Okay, so this is my second Death Note fanfic. I don't know much about the characters, truth be told, so there will be some definite OOCness with Mello and Matt, but I love them so much that I had to write a fic for them. So this is it. Please review with constructive criticism!
-Alice
Rylie
"Rylie!" A sharp voice pulled me out of my nearly-there sleep and I sat up stiffly, rubbing my eyes.
"What?" I questioned blearily, my mind still crowded and hazy. I directed my eyes upwards to find the very angry face of my boss, William, above me, glaring down at me heatedly.
"What the hell are you doing, sleeping on the job? Get your ass back to work Rylie!" He grabbed me roughly by the arms and dragged me upwards, holding onto me until I found my feet and then let go, running a hand through his raven hair, sighing wearily. "Ry, we need all the help we can get today. Are you really that tired? I mean, how can you fall asleep here? It's not safe, you know the types that hang around."
Here was Louie's Bar and Diner, a run-down 1970s building built on the untested theory that diners and bars make a good match, which they don't. Louie's is now primarily a bar where I earn my pay by tolerating numerous grabs at my ass and leering remarks with grace and humor and as much dignity as the situation allows, and doing so while serving alcoholic beverages to fat, middle-aged men.
"I'm sorry," I told William earnestly. William was a good boss to me- he did as much as he could for me when it came to pay raises, and he stepped in quickly when things with drunken men were getting out of hand, no matter how much money he stood to lose. He gave me a small smile and squeezed my shoulder. "Don't be sorry Rylie, just get back to work please. I'm sorry I snapped at you, this place is just really wearing on my patience…" he drifted off, obviously wanting my corner to himself. I nodded, straightening my uniform, and headed back inside towards the smoky building. Just five more hours left in my shift.
Matt
Matt's monthly trip to the video game store came as a welcome break from his other life- a step back from his best friend and the mafia and the serial killer they were all trying to find, each for their own twisted reasons. He looked forward to these trips with an eager intensity, one that rivaled his need for the cigarettes that kept him going. Mello wasn't pleased that Matt kept going out- if he was caught, their entire plan could be screwed over, and Mello and Matt could both end up dead (and really, Mello didn't care about the lives of anyone but them.).
But, it was the one remaining shred of innocence that Matt still possessed, and he'd be damned if he was going to give it up voluntarily. He snuffed out his cigarette under his shoe and headed into the building, doorbell ringing as he crossed the threshold.
The clerk looked up from behind the check-out desk, a boy just a few years older than Matt who probably hadn't seen the half the things he had. "G'morning sir," the boy said lazily, before turning his attention back to the computer screen.
Matt nodded in response, though he knew the boy couldn't see him, and headed towards the back of the store. As he approached the very last row, he noticed that instead of being empty, like how it normally was and how he liked it to be, there was a small red haired girl kneeling, curls tumbling down her back and contrasting sharply against her white tee shirt and black skinny jeans. He didn't pay much attention to her, it was just a girl (though he certainly didn't see many of those in Game Stop.).
He scanned the row: titles of Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, and God of War jumped out at him, but there was nothing he too desperately wanted. He sighed. Mello gave him all this good money, and he didn't even feel appropriately invigorated to waste it. He wanted another cigarette.
"This one's good." A high, feminine voice broke through his pouting, and he started. It was the redhead, standing now, though she still only came up to his shoulders. She had a pretty face, too, he realized, smooth, ivory skin and large, innocent blue eyes, with cutting cheekbones and wonderfully shaped lips. He realized he was holding his breath. He wasn't used to being around pretty girls who weren't whores or diabolical criminals.
"E-excuse me?" he stuttered, slightly stunned by the sight of her. It wasn't that she was so traditionally beautiful, she didn't have the blonde hair and come-hither eyes of the sexily-clad prostitutes he was so used to. But she positively glowed to Matt. His eyes traveled up and down her thin frame once, analyzing the curves of her small waist, thin hips, chest, and the legs that were surprisingly long for such a short person. God, he thought to himself, what the fuck is wrong with me?
The girl laughed. "You looked like you couldn't pick a game out. Crisis Core is real good, you have a PSP?" she questioned him.
Matt nodded at her, and though the effect of her looks didn't wear off on him he started to put his shield up once more. Don't trust anybody.
She sighed. "I don't have one, but I used to play it on my boss's. You should try it."
He grinned at her shyly. He found it awfully hard to be tense around her, as hard as he was trying to be on guard.
"I think I will, beautiful," he said, reaching out and plucking it down from the shelf. The girl smiled widely at him.
"You look kind of familiar," she said, "you come here often?"
He inwardly groaned at her observation; a sign that he should start switching stores and driving farther so people would recognize him less. "Not as often as I'd like," he replied. Might as well make small talk while he can.
"Sir, ma'am," the boy from the check-out desk called out, "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now, the store's closing soon."
"Alright!" the girl called over to him in response and she grinned at Matt. "Are you really going to get that?" she asked, pointing to the video game he held in his hand.
Matt smiled. "Didn't you suggest it?"
She looked down shyly. "Indeed I did," she said, "should we get going then?" She bent down to retrieve a backpack that looked too large for her to carry and two other large grocery bags in either hand, while Matt marveled over the easy way she said we, like she had been doing it for a long time.
He frowned at her overbearing load. "Can I-"
"No," she cut him off, leaning over slightly to make the weight on her back more bearable. "Go buy your game before they kick us out," she told him. He went over and did as he was told, mentally kicking himself all the while for how he was reacting to her.
He was pleased to find that instead of heading straight out like he had expected, she had knelt down to tie her shoelace and was therefore exiting the shop at the same time as him. "So," she started, before she was suddenly gone from Matt's side, falling faster towards the ground. He reached a hand out quickly and wrapped it around her waist- it was pure reflex for him, and he set her back on her feet quickly.
She blushed heavily. "Thanks for that," she muttered under her breath, eyes averted, "I think, I, um, slipped on some, um, ice, I guess. Or my shoelaces."
Matt grinned at her embarrassment. God, she was stunning, but he couldn't figure out why he was suddenly so attracted to her. "No problem, beautiful," he told her, the worn nickname for most figures of the female sex sliding off his lips easily. He reached for her backpack and pulled it off her shoulders. "But now I insist."
She started to protest when he slipped the straps of the backpack off her arms, but then stopped, instead turning her focus back onto the other two bags she was carrying.
"What's all this?" Matt asked her, feeling the surprising weight of the backpack on his shoulders.
"Oh," she said, "I've been sleeping at different friends' houses lately."
Matt stiffened. "Babe, do you mean to tell me you've got no place to live?"
She glanced up at him. "I will soon," she said warily, "I'm just saving up." They reached what he assumed was her car and watched her fish around in the pocket of her tight jeans for her keys.
Matt started to say something, but then Mello's angry face flashed through his mind, the profiles of all the mafia members gluing themselves there. No matter how pretty this girl was, it wasn't safe to get to know her. None of my business.
She opened the door and slid the two bags onto the bottom of the seat, and stepped back so he could do the same with the heavier backpack. After he was done she slammed it shut and leaned against it, looking up at him. "Thanks again," she said, chewing on her lip nervously. "Do you need a ride anywhere?"
He chuckled inwardly. Don't offer rides to strangers, babe. God, so naïve. It was wonderfully refreshing. "Nah, thanks though, lovely," he told her, and watched her blush again at the label.
He showered compliments on the female gender with ease, so rare it was that he was in their presence, but it felt more meaningful saying them to her. "Well," she said awkwardly, "I guess I should get going then."
He knew that he should turn away, but he couldn't let her go without one thing. He grabbed her arm, and his entire body jolted with the simple contact. "What's your name?" he asked her, knowing that this simple piece of information was more dangerous than she could possibly know, though he was already certain he would make sure it would never be used against her in that way. He had dismissed the thought of her working for Near or Kira a while ago. There was something about her that said there was no such possibility- and while he knew he was a fool, he couldn't help but believe everything she said.
She looked up at him and licked her lips, and Matt deducted that while the movement was probably unconscious, he really wanted her to do it again. "Rylie," she said, without offering a last name. He let go of her and she smiled shyly at him once more, before moving over to the driver's side door and starting the engine.
Matt watched her drive away, her name, Rylie, Rylie, Rylie, burning like a bullet in the back of his brain. He was a mafia member, and while he was a reluctant one and still a geeky gamer, and would never be a Mello, he knew better than to fall in love with one glance. He ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his goggles, feeling the video game she suggested shift in his pocket. The odds of him seeing her again were depressingly slim, and he knew it. But at least he had this game to keep him company.
He hadn't realized, until he was back in the safe house working on the computer, what it was that had made her so irresistible to him. She was so perfectly innocent, and so unlike what Matt was used to, and when he was around her, he forgot about all the things that he had done and was doing, and all of the danger he was in. And that, that was why he couldn't see her again. Don't spread the poison.