'Crap, it's cold,' Marian thought as she trudged down the sidewalk. 'I need a new coat.' She saw someone's foot and stepped on it, feeling argumentative.
"Watch where you're going!" a male voice snarled in a sudden release of tension that probably held more anger than Marian deserved.
"Okay. I'll do that if I ever see your foot again." Marian looked up at the owner of the foot and the source of the voice. Brian stepped back from her, expecting her to shriek or pass out or pull out a CD and a pen, demanding an autograph.
"If you ever see his foot again? What have you been smoking?" the foot-owner's female companion asked. Marian smiled at her.
"I haven't been smoking anything. Have you? Or maybe him?"
"Uhm..." Brian took his fiancé’s arm protectively. "Audrey, maybe we should go..."
"I think so too." Audrey sniffed and they kept on walking. Suddenly her face brightened. "You don't know where Kevin is, do you? I mean Kevin and the other guys?"
"They went for a walk. Kevin and AJ and Nick. They said to meet for dinner at some restaurant."
"Oh! Where was it? Maybe they're early," Audrey remarked hopefully.
"Um... I don't know." Brian looked away and shoved his hand in his coat pocket, searching for the scrap of paper with the restaurant name written on it. He found it and held it out to Audrey. "This place."
"I don't know where it is. We're gonna be late!!!" She hugged her arms and stared at Brian unhappily.
"No... We'll find it."
"We'll get there so late they'll already be gone!" Audrey insisted. She pulled a powder compact out of her purse and examined her makeup.
"Where are you going?" a voice behind Audrey asked. It was the girl who had stepped on Brian's foot. Audrey disgustedly handed her the slip of paper. "Oh, this place. I know where that is," Marian lied before she'd even read the note. She smiled knowingly.
"You do?" Brian asked just as Audrey patted her hair and said "I don't know. I can call Kevin's cell phone. He'll-"
"Well, fine then. I mean, it's just down that road and three blocks left and one right and then another left. You can't miss it." She tried to sound confident.
"Wait... Down that road?" Brian asked, pointing at the road he thought the girl had indicated. "Three blocks left, one right, one left?"
"Yeah. You'll find it." Scared and giddy, Marian turned and ran back to the apartment.
"Where were you?!" Glyn demanded. She was sitting under a table.
"I just gave someone wrong directions!" Marian said gleefully.
"Go, Marian. Screw some idiot's life up." Glyn beat her fist against the underside of the table top.
"I don't know WHY. I just did it. They said something about someone named AJ."
"Coincidence? I think not!" Glyn crawled out from under the table and sat on the window sill.
"Don't fall out of the window." Marian commanded. "What exactly happened today? When you were gone?"
"Uhm.. I took a picture of some idiots...." Glyn told her a rather one-sided version of the day's events. "Hey, look! It's snowing. You know, there's a guy and a girl walking around outside looking mega pissed and cold."
"Really?!" Marian ran over to the window. "Hey!! It's THEM!" she opened the window. "HI!!!!"
Brian looked up. Someone was yelling from a window in the cheap apartment building they were walking by.
"It's that BITCH!" Audrey yelled. "That bitch who gave us directions!!!"
"So it is." Brian looked at the girl in the window somewhat angrily.
"Hey. YOU." There was another girl standing at the open door of the apartment building. "Get in here. You're going to die." Glyn was feeling hospitable and social.
"Jee, thanks." Brian muttered and went into the building with Audrey.
"Brian!!! That's a bad idea," she whispered petulantly. "They'll kill us." He pretended not to hear her. She, of course, was able to tell that he was ignoring her. "I wonder if Kevin and the guys are still eating..."
"They're NOT going to kill us!" Brian interrupted. "Hey. Where'd she go?" The girl who had beckoned from the doorway had disappeared. He looked around hesitantly. The girl from the window ran down a staircase.
"Did you have a nice walk?" She looked apologetic. "I didn't know it was going to snow." Her friend reappeared from beneath the stairs, looking sinister.
"Do you know someone named AJ?" she asked, eyeing him strangely.
"What's going on? Brian! Brian, I wanna leave!" Audrey tugged on his coat.
"No, I think it's okay..." he muttered, not looking at her.
"Well, can I at least call K-. Uhh, can I at least make a phone call?" she whined. Brian handed her his cell phone. Audrey happily dialed a number.
"Kev? It's me."
"What? Audrey?? Where are you? Is everything okay?" Kevin demanded, trying not to sound angry. They'd finished eating half an hour ago.
"I guess everything's fine so far. Some bitch gave us wrong directions to the restaurant and we got lost and now she's trying to lure us into her apartment." Audrey sighed, glaring at Glyn and Marian. Glyn smirked. Her disdainful expression was simply priceless.... She pulled out her camera, waiting for the right moment. In the restaurant, AJ was bored. He grabbed Kevin's phone and Kevin didn't seem to mind.
"Hey! Who's this?"
"AJ?" she asked angrily. "It's Audrey." She shrieked suddenly. "BRIAN!!" She ran to his side and cowered. "She took a picture of me!!!! ... Brian!" she repeated. "Your phone just died. It needs new batteries or something." She glared at him and shoved the phone into his hand.
"Someone took a picture of her!" AJ grinned, looking at Nick and Kevin triumphantly. "I wonder if-"
"I hope not." Nick glared at him. "I don't like her."
"Audrey?" Kevin didn't know what he was talking about.
"No. That... girl." Nick shuddered. "The one with the camera."
"Oh. Her."
"I'm calling Glyn! I think Audrey hung up. Too bad." AJ dialed a phone number.
"Aw shit!" Glyn tensed. She heard something. "The phone..." She darted up the stairs. "What?" she asked whoever was calling.
"Glyn!" AJ exclaimed happily.
"AJ the freak," she said, not nearly as enthusiastic. "Why are you calling?"
"Is Brian in your apartment?"
"He's nearby. How'd you know?"
"I just know," he said mysteriously.
"Oh, you talked to that barbie, didn't you?" Glyn was referring to Audrey.
"Err.. Audrey? Yes I talked to Audrey." AJ smirked.
"Lucky you." Glyn eyed the three people who had just entered the apartment: Marian, Brian, and his Barbie. Oh, her name was AUDREY. oops.
"I didn't think people actually LIVED in placed like this." Audrey said none too quietly to Brian.
"Umm.." Brian looked around the small apartment. There was barely any furniture in it, a table, two chairs, that was about it. Two closed doors lead to bedrooms, he assumed, and there was also a half-open door leading to a bathroom. The kitchen consisted of a stove, a fridge, and a sink, with a few cabinets on the wall. It wasn't even very separate from the 'living room.'
"It's rude to be on the phone when one has company," Glyn said into the phone. "Bye." She hung up without waiting for AJ to answer.
"Why does she DO that?" AJ glared at his phone unhappily and turned it off.
"What?" Kevin was seriously worried about AJ. Why did he keep calling that... girl?
"Nothing." AJ sighed and frowned at the wall.
"Ooookay." Kevin shrugged.
"This is where I live," Marian informed the two strangers. Because of her previous behavior, she felt obligated to be nicer than she normally would. The guy nodded, obviously nervous. His Barbie doll looked offended. "Do you have names?"
"Of course, you slut. I'm not telling someone like you." Audrey looked furious.
"My name's Brian. Uh, do you have a name?" Brian glanced nervously from Audrey to the two strange girls.
"My name's Marian. Her name's Glyn."
"I was going to tell them that!" Glyn sat the phone down and approached them. She smiled at Audrey. "I know your name."
"What?! I don't like you! Brian, make her stop it..." Audrey stood behind him. Brian moved over.
"Your name's Audrey. Audrey," Glyn sneered. She smiled maliciously.
"I wish your stupid phone were working..." Audrey frowned at Brian. "I'd really like to call Kevin and ask him to pick us up. I don't like it here."
"You can use our phone," Marian offered.
"Our phone works," Glyn added smugly. Audrey seemed horrified. Glyn shoved the phone in her face and she took it gingerly as if it would bite her.
"Thanks." Brian said amiably. Glyn shrugged and retreated to her room. She loved her room. Her bed was a mattress and box spring on the floor and she had stuff all over the walls, mostly pictures. There wasn't much else in it, just a chest of drawers. She could hear Audrey talking shrilly to someone on the phone, she assumed, and there was silence again.
"So..." Marian murmured. "Can I get you anything? We have, um.. Water. And.. uhh.. pretzels. We might even have bagels and falafel! Brownies too, I think." she shrugged.
"No thanks.." Brian answered, as Audrey obviously wasn't going to.
"All right." Marian looked at the ceiling. It was very interesting. She had no dislike for most strangers, but being around them made her uncomfortable.
"What is that horrid noise?" Audrey made a face as Glyn turned some music on in her room.
".. so insecure..." Linkin Park screamed loudly.
"Uhm.. that's music. Glyn's music. I think she's mad." Marian informed them. "She doesn't play that CD unless she's mad."
"That's... interesting." Brian was trying not to openly stare at the girl. Marian. That was her name. Wasn't it? She was so weird and devious.. And yet, something about her... 'No!' Brian told himself. 'You're engaged to Audrey! You love Audrey!' And the other girl was Glyn. Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Marian yelled. AJ happily threw the door open.
"Where's Glyn?"
"Who the hell are you?" Marian regretted letting him in.
"I'm AJ. Is this the right room?" It seemed right. Brian was right there and so was Audrey. The Barbie. He tried not to laugh at her dainty expression.
"...confusing what is real..." Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park) screamed. Glyn turned the music off and walked out of her room. "AJ, what are you doing here?"
"Audrey gave me directions," he explained proudly.
"But why-"
"She and Brian need a ride. See? I have a reason."
"Glyn, why is he here?" Marian asked distastefully.
"He's rescuing your guests. And I might ask why that other guy is here. And that... friend of his. Your company is weirder than mine."
"Are they?"
"Yes! Well... um. I don't know about that." Glyn looked at AJ doubtfully.
"Brian, I want to leave!" Audrey reminded him.
"I know," he said in an irritated voice.
"AJ! Can we leave now?" she pleaded.
"In a minute." He nodded dismissively.
"Why didn't Kevin come?" Audrey whined.
"Your company is weirder," Glyn declared conclusively.
"He was tired," AJ replied.
"I don't like it here! I want to leave." Brian let Audrey drag him out of the room with a last, sad glance at green-eyed girl with auburn hair who was still trying to watch the ceiling despite all the interruptions.
"I should go, I guess." AJ looked at Audrey regretfully.
"She seems kind of problematic," Glyn observed.
"Only kind of," AJ said with a grimace.
"So you're the camera guy?" Marian looked at AJ skeptically. "Glyn... he's ugly."
"Yeah, kind of." Glyn agreed, shrugging. "I never said he was cute like Jason Wade. I never said he was cute at all. I never said anything about what he looks like."
"Jee, thanks." AJ rolled his eyes. "You're only a little blunt."
"Just a little." Glyn smiled. "Any time you feel like being insulted, you can come here and I'm sure we can help you out."
"What if I don't want to be insulted but I come here anyway?" AJ said mysteriously.
"Then you're asking for whatever you get, and don't complain." Glyn sat under the table.
"I'll remember that. See ya." AJ left.
"Sorry GLYN, but your company was definitely weirder." Marian commented. "Though it is fitting, I suppose."
"Yeah, no contest which of us is weirder. It's definitely you." Glyn closed her eyes and curled up on the floor.
"Uh huh, suure Glyndalyn."
"Call me that again and I'll bite you." Glyn didn't move.
"Glyndalyn!!!" Marian screamed and ran into her room, slamming the door and locking it. Glyn merely smiled to herself and fell asleep.
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