song: Cage The Elephant - Mess Around
"I. Am. Wrecked."
I leaned back in the car seat and closed my eyes for a few seconds. When I opened them again, I bend my neck backwards until I was looking at Mordecai who sat slumped down in the gunner seat.
"Tell me 'bout it.", he replied. We both looked like shit. It was nighttime already, but we made it to New Haven with a whole lot of loot. We could have made it way earlier, but I refused to go through the Fast Travel Network, so it was up to me to drive all the way back.
Hauling back all the loot almost wasn't worth it. I knew I'd probably pay Scooter back for the blown up car. He never really asked his friends to pay him back, but he always managed to make me feel guilty enough. And it was such a pain to drag all of the loot to the one car the bandits owned.
"I gotta go and see if I can stay with Scooter or someone. I'm too wrecked to drive all the way back to the Middle of Nowhere." I said, slowly crawling out of the car. I heard some quiet caws as Bloodwing landed on Mordecai's shoulder. He turned to him and smiled at him, gently rubbing his beak.
"You can stay with me, if ya want, girl." Mordecai offered, looking back at me, as I was unloading some of the guns I got from the car. I paused for a moment. I really liked Mordecai. He was always acting like such a tough guy, but he was actually very kind and an amazing friend.
But I still wasn't over being insanely attracted to him and I knew I'd risk being a goner, if I stayed with him. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Scooter didn't end badly and no one got hurt badly back then. Maybe... just maybe this would work out alright for me? I mean, chances were that Mordecai would leave Pandora after finding the Vault and I could possibly get away from Pandora with him and... I stopped myself.
I didn't like where this thought was going. Mordecai was my friend, I didn't wanna use him to get away from Pandora. I was just so conditioned to judge people by what they could do for me and what advantages I could get from being close to them. It helped me live a luxurious lifestyle back on Aquator. It was a terrible way of thinking, though, and I thought I had put that behind me. Obviously not.
I sighed and figured that it probably wouldn't be so bad, if I stayed there. Yes, I could already feel myself falling for Mordecai, but if I just kept my damn mouth shut and just didn't pursue anything... how bad could it be? It might just work out for me in the end. But damn, did I want him.
"Well, if you wouldn't mind. I mean, Scooter and I kinda got history, so I dunno, I'd rather not ask him for many favours and all.", I finally told him, as I mentally signed off my death penalty.
"Wait, Scooter was the guy in New Haven that you dated for a while?" Mordecai replied with a big grin. I sighed.
"Yeah."
"You dated Scooter? Scooter the redneck mechanic? That Scooter?"
"Yes, that Scooter."
"So... is he really the fastest ride in town?" he asked with the biggest grin on his face I had seen so far. I burst out laughing. I couldn't believe that after all these years Scooter was still using that line unironically.
"I mean, I don't really know enough about other people in New Haven, but Scooter is definitely close to the top of the list." I answered. Mordecai laughed quietly to himself and shook his head.
"I kinda figured, but man, hearing it first-hand just makes it so much better. Anyways, of course it's no problem if you wanna stay. It's not the biggest or most comfy place, but I guess it's better than Scooter's workshop."
"Thanks, man. Appreciate it."
I took the last of my guns and my cash stack and started walking towards the dumping site outside New Haven. We had driven all around the town, so we didn't have to walk too far and I was seriously grateful for that. Mordecai was a few steps ahead of me, as we stepped out between two piles of garbage and into a sort of trash-clearing. There were 4 containers standing in a circle formation. I could make out the light of a little campfire in the middle of the formation.
"Where the hell have you been, Mordecai?" I heard a voice say. I walked up to Mordecai and stepped out behind him, a sheepish look on my face. Sitting around the fire were Roland, Lilith and Brick.
"I was just out hunting. Why you askin', Roland?" he replied.
"We were worried about you. You were just gone without saying anything and didn't turn up for two whole days." Lilith retorted. She sounded pretty frustrated. I felt a little weird, like when you are at your friend's place and their parents are giving out to them, while you're just standing there awkwardly.
"Relax, Lil. It's not like we had stuff to do or anything.", Mordecai said. Man, this was awkward.
"Just tell us if you plan to leave for a few days the next time, okay? We'll have to head up to see Tannis in the morning, Mordy, so get some sleep." Roland said.
"At least answer to some ECHO messages.", Lilith added.
"Sure thing. C'mon, Nova." Mordecai said and started walking towards one of the containers. I (unintentionally) decided to make the whole situation even more awkward. Yay me.
"Hi everyone." I said to the group, waving and smiling a little. Brick gave me a big smile and waved back with his huge hands.
"Hi, Mordecai's friend! Good to see you again." he replied. Brick was just precious. Absolutely precious. I don't know why I was ever afraid of pissing him off, he was the only one who reacted to what I said and didn't just look at me. It made me feel a little less dumb.
"Good to see you all again, too. How's the vault hunting and all that stuff going?" I asked. I saw Lilith with a smug grin on her face.
"Wow, Mordy, you brought a girl back home? That's a first." she said jokingly. Thankfully it was dark outside, so no one could see me blushing. I only then realized exactly how awkward I was being.
"Oh, shut it, Lil.", he answered with a grin.
"We seem to be getting somewhere with the Vault. We'll have to see what Tannis has for us in the morning. Seems like we're not the only ones interested in it, though." Roland finally answered my question.
"Really? Who else is interested in the Vault?" I asked. I mean, I never really thought that people actually took it that seriously. Except for some fortune-seekers like those four and some others before them.
"Atlas seems to have quite an interest in it, as well. The Crimson Lance is giving us some trouble in Old Haven.", Roland said. That was weird. I thought Roland was with the lance? Maybe he quit or something? Weird how they didn't kill him for that yet.
"Wow, shit. The Lance. Man, lancers are really tough. I ran into a group of them once, they almost had me killed. But I could talk my way out of it in the end. They're no fun.", I replied, only to make things even weirder.
"Can you talk this out in the morning, maybe? Nova and I are both hungover and tired as shit, and I'd like to get some sleep, if you don't mind." Mordecai interrupted. Roland nodded quickly.
"Sure, get some rest. Goodnight." he replied. Mordecai nodded at him and made his way towards his container.
"Night everyone." I said awkwardly and followed Mordecai. This was a terribly weird situation for everyone involved. Ugh.
"Sorry 'bout them, they can be really weird sometimes." Mordecai said quietly when we stepped into the container. I huffed. They could be really weird? Hell, did he see me be Queen Awkward just there?
It was pretty warm in the container, but surprisingly orderly, except for the odd pack of ammunition here and there. It was a nice enough place for one person and most certainly cozier than Scooter's workshop. I felt a little embarrassed that Mordecai had seen the mess in my house, when his place was so tidy.
"Make yourself at home, chica. Sorry, but there's not much to it. I can offer you the bed, but there's not much difference to the mat on the floor, so whatever you'd like better." he said shrugging.
"I'm fine with the floor." I replied and started piling my guns next to the grey mat opposite the bed. To be fair, the bed really didn't look that comfortable. It also looked like it was barely ever used.
"Alright then. Time to go to bed, I suppose." Mordecai replied and took off his heavy boots, quickly putting them outside the container. I grinned at the thought of him being embarrassed, because his black combat boots were smelling after wearing them for two days on a hot desert planet like Pandora.
I took off my boots, too, and put them outside the container as well, since Mordecai was being so nice. When I got back to my mat, I started taking off the rest of my clothes until I was down to my boxers and the bra. It felt good to be out of all the heavy gear and in some light clothes for once.
"Do you want a change of clothes or something?" Mordecai asked, barely looking at me. It was quite sweet of him to be so polite about me getting changed, but...
"Nah. I mean, there's nothing you ain't seen yet." I replied. He nodded and I sat down on the mat, leaning against the wall and watching him take off his mask and his goggles. He took off his scarf, vest and shirt next, revealing a thin, but muscly build. I bit my lip absentmindedly. Maybe I was just starved for sex, maybe it was the hangover. I just couldn't keep my eyes off him. There was nothing in the world that I wanted more than this man. He bent down and put on a shirt that was probably white at some point. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
"Enjoying the show?" he asked with his back turned to me. Ah, shit. He had caught me staring. I hoped this was the first time he had noticed. I really hoped he wouldn't see the slight blush spreading across my cheeks.
"Shut up. And yeah, I am enjoying the show." I answered. Mordecai turned around with a smirk on his face.
"You are a cheeky one, huh, chica?"
I just shrugged and replied "Whatever gets me where I want to be, I guess."
Mordecai laughed and shook his head, saying "You're lacking sleep, girl. Get some rest."
