Under Her Skin

by Alexis Lauren

  "Leave me alone." Carly slurred, weakly.

  "Carly, are you ok?" She yelled through the door.

  "I said leave me alone!" She slurred again, a little louder.

  Marlo went into the empty stall next to Carly's and put her foot on the toilet to try to get a boost up so she could look over the partition. Just as she was pulling herself up, her stiletto heel slipped and landed right in the toilet bowl.

  "Great!" She cried out, taking her foot and shoe out of the water, and shaking it. "This isn't even worth it!" She started to walk out of the bathroom, but thought back to her brother and wanting to mend their fences. In the end, despite her inner struggle, Marlo walked back to the open stall and hoisted herself up onto the toilet bowl. She tightened her grip on the partition and slowly peered over into the next stall.

  Carly sat sideways on the toilet, leaning her back against the partition opposite Marlo, her head rolled to the side. Marlo saw a rubber tie loosely hanging around her arm, along with a needle, spoon, and lighter sitting in her lap.

  "Carly! Are you ok?" She yelled and got no response. "Carly!" She yelled louder. Carly didn't flinch. "Ah, damn!" She complained, climbing from the toilet and running out into the hall, as fast as her stilettos would go on the marble floors. "Someone call 911! There's been an overdose." She yelled out the door to the restroom, then went back to be with Carly.

  Marlo ran back to the stall and got on her knees. She tried reaching under the door to get to Carly, but she was just out of her gasp. She knew what she had to do, but wasn't looking forward to it. She slid down to her back and wiggled her way under the door to the stall that Carly was in. When she was far enough in, she sat up and unlatched the lock, swinging the door open. "God, I hope these people remembered that they were VIPs!" She said to herself when she thought of what she could have possibly just crawled through.

  Marlo stood in front of Carly and slapped her face a couple of times, calling her name and trying to get her to wake up. There wasn't a single movement out of the woman.

  Thankfully the paramedics stormed into the restroom at that point. Marlo moved aside and let them get to work on Carly, while she took her phone out of her purse and made the dreaded call.

  "Dusty, you need to get to the restrooms now." She said and hung up before she had to answer any questions. Best for him to see for himself, how she looked at that point. She didn't want to leave Carly alone to go find Dusty, so the call was her best option at that point.

  "What the hell is going on!?" Dusty yelled, running through the doors.

  "Your druggie girlfriend had an overdose." She said smartly. Marlo pointed to where the paramedics were strapping Carly to a gurney.

  "She doesn't do drugs." Dusty yelled. "There has to be some mistake."

  "Does that look like a mistake to you?" She said, pointing to the drug paraphernalia that the EMT's were packing up for the police.

  Dusty had his confusion written all over his face. Nothing could mask the hurt, the anger, or the questions that were there. Instead of saying anything, he followed behind the paramedics when they took Carly out.

  Marlo stayed behind, answering all the questions that the cops asked of her. She said that she knew nothing of the drugs prior to this accident (mainly to keep the police from invading their house to search for a stash hidden somewhere by Carly), and that she had just come to look for Carly because her brother was worried. The police thanked her for her cooperation and left soon after.

  After walking away from the cops, she collapsed into the waiting arms of Tobias. "Take me home?" She whispered.

  "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital to be there for Dusty?" He asked.

  "No, I think he needs some time alone to process what's going on." Marlo told him. "Besides, maybe he needs to realize how much he's isolated himself lately because of her."

  "If you're sure…" Tobias said, leading her out front to his car. "AJ and Sammy left already and said they'd stop at the house in the morning."

  Marlo sat in Tobias' car on the way home, staring out the window. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing by not going to the hospital for Dusty?" She asked softly.

  "I'm not really one to say what you should or shouldn't do, but I do know that you should always trust your instincts." Tobias pointed out.

  'Trust my instincts….trust my instincts.' Marlo thought. She knew that he was right. "Me too." She said, still looking out the window trying to gather her courage to look at him.

  Tobias grabbed her hand, as a means of comfort, but also trying to get her attention. Her head finally turned towards him and their eyes met. Even in the dark of the night, he could still see the emotion that pooled in her intense gaze.

  "You too what?" He asked, not knowing what she was talking about.

  "You told me to trust my instincts…I love you too." She said, and for the first time since the Carly episode, Marlo smiled again. The smile didn't last long as Tobias jerked the car over to the curb, taking Marlo by surprise. "What the hell?" Marlo yelled.

  Tobias slammed the car in park and got out of the car, running over to Marlo's side, yanking the door open and pulling her out. "Would you mind repeating that?" He asked breathlessly.

  "Trust my instincts?" She teased and backed up so that she was leaning back against the car. He moved closer to her, and surrounded her with his arms. In all seriousness, she looked up at him and voiced the words that made his stomach and hers do all sorts of weird things. "I love you too."

  Tobias crashed his lips down on hers before anything else could be said.

  *****

  Dusty sat alone in the waiting room at the hospital ER. So many thoughts were running rampant through his head, but the dominant one was 'How long has she been doing this, and why haven't I seen the signs?' He just didn't have the answers.

  The doctor finally appeared and told Dusty that Carly was awake and ready to see him. He slowly made his way to her temporary room, not quite sure what to say once he got there.

  "If you're here to lecture me, save your breath." She told him as soon as he walked through the curtain. Carly didn't even make a move to look at him. "I made one little mistake and shot a little too much. It was all your fault anyway."

  Dusty looked blankly at her. "My fault?"

  "Yeah, your fault. If you hadn't forced me to hang out with your bitch sister and your loser friends, this never would have happened. I just needed a little more to get through the night, but I guess I had too much." She tried to reason.

  "Are you that damned stupid? I wasn't the one that put the needle in your arm. I'm not to blame here whatsoever!" He spat at her. "Forgive me for wanting my friends and family to get along with my girlfriend. None of them needed drugs to put up with you, but now, I wouldn't blame them if they did. You need to get some help. Some serious help. I thought I could help you and bring back the girl I fell in love with, but was I ever wrong."

  "Shut up. I told you I didn't want a lecture." She snapped at him.

  "Well I don't want a controlling, bitch druggie for a girlfriend either. I'll pack your shit and have it sent to you here. Find someone else to sponge off of, and don't ever call me again." Dusty growled. He couldn't believe how stupid, and how blind he had been in regards to Carly. He definitely owed a huge apology to the band, and to his sister.

  *****

  Chapter 19

  The drive home seemed to take forever, when in reality, it only took ten minutes. Those ten minutes slowly ticked off the clock, the anticipation growing with each second that passed. When their destination was finally reached, there was a mad scramble to get in the house.

  As soon as the door to Marlo's bedroom was shut and locked, their lips met in a passionate embrace. Those three little words concocted an aphrodisiac like no other, igniting the fire inside each of them.

  Clothes were flying furiously through the air as Tobias guided Marlo backwards, towards the bed. The time that their lips parted from each other to remove their shirts took too lo
ng, and each felt the urgency to be connected again.

  As Tobias trailed his lips down his girlfriend's naked body, it fed fuel to the fire inside of Marlo, until his lips met the juncture between her legs. Never before had she been so accepting of this practice, it had always made her shy and uncomfortable. Now she was opening up for the world to see…her world, Tobias.

  He worked his tongue like he was a dying man, lapping up the last of the water on earth. Each drop that fell into his mouth was like a gift from heaven, pushing him further to get more and more. The greedier he got for the 'water', the louder Marlo became, until the faucet turned wide open, and pulse after pulse, Tobias got his drink.

  Slowly, he kissed his way back up her body, stopping to pay special attention to the mountains that divided her body. The peaks were so rosy and swollen, he had to give them some relief by licking and nipping at him. When Marlo couldn't take the sensation anymore, she pulled him back up to her lips and kissed the breath out of him.

  "Wow." Was all he could say when he came up for air.

  "You took the words out of my mouth." She panted. "Now, let's see what kind of pleasure I can bring to you." She softly ran her hand up and down his torso, going lower each time, until her hand fell on his straining shaft.

  She positioned herself on her knees, between his legs and bent over to kiss the member that she was holding. Looking up to see Tobias watching her through heavily lidded eyes, she changed her course and kissed his pelvis, blowing hot air as she went past his engorged shaft. He moaned in anticipation, hoping that her teasing wouldn't last much longer.

  Marlo felt him hardening in her hand, each time she teasingly passed him up for a kiss on another part of his body in his nether region. She didn't think it was possible for him to get any harder, and afraid that she was going to hurt him, she finally stopped her pleasant torture and went for the main attraction. Tobias groaned and twitched in appreciation.

  She let her mouth and tongue move freely over Tobias, while her hand added to his pleasure. Before he had time to warn her, he erupted into her hot mouth. He felt like a teenager again, not able to control himself.

  Marlo smiled and wiped off the corner of her mouth, then laid back down next to Tobias. He kissed her with all that he had, not even caring about what she just had in her mouth.

  She snaked her hand back down, surprised to find that he hadn't deflated at all. She rolled onto her back and with her hands on his hips, rolled him on top of her. She could feel his manhood digging into her hip, and she couldn't wait to feel him inside of her.

  "Please Tobias, I love you. Make love to me." She begged breathlessly.

  "I love you too." He whispered as he positioned himself at her entrance. He moved slightly, barely entering her and stopped. A pained look crossed his face just before he rolled off her.

  "What are you doing, are you ok?" She asked, almost in a panic.

  "I can't do this right now." He said through gritted teeth.

  Marlo looked down at his still erect member. "It doesn't look like there's a problem to me." She said, her emotions all over the place.

  "Not physically I can't, but I just can't, alright?" Tobias was getting angry. Why wasn't she understanding what he was saying?

  "No, not alright. This is the second time that you've turned me down. What the hell is wrong with me that you can't make love to me, but yet you never turned down any other girl!" She yelled at him as she scrambled off the bed, hastily getting dressed. "Oh, I get it. I'm just not good enough. Well fuck you, you stupid ass! I hate you. You lost your chance. You'll never touch me again. Now get out of my room!" Her words scathed the man sitting at the edge of her bed with his head in his hands. Not even the sound of the door slamming got him to look up. He couldn't look up. The tears in his eyes wouldn't let him.

  *****

  Marlo sat in the kitchen wearing a bright pink satin camisole and bright yellow sweat shorts. She hadn't looked at the clothes she was putting on when she got dressed, she just threw on whatever she could find first. At least she had sense of mind to grab her bathrobe before storming out.

  She silently stewed with her only companion being a glass of grape juice, and a bottle of vodka. She knew it was only a matter of time before the anger wore off and the hurt moved in. She just hoped she was drunk and numb enough before the tears came.

  And that was how Dusty found her, somewhere in the middle. Wordlessly, Marlo got up and retrieved another glass of grape juice and another bottle of vodka. He took it graciously and let the liquor burn down his throat before he spoke.

  "I don't even know what I can say to make up for what an ass I've been." He said with a sigh. "But it's over now, and I am so sorry."

  "I'm sorry too." Marlo said, her words slurred slightly.

  "You were my sister, and I completely turned my back on you." His eyes began to tear up. "You are the one person in the world that I should trust above all else, and I completely shut you out and didn't listen to a word you said. What kind of person does that make me?"

  "Don't worry about it. We all make mistakes. I'm still here, and I'm still your sister. That's never going to change. Push me away all you want, you know I'll always be here in the end." She told him.

  "Well, if I ever do something this stupid again, be sure to kick my ass, and never let me forget this little lesson I learned." He asked of his sister.

  "You got it." She promised.

  "How am I ever going to face the guys?" He asked.

  "You'll just have to do it. Of course, they won't be as forgiving as I am, but you'll figure out how to make it right with them." She told him honestly.

  "So, do you want to talk about why you're sitting here in the kitchen, all alone, nursing on a bottle of vodka in the middle of the night?" He asked, making her realize that he wasn't as self-absorbed as he'd been lately.

  "Just washing the taste from my mouth." She said flippantly.

  "I don't think I want to know what that means, but if you want to talk, I'll listen." He offered.

  "Thanks, but I've done really well with not crying yet, so I think I'm going to hold off." She paused, not sure if she wanted to say anymore. "Let's just say that no matter what you do, sometimes you'll just never live up to other people's standards."

  "Amen sister!" Dusty said and held his glass up in a toast.

  Marlo clinked her glass against his and then drained the rest of the contents. In the distance, she heard the door to her room slam shut, then a few loud footsteps, and another door slam shut. She knew then that it was all clear for her to go back to her room. Wanting to be alone again, she put down her glass, walked to her room, and allowed the tears to flow.

  *****

  The next day, Dusty called everyone over to the house, band and management alike, to start begging for forgiveness. He knew that he had a long way to go before they would truly forgive him and trust him again, but he was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.

  During the meeting, the absence of his sister didn't go unnoticed, nor did the dark circles under Tobias's eyes. Dusty wasn't the only one to notice either, but they all knew they had to focus on one problem at a time.

  After Dusty's speech where he begged everyone for their forgiveness and promised to make it up to everyone, the guys all shook hands and told him that it would be a long road to forgiveness and that they had a lot of work to make up for to get their album out.

  The managers told them that they would be back in the studio the next Monday, and to rest up because they would need to work their asses off to meet their deadlines. Dusty couldn't have felt worse after hearing that, knowing that they were all going to have to suffer through long hours of hard work, all because of him.

  When all the guys left, Dusty sat Tobias down for a talk. "Anything you want to talk about?" He asked.

  "First of all, this isn't something that I want to talk to you about, of all people. Second, don't come in trying to play big brother now, after all the shit you've put Lola through
lately. You know, I can forgive you for what you did to me and the band, but all the crap that you put on her, that's inexcusable. You hurt her so bad, and that was the last thing that she needed…a brother who turned on her. You were all she had." Tobias told him, unable to hide the disgust in his voice.

  "I can speak for myself you stupid ass." Marlo said, walking into the room after hearing Tobias go off on her brother. "Stay out of our business. Besides, what the hell do you care? Do you think that you haven't hurt me either? You have no room to talk after what you did!" She turned and ran out of the room, refusing to let him see her cry.

  Dusty and Tobias shared a look, both realizing what they've put her through. "Sorry man. I guess she's right." Tobias apologized.

  "Wow, looks like you really fucked up." Dusty said, finally smiling.

  "She sure looks at it that way, but I don't." He said, getting out of his chair. He sighed, hating how stubborn women could be. Outside of Marlo's bedroom door, he put his hand on the door knob, only to find it locked when he tried to turn it. Annoyed, he raised his hand and pounded on the door. "Come on Lola. Let me in so we can talk about this."

  "Go away! I don't want to talk to you. I hate you! Go find one of your groupies, I'm sure you miss fucking them." She yelled through her sobs.

  "Fuck you!" He yelled.

  The door flew open to show a visibly upset Marlo. "No, you made it quite clear last night that you wouldn't fuck me." She spat.

  Just as she tried to slam the door closed, he reached his arm out and pushed against the door with all his might. It swung back open and he flew inside, grabbing Marlo by the arms. He kicked the door shut and backed her towards her bed. Marlo had never seen so much anger in his eyes focused at her, only at other people.

  "Now you listen and you listen good. If I was to do anything to you, it wouldn't be fucking. I would be making love to you. You're better than that, to have someone fuck you. If you would just shut your damn mouth sometimes and listen to what I have to say before you jump to conclusions, then you'd save us both a lot of time and anger." He yelled and then let her go, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.