"You said that you were going to get a haircut." You watch Audrey stomp into your apartment, nerves fried and temper, dangerous. "So how did I end up picking you from the police station instead of the mall?"
"Hey, what are you, my mom?" She spins on her heel, glaring daggers at you when you come face to face. "What the fuck do you want me to say?" Audrey spits viciously, flecks of saliva leaving stains in your shirt. She kicks her shoes off and makes a beeline to your room, leaving them in a heap by the door.
You stare at the mess and sigh, long used to her sloppy habits. Instead of bending down to arrange them, you take off your own shoes and toss them into the same pile. There's no point in trying to tidy it up – she's would just make a mess of it when it's time to leave.
"For starters, I want to know how the hell you ended up there," You follow her into the bedroom, placing your keys on the small dining table as you passed through the hall. "with Kyanna wearing the mother of all black eyes."
Audrey throws herself onto your bed, arms and legs open in stance that reminds you of children trying to make angels in the snow. She doesn't answer you and continues lying there in silence – until she suddenly coughs.
You shake your head and shut the bedroom door. Padding towards the window, you open it with a wide sweep of your hands– a smile ghosting over your lips as a light breeze swirls around the room. The smell of dust and sweat disappears almost instantly. Your girlfriend doesn't react to your gesture of goodwill, and continues lying there like a log. For a moment, you almost believe that she's asleep, but one glance at her tightly wound body tells you otherwise about her current state of mind.
"Answer the fucking question, Audrey." Your voice rises sharply, the earlier events having worn down most of your patience. Normally, you'd be grateful for the silence and the lack of bitching – but after paying bail for Audrey and Kyanna, your wallet feels a world lighter than what it did before, and it's not doing your bad mood any favours.
"Fine!" Audrey finally speaks, or in her case, shouts, and pushes herself into a seating position. She wraps her arms around your pillow and to your horror, sinks her teeth into it. "That whore was the only one on duty today when I came to get my hair cut, so I had to ask her to cut my hair. But do you know what she fuckin' said? She said no! Like hell I was going to let that slide, the nerve of that–"
"So you punched Kyanna because she didn't want to cut your hair?" You wonder out loud, resisting the urge to face palm. Audrey was no stranger in regards to getting into fist fights, but she was usually the provoked and never the one provoking. You sigh, agitatedly running a hand through your hair. "Seriously?"
She catches the incredulity in your tone and flings the pillow at you. The object sails over your head and makes a slight 'umph' sound when it hits the wall behind you.
"As if!" Audrey rakes a hand through her coloured hair, "If it'd been just that, I would've flipped her off and told her to go fuck herself with a rusty pole."
You wince at the imagery, stomach turning a little at the thought of it. "Okay fine, so what else did she do that warranted a punch to the face?"
"She–" Audrey cuts herself off, mouth tightening into a firm line. Your frustration mounts when she doesn't continue her sentence, but it's tempered by the curiosity of why she stopped herself.
In the first place, Audrey wasn't the kind of girl who held back, as exemplified by the current state of affairs, so to see her hesitate outright was…pretty weird.
"It doesn't matter." She says after a stretch of silence. Though her voice is sharp, she doesn't lift her head to meet your eyes. "You wouldn't want to hear about something so fuckin' stupid anyway." Audrey gets on her feet and trudges towards the door.
"Hey." You stop just inches away from her, having been slowly making your way over during the stretch of silence. "I'll be the one to decide whether it's stupid or not." You say firmly, but gently, aware that she would snap at you if given the chance. So you soldier on, not giving her a chance to speak until you get the rest of your words out. "Tell me what happened…alright?" You put your hand over hers, fingers dancing across the valley of her palm.
You pull her hand off the knob in one swift movement, and bring it to eye level – and press a small kiss to the inside of her wrist.
Audrey's cheeks darken almost instantly, and she rips her hand out of your grip. You crack a small grin. Her chest is heaving rapidly, the rise and fall of her breasts accentuating the frills of her corset. Even under the dimmed overhead lights, you can see how dilated her pupils are, how the black expands and corners the red of her irises.
Audrey chuckles weakly. "W-Whatever. If you wanna know that badly, I guess I'll just have to tell you."
You both walk back towards the bed, Audrey cursing up a storm when she stubs her toe on the varnished wooden bedframe. When she starts demanding that you get a new one, you give her a salacious wink and tell her you won't do such a thing unless she moves in – to which she whacks your head with a porn magazine that'd been on the nightstand.
When you're both seated comfortably, you turn to look at her. She replies with a snort and a glare, "Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like a thirsty fuckin' dog. You want a kiss? Dream on." She laughs. You shake your head, the insult rolling off you like water off a duck. It lacks her usual heat, and she doesn't follow up with another one. She goes silent again. The wait is much shorter this time.
"After Kyanna told me to go somewhere else, I was all ready to leave that shitty salon. But then she said I shouldn't worry about looking pretty." Audrey visibly flares, her eyes glittering with barely suppressed hate, "Because with nasty ass hair like mine, it's only a matter of time before you go running back to her."
You don't know what to say to that.
You look at her clenched fists, and then at her tired, angry face. She feels the weight of your stare and looks up to meet your eyes. She doesn't make a biting comment and merely sits there.
Her name, 'Belrose', flits through your mind when your gaze collides with hers. You think that it's not Audrey you're seeing right now – but her instead. Instead of just a tiny glimpse into that other side of her like you'd usually get, you get a real, long look at her for the first time in a long while. Audrey hasn't opened up to you like this save for the night where you'd first taken her virginity.
"…you should have punched her in the cunt." You finally tell her. The steel in your words surprises you, because you hadn't expected it to come out sounding like it did.
Audrey lets out a bark of laughter, surprise overriding her emotions. "Yeah, I should have. But it would've been nasty. The thought of having my hand within five feet of that whore's secret garden is enough to make me wanna puke." Her prickly demeanour returns with gusto, and you inwardly smile at how relieved she looks – like her shoulders had been lifted of an invisible weight.
"Alright alright, enough of this sappy bullshit." You groan. Of course she would go out of her way to ruin the moment. Typical Audrey was typical. "Get your bony ass dressed, we're going out."
"To Lusties?" You didn't feel like partying but it wasn't like Audrey would take no for an answer. Despite the fact that you two were dating, she was still the infamous 'megabitch' that terrorized the general public for being scum sucking dickbags. Her words, not yours.
She scoffs. "To Vinnie's, idiot. You're taking me out to dinner for a proper meal. I'm fucking starving."
"Fiiine." You sigh and stand up. Or you would have, if Audrey hadn't grabbed your chin and jerked your face towards hers. Your brain tilts and tumbles, the words dissolving against the roughness of her lips and the wriggling of her tongue. She kisses you for as long as she can, and it's not a gentle kiss by any means, but it's definitely a world softer than the angry ones both of you exchange during sex.
When you inevitably run out of air, Audrey nips your bottom lip before she pulls back. The action shoots straight down to your core, warmth curling in the pit of your stomach.
Audrey smiles smugly. "W-What was that for?" You ask dumbly, fingers ghosting over your lips.
"Are you seriously asking me that?" She rolls her eyes. "I'm thanking you. What, like it wasn't obvious enough?"
Without waiting for your reply, she pushes herself off the edge of the bed and quickly exits the room. "Be ready in five!" She yells just before the door slams shut.
Well.
"…at least she's back to normal." You mutter, the edge of your lips curving up into a small smile.
AN: Welp. Instead of working on my ongoing stories, I finished HuniePop in less than two days. Send help.