Tango

Chapter Four




Friday night while I was getting ready to go to the underground there was a soft knocking sound coming from my door way. I looked up to see Scarlet standing there all ready to go. “Renee I need to talk to you.” She said carefully, as if looking for the right words to say.

“What about, Scarlet? We have to leave in a couple of minutes and I still have to brush my teeth.”

“Well, see then thing is, well…” She trailed off.

“Go on.”

“Okay. Ben and I arranged it with Nicholas tonight so that the four of us would go on a double date to the Battle.” She blurted out all in one breath.

I couldn’t believe that Scarlet did that, let alone that Nicholas had agreed. After the way that he had been treating me in gym the past few days, this was just mind numbing. And yet there was a feeling of exhilaration radiating from deep within my core. It was confusing and gave me a weird sensation until I realized that I had a slight thing for Nicholas. That must have been why his words and general attitude affected me so much. Could it have been that Scarlet had somehow felt my subconscious thoughts? Though it sounded strange it did make a lot of sense.

“So are you mad at me?” Asked Scarlet apprehensively, “If you are you can…oh I don’t know…you can get me to be your slave or something. I just thought that you two would start to like each other more.”

I thought about what she said for a moment. Maybe Scarlet was right in thinking that. And besides, I wasn’t really all that mad about the whole situation. But who am I to give up the chance to have a slave?

“Okay.” I said to Scarlet, “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go tonight with Nicholas if you do whatever I say all night. And to start you can help me finish getting ready and decide for me what to wear.” I burst out into peals of laughter at the obvious look of relief in Scarlet’s face.

“Deal.” She agreed and we shook on it.

- - - - - - -

Alex picked us up just after the sun had set. As we rode to the Underground to meet everyone else, she talked about how the sound check earlier that afternoon had went, what the other bands were like and her hopes that the guys would win. It seemed that in no time at all, we were being told by the bouncer at the front entrance to go ahead in.

The battle hadn’t started yet but there was music pumping from the stage by way of a sound system. The floor was vibrating from the bass and I had to strain to hear Alex shouting in my ear.

“Come on. The guys are all backstage getting all pumped up and making last minute changes. We should go back there and wish them luck and stuff. At least we’ll be able to hear ourselves think there.”

“Okay.” I shouted back at her and turned to poke Scarlet in the back. I motioned for her to follow us but she waved me on and mouthed that she would met us back there later. Then she turned back around and continued to dance with some people that I recognized from school.

Alex and I weaved through the many clusters of dancing people on our way to the back stage area.

Nicholas, Blake, Tom and Cory were all seated around the coffee table in their dressing room playing a card game. Kelly was going over some notes and lyrics to the stuff that they were going to play and she was drinking a coffee.

“Guys!” Exclaimed Alex, “Why aren’t you making last minute sound checks on everything? Or is Kelly the only person who was here that had a maturity level larger then her shoe size?”

“Chill Ally babe. How about you and Renee join us in a game of strip poker? We’ve finished with everything so don’t worry.” Breezed Tom as if it were nothing. He had a coy smile on his lips when he mentioned playing strip poker and he didn’t let it up until Alex walked over to him and cuffed him lightly up side the head. Although that just made his smile grow even bigger. He seemed to live to torment Alex and it was funny. I couldn’t help myself from smiling.

“Oh don’t egg him on.” Alex sighed at me.

“Five minutes everyone. Five minutes.” Came a voice from out in the hall.

Alex suddenly went into commando mode and started to call orders to the guys. “Cory get your sticks out from under that chair…Blake what did I tell you about being dressed appropriately? Thomas, stop acting like your little brother and help Kelly with the guitars…Renee? Would you mind helping Nicholas with the equipment that is on stage and make sure that everything is hooked up properly for our set? We go on first.”

“Sir yes sir!” I saluted as I followed Nicholas. I couldn’t help but think how calm he looked. If it were me, I would have been a nervous wreck.

I was hit with the recoil of sound after Nicholas opened the door. The party was going strong and I could barely see through the sea of people. I had to push and shove my way through the crowd just to keep up with Nicholas and even with him parting the waters first I still had trouble.

There was the faint smell of alcohol in the air and as I jumped up on stage I wondered if someone had smuggled some in.

“Make sure that everything is plugged properly to the amplifiers.” Nicholas yelled in my right ear, practically bursting my eardrum. It wasn’t near as loud when we were behind all of the speakers and he really didn’t need to do that.

After I had checked and double-checked everything that I was told to, everyone else had started to warm up and they were just about ready to start. This punk came up on stage and I took that as my cue to leave and go down to the audience. But as I turned to go down the stairs I noticed Nicholas was just staring at me, unblinking. It was as if he was lost in space. But suddenly the look left his face and a flash of embarrassment replaced it, then he turned his attention towards his guitar.

I found Alex sitting at a table with Jessica and Scarlet, although before I actually reached them Scarlet got up and started towards the dance floor and Ben. I finally reached where Alex was and sat down beside her.

“Hey, I was wondering when you would finally peel yourself away Nicholas.” She laughed.

“Oh you can kiss my ass.” I retorted.

Alex just laughed some more and went off to dance.

The band had just started to play their first song as a waiter came and took my order for a drink. While waiting for it to come I let Kelly's voice and the music of the band wash over me.


You raise me up above the rest but suddenly I fall
You abandoned me and left this huge gap in my heart
Twilight comes and goes but the darkness never fades
It takes me over completely until I realize that

I am better without you, I can live
I am stronger without you, I can prosper
I am smarter without you
I can live without you

I gave you everything that I had in me
But you can't live with just that it seems
You left me sitting all alone in the dark
Not caring or knowing what happened

I am better without you, I can live
I am stronger without you, I can prosper
I am smarter without you
I can live without you

I found something inside of me
Something that I never knew I had
And so I thank you for helping me
Because without you I would never have known

I am better without you, I can live
I am stronger without you, I can prosper
I am smarter without you
I can live without you


Kelly and the guys had the audience screaming for more as they started into their second song, and finally my drink arrived at the table.

During the rest of the set Jessica and I made small talk and I danced a bit with random guys. There was this one guy in particular who must have been about 18 who reeked of vodka and wouldn't leave me alone. In fact as the next group started to play he kept trying to, and succeeding to, grope me even more. I kept dodging him and dancing away but he was persistent in his chase. I had managed to dodge him for a bit and re-joined Jessica for a while to order a new drink. I had taken a few sips when I saw Mr. Groper weaving his way towards me again. I took another gulp of my soda and went back onto the floor with the hope of ditching him again.

Wasn't it just my luck that I didn't notice him come up behind me? "Would you mind going and fucking yourself?" I shouted at him over the hard rock music.

“I sure would like to fuck something but what’s the fun if it’s just me? I would need you with me, that's for sure.” He yelled right back.

“You perverted pig.” I said, loud enough for him to hear, along with all the people for a twenty-person radius.

He didn't answer me that time but dragged me closer to him so that I was completely pressed up against his full body length. I tried to wiggle my way out of his grasp but he simply tightened his grip from uncomfortable to painful. Also my form of struggling seemed to be turning him on, in fact it was poking me in the back. But there must be a God up there because next thing I knew the guy had let go of me and his attention was turned towards something else. I turned myself around and saw Nicholas there. He gave me a look that told me to get beside him, now. I quickly brushed past my assailant and impulsively grabbed Nicholas' hand that was closest to me. Truth is that I never knew that I had grabbed it until he reassuringly squeezed it back.

“Leave her alone you got that?” Nicholas bellowed at him.

The guy just smiled drunkenly and answered, “Obviously you can tell a good time when you see one. Me and the babe were having fun.” He slurred his words and swayed slightly. “Besides, I was just looking for a one night stand and this chick looked slutty enough to be just that.”

I thought that Nicholas was going to pop a blood vessel because he started to walk away, leading me after him. But faster then I could blink, he had dropped my hand, turned back around and slammed the guy right in the face.

Yes, it was a sucker punch but the guy fully had it coming.

“Come on Renee, let's get a drink.” Nicholas turned back to me and took my hand again as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Jessica was still at the table when we got there and she handed me my drink, watching me take a big swig of it. There was a small smile playing on her lips but I really thought nothing of it. She had been smiling like that all night, like something wonderful had happened to her before she arrived at the club.

“Let's dance.” I said to Nicholas and pulled him with me before he even had a chance to order. But he didn't really seem to mind all that much. The song was ending just as we got onto the dance floor and was rapidly replaced by a slow tempo melody. Nicholas wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me closer to him. This time it seemed natural as I put my hands behind his neck and rested me head on his shoulder.

Slowly we swayed to the song until I started to feel funny and there was a shooting pain creeping up my left arm. I stopped moving and tried to clear my head but everything just seemed to get fuzzier.

“I'll be right back.” I said into Nicholas' right ear.

“Are you okay?” He asked, concern written all over his face.

“Uh huh, I just need to go to the ladies room for a minute. I'll be right back.”

I quickly pushed my way through the crowd and was relieved to see that there was no line-up. I pushed open the bathroom door and stared at myself in the mirror over the sink, clutching the sink to try and keep my balance. The lines of my face were blurring and then everything went black. Last thing I remember was hearing a loud crack as my head hit the edge of the sink.


- - - - - - -


“Doctor Phillips to the O.R.” Rang a voice in my head, while I found myself waking to an unusually bright room. Opening my eyes was a big mistake though because when I did I had to swallow a scream that was rising in my throat. The room I was in was all together too bright and it stung my eyes, making them water and blur even more.

I quickly closed my eyes tight and ground the palms of my hands deep into the eye sockets. Gradually the pain lessened and I was able to ease open my eyelids a bit at a time. There was a sharp pain in my temple still though and I noticed that I seemed to be connected to some strange tube that ran from my right hand to a bag attached to a metal hanging thing. My vision was still slightly blurry but as time proceeded I could make out my surroundings clearly and accurately. Although, before my sight was normal again I thought that I was in some alien vessel being probed for scientific research. Luckily before I could have a hernia, I realized that I was in a clean, crisp and very white hospital room and I even had a neighbour.

My eyes were becoming heavier by each passing second now and it felt as if I was going to pass out. Gradually I allowed my eyelids to drop, comforted by having a slight idea where I was, but sleep wasn’t finding me. I was tired enough to not be able to open my eyes again and yet I could not find the comfortable pathway to slumber. Though as time was passing me by I found that I was still hearing announcements over the intercoms, the footsteps of people in the hallway, the high-pitched beeps of a heart monitor, the rhythmic breathing of my roommate and voices that were approaching my bedside.

“I can’t believe that something like this would happen at the underground with all of our friends there. I mean, there has never been a problem before last night. I just hope that she wakes up soon.” Said a feminine voice.

“I know. It’s really weird that someone would have been able to slip it into her drink with all of us in the general area of the table.” Replied another female.

Both sounded vaguely familiar but right at that moment I couldn’t quite put my finger on just who it was. All I could think was that I knew those voices and that they were friends.

Thank you brain for going chaotic on me at a time when I really would rather be clear headed. Leave it up to my body to screw things over for me. There were so many questions that I wanted answered, like why in hell I was in a hospital, why in God’s name I was here in the first place and when I could go home. There has always been an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach for many years, ever since my grandma Lou had her heart attack when I was nine. She died in her room after a week and I was right beside her when it happened. Then there was when my mother was in here, but she was dead even before she got to the hospital.

“You know that he’s been here every night to watch over her?” Asked voice number one. “He’s skipped school almost every day too. I practically had to drag him home this morning so that he could sleep, eat and shower. He hasn’t been very hygienic in the last couple of days and the food here stinks.”

“Wow. I thought that that was why he was never in class but I didn’t think that he had been here the entire time. But I guess I should have since he was here whenever I came to visit. She opened her eyes once and looked at him but she never woke up.” Replied voice number two.

“And she squeezed his hand once too. I thought that he was about to faint.” Number one said a little sadly.

At this I found the strength to open my eyes a bit. I could finally see who was with me. Scarlet was voice number two and Alex was number one. They weren’t really looking at me but rather through me so they didn’t notice me looking at them. I decided to try out my voice although I immediately wished I hadn’t. “Hey.” I croaked, experiencing a tremendous scorching feeling all the way up my throat.

“Ah! You’re finally awake! Oh my God I was so worried about you!” Squealed Scarlet as she leaned down to wrap me in the tightest hug I have ever had. Alex joined in on the fun by throwing her on top of Scarlet from my other side and hugging both of us.

“You have no idea how much all of us have been worried.” She added though her voice was slightly muffled from the group embrace. “How are you feeling?” She added worriedly.

“Water.” Was all I managed to croak out before I started to smile and cry at the same time. They were tears of joy that I had such great friends. Scarlet was the closest so she grabbed the water jug then handed me the tall brimming glass of water. Never had anything tasted so good nor quenched my thirst so thoroughly. I tried to talk again as I set down the cup on the bedside table but was interrupted even before I began.

An African American woman in a white lab coat came in before I managed to utter a single syllable. “Oh I see that you have finally woken up. It’s a great thing to; I was getting worried that you might have some lasting damage if you hadn’t woken by the end of the week. As soon as we do some MRI’s and a CAT scan, you’ll have to stay over another night but after that you are free to go home. I’m Doctor Steven’s by the way. So do you have any questions?”

Once again I tried to speak but what I said came out in a barely audible whisper. “What happened to me?”
Dr. Steven’s checked my medical charts as if to double check just to make sure that she was telling me the right problem. “You quite a large dosage of Rohypnol added to a drink that you had Friday night while you were at a club. It seems that you are allergic to the substance and had an extremely bad reaction to it. In fact you had a mild heart attack soon after it entered your system. It’s a wonder that you came out with very little damage and that someone found you almost right away. If not, you might not be here with us now. You might not have necessarily been knocked unconscious, but you suffered from a severe head wound not to mention any severe side effects of the attack. All in all you are a very lucky girl. You definitely have an angel watching over you.”

“Are you saying that someone put a date rape drug into my drink and that’s why I’m here now?” I asked with less difficulty then before. The doctor nodded, checked my read-outs, and asked if I had any more questions before she left to visit her next patient. I was still in shock when I half-heard Scarlet and Alex say that they had to go but would be back later about 10 minutes after the doctor left.

How could this have happened to me? Sure I have been subjected to other kinds of drugs, I mean who hasn’t, but never has anything like this ever happened to me. Hearing about it in the news or reading about it in the newspaper, it never seemed like it would ever affect me. And yet here I am, in the hospital, recovering from some sort of drug OD. I have never gotten high, nor have I ever even smoked a cigarette, but my friends have. In fact Derek used to be a major pothead before I started to date him. Luckily, for me, he was the guy that would stop doing that sort of thing for his girlfriend. And I am proud to say that neither he nor any of my other friends ever tried to force me into using with them. They all knew where I stood on the matter, but that never stopped them from using around me. But that never bothered me all that much. After all, it was their life not mine and I had no right to tell them what to do.

“You’re awake.” Exclaimed a voice, jolting me out of my stupor. I blinked once, twice, three times, not knowing what to say to the person standing next to me.

“Hey.” I said feebly, suddenly conscious of how I must have looked. I fiddled with the thin sheets that were covering me. “How have you been? How’s school without me?” I joked, trying to lighten the tension that hung in the air.

“You had me worried at the club.” He stated, seeming to ignore my question and off in his own world. “I sent some girl into the bathroom to check on you and then ran in myself after she told me that you had collapsed. There was some chick in there, stoned out of her mind, fixing her bra.” He continued with a small smile playing across his lips and a far away look in his eyes. “Man did she scream when she saw me. I don’t think that she even noticed that you were on the floor until I picked you up. That was the scariest thing I have ever seen. You just lying there on the ground, your face completely white with the red stain of blood trickling down the side of your face…”

“Nick,” I said interrupting him, sitting up and grabbing hold of his hand simultaneously, “I’m fine now. There isn’t really and reason to dwell on the past. So tell me how school has been.” I gave his hand a slight squeeze and waited for him to answer me.

He still seemed to be on another planet for a moment or two, but suddenly if was if a mask had been pulled away from his face and he was his good old self. “School’s been fine. It’s been great to not have to share a locker again.” He attempted to joke, although his eyes weren’t smiling. They had a sad look in them, one of abandonment and…lust? I grinned despite myself and soon the conversation changed into how the band was doing. Nicholas told me that the school had asked them to play for the school dance that was coming up in about a month and Alex had turned into even more of a slave driver at practice.

Eventually Nicholas noticed the time and announced that he had to go but that he would be back later.

“Will you get me my homework and stuff that I have missed?” I asked him lamely just as he was about to walk out the door. He turned back around and walked over to me.

“Sure. I can do that.” He answered and gave me a small kiss on the forehead. This normally would have been a sweet, romantic gesture but right now it felt as though I had a pound of grease in my hair from lack of washing. I also felt like an enormous geek actually wanting to have my work to catch up on before returning to school. But that didn’t stop me from having a shiver run from my head down to my toes as he walked out the door.