Disclaimer: LOLERSK8S
P.S. I'm really in the mood to write. But it's kind of a weird mood… A kinda… moody-swingy mood. HEY!! Maybe I'M bi-polar TOO!! When I got to work today, I got all depressed for no reason. It was really bad. It slowed me down a lot, etc. Maybe I was just sad to leave this story. Maybe I just wanted to get back to WRITING DIS SHIIIIT!!
P.P.S. This chapter's going to end on kind of a sad not-random-insult-to-Reno note.
P.P.P.S. Very very slight lime warning. Nothing too bad, but I figured I'd slap this warning on it just in case. :)
Chapter 4
It had been about a week since that day, and Reno had been busy keeping up a steady flow of drunken late-night visits, sexual innuendo in the mornings, and merciless flirting the rest of the day (even more so when Sean was around to add some extra tension). The reason? His list. He was set on filling that little page with tally marks. So he had to skip his shift every now and again. No big deal. Not in his book anyway. Tseng had scolded him about 'being late' and 'goofing off', but Reno was used to it. Tseng's voice was like a ripple in the ocean to him. Easily overlooked. But it would all end soon, for the page was almost full!
The vivacious redhead eyed the pocket notebook with pride. He didn't know he was capable of making someone so angry! As he slipped it back into his pocket, the barkeep noticed him. "Evenin', Reno. What can I do you for? The usual?"
"You got it, Sam." Sam nodded and left briefly, returning with ten shots of Reno's choice drink. Whiskey. He loved the smell, the taste, the sound of the word… "Whiskey" even sounded manly, and that was his kind of drink… After examining the first shot lovingly, he downed it in one gulp. It burned, but it was a good kind of burn. A sigh of content left him before he continued.
Suzanne sat at the table, clutching a coffee cup in her trembling hands. That dumbass crawled into bed with her again, since he was drunk off his ass… again… and looking at how her week had been going, he was probably going to come down… now. Lo and behold, footsteps on the staircase assured her of his arrival. But it wasn't as though that was a good thing. She bristled at his presence, already on guard, prepared with a retort for whatever he had to throw her way. He grabbed some coffee for himself and sat across from her silently, gulping it down. He seemed to be preparing for some sort of attack himself. He finished his cup, stood, and made a move to lean against the table next to her. "C'mon upstairs, we should have sex." Suzanne was on guard, prepared with a retort for whatever he had to throw her way… except that. Luckily, there was only a brief pause before her auto-pilot flipped on and she splashed her hot coffee all over him.
But it was exactly what Reno had been waiting for. She was just about to find that she didn't win the battle as she had thought, but lost it… miserably… the lanky Turk withdrew a little notebook that she had seen him with quite a bit as of late. He flipped it open with an impish grin, and made a single, tiny mark at the bottom of the page. "Aaand… one hundred. You owe me something special, Sweetcheeks." It was only then that she realized what exactly he'd been keeping track of… and why… "Now… I'll repeat my suggestion, and this time, you'll kindly nod and follow me up. Now…" He leaned down, piercing her eyes with his sharp blues. "C'mon upstairs, we should have sex."
Suzanne was only intimidated for a moment longer before giving him a cynical stare. "You're kidding yourself if you think I'll agree to that..."
Reno's face fell, and his shoulders slumped. "But… you've been beating the hell out of me! You owe me something!"
"Yeah. Fine. 'I owe you something', but it's not going to be that or anything like that. Think of something else that isn't so demanding on my sanity." She got up to leave the room, hoping this would buy her some time, maybe even give her a day's peace. Reno seemed like the type who would think of nothing but sex, so with hope, this would be a hard task for him to accomplish. But Suzanne failed to recall the things he loved along with sex…
"Fine, then how about this?" She stopped mid stride and turned her head slowly to look back at him. "You go drinking with me tonight." She had forgotten about his drinking.
There was a long pause before she answered. Truth be told, she didn't mind the idea of going to the bar. She hadn't been there in quite a while, and there were definitely times when she wanted nothing more than to be there, drinking her life away and spilling all her troubles to whoever would listen. But the only problem was that she was afraid of making it a habit again. It wasn't exactly a good habit to have when raising a kid. Her eyes drifted to the icy blues of the redhead, and they showed an emotion that surprised her. Pleading. Not blind lust, not a general look of idiocy, but a burning hope flaring into her own two blue orbs. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, hoping the look would go away. She slowly opened them and… the look had gotten even worse.
"Okay!! Just… stop giving me that look!"
He blinked. "What look?"
"Jeez… never mind. Look, I'll arrange for Sean to stay at a friends house, and…" She gulped. "We'll meet at 7 tonight."
He smiled
She grimaced, and proceeded to beat her head against the wall in agonizing frustration.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it…" She turned her gaze back to him. Did he feel bad for what he'd done…? "You won't be able to come if you're passed out!"
She frowned. 'Bastard…' She pushed past him and headed for the door. "I'm going to work. I'll meet you at 7 p.m. sharp. I'll be expecting you to be on time tonight. If you're more than five minutes late, I'm leaving." With that said, she stormed out the door and slammed it shut behind her.
Reno smirked cheerily. "She digs me…"
"I expected him to just make another stupid innuendo like he always does…"
"Nuts!"
"Huh?"
"Those nuts next to you! Like 'nuts and bolts' nuts. I need 'em."
"Oh…" Suzanne picked up the brown paper bag next to her and handed it over to her smoking, swearing father figure. "Like I was saying though… he just outright asked me for sex today…"
"Bastard…" Cid mumbled the curse from under the plane. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was just that she'd been talking about him ever since he showed up in town. He just wasn't as surprised by the Turk's actions anymore.
"I told him no."
"Good."
"But then he whipped out this little book full of tally marks and told me I owed him for all the times I beat him up. Then he asked me again."
Cid crawled out from under his plane. "You didn't agree, did you?!"
She blushed furiously. "Well I was here on time, wasn't I?" It was times like these when he seemed more like a father than ever; worrying about her, and showing it in the strangest way possible. By way of angry questions. "Gawd, what kind of a person do you think I am?" She folded her arms and frowned for a moment. "Since I said no, he asked me to go to the bar with him instead. And I said yes."
"Just don't make a habit out of it… you know how you are when you're drunk…"
"Shaddup!! You look really young when you're blurry!"
Cid didn't even try to hide his laughter. "Just tell me if you plan on going to the bar so I'll know when to not be there."
"In any case, I still have Sean to worry about, so this is like a one time thing, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." He smiled as he started to squirm back under the Tiny Bronco. "Just be careful tonight."
Suzanne sat in the bar, hardly expecting Reno to come within the time limit she had given him. No. More like hoping Reno wouldn't come within the time limit she had given him. She checked her watch. 'Only two more minutes of this, and I'm home free…'. Sam the barkeep offered her a brew and she raised her hand, turning it down. She sighed, checking her watch for the 5th time in 30 seconds. The sound of a jingle bell took her attention to the door, where she saw… him. She went through the entire Kübler-Ross five stages of grief before she even breathed, much less said anything. Finally, she sputtered "You're here."
Reno smirked, hangs in pocket, cigarette poking between his lips. "I never stand up a lady." He hopped into the seat next to her. "Sam, the usual, along with whatever this fine example of a woman asks for."
The barkeep looked to Suzanne. "The usual?"
She leaned her elbows on the counter. "If you would."
Sam laughed. "Just don't go overboard, alright? You know what happens!"
The brunette woman scowled. "That's not going to happen tonight, alright?"
Reno turned, leaning his cheek on his hand. "'The usual', eh? Bit of a drinker, girly?"
She sighed. "A few years back, yeah." Sam brought Reno his 10 shots of whiskey, and set down a large bottle of Raspberry Liqueur and a glass in front of Suzanne.
"Don't drink too much. I don't want to be 'That bar where that girl died of alcohol poisoning'."
She opened the bottle and filled the glass. "You got it."
Reno looked at the colored liquid. "You're going to drink that girly shit?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Better than the shit you're drinking… Stronger, and it tastes better to boot." She took a swig, and he downed his ceremonial first glass.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! You are soooo FUNNY!" Suzanne grabbed his arm. "Listen! Listen… you should do stand-up…"
Reno giggled, draping his arm around her shoulder. "Ya think slow?" He looked puzzled for a moment. "You think… slow?" He snorted. "That wasn't right! AH HA HA HIC!"
Suzanne laughed right along with him, but trailed off after a moment, frowning. "Shit…"
Reno stopped laughing abruptly. "Wazzat?"
"I think I'm sobering up a little bit!"
Drunken concern spread across him face. "Quick!" He made a grab for one of the remaining shots and missed. "Damn it… stop moving… GOTCHA!" He held it up too close to her face. "Quick! Drink it quick!"
She took it with a slurred "okay" and downed it. She set the glass down and grimaced. "It tastes like blue… something…" A pause, and the two burst into laughter. "Sam, can we get some more of the blue stuff?"
The barkeep leaned against the counter, eyeing the two. "Actually, you two should probably go home… You've had enough… more than enough."
They let out a long "awwww" in unison, making pouty faces. After a moment, Reno staggered to his feet. "Well, Ai'll jus take this ladly home then…" He hiccupped and held out a hand to her. She took it, stood, and promptly fell on her ass.
"OOPS! Hee hee hee…" She stood, stumbling a little and took hold of Reno's waist. He put his arm back around her and they tottered towards the door.
"See you toomarrow, Sham…" Sam quirked a brow and waved a little.
The pair wavered back and forth down the street until they reached the house. Reno stepped ahead to open the door when his foot caught a crack. He stumbled forward towards the door and used what little ability he had left to react to such things to turn and slam his back into the hard wood, rather than his face. "Whoo… That was a close-" His words were cut off as Suzanne staggered forward and pressed her lips to his, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She pulled away giggling and felt around for the doorknob. Her fingers slipped around and clutched the handle, turning it and WHUMP!
The giddy drunken brunette rolled off of the giddy drunken redhead and slowly got back to a standing position. She pulled at his arm, laughing and telling him to follow in a sing-song voice.
Suzanne awoke much later than usual. She studied her surroundings through squinted eyes. Pain. Pain was the only way of describing the way she felt. Pain all over, but mostly in her head. Her slit eyes slowly opened a bit more as she tried to sort things out. The first thing she noticed when she was slightly more conscious was her lack of clothes. The second was the smell of smoke. She turned slowly when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. There he was, sitting in bed next to her in the nude, cigarette sitting between his lips, and in a Zen-like state of calm. She stared for a time, not sure whether she should say something, and finally settled for taking the cigarette from him. Rather than throwing it out, however, she settled it between her lips and inhaled deeply. She handed his cancer-stick back to him, blowing smoke as she did so. He was the first to speak.
"Not new to smoking either, are you?"
"I quit when my parents died."
"Same with drinking?"
"Yeah…" There was another empty pause. "Did I… um…"
Reno watched through cool eyes as her face grew red and she fiddled with the sheets. 'She's so cute…' He grimaced momentarily at the word choice in his internal dialogue. "Did you…" he began, trying to finish her sentence. "…enjoy it?" She nodded, not looking at him. "Well… let's find out." He put his cigarette back in its rightful place in his mouth, and reached over. He rest his hand against her stomach briefly before trailing down further… further… before she had time to react, he had his index finger inside her. She blushed even deeper and bit her lip, suppressing a moan. He knew that it was not a good time to be playing with her, but he wasn't the kind of guy to act on logic. He gently rubbed his finger against the slick walls inside juuust until she instinctively spread her legs, and then he removed his hand. She sighed in a mixture of frustration and relief as he studied his findings. "Oh."
She finally looked at him. "'Oh' what?"
"Well…" He mumbled through his cigarette, blowing smoke out from between his lips as he spoke. "Either you're on your period, or you're a virgin- excuse me, were a virgin. See?" He showed her his finger, coated with a clear goo and streaked with red. She let out a hiss of breath and glared. "From you're reaction, I'd say it was the latter. Good news is, you seemed to have had a good time last night."
She continued frowning for a moment before sitting up. It was only then that she realized just how much her head ached. It felt like a brick was strapped to her skull, and it didn't help that she was trying to mentally sort things out. She swayed a little from the feeling until firm hands took hold of her shoulders. "Hey now, hold up. You were pretty shit-faced last night, lay back down. Hey!" She swatted his hands away and struggled to her feet.
"I'm taking a shower." He reached after her as she left the room, words failing him. She walked in the bathroom, shut the door, and stood for a moment. Her eyes drifted towards the mirror. There she saw the source of the rest of her physical pain. Bruises, hickeys, bite-marks, scratch-marks, and from the look of it, her hair had been pulled quite a bit as well. The mirror perfectly reflected the stony emotionless look in her eyes. The blue marbles burned as a warm, salty liquid began dripping from them. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she wiped them away. Looking away from the mirror, she turned on the shower. Hot. The moment she got in, she grabbed the luffa and started scrubbing. She could feel him all over her, every inch that he had touched. Straining to remember only brought her flashes of blind sex, tangled sheets and ecstasy. It wasn't how she wanted to remember it. She knew that she loved every moment of the previous night… but she wished that she hadn't. She raked her brain for a good reason to be mad at him over and over, and came up empty handed every time. She grit her teeth and hissed as she finally became aware of the pain in her arm. Her eyes darted to the spot she was scrubbing, now red and raw. She shakily dropped the luffa, fell to her knees and wept. She still felt him.
Reno held his position on the bed, finishing his smoke. He figured at this point in time, it wouldn't be a good idea to move from his spot on the bed. She was fragile. He may not have been the brightest when it came to knowing other people's limits, but he wasn't completely in the dark. She wanted him to be waiting right where she left him. Waiting to be judged. In the time he had until her return, he started thinking. He couldn't quite decide if he regretted what had happened or not. On the one hand, he had gotten to sleep with a very, very attractive woman. On the other hand, he was piss drunk, so he couldn't remember much, he had taken her virginity, and the way he saw it, left some mental scars. That, and he had bruised her up pretty badly. Luckily for him, she hadn't seemed to notice while still in the same room as him. "Fuck…" he muttered aloud when he saw how little he had left to smoke. Good ol' cancer-sticks. They were just about always there for him (except for when he ran out, but usually, he kept a few packs on him.) He reached down, rummaging in his pants pockets for the pack. Before he found it, an extra pair of hands brushed his out of the way, finding the pack along with his trusty zippo. Reno looked up to see her. Suzanne. The only woman he had ever felt an ounce of regret for fucking.
She pulled out a smoke, lit it, and tossed the little box of Malboros and the lighter to him. As she took a long drag and let the smoke escape through her perfect lips, he couldn't help but to admire her. Standing there in the nude, bruised, dripping wet, smoke all around, stripes of sunlight plastered across her… she was like a fallen angel of some kind. That thought disappeared as her stony hues blinked to look his way and cold words oozed from her mouth. "I want you to leave."