A New Life (River Phoenix)

Piper (2)

Piper's POV

Hours had gone by as I swallowed down my 7th shot. 7th? 8th? I have no idea.

The music was loud and the crowd was rowdy and everything in Hollywood seemed right.

That is, until River came walking through the entrance of the club; an angry expression plastered on his usually puppy-dog looking face.

We locked eyes as he approached Flea and I.

"Who gave Carmen that joint?" He questioned.

We shared confused looks until it finally came back to us.

"Oh, I have no clue, man. Why?" Flea wondered, setting his beer down to engage in the conversation.

"All I know is some jackass gave her some laced joint and I need to know who it was. I'm fucking pissed." He spit, and I could tell by his reddened face he was serious.

My eyes shot to the booth she once occupied; my heart twisting as I realized she was no longer there.

"We can find him," Flea started, grabbing River's jacket. Simultaneously, Connor approached us.

"Hey, River," he began. "Where is Carmen?"

"She's at home. Keanu and Lisa are staying there with her until I get back. I need to find this guy," he answered, flashing his eyes around the room.

The more I looked at River, the more distraught he looked. It was almost like he was so angry that it turned into sadness.

He didn't know how to react.

"He knew she was with you," Connor said awkwardly. "That's why he did it."

The look on River's face completely dropped, almost as if his very soul had left his own body.

He didn't speak for seconds. I could tell he felt as if this was somehow his fault.

"Do you know who it was?" Flea questioned.

"No idea, I just heard him. I didn't realize they were going to Carmen. I'm really sorry." Connor replied.

"It's alright, bro. Just get back to work, we can handle it." I told him, nodding at him so he knew it was okay.

"Just let me know if you need anything, okay?" He said before walking off.

Flea, River and I stood helplessly in the middle of a crowded room.

Eventually, we split up to find the douchebag behind the pranks, but after half an hour of searching we soon concluded he had left.

"Let's just head out, okay? We should get home and check on her." I insisted, leading them out of the club.

"She's going to be fine," River said. "It just pisses me off that if she wouldn't have been here with me, this wouldn't have happened."

I could feel my heart as well as Flea's break for him. He carried the guilt upon himself like an open wound in battle.

"This could have happened to anyone." I said, attempting to comfort him. But even I didn't believe my own words.