Dead Dreams

[king]

Changing places is never easy, especially two cities as different San Francisco and Las Vegas. From the desert to the ocean, Sin city to a gentle gem, at least in their initial feel. Being up at two in the morning was just the beginning of the night and here it seemed like things had died down completely, which left TJ with about an hour to kill before he’d actually be asleep. What to do with that time? Fuck if he really knew, just moved here and had no sense of what this place was like yet. So what to do… drive down to the beach and veg out.

TJ pulled up in his 97 Daewoo Lanos, which was a lovely pale orange color, and parked. He grabbed the bag, which contained a small bottle, and flipped the track on the CD within the car’s player to the song Vicarious by Tool. A small adjustment of the volume so that it was loud enough to be heard from outside, and probably a couple blocks away but barely, and TJ hopped out of the car to take a seat on the hood. It was a calm cool clear night with a small breeze coming in off the ocean. TJ removed to top from his drink and big a big gulp before replacing it. The problem at the moment was that he couldn’t decide on whether he was bored or at peace… not that the two were all that different from each other. He slumped back on the hood with a loud thud. Oh boy.

What was that saying his mom said… “you can reach the moon if you only dream it”? Bull-fucking-shit! That must have been the start of the drugs talking. TJ stretched his free right hand up toward the sky and slowly clenched it into a fist. Dreams don’t do shit, its all about blood, sweat, and what you take with your own two hands.

[Elmira Medina]

It had been an exciting night so far- at least, the bits and pieces that Elmira could remember of it. She had first gone to a college party, which had started around six, fairly early for the typical booze bash, so people began to pass out and settle down by eleven thirty. Since it was looking more like a lazy kick back at this time, Elmira and a couple of her old acquaintances decided to go to a club (after she managed to snag a bottle of banana schnapps from the party for the three to share for the rest of the night). This had been fun for Elmira, as she enjoyed dancing and drinking, but apparently one of the girls she was with was getting unwanted advances from an older guy, so the group decided to call it a night.

Of course, Elmira did not like 'calling it a night.' Plus, she couldn't exactly go home, seeing that she was still a bit buzzed. She was a bit more sober than before, yet it would take a little more time to reach her non-intoxicated level. And so she wandered around the beach that was near her house, hoping to find maybe a bonfire or some late night surfers. Unfortunately, the place seemed pretty dead.

She heard some music echoing in a bit of a distance, and followed it down to find a pale orange car, along with a person on top of it. "Ohhhh... that music is coming out of your carrr..." Elmira slurred stupidly. "Haha. Okay, that sounded dumb." At least she was able to realize what she said was pretty odd.

[king]

Hearing a voice come over the music TJ slowly shifted his gaze from the sky to the direction from which the voice came. It would appear that he’d been happened upon by a very tall, and very inebriated female. Luckily this time he wouldn’t have be appear the jackass as she had already caught her own mistake. So what did he actually have to say? Nothing. Let’s face it, he wasn’t the type to be cordial to anyone, no matter what the circumstances. Thus his only response was the simple extension of his arm upward with clenched fingers and an extended thumb, a classic thumbs up.

“Yep.”

Okay, so he did say something. Mostly to be a bit snide, but also because of the feeling of boredom he had. At first glance TJ basically surmised this one as a showgirl in waiting, living in Vegas they became quite a typical sight on the streets. They were often late teens/early twenties women who had failed to make it in L.A. and fell back on the old stable of men paying to look at pretty girls, though this particular lady might need an augment or two to really capitalize. Call him vain or what you wish, but living in such a city made such things a common sight and all the a person can judge at the first moment of meeting another is appearances, especially when alcohol kills intelligence… as already proven.

[Elmira Medina]

"Awww... you probably wanted to be alone. Like, to look at the sky or something." Elmira tilted her head up to follow her own statement, staring at the stars briefly. She did not necessarily have the mind set to appreciate whatever beauty one might normally find from the sparkling stretch of the velvety black space, yet she did manage to comment, "Wow, it's pretty. And... and reeeaaaalllly big. Heh."

She leaned herself onto the car, not aware that her presence may have been unwanted, though she said something along those lines just a couple of moments ago. "So, do you come here a lot? Or just when you can't sleep or find anything better to do?"

[king]

Again the woman spoke, only this time her words caused TJ to do a double-take because he wasn’t sure he heard right. Did people in this city really start with ‘you probably wanted to be alone’ and then keep talking? Odd. Anyway, he let her continue on while choosing to use his energy at the present on not losing his temper. Dealing with a mother that was an addict made any interaction with even the most casual drunk an ordeal of sorts. And though it have seemed that TJ would be the type of person to tell her to get lost there were two reasons he wouldn’t. One he was just to lazy at the moment and two he truly didn’t mind being around people… as long as he didn’t have to say shit, but he did have to answer a question.

“No… I just moved here.”

The answer came at a simple flat tone. TJ simply removed the cap from his drink again and took another long sip. This place might take some getting used to. However beyond that, let us as readers, analyze something that may appear very wrong in this situation. We have a sober sixteen-year old boy with a drunk nineteen-year old young lady. Add to that the fact they are alone in the early hours of the morning by a beach sitting atop a car. Last bit is the fact that this boy seems to be treating her with mild neglect. See the problem… he isn’t trying to get into her pants. Or is he by playing the quiet loner? Oooooooh… makes you think. Away from that aside TJ clenched his fingers tightly causing a popping sound from each of the knuckles, most people did this before a fight, he just did because he could.

[Elmira Medina]

“No… I just moved here.”

Elmira's eyes widened, as if she were in complete and utter shock, though perhaps the intoxication added to her melodramatic facial expressions and gestures. "Woahhhhh... really?!" she asked, almost like the guy had been lying and she could not possibly believe such a simple statement. "I live here, too! Seriously, my house is JUST down the street! Dude, I had no idea that other high school kids had beach houses, too! Like, all my neighbors are really old. They're all retired and have nothing better to do than move into a place where they can just stare at the beach all the time." This was partially true. Most of the people she came across in school lived in a residential area within the town, and there were a fair amount of elderly people who had homes nearby.

She was quiet for a moment as she mindlessly rubbed her foot into the ground, the way she would were she putting out a cigarette, allowing scattered grains of sand to slide above her sandals and between her toes. Then she suddenly winced, recognizing the sound of knuckles cracking. "Ohhhh, ya know, I think I heard that wasn't good for you. You'll get arthritis, or bone cancer, or something like that..."

[king]

That was a weird reaction. TJ figured running into someone that lived in San Francisco… in San Francisco wasn’t odd. However as he listened to her continuation it seemed to him that she though he meant on the beach. Made some sense of a mistake but TJ had meant ‘here’ in the general sense of the city, if he was to be specific he lived near the edge of the Western Addition and Haight districts. He wasn’t about to correct because frankly he didn’t want her, or anyone at this point, to know that information. So he’d let her think whatever she wanted to think and only comment with a single word.

“Bummer.”

It was a single word in reference to her mentioning that all her neighbors were old. So far this conversation had pretty much gone as good as it could as TJ hadn’t gotten too snippy. Of course upon hearing the comment about the cracking noise in his knuckles that might change quite quickly depending on how the intoxicated girl handled TJ’s response. Slowly the boy raised up from his sprawled up position atop the hood, all the while keeping his head back, which caused a few more pops to come from his back. Once he reached a sitting position he tilted his head from side to side causing another loud crack to echo out after each stretch, each done just to be an irritant. When he finally spoke after the dramatics, it was chiding and unpleasant tone.

“Yeah… and I bet all that alcohol you guzzled down did wonders for your liver.”

[Elmira Medina]

Elmira started giggling hysterically. The comment probably wasn't meant to be very funny, but at that moment, and in her inebriated state, it seemed to be hilarious. "Well, I..." she started to say, only to begin laughing again, somehow thinking it was a huge joke. Finally, she breathed deeply and was able to calm down. Any longer and she would feel as foolish as she probably appeared.

"You could tell, huh? It must be my breath." She breathed into her cupped hands, trying to smell it for herself. "Hmmm... I don't know. I can't smell it. I must be, like, walking funny. Am I unbalanced?" She stood up straight, rocked a bit back and forth, then leaned herself against the car again. "Maybe. But nah, nah. My liver is totally strong. She knows how to handle nights like these." She snorted in humor, though this time she did not let it last as long. "I don't know if my liver is a girl. I just thought that because I was a girl that my insides would be girls, too. Really, they're probably not boys or girls. They're neither one."

[king]

Wow, so that is how all those stand up comedians in those clubs do it. Maybe TJ should take up that line of work… or not. He lightly shook his head while the girl laughed in utter amusement at what he said, perhaps something he should have seen coming. Either way some of the raised anger dissipated with the passing moments, instead turning into a bitter pity. Ironically that might be a step up in TJ’s book, pity wasn’t something that people in such states received, more of the mild to major disgust and hate. Hard to break old habits and conceptions.

Letting her continue TJ simply smirked at how he figured out that was liquored up. The old stand by of repetition, see enough of something and you start to pick up on even the slightest of signals from any and everyone. Las Vegas and his mother provided plenty of practice, maybe he should be a cop. Now, when she started to talk about her liver’s strength and gender… it would take all his might to prevent himself from smacking his palm against his head. What the hell? TJ slowly slid off the hood and took a few steps to stretch out his legs a bit.

“Why don’t you have her flex those muscles then?”

TJ threw his arms up in a classic flexing position and he smirked… yes he was trying to be a bit of an ass. Within the car the track switched to Stinkfist by the same band.

[Elmira Medina]

"Ooooh... very nice!" Elmira murmured in admiration, clapping her hands as if applauding him for some spectacular feat. "See, the thing is, she could be flexing her muscles right now, and I wouldn't even know it, 'cause she's inside my stomach." There was a pause of silence as Elmira contemplated her last comment. "Well, no. Actually, I think the liver isn't really inside the stomach. If it was, that would mean I ate my own liver. It's probably in the hips, like one on each side... They're like beans, right?" She stared down at the ground, deep in thought. Apparently the subject was very provoking and interesting. "Hm. That might be kidneys."

She shook her head, as if that would toss out any unwanted ideas. "Did I ask you your name? If I did, I think I forgot what it was..."

[king]

To be cheered when flexing wasn’t all that odd for a boxer. People did it all the time at weighs, though TJ could never figure out exactly. But enough about that little conundrum and back to the much larger one at hand… being what the hell she was talking about. It started out like she was continuing the little joke but turned into a serious discussion of where what organs were and how many of them. He personally left the worrying over his internal organs to his trainer and more so the doctor.

“People call me TJ.”

Now that wasn’t the real answer to her question but it was the one she’d get for now. Its been mentioned about his inkling toward privacy, thus not giving his full actual name. There was also the fact that he didn’t really like the name Taylor, sounded far too girly and Joseph was too plain, so TJ was the obvious thing to go by. For the moment he stepped a bit closer to her just so that it wasn’t a reach for her to shake his hand when he extended it. Sure enough he could pull together enough ‘civility’ for the passing moment of there formal introduction.

“And you?”

[Elmira Medina]

"Tee... jay..." Elmira repeated slowly, allowing herself to say it out loud and perhaps commit it to memory. Perhaps. "Those are just letters," she realized. "That must be a nickname, like short for something longer. Tyler... Jimmy. Taylor... James. Tyson... Jones. Tristen... Jameson. Ooooh, I like that last one. Maybe I'll name my kid that!" She paused in silence, then quickly shook her head. "Don't worry," she whispered, leaning toward his ear and cupping her hands around her mouth as if to protect the sound emitted. "I'm not pregnant!" She pulled back and giggled. "It would be a future name," she explained, her voice returning to its usual volume and her posture straightening somewhat once again. "And I might change my mind, anyway. I do that a lot."

“And you?”

"I'm Elmira," she told him. "El MEER ah. It means 'princess.' I'm not really a princess, though. That'd be weird. That kind of stuff only exists in like, England."

[king]

Listening to her trying to figure out what his initials stood for was interesting but TJ had to make conscious effort to not react when she got oh so close with ‘Taylor James’, like mentioned before he didn’t really like his name very much. The tangent that was created might have made his head spin if that was physically possible. He simply nodded when she assured him that she wasn’t pregnant. That was the last thing that would have been in his mind especially considering that, one didn’t look like it, and two that she wouldn’t be out drinking if she was… hopefully. There was something slightly creepy about it, which was the fact that even in a drunken happy silly type of state that she was in, she was thinking about kid names.

“Well, good to meet you… princess.”

That was going to stick. Sure TJ would remember her actual name but from now on, simply due to her mentioning that was what her name meant, he was going to refer to her as princess… whether she liked it or not. He gave a small humored smirk. Yes, he found his little nickname for her amusing. Why… that would because it wasn’t usually something someone called another person that they really didn’t know well. A simple sense of humor was an understatement. Frankly it would be even better if she disliked the nickname, annoying people had its simple pleasures. Just to add on TJ capped it all off with a quick little bow to the ‘princess’.