Stargazing and Fire Escapes
Well, it's been a very long while since I've uploaded a chapter, I've had a lot of things going on, currently, I'm planning my wedding. Yep, I recently got engaged to an amazing person and I'm planning our wedding :)
Sorry I've been away so long, but enjoy this little chapter!
I don't know what happened to make Thea so upset, but I had never seen her so upset.
We took a cab back to the hotel, in total silence; I could tell that she didn't want to talk about whatever it was that had upset her so much.
As I paid the cabbie, Thee dashed off into the hotel.
"You do something to your lady, buddy?" the cabbie joked. I smirked, shaking my head, watching the direction in which Thee had run off in.
"I think she misses her mom." I explained, "It's the last time I take her to a re-run of Dumbo."
The cabbie snorted, "Can't she just go see her?"
"She's dead." I told him slowly. It wasn't that much of a lie. The cabbie became solomn.
"Hey buddy, I'm sorry about that. My boy's out in Europe, my old lady is so worried, she might drop dead from all the stress." He paused, turning in his seat to look at me, "You look after that little lady, and yourself."
"Yes sir." I nodded with a smile. The guy, when I tried to pay the fare, refused to take his pay, but I was never one to get something for nothing, so before I followed Thea back into the hotel, I put the fare under the windscreen wiper.
I had Thee's camera in my hand and I thought she'd totally forgotten about it, so I went to her room to give it to her.
The hallway we were roomed on was quiet, and I could hear the soft sniffling inside her room from behind the door. I stayed there, listening, just for a while, before I knocked on her door, calling out her name.
"Thee? You left your camera in the cab." I called out to her softly. After a couple of minutes, I heard the door unlock, and it opened just slightly. My pale lavender eyed friend peeked out through the gap between the door and it's frame.
"Thanks Malark." she sniffed, wiping her puffy eyes, as she took the package from my hands.
"Are you alright?" I asked softly, tentatively.
She nodded, "I'll be okay. I just miss my family."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's okay... I'll come see you later, if that's alright?"
Smiling, I nodded down at her, "Of course you can. You know I always like to have you around."
I could see the faint curves of a smile on her lips, as she said thanks before the door closed.
Just as I was making my way down the hall, to my room, a voice called out to me from behind. Twisting myself, I saw Elle, standing outside the door to her room, looking a little concerned.
"Everything alright Malarkey?" she asked in a motherly fashion, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Everything's fine, why?"
"Did something happen to Thea while the two of you were out?" she asked more sternly this time. I explained to her what had happened while we were out that day. Elle sighed, almost sadly and looked towards my little woman's door, before looking back at me and then down at her feet.
"It's hard, for her, for all of us being here." she sighed once more, stepping towards me, "We have nothing. Just you guys. Just this. We've been so focussed on training and trying to fit in, but when we see families or something triggers a memory of our old lives, it hurts. It cuts into us and we can't do anything about it."
I stood in total silence, my friend and I staring at each other from across the hall.
"Just give her time." she told me, turning away to go back into her room, "She'll open up eventually."
Hours later, I was laid on my back, on the bed, arms crossed under my head, staring up at the ceiling. There were two smoked cartons of cigarettes on my bedside table, as I nervously waited for hours, for my lady to knock on the door.
Not long after I had started my third packet of smokes, there was a knock on my door, that I had been waiting for nearly all night.
Excitedly, and almost in a panic, I jumped up off of the bed, rushing over to the door, flinging it open, to find a surprised looking Thea on the other side.
She cocked her head to the side, looking surprised and puzzled, as she held a bottle of vodka in one hand and a box of doughnuts in the other.
"Don?" her soft, English accent questioned me sweetly. I blinked at her a few times, before I moved out of the door way to let her into my room.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked, shutting the door after she came in.
"I suppose so." Thee shrugged, turning around to look at me. "You got any glasses, or do you want to just drink it out of the bottle?"
"Bottle?"
My little friend grinned devilishly, and with a nod, said, "Good idea."
"Do you wanna go drink it on the fire escape?"
"That's one of the best suggestions that you've ever had Don."
"Are you serious!? You just dumped her, moved away and joined Easy?!" Thea laughed in amused surprise.
"Yeah, I did." I laughed too, but at her reaction and because of half of the bottle of vodka that we'd shared.
"That's so fucking mean!" my Thee gasped, holding her hands to her mouth.
"Hey, hey," I began, pointing at her, "She told me, that if I joined up she'd finish me, so I thought, what the hell I'm going anyway. So I dumped her and joined up."
"Boom." Thea grinned, with a deadpan tone, lifting the bottle to her lips.
"Boom." I replied, a smile on my lips, as I toasted Thee with a doughnut. My friend laughed, throwing back her head, her long chocolate hair, cascading down her shoulders and back.
"You're so stubborn." she chuckled, picking up a powdered doughnut.
"What can I say, we Irish have always been stubborn." I joked, taking the bottle that Thea had previously been holding.
She started to shake her head, "Fucking Irish."
"Thee, you're Irish." I pointed out with an amused from on my face.
"Fuck!" she grumbled, looking annoyed.
"Thea my lady, you're not going to get away with pretending you're not Irish."
"I thought I told you not to call me that."
"Since when have I listened to what you say?"
The two of us calmed down after a while, and we lay there, on our backs, looking up at the sky, stargazing in the cool night sky. Thea held one of my hands, the two of us laying in a T shape, her head resting on my ribs, as I lay my arm over her waist.
I switched my gaze, from the starry night sky, to the young, beautiful woman laying with me. She'd gotten changed, from our trip out, into her favourite clothes. Instead of her polka dot dress, she wore a long sleeved, marl grey jumper that looked a few sizes too big, so it showed some of her shoulder and bra strap (I didn't mind, so long as I was the only one who saw it, not that I was going to say that to her). Her bottom half was clad in skin tight black things, called leggings, well, I think that's what the girls called them. On her feet she wore a pair of comfy, marl brown socks, which she loved, always telling me that they made her feet look 'cute'.
I smiled, nudging her so that I could sit up. She gave me a grumpy pout, the same look she gives me if I wake her up in the morning, but it soon faded into a surprised look, as I lifted her into the gap between my legs, her right shoulder leaning into my chest.
The lavender eyed beauty wrapped her arms around my body automatically, head instinctively resting on my shoulder. I smiled once again, resting my lips on the top of her head. I remembered how sad she had been earlier and I wanted to make her smile.
"You know... You'll always be welcome at my home."
Thea looked up at me, "Don?"
"I mean it. You'll always be welcome at my home, with my family. I will always be there for you. I promise."
She studied my face for a while with her pale purple eyes, before she smiled.
"You want to be careful how you say things, you sounded like you were proposing to me!"
I smirked, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." I paused, "I just wanted to make you smile. I hate seeing you sad."
"Aww aren't you such a cutie pie." she teased, pinching my cheek. I rolled my eyes, pretending to look annoyed.
"Aren't you such a dick." I jokingly grumbled.
"I am, but fuck it."
