Authors Note:

This is my first fic so be nice. Also, I'm not an author or an aspiring author, I just have been wanting to write something for a while and get my ideas down on paper. This is a short chapter so sorry.

I don't own anything.

Chapter One

What am I doing in a bar on a Tuesday night? I thought to myself as I planted my ass on the somewhat questionable looking barstool. It wobbled precariously as I tried to balance my weight just perfectly in the center.

"What can I get ya?" Said the bartender from the other side of the bar. She was a short girl, kind of chunky, barely looked eighteen. She was dressed in, well, barely anything. I was a regular on anything from Thursday to Saturday nights but I'd never seen her dressed so provocatively.

It must be slow on Tuesdays if she has to dress like that to get tips. I thought as I finally found the center of the uneven stool. "I'll take a Captain and Dr. Pepper, please LSP." That was what she told us to call her. She always introduced herself as LSP. She never told us what it stood for, but we just went along.

"Sure thing. I've got to run to the back and get a new bottle of Captain. I'll be right back." The lumpy girl disappeared through a door in the back wall of the bar. I took a moment to glance around the almost deserted bar. There were only three other people here besides myself. A middle aged man with a sad look on his face sat at the other end of the bar. I'm pretty sure he came here to drink away whatever was bothering him on a nightly basis. I'd never been to this bar when he wasn't here. There was another man playing pool by himself to the left of the bar. By the looks of him he had already had several beers. And there was someone in the far corner booth, but it was too dark in the bar to make out much about them.

LSP barged back through the back door startling me as I was trying to make out the mysterious stranger in the back corner.

"So what's up Peebs?" LSP started, "What're you doing here on a Tuesday night? Where's everyone else? You didn't bring the party with you!" She said as she poured my drink, placing it in front of me when she was done.

"Thanks, LSP. I was just having a bad day. I wanted to have a nice relaxing drink without Finn giving me a headache." I said as I stirred my drink and took a sip.

"I get that! That boy sure can talk your head off, can't he!" LSP said as the man at the other end of the bar waved her over for another drink and three college guys walked in the front door. "Well I'd love to sit here and talk and drink all night but unfortunately duty calls. You let me know when you're ready for another, I'm gonna go make as much money off these boys as possible!" She adjusted her breasts to show as much cleavage as possible without popping out of her shirt and ruffled her hair before she danced over to where the guys had sat down in the middle of the bar. I smiled at the goofy girl then took another sip of my drink.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the person sitting at the back corner booth stand up and head towards the door that led out onto the smoking deck. I tried not to make it too obvious that I was watching, trying to watch out of my peripherals as they made their way outside. It was a tall thin girl, maybe twenty-five. She was dressed in all black with black hair and covered in tattoos. Her black hair fell down to her waist and had streaks of red running on the underside.

Shit. I thought as she stopped in her tracks and looked right at me with a pissed off look on her face. I quickly turned my head and stared intently at my drink, taking a few big chugs of it to calm my nerves, it didn't work. She must have seen me looking

"Can I help you, Princess?" Said a spiteful voice, deep but not unfeminine. It sent shivers down my spine. I quickly downed the rest of my drink and desperately looked for LSP to come save me, but she was busy pouring shots for the three college guys that came in.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. You think I didn't see you?" I gulped as her voice got closer.

"I'm sorry." I managed to choke out, never looking away from my drink. I jumped as her beer bottle hit the bar next to me. I looked over to see her leaning up against the bar, staring at me with eyes so green they almost glowed. She slowly pushed the empty bottle to the inside of the bar to signal that she was done with it, staring me down the whole time.

"Hey LSP, I need a refill! Quit flirting and get your ass down here!" She yelled over the music, never taking her eyes off me.

"I'll be there in a minute, bitch!" LSP yelled from the other end of the bar. This girl and LSP must have been friends to talk to one another like that.

I couldn't help but stare back at this girl. Her eyes were entrancing. She had a snake tattoo that started with the head behind her ear and coiled around her neck and came to the tail between her collar bone.

Damn, LSP, you made that drink a little strong. I thought as I managed to peel my eyes off the tall dark stranger giving me a stare down and looked back at my empty glass. Here comes LSP, thank God.

"Another Dos Equis, Marce?" The black haired girl nodded. "Peebs, are you ready for another?" LSP grabbed the empty bottle and my empty glass from in front of me.

"Please." I said quietly.

"Oh, also could I get an order of fries?" LSP nodded to the black haired girl and danced away to get our drinks.

"What kind of a name is Peebs?" The girl in black said.

"That's not my name." I returned.

"Then why'd LSP call you that?" She asked.

"It's a horrible nickname that unfortunately stuck. She's heard my friends that I'm usually in here with call me that." The words came out a lot faster than they should have.

"Whatever." She said as she turned away from me to grab the beer LSP brought over. "Thanks, dear." She took her beer and walked away, heading out onto the smoking deck.

LSP sat my drink down in front of me and I stirred it and took a sip.

"Who is that?" I asked the young bartender.

"That? That's Marceline. She just moved here a couple weeks ago. She's been coming here a couple nights a week. Cool chick. Dark and kind of creepy, but cool." LSP gave me a thumbs up then hopped back down to pour more shots for the college guys.

I sat for a few minutes and sipped on my drink, thinking about my horrible day. I can't believe I had to lay all those people off. I thought. My fathers candy company, which he left to me, just replaced half our work force with machines after a horrible accident made making candy by hand terribly dangerous. Yes, it was going to be more cost effective, but thousands of people lost their jobs. Thousands pof people with families and rent and bills to pay. Stop thinking about it. I was already three quarters of the way done with my second drink.

I heard the door to the smoking deck open and Marceline walked through, a faint smell of cigarette smoke coming in with her. She walked right past me and sat back down at her back corner booth.

About the time she got settled in the three college guys got up and walked down to where I was sitting. They looked like jocks, they were buff and tanned.

"Can we buy you a drink, sweetheart?" The first one said.

"Looks like you're about out." Said the second one.

"I'm actually good, but thank you for offering." I replied. They didn't look happy about being turned down.

"Come on cutie, let us buy you a drink, you look like you need to relax a bit." The third one tried.

"Really guys, I'm fine. Thanks." I was getting a little uncomfortable as they stepped in a little closer. I looked around for LSP but she must have gone behind the bar to make Marceline's fries.

"Loosen up a little, have some fun. We'll show you a good time, we promise." The second one added. The first one reached up and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Please guys, I'm not interested. I've had a long day." I felt the arm around me tighten.

"We're buying you a drink." Said the guy with his arm around me.

Like a lifesaver, Marceline appeared and threw her arms around the other two guys. "Boys, I think the lady would like you to leave." She said. They didn't budge.

"Go to hell, dyke." The first guy removed his arm from my shoulders and stepped towards Marceline, puffing his chest out to seem tough.

Marceline put her arms back down by her sides and reached one hand behind her back. When she pulled it back in front of her she was wielding a small gun. Everyone jumped, including me, at the sight of the weapon.

"Go. Now." She said calmly. The boys scattered like flies at the sight of the firearm. Marceline put the small gun back into the waist of her black skinny jeans. She turned to head back to her booth without a word.

"...thank you..." I choked out.

She stopped in her tracks and turned back around to look at me.

"You really should carry if you're going to go to bars on your own. Guys love girls like you." She said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I was slightly offended.

Her eyes went wide and she threw her hands up in front of her. "No no! That's not what I meant! It's just, I mean...you know." She couldn't seem to find the words she was looking for.

"No, I don't know. But please, do explain." I said, on the defensive.

"I just mean...you..." She paused and looked me dead in the eyes. "You're beautiful."

"Oh..." I didn't know what else to say.

"And, you know, small. And stuff..." She seemed to be at a loss for words, or at least intelligent words. I couldn't help but chuckle at her dumbfoundedness. She didn't look like the kind of girl that stumbled over her words.

"Do you want to join me?" What are you thinking?! I thought as I said the words.

Marceline had a suspicious look on her pale face. "You sure, Princess?"

"Yeah, why not?" I motioned to the seat next to mine and she cautiously pulled it out and sat down. "Hey, no fair, yours doesn't wobble." She cracked the cutest smile.

"Would you like another drink...Peebs?" She said rather awkwardly.

"You can call me Bonnibel. And yes, I would love another drink." Right about then LSP busted through the back door of the bar with Marceline's fries.

"One order of fries, hot and crispy! And it only took me three batches to not burn them!" LSP sat the basket of fries down in front of Marceline and gave her a strange look. "You two alight?"

"We'd be better if we had more drinks." Marceline replied sarcastically.

"I'm on it. Hey, where'd those college guys go?" LSP said as she noticed the three money machines had left.

"They couldn't hold their liquor so they had to leave." Marceline said.

"Damn. I'm glad I made them pay by the drink. I knew they'd try to skip out on me! Men these days are such lightweights." She said as she walked away to get our drinks.

Marceline turned to me and it drew me to face her. She was like a magnet. My eyes met hers for a split second and I had to swallow my heart back into my chest.

What is going on with me? What is with this chick? Maybe I've had too much to drink. Maybe I should have some more... My thoughts were trailing off as LSP brought our drinks back.

"So Bonnibel," Marceline said as she shoved a few fries in her mouth, "What is a girl like you doing in a bar like this on a Tuesday night?"

"I had a tough day at work. I needed to unwind. I didn't figure there'd be a bunch of assholes in here tonight." I said.

"Help yourself to some fries, by the way. So you think I'm an asshole?" Marceline smirked at me with a crooked smile.

"No, you appear to be the only person in here that isn't an asshole." Her smile got a little wider.

"What about that guy over there?" She motioned towards the guy at the other end of the bar who came here to drink every night.

"Well...not him I guess." Marceline chuckled.

"I happen to know that that guy is a major asshole." She said as she took another bite of fries.

"How would you know that?" I inquired.

"Maybe I just know things about people." She looked down at her beer, the smile gone from her face.

"How can you just know things? People don't just know things." I said.

"I do. I know lots of things." Her green eyes glanced up to meet mine for a split second then shot back down to her almost empty bottle.

"Really? What do you know about me?" She looked up at me, one eyebrow raised.

After a lengthy pause, she began to list off things a stranger shouldn't know. "I know your name is Bonnibel, I knew that as soon as you walked in the bar. Bonnibel Bubblegum. I know you were left a fortune when your father died. The candy business, right? You were born in a house, not a hospital. Your mother died when you were young. You never went to college, never needed to what with all the money from the candy. But you're still extremely smart and are good with science. You make all the recipes for the new candy and, though you won't admit it, you sometimes tweak the old ones. Plus lots of other stuff." My jaw was on the floor.

"How do you know all that?! Holy shit!" I shot out of my seat and walked around the bar to where LSP was sitting looking at her phone. "I need to pay, LSP." The bartender slowly got up and put her phone away and pressed some buttons on the cash register.

"Done already, Peebs? You didn't have much." She said through a yawn.

Marceline shoved a handful of fries in her mouth and threw some cash on the bar. She followed me to the cash register and waited as I paid.

I opened the door to the bar and walked out into the night, zipping up my jacket at the cold breeze. I headed towards my apartment, but Marceline followed close behind, lighting up a cigarette.

"Why are you following me?" I said as I put my hands in my pockets.

"I told you I know things. I swear I wasn't stalking you or anything. I didn't even know you existed until you walked in that bar earlier. I could tell you all that shit about anyone, literally anyone, you wanted to know about!" She trotted up next to me to walk at my pace.

"That's impossible. All that shit you said about me can be found on the internet. You probably just want money, right?" My emotions were stirring as I realized she just wanted to use me.

"Bonnibel, that isn't true! I can tell you something that no one else would know. Would that convince you?" She took a long drag off her cigarette, obviously getting frustrated.

"Fine." I stopped walking and faced her. "Tell me something I've never told anyone before."

She let her breath out, a long stream of smoke blowing out of her nose. "When you were six, your mother bought you a pink princess costume, complete with a little plastic gold crown. She gave it to you because the kids at school called you ugly. You were kind of a chubby little kid, so you believed them. But your mother bought you that princess outfit and told you that you were the most beautiful girl in the entire land and that when you grew up, all those little kids would wish they were as beautiful as you and want to be you. Your mother died two days later in a wreck going to return the princess costume because you listened to those stupid kids at school over your mother and you didn't want the princess costume."

Tears well'd in my eyes and fell down my cheeks.

"You still have that princess costume folded up in the back of your closet." Marceline took a step towards me and reached her hand out and grabbed my arm gently.

"Who the fuck are you?" I tried to blink away the tears but they just kept coming.

She reached her other hand up to wipe away my tears. Her skin was cold on my face.

"You shouldn't have come to that bar tonight."

"Wha-" That was all I could get out before she was on me. She threw me up against the wall and the last thing I remember was a sharp pain on my throat and the feeling of warm blood running down my neck.