Tuesday, September 12th 2000
Sunlight gradually met two extremely tired pairs of eyes, and neither human was grateful for being woken up hours earlier than previously intended. James knew that something was different, but no matter how hard he thought about the matter, he just couldn't place it. He sat up a little and cracked the bones in his back as he was very stiff for some reason, and Jessie had the same feeling that something wasn't quite right. She sat forward and kissed her boyfriend whilst she tried to wake herself up; unable to shake the desire to sleep much longer than she normally would, not to mention the killer headache she had. As a general rule, neither of them tended to get hangovers, regardless of how much they had drunk the night before. Since both of their bodies were strangely weak from the night before, he fell back on the ground with her on top of him, and instead of doing something useful like trying to work out what they had done the night before, they began to kiss and fondle each other shamelessly to pass the time. It was all going well for them when James felt something under Jessie's t-shirt that he hadn't in previous sessions. He was perplexed by this and pulled back from her lips before taking the foreign item out of her t-shirt; curiosity having overthrown his lustful hormones for the time being. Jessie didn't know what he was doing, and was beginning to feel self-conscious until she saw him take something out from under her t-shirt and start laughing. She asked him what was wrong and he handed her what had been around her neck, causing her to groan and laugh out of embarrassment at it. It was a silver medal with the words 'Second place winner in this year's regional strip-a-thon competition' inscribed on the back. Once James had a somewhat firm grip on reality once more, he suddenly realised something important.
"Didn't I pay for a room yesterday?"
"I don't remember. Where's our stuff?"
"With Meowth somewhere, I guess.
Are you sure I didn't pay for a room?"
"I vaguely remember that, but if you did pay for one, shouldn't you still have the key?"
"I don't know. Get up for a second so I can check my pockets please"
"No problem"
Jessie moved back to her original position and stared at the medal for another couple of minutes, trying to successfully recall any piece of information about the previous night's events and failing. As James continued to search for the key to the room that he supposedly paid for, Jessie began to realise that they hadn't intended to sleep in the middle of the forest without their supplies and in their only half-decent looking clothes. She picked at a couple of twigs that had embedded themselves into her hair at some point during the night until she finally heard James say that he did have the key.
He tried to stand up, but he found out that his body considered that it was definitely not a good idea. Dizziness consumed his every thought and he rested against a tree until his surroundings decided to stop running around him, making a light sense of nausea enter his stomach. Once he could see straight again, he asked Jessie if she knew the name of the hotel, since the key only had the number on it, but she was as clueless as he was.
"Where was it we went last night anyway? We might be able to work out
where we started out from"
"I think it was the place we used
to go to when we first joined Team Rocket"
"The Sliver Bet?"
"I think it was something like
that"
"If we went there, then chances are that we stayed in that cheap hotel
again"
"Which one?"
"Do you remember the florist?"
"Vaguely. Is that opposite from the tattoo parlour?"
"Yeah, it's on that street. Do you remember it yet?"
"Barely. What if that's not it?"
"Well, lets see if it is it first.
Do you think you can walk without passing out yet?"
"Probably. I think you'd better
get up before you tease me about being light-headed. Have you seen my
underwear?"
She shook her head and stood up, but although she staggered a bit at first, she didn't have as much difficulty with moving as her boyfriend did. He rubbed his eyes once more and they looked around them to see which way they had come from in the middle of the night, and they slowly set off once they were certain of the route. Neither of them realised that the reason that James appeared to be more hung over than Jessie was, was that the drugs that had been slipped into their drinks were mingling with the medication that he was on for his leg. He knew that he wasn't supposed to have drunk anything containing alcohol, but Jessie had seemed so happy at the mere prospect at going out that he had momentarily forgotten the rule about alcohol/tablets.
Whereas the sunlight in the forest had failed to do any favours for their alcohol-induced hangovers, words failed to describe what the sun did to them once the tall, sheltering trees had disappeared. They took the scenic route to try and avoid being sighted by anybody from Team Rocket, and they reached the hotel they hoped was the right one an hour and a half after waking up. Embarrassed, James asked the receptionist if that key was to one of their rooms, but much to his horror, he found out that it wasn't. He grumbled out some sort of gratitude to the receptionist for his assistance and told the bad news to Jessie, who had been waiting outside the building to get as much fresh air as possible. She looked as downcast as he had upon receiving the information, and they continued walking along the street to try and see a building that might jolt some memories into either of their heads.
Forty-five minutes later…
Jessie and James entered the correct hotel room noisily and they collapsed on the bed together, wanting nothing more than another few hours' sleep after traipsing around a busy city for nearly two hours in search of a room that hadn't been worth booking. Meowth followed them into the room and brazenly said:
"I knew that you didn't know what time you'd be back at, but this really is ridiculous"
He received a strange look from each of his partners that should probably have been a pair of glares, but due to the present circumstances, they were totally unrecognisable. James firstly asked what time it was, and then changed his mind mid-sentence and asked if the room was en-suite. To his sheer delight, he found out that it did have a shower, and that it was half past two. The latter information was less interesting. He stood up again and received yet another head-rush in return before heading for the shower with his uniform to try and wake himself up, hoping that his headache would have disappeared by the time he was finished. He rubbed his eyes again and turned the shower on to let the water heat up a bit whilst he began to undress himself, which appeared to be more laborious than usual. His back was incredibly sore for some reason, and he could only presume that it was due to sleeping on the ground without checking for large roots first. As he took the only decent black shirt that he owned off, he felt something fall back on his torso. He looked to see what it could be and he laughed when he saw what it was and decided to leave telling Jessie until later. His head felt less heavy when he was finished with his shower, and he decided to apply some more cream to his leg before it aggravated him too much. He stayed away from the painkillers in case there were any remnants of the alcohol inside him, having actually remembered the dangers of mixing the two substances, and then he dried himself off a bit. He decided that they probably wouldn't be doing much of anything that day, let alone even considering work as a possibility, so the amount of clothes that he put on amounted to his boxers and his traditional white trousers. The atmosphere was too sticky to seriously contemplate putting a t-shirt on, and he left the room to see how Jessie was feeling.
He went over to her and kissed her until she complained that his skin was too damp for her liking. He sat back a little and asked her if she could remember anything about the previous night yet, and her answer was negative. She looked at him as he sat slightly beside her and found herself wishing that Meowth would just disappear for twenty minutes. She rested on her elbows and noticed a smile playing across James' face as he looked at her, causing her to ask him what was wrong. He tossed her something out of his right hand and asked her to read it before mysteriously adding:
"I guess I'm definitely better than you at something"
She read the inscription on what he had tossed to her and she blushed upon reading it, before saying:
"There's no way you're better than me in it!"
"I guess there is a way and that's it. You came second only to me, you should be flattered at being compared to me"
"Flattered?! You're male, and I'm quite sure that's the only reason you won!"
"Of course it is. Just keep telling yourself that…"
"Hey!"
"Hey what?"
"Um, what exactly are you two
arguing about?"
"Jessie's jealous because I beat her in something, even if it is embarrassing"
"Meowth, who do you think has a better body?"
"I am not answering that! What happened last night?"
"Um, try asking us when we're sober"
"We apparently took part in an annual strip-a-thon or something. I don't remember doing it myself, but he still beat me!"
"It might have to do with a dance or something you did at the time, but
is it really worth disgusting me with the details?"
"There's nothing revolting about
the human form. Unless you've got really ugly scars like I do"
"That's another thing—how did you beat me with scars like that, and
surely you couldn't take your trousers off easily with not only the cuts
themselves, but what about the whole aspect of being say, I don't know…drunk
maybe?"
"Come on, it's not that bad losing
to me, unless it was either all-male or all-female, and then I'd definitely be
worried. And aren't you forgetting that you were drunk too?"
"Will one of you please
feed Me-owth? Just because you aren't hungry doesn't mean that I'm not"
"Sure thing, I'll feed you since I
don't think Jessie looks capable of moving too much in the next while"
"Try and keep your few clothes on
in the meantime, unless last night gave you a taste for it!"
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't take anything else off"
He leaned down and kissed his girlfriend again just to make sure that they were only mock-fighting in their argument before turning around to get Meowth some food. Jessie's eyes widened by what she saw and tried to call him back before he was out of earshot, but unluckily for her he'd already left the room, meaning that she'd have to get up. Groaning, she dragged herself out of the bedroom and followed her friends to talk to James about what she had seen. Before she was given sufficient warning, James tossed her a pokéball and cheerfully said:
"Good, now you can feed Arbok!"
In a more expensive room in a different hotel…
She lay back on her bed, feeling utterly depressed after not only losing the cell phone, but also because she had returned to the jeep in the previous evening and found it irreparable due to the extensive damage that had been inflicted to it. Her partner had taken it out on her repeatedly the night before, reminding her of her idiotic mistake at every chance he'd gotten. At least she'd had the sense to ring their employers to inform them not to ring the phone with any other instructions in case her ex- had found the phone. She'd barely slept throughout the night, from both crying her heart out and also due to the noises coming from her partner's bedroom, and the fact that he'd treat any other woman with a sense of respect was starting to bother her. She'd been contemplating eating something for the last couple of hours, but she didn't know how volatile her partner was still feeling. Her insides felt extremely tight from the tension and depression she was suffering from, and there was nothing that she could say to herself that could make her see how the situation could become much worse. She was stuck in a job that she didn't want, she dyed her hair repeatedly to a colour that she detested, but what hurt most was that she was made watch the only man that had won her heart fall completely in love with another woman. She'd tried to stay away from any prospect of a new relationship in case they hurt her like James had, but no matter how hard she fought against it, she was beginning to get feelings for her partner. She had decided a while ago that she kept them to herself for a while, as he already threw them back in her face by frequently screwing women he'd probably never lay eyes on again. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and her partner entered without waiting for a response from her. She looked away from him as he sat beside her and heard him gently ask her if she was feeling okay. She felt him rest his hand on the hip furthest away from him and ask her how she was feeling yet again, his touch making her want to scream for him to either get away from her or to beg him to hold her, she wasn't entirely sure which option she'd prefer. Since she couldn't trust herself to make any type of verbal contact without making her sound like a stupid young girl with a crush, she remained silent as he continued to try and coax her into talking.
"C'mon, talk to me. I'm sorry for last night, I should never have gone at you like that"
"Sorry doesn't always cut it"
"Look, I didn't mean any of those things, and if I could take them back
I would"
"But you can't, and you don't seem
to understand that. I'm not one of your little tramps who you can say anything
to and they'll forget it as soon as you screw them"
"You know I don't treat you like that, and I was more than a little on edge last night"
"If we're supposed to work together this closely, you're going to have
to treat me with a little respect"
"Have you eaten anything yet? I
don't remember seeing you out of this room"
"That's because I haven't eaten anything. Did you seriously expect me to go anywhere near you after what you said to me last night?"
"Will you give me one more chance? If I ever do anything to hurt you again, either physically or mentally, then you can begrudge me for the rest of my life, just please talk to me again"
"What's going to stop you doing something like that again?"
"You have my oath, and it's up to you whether or not you think I hold some depth in those words. What do you say?"
"Alright, but I swear this is the last time"
"You won't regret this! Now, why
don't you tidy yourself up a bit and go and sit on the couch for a while and
I'll make you whatever you want. Once you have your dinner, I'll show you the
funniest thing you'll see in a long time"
"Which is…?"
"All in due time, but trust me, you'll forget how you're feeling now, even if it's just for a little while"
"Okay, but I if don't like it, you'll hear about it. Understood?"
"Perfectly. So what do you want me to make for you?"
Jessie fed Arbok as she had been
requested, still staring at James whenever she got the opportunity. He was
beginning to notice her watching him, but he didn't say anything whilst he fed
Meowth and the other pokémon that hadn't tried to kill him recently.
Once they were finished, Jessie went over to him and asked him if it hurt, a
statement that confused him completely.
"What do you mean?"
"Does-it-hurt?"
"I'm sorry, but you've lost me. Does what hurt?"
"Your back"
"Um, yes, it's just from sleeping
on the ground last night. Why?"
"It's not from the ground, trust me. My back's kind of sore too, but yours isn't from the ground, this I can assure you"
"What are you talking about, and why exactly are you looking at me like that? Have you been drinking again?"
"No I have not!"
"Why do you keep asking me about my back? Is there a cut on it or
something?"
"No, only the coolest tattoo that I've
ever seen!"
"Seriously?!"
"Seriously. How much does it hurt?"
"Well, I thought I'd just slept awkwardly on roots or something, so I guess it doesn't hurt too much. Whereabouts is it?"
"It's quite big, and it's spreading from one shoulder to the other"
"What does it look like?"
"It's a really detailed mythical creature facing me, well obviously not facing me but you get the picture. It's half-standing, half-crouching as if it should be facing to your right, but its head and front claws are turned towards my direction. There's a manacle around its neck with some links hanging off it, and its eyes look angry, as if it's trying to protect something. One of its front claws looks like it's grasping the ground, and the other looks as if it's preparing to launch an attack, and there's this weird fiery glow around the claw in the air. Its tail is slightly curled and its wings are stretched out pressed flat against its back, much like its ears. It really is breathtaking to look at, once you ignore the red skin around it that is"
"Trust me to get it done on a body part that I can't look at!"
"At least you got it done somewhere where there's a chance that the public might see it, unlike if you'd had it put elsewhere"
"Hey, that's my body that you're mentally
tattooing! Get your head out of that gutter"
"My head was not in the
gutter"
"No, but I know exactly where it
was"
James turned around to face his girlfriend and slid his arms around her waist to pull her a little closer to him before kissing her lightly on her lips. He wasn't entirely certain, but he could have sworn that he had heard Meowth make a few sounds to suggest that he was about to get sick into his bowl of food at their performance. Once it became apparent that his inkling had been correct, Jessie pulled back to glare at the feline in question and asked James what he wanted to eat, as she was actually feeling like cooking for once. He said that he'd have whatever she wanted to eat and moved back a bit to give her some more space in the small cooking area as she began to prepare their food. He was finding it hard to believe that he had actually had a tattoo done, yet at the same time he was annoyed that he couldn't see it. He suddenly remembered the cell phone that Meowth had found and went into the bedroom to look at it properly, hoping that he'd see something that could give them a clue about their annoying assailants. By sheer luck, the phone was still on from the previous day and he looked around in the options to see if he could find any numbers that might have some relevance to him, like an attacker's home number or something. Most of the numbers didn't mean anything to him, but he sat up and paid full attention to the phone when he realised that both his 'home' and Alexandria's numbers were in it, indicating that they had the potential to threaten or attack them should they wish to taunt him further than they already were. Fear returned to his thoughts once more and he searched around in the options to see what the last numbers dialled on it were, but much to his horror, the battery died before the option was given suffice time to load. He was contemplating telling Jessie about the letters, but the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt about telling her about the past that he had fought for so long to remain hidden. He was stirred from his thoughts by hearing Jessie tell him that his meal was ready, and he told her that he would be out in a moment.
She pointed and laughed hysterically at the screen with her partner as they watched their nemesis' enrapturing display from the previous night's 'competition'. Once she had finally gasped enough air to talk properly, she pressed the pause button on the VCR remote and said, in between laughs and intakes of breath:
"She looks like a giant flapping Pidgey!"
"I agree, in fact I'm not sure if I think she looks great"
"Just look at the way she's trying to keep her balance—even if I was drunk I 'd have more sense than to stand on a table of that size with four inch heels on whilst attempting to take my bra off"
"It gets funnier, trust me"
She pushed the play button and watched as an embarrassing event unfolded—after failing to unhook the item in question, she needed 'assistance' from James before slipping on a spilt drink and ending up on the ground, flat on her back. This induced more laughter out of both the pub and the people watching the recording, the whole performance being nothing short of priceless, especially as she struggled to get back onto the small table again to continue her routine.
"I told you that it was worth it, didn't I? Wait until we get onto her other half's performance, now that's worth watching!"
"He's in it too?"
"Naturally. You didn't expect me to have one person have all the fun, now did you? If it brings back bad memories, you don't have to watch it"
"And miss out on what you say is hilarious? Not a chance!"
"I was hoping you'd say that, just watch this bit when she tries to take her trousers off"
Forgetting to take her boots off before pulling her trousers off resulted in another trip to the floor for Jessie, only this time James didn't go near her as she [the assailant] soon found out the reason why. Barely noticeable, Elora had made her way over to him and had started kissing him either to keep him distracted long enough for him not to notice his girlfriend, or for her own pleasure, or perhaps even for both reasons. Jessie somehow managed to get her legs out of the pesky material and sit up on the bar, wrapping her legs around the nearest barman. She leaned forward for what probably should have been a sexy kiss, but she leaned forward a little too readily and knocked their foreheads together. He untangled himself from her legs and she managed to finish her 'performance' without many more embarrassing incidences, leaving just her locket on at the end of it, finishing with a bow and returning to the booth after walking into only two tables in the process of recollecting her outfit. Elora left the booth as Jessie was on her return journey moments before James felt like he shouldn't let his girlfriend have all of the fun.
He made a show of getting on the same tiny circular table that Jessie had fallen off of twice, and he actually possessed the sense to remove his footwear first. He found the buttons on his shirt particularly complicated for some reason unknown to him, but once he'd undone all of them, he received a cheer from the now extremely busy pub and he threw the item of clothing into the air. Unfortunately for him, it landed on his head and he was so drugged up that he couldn't figure out why the world had suddenly gone invisible. He must have become panicked in his confusion as he kept spinning around with the shirt on his head, trying to get colour back into his vision. Moving repeatedly in an awkward manner on a badly injured leg and a small table generally don't make a good combination, and this was no exception. The table tipped back completely and he grabbed the nearest person to him to prevent the fall being as harsh as it could be, which unluckily was a well-built man in his late thirties who was holding a pint glass. The good news was that the man was straight, but the bad news was that he was twice as heavy as he looked when he landed on top of James after the fall. The entirety of his pint was emptied onto the shirt, which actually acted as a good thing as James removed it, realising that it held the potentiality of suffocating him. Once he was able to see again, he realised that someone was trying to get off him, and his common sense must have penetrated his hazy mind, as he remained stock-still as the man got off him. He lay there for a moment, and she thought that he might have gathered enough of his own thoughts to realise that he shouldn't be doing that, but to her relief, the show wasn't over yet, in fact the most embarrassing part was yet to come.
A tipsy young, blonde woman helped him up and informed him that it was her birthday, and James must have thought it something less than courteous if he didn't acknowledge it. He took his belt off and moved her towards him by sliding it around her back until he held both ends of it and he kissed her in response to her comment. Whereas he could have left it at that, he thought it would only be the right thing to do if he climbed onto the bar and picked up an empty beer bottle to suffice as a microphone whilst he sang 'Happy Birthday' severely out of tune, dedicating the rest of the routine to her. Instead of using her name in the song, he filled it in with 'Melting Ice', as that was the brand on beer bottle that he was holding. As one final gesture in his performance, he gave her his boxers before returning to Jessie to get dressed, without walking into any tables. Carlos went over to them and gave them their medals for being the 'best two' in the competition as well as the complimentary drinks from the staff for their source of amusement for the next few weeks. James' shirt was still too soggy to wear, but they somehow were competent enough to put the rest of their clothes on. She was extremely disappointed by the time that their targets had left the pub as she had heard Jessie suggest something about tattoos, which in her opinion should have been highly entertaining. According to her, there are few things that should be ignored in life, and this footage was definitely not one of those things. She felt sorry to have to press the stop button, but once she had, she turned around to face her partner and thanked him. He shrugged and replied:
"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that last night, and when I
watched it last night I knew you'd like it. Elora was glad for the business I
gave her last night anyway"
"I do not need to know the
inner workings of your sex life, it was bad enough hearing you last night"
"I wasn't talking about my sex life, in fact that wasn't Elora last
night. I was talking about the crowd in the pub. Didn't you notice the difference
in people in it before Jessie started stripping and when James was singing?"
"What did you have to do with
this?"
"I supplied the medals and 'information poster', and a few tablets to get them in the mood"
"WHAT?! What did you give them?"
"Nothing lethal, in fact it won't
have any side-effects other than complete memory loss for last night"
"Are you sure that's all?"
"And a hangover-like headache, but
if they went to the pub, they'd have that anyway"
"What if she finds out about this?"
"She won't. It's nearly impossible to trace and it won't be there, should she somehow be able to take a blood sample if she does find out"
"You should have told me first, I could have taken some photographs to add to our gallery"
"I wish we had some, but then again it might not be as amusing if the pictures don't move. Imagine how much a copy of this would sell, especially when she forgot to take her boots off!"
"I think we've just got ourselves a new toy, but only if you're certain
we can make copies without ruining the original"
"I know how to do it, believe me.
How much should we charge per copy?"
"Maybe we should try and auction
them off. Do you think we should send a couple of complimentary copies to Team
Rocket Headquarters?"
"Maybe Giovanni will go easy on them after seeing how incompetently they
can act whilst drunk. After all, he's already found out what they sound like
when they're intoxicated…"
Later in the evening…
Jessie James and Meowth had decided to go for a walk around the city to view the sights in the twilight (Jessie protested that it was under no circumstances that it was to get some fresh air for their hangovers), and it really was quite astounding to look at. When it was nearing twenty to ten, they bought some light food and they ate it whilst they sat on a bench in the park, one of the few remaining green areas of Viridian City. The sounds around them released a relaxing atmosphere and they were gradually becoming so comfortable that they began wondering how to get back to their room without the effort of getting up, until Meowth heard a call from what would probably become his next proper meal. He jumped away from the bench and stealthily crept in the direction that he had heard the call come from, deciding that he should start his hunt a little earlier than anticipated. Jessie slid up the bench and rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair, melting at his touch. He stopped after a minute and told her to sit forward, seeing that she was becoming drowsy from the position she was in and he advised her not to fall asleep for the second consecutive day in a public place filled with trees. She laughed sarcastically before turning and kissed him, without knocking foreheads this time, and the level of passion in their kiss steadily grew, both wanting something more than what it was that they were actually doing. James eventually pulled back and whilst he was looking into her eyes, he softly whispered:
"Will you sleep with me?"
"HERE?!"
She replied a little louder than she had originally intended, causing everyone in the park to turn and look at the pair of them, knowing what she was talking about. Mortified beyond belief, she apologised to him and lowered her tone as she said:
"Now?"
"Even though I didn't really want the whole city to hear that, I meant
when we get back at the hotel, but it's okay if you don't want to"
"No, I like the sound of it, it's
just I guess I wasn't expecting you to say it"
"So, do you want to do it then?"
"Of course I will, but only if you
get protection this time. I'm not sure if we should tempt pregnancy"
"I'm not either, which is why I suggested it before we'd gone away from the shops"
"Do you want to go then?"
"You're coming with me!"
"But I don't know anything about them!"
"I don't either if you think about
it"
"But it's embarrassing!"
"So was your little 'here' comment, but I was still a part of it. Not by
choice, mind you…"
They realised that they were being
watched again so the embarrassed couple left the bench for the nearest
drugstore, avoiding as many pairs of eyes as possible. James dragged Jessie
into the building, unimpressed as she headed for the make-up section at the
back of the store. She wasn't looking at anything in particular, merely staying
as far away from the counter as possible whilst James tried to coax her into
going with him. She was adamant about staying in there and he eventually asked
her what he should get, forcing her cheeks to illuminate the area again. Tired
of arguing with him, she advised him to 'grab the first ones you see that have
the kite mark, pay for them and get out of there as soon as possible'. As
simple as her plan sounded, she still refused to go near the counter whilst he
put it into action. Frowning back at her, he picked up the box nearest to him
and moved forward by a foot to pay for them. why do they have to be right
here next to the cash point?!. He tried to avoid looking into the sale
assistant's eyes as he stood there whilst she entered the sale. She put it into
a bag (which thankfully wasn't see-through) and after thanking her, he realised
that she was looking at him strangely. He asked her if he could help her, and
the assistant grinned broadly upon the sound of his voice, thus perplexing him
further. He asked her if he knew her in anyway, to which she squealed in
delight and said:
"I just loved last night, thank you!"
Noticing that he was still looking at her like one would at a lunatic, she suddenly looked hurt and James felt guilty, although he wasn't entirely sure why he should be. He assumed that she was referring to his 'strip-a-thon entry', but he was unable to recall any of it, let alone remember somebody's face. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, and he asked her if he could help her with anything, and she perked up immediately.
"You sang 'Happy Birthday' to me last night, don't you remember? I was fairly tipsy at the time because it was my birthday celebrations and everything, but even I couldn't forget something like that"
"I did?"
"Yes! Don't you remember?"
"Last night's very fuzzy, and I don't remember any of it. Are you sure I
sang to you?"
"Of course I'm sure, you even gave
me a present and everything!"
"Well, I'm sorry miss, but I don't remember that"
"That's right, you didn't know my name and you called me Melting Ice in the pub last night. It's Joanne by the way"
"Isn't Melting Ice a brand of beer?"
"Yes, but you only called me that because that was the name on the bottle you were using for a microphone. Hang on a second, I don't think I've emptied my bag yet, maybe your present's still in it. Would you mind signing it?"
"Ummm…"
"Great! Now let me just check to see if it's there"
Tired of looking at the same pitiful selection of cosmetics, Jessie glanced up to see what was taking her partner so long, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw some girl handing James his supposedly missing underwear from the night before. James was really beginning to regret picking that drugstore out of all of all of the ones that were in the city, but he reluctantly signed his 'gift' with a silver pen to shut her up, wondering how it came to be in her possession anyway. He was turning to leave once she was distracted with his 'autograph', but he was caught off his guard by her saying:
"So who are the condoms for? Are you going out with the guy from last
night?"
All colour drained from James'
face as she said that, and he stuttered out:
"Guy?!"
"Oh good, you guys aren't an item. My friend bet with me that you were gay"
"Trust me, I'm not. I have nothing against it, it's just not my cup of tea"
"Great! So, are you doing anything tonight?"
"Yes, he's going out with me. Thank you for your service, but we have to go now"
"See you around James!"
Once they'd finally left, Jessie hissed:
"Who was she?"
"I think I might have done something humiliating last night, she was mentioning something about a guy I was with"
"You told me you were straight!"
"I am! I'm going out with you aren't I?"
"Just checking. Do you think the pub would have a security camera or
anything?"
"I guess it's worth a shot, but
what if it wasn't that pub?"
"We'll have the same scenario we
had this morning. Let's try it tomorrow, I've had enough of this place for one
evening"
"Are you still in the mood?"
"Yes. I'd hardly refuse the world's cutest stripper, after me that is, especially when he has the coolest tattoo"
"Dammit I want to see it!"
They left for the hotel room with a fresh sense of excitement coursing through their bodies, unaware that their female assailant was following them in the shadows to learn their exact location. Once she'd overheard what number they were staying in, she rushed back to her room to tell her partner, certain that this information would redeem her respect from both him and her employers…
