Chapter 9
"H - Hello?"
Elena didn't mind phone calls. But when people call you at… 3 am (no, not the song…), it kinda gets to you. She had had a terrible day fixing silly locks, and spent the rest of the evening partying and celebrating the fact that Reno said that he would be gone, probably for the rest of the evening. But she didn't feel that well after the little party, and the party's aftermath, was a weird headache, that didn't really hurt but drummed in her head. When she put her hands on her temple, she could really feel the pulse through the skin. The only comfort right now, was the fact that she had another 2 days off before she had to go back to work. And if Tseng even knew the definition of the word 'fair' or 'justice', he would've sent Reno to work, while she was at home. But, back to the phone call situation. She wasn't up for a chat. And she would kill anything moving/blinking/walking that called her. But since the phone did neither, she couldn't really do anything other than answering it. Who knows? Maybe it was important.
"Uh, hi. Is this… Elena?"
She blinked a couple of times to make sure she was awake.
"Yeah? Who is this?" she asked, fearing the worst.
"Hi, this is Ted. I got your pal here."
She sighed.
"Wrong number. I don't have any pals."
There was a pause on the other side of the phone, then 'Ted' spoke again.
"Well… he says he knows you. Actually, he says he's living with you… Hold on."
'Yeah, Reno. Make my night/morning worse!' (The /'s annoy me too… But they fit, I think.)
"Christ, lady! Get him out of here, he has a gun, and I'm very worried that he'll shoot my customers!" he yelled at last.
Elena's mind, though, was focused on something else. "You're still open? Geez, don't you people sleep?" she said, shaking her head.
"Ok, what bar?" she asked when 'Ted' didn't say anything else.
"The Bank. And hurry! I think he's about to start smashing things if you don't show up."
Elena popped up. "Your bar is in a bank? What the hell were you thinking? He's not robbing the bank, is he?" she said, frowning. This was obviously Reno's aftermath.
"No… The Bank is the name of the bar. Can you just get here?"
"Oh… haha. I'll be there in a sec." she said before hanging up.
Oh dear God. This was going to be horrifying.
'I'm so tired..!' She thought, falling back on the bed, suffocating both herself and the pillow. She screamed her heart out into the pillow before rolling around and getting up.
"Reno, you asshole. Just wait till I get there."
She got dressed, grabbed her keys, didn't even bother to brush her hair too much, and ran out of the apartment.
Her car was a BMW, 7th. Her favourite car, and of course, black. It was always shiny and clean and occupied a lot of her time.
After about 7 minutes driving, she found it. A big white sign, with red letters written vertically; BANK, and The written on top horizontally with minimal letters, almost impossible to see.
"Who the hell names a bar The Bank, anyways?"
She got out of the car, locked the door and, paralyzed, move towards the entrance. She was about 8 inches away when she suddenly started hopping away fists clenched, screaming: "I don't wanna go i-hi-hi-hi-hiiiiiin!" she continued hopping in circles around herself until a guy, probably Tod or Ted, whatever the guy's name was… She twitched as she heard the door squeak behind her and quickly turned around to see 'who the hell it was, disturbing her privacy like that!' Well, some guy with black, short hair and square glasses, that made his eyes at least 4 times bigger.
"Elena?" he asked. She looked at him idiotically, her hair even more messy from the bouncing, and saying something that sounded like 'hmuh?'
"Are you Elena?" he asked again.
'Jerk, I'm not retarded; I just don't know who you are. Idiot…'
"Ah, yeah…"
He opened the door and expected her to get in, but no. she stood there, wondering if he had seen her jumping around like a purple frog on crack. In a blue suit with weird hair…
"In?" he asked.
She winced "Oh, oh yeah… whatever." She said as she passed him. Maybe to him, maybe to herself.
"So. Where did you put him?" she asked as soon as they were inside. It was a pretty bar. All dark brown-reddish wood, probably cherry, or something.. It had about 8 booths spread around on the left side and the bartender & co to the right side.
"Funky." She mumbled to herself.
"He kinda fell asleep over there… If you could get him outta here without waking him up, I would appreciate it."
The bar was empty.
"Didn't you say that there were other customers here?" she asked looking around for corpses under tables.
"We did. But his gun kinda chased them all away."
'Man, he says 'kinda' a lot.' she thought.
"I'll get him outta here quietly if you show me where he is." she said impatiently.
"Well, at first he kinda fell asleep right on the booth over there, but…"
'Oh holy Mako, what a son of a… mother.'
He just wouldn't shut up so she…
"Can you show me where my partner is?" she asked calmly.
The guy was shaking. He put his hands up. He probably even peed his pants.
"R- right, of course. Just please… put away the gun, I'll sh- how you… right away."
"Good!" she smiled and put away her gun as if nothing had happened. He eventually put his hands down. Straightened his black and white sweater (as if that sweater could get any more straight.), and wandered off towards the bartender, who was now wiping the glasses and just smiling at the whole situation. Ted-guy moved behind the table, where the BT was standing and gestured down at the floor. At first Elena thought he was just kidding, in which case she was sure that her gun could make a joke or two as well. She didn't have time for this. But, no.
Right there on the floor, was Reno. All curled up and sucking his thumb.
She raised her mouth and opened her eyebrows, or something. She was tired. About two seconds ago but this sight…
"You put him on the floor?" she asked, not looking away from baby-Reno.
"H- He kinda wanted to…" he answered, fearing that she would pull out her gun again.
"No, no! It's fair." She said with a grin, as she crossed her arms.
"Jackass…" she mumbled. "I guess I should get him into the car, huh?" Tud and the other guy didn't see a reason to smile, but nodded eagerly.
"Just get him the hell out of here… miss."
A/N: Well?