FicWad

The morning sun shone in through Bree’s window and forced her to open her eyes. She pondered for a moment what it would be like to get a good night’s sleep; she could not quite remember the last time she had more than five hours. She rolled over in her single bed to look to the floor, where her best friend lay, sprawled in an awkward position, passed out. Bree did not envy Carrie, that was for sure. Today she would have a killer headache, and last night had punished her enough; she had spent several hours with her head in the toilet bowl, emptying the contents of her stomach. She shook her head in mild amusement and rolled out of bed to get breakfast: she had to be at work in an hour.

Five minutes later, Bree had made her way to the kitchen in a sluggish manner. She had just poured her cereal into a bowl when footsteps announced the arrival of another person who she assumed was Jackson as Bree had her head buried in the refrigerator. ‘Bro, we need milk. I don’t trust that carton over there, it was hidden at the back of the refrigerator.’ She closed the door to see, not Jackson, but Mikey, fully dressed and biting into an animal.
‘Not your brother,’ he said, gazing at her attire. ‘Nice PJs. Didn’t peg you as the frilly type.’
Bree glared at him and crossed her arms over her skimpy nightdress. ‘I like to look nice for bed.’ Mikey looked amused at this reply. Bree shook her head in frustration. ‘That doesn’t matter. Get out of my kitchen.’
‘Now, now.’ Jackson entered the kitchen carrying his messenger bag and eating cold pizza. ‘Be nice to the houseguest.’
Bree was too busy staring at the pizza. ‘Where did you get that?..’
Jackson shrugged in reply. ‘Found it on the floor.’ Bree scrunched up her face in disgust.

Jackson grinned at her as he walked over to the counter and picked up the old carton of milk Bree had found. He picked it up and took a swig. His face turned almost green with revulsion at the taste of the off milk. ‘Yeah, that’s uh, off.’ Mikey commented as Jackson spat the contents of his mouth into the sink.
‘Oh really?’ Jackson replied sarcastically, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Listen, we’ve gotta go now, we’re gonna be late.’ He turned to address Bree. ‘You’ll be okay to walk to work?’
Bree rolled her eyes in response. ‘I’m not five.’
‘Could’ve fooled me.’ Mikey grinned cheekily.
Bree glared at him. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said to Jackson, and watched as her brother and the boy who was quickly becoming the world’s greatest annoyance leave for work.

~

Bree worked at a rundown music store called the CD Warehouse on the Main Street in Belleville. There were rarely any customers and it was nothing special, but it meant she could spend her day alphabetizing her favourite music, which she could not complain about. Some people had to pick up dog poop for a living. She was lucky she even had a job. She was going through her usual business of sorting out the section dedicated to Britney Spears, when the bell chimed above the door. Bree looked up over the aisle to see Carrie, looking dishevelled and making her way over to Bree.

Bree grinned at the way Carrie held her head, obviously suffering from a headache. ‘Hello, Miss ‘I-Can’t-Keep-The-Contents-Of-My-Stomach-Inside-Me.’
‘Why hello, I puked on your bedroom floor this morning and left it for you to clean up. Who’s laughing now?’ Carrie retorted.
Bree made a disgusted noise. ‘Fuck you, you put me through enough pain and suffering last night.’
Carrie shrugged and pulled out a joint from her bag, commencing to light up. ‘What are friends for?’
Bree stared at her best friend exasperatedly. ‘Are you seriously going to smoke that right now, in here?’
Her best friend sucked in the joint and sighed. ‘Relax, Bree. You need some of this shit. You’re so uptight.’
‘If we get caught –’
‘You mean, if I get caught. Which I won’t. Because no one ever comes in here. Want some?’ Carrie offered the joint to Bree, who gave her a disapproving look.
‘No thanks, I’m fine.’
‘You suck,’ Carrie sighed in relaxation as she sat down next to the shelf of CDs and leaned her head back against it. ‘You need an open mind, my friend.’ Immediately after she finished her sentence, the bell on the door rang, as another person entered. Bree made a furious face at Carrie, who hastily stubbed out the joint and hid it under the shelf.

Bree rose from her sitting position to see Frank, My Chemical Romance’s rhythm guitarist, grinning at her. ‘Frank?’ She asked.
‘Bree, right?’ He smiled.
‘Yeah,’ she replied, completely thrown off by his appearance in the store. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I live just down near Washington Avenue. I need some new music, so I thought I’d come check this place out. Got anything good?’
‘Only if you like Britney Spears.’ Bree replied, grinning.
‘Oh totally,’ Frank replied, returning the grin. His grin turned to a look of amusement. ‘Do I smell pot?’
Bree looked utterly panicked at this question. ‘Uh, no.’
‘Oh.’ He replied. ‘Fine. If you don’t wanna share, that’s cool.’ He winked at her mischievously.
‘Do you want some?’ Carrie rose from her hiding place, pulling a joint out of her pocket in the process.
‘Hey, drunk girl.’ Frank nodded at her in acknowledgement. ‘Nah. I’ve got my own. But thanks.’

The three of them stood in an awkward silence suddenly brought on by the presence of Carrie. Frank looked like he wanted to say something. He finally spoke. ‘Hey, Bree, listen. My friend’s coming back to town today after being away for a while and he’s having a party. Do you wanna come? You can come too if you want.’ He turned to Carrie as he spoke. Bree was speechless at the fact that Frank actually wanted to hang out with her. Frank looked as though Bree’s silence was unnerving him. ‘I just thought it’d be cool to hang out. It’s okay if you don’t wanna...’ He trailed off, but Bree interrupted him.
‘No, I’d love to come. We both would.’ Frank looked delighted as he exchanged numbers with Bree and gave her the address of the party, leaving the store minutes later with a triumphant look on his face.

Carrie giggled and slapped Bree on the back. ‘Who knew? A pot smoker likes you. What are you going to do about that?’
‘Oh come on,’ Bree said as she watched Frank’s back retreating to his car. ‘He doesn’t like me. Plus, I don’t judge people for the way they live their lives, or try to change it.’
‘Funny,’ Carrie replied. ‘You seem to do that to me all the time.’
‘I care about you is all.’ Bree said, looking sincere.
‘Hey,’ Carrie said. ‘Don’t knock the lifestyle until you’ve tried it.’ Bree shook her head as she tried to imagine herself high, or drunk. Curiosity burned inside of her, but her brain was telling her to be sensible. She was starting to get sick of that brain of hers. What had it gotten her? Certainly not milk for her cereal this morning. Which reminded her, she had to grab some on the way home.