The Beautiful, The Dirty, The Rich

By Nastia

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Chapter 2: Stalker Skanks

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Which is it that loves: the body or the soul?

After a complicated and stupid "almost break-up," Starfire leaves the Titans on a sabbatical. She rooms with Bee, only to find that her place at Titans Tower had been filled with a former romantic rival. Sparks literally fly.

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The TV flashed, images of various commercials flickered, casting light upon Kory. She lay on her mattress, her right cheek smushed into her pillow, lips slightly puckered. A few short knocks sounded from her door. She didn't look up, her eyes glued to her TV as she watched the warning of Viva La Bam crawl up the screen.

Muffled huffs of angry sounded from behind her door. Starfire rolled her eyes and turned her back to the door, letting her thick cotton-filled quilt fall off the bed in the process. The knocks continued until the gained annoyed speed, becoming harsher and louder as the seconds ticked by. When she couldn't take the incessant raps any longer, Starfire leapt from her bed, swinging her legs over the bed frame, sprinting to answer her irritant.

"What?!" Her voice was almost a screech as she flung the door open, eyes glowing with annoyance.

At this Bee raised an eyebrow. The girl had more balls than the average female. Bee looked at Starfire, took in the image of her greasy-haired, cracked-lip, slightly smelling of french fries, friend. If anyone needed what she had planned for the two of them, it was this girl standing right in front of her.

"You've locked yourself in my room long enough. Really, take a look at yourself." She pushed Kory to the side as she entered the room, shoving a mirror into her hands as she moved.

"Take a shower. Please."

Kory wrenched her eyes shut, her grip on the mirror handle becoming increasingly tighter as her anger grew. As fast as her frustration had welled, the wave of anger died, along with her handle on the mirror. Starfire flexed her fingers, letting the mirror tumbled to the floor. It landed on the plush carpet with a muffled thud.

For the past week, she had spent her time doing nothing else than keeping herself locked away in Bumblebee's room, holding herself hostage for some unknown ransom. Who would pay ransom for her? And in her current muffed-up state? She laughed at the thought of holding herself hostage and sending Bee a ransom note: Starfire in exchange for twenty pounds of red Swedish Fish.

Who knew if Bee would even pay that much?

Tears trickled down her cheeks, going unchecked as she leaned against the doorframe, an alien doorstop. Bee looked up from her bed, her attention drawn from the sketchpad that lay nestled in her lap.

"Are you for real? You're actually crying over that... that manwhore?!"

Oh God. Busted. She was so totally busted. Kory instantly sobered up as Bee stomped towards her, Sidekick in hand. Kory wiped her fingers under her eyes and over her cheeks, trying like a madwoman to rid herself of any incriminating evidence.

"Kory, this is it. I've let you mope around my house, eat all my food, and hog my room for the past week. And for what? For you to wallow in self-pity over being dumped for some skirt?"

Bee's words stung. It was like she had actually taken her stingers and dug them into her skin, let their electricity flow in and wake her from the fog she'd lived in for the past few weeks. Kory let her eyes drift towards the bathroom, sluggishly moving her body towards the shower. She was in no mood to deal with Bee and her bitchrants.

"Bee-" Starfire spoke, her hand held up, palm flat, fingers spread out. She closed her eyes and shook her head, leaving the room. Once she reached the bathroom, she slammed the door shut and clicked the lock.

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She slowly backed away from him, a siren smile on her lips. Slowly, she began to sway her hips, began to pull at the waist of her denim skirt. Her hands found their way to her hair, her fingers wringing the tightly-wound pin-curls loose as she raked them through her glossy copper mane. Bit by bit she made her way back to the leather couch where he sat, having managed to remove her silky top and bra.

Barbara ran a freshly-manicured hand through Richard's dark hair, whispering nasty words as she pushed him further into the cushion. She climbed on top of him, legs spread wide as her skirt hiked farther up her thighs. With a slight giggle of pleasure, Barbara pressed her lips to his neck, leaving a trail of hot kisses as she went, her breathing heavy as she ran her hands down the planes of his stomach.

"Get the fuck out," Releasing a long-held grunt, Richard shoved her off him. "Why don't you just get the fuck out of here?"

He quickly stood, dragging her to the door as he moved. She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck, as if his harsh command hadn't ever been spoken.

Why did he do this every time they tried to make love? Every time she even brought up the subject of sex, he would look away, his eyes slightly glazed over in though. And here he was, pushing her out of his apartment, topless, her skirt falling off her slender hips.

Would she ever be good enough?

"Just go, okay?"

Barbara breathed in deep as she tightened her arms, not ever wanting to let go of his muscular build. For such a smart girl, Barbara Gordon sure was good at stupid.

She pressed kisses against his neck, as if her ministrations could ever change his mind.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a small voice, almost a whisper, a sick feeling welling in her stomach. Every damn time, this happened. At the club, in his car, at her place...

In a rush, Barbara pressed her lips to his, trying her best to shove him back down onto the couch. It would be like that night at the club when they had both set eyes on the alien, Starfire. He hadn't looked at her right ever since that night, his eyes always seemed distance whenever they spoke.

"Get the fuck out of here!"

This shove, his final shove, final broke her. She stumbled back a few feet, the undercurrent of her emotions finally taken hold of her body as she bent down to pick up her filmy top. Her chest heaved, hair stuck to her face, a mixture of sadness and hatred welled within her.

Richard swayed slightly, his hands racked through his dark hair. He couldn't even look at her. He raised his hand as if to hit her, but stopped himself.

"I can't stand you fucked up women. You're fucked up-" His face scrunched up in anger as he sat back down on the couch, his head in his hands.

Hair a complete mess, Barbara had managed to pull her shirt back on and to fasten her skirt back into place. She stood there, eyes wide, a shocked smile on her lips.

"I can't stand you fucked up men."

"Oh, yeah? Good. Get out."

---

"No, none of these are right..." Bee thought aloud as she shuffled through various dresses that hung from the rack in front of her, each one louder and brighter than the previous.

Starfire lounged against the high-backed couched that sat in the middle of the dressing room, a bottle of water in one hand, a new magazine open on her lap. She tossed Bumblebee a sunny smile as she flipped through the pages and took a sip from the bottle. It was funny, why she was drinking water. She was Tamaranian, thus could survive in any climate, go days without water, she could even hold her breath for days at a time.

Why was the alien drinking Earth water? Because it made her feel human, grounded, closer to the earth. To her, water anchored her in the reality of earth, the reality she was so desperately trying to make better.

At the moment, Bumblebee truly lived up to her name: she whisked about the racks of dresses, flinging various garment onto the couch next to Starfire, never stopping for even one second.

"Now, why again are you throwing this, this... party?" Kory questioned as she continued to flip through the magazine, her lips rested on the water bottle.

Bee looked up from a rack of particularly shiny dresses. "Because, unlike at the dance club, Dick-face won't be there."

Starfire let out an amused laugh at the way Bee had used Richard's name. Dick. He truly was a giant dick. If Richard was a giant dick, then Kory had have the biggest balls a female ever had. Kory looked over towards the front of the store, as the heavy glass doors where opened for Jump City's most famous bride-to-be.

"Good morning, Miss Gordon."

Barbara looked up at the doorman and offered a pleasant smile. It was all she could do, was smile. Of course she and Richard had since made up - twice, in fact, she reminded herself.

'Oh,' she thought, 'some of the best sex I've ever had...' She smiled to herself, covering her lips with her phone as she moved about the racks of expensive clothing. She moved her hand to the pocket of her jeans, making sure her credit card was still there. The card, of course, was Richard's.

'Go buy yourself something pretty,' He had told her, she scoffed at his words. She had disposable income in her back pocket. Richard himself was disposable income.

Shoving coppery curls behind her ear, Barbara went happily to look for something to wear to dinner later that night. She would need it, she could feel a night of hot sex ahead...

She looked up from the rack, expecting to find the a sales woman. All she found was Kory Anders, Starfire.

"He's got issues. He needs a mum. Are you going to be his mum? Tuck him in at night, maybe read him a bedtime story?" Kory smiled, her tone begrudging in the kindest sense.

Barbara looked away, at the polished cement of the floor, at the brightly lit ceiling, anywhere but at Kory's face.

Starfire breathed, licked her lips as she leaned over the clothing rack and rested her arms on it. "You know, you can suck dick all you want, but it doesn't mean he's ever going to love you."

Slowly, Barbara brought her gaze to Kory. Her eyes blank as she stared Kory straight in the eyes.

"Okay," Kory offered another bright smile as she leaned back over onto her own side of the rack. "And get out of my store. You're on the wrong side of town." She whispered, blowing a kiss to Oracle.