STARBURST #1

by Woodruff, Jettie

  “Dad, I can’t believe you did this. You trust me with a car?”

  “I’m not sure about that yet. I prefer Trevas, your mom or me to be with you for a little while, but I’m getting there,” he admitted.

  Alley wasn’t sure why but she was super excited about her new ride. She reached over and gave him a big hug.

  “Thanks dad. Does mom know about this?”

  “Not really, she is going to be pretty pissed at me, this was her idea, she wanted to buy you a new car.”

  “Well that is between you and her, but I love this car.”

  “I’m glad you like it. I have to go honey,” he told her looking out the window at Simon, looking down at his watch, letting him know that they were on a schedule. “Please drive safe and know your boundaries. I don’t want to see you in the tabloids in this car.”

  “I Promise, thanks again dad.”

  Alley was sitting on the couch reading when Trevas finally came down about an hour later.

  “Good morning,” he said with a wink, and she got up and kissed him.

  “I made you coffee,” she told him and followed him to the kitchen.

  “Good, coffee is just what I need.”

  Trevas took a cup from the cabinet and poured a cup of coffee. He took a drink and spit it in the sink.

  “What’s wrong?” Alley asked.

  “Did you use a coffee filter?” he asked, rinsing the grounds from his mouth with water from the sink.

  “A what?” Alley asked, and Trevas laughed.

  He opened the basket, and although most of the grounds were in the pot there were still quite a bit in the basket. “How much coffee did you use?”

  “I don’t know. I just filled up the basket.”

  “Come here,” he demanded with a smile.

  He took her in his arms, and kissed her and then pulled her tight. “I love you Ms. Alley.”

  “I love you too, but something tells me that you don’t want me to make coffee for you anymore.”

  “No, please don’t make me coffee,” he laughed, and kissed her again before letting her go so that he could make coffee.

  “What did your dad want so early?” he asked, rinsing the pot, the basket and his mouth again.

  “Wait until you start the coffee and I will show you.”

  “Show me what?”

  Alley tilted her head, and he knew that meant for him to finish what he was doing and wait.

  “Okay show me now,” he said, drying his hands on a dishtowel.

  He followed Alley out to the driveway and wasn’t sure what to say.

  “He bought you a car?”

  “Yes, for graduation.”

  “He bought you a car?” he asked again in disbelief.

  “Yes Trevas, he bought me a car. Did you not hear me the first time?”

  “Why?”

  “I just told you, he bought it for me for a graduation present.”

  “Where are you going to go in it?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, sounding a little annoyed. “Wherever I want I guess.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t like the car?”

  “No, the car is sweet as hell. I don’t like you owning it.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Why would he buy you a car? He was calling me freaking out because you were home alone last night and he goes and buys you a car?”

  “Fuck you Trevas,” Alley yelled, with a frown. “You think I need a fucking babysitter to drive a car?” she asked, getting madder, but knowing her dad felt the same way because he told her that he didn’t want her driving it by herself for a while.

  “Yes I do think you need a babysitter. If you didn’t sneak into clubs and get in cars with strangers, maybe I wouldn’t think that.”

  Alley twisted her mouth and let out a loud growl, turned and started back in the house when Trevas grabbed her

  “I’m sorry, I just worry about you. Will you take me for a ride?”

  “No, you’re not putting one ass cheek in my car,” she pouted, and he laughed at her.

  “I said I was sorry. You can’t be mad at me for worrying about you. You know as well as I do trouble seems to find you.”

  “Not when you’re around,” she told him, and started to wrap her arms around him but he stopped her because he didn’t want any pictures of the two of them, and waved his hand toward the door, directing her to go back inside.

  “Do you want to drive it to Arvin today and visit my grandparents?” he asked, pouring coffee.

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

  Trevas got in the passenger seat, and they both buckled up. Alley had to turn the stereo up blaring Katy Perry so that he could hear the base and he smiled, shaking his head. They got into town, and Trevas knew he had made a big mistake. She had to hit her brakes to keep from rear-ending a bus. He had to yell at her to stop for a red light and then she almost side swiped a taxi when she cut in front of him.

  “Jesus Christ Alley,” he yelled, grabbing the dash, and she whipped the car to the curb causing traffic to honk at her.

  “Now what the hell are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m done,” she said, and opened her door, but slammed it back, laughing when it almost got ripped off by passing taxi.

  “Oh, that was real funny,” he stated, not finding the humor.

  “Scoot your seat back,” she demanded, and he did, hoping she was handing the driving over to him.

  She straddled him and parted his lips with her tongue, forcing it into his mouth as she held onto his face and pressed her breast against him. “You drive,” she said, and moved to let him slide over.

  “My pleasure,” he responded, moving to the driver seat.

  Trevas pulled his phone from his pocket and answered it.

  “Are you crazy?” was how he answered, when he saw that it was Fletcher.

  “Probably,” he replied. “I just wanted to make sure you were going to be around today so that she didn’t take off by herself.”

  “Yeah we are taking it to visit my grandparents. Have you ever ridden with her?” he asked, and Alley punched him.

  “No, I can’t say that I have.”

  “You should have bought her freaking tank,” he demanded, and Alley punched him again.

  “That’s it, get the hell out of my car,” she demanded.

  “I have to go Fletcher, Alley is throwing me out of her car,” he said amused at her.

  Fletcher laughed and was happy that his daughter was so happy, even if he didn’t like the idea of Trevas being with her. He knew that he liked Trevas, and he knew that he made his daughter happy, he just wasn’t ready to except the fact that she was in love with him.

  Trevas spent the weekend with Alley, and Peyton returned home on Sunday. Peyton and Trevas made some kind of Italian dish together, and Alley sat at the bar and watched or read.

  “Hey mom, can Trevas’s mom stay with us this week?” Alley asked, and Trevas dropped the spoon he was holding in an irritated manner, causing it to clang against the glass plate.

  “Alley, stop doing that,” he demanded, angrily at her.

  “Absolutely, your mom can stay here Trevas. I would love that,” Peyton told him.

  “What? You don’t want your mom to stay here?” Alley asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe, but you could at least consult with me before you go making plans that concern me. Why do you have to say things in front of your parents before you talk to me first?”

  Alley shrugged both her shoulders, “because I knew you wouldn’t say no to my mom,” she stated.

  “Oh, I can say no to your mother, don’t you worry about that,” he spoke, not speaking about the same thing and Peyton shook her head, remembering her request.

  “Trevas I would love for your mom to stay with us, we have plenty of room.”

  “I will mention to her,” he replied, but knew she would be ecstatic to stay at Peyton Paxton’s hou
se, besides there was no room for Alley at his place, and he really wasn’t looking forward to her not being in his bed.

  *****

  James came over again Sunday night, and Peyton left with him later in the morning. Trevas and Alley sat on the couch with coffee.

  “What time are you getting your mom?” Alley wanted to know, moving closer to him, and he raised his arm for her.

  “Not till three, but I have some things I need to go do before that. Do you want to ride along?” Trevas answered, and kind of hoped she would just stick around the house, wanting to go to the gym before running his errands.

  Alley thought for a minute before answering, “Do you mind if I don’t go?”

  “No, not at all, I should only be gone a couple of hours.”

  Trevas was no sooner gone when Alley was pacing the floor. She kept looking out at her new SUV parked in the drive, and was trying to tell herself to stay home. She knew Trevas would be furious with her if she left. I wouldn’t be gone that long, she decided and picked up her cellphone to text a friend.

  “You around?” She text to the name, Alfie.

  She waited five minutes for a reply. “Hey stranger, yeah I’m at Lakes, stop in, we’re closed so just knock.”

  “See you in twenty,” she replied, and ran upstairs to throw on a pair of too short shorts and a skimpy tank top with spaghetti straps and no bra.

  She rushed out to her car and noticed right away the black car following behind her. She took a couple alleys to make sure it really was following her, and sure enough it was. She took a zip up hoodie from her backpack and pulled it on, covering her head with the hood, and added a pair of dark sunglasses. She pulled up to the curb of a shady little tattoo shop, with a homemade sign above the door that read, ‘Lake’s Creations.’

  Alley knocked on the door, keeping her head down from the camera that she knew was taking her picture, and the young man, probably a couple years older than her opened it and then locked it back.

  Alfie stood up from the chair he was sitting in, getting another tattoo to join the many that he already had.

  They shook hands with some kind of gangster handshake, and then bumped shoulders.

  “I thought you fell off the earth,” he stated, sitting back in the chair.

  “Just trying to stay out of trouble,” she replied, and then did the same handshake with Alfie’s girlfriend.

  “How ya doing Frankie?” she asked, the girl wearing all black with piercings in her eyebrow, nose and bottom lip, also with an abundant amount of tattoos.

  “Good, just getting ready to burn one.”

  “Fire it up,” she stated, happy to see her long lost friends.

  Alley had met these guys a couple years back. They were the ones that she got busted drinking beer with on the beach, and although she never really hung out with them, she did meet up with them to buy weed. She liked them both, and even the guy that they called Lake, who was doing the tattoo, was pretty cool.

  Alley passed the joint around to the other three companions, and they sat around and talked. Lake opened a bottle of Sambuca liquor and passed it to her.

  “No man, I gotta go,” she told him putting her hand up, wanting to get what she came after, and get out of there before Trevas realized she had left.

  “Come on, one drink,” Frankie said taking it from Lake.

  Alley knew she shouldn’t, something told her as soon as she entered the door, this was a bad idea, but of course she took it and danced around, trying to swallow the stuff.

  “Oh my God, that has to be the nastiest thing I have tasted in my life. What the hell is it?”

  Her friends laughed at her, and Alfie answered. “It probably is the nastiest thing any of us have ever tasted, but it will get you fucked up so fast your toes will curl.”

  “Fuck that, that shit will peel the paint off the walls. I bet it would clean the fucking toilet.”

  They all laughed at her and handed it to her again.

  “No, I really have to get out of here,” she tried to tell them, getting nervous about Trevas getting home before her.

  The next thing Alley knew it was a half hour later and she was in no shape to drive, but she was having a blast. They all laughed, and got totally messed up together.

  “Does that hurt,” she asked Alfie, leaning over to watch Lake fade in on the fire that he had just created on his arm.

  “Hell yeah it hurts. What did you think the whisky was for?” he told her, and she laughed.

  “I’m going to get a tattoo,” she stated, but had never seriously thought about it before that moment, just the one time that she had joked with Trevas about getting one that said rebellious.

  “And what would you get?” he asked, amused at the movie star’s daughter.

  “Hmmm,” she thought as she stumbled a little. “I would get ‘Evil Princess’ all the way down my ribs and then cross it with ‘rebellious,’ she stated, running her finger down her ribs.

  “Damn, I love that. Do it,” he demanded, getting up and towering over her.

  “Now?”

  “Yeah now, why not?”

  “I can’t Alfie. I really need to get out of here.”

  All three of her friends started to cackle like a chicken and then chanted. ‘Do it, do it, do it, do it, and the next thing Alley knew she was laying on her side, covering her breast with her shirt and then she yelled as soon as she felt the needle.

  “Fuck, give me that Drano,” she requested as they all laughed. She held the bottle and every time it got to be too much, she made him stop and took another swig.

  Her phone rang, and Frankie told her that it said Trevas.

  “Fuck,” she said, remembering him.

  “Do you want me to answer it?” Frankie asked.

  “NO!” she screamed.

  Lake finished up her tattoo, and Frankie read the text message from Trevas.

  “Just picked my mom up, where are you?”

  “Just don’t answer,” she said, and tried to stand up. Alfie grabbed her and helped her to a chair.

  “You aren’t going anywhere for a while,” he demanded.

  “Frankie, look out the window and see if there is still fucking paparazzi across the road in a black car,” Alley requested, remembering the idiot that followed her.

  “Nope, there are three all standing around outside with cameras waiting.”

  “Fuck,” she said, and knew she was in hot water with Trevas, and then her phone rang again.

  Franking handed her phone.

  “So who is Trevas,” Frankie asked.

  “My body guard who is going to kill me,” she said, waiting for the phone to stop ringing.

  Alley stumbled her way to the bathroom and lifted her shirt. The tattoo did look awesome. It went straight down her side in a fancy font with ‘Evil Princess’ and then diagonal going through it in a wave said ‘rebellious,’ Trevas is going to kill me, she said out loud and sat on the toilet to dial the dreaded number.

  “You better have been sleeping, in the pool or in the tub,” he answered. “Why aren’t you answering your phone, I was worried to death.”

  “Trevas, you’re going to be really, really mad at me.”

  Trevas looked over at his mom in the passenger seat. “You left the house didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m afraid to tell you.”

  “Alley, tell me where you are now. Do you need me to come and get you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at a place called, Lake’s Creations.”

  “Just give me the address Alley,” Trevas demanded, and she could tell he was furious with her.

  “Alley, you okay in there?” Frankie yelled.

  “Who was that?” Trevas wanted to know.

  “A friend, hang on,” she said and dropped the phone. Alley opened the door for Frankie.

  “Where the hell am I?” she asked Frankie.


  “East 9th St.”

  “I heard her,” Trevas said. “I will be there in fifteen minutes, don’t you dare move.”

  “I can’t move.”

  “Are you drunk Alley?” he asked, getting even madder.

  “Most definitely, and there are paparazzi out front.”

  Trevas wanted to blow up on her. He could feel the veins popping in his neck as he stepped on the gas and white knuckled the steering wheel.

  “I will be there in a few minutes. I’m going to hang up now before I say something that I will regret later.”

  Trevas hung up without giving her time to respond, and she came back out with her friends.

  “We got you in trouble, didn’t we?” Alfie asked, and she smiled.

  “No, I don’t need any help with that. I seem to do it just fine, all by myself.”

  Alfie gave Alley the bag that she came after, and she paid him and stuck it on the inside pocket of her backpack. She sat on a chair and bounced her knees, nervously waiting for Trevas.

  He knocked on the door, and Alfie let him in. Trevas eyed him up and down and then checked out her other two friends. “Is there a back alley, so that I can get her out of here?” he asked Alfie in a rude angry tone while glaring at Alley.

  “Yeah, on the side here, I will open the door.”

  Trevas took his phone and called his mom, and told her to bring the car down the alley. Alley got up, and he opened her bag and threw the jacket at her. “Put it on,” he demanded, and not so much because of the paparazzi, but he was pissed at the shirt she had on, and her nipples being visible to everyone.

  “I’m not riding with you. I will ride with your mom,” she demanded, not wanting to be in the same small space with him.

  “That is probably best on your part,” he glared with narrowed eyes, and had to grab her arm to help her walk to the back because she was stumbling.

  Trevas hurriedly got her in the back seat and told his mom to drive around the block and follow him. He drove the fifteen minute drive with a clinched jaw, and periodically looked in the rearview mirror at his mom driving his with the other three cars following her.

  Peyton was just getting out of James’s car when he pulled in, and Alley saw her mom.