Land of Make Believe {tre cool} chapter 12

"Do you wanna stay at my house?”
The offer was rather abrupt, popping up out of nowhere. Tre and I stood in front of the studio, watching the sun set. It was really beautiful, really romantic. Billie had just left, and Mike was giving the rehearsal room the once over to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything important.
“What?” I asked, looking at Tre. He was leaning against a large concrete pole, his eyes half closed, kind of watching the sunset. I glanced at the gauze, which, surprisingly, wasn’t soaked with blood. His injury seemed to be getting better.
“You could stay at my house,” he said. “I mean, you could help me make sure I don’t do any of the things I’m not supposed to. Plus, if I pass out from blood loss or something, you’d be there to make sure I was okay or to get me to a hospital.”
“I don’t know,” I said, a little unsure of the whole idea. I mean, it was only the previous day that I had met the man. But still, I had spent the night at his house and practically lost my boyfriend over him. He seemed to be a pretty big factor in my life.
“Come on,” he pleaded. “Just for a week or so. Until Claudia gets back.” He made a sad face at me. My heart nearly popped out of my chest at the cute face.
“Okay, I guess so.” I smiled. “But just for a week. Then I’m going back home.”
Tre smiled. “Okay,” he nodded. “Mike will drive you to your apartment and you can get your stuff, then we’ll head to my house.” He had obviously been planning this in his head for a while.
“Sounds like a plan,” I laughed as Mike stepped out of the building.
“What’s a plan?” Mike asked.
“Vicky’s gonna stay at my house for a while, so we’re gonna stop at her house and get her stuff, then we’re going to my house,” Tre said.
“Um, okay,” Mike nodded, then headed toward his car. Tre and I followed close behind. I climbed into the backseat and Tre sat next to me. “You know, one of you could sit in the front,” Mike suggested.
“I’m fine,” Tre said. He looked at me. It was obvious that now that I was single, I was Tre’s next victim, er, target. But I had no problem with that. Tre had been my celebrity crush for years, and finally winning him would be amazing.
We sat in silence the entire way to my apartment, interrupted occasionally by me saying, “Turn here” or “Go left up at that light.” That was when I felt his hand slowly brush up against mine. I looked down and there was Tre’s hand, so close to mine that I could hardly keep myself from grabbing it and intertwining fingers. I looked up at him and he just smiled, not saying anything. I felt like a giddy schoolgirl. That was the only way to describe my emotions.
“Mind if we come up to visit?” Mike asked as he pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.
“It’s a mess, but sure, whatever,” I said. The two climbed out of the car behind me, following me through the lobby, into the elevator, to the fifth floor and down the hall. I unlocked my door, pressing a finger to my lips to hush them, then led the two inside.
“Vicky? Is that you?” Romy called from her room.
“Yeah,” I responded. “I’m not going to be here long. I’m just gonna pack up some stuff and then I’m headed out on a vacation.” Tre looked at me and mouthed the word “vacation”, but I just shrugged.
“Where are you going?” she asked, sounding kind of panicky. Her voice grew louder and I could tell she was coming to see me in the living room. I smiled as she turned the corner. Almost as if it was planned, she wore nothing but her old Chinese bathrobe, and no makeup. Her hair was a mess, and she almost dropped her glass of whatever it was she was drinking on the floor. “OH…MY…GOD…” she panted, blinking furiously at Mike. She was a Green Day fan as well (how could I live with someone who doesn’t like Green Day?), but was particularly a fan of Mike. She had a big picture of his face plastered on her bedroom door (kind of like I did with Tre, only mine was about half the size of her picture). “You…” she whispered, pointing at Mike.
“Was coming in a bad idea?” Mike whispered to me.
“Um,” I started my sentence, but was interrupted by Romy again.
“Mike…you’re…Mike Dirnt,” she whispered. Mike just nodded. “Oh my God.” She paused for a second. “Oh my God, I look like hell.” She pressed a hand to her face and gasped. “You probably think I’m the ugliest girl you’ve ever met,” she sighed, looking like she was about to cry.
“Romy, calm down,” I said, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not ugly. Don’t even say that.”
“But…but…he’s Mike. He probably sees girls millions of times more pretty than me. Meeting him just makes me feel like a loser for having a crush on him for all these years,” she said. She was talking about him like he wasn’t standing right in front of her. I just looked at him kind of apologetically.
“Let me guess,” Romy whined. “You came here so you can go on some sort of romantic vacation with Mike or something. You’re gonna get married. That would just be the icing on the fucking cake.”
“Romy,” I sighed. “In case you didn’t notice, Tre’s here too. He hurt himself and I’m going to stay with him until Claudia comes back into town.”
“Tre?” she whispered as she looked up at him. “I didn’t recognize him with the bandage. How did you meet the guys? What all went on?”
“Long story,” I sighed. That was my explanation for everything, especially when I didn’t particularly want to explain. “Tre can fill you in while I go pack.” I smirked at him as I retreated to my bedroom.
I dug through my closet for my suitcase and duffle bag. I went around stuffing things into them. Toothbrushes, hair supplies, eyeliner, concealer, a random assortment of T-shirts and jeans, etc. Tre came in a few minutes later. “So this is your room,” he murmured as he threw himself onto my bed.
“Do you knock?” I asked. He just shrugged, then continued lounging on my bed.
I started packing my underwear, and almost as soon as I had opened the underwear drawer, Tre was hovering over my shoulder. “You’re bringing these, right?” he asked, lifting up a black thong with pink lace decorating the front.
“Of course,” I laughed. “Along with the matching top and garter belt.” I produced the two items from the drawer, and watched as Tre’s eyes bulged from his head.
“Are you serious?” Tre asked hopefully.
“Eh, why not?” I mumbled, stuffing them into my suitcase. A fiendish grin spread across Tre’s face. “What makes you think you’ll ever see them outside of that suitcase?” I asked, and the smile disappeared. I just laughed.
“Shit,” Tre suddenly whispered. “I left Mike alone with that Romy chick.”
“You’d better go out there and make sure he’s still alive,” I laughed as Tre rushed out of the room. I soon finished up packing and toted my bags into the living room, where Romy appeared to be telling Mike her life story as Tre went through my kitchen. “NO DRINKING!” I called to Tre.
“Damn it!” came his reply. I couldn’t help but laugh.