Disclaimer: I don't own Inception or its characters. I only own Sadie.
Chapter song: Middle of Nowhere - Selena Gomez
Chapter 4: Blame Everything On the Alcohol
"Would you like some company, love?" Eames asked as Sadie walked down the hallway away from them as soon as they'd left Nate's apartment.
"Thank you for the offer, but no." Sadie shook her head as she ran a hand through her sweaty and knotted blonde hair. "I just need to be alone right now," Sadie called back, turning the corner that lead to the elevator.
Once Sadie was out of sight and hearing range, Ariadne turned to Arthur. "What happened in there?"
"I honestly don't know," Arthur told her honestly, shrugging his shoulders in confusion. "I can only guess that she learned something that made her angry because before I knew it she was smashing his head against the bar. Our cover was immediately blown so there was no time to ask questions."
Ariadne sighed, a part of her suddenly wishing that she had tried to force Sadie to tell her what happened. But at the same time she knew that if she had pushed for information, it would only have made Sadie close up completely. That was what Sadie did. She would run away from her problems and shut up when she was scared.
Sadie wasn't the type who liked showing her vulnerabilities. She'd rather people see her as a strong, independent woman who could handle any and everything that life threw at her. However, just like everyone else, Said had her moments where her weaknesses would show themselves even when she didn't want them to.
Ariadne frowned, starting to make her way down the hall to the elevators. "She'll be back."
"What do you mean she'll be back?" Arthur asked, jogging to catch up with her.
"When Sadie drinks too much, she tends to get confrontational. She'll end up getting drunk and coming back here to give Nate a piece of her mind," Ariadne explained to the guys standing on either side of her. Moments later as they approached the elevator she suggested, "Maybe one of you should go after her and make sure she goes home instead of coming back here. I would, but I have classes tomorrow."
As she made her way into the elevator, she missed the looks that Arthur and Eames shared with each other.
~TheMiddle~
"Another shot please," Sadie said to the bartender as she leaned against the bar.
She knew it wasn't the smartest idea, but she was drowning the events of the day in alcohol. Part of her was hoping that maybe tomorrow she'd be so hung over that the events of tonight would be completely hidden by everything else in her mind. But, knowing her luck, she'd be hung over as well as aware of every single thing that had happened.
Just as she downed her second shot, Sadie sensed two different presences, both of whom sat down on either side of her. She looked up as she slammed the shut glass down on the bar in front of her. A huff escaped her as she shook her head.
"I thought I told you guys that I needed to be alone?" She spoke without even looking at the two of them who were blocking her in with no way to go but backwards if she felt inclined to turn and run away.
"Now, love, you should know something about me," Eames said, piquing Sadie's curiosity as she turned to lift an eyebrow at him. He grinned, motioning to the bartender who placed a drink in front of him moments later. "I never pass up an opportunity to have a drink."
If Sadie had to guess, she would guess that this wasn't the first time Eames had been to this specific bar.
"Of course, you don't," she said, turning back to face the bar again, holding her glass up and shaking it in the bartenders direction as he way of signaling her want for a third one.
"How many of those have you had?"
Sadie looked to the other side of her to confront the person who the voice belonged to. "Fancy seeing you here, Arthur." She smiled briefly. "I've had two," she informed him in a matter of fact tone. "The next one will be my third." She was already feeling the affects of the first two shots.
Sadie eyed the drink in Arthur's hand and looked up at him, "I would've never taken you for the drinking at bars type," she admitted to him bluntly. "You seem so serious all the time, almost as if you're like the stick in the mud type."
Eames laughed from his place on the other side of her. "See, Arthur," Eames said with a grin. "I'm not the only one who thinks that."
Arthur turned his head and glared at him. "Shut up, Mr. Eames."
Sadie's face lit up almost instantly and she looked back to Eames. "So Eames is not your real name?"
Eames shook his head.
Sadie smiled as innocent of a smile as she could and asked, "Then what is?"
"That's for me to know and you to wonder about."
Sadie frowned. "Well that is very sucky of you." She scoffed in annoyance, the alcohol clearly taking affect on her now. Well that and the fact that, to be quite honest, she wasn't use to not getting what she wanted often.
Turning back to the bar she saw that she didn't have another shot in front of her yet. Not doing anything to hide her annoyance, she called out, "Bartender! Where's my other shot?!"
Moments later, the bartender placed the filled shot glass in front of her.
"Thank you," she said, grabbing the shot and downing it without a second thought.
She smiled as the alcohol burned her throat on it's way down. The best kind of alcohol. Sadie always drank under the impression that the best alcohol was the kind that burned it's way down her throat. On ice was not as good as straight up. And wine just did not cut it. But shots...shots definitely hit all the right spots. The first time she had ever had a shot was when she moved to Paris at 18. Thanks to the age limit in the US, she didn't get to drink any alcohol there. Well not legally anyways.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sadie noticed a woman looking in her direction. She wasn't exactly feeling comfortable with her looking her way. It didn't take long for Sadie to realize who exactly the woman was looking at.
Sadie looked over at Eames and said, "Will you please do something about her?"
Eames raised and eyebrow as he asked, "Do something about who?"
"About that woman over there who won't stop looking at you." She nodded her head in the woman's direction. "Her looking over here is making me really uncomfortable right now."
Eames laughed and stood up. "Don't worry love, I'll take care of her."
Shooting her a wink, that weirdly made her stomach begin to do somersaults, Eames grabbed his drink from the bar top and made his way over to the woman.
Sadie smiled as she called after him. "Thank you so much."
A sudden feeling of jealousy washed over her. Instead of thinking anything of it, Sadie just brushed it off as the alcohol making her feel things she wouldn't usually feel. Alcohol was meant to make people feel like that.
Turning towards Arthur now that it was just the two of them sitting at the bar, Sadie asked, "So is dying in dreams always so nerve racking?" She didn't give him a chance to answer as she went on; alcohol definitely turned her into a chatter box, "Because at first the aspect of being killed by someone as mysterious and attractive as you in a dream..." Sadie paused for a moment to smile at Arthur before she continued, "It was kind of...exhilarating for lack of better words. Yeah, it was exhilarating, but then when the time came for you to kill me after I blew our cover I suddenly felt the urge to jump out of my own skin, head for the hills and never return." Again before Arthur could get a word in, Sadie added, "And please don't give a long explanation answer. 'Cause it'd just end up being a waste of breath since I probably won't remember much of what happens now and for the remainder of the night tomorrow."
"It depends on the person," he answered truthfully, playing with the rim of his drink glass. "Some get use to it after a while, but others never do."
"How about you?" Sadie asked curiously. "Did you ever get use to it?"
Arthur remained silent at first, making Sadie wonder if maybe she'd ask a wrong question. But before she could contemplate apologizing for maybe overstepping her boundaries, he answered her, "Honestly, there are still times that I get nervous when it comes down to having to kill myself to escape a dream."
Sadie smiled a small smile. "At least you're honest." Sadie remained quiet after that until the alcohol coursing through her veins decided that it was time for her to get angry. "You know who is not even the slightest bit honest?!" She asked rhetorically. "My dumbass ex of a freaking boyfriend! I wasted two years of my life on him for absolutely nothing at all," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Well, I mean, other than the fact that my days on Earth are now numbered because of that dumbass and his non-existing honesty." She shook her head in complete disbelief at how screwed up her life was all of a sudden. "It makes me so mad thinking about it!"
"Your days are numbered?" Arthur asked, his tone a mixture of surprise and confusion, having not expected her to say anything like that.
"Yeap, Nate said, and I quote, "I think they're planning on kidnapping you, forcing the information they want out of you, and then killing you once they get what they want," and that is what led me to smashing his head into the bar," Sadie answered, her anger growing at just the thought of remembering it. "As if he didn't already do enough damage." She frowned. "Can I let you in on a secret?"
"It depends on what kind of secret."
Sadie ignored him and told him her secret anyways, which in actuality wasn't much of a secret since everyone was already very well aware of it. "I didn't really get my black eye from walking into a door," she confessed, her anger dissipating slowly as sadness took it's place. "I walked in on Nate while he was texting more of those cipher messages the other night and I asked him about them. He told me that they were nothing important and that I needed to forget what I saw. But, of course, me being me did not do that, so he got mad and he hit me." She frowned. "I proceeded to break up with him as soon as I had recovered from the shock of the blow. Ever since I was younger, I always said that I don't care what the reason was...if a guy I was dating ever lays a hand on me, it's over." Sadie shook her head. "I have no intention of ever being a guest on The Steve Wilkos Show, so no...just no. It was over the moment he balled up his fist."
~TheMiddle~
Another couple of shots later, Sadie was finally ready to go home. All she wanted was her warm, cozy bed and most of all sleep. But there was no way she'd get there on her own. She was far too gone to do most things on her own. It was a surprise to her that she could even form words. So maybe she wasn't as drunk as she felt like she was. But she still wasn't willing to chance it. And plus, if she wasn't so drunk, then why would she still be going on and on about Nate. Maybe drinking all of those shots wasn't such a good idea after all. It was a little too late for thinking of what could've been.
"I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I feel like such a freaking dumbass. I mean I was raised by a spy for crying out loud!" She yelled, too drunk to realize that it might not be wise to reveal such dangerous things to whoever could possibly be lurking in the shadows. "I should know when someone is using me or not. I really am such a dumbass at times. The past two years have been filled with at least 600 plus times of moments where I was being a dumbass. I. Am. Such. A. Dumbass." Sadie couldn't stop rambling on as Arthur led her out of the bar.
Arthur suddenly stopped abruptly in his tracks. Sadie followed suit since he was the only thing holding her up and keeping her butt from hitting the concrete sidewalk below. Sadie wondered why they had stopped after only making it a few steps out of the bar They were many blocks from the apartment, and they were the only ones on the deserted sidewalk.
Sadie relaxed as Arthur's hands came up to cup her face, moving her to look him in the eyes, "You're not a dumbass. Don't ever call yourself that again, drunk or not."
"How would you know?" Sadie asked with a roll of her eyes. "You've only known me for like less than 12 hours now," Sadie guessed since she had no idea what time it was.
"I just know," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "It's a part of life for everyone to mess up every now and then. There is nothing you can do to change that fact. It's not a fact that any one really likes, but none-the-less it is still a fact that happens more often then not."
Sadie nodded her head in understanding at his short speech.
Moments later, Sadie was paying more attention to where Arthur's hands were placed and felt a familiar warm and tingling sensation where it shouldn't be at a moment like the one she was currently in.
Sadie swallowed the lump in her throat down hard before she said to him in an informative tone, "I am just letting you know now that I tend to get really horny so much lot faster when I've had a few shots. Therefore, it'd be wise for you to stop touching my face before I do something that's really going to be embarrassing once I'm sober."
Arthur didn't hesitate to drop his hands from her face and smiled slightly, faintly showing off his dimples, as he replied, "Thank you for the warning."
Sadie smiled back just as she stumbled and almost lost her balance, "You're welcome."
Arthur quickly grabbed hold of her arm and wrapped his other arm around her waist to steady her. When he finally had her secure in his arms, he began walking down the sidewalk, leading the way for them both since Sadie was in no position to navigate a turtle let alone herself.
"Hey, Arthur," Sadie said, stifling a yawn as she laid her head on his shoulder as they walked down the deserted sidewalk.
"Yeah?" he mumbled, the vibrations coming from him finding their way to Sadie, causing a shiver to rush up her spine.
"Sorry that you had to put up with my drunken rambling for the past few hours." She apologized sincerely as she began to feel a bit embarrassed about everything she had admitted to him tonight. "You must think I'm nuts right now."
"No need to apologize." He chuckled slightly, sending more vibrations throughout Sadie's body. "And I don't think you're nuts either, he assured her with a small smile playing out on his lips. "It was quite an interesting night to say the least."
Sadie had an instinctive feeling that said that wasn't exactly something Arthur often admitted. After all, she did remember hearing Eames calling him a stick in the mud earlier that night. But only after she had said it first. Whatever, though; this wasn't kindergarten.