"Becky I can't believe you would dare me something like this!"
Becky smiled evilly at her blonde companion and dragged her further into the Lounge.
"Come now Beth, I never knew you to suffer from Anablephobia."
"-don't even know what that means." Beth grumbled.
"It's the fear of men, you can't be single forever." Becky pushed Beth down onto a bar stool, sliding into the one neighboring hers.
"Oh yes I can! I take that as a challenge!" Beth snapped. They both ordered a drink and put their heads down, trying to look inconspicuous.
"A challenge is what got you here in the first place, my team wins, and you stay in the bar of my choice for three hours."
"Yeah well it was a tie" Beth grumbled, eyes darting around as the drinks arrived "and that's why you're here." She picked up her martini and slumped down, sipping it daintily.
Becky picked up the White Russian and stirred it about, turning her head this way and that. She was hoping to find a way to get her friend back for dragging her along. If Beth wasn't creeped out by the end of the night she would feel like a failure! This was the ideal place to look for scary people; the Iceberg Lounge surely could have some famous criminals in it.
Beth was looking straight at her martini, making eye contact with the olive in the middle the best she could because she was determined that was the only eye contact she was going to be making tonight. Glancing over at the giant Iceberg floating around in the middle of the lake, she rethought that fact.
Becky was busy looking at the other direction though, observing a few new males that had just walked in. One was extremely tall, had unruly ginger hair and was about as thin as a toothpick. The other was a bit shorter, maybe six foot with darker red hair and a snobby expression.
"Hey, hey Beth-" She turned around to grab her friend's arm but only touched air. "Huh?" Becky looked around and finally spotted her flirting with the conductor as the iceberg slowly drifted on the edges of the pool. Seeing the other girl walk slowly around the railing trailing after the guy leaning on his podium to talk to her, she snickered and settled down for a show. It would have been funny, if Becky didn't know Beth would drop the guy like a rock once he took her request.
"So you do know Benny Goodman?" Beth was giggling.
"Come on honey," Becky chimed in, linking her arm into Beth's "You know your husband doesn't like you out of quarantine."
She pouted and stomped her foot. "I won't stay in quarantine, I don't care who catches it!" and the taller girl dragged her away.
It was amazing how much mileage an iceberg could get if it really tried. Holding back laughs, the girls went back over to their drinks.
"Did you see the new guys?" Becky prodded her Beth's arm and nudged her head in the direction he boy's table was.
Beth traced Becky's eyes and smirked, sitting back in the chair.
"You see the one in the green suit expensive enough to bankrupt Africa? His hair?"
Becky broke her stare on the skinnier one and instead studied the other.
"What about it?"
"I'll bet you ten it's dyed."
"…so you think they're gay?"
"If one is it usually mean the same for the other." Beth sighed, swigging down the reset of the martini and starting on the olive.
"You know, Edward. Just because I'm considering you an ally doesn't mean I won't toxin you if I'm not driven home this instant." Jonathan snarled at his companion.
"Please, Jonathan! Loosen up, have a nice time while you can!"
"I lost the ability to have fun a while ago." He muttered.
"Then the least you can do is get laid." Eddie sniffed.
Jon dropped his glasses in surprise.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I have a theory that the reason you're so uptight all the time is because you're still a virgin." Edward stated matter-of-factly. The rather dangerous comment seemed to not ruffle him at all as he was gazing around the room with interest and not facing the horrified expression on his companion's face.
"I assure you, I'm not-"
"There's two!" Eddie hissed, digging his fingers into Jon's arm and pointing very conspicuously towards two women, one tall with crazy, brown hair in a simple purple dress that came to about her knees, and another shorter blonde one in a dark green mini.
"Nigma, you are not getting me to hit on those girls." Jonathan replied bemusedly. He was working up a plan of his own for tonight.
"Well I will! You just watch the master at work."
Jonathan's smile grew to wicked proportions as he saw his friend straighten his tie and put on a face so slick oil would have been shamed. This would probably be his revenge right here.
Becky looked around and snickered, elbowing Beth.
"Looks like we're going to find out." She murmured as Beth turned around.
Eddie leaned on the bar next to Becky and cheesed up his grin, eyeing the taller of the two.
"Nice dress, but it would look better on my bedroom floor."
Beth and Jonathan almost busted a gut seeing Becky slap the man so hard he staggered back. Eddie wandered back to the table with dazed expression, a red mark that looked like Australia forming on his right cheek.
"So, what now, master?" Jonathan asked smugly.
"We er…we regroup! I'll go after the other one-" he whirled around to go after the lighter haired of the two but Jon yanked him back in his seat.
"May a real master suggest something?"
Eddie scoffed and leaned back. "Master of fear maybe, not women."
"And that's why I don't have a red mark on my face. You have to examine the female psyche, predict what they do, what they like. You never hit on a woman while they're with a friend, you wait until you can talk to them face to face." Edward moved to say something- "-AND you definitely don't use any pickup lines!" Jonathan interrupted. Eddie's mouth closed.
"Well…so we divide and conquer?"
"Precisely."
"…so what do we do until then?" Eddie glanced at Jon, who was trying not to stare at the one who slapped Edward.
"Um…we try to make eye contact."
Beth was wiping the tears streaking her cheeks by the time Becky had cooled down enough to talk.
"Th-that…that imbecile!" She spat, her freckles almost disappearing from the shade of red her face was.
Beth looked away and ordered a Brandy Alexander, earning another disparaging stare from Becky.
"Don't you think you've had enough?"
"Never say never!" Beth giggled.
"…Beth that doesn't make any sense."
She stared at Becky for a moment then shook her head, swaying lightly on the stool.
"Right um…where were we?" She grumbled.
"I was just thinking we should get that-" Becky had looked over her shoulder in a sign to the boys that they should get back at, but she froze. "Uhh…Bethy?" She whispered.
Beth looked over to them and gripped her beverage harder in terror, green eyes widening.
"What…the hell…are they doing?"
Jon and Eddie were ogling them from across the room, unblinking, unmoving, just sitting up in their seats and…gawking.
"Jon…" Eddie began "How…much longer…do we have to make eye contact? I need to blink!"
"I think that's enough…" Jonathan exhaled hard as he blinked finally, his eyes watering as the moisture returned.
"What now?" Eddie asked thoughtfully.
Jonathan skimmed over the girls again, both looked petrified.
"We wait for them to split I believe, we might as well enjoy our stay." And they ordered a few drinks.
Meanwhile Beth and Becky were clutching to each other, frightened senseless.
"A-are they going to do something?" Becky hissed frantically.
"I don't know! That was a rape face if I've ever seen one!" Beth squeaked.
"I-I need to go f-freshen up!"
Beth grabbed her arm as she tried to get away.
"No! Don't leave me here! Alone!"
Becky squeezed her hand and nearly ran to the women's lounge.
"I-if I get violated I'm blaming you." Beth called after her weakly, sinking down in her stool and staring straight ahead of her.
"Now's your chance." Jon hissed into his drink.
Edward got up, his confidence renewed and started towards the bar again. As soon as he lay against the edge of the table next to her, she gave him her best glare.
"You say what you did to Becky, and I can assure more than a slap." Beth said firmly, nursing her drink further.
She would be a tough one, he thought. But, a riddle was always in his best interest, so he did what he always did to stun the softer sex, he turned on the charm.
"I'm here to apologize about that," he purred, slipping onto a bar stool beside her. "You see I really don't know that much about women." Playing the innocent was always a good strategy.
Beth sneered at him leaned closer "You are a really bad liar, you know that right?"
His charming smirk turned into a snarl.
"Believe me, my dear. I'm a better liar than you would imagine."
"And were you lying just then?" She raised an eyebrow and swigged more Brandy Alexander.
Edward's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"What's your game, temptress?"
"Name one; I can win all of them."
"Am I allowed a name?"
"Well that's for me to know, and you to deduce."
He liked her more and more. To prove he was being friendly he reached out his hand out in front of him.
"Edward, miss."
Beth hesitated before slipping her hand into his grasp and shaking it slightly. "Bethany." Edward's eyes glimmered dangerously and he lifted her hand up to him mouth, placing a small kiss on the tip of her fingers.
"A pleasure."
Beth settled back, trying not to stare too intensely at the new man. Edward was trying to brush it off that the kiss on the hand didn't work. It always worked!
"Where are your freckles?" Beth inquired.
"...you're asking about my freckles of all things?"
"Well..." She blushed and looked down at her drink again. "Most redheads have...freckles..."
"Oh I have freckles."
She scanned his face in bewilderment.
"Where?"
He beamed and rested his chin in his hand.
"Where do you think?" After a few stunned second from Beth, as she didn't really know what to say to that, he continued, his voice sopping with suaveness "Would you like to find out?"
She scanned his form and smirked slightly.
"Boy, I could crack your nuts open like a squirrel."
Edward shuddered involuntarily and crossed his legs.
"N-now what fun is that?" He asked nervously. Beth, again, said nothing.
"So is it died?" she blurted. Eddie looked taken aback.
"No! No, of course not!" He she gasped, reaching up to comb through the fiery strands.
Beth narrowed her eyes further as his hair fell back into place.
"What's the matter?" He grinned cockily, fixing her with a much better gaze than he had a few minutes ago. "Would you like to touch it?"
She fought back the urge to say 'that's what she said' and instead pursed her lips.
"Are you going to rape me if I do?"
Edward put up his hand and crossed his heart. "Wouldn't, a million years."
Beth reached her hand out and hesitantly stroked back a hair in his face.
Before she knew anything was happening he pulled her closer and crushed their lips together, making sure she couldn't move away until she started liking it.
His hands were bracing the back of her head firmly, pushing against her passionately. At first she struggled, then stood rigid, then finally loosened to wrap her arms around his neck.
On the other side of the building, Becky was just coming out of the bathroom, looking around warily.
"Have a match?" Whispered a shadowed voice. She yelped and jumped away, trying to get as much distance from the plant where the expression had come from. The plastic leaves did nothing to hide the tall figure completely. His hair was hiding his eyes, which were looking down just enough to be able to shade the top of his face. A soft, foreboding grin was fixed on his lips that were cradling a cigarette.
"I-w-we're not supposed to smoke in here." Was all she could get out.
"…come closer, little one." Becky straightened up and stood proud. Little indeed! She could measure up to him easily! They crept closer together and to her dismay, she only came to about his chin. There went her usual edge.
As soon as he was breathing down her shirt did she begin to realize that this person was a stranger who could take her out easily.
"Been nice knowing you!" Becky turned on her heels and took a big step forward in order to put some distance between them. A spindly hand was on an equally slender shoulder before she moved a foot away.
"I-I swear mister, I'll scream!" She warned.
What he did made violent shivers run down her back, but whether they were good or bad was yet to be discovered. The man actually laughed. Not an amused laugh, so to speak. But high pitched cackles that would have sounded ridiculous on anyone but him.
"Oh, would you?" He susurrated in her ear, the thin hands traveling down to grin the tops of her arms almost painfully tight.
"Mister are you some kind of-eep!" Becky never got the sentence all out due to the fact he had just pulled her further behind the plastic plant.
"Are you afraid of needles?" He whispered softly, lips brushing her ear. He eyes got wider than they were already from her reaction to all of this. Was it strange this was turning her on?
"I-I-I never had a particular fondness for them." She stuttered.
"That's so true for most people, but then again…I expects it adds to the terror."
"What do you mean?" She asked with reverence.
Jon raised his eyebrow and took her in once more, his eyes well accustomed to the dark.
"Are you not scared?"
Becky's cheeks grew rosier as she figured out all this man wanted to do was scare her.
"I'm not one easily scared." She said, matching his slightly ominous tone perfectly.
Before she could draw another breath she was pressed into the wall, his thin mouth smashing into hers cruelly, his hands seizing into her waist were sure to leave bruises the next few days. Nothing in her mind alerted her though; the strange rushing noise in her head overthrew anything coherent from forming.
When he finally broke away, her hands were limp trembling noodles around his neck.
"C-come here often?" She managed to whimper before all the air was sucked from her lungs again as he planted small nips down to the base of her throat.
"No." he finally said. "But I will now if you do..."
"Becky." She whispered hoarsely.
"Jonathan, nice to meet you."