Chapter 9 》Unholy

Chase's POV

"Where to now?"

"You're singing at Mason's house. I'm gonna watch." I inform her. "Will you let me drive next time?" she negotiates. "Fine, as long as you manage to not get hit by a racist on a skateboard next time."

"I'll try my best." she jokes.

Moments later, we arrive at Mason's house. "What song are you gonna sing?" I ask Natalia once we're out of the car. "Uhm, I have no idea." she smiles.

"That's..." I hesitate, "exciting."

"Exactly."

There's only a few cars parked outside. We walk through the same loud and crowded part of Mason's house 'till the door at the back leading to the basement. I see the wall again. Nothing strikes a real artist with horror like an empty wall.

"Hey, let's change our agreement. If I sing, you have to "art-ify" that wall." Natalia says as the two of us continue down the stairs. I look at her before answering, "A lot of people can be dedicated minimalists, you know. How do you know Mason's not one of them?"

"But others want to put something there, they're just unsure. How do you know that's not the case?" she responds, walking excessively slower. She's one step higher than me when I stop and look at her, so we're eye-level.

"What? Now?" I ask.

"Yeah, when else?"

I would argue with her. I really would. But a dude appears from the bottom of the stairs and with a weird glance our way, walks up the stairs past us. "Come on." I say eventually and we both turn around and walk back up the stairs.

We drive to Wal-Mart for art supplies before stopping by Sylvia's for Mac & Cheese and Rib Sliders. Natalia finally knows what Baked Mac & Cheese with Cornbread Crust tastes like. I swear we awkwardly almost held hands in the cue at Wal-Mart. Or she didn't notice and I actually wanted to hold her hand. Either way, it almost happened.

"So how're we gonna do this? Do I just walk down there and start painting?" I ask her. We're sitting in Mason's driveway.

"Basically."

"Alright then."

We get out of the car. Natalia takes her guitar with and as expected, we receive weird glances from random party-goers as we walk across the area to the back door.

"Goodluck."

"Yo, where're you going?"

"To be a distraction." she informs me before making her way down the last step and disappearing behind the wall. I put the small stool we just bought on top of one of the steps for better access to the wall and start painting. I hope Mason won't have a problem with this. A few moments pass before I here her voice on the mic.

She starts singing with her guitar, "I'm a little drunk, I know it. Imma get high as hell. I'm a little bit unholy. So what, so's everyone else." She overdosed on Tylenol before we came here. So did I to be honest, even though they were prescribed for her and not me. I felt left out watching her take all those pills.

"I'm a little drunk, I know it. Imma get high as hell. I'm a little bit unholy. So what, so's everyone else. Wake up in the middle of a breakdown. Have sex on the table with the takeout." this reminds me of last night when we...

"Sup." I say to a girl coming up the stairs when she stops and looks at me before walking on.

"I'm sick of the faking, the using, the taking, the people calling me up saying, "You hate me. You love me. You just wanna touch me." I'm only tryna get some peace. So let me do me." This part reminds me of the phone call she received on Friday night when we smoked here together and the one she received yesterday while she was drawing and the one at the hospital today. All of which she ignored.

Finally I'm done. There's a small door above the three last steps, so I open it and put my paint supplies inside. There's nothing really in there and I'm not about to go all the way back to the car for this shit. When I'm done, I leave the stairs to go watch Natalia before the song ends.

When I enter, everyone's eyes are on her. She's laying on her back at the edge of the stage. Her braids form a pillow under her head, her one leg dangling off of the stage and her other leg, slightly bent on top of the stage. This is no shit a distraction alright. I stand close to the stairs and watch her.

"I'm a little drunk, I know it. Imma get high as hell. I'm a little bit unholy. So what, so's everyone else. I'm a little drunk, I know it. Imma get high as hell. I'm a little bit unholy. So what, so's everyone else. So what, so's everyone else. So what, so's everyone else. I'm a little drunk, I know it. Imma get high as hell. I'm a little bit unholy. So what, so's everyone else. So what, so's everyone else. So what, so's everyone else. Yeah." she finishes her song.

A few people clap for her when she finishes. The others just sort of go back into their zone of weed and total environmental unawareness, except this time, the change on their faces is palpable. It's clear that everyone enjoyed Natalia, it's just that a lot of them are too high to do what normal people would do about it, even though it's only...23:55?! Damn, time moved fast. Or maybe we just moved slow?

Depressing songs start playing in the background. When Natalia remains on the stage, I decide I should probably go help her up. "Chase, is that you?" she asks, putting her hand gently on my face when I remove the mic from her hand. "Yep." I answer.

"I probably shouldn't have had weed, overdosed on Tylenol and drank a little alcohol after that, while you weren't looking."

"Shit, when did the alcohol happen?"

"Come on, you know me. I always have alcohol in my bag." she laughs.

"Okay, let's get you up."

"Yeah, I don't think I can walk right." she laughs even more and that's my cue. I put my one arm under her knees and my other one behind her back. "Oh, please not bridal style again." she says.

"Okay then." I answer before moving for her to get onto my back instead and she does so. She's not really heavy so I guess I'd carry her as many times as her legs can give out...or even more.

"Are you ready to leave yet?"

"Not really." she answers and I decide to carry her to the counter where Mason is. "Hey, Mason." I greet him while sitting Natalia down on the counter stool. "Hey. That was awesome, Natalie." he compliments her.

"That's how I roll." she says and laughs at the end. "Yo, Mason. I see you did something with the wall back there. It looks awesome, Dude." Some guy compliments Mason.

"What wall?" he asks, completely confused.

"The wall on top of the stairs."

"Dude, what wall? What are you talking about?" he says and Natalia looks at me then.

"Come on, I'll show you." The guy leads Mason to the stairs. "I thought you couldn't walk." I say when Natalia gets up from her stool to follow them.

"So did I." she responds with a smile. I get up and follow them as well.

"Who did this?" Mason asks when he sees the artwork. Should I admit that it's me? Maybe I shouldn't say anything.

"It was Chase." Natalia makes the decision for me. Fantastic.

Mason looks at me and my neutral facial expression. "This is awesome, Man. But you couldn't just ask before you vandalised my wall?" he jokes. "I'm sorry, Man." I answer and we all walk back to the counter.

"Do shit that makes your heart beat faster. That's creativity right there." Natalia bumps my arm with her elbow, almost stumbling over as we walk on. "Relax." I say, grabbing her hand before she almost stumbles over.

She holds my hand tighter as we walk back to the counter. It feels almost comfortable holding her hand now. Almost.

"Oh, I see," Jason comes from behind us and walks next to us, his arm around my neck, "since when?" he asks with a smirk. "What do you mean?" I ask him.

"Take a guess, Sherlock. You and Natalia." he says.

"What, no." I say. I want to let go of her hand now, but I'm afraid she might fall or something. She lets go anyway. "No, dumbass." she says. "Then why you holding hands?" he asks.

"I'm drunk and high. He was keeping me steady." she excuses the situation, sitting down by the counter when we get there.

"But..." Natalia gives him the look and he quickly backs away from his question, "Alright."

"That's some cool art back there." he compliments before heading towards the stairs.