Disclaimer: ibid. Hey, r/r were huge for this, so here’s the ending.
The fire and police squads responded to the blast quickly. Aguilera and most of her entourage stood outside looking up at the smoke pouring out of the penthouse suite, Sessie, Benji, Joel, Chris, Paul and Billy stared up at the scene among the 10,000 other pedestrians that became onlookers. There was a veritable zoo of folk milling about behind the police line including all of the stars that had been housed in the hotel for the VMAs.
Johnny Depp unfortunately didn’t make it out of the building.
Benji could see Christina from where he stood sullenly quiet, knowing that she didn’t know he was there. His breaths were long and hot, streaming from his mouth as his tongue distractedly traveled along his lips, played with his oral jewelry.
Billy’s eyes sparkled as he watched the flame being extinguished far above. It had been his ultimate dream realized, exploding in a shower of glass and shrapnel, orange flame leaping for the sky, roaring so intensely he could feel it on the ground and hear it above the traffic and above the sirens. Now that it was being extinguished it felt like a part of him was dying along with it. “Don’t worry Bill,” Paul said, putting an arm around his thin shoulders when he sensed his friend’s torment. “There’ll be other amazingly destructive pyromaniacal adventures.”
A tear slipped down Billy’s pale cheek as he shook his head. “There won’t be. No.” He looked down, away from the smoke that indicated the flames being squelched within the penthouse. “It was so beautiful… but this is just too painful.” Billy couldn’t take the fact that someone else was determining when his creation reached the end of its life. “I can’t do this again.”
“Hangin’ up the gun powder?” Paul asked.
“For good.”
Paul gave Billy’s chest a firm pat. “Maybe it’s for the best.”
Benji made his way over to Christina, weaving through other on-lookers and taking a moment just to admire her in her gauzy night clothes as she struggled to keep warm in the freezing night air. “Hey Christina,” he said softly when he was close enough for her to hear.
She turned around and regarded him without surprise. “Oh, hey Benj.” She pointed up. “Look, someone blew up my place.”
Benji jammed his hands in his pockets and looked down at her cleavage. “Uh huh. Yeah. That was me.”
Aguilera’s eyes grew large and she stepped closer to Benji, close enough so he could feel her body heat. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her slightly closer. “That was you?” She asked. Benji nodded as he turned his back against the wind and stepped in front of Christina to block it for her.
“I thought you were… with someone else,” Benji explained.
She smiled, leaning into his chest so he could smell her shampoo and feel her hardened nipples against his skin. “You did all this for me?” Benji wrapped his arms around her and lowered his face to hers, feeling the familiar smooth, soft skin of her cheek against his.
“Yeah, I did,” he whispered. Her lips found his earlobe and she nibbled it, making his knees as weak as the first time he had seen her in person. When he kissed her it was fiery and passionate, wet and delirious, completely consuming as his hands found their way inside her thin cover-up, sliding down her body, pulling her closer to him as her hands found his fly and discretely slipped into his pants.
“Oh great,” Joel said to Sessie as he grimaced, watching the couple grope in public. “Don’t tell me they’re making up.”
Sessie put an arm around Joel’s waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Maybe they are.”
“That would make him happy, right?” Chris asked from the other side of Sessie. That turned out to be a stacked question, as with all the happiness Aguilera could provide Benji she also brought along as much or more misery.
“Oh hell no,” Joel started, about to walk over there to pull the two of them apart and smack that bitch in the face. Sessie and Paul held him firmly in place, however.
“It’s not your decision,” Sessie said.
“Let him learn the hard way,” Paul added.
“Nah, see, since her place is wrecked,” Joel explained, “now they’re gonna be having some loud, sloppy make-up sex in my room, goddammit!”
Billy leaned in between Sessie and Joel. “Hey, can I watch, cuz I’m sure not getting any out here.”
Sessie grinned at up him and lightly pat Billy’s cheek. “The night’s young.”
Joel nudged Billy. “Hey,” he motioned at the two police officers that had witnessed Billy’s fireworks show earlier in the evening by thrusting out his chin. “Don’t we know them?”
Benji broke off the kiss and looked down at Christina shining there in the firelight. She had him firmly and expertly in hand now and it felt so good to be with her. “Kiki, baby,” he began, breathing the words more than speaking them.
“Yeah, Benj?” She got on her toes to kiss him again.
“You make me crazy.”
“I know, me too.”
“And you feel so good,” he mumbled against her hot mouth, reveling in her touch. “So that’s why this’ll be so hard.”
She pulled her mouth from his and looked into his eyes. “What’ll be hard?”
“Look, there can only be one crazy person in every relationship, but we’re both trying so hard to fight our way to happy endings to compensate for shitty beginnings.”
She blinked up at him. “Right,” she said, not actually comprehending a word he was saying, just watching his lips move as he spoke.
“So you need a stable dude to lean on and I need a chick who won’t wig out as fast as I do.” He removed her hand from the front of his pants, deciding to make this short and sweet, otherwise he might change his mind. “So I guess this is gonna have to be it. I Gotta go, Christina. Take care of yourself, girl.” He zipped up his pants, took his jacket from around her shoulders and turned to walk away, a grin spreading on his face as he did so, running his fingers over his lips, wiping away the last traces of Aguilera. “We’re so done,” Benji said to Joel, giving his brother a smack on the shoulder as he returned to his support group of friends, knowing that no matter how many ladies he broke up with, he had people coast to coast that would catch him on the way down and stick with him until he was right again.
“Good timing,” Billy told Benji. “It’s about time for us to get the fuck up outta here.” The two cops from earlier in the evening were pointing in their direction as they talked to the fire chief.
“We’re about to get busted like whoa,” Joel said to everyone.
“Hey, you kids!” The fire chief yelled to them as four policemen started after them, trying to get through the mass of people.
“Oh, shit, dude,” Billy said, backing off with everyone else. Christina looked over at Benji with mascara drenched eyes, tears shimmering on her cheeks, and pointed him out to a police officer that was talking to her.
“She totally dimed us out, dude!” Joel said.
Benji chuckled. “I didn’t expect less,” Benji replied. He gave Christina a wink and a gun before he started running, she returning a knowing half-smile before turning away to look up at her demolished hotel room.
Benji joined his friends in flight from their pursuers, everyone instinctively splitting up in several directions in order to up their chances of evasion. As he found himself running alone down an alleyway, he stopped at an open dumpster and pulled out his overly full wallet, pulling out a picture of Christina along with her number. He ripped both articles into the smallest pieces he could muster and dropped them into the deep darkness of the trash receptacle below. “See you, Christina,” he said as he closed the lid and sprinted off to eventually rejoin his friends in the cold January night.
Wow, mad thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it. Sorry the ending’s rather abrupt, but this is my last semester in school and I wanted to finish this before classes got hardcore on me. Hope you enjoyed it! Read my other stuff, you’ll love it.