Broken Arrow

I left my room in a pair of black skinny jeans, black combat boots with hot pink laces, and a long pale pink top with a skull on the front. A long silver chain with a skull inlaid with lots of little crystals wearing a pink bow dangled from around my neck, and I had on a thin layer of foundation, just enough to even out my skin tone, soft silver/grey eyeshadow, and a thick rim of black eyeliner around my eyes.

The girls were waiting for me downstairs in the kitchen, all sitting at the bar clad in leather, spikes, chains and studs. They all looked like true Californian Rock Chicks and there I was, in my own signature "Girly Punk" style. I immediately felt under-dressed and out of place. These girls looked amazing and I couldn't have felt more daggy in comparison.

A familiar looking girl at the far end caught my eye, she had a small frame and was considerably tinier than the others, her formerly dirty blonde hair was now a bright, fluorescent purple. She was far less dressed up than the others, in black skinnies and a black t-shirt . I looked into her face as she turned around, and it clicked in my mind who she was.

"MINI GATES!!!" I cried, running over to her, I swept the tiny girl up in a hug. "Aww McKenna, it's been far too long."
"I missed you, Ruby." She smiled as I pulled back. "Where've you been?"
"I moved back to Chicago with Jack."
"Oh." She grinned. "How is he?"
"McKenna!" I heard Brian's voice snap from behind me.
Her attention snapped towards him and her face fell as she registered. "Oh..." She frowned. "I'm sorry, Ruby..." She muttered.
"It's okay, little sis." I smiled, putting my fingers under her chin and lifting her face. "You didn't know."

McKenna was the only person I knew who was shorter than me, she stood at 4 ft flat compared to my 4 ft 8. I was fucking short for my age as it was, so it was a little comforting to know another person around the same height, even if she was three years younger than me. We'd really bonded back when I first moved to Orange County, McKenna didn't have many friends, and so I'd taken her under my wing and she became like my kid sister in a matter of weeks. Something which Brian had been beyond thankful for.

"Short shit's been reunited with Mini Gates I see." Matt's thick voice sounded from close by as he, Johnny and Zacky entered the house from the backyard.
"Don't pick on her." Brian defended me, walking over and snaking his arm around my waist. "It's not her fault she's so short."
"Chill out, Gates." Matt laughed.
"Yeah, she's only a little shorter than me." Johnny grinned. "Not so bad, and Mini Gates is tinier." He walked over and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry baby, I love you." He giggled.
I raised an eyebrow and cocked my head to the side. "Oh it's baby now is it?" I teased.
"A lot's changed since you've been gone, Ruby." Johnny smirked. "Mini Gates and I got it on!" He sang, pretending to thrust her.
"Johnny!" Brian snapped. "Don't fucking disrespect my sister!"
"Chill man." Zacky laughed, lightly punching Brian's shoulder. "You're so fucking uptight these days."
"Probably cuz he hasn't had his dick sucked in months." Matt laughed, taking a swig from his Beer bottle.
"Huh?" I turned to him.
He sighed. "Jenna left me."
"What? When?" This was news to me.
"About six months ago." He scowled. "But don't fucking bring it up again." He snapped.

He pulled his arm away from me and stalked off, slamming the back door open as he walked outside.

"Fuck." Matt cursed. "I probably shouldn't have said that." He bit his lip. "Don't worry, Ruby, I'll go talk to him."
"Okay." I replied.
Zacky laid a comforting hand on my arm. "Don't stress, Ruby, Brian's been having a tough time dealing with it, it's nothing personal."
"It's okay." I shook my head. "I totally get where he's coming from."
"By the way." He continued, pulling the gorgeous brunette from her stool by the bar. "This is my girlfriend, Kiki."
"What's up?" She spoke in a husky voice, reminiscent of that of Kat Von D, she held her fist out to me, and I fist bumped her with my own.
"Not a lot." I nodded.
"So you're Ruby." She grinned. "Zacky's told me a lot about you."
"I hope that's a good thing." I laughed.
"Yeah nah." She waved her hand. "Don't stress, he told me about all the crazy shit you, him and Johnny used to get up to back in the day."
"Good times, ay, Ruby?" Johnny smirked, bumping my arm.
"They were."
"You shouldn't have left, girl." Zacky smiled tenderly. "You had everything you needed here."
"And Jack's a cockstain."
"Johnny!" Zacky snapped.
"What? He fucking hurt her!" Johnny retorted. "Ruby was like our fucking sister, man!"
"Who's this "Jack" person you're all going on about?" The quiet leather clad black haired girl asked. "I'm Trixie by the way, Matt's girl."
"Nice to meet you." I nodded in acknowledgement. "Jack's my Ex."
"Oh right, what happened?" She asked.
I drew in a deep breath and felt the lump rise in my throat, I really didn't want to talk about it and quite frankly knew I wouldn't be able to without crying, thankfully, I was saved when I heard Demi's voice sound from behind me.
"Trix, no." She spoke sternly.
"Aww shit, sorry..." She apologized.
"No harm done." I shook my head.
"Have a nice fuck sesh?" Trixie teased.
"Shut it, nigguh." Demi snapped playfully.
"We all had to keep Ruby here occupied till you and Jimmy were done playing Orgasm Donors." She laughed, pushing herself off the stool. "So now you're done fucking each other's lights out, we can get going."
"Have fun, Ladies." Zacky smiled, giving Kiki a kiss on the cheek.

Johnny did the same to Mini Gates, Jimmy to Demi, and the five of us girls walked outside. I held my left arm with my right hand nervously as we walked, it was a weird habit of mine when I was feeling uncomfortable, anxious, or scared.

The girls jumped into Kiki's red 75 Chevy Caprice Classic, Mini Gates riding shotgun because she was the youngest, I sat in the back right window seat, with Demi beside me, and Trixie beside her on the left. I stared out the window lost in my thoughts as the beautiful car roared to life and Kiki carefully backed it out of Brian's driveway.

There was so much love in that house; Demi looked super happy with Jimmy, Mini Gates and Johnny were beyond adorable together, Kiki and Zacky looked as though they shared a very tender love, and there I was, heartbroken and uncomfortable. The only other person in that house that seemed to share that same insecurity, as I'd only just learned now, was Brian.

I gazed over at the rear view mirror, just as Mini Gates looked into it, she noticed the look on my face, she'd seen it plenty of times before, and sent a sympathetic look of understanding back my way. Demi nudged me with her elbow, giving me a look as if asking if I was okay, and I simply nodded and looked back out the window for the rest of the drive.

***

The girls dragged me into Hot Topic and I immediately found myself gravitating towards the wall lined with Hell Bunny dresses. There was one in particular that really caught my eye; It was a black halter neck with an awesome printed design of skulls, pink roses and chains all over it, black ribbon bows were sewn on either side of the bust line, and the skirt was hemmed with black netting; it was gorgeous. I picked up the price tag and took a look at it; $80.

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss119/xXMrsXHelenaXWayXx/Broken%20Arrow/pinkrosedress3.jpg[/img]

"And for that price, it can stay pretty." I sighed, letting the tag fall.

I wasn't very wealthy, and truthfully only had about $200 in my bank at this current moment in time. I couldn't really afford to buy much, but I was going to allow myself a $100 limit, I didn't want to spend most of that on just one dress. I needed to buy myself lunch yet, and I wanted to pick up a few little things too.

Another one caught my eye, it was made of stretchy black and pink striped cotton, which tied into a bow in the middle were the breasts met, and the skirt was short and black. I picked up the tag, letting out a sigh of relief when the price happened to be $30; much more friendly.

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss119/xXMrsXHelenaXWayXx/Broken%20Arrow/RiotPink.jpg[/img]

I glanced around at the other girls, still feeling way under-dressed, with the exception of Mini Gates. All that leather, the studs, the chains, the legendary Heavy Metal band logo's, it was all so hardcore, they looked like Kat Von D's clones. And then there I was, in cotton, plain old cotton. I sighed, feeling my confidence drop.

I stalked over towards the accessories wall and pulled off a black leather spiked choker, they were almost impossible to find back home, and it was only $15, so I decided to grab it.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD, RUBY!" I heard Demi yell from the other side of the store, gaining a few dirty looks from the other customers.
"What?" I said as I walked over to her.
"This is so you." She grinned, passing me what looked to be a corset top.

It was in a way, it was boned and shaped like a corset, black with pink digital looking skulls all over it, and a black spaghetti strap halter neck. It was indeed "So me" I loved pink and black and I was royally obsessed with skulls. It was from Iron Fist, one of my favourite labels, unfortunately though, it was $70.

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss119/xXMrsXHelenaXWayXx/Broken%20Arrow/KGrHqVp8E-64bBLOBP29r7Pqw60_12.jpg[/img]

"It's amazing." I sighed. "But I don't have that kinda money." I frowned, dumping it back on the pile it had come from.
"At least try it on, man." Demi suggested, grabbing it back up from the pile and pushing it against my chest.

I stared at it for a moment, it was gorgeous, and I was dying to see how I'd look in it, so I decided to listen to her, and made my way over to the changing rooms. I walked into one of the cubicles and locked the door, hanging the top on the hook on the wall before pulling my long pink skull t-shirt off.

I dropped it on the small shelf in the corner of the cubicle and proceeded to pull the corset top off it's hanger and put it on. It fit snugly, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt... Sexy. The top hugged my body in all the right places, the padding in the bust enhancing my chest, creating the illusion that my breasts were bigger than they actually were.

"Open up, shit tits!" Demi cried, banging on the door. "Let me see how it looks!"
I took a deep breath and exhaled, before unlocking the door and opening it.
"HOLY SHIT NIGGUH!" Demi yelled when she saw me. "TRIXIE! GET A LOAD OF THIS!"
"Oh wow." Trixie grinned as she walked over and saw me. "You look quite fuckable, Ruby." She laughed. "Seriously, wow."
"Guys." I laughed, blushing as red as my hair. "Stop."
"You have to get it, man." Demi insisted.
"I'm already spending $45 in total, Dem, I don't wanna go over $100." I informed her.
"Pfft." Demi waved me off. "Bitch, I will chip in the extra money for you, don't stress about it."
"Really?"
"Yes, now go change out of it so we can go pay for it." She said. "Also, before I fucking jump on you and skull fuck your face for looking so hot."
"Demi!" I laughed, retreating back into the cubicle and locking the door once more...

***

I sat at the end of the pier mid afternoon, my feet dangling over the edge and my shopping bags beside me. Demi, Trixie and Kiki were down on the beach, running through the water, splashing each other and playing. They reminded me of Kat Von D, Pixie Acia and Kim Saigh in the way they were all covered in tattoo's and piercings, and truly looked like fucking sexy ass rock chicks.

I was so jealous of them. They lived in California, they were tanned, they had tattoo's, their piercings looked good, even though I personally knew I'd never get anything pierced myself as piercings didn't really appeal to me. They had money, and they were dating gorgeous men.

My body was a clean, untouched canvas, I wanted tattoo's, but I couldn't afford them. I'd spent the last two years living in cold, wet, Chicago, leaving me white as a fucking ghost. I'd barely scraped the money together to initially strip the black out of my hair and dye it red, and it was constant maintenance and a lot of money just to keep it as red as it was. And I was Single. I suddenly felt that horrible weight in my heart that I got when I was missing Jack.

I'd give anything to have you back, my Rock Star...

"Ruby." I heard a young, cute voice from behind me.
I turned to see Mini Gates, she sat down beside me and handed me one of the two ice cream bars she was holding. "Thanks, kid." I smiled.
"It's Sea Salt Ice Cream." She giggled.
"What?" I scrunched my face up at the name.
"I heard about it in a video game I play, I know it sounds nasty, but it really is delicious, trust me."
I stared at the icy blue coloured ice cream in front of me, debating before just sucking it up and taking a bite. "Holy shit." I spoke through a mouthful. "That's some good ice cream." It tasted sweet, but salty, salty sweet.
"Told you." She smiled, taking a bite out of her own.

As I sat and ate, I stared out past the girls playing down on the beach, into the ocean beyond. I watched as the waves swirled above the water, the surfers riding them until they died down, the less experienced falling off their boards. The sun beat down on my skin with an unfamiliar warmth that I wasn't used to anymore.

"You okay?" Mini Gates asked, noticing how quiet I had become.
"I forgot how beautiful it was here." I sighed. "Zacky was right, I never should have left."
"We all missed you terribly." She admitted.
"I know." I frowned, flinging the now bare popsicle stick out onto the sand. "I just up and left, didn't even say goodbye." I wiped my mouth to get rid of any excess ice cream. "I just knew it'd be too hard, ya know?"
"I totally understand, Ruby." Mini Gates replied.
"I never should have let Jack control me."
"You were absolutely head over heels in love with him, Ruby." Mini Gates reminded me. "When you love someone that much, you'll sacrifice a lot just to be with them."
"That is true." I agreed. "Dammit, Mini Gates, you're wise beyond your years, you know that?" I laughed, ruffling her hair.
"I know." She smirked, and I saw a massive likeness to her brother in her face for a moment. "You know something, Ruby?" She said, looking over at me.
"What, kid?" I asked.
"I'm really glad you're back." She grinned, the kind of pure, happy smile you only saw in children. "Big Sister."

Notes