show me what I'm looking for//RACH

[vincent jacob dorée]

It had been a day full of history classes for Vincent. He wasn’t complaining – he loved his history classes, but when he was surrounded by music for so long, he craved his guitar and his compositions. He wished that he’d had the huts to make music his major, but he just doubted himself far too much. Even if he did manage to graduate with some sort of music degree, what were the chances that he would be able to actually do something with it? Despite George’s and Tobias’ support, he was still very doubtful about his talents. When it really came down to it, Vincent knew that he’d probably have a permanent job at George’s Music Shop, so that was comforting at least.

Once Vincent arrived at his and Sterling’s apartment, he took a careful look around. “Anybody home?” he called out. After a moment of silence, Vincent decided that it was safe. He grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator and headed to his room. His guitar, which he lovingly named Elvis, was resting in its stand next to his bedside table. It was the very same guitar that Tobias’ had given him when he was around four years old. It was in surprisingly good condition, considering.

With a grin, he crossed the room, dropped his book bag on his dresser (so he wouldn’t forget it in the morning) and snatched up Elvis. He slowly lowered himself onto the bed and put the guitar into playing position. After a quick strum of the strings, he began fingering through a song that had been in his head for about the past week.

He had gotten through about half the song when he heard a knock at the door. Curious as to who it might be, he carefully rested Elvis on the bed and went to the door. He stooped down a bit so that he could see through the peephole and recognized the face. “Rach, hi,” he said, after the door was opened,”Um…what’s up?”

[rachelle danica carnes]

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,

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I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin' them nights,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.

Rach had just got home from her insane day. She had classes until one then started her shift at two which was barely enough time to come home throw her backpack down and change into her apron. Then she picked up the backpack and headed out the door. It was only a five hour shift today and it was now just nearing seven. She headed back home to find an empty house. She had no idea where Pers was but part of her just really didn’t want to know. Rach dropped her backpack to the floor before flopping over the side of the couch. She turned staring at her x-box realizing she didn’t even have effort to play x-box. Not that was really scary. When one didn’t have effort to play x-box something was wrong with you. She turned onto her side kicked the navy toms from her feet pulling the long black hair out from underneath her when she spotted Desmond or Desi for short. Her beautiful Ovation that she named after the infamous Desmond from Obla Di Obla Da made famous by the Beatles. To this day Rach couldn’t figure out if Desmond was actually a girl or a boy. Apparently that’s what made it fun. He rolled off the couch to her knees before crawling over to her precious Desi. She picked up the guitar and sat cross legged before strumming once. She started off with the chord’s G which lead to D7 which then was followed by another G and then a G7 and C. That’s when she paused. C sounded absolutely terrible. She sighed turning the guitar over in her hand staring down realizing it was time to be restrung. It was probably about time anyways. She wasn’t an avid player but she did enjoy sitting and dinking around. Maybe she would pester Sterling to take her to Georges so she could find Vincent.

Rach popped up from the ground suddenly finding all the energy in the world. She turned ruffling the hot mess black hair so it would lay a little more flat before turning and looking back to her guitar. She dug out her hard case that was plastered with different organization stickers that she supported amongst random bands. Rach yanked her shirt off changing the coffee smelling shirt for a black tank with a plaid shirt over it. She changed out of her work pants for her dark skinnies and decided that nothing would make the coffee go away. She placed Desi back into the case before grabbing her navy toms and heading out the door. Pers would find something to do if she got home and Rach wasn’t there. Rach knew that Sterling and Vincent didn’t live far but Rach was tiny and the guitar seemed to weigh a ton today. She approached the house realizing the jeep wasn’t outside. Well there went that idea but maybe just maybe Vincent wasn’t working so she knocked anyway. She grinned the moment Vincent opened the door. She used her free arm pulling the very tall Vincent into a hug before quickly letting go remembering that he often got a little awkward in huggy situations. ”VINCENT! Yesh, you are just the person that I needed to see. Preferably at work, but maybe you can help me!” Rach turned to the side pulling her elbow up to show off the case. ”Desmond sounds awful! Mind taking a look?” Rach had a nasty habit of making herself at home in their house and took a step inside laying Desmond on the tile before motioning Vincent to come look. "Poor thing,"Rach whispered as she pet the neck of the guitar. 

A little four-piece band was jammin',
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Show 'em, son

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This was made by NAT, please do not steal. Song lyrics belong to The King Elvis Batman is always watching...always.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Upon seeing Rach, Vincent had automatically assumed that she was there to see Sterling. He was about to announce that Sterling wasn’t there and ask if he could take a message for him when Rach immediately moved forward and pulled Vincent into a hug. He automatically tensed up and awkwardly patted her on the back, thankful that she didn’t make the hug last for too long. Hugs were…just a little much for Vincent. He really wasn’t one for physical contact, unless on some rare occasion, he was the one initiating it. Once she released him, he took a step back and leaned against the door, stepping aside to allow her room to come inside.

“Oh – oh, alright,” he said as he followed her back into the apartment, carefully shutting the door behind him. It made that awful, c sharp, clanging noise that Sterling said he was going to fix awhile ago. Surprise, surprise, it still hadn’t gotten fixed. Maybe he should just call Tobias for a little help. He didn’t know how much longer he took take it, really.

“Let’s go over here,” he said, leaning down to pick up Rach’s guitar before leading the way into the sitting area. He rested the guitar case on the coffee table before lowering himself down onto the couch. Gently, he opened the case and pulled out the guitar. He put it into playing position and strummed a chord, only to react to the sound by tilting his head to the side. “Yeah, you need new strings…I think I’ve got a set…hold on,” he said, gently putting the guitar back into the case and moving into his room. He began digging through his bedside table drawer to retrieve the set of strings and some restringing tools.

“Okay,” he said, dropping back down onto the couch and picking up the guitar before he began to unstring the strings. “Um…so how do you like your classes so far?” he asked, glancing up to Rach. 

[rachelle danica carnes]

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,

----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin' them nights,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.

As much as Rach hated to admit the fact that she loved killing Vincent with hugs she did love admitting to enjoying his awkward pat on the back. Talk about affection that pat was pretty much the entire boy’s amount of affection. She smiled as he released her. He seemed almost taken back that he had been needed and not Sterling. She nodded and followed as Vincent picked up Desmond. She twitched at the door before glaring back to the knob. ”How about you hold him, and I’ll hold the supplies and he fixes it?” Rach stated placing her fingers together in the ‘excellent’ format of a genius plan. She watched as Vincent strummed before the very sickly Desmond gave in. She nodded in agreement as Vincent said he had some of the strings. Well it was her lucky day. She would have to figure out how to re-pay Vincent. She watched as he reentered holding Desmond in place before going to work. Rach’s next favorite thing about poor Vincent the awkward small talk. ”Ugh, I’m taking a major needed class right now that’s absolutely terrible. It’s nothing I want to do but other people in the major need it. It’s basically how to cheat your customers which is totally against everything that I stand for. I guess the right word would be “getting every penny for your work” but to me that’s ridiculous,”

Rach replied slouching back into the couch. That’s when she realized she was sitting on the couch. She wasn’t on the floor or pushing stuff over. There wasn’t even trash around. Rach tilted her head to the side to stare back into the kitchen. Did Sterling even live there anymore? ”Uh hey…Vincent, did Sterling move out? Or did you win some bet?” Rach laughed turning back around on the couch watching Vincent. She kicked her toms off before pulling her feet under her watching him work. She had no idea how the house was this clean with a Sterling living there. It had shown improvement since Vincent moved in but this was almost scary. This house made Pers and Rach look like messy people and the two were not exactly even close to what Sterling used to live like. ”What about you? How’s all the history? Learning about Greece yet?” Rach replied with a large grin. It was no lie that the poor thing had an obsession with greek mythology. Poor Pers probably thought she was insane the first time they met.

A little four-piece band was jammin',
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Show 'em, son

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This was made by NAT, please do not steal. Song lyrics belong to The King Elvis Batman is always watching...always.

[vincent jacob dorée]

A smile burst out across Vincent’s face when Rach stated the plan to get Sterling to fix the door. He’d been asking his roommate for quite awhile to fix the damn door, but to no avail. “’S’alright. He’s probably just too busy right now. I’ll just call Tobias and he’ll help me fix it,” he said, shrugging and tilting his head to the side. Aside from playing music, Vincent wasn’t too good with his hands, so fixing something by himself was pretty much out the window. He was terrible at fixing things, but he was an expert at breaking them. Anyone that had spent any time at all with Vincent could vouch for that.

His eyebrows furrowed as he silently took in what Rach was saying. “Aren’t…you focusing on non-profit organizations?” he asked, slightly afraid that he had confused what she was working towards. He briefly glanced up at her as he took off the first, string, quickly moving to the second. Vincent could have done the job much faster, but there was something about instrument care that he found really soothing, so he wanted to take his time with this one.

He pursed his lips and gradually let a grin through when he heard what Rach said. “I think Sterling has just been pretty busy with that new internship, you know. He’s home a little less, so it’s easier to keep the place clean,” he said, taking a look around the apartment. Vincent was glad to have Sterling around, but he had to admit, it was nice that he was able to keep the place cleaner lately. There were a lot less messes, which made Vincent a little less stressed. Despite all of this, he refused to be neurotic about cleanliness.

“Nah, I’m in a couple of American history classes this semester,” he said, moving the strings that he had removed onto the coffee table before removing the last string from the guitar. He took a cloth that he had brought in with him and wiped down the guitar before grabbing one of the string packets and opening it. “My schedule alright. I don’t have any music classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though, so that’s kind of weird,” he said, as he unwound the string, accidentally revealing a large bruise on his right forearm that he had momentarily forgotten about. 

[rachelle danica carnes]

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,

----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin' them nights,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.

Rach nodded as Vincent claimed he would just have Tobias come and fix it. The poor guy but Rach could only guess that it was half an excuse to see the father figure. She wouldn’t comment it on the moment because it was the only thing she could truly put together. Rach watched as he started pulling the strings off. Rach wouldn’t dare attempt it. Knowing her she’d put one on the wrong slot or who knows but if she attempted it nothing would turn out okay.

Rach let a small whine form on her lips as Vincent pointed out what she was focusing on instead of the bogus major course. ”Yeah but you know how every major has classes that you have to take even if it’s not in your emphasis area? Well I’m stuck with this terrible class. My Professor said it would benefit me of what not to do then. It’s just really annoying,” The whole thing was completely dishonest. Which everyone told white lies but when it came to helping people shouldn’t that be where the lies end? That was a little low even for the insane business world these days.

She stifled a laugh when Vincent explained why the house had been so clean. She wondered if the whole detective thing would go to Sterling’s head and if so how quickly. ”Yeah, he kept trying to say I need an internship. I’m barely surviving. I’m a believer in sleep. Plus Pers is kinda having a rough time lately. Well maybe it’ll be good for you guys. He’ll be gone being extremely busy which that’s how he functions and the house’ll stay clean. Sounds like a win-win to me!” Rach stated continuing to watch the strings being replaced. She wondered how Vincent knew which one went where but after a couple guitars he probably just knew.

”Boo,” Rach laughed. Her obsession with all things Greek was getting a little out of hand. She even dvr’d an episode of national geographic that was talking about the various different Gods. ”Well you can certainly go rent a practice room on Tuesday and Thursdays and still get the music in. Just because it’s your minor doesn’t mean it’s not just as important as your major,” Rach stated as her eye sight caught a huge bruise as Vincent moved the string. Rach carefully moved her left hand to the sleeve that was covering the other half of the bruise. She found several others her jaw dropping as she saw several huge bruises. ”Vincent Jacob! What are THOSE? Rach cringed as she let go of his sleeve. She jumped to her feet turning to stand in front of him. He was in trouble now. Those were not from ‘falling off a bike’ or ‘down the stairs’ someone made those. Rach could feel her anxiety start to flare up as she paced back and forth not giving Vincent a whole lot of time to react. ”He can’t be self=harming that would be a terrible and difficult way to go, abusive girlfriend? He would be the type to have one but I haven’t seen anyone. If it’s STERLING—better the hell not be Sterling,” Rach turned back to Vincent with tears lining her eyes. ”I’m done, you’re turn, spill,” Rach muttered realizing she flew off the handle. She plopped down a little closer this time staring into his eyes waiting for a proper answer no bullshit.

A little four-piece band was jammin',
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Show 'em, son

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This was made by NAT, please do not steal. Song lyrics belong to The King Elvis Batman is always watching...always.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Vincent thinned his lips when he heard Rach’s comment about music being his minor and its importance. He still heavily doubted his decision to follow through with an musical education at all. Despite Tobias’ support and all of George’s constant comments about what a musical genius Vincent was, he still felt that he was probably wasting his time. “Yeah, I guess,” he said, shortly, beginning to focus very hard on his task at hand.

He had just finished restringing the guitar and was about to proceed to the tuning process when he heard Rach’s outburst. Vincent was completely unaware that she had pushed his sleeve up a bit. “What are what?” he asked, confused. His gaze shot up to meet her face and he jerked back when he realized that she was talking about his bruises. He had many, but he usually did a pretty good job of hiding them. The last thing he wanted was people snooping around and asking questions. Andy just had a few more months until he could move out and neither of them wanted him taken into governmental care.

“They’re nothing, don’t worry about it,” he said, shoving his sleeve down further to mask the bruises. Vincent moved quickly as he continued to tune the instrument as Rach began pacing back and forth and talking to herself. He wanted to get the instrument all set up as fast as possible now. Before he was able to completely finish, though, she plopped back down onto the couch and demanded the truth. “Look, I said don’t worry about it, okay?” he said, before playing a short measure to test out his tuning job. He wasn’t really looking at her, so he hadn’t realized that she was crying. “Your guitar’s all set,” he said, gently putting the instrument back in its case before getting up and going into the kitchenette area to retrieve a bottle of water. 

[rachelle danica carnes]

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,

----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin' them nights,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.

Rach had already started losing her mind by the time Vincent had the time to react to what she had saw. She was already losing the battle against the tears that had started collecting in the corner of her eyes. Vincent wouldn’t even look up to her now he was just telling her to forget about it. Forget about it. She could remember those words all too well from Carlo. Right before he went to JAIL. She wrapped her arms around her stomach holding herself as she watched him put Desmond back in his case. She shook her head still lost for words. How could she have missed Vincent’s bruises all this time? She considered him to be like a brother, a best friend and here he was hiding something that she knew shouldn’t be hidden. He was hurt and that wasn’t just physically hurt. Along with bruises came the mental hurt. She watched him quickly stand up and that’s when she lost it. The tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at the ground. No. This was exactly what TWLOHA talked about. This isn’t what she wanted to be at all. She didn’t want this for Vincent and she wasn’t going to stay quiet. She was always angry about people who sat by and watched their loved ones just watch the abuse and here was her chance.

Rach was still crying as she scrambled to her TOMS running back into the kitchen slamming the fridge door. She stared up at Vincent finally allowing herself to show that she was not just a little concerned about the whole ordeal. She wanted him to understand that she cared that much about him. ”Don’t even TRY to weasel out of this one, okay? Vincent you know you’re one of my closest friends. You’re always the one I can talk to about serious things when Sterling and Patrick just want to goof off. Not to mention Pers probably would just nod about it. You have always been there for me, you’re like my big brother Vincent. I’ve always thought of you like that, like someone I could turn to. And—and you always sit and listen to my problems,” Rach slowed down. Her anxiety calming slightly forcing herself to talk even just a millisecond slower; she inhaled feeling slightly ashamed of crying in front of Vincent. ”I just care about you a lot, okay? And and…that,” Rach pointed towards his arm. The crying starting all over again as the tears ran down her face.

”Something tells me the other side is a perfect match, why wouldn’t you ask for help? Why wouldn’t you—some of those are pretty deep and purple Vincent, I—I can’t,” Rach’s shoulder heaved a final time as she attempted to calm the crying. ”Who’s doing this to you?” Rach muttered before leaning against the fridge and slowly sliding to the tile. She buried her head in her knees shaking her head it was just like Carlo. Leave it alone, let’s not talk about this, and then next thing you know your life is sprawling on the floor screaming for help.

A little four-piece band was jammin',
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Show 'em, son

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This was made by NAT, please do not steal. Song lyrics belong to The King Elvis Batman is always watching...always.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Vincent casually opened the refrigerator door and was about to grab a bottle of water when Rach came up and suddenly slammed the door. He pulled his arm out just in time. Vincent looked at her in surprise, especially when he saw the tears streaming down her face. The surprise on Vincent’s face was slowly mixed with confusion. It didn’t take him long to realize what she was getting at. He sighed and glanced off to the side, obviously not wanting to talk about this. However, his eyes flashed back to Rach when she declared that she saw him as a brother. That definitely tore at his heartstrings, even more than seeing her crying. He looked down at his bruises when she motioned to them and quickly shoved his sleeves further down, which was useless, since she had already seen how bad some of the bruises were.

The way Rach was acting was making Vincent feel terribly guilty about keeping this a secret from her. His shoulders slumped when she inquired as to whom it was that was harming Vincent. A part of him wanted to try to avoid the subject, but he knew that it would be useless and Rach would just get even more upset. He didn’t want to upset her. “Alright…fine. Just…don’t tell anyone, alright? I mean it,” he said, somewhat sternly. He thinned his lips and wandered over to the little island in the kitchen, resting his hands on the cool tiles, preparing to divulge the truth to Rach. “My dad…it’s my dad. He sort of…has a drinking problem,” he said, refusing to look at her.