumbled between grinned teeth.
“Dunno, sounds complicated, I already know a Mike. How ‘bout Gene?” Fred continued sourly. He was still mad at her for hugging that guy. He knew that this was just the beginning of another huge fight between them.
“If you keep making jokes like that, I have to start call you X, as in mine,” Cecilia hissed at him.
Fred growled a little under his breath, but decided to not say anything out loud.
“So, who are you?” Fred asked the guy next to Cecilia.
“I’m Mikey, Cecilia’s friend. I thought that was pretty clear.”
“Who? I don’t know anyone named Mike... ey,” Fred said slowly. Cecilia gave him a pointedly look.
So, it was THAT Mikey. The Mikey Cecilia had been babbling about ever since they first met. The New York-Mikey. Fred moaned quietly. Cecilia would obviously not give a damn about him if Mikey were around, especially not now when they were fighting all the time.
“Fred, do me a favor,” Cecilia said. “Go buy me some candy, ‘key? I want to talk to Mikey, without having you around like a needy little puppy.”
“Could everyone please stop referring to me as a puppy?” Fred snapped. “And don’t order me around. Let’s go.”
Fred grabbed her arm and gave Mikey a nod of recognition. “Nice to meet you, Mikey. Please don’t break my girlfriend anymore. See ya.”
“Let me go,” Cecilia demanded. “Fred, you’re hurting me!”
Fred let go of her arm. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Mikey took a step closer to him. “Leave her alone.”
“Sorry, but I didn’t mean to hurt her. Maybe you should mind your own business. Cecilia, tell him I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Cecilia sighed and rolled her eyes. “He’s right, Mikey. He wouldn’t hurt me. It was an accident, right?”
Fred nodded. “Of course it was. Let’s go now, we’re late.”
“The boat leaves in three hours. Fred, please, I just want to talk to him. I shouldn’t need your permission for that,” Cecilia said.
“Of course you don’t need my permission,” Fred sighed. “Fine, go talk. Leave me here all alone.”
Cecilia frowned and moaned loudly. “Fine, you can stay. Just behave, okay? No more stupid jokes. And try to be nice. You too, Mikey.”
Fred nodded again and pulled Cecilia closer. If she wanted to talk, fine. But if she thought that she was going to get any more hugs from Mikey, she was so wrong. He put his arms around her waist in a protective manner.
Mikey gave him a puzzled look. “Anyway, now when you’re done with... whatever it was you were doing...”
“What are you doing here?” Cecilia asked him. “I thought you were in New York.”
“I just live there,” Mikey explained. “I do leave the city sometimes.”
Cecilia shoved Fred in the stomach. “Fred, you’re hurting me again. Stop squeezing me, I can’t breath,” she whispered.
Fred let go of her. “I’ll get that candy you asked for.”
“Okay. Don’t hurry back,” she answered without looking at him.
Fred went over to the newsstand again and hid behind the pole next to it. It wasn’t nice to eavesdrop, but all was fair in love and war, right?
He heard every word they spoke.
“I can’t believe you’re back, haven’t seen you since... Well, you know. How’s it going? Are you really dating that jerk?” Mikey said.
“I’m fine, and yes, that jerk belongs to me,” Cecilia replied. Fred hoped that she was joking.
“A real construction-work, you know. Hope you know what you got yourself in to. He kinda looks like a bad-looking version of me,” Mikey continued.
Fred made a disgusted face and banged his head against the pole.
“You wish,” Cecilia laughed.
“Actually, I think it’s supposed to be what ‘you wish’,” Mikey said.
Fred couldn’t believe it, that guy was flirting with Cecilia.
“So, you’re here alone?”
“Nope, I got Chase with me.”
“Great!” Cecilia exclaimed. “I want to meet him, where is he?”
Fred slide down on the floor and watched as Cecilia ran towards another guy. This was pure torture. Fred missed out on the next few conversations between them, he was busy trying to choke himself with one of his shoelaces.
“Funny, the last time I saw you, you were this innocent little catholic school-girl with pony-tails. You remember?” Mikey asked. Fred looked up. Ponytails? His girlfriend? Cecilia?
“Actually, no. I think you got me confused with someone that’s my complete opposite. Better luck next time,” she told him. That made more sense.
“At least you were sweet and innocent, that hasn’t change, has it?” that other guy Chase asked.
“You forget about that guy she’s with. She’s probably not even a virgin anymore. That rich, white, spoiled brat boyfriend-of-hers,” Mikey went on.
Fred rolled his eyes. Rich and spoiled? Him?
“You’re white too,” Cecilia said.
“Yeah, and I’m not a brat, so maybe you should hook up with me? I mean, I can treat you right and stuff,” Mikey replied.
“It’s the ‘and stuff’-part I’m afraid of,” Cecilia joked.
“So, it’s true, you’re not a virgin anymore? About time, by the way, I mean, you don’t wanna end up like…” Mikey began, but Cecilia interrupted him.
“Your mother?”
“And that evil tongue of yours is still there! God, I missed you,” Mikey laughed.
“I better find Fred, he might be killing himself somewhere. Are you going on the ship too?”
“Yes, because we do have that sort of money,” Mikey smiled. “We’re living in the Upper West area now, instead of Hell’s Kitchen. We even have a view over Central Park.”
“Okay, fine, I was just asking,” Cecilia defended herself. “You can tag along if you want. Fred has a couple of tickets to spare. His Dad’s company pays for our trip.”
“I thought you never accepted any money from anyone,” Mikey said. “Have you changed completely?”
“No, just a little. Fred’s my boyfriend. But if you don’t want to go on a cruise, fine. Stay here and mope.”
Fred got up from the floor and walked back to them. He’d decided to drag Cecilia away from there before they had the chance to accept her offer.
“Brian, c’mon,” Cecilia enticed. “A big ship, lot’s of girls. No drive-by shooting.”
“Sounds like heaven. But we actually have other plans...”
Cecilia turned around and grabbed Fred’s arm. “It’d be okay, right Fred?”
“I guess.”
“This is Brian, by the way. We call him Chase. He’s a nice guy. Just like you can be sometimes.”
“Let’s go now, Cecilia,” Fred begged. “You can come too.”
“And Mikey?” Cecilia asked.
“Hey, I never said I was going!” Mikey objected. “I don’t need any charity from anyone.”
“I would accept your offer, but we have to get going. We’re on our way back to New York.”
“Well, it was nice to meet you,” Cecilia said and tried to shake Fred’s arm off her shoulder. “Asking for permission to hug an old friend of mine?”
“Fine,” Fred agreed.
He watched as Cecilia said goodbye to the guys, and then she shoved him in the side. “Let’s go, you jealous bastard. Bye guys!”
Cecilia began walking back towards the stairs and Fred followed her. He heard Mikey and Chase talk all the way from the other side of the room.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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