A New Life (River Phoenix)

Dinner

3 weeks later.

Flea and River have both been busy, leaving me alone with Piper for the past 2 weeks.

A week ago, Flea returned, taking a break from recording. We'd spent some time together but I had mainly spent my time working. A few days after River left, I decided to head out and get myself a job.

I wasn't looking forward to it, but my River withdrawal had began setting in. It sucked.

Recently Flea had gotten news that the movie would be wrapping up a little earlier and River would be returning soon. He didn't give me an exact date, which made me antsy every day.

I awaited the day I'd get to see River again.

I hoped nothing had changed since we hadn't been in contact once since he left.

I also turned 18 two days ago. Flea had generously accompanied Piper and I to the Viper Room, introducing us to many of his friends, most of which were quite familiar with River.

I had decided to spend the day walking around town with Piper since we'd finally had some money to blow. Working sucked, but the extra cash didn't.

We ended up buying new white high top converse and spent the rest of the day scuffing them up. Worn out clothes were the one thing Piper and I always agreed on. "The older, the better", we always said.

Instead of heading home, we'd made arrangements to meet Flea for dinner.

My first instinct was that it was a surprise and River would be there. But he insisted that wasn't the case. Regardless, he was determined on seeing us, as we were to him.

The restaurant was one of the fanciest I'd heard of, so our jeans found their way into the dresser for the night. We tried our hardest to not look like our usual, unmotivated selves.

We had nothing to worry about when we saw Flea, though. His jeans and typical band tee sent a smile on my face.

"Thank God you guys came," Flea said, "I thought you'd be busy."

Piper and I laughed and began examining the menu, unfamiliar with almost every item on it.

"When are we busy, Flea?" I wondered aloud. Flea laughed and shrugged jokingly, sipping the beer he had already ordered.

"Good point, C." I was shocked at his nickname.

"C, huh? That's a new one." I told him. He shrugged and smiled at me.

"I thought you might like it." He told me, and I informed him I did.

"I had this crazy idea, Carmen. I thought you'd like it." Flea began, twirling up his spaghetti. "River's finished filming and is spending time down in Gainesville. I thought maybe we could all fly down to see him." He suggested.

Piper's face lit up as mine did the same. Going to see River would be the perfect chance to bond with him more. It sounded perfect.

"Flea," I started. "I love it." He winked at me as Piper spoke.

"Let's do it! That sounds so awesome! But when would we go? You know we have work." Piper told him, her voice wearing down in excitement.

"Yeah, we can't just drop our jobs." I Insisted. Flea laughed and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, I got it covered." He said slyly, and Piper and I didn't ask a thing.

But we did have concern about the money; I nor Piper was one to borrow money from someone else. We constantly felt as if we owe'd people for their generosity.

"You can't possibly be paying for us," I began. Piper chimed in.

"Yeah, Flea. There's no way we'd let you do that." Flea laughed and shook his head.

"I'm not the one who paid for it," He said mischievously. He reached in his pocket and pulled out two tickets, handing them to us.

"River was."